Board of Education — August 19, 2025

I think it's running out of ink. I would like to call this meeting to order at 6 o'clock. Thank you all for coming. Let's start out with a pledge.

Everybody please rise. Hands over your hearts. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Here. Here. Here. Here.

SECOND. AYE.

IS THERE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM JUNE 24, 2025 AND JULY 8, 2025, THE BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR MEETINGS? AND JULY 22, 2025, THE SPECIAL BOARD MEETING WORKSHOP. SO MOVED. SECOND.

Okay. And I'm sorry, and also the July 15th, 2025 meeting. So moved. Patty did. Oh, sorry.

Any discussion? Call for the vote.

One second. Okay.

Yes.

Thank you.

In closed session, the board unanimously took action to accept the superintendent's recommendation to appoint Douglas Covey to the position of facilities project manager under business services effective August 20th, 2025 at step two of the management team's salary schedule. Dan, are you here? Yes. Do you want to come up and say something?

Oh, yeah, I'm here.

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to jump into facilities and start making everything better for all those sites.

Thank you. Welcome. Welcome to your new job.

All right, moving on to public participation. As court president, I want to begin by acknowledging the importance of this space as a forum for public engagement. Our meetings are designed to conduct the essential business of the district, provide transparency, and offer the community an opportunity to share thoughts, concerns, and ideas with their elected representatives. We recognize and value the role of public comment in strengthening our schools and our government. We welcome diverse perspectives and we want this to remain a place where all voices can be heard respectfully and constructively. That said, I want to remind everyone that disruptions during the meeting will not be tolerated. In order to maintain a safe and orderly and productive environment, we ask all attendees to please be mindful of the norms of civil discourse. This includes refraining from personal attacks, maintaining appropriate language and tone, and respecting time limits during public comment. If disruptions continue, individuals may be asked to leave or escorted from the meeting in order to maintain a respectful and orderly environment. Our commitment is to listen. Every member of this board is here to serve the students, families, and staff of Brothers Unified. We appreciate your presence, your input, and your partnership as we work together to support the success and well-being of every student in our district. And I just have something I want to say before we begin. First of all, we have how many speakers tonight? We have about 118.

118. 118.

Okay, so timeline will be a minute to nine. While we already have policies in place, the original board policy and administrative regulation, 1312.2, were put in place in February of 1995 and have not been updated in 30 years. I consistently supported an addition sexually explicit materials out of the libraries and classrooms since I was appointed to this board in 2019. I have the conviction that children should not be subjected to this material. Our public TK through 12 school district must remain a place of learning, safety, and respect for all students. That means upholding standards that protect every child, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality.

I apologize, but is this a personal statement or a board comment? I just . Then can we do it under board comments so that it's not sounding like . It's just because you're president of the board and it sounds like it's coming from the board.

No problem. Members of the public, we address the board on matters within its jurisdiction by submitting a completed registration card. of the public comments on agenda items. This is not a forum for debate. Policy-related complaints will be referred to the superintendent. We call the speaker to make her seat to the podium, state your names and trustee area, and speak for the allotted time, which is one minute tonight. And now, I think we'll have our first speaker.

Yeah.

I'm going to call them by three. The first three is Art Gomez, one card, Isabella Kittle, Nicholas Kittle.

Welcome, Marks.

Hi, my name is Art Gomez, and I would like to ask if there's any young children in the room to leave immediately. That's about what I'm about to read. So this is from the book, this is from the book Push, page 127. A hump, a hump, he slammed his hips into me hard. I screamed pain, he come. He slapped my thighs like cowboys do horses on TV. Shiver, orgasm in me, his body shaking, grab me, call me fat mama, big hole, you love it. Say you love it. I want to say I don't, but my vagina popping like grease in a frying pan. He slammed in me again, his penis soft, he starts sucking my boobs. And I just want to let you know that that was, I changed some of the words. I changed, and that is in two libraries, two schools, two of your high schools. If this was a movie, it would be considered rated X, and not one kid in the district would be allowed to watch it. Thank you.

Just a point of order. Point of order.

Before the next speaker speaks, please, really quick. If I could have everybody's attention, please.

Oh, hi.

No, just a second, please. One second. I'm sorry. Just one second. Just trying to make sure that we can know what we expect, okay? When you come to the podium... You're addressing the board. As soon as anybody at the podium wants to talk to the audience, then the audience wants to respond. So we need to stay consistent with that. Please, if you're going to speak, speak to the board. You have every opportunity to tell the board how you feel. Nobody has any right to tell anybody to leave or to comment or to say something to the audience. You're talking to the board. That is your given right, so please do that. We are going to be stopping speakers if there is disruption, and we will have to clear the room if we have to. We want everybody to speak their minute without being interrupted, so if you need to help us when you come to the podium, Don't talk to the audience. Talk to us. Thank you.

Hello. I'm speaking to you as a student of RHS and a reader, and I believe it has never been clearer than now that books should not be banned. I'm commenting on AR 1312.2, just to clarify. The ban is obviously targeting books centered on the struggles of minorities, and during a time where there's a lack of empathy for these targeted groups, we need people to read these books more than ever. The ban itself is not even harming readers solely. It will harm our school, stripping away necessary funding from our classrooms and harming teachers and students alike. We are not in a dystopian society that is unconstitutional. So please, hear me and my fellow students, please. Please keep your hands off our books.

Good evening. My name is Nicholas Kittle, Redlands High School class of 2025, currently a student at Crafton. I fell in love with reading in Redlands schools. The books I found here helped me understand history, science, and maybe most importantly, people who aren't like me. Some of those same titles are being challenged under AR 1312.2. That is personal to me and to the thousands of students who are still discovering who they are. Across the country, most challenges don't start with a kid or a classroom. They come from organized campaigns. And when policies say remove first, review later, students lose access right away. That's a ban in practice, even if you call it pending investigation. The First Amendment protects our school libraries from removing books just because adults dislike the ideas in them. California law also requires that our materials include diverse perspectives. We should be expanding access, not shrinking it. AR 13.2 has written, invites viewpoint-based censorship with vague terms and automatic removals. That's a litigation magnet and a disservice. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Pat Mulder with two cards, Gina Porter, and Sue...

Quick question first. Michelle, can you hear me? Okay, making sure because I can't tell from the last couple of meetings. In looking at the AR 1312.2, vagueness is a problem in this board. So let's return to a definition that Candy had read before, which is what is obscenity? Things that are considered offensive but lack literary and artistic merit. And if you want a car fix, don't come to me. But if you want to find out things that have literary merit, come to me and come to the librarians because we're trained. I'm not going to operate syringes. Don't operate books and don't tell us books that are award-winning books that have teachers helping students critical thinking year after year and help them pass the AP. Our scores are going to go down. You guys realize that. I hope you do. Who is best suited to judge these things? We train professionals, know what works, help students question. And yes, they can be challenging, but life is. Life is complex, and students deserve to be able to understand the complexity. Which leads me to my second point. Ours is a world of complexity. No, this is the second card. My turn. Thank you. Our world is a world of complexity. And what you're asking for is leave it to beaver. Our world of complexity is multicultural, multi-gendered, multi-age, multi-faith. Gay people exist. Immigrant people exist. And you want to ban books like Heartstopper, two guys holding hands. Seriously, what is the problem? We do not live in leave it to beaver. We have separation of church and state. To pretend that this world our children need to navigate is simplistic. You are lying to them. You are telling them that life is just simple. We want to get rid of all challenge. If they don't see words that show the world as it is with, yes, sometimes it's violence. Our history is violent. To deny it, to sanitize it, that's not truth. That's propaganda. So please don't make our children try to suck up propaganda. A complexity and complexion-free fantasy land is not what they need.

My name is Gina Porter. I'm the teacher librarian at Citrus Valley High School. I'm here about AR 1312.2. As a librarian, as a parent, I oppose any efforts to censor or suppress reading materials. The inclusion of new language creating separate removal and review criteria for perceived pornographic content is especially concerning because opinions about what is offensive or obscene are so very subjective. Besides the established criteria that we already have for selecting books, one thing that we also take into consideration is whether or not materials would pass the three criteria established by the 1973 case law in Miller v. California. The first set of criteria establishes that whether the average person applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prairie in interest. So that's something that we consider. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. I'm a parent to an RGS student and a COPE student. I wish you would ask everybody speaking how they're connected to this community. I think what we need is a reintroduction to empathy. Empathy does not mean catering to white Christian boys and their fragile egos only. Empathy means caring for and trying to understand people different from yourself. banning LGBTQ books, which is the purpose of Jeannette's And Candy's policies is telling the most vulnerable students that they are not wanted and they do not belong. The school board has vowed to protect all students. Targeting one group like this is the opposite. Empathy means listening to all of us, not just your peers, not just those that think like you. Our students, my kids, deserve to see themselves on the shelves of their school libraries.

Next, we have Quinn Shea with three cards, Jean, and then Erica Grossman with three cards.

Hello. Please hold. Do not start my timer yet. Thank you. I'd first like to start on board agenda area 11 item A. Approve 13 members of the Rev Boys Water to travel by car to Santa Barbara to participate in the water polo invitational. This is a good item and should be approved as soon as possible. This item would allow teens and young adults to participate in competitive activities on behalf of their school. If the students like doing it, they should be allowed to, no matter who they are. If they like doing the sport, then let them do it. Go right ahead. Vote yes. Can you please pause my timer? Thank you. I'd also like to talk on... My bad. I'd also like to talk on Board Policy 6000. For heaven's sake, you guys, what is it with this board and revisions? First you revised some perfectly good policies, now you're just allowing censorship in our schools and banning books because they have a tiny bit of LGBTQIA+, and it is just shameful. Take one of the books you're attempting to ban, which is that most middle schools and high schools, the book Heartstopper, states that it tells the story of Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson, two teenage boys who attend a fictional school. They meet... and fall in love. What about this is pornography? A book where two boys fall in love is not pornography. It is a beautiful thing. The book calls itself an exploration of love, identity, and self-acceptance. Hey, why do you want to ban this book? Kids might relate to it. So what? We've always been here and we'll continue to be here no matter what. Also, have you seen the letters Alexander Hamilton wrote to John Lawrence? Surprise, those were love letters wrote between the two. Alexander Hamilton was gay and you cannot remove that. No, because it was history. Shame on you, board. Keep our friends safe. Keep our kids safe. Stop censorship and vote no. I'd also like to talk on item B, also known as 1312.2. Dear gosh, I can't believe we don't have to fight for this. If this policy is passed, it would allow a policy to perpetually ban books. It wouldn't value librarians and would just overall be censorship, which I'm not sure if this board knew, but it is illegal according to California law AB 1078, a law designed to prohibit book banning in schools and ensure students have access to diverse instructional materials for goodness sakes, board, come on. This board's already losing a lot of money from lawsuits and much more. Vote no. Don't allow censorship. Michelle, you should know much better than that. Get ready for the lawsuits. Candy, you must resign.

Welcome, Jean.

Yes, hi. Good evening. I'm representing Area 4 with Melissa. I'm a parent. I'm a retired employee of RUSD. And I'm talking on AR 1312.2. This policy change is unnecessary. We have California law 2023 AB 1078. This policy change will waste time and money, our taxpayer money, in the court system wasting our usd taxpayer money instead of our money going to educating and supporting students needs they are wasting our money this is a clear effort by candy olsen jeanette wilson and michelle rendler to bankrupt our school system and become privatized, vouchered education. They are serving only their personal ideology. Thank you, Jean.

Welcome, Erica.

Thanks.

Before moving forward with this book policy, you must disclose the implementation costs and explain how they will be funded. We anticipate a significant number of book challenges across schools. Presumably, principals and committee members will be reading numerous titles outside of regular work hours, which may require overtime pay. Additionally, what are the criteria for selecting community members for review committee? Will they receive compensation? You're using taxpayer money to advance a personal agenda, so you owe the public clear answers before proceeding. With a limited budget and so many urgent needs across our schools, it is extremely reckless to divert funds towards something that serves no one but your personal ideology. You're well aware that the district is consistently short on professionals due to inadequate wages. When I worked as a parent in a special education classroom, I was constantly pulled out to cover one-on-one vacancies. As a result, I couldn't support my teacher. The books Candy and Jeanette want to ban aren't pornography. This book tells the story of a victim of trafficking and rape, real atrocities that are still happening today. It's a powerful and appropriate read for high school students. Did you even read this? You're cherry-picking a few provocative lines, ignoring context, and twisting them into something they're not. Your argument is that a book about rape would make students sexually aggressive. By that logic, books containing any violence would make students violent. You're not just insulting students who love to read. You're exposing your own lack of reasoning, especially ironic considering today's teens are less sexually active than your generation. You reminded me of a boy in my eighth grade classroom in Japan. When we first started learning English, we received our first English dictionary. He immediately searched for English words that was dirty and sexual, then exactly declared that English language was extremely naughty.

Next, we have Reverend... No, I have a third one.

I'm so sorry.

I urge the district to uphold its Title IX to address potential violations, especially those that are time-sensitive. Residence USD's policy is clear. No district student or employees shall be excluded, denied benefits, or subject to harassment or discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, or expression. That includes the school board. Several Title IX complaints could have been avoided if you followed the law. Candy invited someone who mocks women as commie chicks and comments on their bodies. Candy herself joked about fellow board members' physical appearances. You seriously need education on Title IX, not just as a legal mandate, but as a moral obligation to protect your community. The community deserves leadership that protects students and staff, not one that excuses bigotry and undermines civil rights protections.

Thank you.

Next, we have Reverend Cheryl and Paul Rain, Amy Smith, and Lindsay Smith with two cards.

Welcome, Cheryl. Cheryl, hi. Thank you. Reverend Cheryl Rain, I'm from Area 4, and I have a church in the community that serves children in our school district. I'm speaking against the new policy 13122, as there is already adequate policy in place. Book bans are a form of censorship. They restrict access to information and ideas. Book bans are for political, religious, and moral control, forcing one ideology on all. Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need to see. What is yours to do, board, is to prepare students, it's right up on the wall, to become productive participants in a diverse, a diverse, multicultural, democratic society through quality education. And Banning Books does not do that.

Thank you, Cheryl.

Welcome, Amy. Hi, I'm Amy Smith from District 3. I am speaking against AR 1312.2. I proudly raised two children in the Redlands School District, and I'm against this new policy primarily due to the large amount of taxpayer dollars that will be used to fight legal challenges to the policy. Our schools are woefully underfunded already, and we do not need to divert precious resources for something that is already provided for in an existing policy.

Thank you, Lindsay. I mean, Amy, I'm sorry. Amy. Welcome, Lindsay. Thank you.

Council members, as far as AR 1312.2 goes, what is there left to say? Over the past months, countless parents, teachers, students, experts in a variety of fields, including psychologists, scientists, sociologists, religious leaders, librarians, and legal experts, have come up here to tell you that they do not think This change should be made to the book challenge policy for a variety of moral, social, logistic, legal, and economic reasons. These people are the fabric of our society and the backbone of our community. Do you really think they are all trying to corrupt the youth? I know you want to protect children. I have two of my own. You were at their school last week. But these changes are guaranteed to cause more harm than they will prevent. These policies have to apply to 5-year-olds all the way up to 17- and 18-year-olds. It's asinine. Instead of listening to these community voices and evidence, you've been bending your ear to voices at the table full of hate and voices from other cities like Chino. Why are they here? Redlands is speaking. We do not want this policy. For BP6000, though I firmly believe in the separation of church and state, for all those here whose faith may be guiding your morality on this issue, allow me to speak to that faith, one which you and I both share, Ms. Rundler. The foremost dictum of that faith is love thy neighbor. The voices at the table whispering to you, urging these changes, are voices full of hate. They claim to want to protect, but words are nothing without actions. Behind these voices are people who knock down neighbors' memorials to lost loved ones, who add their voices to groups jeering and hurling abuse at neighbors who are different, who voice approval online for messages of racism, violence, and bigotry. These are not voices of love or God's word. Remember, the devil can quote scripture too, though he does not understand it. Ms. Olson, Ms. Wilson, I am sorry the devil has made a home in your heart. I pray, I genuinely do, that the hatred you hold there will be replaced by God's love. Though I often fear that I may be hoping for too great a miracle. Thank you.

Next, we have... Next we have Lawrence Hebron, Peter Hall with two cards, and Joshua Hall with two cards.

Is Lawrence here? Lawrence? Lawrence Hebron?

