starved at this moment. Should we say something? What about our Muslim and Arab neighbors and your constituents who are seeing their family members wiped out, besieged and left for dead by the American government? We have to center them and we have to pass the resolution. Please vote yes on this tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Natalia Ruiz. Hello, council members. My name is Natalia Ruiz. I'm a resident of Northampton and an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst. I'm here to express my support for the Amherst ceasefire resolution. I've been involved in Palestinian solidarity work since 2018. I'm sure that many of us who are here who have also been in the struggle for a long time can attest to the fact that we've never seen such numbers of people showing up, being aware of what's happening in Palestine. I can speak to my personal experiences that organizing events often had a very low turnout and I've never seen numbers like this. And I want you to look at your constituency here and realize that this is what progress looks like. Since when I started my activism, even back then in 2018, 2019, 2020, we were holding vigils for entire families that were killed in airstrikes in Palestine, in the West Bank and in Gaza. Even back then, we were organizing mutual aid to help families that were struggling under occupation to fulfill their basic needs. And this is to say that any rhetoric that you hear that this started on October 7th, that it was unprovoked is a lie.  And I want you guys to recognize that and listen to your constituency, to the overwhelming majority of people here who support this resolution. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Next up. Noelle Nobani. And then Cyrus Safa Zadek. My name is Noelle Nobani and I'm an Amherst resident. My pronouns are she, her. I'm a Palestinian American who has lived nine of my formative years in the West Bank. I could sit here and talk about the daily humiliation and violent control I experienced living in under an illegal occupation. But that's not what we are speaking about today. Instead, I'm touching on a topic with an even less, with even less moral ambiguity. And that is whether there should be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. What we are seeing unfold in Gaza today extends beyond a humanitarian crisis. The ICJ has ruled it as probable genocide and has urged Israel to take every action step to prevent one. And everything we have seen since then has been the contrary. We have witnessed on our screen a hundred starved Palestinians gunned down as they sought humanitarian aid. We have listened to the unforgettable cries of a six-year-old Hind Rajab as she was gunned down by an Israeli tank alongside her family and the medics seeking to save her life as they sought safety. This is only touching and scratching the surface of the level of violence that is unfolding with over 30,000 lives lost, half of which are children. In taking and passing this resolution, you are not making a political or taking a political position. You are taking a stance in support of the sanctity of life. You are saying that you do not condone forced starvation, forced displacement, an indiscriminate killing of an innocent civilian population for the most part of Palestinian or other, because this does set a precedent. We need to ask you to finish. Thank you very much. I ask that you guys vote tonight. We're trying to get other people to speak. Thank you. Cyrus Safazadeh. Deborah Kaladni. And then Julian Hines. My name is Deborah Kaladni. I'm a resident of District One in Amherst and I'm a rabbi. There's been a lot of talk about folks not being experts. Some of us here are experts. And I wanna say that the question before you, which I am totally in support of this resolution, the question before you is not complicated. You don't need to decide whether there should be one state or two states or a confederation. You don't need to decide how to heal the wounds, make massive reparations. You don't have to decide that. You just have to decide to agree that the continued massacre of civilians has to stop. That's all you have to do. So many have said what I would like to say, but I wanna add that I'm part of a group of 300 rabbis for a ceasefire. I'm part of a network of progressive Jewish organizations that tomorrow will be making a statement to the press in support of a ceasefire. I am part of a coalition of rabbis that is aligned with the organization Trua, which is coming out with a statement for a ceasefire. And I stand in alignment with organizations in Israel, Palestine called Standing Together, a land for all combatants for peace, families of hostages, but seldom rabbis for human rights and over 40 other coexistence and co-resistance organizations supporting a ceasefire. You would not be alone in making this decision. The wind is at your back. Thank you. Thank you. Next person. Julianne Hines. Hi, how are you? My name is Julianne Hines. I'm an Amherst resident. I'm a senior at Amherst Regional High School and a member of Sunrise Amherst. Just this weekend, Sunrise voted unanimously to endorse this resolution that's before the council. And we want to make sure that this resolution gets voted tonight. I don't want to see this pushed off to have another four hour meeting where the council struggles to push this through. Amherst taxpayers- If you want to see it happen, then stop. Thank you. Julianne, please. Thank you. Amherst taxpayers have contributed over $243,000 to this cause through your federal tax dollars in Israel.  