I would like to call the August 9th, 2021
meeting of the Derry Township School District Board of Directors to order
and announce that this meeting is being livestreamed and audio recorded.
This meeting is being conducted both in-person and virtually, and
I would like to request the board members please state your name when speaking.
Mrs.. E.g.
Roll call, please.
Mr. Abel Here.
Dr. Cronan Here.
Ms.. Drew Here.
Mrs. Halberstadt here.
This is many here, Mr.
Roselle Here, Dr.
Scholl Here, Mrs.
Sikka Here, Mr. Singer here.
Nine present one virtually eight in person.
Thank you.
Please rise if you are able and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
The United States
of America continues to publish
its one nation under God,
indivisible literacy.
May I please have a motion
to approve the August 9th, 2021 Board of Directors agenda?
So moved Maria Mimi Second. Cathy Zika.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose the agenda is approved.
Moving on to President Communications, I would like to announce
that the board met in executive session prior to this meeting to discuss
matters of personnel as well as safety.
Will be now moving to the recognition of citizens.
And before I read the normal component of it, I would just
like to make the statement for the record that I know
there is a lot of community
feedback that has been received
and a lot of really
strong opinions on the health and safety plan.
Please remember that that is not on the agenda this evening.
And so all comments for that will have to be
at the second public comment session, not at the first.
So for recognition of citizens, this is an opportunity for residents and
taxpayers to address the board on matters related to items on tonight's agenda.
If you wish to address
the board on matters not on tonight's agenda, the opportunity will to do
so will be provided during the second public comment period.
Those who speak if present, are asked to come to the microphone
and state your name and address for the record.
Those who are attending virtually are asked to raise your virtual hand.
In order to be recognized, you must have your first
and last name typed into the livestream registration.
Once recognized and unmuted, please state your name and address
for the record to provide other residents with an opportunity to speak.
Each speaker
during the public comment portion is limited to 5 minutes of speaking time.
Once recognized and limited to one opportunity to address the board
during each of the public comment periods, I will ask Board Treasurer Mrs.
Sikka to please keep time.
If necessary, the board may set a maximum time
for the public comment portion of any meeting.
This portion of the board meeting
is for comments to the board and is not a question and answer period.
Those wishing to present private concerns or questions needing follow up
outside of the board meeting
may go to the district website and submit a community correspondence.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time?
Mr. Miller.
Good evening.
John Miller 329 Cocoa Avenue
on the agenda here.
I took a look at the the Fourth Amendment to the medicine release.
Is does that mean that they're leaving and since that question answer
it was a little confusing to me.
I wasn't sure if they're back for another round.
As we're gearing up, I mean, I don't know if it is a renewal to the.
It's a renewal. Okay.
Is there any concern that there is some information out there
that shows that the vaccines?
Well, the gene therapy, I guess you could say, is
potentially dangerous and we'd have a risk.
But is this relevant to.
Oh, it would be the new business five
five would be positive.
I've seen, you know, the numbers off the top of my head, but I see.
I'm sorry,
which is
I, I mean, really for the med center.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I saw they were, they were vague, they weren't there
but then I saw this was look I going to this is not the Penn State health.
This is for. Oh, I think that's all it was.
Clarification.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in person
who would like to participate in public comment?
Mr. Scalia, We can now take virtual comment.
Madam President, at this time,
I see no hands raised.
Okay. Yes.
Okay.
Moving on to the Community Correspondence Report, Ms..
Karp, how do you have a community correspondence report?
I do. Thank you.
For the month of July, the district received 50 community
correspondence submissions.
The vast majority of those were related to the COVID 19 mitigation,
but some others included one question regarding a student work permit
two questions about changing personal information with the district.
A question regarding the athletic director job opening
three requests for information regarding our curriculum.
A comment about the special board member election that was held on July 12.
A request for information regarding the Pandemic Response Team,
a question about AX 66, a question about food services,
a request for information about yearbooks and requests for staff information.
And that's all. Thank you. Thank you.
The listed items are on the anticipated August 23rd,
2021, Board of Directors Meeting Agenda.
Moving on to the Consent agenda.
The Consent agenda contains routinely adopted items and items
that normally do not require public deliberation on the part of the board.
A board member may pull items which will then be discussed and voted on separately.
May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed
so moves Merriam in
second. Donna equipment.
Is there any discussion
I would just like to add for discussion purposes under the facility use requests
that we are adding the verbiage in there for indoor facility
use requests that it would be contingent upon,
you know, any current conditions or
restrictions that may be in place at the time of the event,
or is there any other discussion?
All right.
And this is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I, I any opposed
the consent agenda is approved.
Moving on to new business.
The first item is the approval of the affiliation agreement.
Dr. Windsor.
The administration recommends the board approve the affiliation agreement
with Derry Township School
District and Western Governors University effective August 9th, 2021.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion
to approve the affiliation agreement with Western Governors University?
So move to marry me.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I any opposed.
Next item is the approval of another evaluation agreement.
Please, Dr.
Windsor,
The administration recommends the board approve the affiliation agreement
with Derry Township
School District and Albright College, effective August 9th, 2021.
May I please have a motion
to approve the affiliation agreement with Albright College?
So move to marry me.
Second, Cathy Seger, is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say hi.
Any opposed
motion passes
approval of the Fourth Amendment to the medicine, or at least Dr.
Winslow, The administration recommends the board approve the Fourth Amendment
to the lease with Penn State,
Milton Hershey Medical Center for lease of a portion of the Grenada property.
The leases, effective November 1st, 2021, through October 31st, 2022.
Members of a motion to approve the fourth Amendment to the medicine
or lease with the Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center.
So moved Maria Mimi second. Kathy Zika.
Is there any discussion
just for a point of clarification, this is for the existing relationship
with Penn State Health that has been in place for quite some time in the
portion closest to us.
We did have a temporary lease with Penn State Health for operation
of the COVID vaccine clinic, which was a separate agreement
that ended July 31st.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say hi.
Any opposed?
Next item
is approval of the 2021 2022 bus stops.
Dr. Winslow The administration recommends adopting the bus stop locations
as indicated in the attached trip Stop report for the 2021 2022 school year.
The administration
also requests authorization to change bus stops for the following reasons
Safety, efficiency and also due to the transportation of new students.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion
to approve the listed bus stops for the 2021 2022 school year?
So much Kathy Sicker second.
Maria Mimi, Is there any discussion?
I have a question.
Just some.
We might not have answers here, but I know in the past, if you think about
the Hopkinsville is our cutoff, right?
So if you live on Mill Street
and you're talking about like all weather
adjusting the clocks, certain seasons, kids
walking to school potentially in the dark
is definitely something that has come up before.
And I don't know if there's an
answer for it, but
it seems like a long way to walk, especially if you have an instrument.
Kids have happy book bags.
I'm just saying it because
community members have brought it up before
and we haven't really discussed it, and I'm not sure if there's any way to,
I don't know, extend bus services to people that live within.
I mean, they're still pretty far out there
now. I think you would have to get up at least you'd have to start
walking an hour before school if you were a walker.
So I'm not looking to fully wrap this open tonight,
but I just wanted to make a note of it.
I forgot to bring it up before so
thank you.
I don't have her answer. Yeah, that was fine.