Welcome, Lawrence. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Lawrence Hebron. I live in Area 3 of the Redlands School District. Those who support keeping pornographic literature in our school libraries often refer to the professional nature of our librarians and that we should trust them and the books that they select. Well, they may be professional, but that does not guarantee that they are unbiased public servants. The members of the American Library Association, ALA, recently voted to have a self-avowed Marxist lesbian lead the organization, and many observers have pointed to the association's leftist policies. The ALA has an agenda, and maybe some of our librarians do too, which means that we should not automatically accept their professional judgment without critical analysis. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Lawrence. Welcome, Peter.

Hello, my name is Peter Hall. I read some of the excerpts from the books that you guys say the school wants to ban. And a lot of them talk about sexual activities in graphic detail between teenagers or even younger. They describe things like oral sex, anal sex, rape, incestuous rape, and they're very graphic about it. And I think that teachers can talk about subjects like this, especially in regards to that one book called Sold, which is about human trafficking. They can talk about topics like that without letting students get access on unnecessary, obscene pornographic material. Thank you. And the other thing I want... Did the time start yet? Okay. Yeah. The other thing I want to talk about is pretty much in the same line. So it's both about the book reviews and stuff like that. I guess that's all I have to say. Thank you, Peter.

Welcome, Joshua. Here's a passage from Beyond Magenta by Susan Culkin. On page 80, Mariah states, I was sexually mature. What I mean by sexually mature is that I knew about sex. From six up, I used to kiss other guys in my neighborhood, make out with them, and perform oral sex on them. I liked it. I used to love oral, and I touched their you-know-whats. You were young, but that's what we did. Why do we have books like this in the school library? This is not appropriate. Also, I talked to some of the people out there. They were talking about how the book ban is stupid because kids have access to worse things on their cell phones and their laptops and tablets. Well, just because they have access to that stuff doesn't mean we still shouldn't remove these books from public libraries. You're just making an example of why kids shouldn't have smartphones. Anyway, what's the other agenda item? What's the other agenda item? I had two cards. What? 6,000 concepts and rules. Oh, 6,000 what? Concepts and rules. Oh, concepts and rules. Oh, the sexual harassment thing.

No, it's about instructional materials.

I can't hear you.

It's the Concepts and Roles, 6,000.

Okay. Is that also about the book ban? Well, it's about instructional materials in the classroom. Well, I think that should be up to the parents and the school together. Thank you, Joshua.

Thank you. Next, we have Vince with two cards. No, Vince with three cards, Jennifer with two, and Jack Lucas with one.

Is Vince here? Vince? Sorry, no.

Hi, my name is Vince, and I'll be talking about the AB 1078 policy, which is this policy is a copy and paste from Chino where it costs...

I'm sorry, excuse me. What policy did you say?

The AB 10...

That's an assembly bill. Are you speaking to one of our policies? Yeah.

Okay.

Which policy number? I'm sorry.

1312.2.

Okay.

This policy is a copy and paste from Chino, where it costs them millions in legal fees. California law on the AB 1078 prohibits book banning in schools and ensures students have access to diverse instructional materials. This policy violates it and will lead to expensive lawsuits. Partial ban books before review inserts the untrained RUSD board and doesn't value our district librarians. There is already a system that works in place. In 2022, members of the public challenged eight books and it cost the district $20,000. Under the policy, it is easier to challenge books and we anticipate many more challenges. This is an illegal policy that will cost our district major tax dollars in installments. and useless review comedies. Why are Heartstopper as well as many books getting banned? Heartstopper is the reason I am who I am. Charlie is like me. I've already came out and I'm a trans demiboy and what are you going to do about it? Thank you very much. This is a bird policy 6,000. This policy would prohibit obscene material without a defined term of what is obscene, which would lead to a full amount of books being banned without reviews. This would also cost the district millions of dollars because these policies are breaking California law AB 1078. Resign candy, keep the kids safe, and vote no. Thank you again. Thank you.

Welcome, Jennifer.

Hi, I'm Jennifer from Trustee Area 1, parent of a middle school and an elementary school student, and I'm speaking in opposition to the proposed ARR 1312 provisions. This policy will waste lots of resources, time, and money in order to appease a few people who are intent in denying access to age-appropriate materials for others' children. The current policy is sufficient. Redlands parents, students, and employees already noted in a district-run survey that they had access to age-appropriate materials. Their concerns were not with the materials, but instead with addressing bullying, with strengthening extracurricular activities, and with transparency and communication between the school district and them. The fact that this policy, which would involve more of our district personnel in the review process for so-called sexually explicit materials, Section 2, and more people for other complaints, Section 1, means more money taken from our district budget and more time away from serving students. Your job is to monitor policies. There was no monitoring. There was a clear agenda, no input from the community, and we're going forward with what you intended. I have another item. I'm also speaking against the suggested revisions for policy 6,000, board policy 6,000, as it again is a waste of resources. The district's current education program does not include pornography or erotica, and instead this is an attempt at overreach into the educational expertise of teachers and librarians and district administration, and it distracts from the actual work of day-to-day learning of our students. I urge the board members to read through the Redlands USD survey results, talk to their community, read their emails, reach out to people who have different views on this issue, and focus on doing the necessary work of ensuring students are able to learn and that the superintendent and all employees can do their jobs. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer.

Welcome, Jack.

I'm Jack and I'm from Area 1. Michelle, I need you more than anyone else to pay attention to my address. As hard as these meetings may be for you because of the language used against you at each one, we're picking our words carefully because we understand the precedent you're setting. If you didn't want to be seen as equal to two fellow board members who view queer and transgender people as viruses, if you didn't want the approval of their fanatical followers who thrive on opportunities to create a chaotic scene at each meeting, If you didn't want to give credence to Take Back the Classroom's book banning wish list for the district, which applies a red flag warning to books simply for depicting LGBTQ plus content and quote unquote progressive propaganda, if you were on the side of the highest stakeholders, the students, if you understood that they could easily find ways to work around these costly policies, making the clear goal to keep them ignorant of the targeted subject matter futile, you would be voting no on items B and D as well.

Thank you, Jack. Thank you.

Next, we have Kevin O'Connor with two cards, Catherine Hayes with two cards, and JB with two cards.

Yes. Welcome, Kevin.

Kevin O'Connor speaking on 11B and 11D. I'm the pastor of the church in District 5, but we have families and students in all five districts. My hope and my prayer is that when it comes to banning porn in the schools, I pray that it would be a unanimous vote that that would happen. Why a unanimous vote? because it affects more than just the students. When young people start reading porn, they will act it out somewhere. I've been a pastor for decades. Do you know how many kids go home and they practice on their little brother or little sister when it gets graphic in this way? Do you realize what's happening to people within that realm when we allow it within our schools and give permission in that? We are affecting the whole society in that realm. So, Dean. What do we do about this? What concepts should the board have when it's looking at the things that they're wanting to do? We do need to look beyond just the school years. You need to look at how some of the things you allow because you're wanting to be permissive and let certain people feel like they have certain rights to have whatever they think the world is offering. In our church, we have 28 community groups. They're AA, NA, SA. Do you know what SA is? It's sexual anonymous. And because of these groups and all the Al-Anon groups, the support groups, you'd be shocked how often pornography goes back to part of the issues that they've all dealt with when they deal with these things. Don't activate that which will destroy our community. Let it be unanimous.

Thank you, Kevin. Welcome, Kevin.

Hi, my name is Catherine Hayes. I'm going to be speaking on AR 13 as well as 6000. I attended K through 12 schools here in Redlands. I'm a resident and I was a substitute teacher here in Redlands. My grandmother spent a decade of her career as a teacher here at Lagonia Elementary School. I am absolutely humiliated to say I am from Redlands right now because of these proposed policies. In school, I learned about World War II, and now I have the privilege of teaching about it. One of the things that students are taught about World War II is that Nazis like to ban books. Nazis banned books in order to limit the information the populace had so that they were malleable to fascism. Some of this school board is acting like Nazis right now. I do not want this passed in my school district. So I beg you, don't act like Nazis. Don't ban the books. Now on to Policy 6000. I do not believe you are qualified to determine what is obscene. You've gone through no training. Librarians go through graduate school to be able to make the determination of what is appropriate for their grade levels. You being parents means nothing. I've met a lot of great parents, but I've also met a lot of really terrible parents. And I don't want them to determine what students can read in this district. There is already policy for this. This does nothing but marginalize students further and get rid of diverse voices and cost the district millions that should go to teachers and students. This is a stupid idea and I can't believe we have to debate this. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for being here, board. The devil believes in God, you all should too. Sexually explicit books only pervert young, innocent, sponge-like minds. They have no place in a grade school setting. Luke 17, 2. It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause little ones to sin.

Thank you, JB.

Next, we have Joseph Cohen, Rebecca Acosta with four cards, and Aya with one card.

Welcome, Joseph.

Hello, board. I'm sorry. I just have one item on the orange card, I think, right? Yeah. Okay. Right, right. Yeah. And the fact that... You can stop my time now. This book, for all those pornography freaks who are afraid to deal with the fact that their kids might know something, they should take their computers away from them. This isn't about pornography. This is about Jews in concentration camps. And you're going to ban this book? Does that make sense? I know it makes sense to some of the people in this room, but it doesn't make sense to the majority of the people in this country. Banning books, period. I fought in the war to keep this country safe. How many of these guys did that, man? How many of those guys did that? How many of you are? Where did you serve, guys? Thank you very much. My time's up.

Thank you very much. Welcome, Rebecca.

Really quick, Ms. Acosta, before you start, just a reminder, address the board, not the audience. Please address the board, not the audience. Thank you, Ms. Acosta.

Welcome, Rebecca.

I was speaking on BP 9323. This was back when we had 45 seconds. But it was once explained to me by the superintendent that the speaker's time to speak works on a sliding scale, depending on the number of speakers. Fewer speakers, more time. More speakers, less time. However, I noticed that at our last meeting, when we only...

Excuse me, Rebecca. Right now, we're speaking on agenda items?

Yeah, this is an agenda item. It's BP 9323. It's on the agenda. I can point it out to you.

Are you speaking on 9323?

Mm-hmm. Right now? Okay. It's under community input BP 9323.

That's just an information item.

But it's still on the agenda. Oh, it's not an agendized item. It's on the agenda, which makes it agendized.

Where is she talking?

I have a number, a board policy. It's on the agenda. It's literally taking more time than just letting me speak. All right. Go ahead. Thank you. It was once explained to me by the superintendent that the speaker's time to speak works on a sliding scale depending on the number of speakers. Fewer speakers, more time. More speakers, less time. However, I noticed that at our last meeting, when we only had 50 speaker cards, a record low for current board meetings, we were still only given 45 seconds. It seems like despite it being part of your job description, you do not want to hear us. I don't know about you. But I simply cannot pick and choose which parts of my job I get to take seriously, Michelle. So why is it that you do? Is it perhaps that you don't like that what we have to say, since it challenges your mental narrative, that you're doing what the people want? Despite that at the last meeting, we had at least a five to one turnout, usually higher against your voting pattern. You do not listen. The least you could do is give us longer than a fart's length to talk. Thank you.

My next item was X, specifically, or 10, specifically F, Williams report.

I'd like to bring up to your attention a major Williams Act compliance concern for our blind and visually impaired students. There are several components keeping our blind students from getting their textbooks and classroom materials in Braille. The first is low incidence technology. It's not being able to be accessed directly by school site tech specialists for accessing Google Classroom, Clever, et cetera, not to mention if these sites are accessible themselves. We even have accessibility issues with the state test. Another issue is teachers are not providing work in a timely manner to be transcribed into Braille are enlarged. Many times the state provides adopted curriculum if ordered in time, but the school does not provide schedules for students until a few days before school begins. All this impedes students getting their curriculum in an accessible format. Our students deserve nothing less than full and fair access to their education per the Williams Act. And then I'd like to speak on AR 1312.2. I would like to first ask how this new policy seeks to save us money when we are now paying the superintendent and high level administration to read books during salaried hours. Also for non-perceived sexually explicit books, we are paying a committee quite similar to the committee we already had, minus the board and cabinet member. How are we adding more and more steps and somehow subtracting dollars? Again, as should be my right as a parent in this district, where is the rubric for me to look over? Better yet, where is the list of books that Candy promised us so long ago? You all ran on wanting us to have a choice and to be informed about what the district is doing. I want to be informed on what you're doing. And I'm going to speak on BP6000. I asked you before and I ask you again, please provide us with a list of the adopted curriculum with pervasive pornographic, erotic, and graphic descriptions of sexual violence. The adopted curriculum. What level of journeys has the full spread in it? What Singapore math level has the rape scene? I'd like to make an informed decision, yet you hide behind buzzwords that hold no meaning for me anymore because you say them about everything. I cannot make an informed decision on thin air. I require substantive proof. One of the things you say in your policy piqued my interest, and that's that the board encourages discussion among administrators, teachers, parents, and the board itself to facilitate such determinations. But you do not encourage discussion or discourse even in making this policy. How then are we to be assured that any actual discussion is going to go on into making these decisions about our students' curriculum? Thank you, Rebecca.

Aya?

Can we see if Aya is outside?

Welcome, Aya.

Oh, could you... The timer is already... Okay. Okay. So, every single month, I have to come up here, say the same thing everyone else is saying, and then I say my biddings. Every single time, it drives me bad because no matter what we say, you never listen. I have to be honest, I'm so tired of this crap. And I'm sure you're tired as well, Michelle. I'm sure some of the donors feel this way too. Why are we spending so much money on candidates who are in no way a worthy investment? Like candidates who just can't shut up about being a Nazi. So I have a proposal, Michelle. I want you to take a stance. In the two or so years until when you'll ultimately be replaced, at least do something that can mitigate the damage you've already caused. It won't solve our real issues, that being our board and the school system. But remember, we can be more annoying to you than you think the more this goes on. To all students listening, I say this. Don't stop here. Your fight doesn't add to the school board. What is personal for us must be personal for them. If they won't even allow us to vote who lords over us, then we have to reject their authority and take charge of our own education ourselves. Students, organize.

Next, we have Tricia Keeling with two cards, Cindy Nordstrom with two cards, and Jay Raquel with two cards. Welcome, Tricia.

So good evening, I'm here from area four and I really do wish that others would say where they live in this community because we have a number of extremists here from Chino and parts of LA. I actually live here. I'm here tonight because I'm a parent of an eighth grader, a recent graduate, and I believe in the right of every student to learn and to think freely. Book banning has no place in Redlands Unified. Book banning policies will drag Redlands Unified into endless lawsuits. Look what just happened in Florida, of all places. Wasting our time and draining our hard-earned tax dollars instead of investing in our kids. We need to keep our dollars in the classroom and not in the courtroom. we already have a policy that works the same people trying to censor our kids here tonight most of them have already most of them have no stake in this community but they challenged nine books in 2022 and it cost our district twenty thousand dollars how much is this policy going to cost our district everyone in redlands knows that censorship is not leadership michelle Okay. And on 6,000, the policy says that it prohibits obscene material, yet it gives no definition of what that even means. Without guidance or clarity, this opens the door to banning countless books simply because someone disagrees with their areas or feels uncomfortable. Leaving this undefined creates chaos for teachers, librarians, and families, and it strips students of the opportunity to think critically for themselves. How much will this cost? Someone brought that up, but that is a very good point. You have not mentioned how much these policies, these two policies, will cost our district. If nine books cost $20,000, how much will it cost now? how much will 300 books cost? It's going to keep going. We're all going to have this weird book club and do this once a month, and it's going to cost our tax dollars hundreds of thousands of dollars. You really should have some transparency on how much, Michelle, you are allowing this to cost this district. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Welcome, Cindy.

Hi, my name's Cindy. I'm in Trustee Area 5. I'm going to speak first on the complaints concerning library material. Book bans are un-American. This policy will be challenged. You're wasting everyone's time. These books will eventually be put back on the shelves, just like in other school districts that tried the same shenanigans. This policy is not about parents' rights or protecting kids. Parents can already decide for their own child what they have access to. We don't need an extraneous policy to trample the rights of every other child whose parents want them to be free thinkers. Kids see themselves in these stories. In some cases, these books are lifelines. In America, we celebrate free speech, independent thinking, and equality. Trying to limit or remove freedoms is not patriotic. It's censorship. Concepts and rules policy. We already have a law in California that prohibits school boards from banning instructional materials like books based on their inclusion of diverse perspectives, particularly those related to race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, their provisions to recoup costs. and penalize school districts that willfully fail to provide sufficient standards aligned materials. Looking at the books that have already been challenged, plus the other ones that we know that you're targeting, it makes it clear that this is not about protecting kids. It's political in nature. You're doing it for the attention. There will be very costly lawsuits to the detriment of students. You're wasting all of our time and money. Do your job. Stop targeting marginalized groups in our community. Let teachers do their jobs. That's it.