Thank you. Thank you. Next. I'm Rita Rutter. And then I'll be ill. I'm Amherta Rutter and I'm a former resident of district two and a current student at Amherst Regional High School. I am a proud Jew and a proud supporter of this ceasefire resolution along with Senator Amherst. You have an opportunity tonight to show us that you're truly listening. If you vote unanimously for this resolution, you are showing us that we are heard and seen and loved in our community. I urge you to open your eyes, ears and not to fall asleep as you continue to discuss this for what I know is going to be a long night, most likely. Listen to what we have said from the inside out and from the bottom up. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next. Olive Yale. And then Andrea Orkin. Good evening. My name is Olive. I'm a Jewish student at UMass Amherst studying linguistics and I believe in a peaceful coexistence for all in Israel-Palestine. I've come to speak out against the current ceasefire resolution. There are some folks who believe in the dissolution of Israel as the world's only Jewish state in favor of some idealistic one-state solution whereby Jews lose the right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland. Let me tell you in no uncertain terms, this will not happen. Israelis are not going anywhere and neither are Palestinians. Pragmatically speaking, that leaves a two-state solution. Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization also serves as the current government of Gaza, a territory integral to the creation of a Palestinian state. In direct conflict with the best interests of the very people they profess to represent, Hamas has committed repeatedly to destroying the entire state of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, by establishing a sophisticated network of tunnels and transforming Gaza into a staging ground for the very type of blood-thirsty assault we saw on October 7th, Hamas showed that it was not only capable of acting on its radical commitment but willing to work towards the fulfillment of its extremist agenda at any cost. And since October 7th, Hamas leaders have stated time and again that given the opportunity, they would repeat the atrocities and war crimes of that dark day every chance they got. The ceasefire resolution before us ignores this geopolitical reality and I believe it does so by design. It calls for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza. Many governments, including our own, are already working on this but certain conditions must be met for the ceasefire to last. To demand that a ceasefire occur immediately without acknowledging the complexities of making it happen is both reckless and highly unrealistic. Don't have time to finish so. Thank you for your comments. Thank you very much. Andrea Olken. Hi, my name is Andrea Olken. I'm a graduate of UMass, a teacher at Lander Grinspoon Academy, a mother of three. I live in Springfield but I gave birth to my three kids on Southeast Street. So none of those who are asking for the ceasefire, I notice are holding Hamas accountable. Hamas kills Gazans. No one is calling out Hamas. A ceasefire takes two sides. I want to remind the body of the sexual and gender-based violence that victims that victims of October 7th that had to have the shame and the physical scars of the survivors and the need for OBGYN care after rape. The UN Women's Committee did not and still has not mentioned anything about any of these atrocities. Have we conveniently forgotten about the hostages? It's been 149 days since innocent men, women, children were captured, 134 elderly babies, parents, children who did not want the attack. Peasnips, they just wanted to exist. The bodies of Judith Weinstein-Hagai and her husband Gadi are still in Gaza. The desegration of the dead is a horrific thing and that's exactly what happened. We are pulled apart and we pray for the hostages, the elderly, the babies, the parents. We have seen what happens in communities where a ceasefire resolution has passed.  We've already seen posters of hostages being ripped down. We've already seen violence at UMass, here in 2024 and Western Mass. Not when a 16-year-old girl was praying for her brother not to be attacked on a college campus. When a Jewish high school receives a bomb threat or where swastikas are drawn on- Thank you. This was half an hour away from here. Thank you. Lakota Sando and then Nick Yaffe. Thank you. Can you hear me? Please move to the mic. I'm an Amherst resident, a current graduate student at UMass and an undergrad alumni from UMass as well. I work professionally for International Human and Civil Rights Organizations. Most importantly, I'm a mother of two and a person of conscience. This morning, I woke to an image of a three-year-old child in a pink sweatshirt with two kittens on it. Her tiny fingers curled delicately. Her black leggings bent at the knees as if she were sleeping peacefully, except she was lying in a pool of her own blood.   Her skin pale from loss of life. This is a horror that no one should ever see.  One would have been too much. As a mother, my stomach turns inside out. My hands shake, my brain goes blank. I cannot concentrate on my studies. I go to bed thinking of the little one sleeping in wet tents with no blankets. I choke in tears on my sandwich, thinking of the children unable to eat.  