I just want to voice my concern for the people
that live.
I don't know where that cut off
is because it takes a long time to walk.
I mean, for me, it would take me a long time to do that walk.
So anyway, I'm done.
Thank you. Thanks.
Is there any other discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I am any opposed.
The bus stops for this here are approved
approval of the contract agreement with River Rock Academy, Inc.. Dr.
Windsor, The administration recommends the board approve the contract
for purchase of student services with River Rock Academy, Inc.
for the 2021 2022 school year. Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the River Rock Academy, Inc.
Contract agreement.
So move to marry me.
Second, Donna Cronin,
is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I, I any opposed
next to the approval
of service agreement with River Rock Academy, Inc.
Not to Windsor. Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the Act 48
program Agreement for services with the River Rock Academy Inc.
for the 2021 2022 school year.
Thank you, ma'am.
Please have a motion to approve the Act.
48 Agreement with River Rock.
Serve it with River Rock Service Agreement for the 2122 school year.
So move to copy Cica second.
Miriam. Mimi, Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say hi.
Any opposed
tuition reimbursement agreement for Michael Munger d'Oro? Dr.
Winslow The administration recommends the approval of the tuition
reimbursement agreement for Michael Munch. Adorable.
May I please have a motion to approve this tuition reimbursement agreement?
So moved.
Maria. Me
second.
Kathy Seger.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say hi.
Any opposed
personnel resignations?
Dr. Winslow, please.
The administration recommends the approval of the personal resignations.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the list of personal resignations?
So moved. Maria. Mimi.
Second, second, second.
Ronen, is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say hi.
Any opposed
motion passes
personnel?
General is next. Dr. Windsor.
The administration recommends the approval of the list of personnel
and recognition of any list of transfers.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the list of personnel
and recognition of any list of transfers served?
Cathy Zacher Second.
Maria.
Mimi, Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I any opposed
motion passes, delegate reports.
The PSB report is attached to the agenda.
Dr. Cronan, do you have anything that you would like to add?
Nothing to add.
Thank you.
Board member reports.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report at this time?
Dr. Winslow, do you have a superintendents report?
Thank you. Thank you.
If you look around
campus, you'll see that lots of events are are starting to happen again.
A band has been practicing sports, are starting to practice.
And we're thrilled to have
Officer Kesler starting with us shortly.
Very excited about that.
And very excited to have our new A.D.
starting this week.
It's great to have him in the buildings today.
I also wanted to thank the pandemic team for their hard work.
I think that today at 4:00 and we had a lot to work on
as we came together, I asked them to consider our primary
objective of keeping students in school with a minimum of disruption.
And as many of you have noted and noticed,
there have been multiple recommendations coming out in the last two weeks
since we passed the health and safety plan as a board.
So we spent quite a bit of time, went
well over our time that was scheduled to have discussion today
and at the end of that discussion and walking away with a recommendation
from the administration based on that, that we will adjust the plan
to reflect K-12 indoor masking to begin the school year.
If we do that, we minimize
any disruptions to student learning because we do not have to contact Trace.
It keeps us from having to identify close contacts,
and currently we are in high transmission rates for our county.
And as a recommendation
we would then say that we would monitor transmission rates in the county
and in our community, and as soon as they drop, we would
back down on those requirement rates.
But our primary objective is getting students in school.
Our community made it very clear
that they want our students in school full time, in-person.
We want to make sure that we are not
quarantining students, that we are not closing down classrooms
and have as much in-person
learning time as we can get as we go into this year.
So I'm very appreciative of the team
for all the voices that were brought to the table for very
hearty discussion and
for looking at all the different pieces that that brought us to that place.
So that ends my report.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr.
Winslow, for the board president's report.
Excuse me.
In light of the updated recommendation that came forward
from the pandemic team meeting and the administration today
and wanting to be mindful of providing
as much opportunity to the community, since we are now getting
inside of a few weeks until school begins,
we, the board will be calling a special meeting of the board
to be held this Thursday evening, August 12th at 6 p.m.
here in the district office, at which time the board will vote
on the updated recommendation of the revised health and safety plan.
So again, that will be
Thursday, August 12th at 6 p.m.
here at the board meeting here in the boardroom.
It will also be livestreamed and available on Zoom.
There will be public comment and an opportunity
for all residents and taxpayers to be able to address
the board prior to that vote, since that will be the only item
on the agenda.
We'll now move to the second public
comment portion of this board meeting.
And so this will be an opportunity for residents and taxpayers
to address the board on matters related to the agenda
or matters of district governance that were not on the agenda tonight.
Those who speak are asked to follow the same guidelines outlined
at the initial public comment portion of our meeting.
I'll ask first for any residents
or taxpayers who are here in person that would like to comment at this time,
You'll have the opportunity and then we will move to
our virtual participants and we'll just again
reinforce that on Thursday evening
for the revised Health and Safety plan at the special meeting,
all residents and taxpayers will have the opportunity to speak
at that time as well.
And to all of the folks who have submitted the community
feedback through the district forum that that has been received.
And I know that the administration is working diligently to to respond to those.
So are there any in-person attendees
who would like to speak at this time?
Mr. MILLER.
John Miller 329 Cocoa Avenue
I'm really disappointed to hear that we're going to start off the year
with our kids shackled with masks over their face.
It's terrible.
How why are key workers
case numbers are going up.
They'll go back down then.
Yeah, they'll go back up.
And then I would ask that, please.
That comment tonight stay orderly and that they're not outside conversation.
That's fine.
And then
the PCR values, they they change depending on whether or not you've had a shot,
they'll they'll use a different PCR value to see if you're positive
it's constant tests on go manipulation.
I don't understand why we can't let's do a mind exercise here.
Let's take the visual.
These are our thoughts.
We're going to put them over here and we're going to try
to disconnect ourselves from them and look at it and say,
Is there any possible way someone else could see this differently?
And it's okay to see things differently, But there's a lot of evidence out there
that suggests that masks are harmful to kids from developmentally.
I mean,
I'm not going to have my daughter wear a mask long term.
And this is how long the funds go for until 2024.
So every time they make a new suggestion or edict,
we're going to have to have a special board meeting, adjust our policy
and then move forward with we're in the same situation.
I mean, if we really think that this is making a difference
and we say to keep the schools open,
we're going to say the same thing about mandatory vaccines for our teachers.
Well, it's a gift to the schools.
Open.
Roll up your sleeve.
Like the second largest union in the nation just said, yeah,
they were against it for so long and now they're. Yep.
Roll up your sleeve. That's not right for the teachers.
So if we're going to where do you draw the line.
I that's that's for me as a parent
we did what we could do last year.
Sorry.
You know but going into this year, I mean my daughter, she's she's seven.
She's going to be eight soon and she only gets one shot at this point in her life.
I'm I'm just telling you, there's a lot of people
that are going to be looking for alternatives.
And if you force vaccinations on our teachers,
they're going to be in need of it.
So they don't have to look very far for a job.
Thank you.
Before we move on, I also forgot to mention in the board
president's report, the health and safety plan revision will be posted
to the district website
and available for public review prior to Thursday's meeting.
So I apologize for forgetting to include that piece of it.
Good evening, Child Liberty 235 William Drive.
As Mr.
Miller indicated, I'm in support of his concerns as well.