Thank you, Cindy. Welcome, Jay.

Hello. I'm from Trustee Area 4. I'm speaking in opposition of AR 1312.2, Agenda Item 11B. I graduated from a nearby public high school in 2013, earned two degrees from UCs, and today I'm a research specialist for the state. I say this because I believe in the virtues of public education, and I also understand the demands of public service. And I also understand that the innocence of children is important, because when I was a senior, the principal was having an illicit relationship with a female student. However, predators are real, but banning books only silences their victims. Qualified librarians vet the literature, and a wholesale book ban goes against California law AB 1078. And speaking as a fellow public servant, even if there are people in the state or even in this room who may be completely opposed to my views, if I let my personal feelings affect who I decided to help, I would not be a good public servant. This ban silences victims and erases the experiences of minorities in a district that serves over 70% minority students. It is going to waste taxpayer money and it does not serve the public interest. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim.

Next, Lori Savage. Sam Trad with two cards and Jessica Callender with two cards.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Lori Savage. I'm a Redlands native. I am starting year 26 as a classroom teacher and year 36 in the district. One of the things that we teach students is some literary devices. One is called irony, which I have observed in this room because there are certain people that have read on multiple occasions explicit text out loud in this setting, which I don't understand. I have a copy of a great book. It's called Animal Farm. I'm going to read a little bit. George Orwell was saying that a recurrent theme in his work was the failure to protest against the world they lived in. And this is a burden of his longest and most serious piece of literary criticism that was called Inside the Whale. To illustrate this point was that Henry Miller had failed in his duty to protest and had performed the essential Jonah Act of allowing himself to be swallowed, remaining passive, accepting, we will not do that.

Welcome Sam.

I am a parent in this district, and AB 1078 is a law. It is no longer an assembly bill. It is a law, and this policy violates that law, and it's going to cost our district millions of dollars. My kid's middle school drama teacher left our school district for Sam Merdino. I didn't talk to her directly, but what I heard was she can get paid more, and she's so sick of these policies. You're creating bureaucracy. You're policing our teachers, principals, and librarians. If somebody complains about any book, the principal is going to have to pull it. How are teachers supposed to teach their classrooms when they're teaching on a book? Maybe they're preparing their AP students because it's on the AP list, and someone complains about it so they can no longer have that book in their classroom. What about the principals who are going to have to pull it? You don't even define obscene. And yet, Take Back the Classroom, a group that's friends with Candy and Jeanette, has earmarked 360 books already for our school district. This is what they're going to be spending their time on, and it's going to be draining our schools of funding. The next comment is from my mother, who has not been able to come but has desperately wanted to. She's a longtime Redlands resident. She actually used to work for the school district for many, many years. And I'm going to censor what she wrote because she's so mad. And she can't come. I don't know why you don't do Zoom like city council does. It's so rude to our community. In the words of my mother, Suzanne Trad, shame on you, Michelle. You were always a positive force for the kids of our community, but now you've joined forces with the MAGA white supremacist Christian hypocrites. This is the censored version, by the way. You're taking hundreds of thousands of dollars away from our children's education to feed your own ego to be one of them, outcasts of normality and traitors of our democracy. How can such narrow-minded, corrupt, and vicious women control the future of our good and promising children? You're a hypocrite. How dare you call yourself a Christian, a child of God? Vote with Patty and Michelle. Do the right thing. The board has paid out millions to victims of sexual predators, and now you three are hurting our children to feed your own egos, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Thank you, Sam.

Welcome, Jessica.

Hello. We're here again, going over the same exact stuff. You're taking student and parents' rights away under the guise of caring about them. And you're wasting taxpayers' money. It's painfully obvious who the majority of the board cares for. And it's not the students. It's obvious to anyone paying a modicum, and for those who don't read on the school board, that's a big word meaning just a little bit of attention. By removing books that offend you and your delicate sensibilities, you are aware you're violating the students' First Amendment rights. And as you're aware, they do have them. So unless you want to waste more of the taxpayers' money, remember, that's all of us here in this room that are adults that live in Redlands. You should spend less time trying to appease your friends and worry more about avoiding frivolous lawsuits like the one that just happened in Florida. Thank you. Thank you, Jessica. I'm a very educated woman. I know. Some people may go, oh, I'm sure she is. But... There are many books that have been banned and are being banned through our school districts. The book Night by Elia Viesel, who was a Holocaust survivor, talks about beatings and hangings that he experienced. Brave New World talks of sexual experiences and exploitation. Hamlet has often been banned in our schools because of Oedipal complexes. Yet, you're not finding these books obscene. Why are you cherry-picking them? Excuse me, folks. According to Miller v. California, to be considered offensive, a publication must be taken as a whole and have no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. So, the Miller test is how you're supposed to check these books. So, let the Miller test be how you check these books.

Thank you, Jessica.

Thank you.

Next, we have Karina Estrada, Aaron Fernando, and Jeff Pogge.

Welcome, Karina.

Good evening. If a parent doesn't want their child eating PB&J, then they absolutely have the right to keep it out of their own child's lunchbox. But that doesn't mean the cafeteria committee should raid every lunchbox that's complained about and throw the sandwiches out just because they don't want their child to eat them. One family's restriction should not become everyone's restriction. I want to read a quick quote from a pornographic literature many of you should know. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emissions was like that of horses. Actually, that's from the Bible. Ezekiel chapter 23, verses 20-21. If the argument here is that books with sexual content don't belong in schools, then let's be consistent. Because by that standard, the Bible would be one of the books that would be pulled from the shelves. I don't understand. So here's the truth. Banning books isn't about protecting kids from sex. If that were the case, they'd throw out the holy book. Banning books is about censorship, control, and fear, but let's call it what it is, a waste of time and taxpayer money.

Welcome, Aaron. Hi, Aaron Fernando, Area 2, here again to talk about the book bans. So you like to claim again and again that you and these policies are not anti-LGBT. Others have already given plenty of examples of why that's a laughable claim, but okay, I'll humor you. Let's say you really don't want to discriminate against LGBT kids. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Why isn't there any language in this policy that explicitly states that the use of the policy to discriminate against a protected class won't be tolerated? Why is there no language in the policy to punish people who use this policy to attack protected classes? Why isn't there something in your rubric to consider that if something is being banned for being pornographic, would the same scenario be considered pornographic if it were a different sex couple? These are things that should be in the policy that would be very easy to put in if you actually cared about LGBTQ kids, but we know you don't care.

Thank you.

Jeff.

Welcome, Jeff.

Is this on all right? thank you board for your work thanks staff for showing up and helping us board president rendler you allowed this travesty to happen i repeat a very disturbing element of the proposed library materials change please listen this time any member of the district can initiate a challenge why any member so any disgruntled ideologue can run the district Not your board, President Rendler. Not the facts. Not the past. Not students, parents, teachers. Not librarians. But any ideologue whose disturbed personal fantasies ignore facts and reason. You, President Rendler, have one last chance tonight to right this wrong. Tonight. I pray you take it. Thank you.

Thank you, Jeff.

Next, we have Edgar Alvarez, Angela De La Rosa, and Andre Myers.

Welcome, Edgar.

Hello. My name's Edgar Alvarez. I'm just appalled that we have to come here and talk and oppose a policy that is common morality. It is common sense that pornography, we all heard the first speaker and the context that was in that book. We heard the language that was in the book. Is that honestly something that we need in libraries, our children's exposed to? Absolutely not. So I applaud the board members that are standing up against this. There's a lot of defamation of character on your guys' end, but I applaud that you guys are standing strong to protect the innocence of these children. It is just beside myself just to think that we would approve and condone these kinds of books in schools. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Angela. Welcome, Angela.

Welcome, everybody. I didn't get to speak last time. I am in the Redlands Unified School District, by the way. My speech last time was going to be about two court cases, and these things do go to court, unfortunately, and that's just the way it is. There's always court and lawyers, and you know that. So one of them was a case in 1972, and they said that this book was obscene. It was called The Slaughterhouse, something like that, 5. Hey, guys, good job. Okay, but anyways, you guys liked that one because it had literary merit. And so the question is, do these books have literary merit? We've heard some excerpts from the books. And I must say that my concern is that if the books are here... and the library or academics have the control over it, then there could be a time when we don't want it to become a mandatory book that the children have to read. That's all I'm concerned about. And everybody look up the word erotic, because that's what the...

Welcome, Andre. Thank you.

Good evening. These are my words. I'm an educator and a 13-year resident of Redlands. My wife and I have made our USD Area 5 our home for the last 10 years. I'm here to lend my voice to the chorus of Redlanders who believe this board's majority is misguided on AR 1312.2. It is a counterproductive measure that betrays the very virtues that it purports to extol. If you think this measure is not tied to AI's framing of our social contracts, reflect on its rise and reconsider this motion. You claim to be pro-choice on this matter, but are shouting louder than the majority, and outliers do not govern the will of a free people. This measure is anti-Redlands, it's bad for kids, and most likely unlawful. Good people have stood here to tell you how misguided it is. Please believe them. Thank you.

Thank you, Andre.

Next, we have Crystal O'Brien, Mark Laird with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 cards. I'm sorry about that. And Susanna Crespo. Welcome, Crystal.

Hi. Okay. Hello. I'm from Area 2, and I'm speaking on AR 1312.2. My name is Crystal, and I come to you as a concerned mother, educator, and community member. I'm here to ask you to vote no on the book ban. Banning books has never been about protecting people. There's already a system in place for that. In fact, it has historically been used as a tool to control people and deprive them of knowledge. And if you would open up a history book, you would find that those who have tried banning books have never been on the right side of history. I also want to remind you that you are here to serve the best interests of all students in our community, keyword being all. And to those of you who simply say this isn't a book ban because parents can just go to Barnes and Noble, I say this. You clearly have not been in our schools or community. If you had, you would know that many parents don't have the necessary resources to buy these books. Or perhaps you are aware of this and you just don't care because power and control mean more to you. So which is it? Are you here to better the lives of our students?

Thank you, Crystal.

Welcome, Mark. Thank you. Before I started, I wanted to make a quick point of order, Michelle. So I'm just saying, and hey, other side has also been just as guilty. There's been a lot of shouting out. I've been in the back of the room, and I've seen so many people on this side not getting called out. You would have totally gaveled anyone. This gentleman over here. Can you speak to your agenda items now? Real quick, but this gentleman was talking about, like, Bibles aren't in school. You did not correct him in the slightest.

Can you speak to your agenda items?

I absolutely will, but please pay better attention. All right, 10B. As a concerned resident from Area 2, not Chino, not Temecula, not any thing like Torrance, I wholeheartedly support the proposed agreement with SGH Architects. The safety and security of our children must always be a top priority, and the planned improvements to the middle school along with ensuring that Citrus Valley High School is well prepared for any potential disaster are vital steps. Investing in these crucial projects clearly demonstrates a strong commitment to our students' overall well-being. I wish that other policies would also show the same dedication. By proactively addressing safety concerns and potential crises, we foster a more secure and supportive learning environment. These safe environments are undeniably essential for all students to thrive and reach their full potential, and I firmly believe these projects will positively contribute to that atmosphere. C, I'm requesting more details on the proposed amendment to agreement number 25.26. Next one already, I said C. Requesting details on 25.260172 concerning Bryn Mawr Elementary's removal from the portable classroom lease agreement. I'd like to understand why they've been removed from the list of these portables transferring ownership. Will ownership remain with the county? County not relinquishing these portables if so, what will be their use going forward? I look forward to hearing your response on this. Thank you D I am saddened that this board approved some of these contracts with the expectation that projects would be done before returning to the 2526 school year and now we're seeing cost overruns and delayed projects and Was this due to poor oversight? I know that many of our school sites have gone back to school this year and there's been construction all over. Principals have been having to make adjustments. Why are we once again having to look for raises in these contracts? And why are we having to seek out additional funding? We should be doing the job right the first time. And I really want to know if it's because we're not maintaining our classrooms and we're finding more and more as we're doing this construction. Have we just neglected our classrooms for this long that when we're doing this kind of construction, it's going over? The fact that multiple items on this agenda are to approve construction that has already been approved and we're having to go back and do it again. It's kind of embarrassing, honestly. F, so to support the, actually E, excuse me. Once again, for this project, why did the district not foresee that construction, which was estimated to be completed during the summer, would not go over budget or fall behind schedule? Was there not appropriate foresight and planning put into the construction? This board has shown that they don't often plan out or look into things, so that's a genuine question for me. Or has the district allowed its classrooms to just reach a really bad level of deterioration that are quite frankly embarrassing? I know that that was why we voted on Measure D in the first place last year. The images that I saw of our classrooms were unsafe, and quite frankly, embarrassing, and our students should have never had to have been in those learning environments in the first place. And so, although I am grateful for the fact that we have started to address these concerns with Measure D, I do find it a little bit embarrassing that when we're approving projects, we're not able to get them done, A, in a timely manner, and B, on the budget that we've agreed to. F, to support the fourth quarter Williams report, I'm requesting further details. Please provide a breakdown of resource allocation across schools and student groups. What metrics gauge this effectiveness of these allocations in improving outcomes, particularly for marginalized students? Detail the steps to address disparities identified in the report, including a timeline for implementation. Understanding resource distribution and its impact on student success, especially for the most vulnerable, is crucial. A clear plan for addressing inequalities will demonstrate the board's commitment to equitable education and inform my decision. I wish that this board could be more equitable in all of its decisions. Let's do 11A. As a dedicated community member and REV athletic supporter, I strongly advocate for sending the boys varsity water polo team to Santa Barbara Invitational. This event offers a valuable chance for our student athletes to compete gain experience, and proudly represent our school. Such opportunities foster teamwork and leadership, enriching their high school experience. It is vital to support extracurriculars as they provide a safe and supportive environment. Investing in these activities ensures a well-rounded education, strengthening our community bonds, and promoting student success both in and out of the classroom. B, I'm honestly just embarrassed. $20,000, let's do some math on this. Aside from the ethical and legal concerns surrounding this policy, let's talk about my financial concerns with this policy, because $20,000 is a lot of money to come out of the general fund, and we, one, have not received any clarification about what will happen with books that we've already paid for. Two, how are the staff members going to be compensated for their time and overtime serving on these committees? Three, Have you calculated the estimated postage cost for this policy? Because I read quite a lot about sending mail to the superintendent in it. Four, how about the litigation that we're going to be paying out of our general fund? We have not heard about any of these estimated costs, even though you deemed it necessary at our last meeting to appoint legal counsel to the board out of our general fund. Why are we so worried about that? Hmm, sounds like we've got some legal problems coming up. partially this policy that we're going to be passing. And it's really embarrassing that we don't have that foresight. Let's see. C, I am requesting more details on the proposed revisions to Exhibit 5145.71 regarding the Title IX sexual harassment complaint... I'd like to know how these revisions will affect the complaint and reporting investigation. Can you share more data on the current policy's usage? I'd also like to know how revisions change the burden of proof in the Title IX investigations. Will staff receive updated training, especially in addressing intersectionality and biases? This information will help me assess the change's impact on the district and all students, ensuring a fair and equitable process. Additionally, I don't know that I fully trust the board to revise this policy when this board has not done well to ensure that these meetings have been safe for our own students that have attended them. Michelle, you've allowed a student to get sexually harassed at one of our previous meetings. Oh my gosh, I have a bug on my phone. fly on my glasses. Embarrassing. D, again, how will this policy maintain compliance with California law? The community is asking. We want to know. We are the ones paying the bills. And that includes you guys. You live here too. But honestly, you aren't gonna be paying for a lot of them. It's gonna be all of our students that pay for these choices. And so how are we defining obscene? The board still hasn't really made a very clear policy publicly available. How can we trust the board to act in good faith when we have seen that members of this board endorse obscene ideology without reprimand? Where is the public definition for labellious? How can we ensure that the board acts in good faith when certain board members like Candy don't keep their word to answer their constituents as they promised? I'm still waiting for a response from you, Candy, for about a month now, because you said that you were happy to hear my concerns and to answer them. Where is my response? That sounds pretty rebellious to me. All right, E, I am concerned about the costs of out-of-state professional meetings, especially given our budget. How will these expenses be covered? Are we prioritizing these trips over essential student resources like updated textbooks or classroom technology? It's important to consider if these meetings provide more value than other resources. I also worry about fairness. Is there a transparent process for selecting attendees so everyone feels they have an equal opportunity? I work in public schools and I see how often our teachers don't receive the training while people at district office do. Is that what is gonna go on with this? Who are these out of state trainings for? Also, how are we gonna continue to pay for out-of-state trainings in the future if we're spending all of our money on legal litigation? How will the knowledge gained be shared effectively with all staff? We need to ensure that these meetings measurably improve student outcomes. Professional development spending should not compromise crucial programs. 12A. I advocate for Approving professional growth stipends for our classified staff members. I'm actually really happy to see this one on the agenda. They are essential to our schools and their development directly impacts our student outcomes. Stipends empower them to upgrade their skills and ensure that we're able to attract the best candidates. But also, even though we're approving this, I am worried that other reasons are going to keep us from attracting the best candidates. And so I am grateful, though, that we are giving our classified staff members a raise. They probably deserve more than what they're getting, but I am really grateful to see this item on the agenda. This is one of the few items that, honestly, I felt really happy to see. I'm going to commend you on that and thank you. But I was a little bit concerned on the next item, which is B. I did see, though, the proposed details on salary revisions for the management team. And I want a little bit more clarification on that. who does the management team entail? Once again, is that like the directors and supervisors at district office? Although, you know, I do feel like they deserve to be fairly compensated. I would like to be provided with a detailed breakdown of what these salary adjustments will be for each person. And also, I I do still believe, even though those rules are important, we should be serving our students first and we should definitely be serving our classified staff members and our certificated staff members first and foremost at our school sites before we give them raises. And so I want to make sure that all of our staff members are compensated fairly. And so I'm hoping that that is being done, but I would like a little bit more information on that. Understanding the rationale behind these adjustments is crucial for ensuring the transparency and accountability that many of you tote on this board. And I am now done. You can now stop listening to me talking. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Thank you.

