We are tired of being continuously disrespected by the BOE when we get into negotiations each year. The BOE and their negotiation team seem determined to belittle us and ignore our very real concerns and well-reasoned solutions. We all know that the BOE could work with us on these issues, but instead, we are treated as an impediment to their plans. We could read through previous emails on negotiations or even clips from BOE meetings to show that we are not trusted to help guide our district to success, but more than their words, we can see it in their actions during negotiations. Why do we have to fight every year for steps and tracks? Shouldn't that be a given? Why are we not trusted to create lesson plans and manage our classrooms? We are highly certified and degreed professionals, right? Time and time again, the BOE shows through their actions that we are not worthy of respect. Therefore, we offer the following statements to clearly communicate to the BOE that it is time for a shift in how we are treated. Educator Voice WE wholeheartedly disagree with how the district treats us and we believe that if we come together, we can convince the BOE and the wider community that we should be helping to lead the way for our schools to succeed. TOGETHER, we can work for the good of our students, our schools, our communities, and even ourselves. TOGETHER, we can begin to make our voice heard. WE BELIEVE in an open, democratic process in providing an effective voice for the professionals working in our schools. WE BELIEVE that educators can contribute quality ideas to reduce the need for substitute teachers through positive incentives instead of punitive measures like the attendance matrix. Learning Environment WE BELIEVE in the ability of educators to be knowledgeable of their students' needs, capable of producing meaningful lessons, and critical to the success of every student in our district. As a result of this belief, we cannot support actions by the BOE to allow different schools the ability to impose various restrictions and conditions on our pedagogy. WE BELIEVE in our right to protect the learning environment for all our students, and we recognize the need for using effective supports and interventions to enable those students to return to the classroom as soon as they are ready for the learning environment, but we reject any proposal by the BOE that restricts our ability to use our professional judgment to temporarily remove a student when they are disrupting our learning environment. Compensation WE BELIEVE that we are not subject to a moral obligation to work for no compensation. To suggest otherwise, further exemplifies how the BOE does not respect us as individuals with needs and desires outside of our career. WE BELIEVE that educator compensation as reflected in the salary schedule should at least keep pace with inflation which it has not since 2010. WE BELIEVE UTW’s compensation proposal is fair and just.

So many people don’t have access to sufficient internet which disproportionately effects poor people, people of color, people in rural areas. Students have been meeting at fast food restaurants to do homework and attend classes, in parking lots of libraries and town halls. Anyone who is without good internet access is at a major disadvantage for so many things like access to information, education, health care, government services, essential goods.

Some people would like to preserve Atco Raceway as a treasured landmark. To those people, I would say that it is a nostalgic idea for preserving a place that generations have enjoyed. To all people who get their drinking water from wells in the surrounding area, whether Atco Raceway is preserved as a landmark or not, we cannot and should not allow the asphalt to be pulled up and replaced with gravel. As reported in The Pine Barrens Tribune by Mr. Thomas J. Stalba, Jr., of Hammonton, NJ, "Now they (IAA) are trying to convince the board and the community that they are a 'used car establishment' that should be able to tear up paving and put 6,000 recently wrecked cars, and the fluids remaining in them, on a bed of gravel with a water table that is as little as 1.7 feet below the surface of the ground on top of the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, right next to the Mullica River watershed, in the heart of the Pine Barrents." Carl Miller, as quoted in The Pine Barrens Tribune, who said he has participated in drag racing since the late 1960s, "called allowing cars in disrepair to be parked on gravel 'a terrible idea' that would allow chemicals to seep directly into groundwater with little possibility of containment." Car liquids, such as gasoline, antifreeze, brake fluid, and even oil do not have the chance to pool under a vehicle if there is gravel underneath. Do the residents of Atco, NJ know that they are responsible for their clean drinking water? Visit these two state sites: https://www.nj.gov/health/ceohs/documents/pw_faq.pdf https://www13.state.nj.us/DataMiner/Search/SearchByCategory?isExternal=y&getCategory=y&catName=Certified+Laboratories IAA states that they have millions of dollars in insurance should well water become contaminated. How would the homeowner know if his well water was contaminated? He would have to use a NJ state certified testing center that would cost thousands of dollars. Then do a second test just to be sure that the chemicals we are drinking now are "within allowable limits." Then it is our responsibility to make every effort to fix our own wells. The cost to do this would be thousands and thousands of dollars each year for each homeowner. When I moved to Atco almost 30 years ago, we were presented with giant carbon tanks placed inside the laundry room by the State of NJ. We were told that the blueberry field at the end of the road had sprayed pesticides on the plants and the pesticides made their way into the water table in "amounts that exceeded what was allowable." You see, we are still drinking water with contaminants already. We just cannot afford to test our well water annually, as the State of NJ recommends. Why then are we allowing the very obvious poisoning of our water table to occur? If you believe this is an injustice, if you want to keep your loved ones safe, if you want to stop what is so obviously wrong from occurring, you will sign this petition to stop this from happening immediately. Then tell your neighbors to sign as well. We all deserve clean drinking water. We certainly pay enough in our taxes for this "privilege." Thank you for listening.