My daughter's going to be a ninth grader.
She's got a medical issue and now she's going to wind up
being virtual again at home because she can't wear a mask.
More than a half hour because she gets Alex has other issues with it.
And it's very, very disappointing and disheartening that with the science
shows a mask do not work with this situation.
And I will tell you, these kids are suffering.
They're all having a difficult time coping in my profession.
I will they will not name my profession, but I will tell you, kids are depressed.
They're being traumatized by this.
And this district really needs to look at what's best interest for the kids.
And I will say this.
You look at local school districts.
I like what Paul Meyer did. Leave it up to the parents.
All right.
Leave it up to the parents of their decision.
And I really would ask Derry Township to look at a survey survey.
Parents, to see what they want for their kids.
And it's really for the best interest of the children.
I'm very disappointed to hear this. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next choice, Libby.
235 William Drive.
I appreciate my husband speaking up.
I'm speaking up as well.
I think it's despicable and I think it's disgusting.
If you're going to make the kids wear masks again.
And we said our daughter will not be attending and it's going to be
another horrible year for her parents,
for her everyone involved.
I don't know what you're looking at who makes these decisions.
This is my first meeting.
The first first was virtual last year.
I'm just I'm just disgusted.
Should be ashamed of yourselves.
Is there anyone else in person who would like to provide
a public comment?
Hi, my name is Cathy Burris.
I live at 163 high point drive in Hummelstown.
I don't know if the board watched the Senate hearing this week
with the Education Committee.
Anybody watch that?
Very important.
One of our state senators, Scott Martin,
was challenging our Department of Health
head Alison Beam and the Department of Education
heard about numerous things, including masking
and what he stated to them was that there is
because there is no emergency order anymore for Pennsylvania,
there is no disaster declaration, there is no state of emergency,
and there is no authority
from the Department of Education or the Department of Health
to implement mask mandates for our children.
There is no statute and there is no constitutionality that
enables them to impose these restrictions, and that includes this board
also, Alison Beam very strongly recommended
and this is for this family right here, there is a medical exemption
in place for children that need it and it should be approved.
So her daughter does not have to be
at home all year because she doesn't want to wear a mask.
She can get a medical exemption and it will be approved
and she can go to school without a mask.
And I
really strongly suggest that you do some sort of a survey from all the parents
and not just go by what your emergency COVID team has determined.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else here in that in-person audience?
I'm too short.
Hi, Jacki.
Henry 390 Laurie Avenue, Hummelstown, P.A.
So what's the most upsetting about all of this
is that these recommendations are coming with no local information whatsoever.
So the CDC, the Department of Health, whomever is making these recommendations,
and our school board and our administration and our pandemic
team is not looking at any local right here numbers for anything.
And while it's fantastic to have a medical exemption for those kids
that qualify, what about the kids who don't qualify that have the anxiety
and the depression and everything else from being kept away from school
because they can't breathe, they have asthma, they have lung problems.
Not everyone's going to be able to get a medical exemption
and there should be no across the board anything for everybody.
It should be optional.
If the family wants their children to wear a mask, so be it.
Nobody got bullied last year because of it, right?
Nobody is going to get bullied this year because of it.
Nobody's going to have any problem with a child that wants to wear a mask
and another child that doesn't want to, but to force a child
that really cannot and does not want to do that.
That's not right.
There is no science that these masks prevent or reduce the disease at all.
In fact, they create more problems.
You have masks that have all the moisture.
I am one of those people that ended up as a child
having a very serious viral pneumonia and and almost died.
I will tell you, you get that from the masks and it's a higher incidence
of sinus infections, lung infections, pneumonia, bronchitis than it is of COVID.
So we got to make these kids go through a worse thing
because we're afraid that we're making decisions out of fear.
That's all this is, is decisions out of fear.
Please, please, please listen and do your own.
Digging deeper into this, because we all want to be safe,
but we also don't want to be imprisoned and have another year like last year
or the year before, where teen suicides were up and depression and anxiety.
You know, young women had 50% higher
incidence of suicidal thoughts, an attempt in winter of 2021.
We cannot go back to that.
Thank you.
You're
all right, Brian.
Good.
850 So research road and try and approach this with some grace.
I normally have something written down, but a lot of times I forget to
thank you guys for being here, for taking your time to be here for us.
So I just want to make sure that I, that I did that.
I've had a really rough year as I've shared with everybody,
but you've all had a rough year.
So sometimes my emotions, my emotions get the best of me
right now, my blood pressure is up
because this is obviously a big bombshell.
But I did want to thank you guys.
I know you have tough decisions to make.
And we've seen some listening, some coming together and some things.
But there are also things that are still concerning, like I kind of
feel like pay attention to this over here while this is occurring over here.
It's one of those things
with regards to the to the masks and and mask mandates and everything.
I mean, believe mask work if you want.
Regardless of that, the statistics that came out and this was the government
that came out and said that they only had one documented
child death
from COVID 19 from
for a child that didn't have a preexisting condition.
Like, that's what we're that's what we're fighting against.
And again, I have concerns about about the dirty masks
with the with the stuff that's in the dirty mask.
I mean, the number of times
that my kid has come home with her second mask, even her third mask
that just has so much crud and snot and just it's horrible.
Like she's breathing that stuff back in.
So I have
major concerns about like
we're not allowing a virus to do what a virus does
and by continuing to do
these mitigation efforts, we're playing God here.
And and a virus has always if people get infected,
the infection rates go down because the virus burns itself out.
And we're not allowing the virus to burn itself out.
We're just prolonging
we're just prolonging this thing.
My other issue that I have and this is why
we don't appreciate being lied to, and for months we've been told
that we're not teaching CRT.
Forget the word, forget the term CRT.
What's being taught in our school by teachers.
And this needs to be recognized.
Our principles of CRT, we're not you don't have to call it CRT.
I know that changing the name of CRT
makes people to question it look dumb or racist or whatever.
But the bottom line is we have seen the evidence of teachers
doing this anti-police rhetoric,
anti anti-America, like just
summer reading.
What was a book, the summer reading book.
Anybody remember Stamped Stamped was sent home as a summer reading book.
That book makes and people
like Thurgood Marshall and
Martin Luther King, the true American heroes
like little blips compared to people like Angela
Davis, who was a communist and worked with the Russian government.
Like this is what our teachers are teaching and free for Dr.
Winslow to sit there and say, We're not teaching
this, we're not teaching this, we're not teaching this.
And then we see an interview with her saying that we're doing equity,
but we're not being loud about it because that tends to get pushback.
That's a problem.
People, people can not
you can't just hide things from people and not tell them what's going on
because we're afraid of what they're going to say.
We're all reasonable adults here.
I raised my child to respect all humans, every single human,
and to judge every single person based on their character.
And that's the majority of this country.
And I think that gets lost.
I think a lot of people think that there's just this wave of people, this
these radicals that are running around that are just horrible people.
Now, the majority of the people teach their child like I have taught my child.
So for my child to go in there.
And so I'm not saying that this is happening.
And she's nine.
So I'm not saying that this is happening at her age,
but eventually she's going to come across this.
And I've had to have that conversation with her where we're I'm
telling her, do not do what they tell you to do.