Welcome, Susanna.

My turn?

Yes, welcome, Susanna.

Thank you. Hello, board. I'm new to this discussion. I just found out yesterday, and... I told my son on my way over, I'm going to protest. The board is looking to ban some books. I can't believe it. He's eight years old. He's at elementary school in Redlands. I'm a parent also of a child at RHS. And the first thing out of his mouth was, I don't want that. I don't want... any books to be banned. I said, oh, really? Why? He said, because I want to be smart. And even he, at eight, gets the connection between someone else limiting access to information that he needs to, as your mission statement says, empower him with the knowledge to confront challenges. Shielding children out of the, or taking information away, oh, I'm almost done. How are you going to spend all this money defending this policy and then live with yourself? Thank you, Susanna. How? Thank you.

Next, we have Michael Pastner, two cards, Antonio Endicott with two cards, and Abigail with two cards. What was your first name?

Michael Pastner. Welcome, Michael.

Thank you. Mike Paisner, Redlands parent in Area 5. Banning books based on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation is illegal per California Law AB 1078. I acknowledge Policy 1312.2 does not explicitly mention any particular group. However, when evaluating the legality of a policy, intent matters. The discriminator The discriminatory intent of this policy has been documented in an email between our church members, Ms. Olson and Ms. Wilson, where they explicitly say they want to prevent normalizing LGBTQ. Ms. Olson doubled down on that message on social media again yesterday, and I've emailed proof of this to you. You are about to pass a policy that is illegal in its intent. We are already on a dangerous financial trajectory, reserves diminishing $20 million per year. Do not bankrupt our district for Ms. Olson's and Ms. Wilson's religious crusade. Please vote no. Concepts and roles. This policy prohibits libelous material. Libel means written or broadcast words or pictures that damagingly misrepresent someone. Do I need to spell this out to you? Ms. Olson's social media activity damagingly misrepresents people of color, Jews, the LGBT community, and other groups. Claiming you are prohibiting libel while failing to address her libelous social media activity is the height of hypocrisy. When you make rules that you refuse to apply to yourself, you destroy this board's credibility. Ms. Rendler, if you want to prohibit libel, look two seats to your right, go ahead, look at her, and take some action against Ms. Olson for her libelous activity. It has been outrageous, and you're going to try and pass a policy that prohibits libel? Look at yourselves. This is ridiculous.

Thank you, Michael. Welcome, Antonio.

Hello, I'm Antonio Endicott. I recently found out I'm from trustee area one, Patty's area. I'm very proud that I have someone who actually represents me, unlike three of these people on the board. I believe policy 5145.7 is very important to speak about because that's about Title IX. And Title IX is legal. And it very clearly states that you guys aren't allowed to discriminate based on sex. including gender identity. Several of the policies you have been not only passed through but are trying to pass through directly go against this. This is obviously wrong, according to the worldview we supposedly have in this country that law and order is correct. Of course, you seem to not care about that at all. I would like to also point out how maybe the people who are posting literal, like, Nazi propaganda isn't the best to understand how discrimination works. That might be the case. Policy 1312.2, the book banning policy. Three of you really like it for some reason. Now, it's very, very obvious that this policy is not popular. Time and time again, we've outnumbered the people who support it. And even if it were popular, it's illegal, so it shouldn't be passed. You three are a disgrace to our community. You three are parasites on our community. And you three should not be allowed to run for any office, let alone a school board. You three are disgusting. And, you know, you clearly don't care what I have to say because I'm younger than you. But at least me being younger means I get to outlive every single one of you. And I won't have to deal with this. Thank you, Antonio.

You're welcome, Abigail. Thank you. Welcome, Abigail.

Before I begin, I would like to check that I have two cards. Please stop my time. Do I have two cards? OK. Hello, my name is Abigail. I am a 2025 graduate from RUSD. So let's talk about this book ban. First of all, it is very blatantly against California law, both AB 1825 and AB 1078. So let's go beyond that. Say you don't care about California law. Then after that, we recently got the results of Mahmoud versus Taylor, which stated that parents have the right to opt their children out of materials they don't like. If you insist on giving parents the choice to have books not in the classroom, let's follow that instead of banning it for everyone. Now beyond that, you guys ran on parental rights. What about all of the parents here who actually want their kids to be able to read these books. I say you guys need to, if you insist on banning books for everyone, make it clear and publicize on your school websites which books are being banned and in what stage they are. That way parents can actually go to Barnes & Noble. Okay, on to policy 6,000. So I do not see how you three are able to determine what obscene means. I mean, just look at your social media histories, Candy. None of you are qualified in any ways. None of you have gone to school to be able to get PhDs or other degrees to be able to give you the right to determine this. Let librarians determine this. Now, I also want to bring up what someone else said about the head of the ALA being lesbian. This is a nonpartisan board. You guys are not politicians. So the fact that people are using the fact that a librarian is lesbian to say that we need to get rid of the input of librarians is ridiculous. Also, let's notice that about half the people in this room support your policies, and yet none of them are talking. The reason is they are not from here. They don't even know what we are talking about, half of them. Thank you.

Next, we have Valerie Savis, followed by Braxton Foley and John Beer.

Welcome, Valerie.

Thank you.

So 1312-2, by the way, I've been a Redlands resident for 25 years. So 1312-2 is not a book ban. It's a review policy to keep inappropriate material out of kids' hands. This isn't about targeting authors. It's about protecting children. Jeanette and Candy ran on this issue. Their communities backed them, and thankfully they won. Disagreeing with each other, they won. They won. They won.

Really? You want to talk to me? Why are you talking to me? Valerie.

Valerie. Valerie. Disagreeing with each other doesn't make someone a Nazi, which is the name the left-wing extremists like to call parents or anyone that disagrees with them. To be clear on definitions, book banning is when the government wipes a book off the shelves so no one can ever read it. Not happening here. The word Nazi is someone who was a member of Hitler's regime, responsible for mass persecution and genocide. Again, not happening here. Thank you, Valerie. No, she interrupted me. What is happening here is simple. She interrupted me. What is happening here is simple. The board members most interested in protecting children are doing just that. It's not banning. It's called common sense.

She's done. Thank you. Welcome Braxton. Please sit down. If everyone can please calm down. No, she didn't. She said talk to the hand. Point of order.

Point of order, Michelle. Point of order, Michelle. The point I want to make is several of the comments started with the audience.

If we can't be civil, I'm going to clear the room. Thank you. Braxton.

Thank you, Ms. Rundler. As a student of RUSD and someone that lives in the school district, I stood here for three years ago and pointed out what was happening in these books. I read directly from Beyond Magenta where it says, from six, I used to kiss other guys in my neighborhood, make out with them, and perform oral sex on them. I like it. I used to love oral. This isn't about banning books. This is about taking out pornographic material from our libraries. Can you please pause my time? They're allowed to interrupt, and I can't give my speech. And I'm a student, and there are old people that are just here. I'm waiting for my time to be stopped.

Just keep going, and we'll add five seconds. Please, audience, please don't talk to the speaker.

Thank you. I brought this to your attention years ago, and now because of that fight, we're finally seeing action. Candy Olson, Jeanette Wilson, and Michelle Rendler have led with courage and are standing up for this truth. Don't apologize, don't get bullied, and don't back down. Protecting kids from pornography is not censorship, it's common sense. Thank you guys for standing up for the truth.

Welcome, John.

Good evening, board members. My name is John Paul Beer, and I'm here today to encourage you to vote yes on measure AR13-2. The founding fathers understood that there is a difference between freedom of speech and license to speech. Freedom is the ability to choose good, as defined by Thomas Locke and Jefferson. License is the ability to do whatever you want to whomever you want. Our founding fathers wisely realized that license would lead to anarchy, and the imposing of one man's will over another's rights. When I read the excerpts of the books in question tonight, I see that what can only be described as license, rape, incest, graphic sexual violence, and other atrocious behavior we have treated as criminal since the days of old Rome. These books teach children it's okay to impose sexual desires on others in spite of their innate human rights. So I encourage you to follow in the footsteps of our founding fathers and uphold true freedom over license. Thank you.

Next we have... Next we have... Robert Newman, Doug Houser, and Alan Brown.

Excuse me.

I'm Dr. Robert Newman. I practice in Redlands as a psychologist, actually a child psychologist for a number of years. I was a consultant at Patton State Hospital on the mentally disordered sex offender unit. I know something about the origin of this problem, and I applaud those who are in favor of removing some books. I read now from God's word about temptation and sin. It is Mark 9, 42. If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone pound around his neck and tossed into the sea. I read from Matthew chapter 23. Terrible for you.

Thank you, Robert.

I did one minute?

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you Robert. Thank you.

No matter how many times they say it, no matter how loudly they shout it, this is not a book ban. Parents can go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble, get the books. If there's a parent who cannot afford the books and really wants it for their children, I welcome our opponents to start a charity fund to raise money to buy books for any parents who wish to read this stuff to their kids. Second of all, I noticed how the argument went over the last few months from the LGBTQ kids need to read books about people like them or they won't feel part of the community. Now they started off with they need to read books about people who are not like them. So they want the other kids to be reading about this stuff. And I would say if they want to read... books about people not like them, I suggest Helen Keller, Don Quixote, Macbeth, Captain Ahab, Mowgli, Solomon Northrup, Virgil Tibbs, Oliver Twist, Anne Frank, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Thomas More. We can go down the list of great, great literature that the world has seen. Lastly, when they talk of waste of dollars, shut up. When they talk about waste of dollars, they're total hypocrites because they're all totally okay with hundreds of millions of dollars of...

This gentleman in the front, please. This gentleman in the front. Point of order. Excuse me. Can you please send this man out? He's been repeatedly told.

My name's Alan Brown. I'm not going to take a minute. I've seen this before. I've been going to book banning meetings for a long time. This is absolutely book burning, book banning. The idea is what you're doing is you're taking access away from people who want to read it. Now, let me give you some advice because I've seen this. I was the anti-censorship guy for the ACLU in Indiana for about 10 years. I want to give you advice. If you pass this bill... you're going to get sued. You see the plaintiffs right in this room. When you get sued because there is precedent after precedent, you will lose and your insurance will not cover it because you are breaking the law to enforce it. My advice to you to save face because I found out about this listening to NPR. You guys have disgraced yourselves. Table this issue.

And let it die.

Thank you, Ellen. Next we have Mike Morrell. Next we have Mike Morrell, Dale Broom, and Desiree Rivera.

It's going to be expensive. Oh, no.

I had never lost a ring.

Excuse me, Mike. Hold on one second. Ready? No, one minute.

Thank you.

Excuse me. Douglas, you're going to have to, if you keep talking, I'm going to have to get you escorted out. Okay. Okay.

Thank you, Michelle. Thank you very much. My name is former State Senator Mike Morrell, who represented Redlands for over 10 years. I'm glad to be here. And I know the cost of books cost a lot, $20,000. I've heard the phrase $20,000 used a lot, but I understand Redlands has spent over $42 million on books. Cases being sued from child predators. And so we need to protect our kids and their minds. And I'm grateful that Candy and Jeanette and Michelle are standing firm because they want to educate our kids in classical literature, mathematics, the science, so they can compete in a competitive global economy rather than some of the pornography things that have gone here today. And then lastly, I just want to quote George Washington, who reminded us of a great country, that of all the habits and dispositions which lead to political prosperity, which is prosperity across the board, morality and religion are indispensable supports. So Candy and Jeff, thank you.

Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. I didn't catch your name. I'm sorry.

Desiree Rivera. Desiree, welcome. Thank you. And before I begin, I'm a Redlands resident, K-12, Redlands Unified graduate. So I'm now an educational administrator, and I'm here tonight to take time away from my own district's board meeting, actually, to remind my educational colleagues of what they've heard over and over again tonight, that their book banning policies are illegal. As someone who has lived through many RUSD scandals and payouts, like my predecessor just said, I do not understand why this board continues to entertain unlawful policies that will cost you millions, invest in your students' learning, not their indoctrination. Banning books is truly dystopian. Some book ban supporters may not be familiar with that genre or history books, for that matter, but thankfully I was actually allowed to read all books when I was a student at Redlands High School. The policy language aimed at banning obscene material gives this board free reign to remove any books that challenges their own personal beliefs. If you're concerned about obscenity, please focus your attention on Candy Olson's obscene and hateful social media content. She's unfit for public office. Thank you, Desiree.

Welcome, Dale. I just want to verify, do I have two cards? Yes. Okay, good. Yes, I first, my name is Dale Broom. I'm from District 1, and I also wanted to applaud the school board for pushing this policy of AB 1312.2. It's very important to recognize that pornography or obscene material is harmful to children, and we have a moral obligation from this school district as well as the school board to protect children for sexually graphic material. Now, the definition of obscene material is not vague. It is very clearly defined in the California Penal Code. And that definition was read earlier by another person. It is not a violation of AB 1078 because this policy is not targeting LGBT authors, content, or text. What it is doing is identifying sexually graphic books. Those sexually graphic books may have LGBT characters. They may have that type of thing. But the point is it's because of the sexually graphic material. Second of all, it is unlawful in the state of California for children under the age of 18 to consent to sex. Yet these books have multiple episodes of teen sex.

Thank you, Dale.

Okay. Now, I wanted to go ahead and address further on Board Policy 6000. And I do want to just reiterate that there is a difference in the terminology regarding proceed versus pervasive pornography. That probably should, you should just remove those terms. You don't really need to define what pornography is. You already have that definition and I've seen it true. Obscene material. Now, I wanted to just bring up another point that's very important, and that is that when a child reads or visualizes something that is obscene or sexually explicit, it doesn't matter if the book has literary value because that image will stay in that child's mind until they die. And they will think about those thoughts for years. They will never remember the artistic or the literature value of these books. They're going to remember those sexually explicit scenes that are described in those books. And so that is why when you set up your rubric, you need to make sure that you prioritize, does this have sexually graphic material? Thank you.

Thank you, Dale.

Next, we have Chris.

Chris Grisafe, Arisa Owen, and Sebastian Petros.

Welcome, Chris.

