Agenda - 09-06-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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16 1 the freedoms will lead to closing of church doors and burning bibles. He said that is not far off 2 and only a few years. 3 Dan O'Leary read a quote from JFK that said those who make peaceful resolution 4 impossible will make violent resolution inevitable. He said that they are not putting up with 5 curtailing the First Amendment and going after children. He said this will not happen. He said 6 this is not a joke and that the Board is trying to stifle the parents. He then read a quote from the 7 King James Bible, Matthew 18:6, that said but whoever causes one of these little ones who 8 believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a noose was hung around his neck, and he 9 would drown in the depths of the sea. He said that he thinks that sexualizing kids is pretty 10 screwed up. He asked the Board if they thought the Lord would like that from them. He said that 11 the Board should wakeup and that he feels like he is in the twilight zone with the Board. 12 David Kolbinsky said he has been out of civic involvement for a while. He said from 13 1994-2003 he was on the Board of Education. He said that what caught his attention was that in 14 2019, the BOE was having issues and passed a resolution that the school system was 15 historically and systemically racist. He said that came as a shock because he was there for nine 16 years and served with Keith Cook, Delores Simpson, Brenda Stephens, and nothing like that 17 was talked about. He said that they had an achievement gap that was addressed every budget 18 cycle and there was never hesitation on anyone's part. He said that nothing like this rhetoric 19 was ever used. He said that sometimes that the board would be divided 3-4, but they all had an 20 agreement and didn't advocate for their constituency. He said they were there for all residents of 21 Orange County and all students. He said that he understands that there is quite a bit of 22 acrimony in the school system and that the former superintendent left abruptly after four years. 23 He said that he tried to call the former superintendent and ask why but that all he would say is 24 that he was burnt out and he wanted to go do something else. He said that he called a board 25 member that was on the board at that time, and it was worse because all they said was that 26 they would not talk about politics. He said that he ran for the board because a superintendent 27 was there that wanted to do something called outcome-based education. He said that they did 28 not know what that was but that they were worried about what outcomes they were wanting. He 29 said that they were bringing something into the school system other than reading, writing, and 30 arithmetic. He said that the superintendent worked for them for ten years and when he left, 31 Randy Bridges was doing such a good job, that he was hired for superintendent. He said that 32 his problem with this ordinance is that they are weaponizing the BOCC and police against 33 parents to silence their concern about what is going on in the school system. He showed a sign 34 that he was carrying. 35 Jacquie Barker said she understands there is concern about harm occurring to children 36 on school property. She said that the alleged incident that happened to spark this ordinance did 37 not happen on school property. She said that the restrictions will now include private property 38 that is within 1,000 feet of a school. She said that the commissioners can now judge when a 39 private gathering can be considered a public event and shut it down while fining each person 40 $100. She asked what the definition for "school" is in the proposed ordinance. She asked if this 41 includes charter schools. She said if this is about protecting where children are present then 42 why aren't preschools and daycares included. She said that playgrounds will be included but 43 what about museums, art galleries, and parks where plenty of children are present. She asked 44 what they are trying to protect children from. She said all past protests were peaceful and asked 45 what this is trying to address. She said there is no evidence of imminent danger to children. 46 She said law enforcement is already in place for when the law is broken. She asked why they 47 would limit freedoms when there is already a system in place to deal with someone violating the 48 law. She asked where the statements from harmed students came from. She asked if the 49 protests actually came from someone that was at the protests that took place outside of a 50 football game. She asked if they came from the students that were in the targeted African 51 American studies class at Orange High School. She asked if they came from school board