If they're telling you, you need to identify yourself,
your pronouns, whatever.
And you don't feel comfortable with that. You don't do it.
But this is stuff that's being
pushed. Yes.
10 seconds. Okay.
That's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
So anyone else in person who would like to
participate?
Hi, Kim.
Philippines 1091 West Aruba Avenue.
I might not be the popular one here
this evening with the group.
And I don't mean any disrespect to the people sitting behind me,
but I do want to speak up for many people in this town
that do have respect for what the school district and the teachers have been doing
and are doing to keep the children educated and safe in the past year.
I myself am a teacher.
I've been a teacher a long time.
This past school year 20, 20, 20, 21,
I worked with three year olds in a preschool setting.
A year ago we were told that
it was highly
recommended, came in masks and the teachers wear a mask.
I'll be honest, last August
I thought, How in God's name is this going to work?
There are three.
I can assure you that there was not a single day
that a single kid had a problem.
They didn't tug at it.
They didn't fuss, they didn't whine.
Nothing.
I myself tight knit all day long.
Last August, before the year started, I thought
How am I going to teach this all day long?
I talk, I use my expressions.
They need to see my face.
It was fine.
I have a son who's a college runner and he has asthma.
He had to wear a mask this past college year when he was racing.
He did it.
I have a daughter in high school.
My son graduated in 2020, so he actually suffered.
If I use that word,
the effects of losing his senior year in March and on.
And then he started college in a pandemic.
But my kids appreciate the education that they've received
and are currently receiving at Derry Township.
I send my kids to public school
because I want them to be exposed to all kinds of people.
I expect them to be kept safe and I expect the professionals
that work in this field to do that,
to use what they went to college for,
got their master's degree for, to keep them safe
in all ways, physically,
mostly I'm in charge as their parent of their emotional well-being.
I also have a background in psychology my children mimic their parents.
I have teenagers that work at Hershey Park.
I think all of us know that Pennsylvania weather can get extremely hot and humid.
Last summer, they had to work in the heat in a mask.
They were fine.
I don't
baby them.
I tell them to step up to the plate.
This is life.
We were all thrown one
heck of a curveball in life.
The college president of my son's college, I listened to their graduation
speech online and he said,
This pandemic has made us all more interesting people.
I think that's a very good way to look at it.
Again, I don't mean any disrespect to the people
that have the feel the way they feel.
And I understand that there's kids that are depressed.
I understand that there's teenagers that have had a heck of a hard time.
I understand that
I've had to do
a lot of pep talks for my own kids.
I've had to give myself some pep talks along the way.
But I think we need to remember that
this is a community
that we all need to care about each other and respect
each other, respect each other's views, even though they are different.
I clearly see my view is very different from many
sitting here tonight,
but I hope that we can keep setting a good example
for our young people because ultimately
we are all here to educate them, to get them on the right path for life.
And part of that is being a respectful, decent citizen
and caring about people other than just your own self.
We are a community that means looking outside of our own self.
Thank you for the job that you do for our children.
Thank you, Mrs.
Book.
You had your hands
and you're very sweet
and thanks for coming out tonight.
Wow. I'm sorry.
Could you just shoot me in two bucks for 58 Super Church Road Home zero.
Permission to start.
Thank you. Okay, I want to piggyback.
I just want to ask, where do we draw the line?
Seriously, let's take a moment and think about it, because like a lot
of people have pointed out, everything is going to go up and it's going to go down.
And it's not fair to our kids, our neighbors, that this is what we're doing.
It's from where we stand.
Our neighborhoods are suffering.
And your families, I don't know
if many of you have kids, neighbors, they are suffering.
Go talk to them.
It is real. How? I know a lot of people.
Some people have said like, well, how are you going to feel if a child dies?
That's a lie that you're believing.
There's no way to pinpoint where Jim comes from and who is responsible for that.
We have germs all around us, good germs, bad germs.
So please take that guilt, take that burden off your shoulder.
You are not responsible for the kids,
the parents.
You know we're responsible.
But there's only so much that we can even do to protect them.
But I want to ask you, how are you going to feel
when you find out another kid has cut themselves,
when another parent has died because the stress is too high?
What about when another kid is depressed?
This is happening all around us.
It's a real problem.
It is a much bigger problem than COVID.
I'm I want to say I'm
pretty sure that every parent in their right mind would take a sickness versus
the mental damage that is being done, not just to the student but to the family.
It's affecting everybody.
I want to know where's your individual survey?
I've yet to see one.
I've yet to hear of one.
It's been very deceiving.
The ones that I saw, it's kind of been down at the bottom
instead of saying like, Hey, we need your opinions, where you at
and keep it simple and ask a couple questions and report honestly,
The Guardians decide what
what the child does for their house, not you.
I said this before, You are not making health decisions for our kids.
The guardians are.
And if you're mask work, why do we need ours?
And the unmasked people are not asking you to wear one.
I think caring for the community is saying, Hey,
you have a different view than me.
Maybe I don't agree, maybe I do.
But I value where you're coming from and letting that up
to the individual guardians, the families, the children.
My child is not the same as your child.
I just want to know
why can't the parents decide You're the board?
You get to make a choice.
And most of the schools around
us, they're standing up for the kids and the parents.
So it's kind of
embarrassing being on this side because we're like the greatest community.
That's why I haven't moved.
When my husband's found places I really liked,
I was like, No, we got to stay here.
Hershey, I just want you to fight for the individual kids
and the parents and the teachers and just letting them
the decisions up to them.
And I do thank you for showing up every night.
I thank you for taking notes and listening to us.
And like I have said many times, like I'm praying for you,
whether you want to prayers or not. I don't.
I know we come at you with a lot of stuff and you probably feel on the defense,
we're just fighting for our kids and for our neighborhoods.
So that's all I want to say is just please,
if you haven't talked to the kids around, you, go outside and talk to them.
They're they're really, really suffering.
So thank you.
That's it.
Thank you.
There anyone else in the in person audience at this time?
Okay, Mr.
Speaker, we can move to virtual participants, please.
Sure.
Madam President, we have several hands raised.
We'll start with Lori Peterson.
Thank you, Mrs.
Peterson.
You're being unmuted
and you can start with your name and address and begin, please.
Hi, Larry Peterson, 190 seconds.
Quick drive four.
She can you hear me? Yes. Thank you.
Okay.
Queen Elizabeth, the first said Semper Edam, always the same.
Here we are, a year and a half after two weeks to flatten the curve.
Let's face it, as is written in 12th Night, if this were played
upon a stage, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
Yet curtain up.
I have a story for you that sheds a little light on our reality.
One day after we finally had our mask free faces back,
I was grocery shopping and heard a familiar voice.
It was the voice of one of the kindergarten students
whom I walked to her car nearly every day of parent pickup.
I went to the next aisle where I excitedly said hello to her.
The look she gave me was heartbreaking.
She had no idea who I was
because she had never seen my face ever
in well over 100 interactions with her.
She didn't know who I was.
Our students from this past year
will see us as strangers for all time.
Always.
Who was your kindergarten teacher?
Librarian, Lunch lady?
I bet you can see their faces in your mind.
This generation of kids can't.
They are being educated and guided by strangers.
There's no express of connection.
Hearing impaired students and staff can't read lips.