My name's Chris Grisafi. I'm in District 4. And I just wanted to say that it's working. This is what it's all about, democracy, except for some of the rude people that don't show respect. It actually is working. We're getting our opinions. We appreciate the board listening to them. I just want to remind the board, though, that in the 2024 election, that Candy and her other conservative running mate got 64% of the vote. So this community is conservative. That doesn't mean we're restrictive, but we are conservative. So the board needs to take that into consideration when they're hearing all of these pieces that the majority of the people here, because that's what we are. We are a democracy. We're a republic. But we work with the majority of the voters. You're doing your job. Keep it up. And Candy, Jeanette, and I forgot her name, Martha, you are who we voted for. Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome, Arissa. Thank you. Hello, my name is Arissa Owen. I am in Trustee Area 1. I am speaking on AR 1312. People are challenging these books based on a conservative political activist named Karen England's list. Are we going to try to challenge hundreds of books, even though removing them is against the law? These activists will not stop at sexual content. They're targeting books that give multicultural perspectives and anything to do with social-emotional learning. Think about that. Banning books is expensive. They want to spend a lot of money to remove books that help kids learn to regulate and process their feelings. Right on the heels of paying out millions more for past cases of sexual assault, you're inviting more expensive litigation. Three years ago, local activists challenged 10 books. That resulted in two books taken out of a couple middle school libraries. That cost $20,000. How many more hours of our district staff's time that should be devoted to actual issues this district faces will be wasted? In Florida, a study found that they're spending an estimated $5 to $6 million a year to ban books. Do I have two cards? Do you have another one? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, on BP6000, the book banning policy that you three have made up your mind to pass has a section that explains that any book challenged due to sexual content can skip the first committee, which is clearly a symbolic gesture anyway. I mean, that's what this is all about, right? Sexual content. Once this policy is passed, the district is supposed to create a committee to create a rubric, rubric scorecard, and a definitions list. Will this mirror the Miller test? which is the standard for the US Supreme Court. Last week, the federal judge in Florida, who struck down the book removal law, said that the law's focus on books that describe sexual content is overly broad, even going so far as to say the description was unconstitutional. For something to be considered obscene, it takes more than a single reference to a sexual act. The scene or passage has to be proven to be gratuitous, as in it doesn't serve the plot. and that it has no artistic merit. I don't trust you three to understand the literary merits of anything. Thank you, Arissa.

Welcome, Sebastian.

Taking away books doesn't take away who we are. Like Carol from Deltarune Chapter 4 taking away Susie, who Noel clearly had a crush on. This is illegal. We will get sued. Taking away a safe space from us is not okay. I get it. You feel bad. It's hard for you guys to read and you feel like you're missing out. But taking away books, you expect us to go against our morals and try to shape us. This is not the snow grave route in Chapter 2. Don't try to run us over like Asgore. We will outrun your Bergen truck. Growing up is finding out that Sans is a hero and Frisk is a villain in the genocide route. You might think we are the villain, but we are really stopping you from killing everyone else. In every other route, Sans is a good guy. So don't take away our books. We will stay determined. Which is also why you should quit candy.

Next.

Next. Next we have Chris Clotis, Susan Leonard, and Juno B.

Welcome, Chris.

My name is Chris Claudus. I am a resident of Redlands, a retired public school teacher, a school board member, and grandfather to four RUSD students, one of whom, Antonio Endicott, just handed you your head on a plate. Your book banning policy has once again been altered since the last meeting. At that meeting, you made a good faith effort to define what sexually explicit means. Obviously, these descriptions would make it impossible for you to target the books you actually want to ban. books that present a dispassionate view of the very lifestyles you so desperately fear and which you so desperately wish to erase. This is political censorship, pure and simple. Your policy continues to allow anyone who doesn't like anyone to ban books from everyone. And to make matters worse, the committee now has 60 days to evaluate a complaint rather than 45, during which time the book will be removed from the shelves anyway. Thank you, Chris.

Thank you.

Welcome, Suzanne. Oh, hi. Yeah, I live in Redlands. Okay, so I want to address AR 1312.2. And I believe that the student should have access to books that help students work through issues in their lives and also address diverse perspectives in life. So I was able to view the books that are supposedly obscene online in the school district. These books are appropriate, not obscene or pornographic. I read sections of the books online that they have. They were taken out of context. And they show, anyway, some salacious comments that are in the book. But that's not pornography or obscenity. Pornography is concentrated on sex in a book. And it has an overall theme of sex, not pornography. Sex. Completely sex. So they're not obscene or pornographic. And they're age appropriate.

Do you have a second card?

Okay, the next one is BP6000. So if you're thinking librarians are incapable of choosing appropriate books for students, then why doesn't the district fire the librarians? Thank you, Suzanne.

Welcome, Juno. I'm from Inland Empire Prism Collective, an organization that serves LGBTQ students in Redlands. This proposed concepts and roles policy is censorship. And evidently, it's not about what is actually appropriate and safe for kids. It's about giving you the power to decide what content is acceptable in our schools, not based on objective standards, but based on your own personal politics and bigotry. It opens a door to silencing perspectives and erasing communities you personally disapprove of. There are only five of you on this board representing thousands of students, and only three of you actively support this policy. One of you, Candy Olson, has even been caught publicly enjoying white supremacist and homophobic content online. The three of you have silently approved of our students being dehumanized by adults in this room, both online and in public meetings. And you have no problem pushing for policies that make children into political spectacles and subject them to discrimination for your own agendas. You speak about book contents harming children, and yet you all have no problem making children feel unsafe in more realistic ways.

Next, we have Matt Appleby. Matt Appleby. Patricia Wilson and Kate Appleby with two cards.

All right. Matt Appleby, parent of a CV student. Welcome, Matt. Recently, a federal judge in Florida declared House Bill 1069 unconstitutional. Reading about this bill, I felt like I was reading this policy that Ms. Olson has written, which is not a surprise, because Ms. Olson seems to believe that writing only involves two steps, copy and paste. Okay. We have already said that this regulation will cost the district money. Now there is federal precedent making it even easier for a parent who feels like we are restricting their students' freedom to read to sue the district. Let's save the district some money and all of us a hassle. Keep the old policy. Let kids and parents decide what is appropriate for them specifically to read, not what anyone can read. Thank you, Matt.

Welcome, Patricia.

Thank you. Hi. My name is Patricia Wilson, and I'm a resident of Area 3 and a parent of an RUSD student, and I'm here to oppose the book ban. I'm concerned that one community member can object to a book and then it will be pulled, limiting access to the rest of the student body. You can limit what your own child can read or not read, but please don't limit what mine or the rest of the student body can. This policy is a slippery slope and will have negative consequences. I'm concerned that high school English classes will have to, and AP English classes will not have access to the rich literature they should be able to read. Our librarians are experts in selecting quality books. Let them do their jobs. This policy is expensive and illegal. Please vote no. Thank you, Patricia. Thank you.

Welcome, Katherine. Good afternoon, board. I am a 45-year resident of this district. I am a graduate of RUSD, and I live in Area 4, and I have a child at Citrus Valley. First up, 11B. First, thank you. Vice President Hollihan for insisting that your fellow board members revisit AR 1312.2. The two revised drafts are improvements to the originals, but this is still an unnecessary revision. I do believe that there is work that can be done to the request for removal form. Question six is too subjective when it asks, is there anything good about this material? Please remove this question as there should be nothing subjective about filing a complaint. Question 8 should support the collection development policies of RUSD by asking for a replacement recommendation that is comparable to the material that the complaint is about and follows current selection process. Your revisions to this policy have shown us that you are capable of collaboration and critical thought, so continue that. 11D, during the board discussion on August 5th, I chose to leave before I could be kicked out because I was so frustrated by President Rendler's and other board members' continued ignorance regarding college board and curriculum. The assistant superintendents have to be here at every board meeting, but they can only answer questions that you ask them. Ms. Buckmiller is the assistant superintendent of educational services, and she can answer your questions about college board curriculum and the fears that you have about our curriculum being pornographic. For all of our sakes, please use the experts in the room instead of relying on your own limited knowledge and ignorance as you consider passing the revised policy 6,000. Thank you, Catherine. Thank you.

Next, we have Shannon Simpson, Kathy Jeff, and Julie Town.

Welcome, Shannon.

Hi.

Hello, I'm a new parent in the district. I moved here from Ohio and I can just talk about, I'm talking about the book banning policy. This is so Ohio. And just in case you don't know, that's not a compliment. When I earned my master's in library and information science nearly 20 years ago, book banning was something we studied as history, not a reality we expected to face. For over a century, thousands of mass-tormented professionals have worked their entire careers to set and uphold clear criteria for school libraries, including representing differing viewpoints on controversial issues and promoting diversity by including authors and illustrators of all cultures. Your unlawful policy violates both while degrading the life's work of thousands of librarians. History shows us when books are banned, people are next. Nazi Germany, the Taliban, and now right here in Redlands, California, where this district fights harder to ban books about sexual assault than to stop actual assault in its hallways. By implementing this archaic policy, you're choosing creditors over students.

Welcome, Kathy.

Good evening. Kathy Jaffe here. I'm a parent of two students at Rev. I strongly oppose AR 1312. And first, I want to draw attention to the books that were highlighted on Candy Olson's social media. So when we say that they're not targeted, we've got The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Push, Soul, Beyond Magenta. These are not dangerous books. They are not pornography. They are works of literature that give voice to marginalized experiences, help students make sense of the world, and build empathy. I realize empathy is lost favor these days, and that's really sad. You cannot say this is not targeted towards LGBTQ+. It is. Labeling these stories as obscene isn't accurate. It's insulting to the educators who teach them. Quoting them out of context is a publicity stunt, and the theatrics are tiresome. The fact that these titles are under attack shows that this isn't about protecting children. It's about silencing perspectives.

Welcome, Julie. Good evening. I'm Julie Towne. I'm a concerned community member of Redlands Area 5. I'm here to speak against the proposed book banning policies. There are three stakeholders in this controversy. They are librarians, teachers, and parents. Our librarians are trained, educated professionals who curate book collections to meet the academic and developmental needs of all our students. They are the experts in this field. Our teachers, also trained and educated professionals, are the ones in the classroom guiding students through these materials and fostering critical thinking and discussion. Finally, the parents. Parents have a right to guide their own child's reading, but they do not and should not have the right to dictate what other people's children can read. Keep your book bands out of our children's education. Thank you. Thank you, children.

Next, we have the Caitlin Town, followed by Patrick and Isaac Villagran.

Welcome, Caitlin. Hello. I'm here to speak about policy number 1312.2. Banning books is a slippery slope to government-sanctioned censorship, something that history has shown again and again is a destroyer of democracy. This attempt to ban books is a thinly veiled hate crime against the LGBTQ community, and I'm here to say no more. Every student deserves to see themselves represented in the books available to them in school. They deserve to feel pride and love from their community. They deserve to have a school board that votes for policies that protect all students, not one that kowtows to extremists and hate groups. And they deserve to see Candy Olsen resign in shame. As I was saying, diverse books not only helps to protect democracy, it allows every child to feel included and fights the plague of prejudice and hate that has been seeping into our community. As a Redlands resident of District 1 for the past decade and a middle school teacher in the Inland Empire for the last 12 years, I implore you to vote against book banning now and in the future. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Welcome, Patrick.

Hey, my name is Patrick from Trustee Area 1, Patty's district, I believe. Michelle, I'm just going to talk to you because it's the easiest way. Candy and Jeanette, they basically ran on this, but it's really not about book banning. That's the policy I'm picking up. Sorry, I should have mentioned that ahead. It's about really just defunding our district and tearing it down so eventually you can just get vouchers. That's the whole thing. It all comes down to that, and I'm really, really disappointed if you keep following that way. I just want to know what you want your legacy to be when you're walking around town, when you're going to Albertson's, Holy Name of Jesus, or the Bull, and everyone looks at you. Do you want to be the president that broke down our whole school district? Do you have money away to private schools? Me. Or do you want to be the one who actually supports our families and our kids in this district? I actually don't know the answer to that. But, I mean, everyone's going to find out tonight. It's how you vote. So please, choose the right way.

Thank you, Patrick. Isaac Villagrana? No, Isaac? Isaac? Greg Britton with three cards, Michael Grossman, and Karen Lehman.

Welcome, Greg.

I thought someone was ahead of me. You know, looking back on it, I have no idea how I ever learned to read and write and do math and history and science if I didn't have sexually explicit books to read. I had such a deprived childhood. And I just thank all these leftists here tonight. They're trying to help the children so they're not equally deprived of sexually explicit books in school. Of course this is nonsense, but of course it's also really serious. As I've said before, they understand what Lincoln said, that the philosophy in the classroom in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next, and that's why they're all here. Parents and teachers for thousands of years have been figuring out what is appropriate for children to learn and when. We elect you to make that choice here in our schools. Support the policy. I want to thank Candy, Jeanette, and Michelle for having the courage to stand up here. Thank you, Greg. I'm really glad that you are reaffirming the federal law, Title IX. Federal law supersedes any district policies, any state laws, to the contrary. And Title IX protects women and girls. And it was passed, I think, back in the 70s or 60s, back when they trusted the science. Women and girls have XX chromosomes. Boys and men have XY chromosomes. They understood that back then. And they talk about getting sued. Riverside and districts around this nation are being sued because they're not following the science. And therefore, they're not following Title IX. Yes, we affirm it, but actually upheld it and protect the women and girls, protect their sports, keep the boys out of their locker rooms, restrooms, and sports, or you will get sued like Riverside is now. In a representative democracy, the people control our government. to our elected representatives. We elect all of you up there to minister the government-run schools in this town. We don't elect the principals, the assistant principals, the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, the teachers, the librarians, and so on and so on. We elect you. And as Harry Truman said, the buck stops with you. So if the librarians or someone else are making bad decisions, such as allowing the kind of material we've heard from tonight and at previous meetings, that you all know, even if you're voting on the left side, you know it is wrong for children. It is up to you, our elected representatives, to correct what the district employees are doing wrong. That's why we elected you, and I appreciate, again, Michelle, Candy, and Jeanette having the courage to do so.

Thank you, Greg.

Welcome, Michael.

Thank you. I'm a resident of trustee area 2. I'm speaking on item 11B, the proposed amendments to AR 1312 book complaints. I live here. President Rendler, I live in your trustee area. You had the deciding vote on this issue. You have tremendous power and thus tremendous responsibility. An obvious and overwhelming majority of your constituents have begged you to vote no and keep the existing policy in place. Please listen to us. It is outrageous that this policy requires our principals to remove the item from a school library for anything that has alleged pornographic content, per the reporting party. This loophole allows any community member to perpetually ban any book, including books on the targeted list, such as Toni Morrison's beloved winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize. Shame on anyone who votes yes on this policy. Vote no. Thank you, Michael. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Karen Lehman. I am the mother of three Redlands Unified School graduates. It is okay as a parent for you to censor what your children read. It is not okay for you as a board to censor what my children read or what the community's children reads. That is a parent's job, not yours. Do better.

Thank you, Karen. Thank you. Next we have B with two cards, Izzy Mason and Maria Jordan.

Welcome B.

So I wanted to speak first on the 13-B ROC. I didn't want to come tonight. The school board has enlisted the foulest soldiers to ravage our schools and destroy our rights under Title IX, and I did not want to watch it happen. This morning I recalled a Buddhist parable. A monk was trying to make a bouquet, and he kept clipping at it, but it was never satisfied. His teacher saw this, picked up the monk's discarded clippings, and made a beautiful bouquet. There's nothing beautiful about what's happening here. However, when I look down at the clippings, I see the families and educators who stand with our children. A beautiful bouquet that you have thrown to the ground. And tonight, this board will vote three to two to clip away at our libraries and our community to make a hideous mockery of a bouquet. And we are reaching down, and we will create a beautiful one from the clippings, and we will make sure that there are flowers. Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. Welcome, Maria.

Thank you. Maria Jordan from District 5, and I'm here to speak about AR 1312.2 and the hypocrisy it is to take this unnecessary book banning policy to ban inappropriate materials, in quotes. These materials come from diverse voices of science, literature, and people around the world. When, in fact, our board can't find the gumption to ban the most inappropriate voice in the room, which is actually coming from one of the board members themselves. Furthermore, I felt it was ironic to receive a note through the ParentSquare app on August 6th, the day after the spectacle of last month's board meeting from Superintendent Cabral and Dr. Rudy Wilson, reminding us that students and families, that all forms of discrimination, harassment, Intimidation, bullying, and on and on and on are prohibited under state and federal law, and that including any conduct based on gender, gender identity, et cetera. Thank you, Maria.

Welcome Izzy. Hold on one sec. Okay. Thank you.

Oh, can I go? Oh, sorry.

I'll restart it. Go ahead.

I am here to strongly urge you not to pass the book ban policy. Please stop trying to control students. The flag policy was crazy enough, but books? Take a look at in history and look at who advocated for banning books. Michelle, do you really want to be lumped together with Candy and Jeanette? Do you really want to be called a Nazi? Are you proud of that? Are any of you guys proud of that? I certainly wouldn't be. So please stop trying to ban books and censoring us students. We are tired of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amy.

Next, we have Joette Orman.