John Lewis fought for Civil Rights throughout his entire life. He was one of the "Big 6" organizers for the March on Washington, the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 60s, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011. Congressman Lewis marched, sat in, and did whatever he could to push forward the cause for civil rights. His legacy still impacts the US and the world today. John Lewis took his fight to Congress on behalf of the people of Georgia, where he represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District for over 20 years. He worked to ensure all Georgians were taken care of and our university should honor the late John Lewis with the naming of the John Robert Lewis Green, which will be known to students as the "Lewis Green" or "John Lewis Green". Tell the KSU administration to support this proposal and naming of the green after the late John Lewis by signing this petition.

The proposed FY22 budget for the Town of Amherst does not go far enough to promote racial equity and social justice. The cry that arose last summer after the murder of George Floyd continues, as on average three people a day have been killed by police, and as the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin was announced, Ma’Khia Bryant, a teenager, was murdereed by police. The calls to defund the police did not stem from an isolated incident, but are based in the understanding that the safest communities have the most resources, not the most police. In his budget presentation to the Town Council on May 3, 2021, Town Manager Paul Bockelman revealed he had allocated only $130,000 to the CRESS program and only $30,000 to combine with existing funds to create an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion coordinator. The $130,000 comes from the two frozen police positions, and does not include any additional funding. Funding the CRESS program at only 6% of the proposed budget,and neglecting to address the additional proposals for a youth empowerment center and multi-cultural center, along with a BIPOC-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, sends a strong message that the town does not prioritize racial equity and the safety of BIPOC residents. Reallocating only two police positions and no additional funding is disrespectful to the countless hours the CSWG spent engaging the community with public forums, researching alternative programs, and coordinating with the 7GenMC to provide a thorough proposal to the town manager. Providing only $130,000 to design and implement an innovative, anti-racist alternative responder program ensures the program will not fully thrive, and that the town will likely default to the white supremecist institution of policing to address non-violent, non-criminal matters. $130,000 is inadequate. At a meeting with the finance committee May 27, the funding allocated was increased to $475,000 for CrESS and $90,000 for a director of diversity, equity and inclusion. This increase still falls short.

I am a student at Montclair State University who believes that every student has a right to advocate for what they believe in. MSU students should have a say in the decisions that impact them.

We, the undersigned, are shocked and disheartened with the rampant bullying and harassment happening in the Teays Valley School District. The daily reports coming home from students range from verbal abuse, cyberbullying, to physical attacks and sexual harassment. This is unacceptable! Teachers and administrators have been made aware and nothing has changed. Either the incidents are ignored, complaints brushed aside, or the perpetrators are not dealt with seriously enough to deter future incidents. Consequently, the bullies are learning that they can act with near impunity. The victims are learning that their voices do not matter. Are these the lessons Teays Valley wants to instill in their students? We, the undersigned, value Teays Valley School District. For many, it was a significant factor in choosing where to move. For others, there is the pull of tradition and family ties that keep them here. There are many strengths to our district. Sadly, diversity is not one of them. However, we do have students who represent marginalized groups. Students of color deserve a safe school. Neurodivergent students deserve a safe school. LGBTQ+ students deserve a safe school. Students of different religions – or no religion- deserve a safe school. Those who advocate for their fellow students deserve a safe school. There is absolutely no excuse to tolerate bullying and harassment of them! We now call on Teays Valley administration to actively engage with students and parents to assess the hostile environment currently in place and develop an action plan to ensure every student is safe.

Students and staff should feel safe when they come to school. Students were aware that if they chose to come back to school, they would be required to wear a mask. COVID has not gone away yet. We need to do the most that we can to protect ourselves and others.

Child care facilities remain on the brink of closure! Please tell Colorado to give their child care facilities the funds Congress allocated for them. Please ask the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care to provide better oversight of these funds. Please ask the General Accountability Office to investigate misappropriation of these public funds.

The evidence is clear and the message from the CDC, scientists worldwide and doctors is aligned and straightforward. Masks prevent transmission of COVID19 as well as other illnesses (like colds and flu). Children over 12 years old are recently able to access the vaccine but younger children are not. The universal masking policy should remain in place until all students have access to the vaccine and community spread is very low. The rampant spread of COVID variants in our community makes masking even MORE important, as the variants are more likely to cause illness, hospitalization and death. All masking policies must be enforced to ensure the safety of all on campuses and in our community at large. Without enforcement, any claims that the district has a mask policy are attempts to mislead parents, students and the community. An outbreak of COVID19 in our schools would be disruptive to our children's continued education, potentially deadly for adults and children alike and will spread COVID into the community.

This gives options to parents and students to receive a quality education in Drivers Ed without the demands that an in-class course places on a busy family.

Alex Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist profiting off a huge fake news empire via his InfoWars website, talk shows, and consumer products, who personally "helped jumpstart" the January 6 insurrection. Which is why it's completely unacceptable that Amazon sells Jones' merchandise and dietary supplements, even going so far as to host his online storefront. Facebook, Apple, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Spotify, and PayPal have all banned Alex Jones for hate speech violations. Amazon forced Parler, a far-right social media platform, offline by suspending them from their AWS hosting platform after the January 6 insurrection, ultimately causing Parler to go into hibernation for months. And yet, Amazon is fine collecting their 15% off of Jones' Super Male Vitality Natural Stamina Liquid Drops and other unregulated so-called nutritional supplements. It's time for Amazon to pull the InfoWars Store and stop profiting off of hate speech peddler Alex Jones.