Emotional cues are being lost behind
scientifically ineffective cloth face coverings.
Even in outdoor recess, these poor kids were forced to wear masks,
which was long ago proven unnecessary and detrimental and mental
and emotional health in children and youth is suffering.
Most children are not getting sick to any severe degree from COVID 19.
Why do children react differently to COVID 19?
The Mayo Clinic says, quote, Some experts suggest
that children might not be as severely affected by COVID 19
because there are other coronaviruses that spread in the community
and cause diseases such as the common cold.
Since children often get colds, their immune systems might be primed
to provide them with some protection against COVID 19, end quote.
But mass mandates and forced isolation
have not allowed children to flex their immune systems.
It's turning into a vicious cycle.
If people are still fearful, masks are readily available and many are on sale.
My kids, despite a natural immunity,
took the shot and suffered horrible reactions.
But since there was no policy for natural immunity,
they did it because they were promised no more masks,
no more getting sick from school, no more getting pulled from sports.
And now we can all relate to Loki.
When he says to Thor hurts, doesn't it?
Being lied to being told you're one thing and then learning.
It's all fiction,
Thomas Sole said.
What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying
that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it.
When you go down that road, don't
expect freedom to survive very long.
Give the family give the families a choice about masks.
Be that hero who says
you get to make your own choices. Now,
that's.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. Okay.
Next we have Julie Goolsbee.
Thank you, Mrs.
Goolsbee, you are now unmuted and you can begin with stating your name
and address for the record.
Please.
Hello?
Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you.
For Julie Goolsby, 1844 Meadow Ridge Drive Hummelstown
School Board members.
I first just wanted to thank you for your time and all the hard work
that you put in for our kids.
I would like to encourage you to vote in favor of the recommended health
and safety plan revision that the Pandemic Committee drafted today.
I encourage you to follow the AP and CDC guidelines
for everyone in K through 12 schools to be masked.
Early findings regarding the Delta variant are worrisome.
It is 200% more transmissible than previous variants.
This means that on average a single person infects 6 to 10 people.
Early data indicates that the delta variant is more harmful
to children than other variants.
Look at Florida, Louisiana and Texas, where children hospitals are overflowing.
In Houston, an 11 month old COVID patient had to be airlifted
150 miles due to a pediatric bed shortage.
Nationwide, child hospital hospitalizations are at the highest
they have been during the entire pandemic, and they are increasing quickly.
More than 400 pediatric deaths have been reported
since the beginning of the pandemic.
Although this seems low compared to adults, COVID 19
is now a top ten cause of death for adolescents in the United States.
Morality isn't the only concern
long COVID 19 has been reported among kids, with evidence
showing it accounts for up to 7 to 8% of kids
experiencing long COVID 19.
For those who aren't aware of what long COVID 19 is,
it means that these children's ME children may face
long lasting effects for the rest of their life.
Also of concern is the spread of the virus in our community,
especially with Dauphin County being an area of high transmission.
Kids spread COVID 19 as efficiently as adults.
Several outbreak investigations have demonstrated that children
and young adults sexually transmitted the virus.
Older household members,
according to a study earlier this year, living with a child engaged
in in-person school without public health mitigation efforts increase
the odds of COVID 19 for the entire household.
We have the ability to stop the spread of the virus in our community
and to protect our children.
Study after study after study shows
that layered approaches in K-through-12 schools are effective
in Utah, despite high community incidence and inability
to space students, classrooms, it's greater than six feet apart.
High student mask use resulted in low transmission and no school
related outbreaks.
In 20 Salt Lake County Elementary schools.
On the flip side, recently, when Atlanta area schools opened without consistent
public health mitigation efforts, ten districts had more than 1000 children.
Test within the first few days after 117
year old died, Douglas County instituted a mask mandate.
Please follow the data and require masks.
Our kids can handle it.
If my three and five year old
have been able to wear a mask without any issue for the last year.
Other children can too.
As parents, we're entrusting the care of our children to you.
Please take that seriously and do whatever it takes to ensure their health and
safety this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Schweikert. Next, please.
Next, we have Tracey Brown.
Mrs. Brown, you're being admitted.
Please go ahead and begin with your name and address.
The record.
You should now be able to unmute.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, I can. Hi.
Uh, this is not Tracey Brown.
I was sent to wait for the meeting.
Somebody else just popped up with her name.
This is Ronald Eckman from Oak Lane, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
I just wanted to piggyback on the last comment.
She had a lot of really good points.
I was gonna say a lot of what she said.
Just wanted to point out that
Arkansas just ran into the same problem we're talking about at this very moment.
And they actually outlawed masks in schools.
Two weeks in the schools, 6000
students have to be quarantined.
Now they're trying to talk about reversing the law
to make it so that they can have masks in school year.
So I just hope that we make the right decision and don't sit here
and follow Patriot News.com and all the other conspiracy theory
sites that want to
push an agenda
when most of the same people who are pushing these agendas
also are trying to sell supplements and other
who are not worried about children's safety,
more worried about themselves.
These all seem like the same type of people
that we're extremely worried about, African-Americans
moving into their communities and
people coming across the border.
The same exact people, the same exact type of rhetoric
on the seized border in the audience.
You order with them. Please.
Everyone has an opportunity to speak
and you'll be asked to leave if you will not comply with that.
He gets his 5 minutes just like you do.
The same exact type of politics feed into this.
It's it's a it's a me, me, me, me, me center culture.
We always hear this is my Hershey.
This is mine.
I lived here my whole life.
And those people that come from outside the community, that's all we ever hear.
Well, Hershey, if you look it up online
as a possible sundown town, I wonder why?
Because it was a my town type of situation.
And blacks were not hired by the Hershey Company back in the early days.
This town is very exclusive in its politics and its way of life.
And it shows when you have people showing up to these meetings,
wanting to spread lies and spread things that they hear from
these sites that have nothing to do with any health care professionals
or to cherry pick from a health care professional
that has doctor at the beginning of their name.
And it's not really a doctor.
It's somebody selling supplements or somebody trying to make a quick
buck off of something.
It's just it's very disheartening that
the amount of misinformation and the amount of wrong
we pretend to cry and feel bad for the kids
children.
Like someone said before, Mirror their parents.
Racism is the learned behavior
here.
It's everything we heard about critical race theory a little while ago.
Why would you be afraid of critical race theory?
All it is is teaching children
the actual true past of what happened.
If you're worried of that, a picture is going to go up of a lynching in school
and the kid says, Hey, that looks like my great grandpappy.
Well,
I get that could pose a problem as another white fellow,
but I'm okay with my kids seeing that even though they're half black.
I feel like, yes, Grandpappy was a really terrible person and Mommy
and Daddy's relationship probably would have gotten us lynched as a couple.
And I've had that talk with them.
But I get looking at the majority of the crowd there's pops up here.
I've not seen many people of color.
So having people talk about this issue and
and wanting to sit
here and act like, oh, it's infringing upon my rights
as a fellow white male of the caucus variety.
Our rights don't get infringed upon very much.
And having someone say, hey, there's a deadly disease here.
You should really a mask to stop your transmission
for getting other people sick.
Oh, Oh, someone's telling me to do something.
I don't like it.
Well, that's that's how a lot of communities have felt for a very,
very, very long time.