Welcome, Joette. Thank you. Hi. I'm here to also speak about the book banning policies. I am a product of the Redlands School District. I have a child in the Redlands School District. I also then went out into the world and also lived there. And I was really proud to come back to Redlands and really disappointed to see the turn that it took shortly after moving home. I had a lot of things to say. I think I'm going to scratch that. I also want to talk about, I went to Sacred Heart. I know a lot of these policies are being pulled from that religion. When I was there, somebody shot the principal and killed himself. So I'm thinking that it wasn't great doctrine. I love the Catholic faith. I am Catholic. But the way that the school is run and the way that this is following suit scares me because I was in seventh grade.

Thank you, Joanne.

That was the last card.

Thank you. Now we're moving on to board committee reports. Anybody have anything they would like to report tonight?

I do. We had our CRYROP meeting, and I wanted to let everyone know that we had 57 medical assistant students complete summer clinicals at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in the clinics and Redlands Community Hospital. Grand Terrace had 12, Redlands High School had 24, and Yucaipa had 21 students. So we had the most, and we're very proud of that. Also, the aviation classroom at Residence East Valley High School was renovated to optimize space for the new flight simulator, thanks to Residence Unified School District Facilities Team. So thank you for doing that. They were able to. And then just want to let everyone know there was a course catalog that was given out. And I think staff, superintendent, a lot of them received this. Did you receive this? Yes. And there's a lot of information in here. It has all the programs and the course catalogs. And there's also the annual report that came out, too, that I hope everyone got. And there's lots of valuable information in there, I think, that Board Member Melissa Ayala-Contero is going to talk about.

Yes, thank you, Patty. So the one thing that CryRop relies on really is community partnerships. One of the things that we do is they pull from the need in the community in order to help our children get into trades and learn careers. that are receptive to the demand that the community needs. So one thing that you can do to become a CRYROP partner, Colton Redlands Yucaipa ROP welcomes partnerships with organizations that support our mission, preparing students for high demand careers by providing exceptional career technical education programs influenced by business and industry. So if there's ever an opportunity for you to do one of the following jobs, I would highly suggest you either reach out to me or to CryRob directly with the superintendent's office. But if you are interested, they are looking for mock interviewers, guest speakers, donors, contest sponsors, work site providers, referred interest business associates. field trip hosts, or industry advisors. There's plenty of opportunity for our community to get involved with our ROP, and I would highly encourage if you have a unique field that you work in, in reaching out to our CRYROP and seeing how we can open up some more opportunities for our students.

Thank you. Do you have anything?

Nope. My group hasn't started meeting yet. Okay. Candy?

Nope. Nothing to report. Okay. And the Parks and Rec meeting was cancelled this month. So we'll have something next month. Superintendent's report.

We have a Measure D presentation that will be ready for September 9th meeting, where we will give updates on all the projects that are underway or that were completed over the summer. So I'm pretty excited to share that.

We will now continue with the superintendent's recommendations. First, we have consent items under business services. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

Thank you, President Windler. No changes or additions this evening.

Right. Is there a motion to approve items 10A, consent items B through F? So moved.

I'll second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

All right. We'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried. 5-0.

Moving on to consent items under educational services. Mrs. Buckmiller, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions. Thank you.

Is there a motion to approve 13 members of the Redlands East Valley High School Boys Varsity Water Polo Team to travel by car to Santa Barbara, California, where they will participate in the prestigious water polo invitational, effective September 4, 2025, through September 6, 2025? I'll move. Second. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion? Good luck.

Safe travels. All right, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve revision of administrative regulation 1312.2, complaints concerning library or media center materials, second reading? Do we have a motion?

So moved. I'll second.

Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion? Anybody have a, do you want to say something, Melissa?

Okay. I was going to give anybody else the opportunity to go first, but I want to know how much money we're going to let this policy bleed. Because I think nine or ten books cost us $20,000, and this is going to be bad. So at what point do we decide that this is not going well and all we're doing is bleeding money here? So I would like to know before we vote on this, is there like a cap, or are we just opening a vein here? Okay, nothing. Okay, I'm going to ask once again, where is the options for parents who are well-informed on the materials to grant their own children access to these books? I've asked multiple times. Is this a discussion or am I talking by myself?

It's a discussion. Whoever would like to answer your question can answer.

Well, I'm asking the board. Nobody's answering.

I don't know the answer. I have an answer for you.

Well, we've talked about answers before, is they can get them at the library. This is a public school library.

That's what I'm asking.

Right, a public school, not a public library.

But our whole argument here is that it's a little hypocritical because you claim you want parents to be more informed about what their children are reading and giving them the right to what their children read. However, we're taking that right away from parents who are well-informed, and it's only the ones that... believe as you do that we're like appeasing them so where is the option for the parents that are well informed Nothing. Can I get some answers? I've asked multiple times for an addendum, any sort of option. You can put them to the side. We can do an extra permission slip. These are books that we've already paid for. So if a well-informed parent who is aware of the content that their children will be reading says it's okay, why are you saying that's not enough?

Okay, well, remember we talked about this before, where we're not under any obligation to provide material that's going to be harmful for children.

But who says it's harmful? You.

Sexually explicit material is harmful to children. So a parent can, just like Jeanette had just said, they can go to the library, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, a public library, and check out that material. We are not obligated to provide it.

I never said we were obligated. I'm saying that a book we currently have in our libraries... that we've already paid for, if I say it's okay for my child or any other parent, if a hundred parents say it's okay for their child to read, why is that not okay?

We're still in charge of owning that book and providing it to a minor child. And if the parent wants to do that on off school hours, then they're welcome to do that. But during school hours,

Why do you get to dictate? But that's what I'm saying. Why do you get to dictate what my child can read during school hours if reading, which is reading a book in your own leisure, is a part of their grade?

It's a part of their... Well, why does an adult bookstore get to dictate that your minor child can't enter?

Because that is pornography. Exactly. See, okay, we're going to get to that. I'm going to talk about that.

But one thing I am going to say is that I'm very disappointed, Michelle, in the inappropriate timing of your personal statement. You've already voiced your choice and your vote, and I don't find it at all okay that you took your opportunity as a facilitator of this board meeting to air your personal views. If you wanted to read that during your personal statement, that is fine.

I apologized when I did it, and I stopped. I apologized.

You didn't stop until I asked you to stop, but you were going to use that opportunity.

And I'm sorry, but we already know how you're going to vote, and I feel like that's a violation already as it is.

We already knew how this was going to go, so maybe it isn't. But I'm very disappointed in that this is the way it's going to go. But again, nobody cares about the parents who are well-informed. It's just what you say goes. You can call it pornography. It's not pornography. Pornography exists simply to arouse someone. And that's not what it is. So all I'm going to say is that, you know, your vote this evening screams that you don't value a parent's role in their own child's life if you don't agree with it. So I am done.

I just had a couple comments. I've made them before, but I just wanted to reiterate that AB 1078 has to do with protected classes, and this is not what this policy is about. And also... The other one that people keep mentioning is AB 825 relates specifically to public libraries in the community, not public school libraries. So those two issues you don't need to worry about or be concerned because those are not being violated.

I had something to say. Okay, go ahead. As a grown woman, I have passages burned in my mind from reading some parts of the book Push. And this incestuous, pedophilic content can never be erased. Candy, Candy, we're discussing this. It's so incredibly disturbing. We're discussing here. It is so incredibly disturbing. Yes, I know.

We're having a discussion, please. You had your time to talk. You had your time to talk. Thank you.

It is so disturbing to read graphic content about a father having intercourse with his daughter.

This baby... Can you please remove whoever is doing that right now? Whoever's doing that, can you please remove them? Because we're trying to have a discussion and I cannot hear. Okay, Candy, I'm sorry.

The baby was still in her diapers as the story recounts her father removing her diapers and attempts to insert his penis inside her. Later on, she talks about... Sorry, I'm sorry.

Please remove that person who's speaking. I don't know who that is. I would like to clear the room if you cannot be civil. Please, no more speaking. It's not your turn.

Later on, she talks about licking his bodily excretions off of his penis after he is orgasmed. I can barely speak these words because it is so shameful. Yet we have it available to our kids in two of our high schools. It used to be in only one, but despite being challenged, our schools still brought this content into a second high school. I've heard the arguments that kids in this type of situation may find it helpful to know they aren't alone. However, there is no mention of resources in this book, how to seek counseling, or approach a trusted adult, or any other content as to how to escape such a scenario. In addition, the more children read about this, the more pedophilia and incest is normalized and their minds are desensitized, making them a bit more accessible to predators who may wish to abuse them. Finally, and most importantly, there is never a need for the incredibly obscene details in order to convey empathy and compassion. A good author is able to write an emotionally moving account without vulgar graphics. So I am excited to vote on this new book challenge policy, which will be efficient and cost our district almost nothing. This is quite an improvement in the old policy. This policy, many people have asked for how much money it will cost, and if the content is sexually explicit, it will cost almost nothing for our district, which is very exciting.

That's it for my comments. Thank you.

I just had a question for Ms. Olsen. So you mentioned that the books don't have any sort of resources. Would that make it better? If we slapped a resource list on there for students, would that make it agreeable to you?

No, I just think that it should have a point. It should teach a child if the point is to show empathy and compassion and the whole reasoning behind, I hear a lot of argument that it's for the children to help them who may be suffering in that situation. Well, you would think that resources or a way out of the situation would be also involved in the book, but it's not. Okay, but times change, correct?

I mean, there are...

Please remove that speaker from the room. So what I would like to ask is if times change, there are movies, there are TV shows, they now have disclaimers on them. They might have been acceptable at one time and they're not anymore. So if at the time a book was published, it didn't have a list of resources, which probably would be out of date anyways, why can't we just do it now?

Well, that's not the main problem anyways. We all know the main problem is a totally obscene content. I just talked to you about a father trying to fit his penis in his little girl's diaper. That's disgusting. No one needs to read that. No one needs to read that to understand the situation. It is disgusting. So it's inappropriate content. It's not for age group 13, maybe an 18-year-old, but even me at my age, I find that very repulsive and obscene.

And it's meant to shock. It's meant to make you uncomfortable, but you just agreed that maybe someone that's 18, we have students that are 18 years old.

They can make decisions at 18 years old.

So can they not make decisions at 17?

I'm saying that's the legal age difference. It's not a magical number. It's the legal age of adulthood.

It's not a magical number. So what does one day matter if they're 17 or if they're 18? But what I'm saying is, excuse me, I'm having a conversation with Ms. Olson. What I'm saying is, if someone is 18 and would like to check out that book, why do they not have the right to?

If it is something that we have previously had in our libraries, I mean, we won't anymore because you're about to take them out. But what I'm asking is, why not?

I don't think we should have a whole separate category of young adult books just for the 18-year-olds. If they want to check it out, they can go check it out at the library, at the public library. Are you going to drive them? I don't have to provide sexually explicit material for anyone. No one is asking you to. I'm asking you to not deny access.

Denying access to pornography. It's not pornography. You can say that 300 times as you have been. It's not pornography. To you. To you, it's not. Oh, so that works this way, but not the other.

We're using definitions, which were provided to us in the last meeting.

So I just want clarification. It works for you... To tell me it's not pornography to me, but I'm not allowed to say that something could be considered obscene only to you.

I never said you weren't allowed to say that. I never said a word about you saying that.

Yeah, you are making decisions on what you consider to be obscene to remove a book.

By all definitions that we have available to us, it's obscene, sexually explicit, vulgar, and it's not age-appropriate.

When did you become the, you know, age-appropriate police?

It will be in the rubric. They will vote. The rubric will, the committee will decide with the rubric that they have and the definitions they have.

And then when that doesn't, okay, this is all I'm asking. And then when the book challenged, because I was trying to look for them and I couldn't find them. What I find really upsetting about all of this is that certain people are trying to claim that it has nothing to do with LGBTQ students, yet all the books that they brought up, you know, most of them, I will be fair, and I will say most of them do center on LGBTQ experiences online.

But in our prior book challenges, they did say it was about pushing the gender identity and the gay agenda. And that in itself, they didn't get the results that they wanted, and so now here we are.

But what I'm saying is that I think it's really disappointing that this is, even though we're going to pretend it doesn't walk like a duck and doesn't quack like a duck, but it's a duck. And I really am very disappointed in everybody that this is the route you're going to take. And you can say you support every student, you support all children, and your actions don't show that. And I'm very sorry for anyone that has to, any students that have to be under our watch because of that.

I'm going to say what I said from the beginning, that we started this journey. A slap in the face to our librarians. When we get sued, all of you who vote for this, it'll be on you. And I know one of the board members said that was a mean thing to say, but I'm going to say it again. When you each vote for this, it'll be on you. When we have to lose money and we get sued and we've got to use other resources, then you can thank yourselves.

From the time that I was appointed to this board, I have consistently supported keeping sexually explicit books out of our libraries and classrooms, and I'm still of the conviction that children should not be subjected to this material. Our public TK through 12 school district must remain a place of learning, safety, and respect for all our students. That means upholding standards that protect every child, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, race... disability, or religion from material that's inappropriate for their age and their development. I believe in the importance of reading and providing access to diverse perspectives. We must continue to provide age-appropriate material in a safe and respectful learning environment. This is not about exclusion. It is about responsibility. It's about ensuring that every student has the opportunity to thrive in an environment that's grounded in academic excellence and moral clarity. And that's my thought on this whole thing. All right. Do we have any more discussion on this one? All right. So we're going to call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala Quintero? Absolutely not. Board Member Olson? Yes. President Rendler? Yes. Vice President Hollihan? Yes.

100% no. Yes.

Point of order. Can we get some decorum? We're laughing. Can we get some decorum during our vote? There's some gloating going on, and I think it's really disrespectful.

Miss Olsen was laughing. Yes, you were. Yes, you were. Like this.

That's rude. Let's show decorum on our voting. Let's roll back the video.

Is there a motion to approve revision of exhibit- I need to call it out.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Motion carried with the ayes being Board Member Olsen, President Rendler, and Clerk Wilson, and the nays being Board Member Ayala Quintero and Vice President Hollihan.

Shame.

Disgrace.

Is there a motion to approve revision of policy 5145.71, Title IX, sexual harassment complaint procedures? The second read.

So moved.

Second. Thank you, Jeanette. Thank you, Candy. Any discussion on this?

All right, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Yes. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve revision of Board Policy 6000, Concepts and Roles? Second read. So moved.

I'll second.

Jeannette, you want a second? Jeannette, you can take a second. Okay. All right, any discussion on this?

Yeah. I am only going to say this. I've brought this up before, and you said that it was just in case, but I'm actually very disappointed in you that you would allow the narrative to spread around that we have pornography in our curriculum. It's such a disservice to our teachers. You are lending validation to the narrative that, you know, We're groomers, that we allow predators. Things have happened in this district, and yes, it's disgusting and disappointing. But to come forward with something like this and to allow the suggestion that we have pornography, erotica, or graphic descriptions of sexual violence and vulgarity and profanity in our curriculum is really sad, Michelle. So... I'll leave it at that, but I hope you see the wrong that you're causing here because you don't seem to realize that your hate is so strong that you don't see the harm that you're causing all of you. And you can laugh about it. You can gloat about it. You can feel like you're doing something warm and fuzzy and you're not.

I have no hate, Melissa. I have no hate.

But that's the problem. You don't see it. You don't see it. And that's what I'm saying. It's there. You may not recognize it, but it's there.

That's the whole point of me saying you don't see it or you don't understand it.

Thank you for sharing your opinion.

I'm not looking for validation for you.

Any other discussion? Go ahead.

Well, I would like to say to that feedback from Melissa, I am very disappointed in you for speaking to a fellow board member who has a different opinion. And we have all agreed that we're going to respect each other's opinions.

What about that was disrespectful?

I said we're going to respect each other's opinions. Telling Michelle that she's full of hate is very disrespectful because that is your opinion. You are not the dictator of hate, of saying who has hate and who doesn't. And we have agreed to respect each other's opinion. And so I just wanted to say that, and I also wanted to say that it was disrespectful to state that she's bringing up information to the community that isn't true. If she believes there's pornography and graphic sexual actions in books, she is allowed to say that to the community.

Excuse me, but...

So I don't know what I said that was disrespectful. I spoke in a very calm manner. I was voicing my opinion, which you just said you're allowed to have, so I'm allowed to have it.

So just like I have to respect your opinion, you have to respect mine. And I didn't say anything besides I am disappointed in allowing the narrative, I don't know if I need to say it again, that we have pornography in our curriculum, which we do not. I don't know if you needed further clarification on that. I've never heard anyone say that we do. I brought it up when this policy was first introduced. I brought it up and I said, we don't have pornography in our curriculum, Michelle. And she said, I know, but just in case for the future. So what I'm saying is we keep talking about pornography, pornography, pornography. We don't have pornography in our curriculum. The narrative is out there that we are teaching children how to perform oral sex. We're not doing that. I'm trying to dispel rumors.

