Minutes 06-21-2022 Business Meeting

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18 was because three school board members went into an African American studies class and solicited those comments from students by using video footage from a news channel. She said that the way she knows this is because a close friend of her son's was in the class when it happened. She said she wanted to speak clarity into where this is coming from. She said this is a complete political agenda against parents that wanted to have a respectful protest, a student- led protest, to protest spectator rights to go into football games. She said that the reason that the school board wanted to shut that down is because there was a group of students wanted to go and the students had a certain political affiliation they didn't agree with, so the other side of the political affiliation showed up, and they are the ones embedded with the school board, to try to push this hate resolution. She said there were no crimes committed and this was done peacefully. She said the protest was in October and this is an attempt from the school board to silence the parents. She said that parents have tried to bring several atrocities to their attention. She said they have brought concerns of pornography in books and school grades. She asked if the commissioners knew that Orange County is the third highest ranked school system in the state of North Carolina on per pupil spending. She said they spend $20,000 more per student and their graduation rates are 3% lower, but they're worried about protests on the side of the road instead of the education of children. She said they are watching and will pay close attention. She said that citizens are holding them accountable and that she does not agree with the attorney's assessment on the infringement of their free speech. She said to tread lightly on the vote and to honor their country. Gretchen Schmid said 1,000 feet is not on school property and not part of non-public forum. She said that the impetus to regulate freedoms of speech seems to have been inspired by claims of illegal activity and endangerment of students near school property. She said these claims are being made from a school board where none of its members were present, except for one and that she was ironically chased by them as they were yelling fascist at her while she was passing out a small card that had information about a parent research project. She said there are 700 people and counting, who have thanked OCS Truth for parents gathering and disseminating that information. She said that society has a system for dealing with law breakers and there have been none in the stories that have been shared. She said it is important to ask why parents and community members were coming out to exercise their First Amendment rights in the first place. She said that it is because they do not feel safe sending children to school where there are assignments describing illicit, abusive, and erotic sexual behaviors and acts. She said that parents do not feel safe that their child's private medical information is not shared school wide, and then they are being bullied, intimidated, and ostracized by staff and peers when personal information has been shared. She said that parents to not feel safe when their children are attempting to learn in a polarized environment, dressed in emblems and symbols of actual events that have led to billions of dollars of damage and the destruction of private and public property as well as documented attacks on individuals, some of which ended in death. She said that parents do not feel safe sending their kids to a place where they are attempting to learn in an environment where content depicting rape, incest in children, providing sexual acts for adults are displayed in a prominent spot on a library shelf. She said that parents do not feel safe when their children are being shoved in the hall and into lockers after they have expressed religious beliefs. She said that parents came out in force as soon as the school board meetings were happening live again. She said that the OCS school board has established a reputation of distancing itself from the people and suppressing their attempts at expressing their beliefs. She said that it is imperative this body hold to the supreme law of the land. She said that it was said at the last meeting that they are not trying to control but rather to restrict. She said that the definition of restrict is to prohibit and that whether it is restrict or control, both are restricting of freedoms of speech.