And it's just it's very telling
of the false sense of outrage and
and the need to bring up false equivalencies and lie about things
and try to push your agenda and claim that the people sitting here.
1 seconds, 10 seconds.
BOTH Thank you.
They're the ones that actually are looking out for our children
and listening to the care professionals.
So I thank you guys for listening to health care professionals.
Thank you for coming to speak tonight. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Swaggart.
The next.
Next, we have Michelle DAVIES.
Mrs. DAVIES, you're now permitted to unmute.
Start with your name and address diseases 1524 Church Road.
First off, I want to address
the guy who spoke before us
being because I support
mask choice for my children
and others who don't want masks
to affect the mental health of their children.
We're being called racist.
That's not fair.
And the fact that the board sat there after saying,
let's keep the simple stuff there is let them
just run over everyone who spoke.
That's not civil
and it's despicable.
And I say, you the leak
for the Senate Senatorial Committee meeting from Friday.
So you guys should be able to find it
quickly.
Also,
I'm not I don't really care about
the physical effects of wearing masks.
My kids were affected by that.
And it's the mental aspect
and worries Peterson, who spoke earlier.
She spoke right to my heart about my kids
recognizing their teachers and the people that work for that school.
They're in kindergarten in first grade this year,
and they
they need to see
the whole facial expression, not just the eyes.
I also sent you guys are linked to a study that was done, actually,
and I'm sure it was a study, and that's
about
them being able to read facial expressions
and how they got confused with anger and disgust.
What what the difference was between that.
I hope that you guys keep
the mental effects of masking in mind.
Another thing that was mentioned at the committee meeting
was that the senators would really like to see schools
give create an opt out of masking for.
I also mentioned last word meeting for you guys.
If you changed anything on the masking.
Without it being mandated by the state
to send out a survey to every single family
and including incoming kindergarten families that are registered
because they don't always get the school emails
until they're until the school year starts.
Thank you.
One more thing. I'm not.
There are
people, other people in the community that feel
as I do the
I want to ask, you know, we're worried about the deaths.
One child dying is a tragic tragedy.
But how are you guys going to see it, though,
when suicides happen because of this?
Keep that in mind.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs.
Davis.
Next, we have Robert Smith.
Mr. Smith talking now permitted.
You can unmute and start with your name and address, please.
Actually, it's his wife, Mary Smith.
Sorry, I used to be emailing and he had to leave, so I.
I'm listening in.
My name is Mary Smith and I'm at 101 almond drive in Hershey.
I'm not a parent.
I am a grandparent about children in the Derry Township.
And I wanted to first express to you that
if this is the consensus of what I'm seeing here
and you don't have a survey, the majority of the people
that I've listened to so far do not want to have their children mass.
I believe that the parents should determine
whether or not a child as they are should be masked or not.
If the people that want to have their children pass, they should.
And those who go should not have to have mass.
The thing that I'm
very concerned about, three of my five grandchildren
that go to Derry Township, I have seven grandchildren.
Three of those have speech impediments.
And I was just listening to the lady before about expressions
my children or my grandchildren need to see the mouth of the teacher.
They have to go to speech therapy and they have to be able to mimic
and the teacher needs to see their mouth
while they're speaking to make sure they're making the sounds.
So right now, I feel they are
being discriminated against because you are not allowing them
to go to school without a mask in order to be taught properly.
I think that you as a school board are elected,
and it sounds like the majority of this group here.
That's why I feel like you should have a survey
to get what the majority of the parents want.
We are the ones that hired you and we voted for you
that you should be listening to us and what we want.
There is no mandate right now, and I believe that the children
should go to the school
and have the option of whether to wear a mask or not.
As for
what the other gentleman said about race theory and all,
I think he's completely off
board there, and I would appreciate that you do a survey
and make sure that the parents who voted to win
get what they want because that's why they voted you in.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Next, next, we have Megan Moffitt.
Hi. My name is Megan Moffitt.
I live at 130 Somerset Drive in Hershey.
I'm just also responding
to the masking issue that is being brought up this evening.
I would strongly urge the school board
to vote in favor of the masking.
I know I'm in a small minority here this evening, as some of the others have
said as well.
First of all, I am an educator.
I work at a large public university.
We are required to wear masks when we are in class.
All students are also required to wear masks.
There was no way for anyone
to be able to guess that several weeks before school was going to start,
there was going to be such a large surge in numbers.
I don't envy the position that you're in needing to be able
to make this decision at this time.
And my my job takes me into many school districts and central Pennsylvania.
Derry Township is not the only place that is is
is trying to decide what's best for the large majority of students.
Derry Township is a wonderful place.
There are wonderful teachers and administrator ers here.
I understand the concerns of parents,
individuals who
have children and have speech issues or health
and medical issues would
masks would cause them to have a difficult time in the classroom.
But I think that's where we need to rely on the skill and experience
of the teachers and educators that we are working with in order
to help our students make this transition back to school full time.
You know so much.
Last spring we heard about how half day was not acceptable and we needed students
to be in-person learning.
And I am fully in support of that idea.
I think that
know I appreciate
that you are focused on how we can do that for our students.
How can we get them in in-person all day, every day?
And I think masking is a very small ask in order for us
to be able to have our children have the best in-person learning.
Given the scenario that we're in right now.
So thank you for your time.
Thank you for all the hard decisions that you're having to make.
I know that the things that you're hearing tonight,
you know, they run the gamut in terms of opinions and what people are saying.
But I think there's a reason why the school board has been elected
to make this decision for us rather than parents with varied opinions,
using scientific information to back our
our ideas and justifications as as is happening this evening.
I think that's why it's in your hands.
And we should trust that
Derry Township is a place where we have chosen want our children to be
and therefore we should allow you guys
to take this information and make the best decision possible.
So thank you for your time.
Thank you, Mrs.
Moffat. Mr. Sager.
Next, we have Sean Mace.
Yes, hello.
My name is Sean Mace.
So I want to run Jacob's Creek drive out here in Hershey,
and I work in it.
My job is to fix computers.
When someone asks me
what my opinion is on diagnosing what is wrong with their computer.
I honestly just draw from my 15 years of experience and give them my answer.
If 99% of the text that I work with disagree
with my answer, I'm probably in the wrong.
My answer is wrong.
When I have a problem with something I'm not familiar with.
I bring in someone else who is more familiar with that type of problem.
I don't argue with them.
I ask when I ask them for their professional opinion,
so I'm not familiar with it.
Why am I arguing with somebody who is familiar with it?
If 99% of teachers say that this is the best way to teach a child,
you know what?
I don't have a degree in teaching, so why should I argue with them on that?
I may have some qualms or be upset about certain teaching practices,
but I ask the questions and ask Why is it this way?
Maybe I can come to an understanding of it.
When a bone is broken, you go to the doctor.
When you're sick, you go to the doctor, you don't go to the comments section
of Facebook on how to fix a compound bone sticking out fracture.
So why are we listening?
Listening to only 1% of the of us?
Honestly, just nonsense.
Draw from your
past experiences.
Make the decision based on CDC guidelines
with their decisions and not some of the comments on Facebook.
Thank you.
Yeah,
thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Next, we have Timothy Gordon.
I was Mr.