Well, I don't know where you heard that rumor.

I've never said that either.

I've never heard that from anyone.

Excuse me, just because you haven't heard, you don't see her social media either, but you're going to claim that it doesn't exist? So, okay, just like you don't hear it, I do, because it's coming from the other side of the dais.

I've never once said we have pornography in our curriculum ever. I'm not talking to you. You're accusing me. You said it's coming from the other side of the dais. You just accused me of saying that we have pornography in our curriculum. I have never said that. Deny it and move on. Well, I denied it. I've never said that. I'm glad we don't, and I'm very proud that we do not. So then why do we need to have a policy? We do so that we don't have to be in a situation like the books, where now you have to make a policy to remove it.

So if we don't have it in our curriculum, why are we adopting a policy? It's a preventative policy. So can you just state for the record that we do not have pornography in our curriculum? I said that, and I'll say it again. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that.

Okay, are we done with this discussion? Anybody else have anything? No? We're good? Okay.

Call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Absolutely not. Board Member Olson? Yes. President Rendler? Yes. Vice President Hallahan? No. Clerk Wilson?

Yes.

Motion carried with the ayes being Board Member Olson, President Rendler, and Clerk Wilson, and the nays being Board Member Ayala-Quintero and Vice President Hallahan.

Is there a motion to approve attendance at out-of-state professional meetings? Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? I'll second that. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. In discussion, I want to start. Patty, I have a question about the funding of this professional development that they're going to attend. Not you. Patty Buckmiller, I'm sorry. And about the funding and then how other people can get trained, because we are only sending a certain amount of people.

Okay, so the funding for this is from the Educator Effectiveness Block Grant, EEBG is what it's called. And the purpose of that grant is for professional development. So what this is, is this is sending 19 employees to San Antonio for PLCs at work institute. And the schools going are Rev, Moore, and some members of the district office. Those are the school leadership teams, and they will come back and train the other members at their school sites. And the district office, TOAs and program specialists that support those school sites. will go as well. We've asked each school to send their leadership teams to PLCs at work with the understanding that next year we will bring them to us to help coaching which will be cheaper and not out of state. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

So it's not available anywhere closer at least that's feasible for the district?

There are locations. We have limited our staff to picking locations on the western side of the United States They're all over. The closest location to us is Pasadena. We are sending a lot of schools to the Pasadena location in November. You'll be seeing that coming up on the next board agendas.

And maybe if you could just emphasize that this is being funded through a specific grant.

It's a specific grant for PD, yes.

All right. Any more discussion?

We'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Yes. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hallahan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried. Five-0.

Moving on to consent items under human resources. Mrs. Bruig, do you have any changes or additions? No, I do not. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve consent items 12A and B together? So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? All right, we'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Yes. President Rendler? Yes. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Now we're moving on to public participation. Community input. Public comments are permitted upon submission of a completed registration card prior to the start of the public participation. This is not a forum for debate. Policy concerns will be referred to the superintendent. When called, speakers may proceed to the podium, state their name and trustee area, and speak for the allotted time. How many speakers do we have?

35.

35. Want to do a minute?

So can we get on some sort of agreement about thresholds here?

Because we agreed anything over 20, we would reduce the time. But how many do we have?

35?

Okay, 35 gets a minute, but so does 150. Okay. So can we at some point come up...

If we want to do the same as we did for the... We have to. And do a minute.

We have to. That's what I'm saying. But for the future, can we please get on some sort of agreement as to if we have 500 speakers, I mean, I can see, you know, reducing the time, but if it's 35, I feel like 35 should get more time than 500.

Yes, but the first half we had 160-something. I'm thinking we need to do the same time for both speakers.

I understand that, but what I'm saying, we have to do...

So then what are you asking? Then what are you asking? I don't understand.

Really?

Yeah, really, I don't understand.

That is so rude. What I'm asking is when we have... Excuse me. What is so funny? I'm talking and I'm sorry, but I don't think it's fair that I have to clarify my question. Why is that funny?

If we're going to do the same time for both parts of the evening, it doesn't matter how- I'm not talking, but you just asked if we want to do the same amount of time.

We have to.

I don't think we have to. Do we not?

Good practice to have the same amount of time for both.

So what I'm asking is not just for right now.

If we have 35 speakers come and talk, we all agree that anything over 20, we would start reducing time. But what I'm saying is, so whether we have 35, 50, 100, 150, 250, the time is still, like the times don't match. We've gone to 45, we've gone to a minute and a half, we've gone to a minute. I'm asking if we could just have a clear guideline for the future, not just today.

So you're saying anything over 100 would be X amount of time? Yes. 50 is X amount of time? Yes.

But you're talking about two separate times. We had 160 and 35, and you want the 35 to get more time.

No, I'm not asking for 35 to get more time.

But when we had our special board meeting, we had approximately that many. And we gave them three minutes. So what I'm asking is, can we have, for the future, for all board meetings... We had, I don't even know, we had 250 last board meeting, and we did 45 seconds. We have less speakers today at 150, and we gave more time. So can we just have a clear guideline of thresholds with different times?

We can come up with that. That's what I'm asking. We can come up with that. But it sounded like you wanted to do that right now because we have 35 speakers. So are we in agreement that we're going to do a minute? Yes. Okay. Yes? Yes?

Candy, a minute?

OK. All right, we will call three at a time. Erica Grossman, Tricia Keeling, and Quinn slash Lucas Shea.

Welcome back, Erica.

disrespectful that you were falling asleep during the board meeting last time. That's disrespectful.

So Candy's logic. She likes Nazi content because she read about the Holocaust. Is that how it works? I guess that's right, yeah.

Okay, Candy Olson invites dangerous individuals to board meetings, including aggressive anti-LGBTQ plus activists, a felon that attempted murder, and people affiliated with Proud Boys and neo-Nazis. Many of them have harassed students and made our meetings unsafe for the rest of us. It is absurd to suggest a board member who welcomes such individuals could craft school policies grounded in morality or virtue. Michelle, you're ignoring your colleague's dangerous behavior and her intent to impose a biased personal agenda.

Thank you, Erica. Welcome back, Quinn.

I'd first like to give these to the board. Please give this one to Melissa, and we will ask what you will. Thank you, board. First off, Candy, you should be ashamed to call yourself a loving parent in person. From destroying memorials to banning flags to harassing trans children and saying that a protest that I spoke at was fake news. Come on, girl. Get it right. You made a post stating that Redlands is back, showing a Trump 2024 banner above the freeway. And now if you've seen them, she uses three Ks. as well as showing a boat with a Photoshop name that says SSR3T at sign RD. And coincidentally, I was called that by a woman at my second meeting. You told KVCR you're in it to serve the kids and community. How is banning books, destroying memorials, and harassment saving the kids? The LGBTQ students of my school are ashamed of this district, especially my friends Ariana Caro and my friend who is here today. You should all be ashamed to call yourselves leaders. I mean, banning transports, banning flags. Do everyone a big favor. Resign. Stop adding childish. Oh, yeah. Thanks for showing your victory.

Thank you, Quinn. Welcome back to the show.

Okay. I'm just here to give a petition that the people in the community in Redlands have done. 725 people have signed this petition, and it is titled that our school board should work for us, not silence us. Excuse me, Tricia. Yes.

Can you hold on one second? Quinn, can you please go? Yeah, stop her time for a second. You'll get 20 seconds back afterwards because we just took your 20 seconds. Quinn, you may, because you just flipped the board off. So thank you. Okay, Tricia. Continue, Tricia.

Well, I mean, that's a perfect example of it right now. I don't know how many, like, terrible, disgusting things that are being said by certain members of the room that you seem to ignore, Michelle. It's one-sided from you. And it's exactly what we're talking about here. So I'd like to thank board members Patty Houlihan and Melissa Ayala-Quintero. They have been amazing advocates for people in this community and for families and parents like myself. We're all extremely thankful for their leadership, and that's what leadership is. They actually care about other people besides, you know, who may have donated to them at their last election. So this... You guys are all talking while I'm talking. Like seriously, this is exactly what we're talking about. You're not listening to the community. So these are 725 people. They have their zip codes. A lot of them have left messages to you. I emailed this to you today. And we're not going to stop collecting names. It'll probably get bigger and bigger the more egregious this board acts. And when I say board, I'm not speaking about everyone. I'm speaking about you, Michelle Redler, Candy Olson, and Jeanette Wilson, who, let me remind you, won by only 197 votes in a district of 20,000. Thank you. Thank you, Tricia.

Next, we have Vince, Lori Savange, and Cindy Nordstrom.

Hi again. So first off, I'd like to say that Candy, you are a very hypocritical person. You live a hypocritical life. How can you call yourself a good caring parent when you literally, I bet you that your children are suffering. Now, the board has done absolutely nothing under the president's leadership and allowed a man to take a minor's behind without any consequences, as well as allowing my friend, Quinn, to get verbally harassed and kicked everybody out just for you to have your extra time to speak. I I have been harassed just for being trans. You think that's okay? No. Because I have been called a F-A-G and been bullied by it. And I've had problems with myself. And I hope that you get banned. And I hope that everything, because it's going to be better for the trans and LGBTQ kids. And I hope you get banned. Have a wonderful night. And I hope I don't see you ever again. Thank you, Ben.

Welcome back, Cindy.

Hi. Okay, let's see. I just want to say to Candy, who can't help herself from liking Nazi material on the Internet, and your excuse for all of your horrible content. We're not buying it. So you may have moved on. We haven't. We're not going to forget about it. And we're watching it. And Jeanette, you were sleeping, falling asleep at the last meeting. That's not okay. And Your judgment, Candy, your judgment, Michelle, all of your judgment is called into question. Jeanette, you don't understand why a Nazi flag is a hate symbol. And Michelle, you allow abusive adults to abuse kids that are here at these meetings. It's not okay. That's it. Thank you, Cindy.

Next, we have Aaron Fernando, Peter Hall, followed by Joshua Hall.

Welcome back, Aaron. Hello.

So I'm here to call for Candy Olson to resign for the obscene, libelous content on her social media. I'd also like to ask Michelle specifically, why are you okay with what she posted? Is it just because she's on the same side as you? Because I personally believe actions should be judged on their own merit and not on the beliefs of the person acting. If board member Ayala Quintero, apologies for dragging you into this, posted stuff even half as abhorrent as Candy did, I and everyone else on my side would just as loudly be calling for her resignation. If someone on my side took pictures of teenagers' butts up here, we'd be calling for them to be thrown out. If Joe Biden was Jeffrey Epstein's best friend, I wouldn't wear his hat. Well, I don't wear his hat anyway because I'm not a weirdo. No wonder so many child predators have worked in this district when you're basically sending the message that they're allowed to rape kids as long as they think the same things you do. As someone who actually cares about kids' well-being, I wish I believed in an afterlife so that I could see the look on your face when you're greeted by fire and brimstone instead of pearly gates. Thank you.

Peter Hall.

I'd just like to say that the people who are advocating for LGBTQ pornographic and obscene content and constantly talk about how we should welcome diverse views and opinions are also claiming that the school board is run by heteronormative white supremacist patriarchy. Most of the school board members are women. There's only two males on the board, and I don't think they're voting members. Yeah, you guys are really defending the heteronormative white supremacist patriarchy. Good job, guys. Thank you. You're defending us, those straight white males. I'd also like to say that the people who claim the school board is going to be sued into oblivion for passing the so-called bookend policies are also the same people saying that they're going to bring lawsuits against the school. I say if you're going to sue, then sue. And then when the school board no longer exists, then you can create schools of your own and teach the students in your charge whatever you want.

Thank you, Peter. Welcome back, Joshua.

Nothing makes me madder than seeing a friend of mine get baselessly attacked and their family also attacked just because of who their relative is. Candy Olson has done nothing wrong except... not privatize her social media. And I would urge her to sue Together for Red Ones for defamation and for targeting her family. The mob has better morals than they do. They don't go after family members of enemies or traitors to their organization. The mob has better ethics than they do. I also urge the school board to counter-sue Together for Red Ones now. I know that Patty Hollihan and Michelle Iola-Quintaro won't go with it, but I think Juan Cabral and Michelle Renwer will. So I urge the school board to counter-sue if there is litigation from Together for Red Ones.

Thank you, Joshua. Next, Michael Paisner, Jessica Callender, and Samantha Tradt.

Welcome back, Michael.

Michael Paisner. In the past year, we've had one board member fail to acknowledge the Nazi flag is a hate symbol, another post-Hitler memes, and now we have a person still sitting in the room who's done a Hitler salute. And hey, hey, I'm talking to them about you. I'd like some time reclaimed, please, for the interruption. We have, as someone who is raised in the Jewish faith, I advocated for the LGBTQ community not because I was part of it, because I knew this day was coming. When Hitler and Nazis became normalized and the Jews were targeted next, this is on you, Ms. Rendler, normalizing Nazis. You dismissed someone for giving you the bird, but you didn't dismiss the person who did a Hitler salute. Have you learned anything about the Holocaust? Six million Jews, millions of others, they're doing a Hitler salute, and you do nothing. Thank you, Michael. I want to have a longer conversation with you, except I can't do it in a one-minute format like this. We've asked repeatedly. Together for Redlands represents 4,000 people following, and you won't talk to us. Who's the next speaker? with us. Yes, thank you too. Thank you too for this.

Welcome back, Jessica.

I'm just waiting until they're finished. Thank you. I was going to come up here. I had a nice speech all prepared. Instead, I'm going to mama bear, which, Candy, you seem to be mama bear, right? If you're a mama bear, why are you a part of a hate organization called Mom Army? if you really truly are a Christian woman, all three of you up there, In Matthew 25, 40, it clearly states, truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Is that not correct? That's accurate, correct? Yes, it is. But that just means not unhoused or hungry, but marginalized, overlooked, ostracized. That means all, everybody, not just white, cis, Republican Christians. You truly are the curse that Matthew speaks of right after that. So depart from me, you who are cursed.

Thank you.

Welcome back, Samantha.

Outside right now, teachers and students are crying because the three of you are so incredibly insulting and lack integrity. Michelle, why haven't you addressed Candy's social media posts and likes? There's 31 on our website. We are not a fringe group. Like Mike said, we have over 4,000 followers from the community. We're not manipulating anyone. That's what Candy's doing. She is a liar, and she knows exactly what she is doing. I don't know if you're a liar, Michelle, or if you are, Jeanette, or if you're just plain ignorant. But you need to do your job and pay attention. AB 1078, it is an illegal policy because you are discriminating against the LGBTQ plus community like you've done repeatedly. We have FOIA requests showing your emails. All of this is going to end up in court. We have a room full of plaintiffs right now like somebody else said. You are not listening to the community. Tricia just turned in a petition by 725 people. Meet with Together for Redlands. You won't even sit down and talk to us. And we're over 4,000 community members. Yeah, thanks a lot, Michelle.

Please, talk to us.

Thank you. Next, we have Braxton Foley, Mark Laird, and Abigail. I think you could just come in.

Welcome back, Mark.

There's been a lot of misinformation spread tonight, so I'd like to just take a moment to educate about something not even related to what we're really talking about, but it still is. Tonight, I want to talk about gender-affirming care in schools. Schools do not and are not equipped to provide medical gender-affirming care. In a school setting, we use preferred pronouns, preferred names, and support our students. Allegedly, though, one of our board members has had gender-affirming care. Candy, your beautiful face likely has and requires allegedly more work than probably my car with your alleged buccal fat removal, alleged lip filler, and many other things that you've had done. I'm sure that they make you feel a lot more feminine. And so this is related because gender-affirming care within schools is related to student safety. And we also have banned trans athletes. We have banned books tonight. Those are things that support our gender-affirming care for our students. And yet we have someone who's up here, and I'm sure she feels more feminine for all of the work she's had done. I'm glad for her, good for her, allegedly. But, thank you. Thank you.

Abigail?

Jeanette, you say respect everyone's opinions. Then why did you kick Quinn out for flipping you off? I think I speak for all of us here. Fuck you, Jeanette. Fuck you, Candy. Excuse me. Fuck you. If you have a comment, I have my minute.

No. Thank you.

Next. Who's next? Dale Broom, Matt Appleby, and Arisa Owen.

Dale Broom, then who's next? Matt? Okay.

After Dale, it's Matt, and then Arisa. Okay.