Timothy and I with that tape,
Jacob's Creek Drive, and Hershel,
my daughter, is going to be entering first grade this year.
And I was happy to hear earlier tonight that
the school district is going to revise the Health and Safety
plan to require masks for teachers and students and K-12.
I do think that's going to be the best way to make sure that my daughter
and her friends and classmates can stay in school and stay healthy.
And I do support the
the district that to date.
Thank you.
Next, we have Jonathan Zuck.
Hi, my name is Jonathan.
Zach. I live at 41 Clark Road in Hershey,
rising sixth and fourth grade students in the district.
I also wanted to speak
in favor of the proposed revision to the health and Safety plan.
And and thank you to the board for considering that
we kept our kids virtual last year with what we knew about COVID at the time.
We were not comfortable sending them to school and it was rough.
Probably toughest on my wife, who was a full time
teacher and full time mom at the same time.
But we made it through and the kids did well and they
their teachers were wonderful.
They got a lot of chance to interact with their
classmates through Zoom and
and really made the best of it.
And we heard about some of the starts and stops of the
those students who were
going to have their option a hybrid option.
And we were happy with our virtual choice.
That being said, we were really looking forward
to sending them back to school to be with their friends this year.
But when we heard masks might not be mandated,
we had a lot of second thoughts about that
because as the previous commenter said, there was just
too much scientific guidance and knowledge about this virus.
Now that sitting in a room
with a number of unmasked peers is just not a safe way to go.
There was some comment about considering the local environment.
So now in Dauphin County, we live in a county
where there is significant community transmission, and in that case
the CDC clearly states vaccinated or unvaccinated.
If you're indoors with others, you should be masked.
We also have
a seven day average now of about 34 new cases per day,
which doesn't sound like a lot, but that is three times higher than
it was just two weeks ago when the initial decision was made.
Those numbers speak volumes.
This is not about numbers going up, numbers going down.
This is about a dangerous new variant that's very transmissible
that is spreading like wildfire throughout the United States.
I'd also like to say that our kids can handle this.
The vast majority. Yeah.
No one wants to wear a mask.
I'm sick of masks, but they can handle it.
They are tough.
They are a lot tougher than we give them credit for.
Sometimes there may be a small minority
who have physical or emotional problems,
which might prevent them from wearing masks.
And then I would say that those students I'm sorry,
but it is time to consider a virtual option
because a decision to make not to wear a mask
is not just a decision of that person that affects all those around you.
It's pretty clear.
It's very clear from the science that one person's decision
not to wear a mask will directly affect others.
So this isn't just an individual's decision.
This is a matter of personal responsibility,
balancing our freedoms with what we are responsible
for, to maintain the freedoms of those around us.
And right now,
no one wants to be here,
but masking is what we still need to do.
So thank you very much for the board for reconsidering
that policy.
Next, we have Deanna Clemens.
Hi. DNA
sirens, 1051 Woodbridge Drive in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.
I just wanted to express my opinion.
I just was listening in tonight and wanted to let you know I'm
pretty disappointed in the fact that my son has to start school
wearing a mask every day. He is an athlete.
He is in football, he plays basketball.
He's had to wear a mask on the basketball court,
breathing,
running up and down the court with a mask on his face.
How could he perform?
Well, wearing a mask on his face, the thought was
the vaccine would improve a country or health guidelines.
They missed the boat and now our kids are suffering yet again.
I homeschool children all the way up until last year,
but my son wanted to go to regular school
and because of that,
now he has to wear a mask on his face.
I just wanted to let you know that I am one of those parents.
I also happen to be black.
So for the gentleman who thought that only white people were against masking,
I might be the only black person in Hershey who was actually against masking.
So I'm not really sure where
how that came into play or why that was even an issue
to even say to my white friends who are out there in the community
that they happen to be racist because they actually, you know, against masks.
I'm really struggling with why that comment even came up.
This is not a race issue.
This is a health issue.
I really would like to see my son be able to breathe
on the football field and on the basketball field.
We talked about breathing.
Everybody is is all behind George Floyd and let him breathe,
Let our children breathe.
This year in the school building.
It is what's best for them.
It is how we are designed.
I mean, former President Barack Obama had a 200 or 300 guests
that over the past weekend, no one was masked.
And we don't question that.
And yet we're masking our children.
I think we ought to really think about what it is
that we believe in and who we're really following.
And I know people mentioned science, but if it really is
about the science, Barack Obama should have had his gas masks.
It's not about the science.
It's about I'll do what I want to do and you fall in line.
I just want my children to breathe this school year.
I want them to be able to smile to their teachers.
My son has a great smile.
No one saw it last year.
It was his first year in public school.
No one saw his smile.
I, I just.
I just want that for my child.
So at any rate, I know. I don't.
I don't have a degree.
I do have actually a master's degree in education.
So for anybody who thinks maybe, you know, teachers are the only ones qualified
to make decisions about math, I'm
not the first person to tell you that I'm qualified to tell you about math.
That's for the doctors.
Our teachers and school district personnel cannot make.
Health decisions about math.
They're deciding what's best and easiest for kids in the school building
during the day.
What makes people feel uncomfortable? What happened?
The option
My son was looking forward to an option to wear a mask.
You've taken the option away.
That's all.
I'm done. Thank you. Thank you.
Next, we have Angela Wieder.
We had Angela Wieder.
We now have Kim O'Connell.
How can you hear me?
Yes, thank you. Okay.
Kim O'Connell 2405
Valley Road in Hummelstown.
I find it very hypocritical that your
have decided to mask their children for school, but you're all sitting there
in a closed room in a meeting without masks on.
You know, the data says it doesn't work.
I really do believe it should be the parent's choice to decide
what's best for their child's health,
not the school, not the teachers.
The statistics and the data
that's out there is very manipulated.
So no,
sorry.
I just feel it's it's very important for the parents
to be able to have the decision, not the school.
Thank you.
Next, we have Angela Wieder.
Hello, Angela Reader, 1778 Abbey Road.
Hershey.
Like many of the last callers, I'm in support
of making this decision based on evidence
and not the evidence of people's opinions and being comfortable.
But the medical experts, CDC has a lot of information out there.
And like the last woman said, some of it can be manipulated.
Two years ago, the CDC would have laughed at this idea of using masks
to protect people from this most deadly virus.
So I think well,
what I would like to see is all the information actually considered
and not just a few studies cherry picked to highlight
the outcome that eventually we all know that you want to get to.
One of the callers before mentioned about basically staying in your lane
and letting the experts make the decisions.
It's not,
you know, as
wackadoo as that call in to the school board meetings and voice our opinions.
We shouldn't be listened to.
Well, I think he would probably feel very fortunate to remember
that we had many physicians from the med center, from hospital
who firsthand worked with
numerous the vast majority of COVID patients,
and they called in throughout many of the last months in support of
not only bringing the kids back in school, but also, you know, in support of this
masks being optional at this stage of the game.
In fact, we have just a few medical professionals on our actual school board
who have only recently been brought into the conversation about the pandemic,
how we're going to handle it.
So I would be curious to see are we actually following the guidance
and recommendation
or are we going with the majority of people that were on the pandemic committee
to stack it in such a way that would force a majority vote one way or the other?