Okay, Dale Broom, District 1. Welcome back. I would like to thank the board, particularly Michelle Rendler, President Rendler, Candy Olson, and Jeanette, for standing strong on this issue of protecting our children from sexually graphic material in libraries and potentially, in the future, curriculum books and textbooks. This is very important. We need to make sure. This is so important that we have to make sure that our kids are protected. We have to restore some confidence in this community. so that parents will send their kids to the public school. This is very important. We're losing a lot of students because parents do not want this material pushed on their children. They do not want the flags flown, as we've talked about before. They don't want these sexually graphic books in the library where the kids can get a hold of them and read them. So this is very important. I want to just thank the board for doing this. And just remember, this verse that was misquoted, Matthew 25, 20, 40, it says, Whatever you've done for the least of these, my brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me. And I thank you for what you've done for our little children. Thank you.

Thank you, Dale. Welcome back, Matt.

Matt Appleby, District 4. Some lowlights of our board meetings the last few months. Homophobic, ableist, and racist slurs. People have been recorded without their consent. Some of us have been shouted at. Others have had their bodies shamed by people taking photos of their butts. And it's President Redler's job to manage these meetings and ensure safety. And she is failing. I would like the board to consider a vote of no confidence in Mrs. Rendler's ability to fulfill the duties she's been assigned. She doesn't have the stern constitution to do so. Let Vice President Hallahan take over as president. She has a spine of steel where Michelle has a wet spaghetti noodle. Our students, our staff, and our community deserve someone who can run these meetings in a safe manner. Thank you, Matt.

Nora Arisa, Kate Appleby, Kathy Jaffe, and Chris Cortese.

Welcome back, Katherine. Thank you. Area 4. So I come tonight to you as a parent of Citrus Valley High School student, and I am deeply concerned about student safety. Yesterday morning, three men in sunglasses were on three of the corners at the Pioneer and Texas intersection leading to Citrus Valley. As students walked to school, they were approached by these individuals who were unidentifiable and given Bibles. If students wanted to avoid them, they were forced to step into the street and into traffic, much like they had to do when the anti-abortion group was at that same intersection in the spring. According to Citrus Valley administration, campus security cannot do anything about these individuals since they were not on school grounds. I am urging this board to work with the City of Redlands to draft a policy that will prohibit any group from soliciting our students as they walk to school. All our USD students deserve to get to their schools safely. Thank you, Catherine.

Kathy.

Welcome back, Kathy.

Hi, I just wanted to address that social media thing. So what troubles me the most, Candy, is your absolute lack of taking any kind of responsibility or accountability. I mean, your email reads, it's pretty funny. You say that, oh, I accidentally liked the middle meme. Sorry. Oh, did the dog eat your homework too? I mean, come on now. Let's be real. Let's take some leadership. Let's take some accountability. Everything you have done since you have been on this board is divisive. It is homophobic. It is racist. We need better. We deserve better. Ms. Olson, your action, they dehumanize people in this community. Redlands students and families deserve better. And Ms. Rundler, I don't know you, but I heard good things. And it is so sad to see your leadership because it is nothing like the things I heard good things about you. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Kathy. Welcome back, Chris.

Michelle, I take issue with your attempt to silence us simply because you know that you won't like what we are going to say. The existing rules of the school board give a member of the public three minutes to address an agenda item, and yet the best I have ever seen is 90 seconds. That still gave us too much time to tell you what we think of what you are doing, so you cut us back to 45 seconds. At the last meeting on August 5, the number of speakers was small enough that you could have restored the 90-second time limit, but once again you imposed a 45-second limit. I promise you that we are not going away. Our outrage is not directly proportional to our talking time. So even if you give us only 22 and a half seconds, we will continue to fight for the students of Redlands. I know that you can see just how unpopular these censorship proposals are. Unlike our few opponents, we are not all members of the same church or social group. Thank you, Chris.

Next, Patricia Wilson, Greg Britton, and Crystal O'Brien.

Welcome back, Greg.

Again, we see why what you're doing up there is so important. The philosophy of the classroom in one generation is the philosophy and government is in the next. Or as your other thought leader said, Vladimir Lenin, give us the child for eight years, it'll be a Bolshevik forever. Any nation depends on the education system to educate the children how to be productive citizens. But also to be citizens here in America that will keep the republic. And to pass on the culture, tradition, and history of a nation. Every nation needs that. And when you disrupt that, for even a generation or two, the nation will decline and fall. A civilization has to pass on these things. And this is why The leftists are so passionate about this, and that's why we have to be equally passionate about it. And again, thank you, Michelle, Candy, and Jeanette for what you're doing.

Thank you, Greg. No Crystal O'Brien, Michael Grossman, Bea, and Izzy Mason. Joette Orman? Oh, Bea's coming? Michael, you first. Michael's first. Yeah.

Michael Grossman, resident of Trustee Area 2. Like many in our district, our state, and even across the country, I was shocked and disgusted to see Board Member Candy Olson share racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic posts on multiple social media platforms. Notice I said share. Board Member Olson's excuse that she didn't see some posts in a carousel doesn't hold up. My timer's not started. These aren't liked posts. These are shares, individual items that board member Olson saw, agreed with, and decided to reshare with her followers. It's not an accident. These circumstances are so shocking that it's put our district in the national news. On August 8th, NBC News ran the story. So congratulations. National recognition has come to our community. It's come to our students, our teachers, and to our board. And it's a total embarrassment. This behavior is disqualifying. Candy Olson needs to resign. Thank you, Michael.

B?

During the last meeting, Candy Olson accused people of taking her social media activity out of context. And I want to bring the board's attention to a post that she made on Facebook. I sent a hyperlink to the board via email, and I can provide a QR code to anyone who wants to confirm its authenticity. In her post, she writes, this was in October, there are several places around town where someone is building rock altars. They are not rock art. They are altars of pagan satanic worship. And she describes toys enchanted with evil magic left at these altars to encourage demonic possession of children who pick them up. I don't even know what to say. I mean, this post is just wildly delusional. And this is the person who's making decisions about the safety of our children. She's not mentally competent, and she needs to be removed from her position.

Thank you, B. Issy? Issy Mason? Joette Orman? And John Berry?

All right, hey.

So first of all, congratulations, Jeanette, Candy, and Michelle, for your bold and courageous victories, for putting up for the absolute bile and middle fingers you've seen. I spent 42 years in the military. I had rockets land in my head in Afghanistan, and the courage you've shown rivals anything I've seen in my time in the military. Anyway, my point, civilian life, I spent 20 years in newspapers, and I've never seen three elected officials who have been so slandered and libeled as you three. In particular, Candy Olson has a great defamation case because she is the target of coverage based on doctored social media and defamatory rumors. The coverage targeting Candy constitutes what we call in journalism is actual malice, which means, you need to hear that, media, actual malice, which means the media set out to do you damage. So sue them for all they got, Candy, not just for the media transcribing the definition, but the pornography's doctoring their social media. And by the way, the media has lost a lot of multimillion-dollar cases lately over coverage far less damaging than yours.

Rain Mendoza, Daniel Tinajero, and Nicole Pizabas.

Yes, Daniel, you can go first. Hello, members of the board. I really want to express how happy I am knowing that my kids will be protected against these all-evil ideologies. Michelle, Candy, Jeanette, I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for not capitulating to this homosexual community. Mrs. Hulligan, if you really truly are a Catholic, I ask you with much charity to put your priorities in order because our Catholic faith does not support sodomy, and does not compromise with evil. Thank you.

Thank you, Daniel.

Christ is King!

Joe Ed? Joe Ed?

Thank you. I apologize for being late. I really just wanted to talk today about, I think we both know, we all know, this isn't working. We're not feeling heard. I don't think anyone on the board is feeling respected. We're not moving forward. This is the first time I've been involved as a community member. Excuse me. And as you can tell, I really don't like doing this. But it really matters to me. And I just really implore that we find a better way. Because this is really painful. And I'm really disappointed in what I've seen. So, thank you. Thank you, Joette.

Deborah McFatter and Joshua Venegas.

Welcome.

Thank you.

OK, I'm ready. Hi, my name is Rain Mendoza. I have lived here for over 20 years. I am the eighth person in my family who's teaching or has taught in this district. We've been here for a while. Some are retired. I very much agree with the last speaker. This is very unproductive. And I would rather be doing something else. I think many of us would rather be doing something else. And I think our emotions would rather be feeling something else. I don't know what this is about entirely. I think the general theme is that we all want to protect young people in our society, vulnerable people in our society, but there are attacks and Sorry, not sorry. It is coming from the school board. There are actual problems in our school district. We've had sexual predators. There are not enough staff. The staff aren't even getting paid enough. Kids are going to know about this stuff. Why don't we have the bravery to teach them, to talk to them, to listen to them? Thank you, Rainn. Thank you.

Welcome, Debra.

Thank you. Deborah McFatter, retired employee from RUSD. First, I want to say, blue hair because I'm in a play. Please don't take pictures if you were a person that was doing that at other school board meetings. The next thing I want to say is that many of us have been coming. Some of us have been giving reasoned and researched information and comments. Some people have been coming and saying over and over again what their church, specifically the Nazarene Church here in town, wants them to say. You voted tonight with that group. In the end, we're all going to be here.

I'm sorry, Deborah. Hold on. I'm sorry. What? Hold on. What? Hold that time for just a sec. Pause the time. Pause her time. You were asked to not take a picture. I know, but she asked you explicitly to please not take a picture. Dawn, I know, but she... But if, excuse me, if somebody asks you to please not take their picture.

Point of order. Point of order. He needs to leave. He needs to be removed.

Okay. So please just put your phone away. Thank you. Okay. Deborah, you may continue.

Could I go back to the beginning, please?

Yes. Start over.

Thank you. You voted as a board with a group that expressed your expressive... Please look up here, Candy. Put your phone down.

Can you turn that phone off also?

That was where my notes were, but I'll turn it over. I'll do it from memory. You voted with people that you believe in who express your religious beliefs. And some of us have religious beliefs that don't coincide with that. Our country has separation of church and state thanks to the wise James Madison. And it still exists, no matter how many people try to rewrite that. I had other things I was going to say, but in the end, in 10 or 20 years, if we're all still here... We have to learn how to be kind and human to each other. Michelle, you and I worked at McKinley School. We have to do that. And you are fueling such sorrow in this city. Thank you, Deborah.

Welcome, Joshua.

Hi, so I've been a part of RUSD my entire childhood. I didn't know what books were being banned, so I found this website, Take Back the Classroom, to see what books are banned in the district. And it directly quotes books, like how they are pornographic in nature. And here's just two quotes from many. In his head and heart, he knew that he was a girl, that he was transgender. That's one. The other one, not to mention, I'm a queer kid in a straight and Mormon town. Now, many of the books did have sexually explicit material in it, but I don't understand how just a mentioning of homosexuality or transgender genders warrants a banning. As it was said before earlier in this meeting, the Bible technically has sexually explicit material, and it should technically be banned as well, which is weird for me to say because I am a Catholic. This ban will only foster more division and conflict and direct hate towards marginalized people in the district, and the district it pledges to protect. This board is more keen to shove... assault cases under the rug rather than develop a good, safe community for every student to feel safe.

Thank you, Joshua.

Is that all the speakers?

Yes.

Thank you. All right, on to board comments. Who would like to go first? Anybody have anything they want to talk about?

Yeah, I just wanted to state that I went to some of the back-to-school mornings last week, I guess it was, the week before, and I was really impressed by how hard the staff and principals worked to get their schools ready and looking nice and festive and welcoming the kids and families. I was really impressed, and I just wanted to give a shout-out to them.

Wendy, do you have anything? I'm just really happy that we finally passed a book challenge policy that has been nearly three years coming and started out by a courageous young student bringing this subject forward that we had sexually obscene content not only in our libraries but advertised in front and center on the library front desk encouraging Kids to read. We also had a banned books week advertised on our website year round before this new board came in. And nothing was done. The community waited. Cascade of events led to several book challenge policies, which unfortunately cost the district about $20,000. And clearly that book challenge policy was not adequate, nor was it efficient. It took almost a year, I believe, to get a decision made. Then the appeals process, it went through several committees. The book challenges were all denied. And then there was appeals made to the prior board, and those were also denied. And all of the content that was sexually explicit and obscene was left in a library. This was something that I'm really excited about. Children and adolescents are harmed by consuming sexually explicit materials, and I'm really proud of this moment and happy that we can do something, start heading in the right direction, focus on education, We have some great board goals with reading literacy and math intervention. I'm so excited to start seeing the numbers turn around. We're going to increase our graduation rate. I know it's already increased this last year. And we have some really great things coming for this district. And thank you all for being part of this journey. And thank you for coming out and voicing your opinion, even if you don't agree. We appreciate your input. Have a great night. Okay.

So I want to welcome everybody back to another great school year. On the first day of school, I went with Deputy Superintendent, our CBO, Jason Hill, to Smiley, COPE, and RHS. It was a really fun morning seeing all the students, my grandchildren included, coming to school with smiles and, yes, a few tears. Those were mostly from parents. Teachers' classrooms were bright and cheery, ready for a new year of learning for the students. Administration was out welcoming all our students back. I wish I could spend every morning experiencing that excitement. Back to school night for our elementary schools happened last week. I was able to visit Franklin, Smiley, McKinley, and Mission. I really enjoyed meeting families and talking with the teachers and some students. I am looking forward to middle school and high school back-to-school nights next week. And I want to thank Dr. Engel, superintendent of CRYROP, for always including me in the monthly meetings and taking me on the CRYROP tour. I always learn something every time. Have a great rest of your week. And Superintendent Cabral, could we look into what Rebecca Acosta asked about, the Braille for special ed students? I just want to know what's going on with that. And I want to also congratulate Doug Covey on his new role. I'm sure they have left, but I wanted to congratulate him. And that's all I have today.

Just welcome everybody back to a new school year. It's going to be great. I was able to attend, along with Michelle and Jason, at Smiley Cope and Redlands High School, my alma mater of 40-some years. It's great to be back on campus. It looks great to all the workers out there. The grass is cut. It's great. It's clean. Kudos to facilities and everyone for taking care of that. And then just most importantly, on Friday, we are going to open up Rev Stadium. So if you're available and you want to come out, come join the good celebrations that Redlands Unified does. We have great things to offer. And seeing that stadium come to fruition is going to be awesome. So hopefully come and support the Wildcats. Thank you.

I just want to clarify something that I heard, that banned books are going away. They are not.

I'm sorry, but banned books include titles like To Kill a Mockingbird, 451, Animal Farm. Those are not going away. So I apologize for that inconsistency. I also just want to say that I'm sorry. I am so sorry for the hours that you've come and given to attend our board meeting and speaking in support of our staff and our students. And I am so sorry that that has fallen on deaf ears. You deserve better, so thank you.

Superintendent comments? Mr. Cabral, do you have anything you want to comment on?

I do, yeah, a couple of things. First, I do want to say apologies to – there was a speaker who was speaking and held me accountable, and I just wanted to let her know that I was paying attention. And she was referencing a letter that I sent out a day before school started that speaks to our – our motivation to ensure that kids are safe in school and that they are not bullied. And the letter really was designed to remind staff to not tolerate anybody any of our students going through that and to inform us. We have processes in place and so that's what the letter was motivated to do and that's what we stand by. I also want to speak to AB 1078 because I do believe that there's something to say about that with respect to our new policy. 1078 speaks specifically to not discriminating against any protected groups. and ensuring that there is not a targeted attempt to not have certain textbooks that this policy would impact. The reason why this policy is legal and permissible is because it does not do that. Now, implementation of it is what the community can hold us accountable to. If at any point the community feels that there are certain books or genre or themes that are being targeted and that could violate 1078, then I fully expect for the community to hold us accountable to that. Because 1078 does exist and it is a law that we have to follow. And the policy will be implemented with respect to the processes that are described and not in violation of 1078. So please hold us accountable to that. School is started. I'm excited about that. I'm still limping a little bit, but I'm doing better. So I didn't get to go to day one, which it really impacted me because I love going to school sites. I'm hoping to get out here pretty soon to see our schools and to see our students. I know the schools are ready for our kids, and so I appreciate all our staff and the hard work that everybody's doing. And so we'll see you out there. And if you can come out... to Rev Stadium. It is going to be a very exciting event for our community. The ceremony starts at 6.40. We'll see you out there. Get there early so that you can find parking. Otherwise, you'll be walking a little bit further than you would have if you got there early. So thank you so much, everybody. I hope everybody has a safe rest of your evening.

And with that, this meeting is adjourned at 9.46.