Additionally, I don't feel that a survey of parents is necessary
because if you go anywhere in Hershey, whether it's to the new TJ Max, the Giant,
go to Hershey Park downtown and any restaurants,
although yes, I do see more people opting to wear a mask.
Most people are happily not wearing masks.
Not the kids, not the parents.
You know,
and and I think that that that needs to be considered.
We have I have a list today of at minimum,
20 school districts immediately
surrounding us who have on record said despite the information that's coming out,
they are continuing to allow at this point masks optional.
I'm really curious as to why we need to jerk this chain so quickly
at this moment to force mandatory.
I recognize just as the last
one of the other caller said, that you've got outliers either way.
Right.
Well,
I don't think that we need to default to the outliers on one side or the other.
Right.
Masks optional should be appropriate
for the vast volume of students at public school.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Is there anyone else virtually
who would like to participate in public comment at this time?
I see Tracey Brown.
Okay.
Jennifer Renz.
Hello?
Can you hear me?
Yes, Thank you.
Hello.
We can hear you.
Okay. Thank you so much.
I just want to thank you for reconsidering mask wearing.
Thank you. I'm sorry.
I don't mean to interrupt.
Would you just provide your name and address for the.
Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes.
Jennifer owns 322 Coco Avenue.
As I was saying, I would like to thank you
for considering mask wearing in K through 12.
We kept our three children home
virtual last year, and we made it work.
We were all willing to stay home.
I think the prospect of sending them back to school this year
and having my two small elementary age children that are unvaccinated,
being in a classroom with children that are not masks
doesn't make a whole lot of sense since we have gone out of our way to
lower any possible risk
since the pandemic happened back in March of 2020.
So the prospect of sending them in an unmasked environment
kind of seemed like we were going backwards.
So I really appreciate the consideration.
My kids are more than happy to wear a mask when we go out in public.
They don't suffer any ill effects.
So thank you again for
changing your minds and just rolling with the punches, because I know data
from one day isn't necessarily going to be true two weeks from now.
A month ago, we were doing really well.
And I understand that, you know, overall, one day
is has the potential to change because the situation with people
that are getting sick are changing
and we're more than happy to roll with the punches.
Mask up so our kids can be in school.
And thank you again for considering
the greater good for everybody and not just some people that feel
that they wear masks because public school isn't mandatory.
You have the right
to put your kid in private school
if you don't agree with the rules at public school.
And we are more than happy to comply with the public school rules
and send our kids with masks.
So thank you again.
You all take a lot of meetings at these meetings and
a lot of people
don't have the fortitude to be in a public forum like you do.
So thank you so much. Have a wonderful evening.
And I'm looking forward to the meeting on Thursday.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else, whether in-person or virtual, who would like to participate
in public comment before the end,
seeing them in person?
I do not see any hands raised
online.
Okay.
Is there anything else for the good of the order?
Yeah.
Lindsay, this is Donna
Karan, and I do have a comment I'd like to make, if that's okay.
Sure.
I just want to say, just because I was on the pandemic call today, I just want to,
you know, shout out an appreciation for the several medical professional
professionals who were on our on our pandemic team
and do provide their expert opinion for us.
We're very, very lucky to have that.
And I'm also very appreciative that we now have greater availability
of local case data so that we don't have to look at national numbers.
We can actually look at what's happening in our zip code.
And I think that's really critical moving forward.
And I also am glad that we have addressed
in that we did address in the pandemic meeting
and that we have a full awareness that there are many students
who have speech or other learning issues that require a visualization of the mouth
and the face, and that we do have special accommodations for their students
like we do any student with with special
needs that we want to make sure that we address.
I also am extremely appreciative of the focus we have
on keeping our kids in school five days a week.
Last year was certainly nothing that any of us wanted.
So keeping the eye on the prize is full day school for all students,
and it's very difficult because there are so many moving parts here.
And I and I as as
I say, I believe in so many ways parental choice is important,
but I think it's really important that when we're in a high transmission
rate on VAX process,
especially unvaccinated elementary kids, if they're on mask,
they could result in a mask student being quarantined out of school
just because an unmasked student is positive.
The only way to prevent quarantining kicking anyone out of school for public
contact is to having those unmasked unvaccinated kids
masked, which is not my ideal, but I want any kid to be sent home.
I do hope that as transmission decreases,
we can make adjustments to that
and satisfy all the needs.
The ideal, of course, is no masks and no kids being sent home.
How do we weigh way those?
And I certainly, as part of the pandemic team, will meet as often
we need to to address the changing times
because I don't see this as being black and white.
You want to adjust with the times and really try to satisfy
all of our goals of no masks and no kids missing school.
But right now, it's a fine balance and I appreciate everyone's opinions.
I have differing opinions.
I agree with almost everything I heard and I'm trying to balance the two.
And please know that we are really working hard to to do what's
and I wish I had all the answers, but none of us do.
But one example I'll give is that, you know, we have a new ad
and I know that he's going to address masks and athletes
because that's a unique situation for the for the parent to express that
and also all the high school or the kids that were vaccine eligible
to get to
a point where they can be masks optional when transmission is low and risk of
of unvaccinated students impacting those that are vaccinated.
That would be a great thing.
So, you know, just really watching everything happening every single day
so that we can adjust things to to achieve all of our goals.
But my number one goal, and I think of many people is five days a week in school.
Next is what can we do to get rid of the masks?
But it has to be that priority.
So I just appreciate everyone's opinion and all of our experts
in and everybody's time. So thank you.
Thank you. Dr.
Cronin.
Anyone else for the good to the order?
I do just want to stress and remind that the health and safety plan
revision with the updated recommendation from the administration and pandemic
team, will be posted online.
I know it can be very
challenging to tune into the meetings and hear certain,
you know, avenues of feedback
and not recognize the other feedback that is heard in other ways.
Whether you submit the community feedback or speak here at these meetings,
please do know that that we receive it all
and that we are processing it all.
And going through that.
There were a lot of great questions and points raised this evening
that I believe we will have the opportunity to address
during the discussion on Thursday evening prior to the vote.
So I would folks to please participate
and tune in for that special meeting, because a lot of those things
did come up either in the pandemic team or the board discussion.
And I think that we'll be able to provide those answers for you.
And then just finally,
I know that this is a very heated and divisive
situation that we are, you know, in a time
where that is just prevalent in a lot of issues.
The one thing I will just continue to ask is that
folks, when providing
comment, remain respectful of others.
I know that has not always been the case,
gets their opportunity to speak and I want to honor that.
But I also ask those who speak to maintain
respect and
say, you know what,
they want to to the administration and the board
in a timely manner, but a respectful one
because it's just not productive to go down any other path.
We can disagree and do it respectfully.
So with that, the next public board of directors
meeting will be a special meeting to be held this Thursday, August
12th at 6:00 pm here in the district office.
The link to the pre-registration for Zoom will be on the district website.
The health and Safety plan will be posted on the district website
and we will be able to have a virtual participant.
So please refer to the website to register as.
We move towards Thursday.
May I please have a motion to adjourn this meeting?
So moved. Maria Miami.
Second. Second Capstone it.
Who said that
at the same time? Judy
I couldn't hear who actually said it.
All those in favor Please say I any opposed
this motion.
I'm sorry.
This meeting is adjourned at 8:35 p.m..