These are not numbers, they are not speculations. They're just a sample of what I've seen since October 7th with my own eyes. But if that's not enough, on January 26th, the International Court of Justice declared it was plausible. Israel is committing genocide with our taxpayer dollars and that they must cease and they have done nothing of the sort. January 26th was 37 days ago. There's no way to claim neutrality or ignorance to abstain tonight as a vote for continued genocide. More murder like the girl in the pink sweatshirt, one of at least 13,000 so far with each day that goes by more and more. Thank you. Nick Yaffe and then John Boniface. Hi, I've devoted my life to working with children and making sure they feel safe and secure. So many people have spoken on behalf of just the pure human toll that this has taken on children and families in Gaza. I'm speaking on behalf of them, but also on behalf of the children and young people of Amherst. So you're passing this resolution will say to them that you believe in peace, in a peaceful resolution. You're saying this will be confirming what we teach in the Amherst public schools that when you come into the schools, whether you're Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, whatever, wherever country you come from, we believe in working things out peacefully. We believe in understanding each other. And that's why I urge you to support this. Support this for the children of Amherst. So that they can see that our leaders mirror what we are teaching them in schools. And lastly, as the rabbi said, for us, this is a time in Amherst to listen to each other, to listen to each other's pain. There are groups, courageous groups in Israel made up of Palestinians, Arabs, Jews who are working together. One, as she mentioned, is standing together. Another that's given me inspiration during this time of despair is called hand in hand schools. These are six schools that are taught, children are taught in Hebrew and in Arabic. Thousands of children are coming because their families want to build a better, a more peaceful coexistence in Israel. So hand in hand schools standing together if you're looking for a little bit of hope. So thank you. John Boniface. Good evening, my name is John Boniface. I've lived here in Amherst in District One. I have planned remarks and supported this resolution. I will not be giving them. I will see back my time. My main point is to urge this council to vote tonight. It is not acceptable to postpone this vote to another meeting. I've been in this building for town meetings that have gone way past midnight. So the argument that this must end at 1030 holds no water, holds no water. If the public will not accept it, hundreds of your constituents have spoken out on this matter, we urge you to vote. Thank you. Thank you. Next. Julie Haddad on Zoom is our last commenter. Julie, please go ahead. That's it. Oh, no, I'm here. Sorry, I just, I didn't, I thought I was kicked out of line. So I just needed a minute. So I'm a parent of three. I'm a resident of North Amherst. I'm a teacher in the Amherst public schools. I'm a special ed teacher at Clark River Farm. And I'm a member of Valley Families for Palestine. And I want to read a letter that was written that many of our constituents, or sorry, many of our members signed. But sorry, I'm having trouble bringing it up now because I wasn't expecting to be called on, but I'm just going to speak from the heart then and just say that I support what Ben said this evening in favor of the resolution, that our group is calling families together and people are turning out in five-fold what we're expecting in terms of showing up at our events. They're bringing their children because as Nick just mentioned, this is important for the children of Amherst as well. Safety for children anywhere is safety for children here. Violence is not going to bring safety to children anywhere. And so I asked for you to vote tonight in favor of a ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to proceed to the action items on our agenda. The first action item is the 2024 Tibet National Uprising Day Proclamation. I'm going to place the following motion on the table and seek a second. The motion is to adopt the 2024 Tibet National Uprising Day Proclamation as presented. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Are there any other comments from the council? Seeing none, I'm moving immediately to a vote. Anna Devon-Gothier. Aye. Councilor Ette. Aye. Lynn Grease-Mersen. Aye. Amanda Johannick. I've been sorry, Councilor Hannacky. Aye. Pat. Bob Hegner. Aye. Councilor Lord. Lord Aye. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Stan. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngeles. Aye. It's unanimous. No, it's not. With one abstention. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear that correctly. One abstention. Thank you. So it's 12 in favor and one abstention. We are now moving to the resolution for ceasefire in Gaza. I want to just pause for one moment. There is a resolution in your packet. That is the resolution that GOL reviewed for clear consistency and actionability. Because I was contacted as is our practice by three counselors, none of whom constitute a forum of any committee to make a motion this evening. I am going to recognize those counselors to make that motion that in no way violates open meeting law. There has been no outside deliberation about this in any way that constitutes a quorum of the council. So with that, I'm calling on Pat DeAngeles. Thank you. Before I share the amended resolution, I want to say that this resolution was created by collaboratively created by members of Amherst for ceasefire. The amendments that you'll hear in the motion were also collaboratively reviewed and accepted. So now I'll make, I'll do this. We bring this resolution forward to the council at the request of over 750 resident sponsors along with 60 business and organizational sponsors. We also bring it with a heavy heart because there is pain and division in our community. But most importantly, we bring it with the clear conviction that this is not the time for silence. In a spirit of hope, I move to adopt the resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza amended as follows. In the community sponsor line, replace the number 240 with the phrase more than 760. In the first whereas clause, replace the word took with the word killed and replace the word live, sorry, with the phrase people, including civilians and children and took approximately 240 hostages. Is this on the? It is, please enlarge it if you can. Thank you. I'm sorry. In the second whereas clause, add the words and bombardment after the word siege and replace the number 27,500 with the number 30,000. In the fifth whereas clause, replace the comma after the word released with a semicolon, replace the phrase no further hostages or prisoners with the phrase only two more hostages. And replace the phrase more than 25 have died with the phrase as long as the violence continues, more hostages will continue to die. In the sixth whereas clause, replace the phrase government has pledged with the phrase administration has requested, replace the word to after military aid with the word for and add the phrase currently pending in Congress after the words Israeli government. In the seventh whereas clause, replace the word was with the phrase has three times been, replace the word the after the word veto with the word and add the phrase in Gaza after the word ceasefire. In the eighth whereas clause, add the word continuing before the word conflict and replace the phrase is rapidly spreading to the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and beyond with the phrase in Gaza threatens to destabilize the whole region. In the first now therefore clause, delete the comma and add the word end after the first use of the word Gaza. Replace the phrase and end to unconditional with the word for and add the phrase to be conditioned on strict adherence to the United States and international rights laws after the phrase Israeli government and adding the list and finally adding the list of community sponsors to the end of the document. I wanna thank Amherst for ceasefire for their hard work. I would like to second that. Okay. Thank you. I'd like to ask the sponsors if they have very brief comments so that we can move to other deliberation. We do. Counselors Walker, DeAngelis and I thank and acknowledge the more than 1,100 residents, local businesses, organizations and individuals with Amherst connections that have cosponsored, endorsed and supported this resolution. The amount of local vocal support is incredible. The Amherst town council has always stood strongly in support of human rights. Each December, the council passes the human rights day proclamation with its quote dedication to the fundamental proposition of the universal declaration of human rights that each one of us everywhere and at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights and that it is every person's responsibility to uphold them. These universal human rights include the right to life, liberty and security of person in article three and the right to a standard of living, including food, clothing, housing and medical care in article 25. The town council has regularly adopted measures reinforcing our support for these rights without concern that we were acting on matters beyond our jurisdiction. Two years ago this month, the council adopted a resolution supporting Ukraine and condemning Russia where we vigorously condemned the horrific loss of life, suffering, devastation and catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Demanded Russia and its war, urged the US government to convince Russia to uphold international obligations and cease its attack and expressed our unequivocal support for those affected. Five months ago, the council adopted a resolution in wake of Hamas's attack on Israel which supported equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians, grieved with the Israeli people and their loved ones who have been savagely murdered or are being held hostage, expressed unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and its appalling acts of terrorism and stood in solidarity with Amherst residents directly impacted. Like the Ukraine resolution, this resolution recognizes the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calls for a ceasefire and seeks adherence to international laws. Like the resolution condemning Hamas's terrorist attack, this resolution supports Amherst residents directly affected by the ongoing crisis. We believe the town council and community continues to stand against injustice which includes supporting unobstructed humanitarian aid, condemning the killing of civilians, urging the release of hostages and detainees and ensuring the US government upholds its laws. The ceasefire resolution in front of you today is consistent with the council's prior actions and vocal support of human rights. Therefore, we urge our fellow councilors to support this resolution. We also request that you give the over 760 resident sponsors of this resolution the courtesy of an up or down vote on it as moved tonight by Councillor D'Angelois. This is the language that resulted from significant collaboration amongst many members of our community. It is the language that our fellow residents agreed to sign on as sponsors too. It is the language that should be voted on. If any of my fellow councilors seek amendments that significantly alter the resolution, we respectfully request that you propose such language in a separate resolution that you sponsor after a vote on this resolution occurs. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Walker, did you have any words you wanted to add? Not at this time, thank you. Okay. The motion has been made and seconded. I'm going to give the council the opportunity to spend some time looking at it on the screen please, Athena, since none of the other councilors have seen this. So before you, is the actual motion, is the actual resolution as amended by the motion? I'm going to give the council the opportunity to spend a little time looking at it. She moves to enlarge it. She just enlarges it. She just enlarges it. I was just going to make it bigger. You're asking for it to be enlarged. Athena, can you enlarge it? We did. You can enlarge it. Thank you. I'll just show one thing. You can enlarge it on your screen. You have a little bit of space. Let's go for it. Athena, can we scroll? Are we ready to scroll? Thank you. It's my understanding that the councilors who have placed this motion on the table are unwilling to accept any revisions. That is actually not the council's normal process. And in fact, once a resolution is placed before the council, it has always been the council's right to make additional amendments just as have been presented before us. So I totally and completely want to express my respect for the work of the many, many people who have contributed to this and the consensus building. But I must say that once a council resolution, our resolution has been placed before the council. The council has a right to discuss it and they should and continue to have a right to amend it. Point of order. We did not say we were unwilling to. We requested an up or down vote on this. That does not mean we were asking for none. You misconstrued my statement, right? You misconstrued my statement. I'm sorry, then please clarify. Mandy Jo. We asked that the council give the resident sponsors the courtesy of an up or down vote as moved by us because of how it resulted to. And we asked, although we know we cannot demand or stop, but we asked that if counselors want amendments that we respectfully requested that they propose the language in separate resolutions after an up or down vote, we know we cannot demand that or stop anything else from happening. That was our request. Councillor Walker. Mandy Jo mostly said what I was going to say, but I did also just want to state that any amendments if we're proposed would have to go through a vote anyhow. Correct. Anna. I'd like to move to a vote on this item. Are you calling the question? I am calling the question. Okay. The question's been called. Is there a second? Right. Is there a second? Thank you. I request recognition to make a privilege that I can exercise. Hold on. So the question's been called. And was there a second? Yes, Mandy Jo seconded. Okay. So questions been called and seconded. That means we- It's not an immediate vote. And we moved to an immediate vote. But I have a point of order. A point of order. Andy. Point of order is that I think that a right to postpone under charter section 210C can occur at any time. Tina. Because postponing the call to question. The motion on the floor right now is calling the question. Are you right to postponing the call to question? Motion. No. So a Councillor has exercised their right to postpone. No. No. No. He cannot. Well, Andy just said that he is not exercising his right to postpone on the motion on the floor, which was my motion to call the question, which was seconded by Mandy Jo. Thank you. All right. So the question on the floor is the motion as presented. The motion to call the question. I'm sorry, motion to call the question. There is no debate on that. Okay, we're moving to the motion to call the question. We begin with Councillor Ate. Is this a vote or could we speak about the motion? No. This is where you either agree that the motion's been, the motion has been made to call the question. Calling the question means we move to an immediate vote. And at that point, and there is no debate. If you want to debate, then you want to vote against calling the question. If you want to not debate or move, then you vote yes to call the question. And I wouldn't move. Lynn Griezmer is a no. Councillor Haneke, Bob Hagner. No. Councillor Lord. Apologize, I'm just trying to understand. Okay. Can I abstain? Okay. Pam Maroney. No. Councillor Ryan. No. Councillor, Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. No. Jennifer Tob. No. Alicia Walker. No. Pat DeAngelis. No. Anna Devlin-Gothier. Yes. The motion to call the question fails. We go back to the motion. For the motion on the table is the motion to pass the resolution as amended and presented this evening. Andy Steinberg, you have your hand up. Yes. I think I need to say something to the public first. And that is for various reasons. I am very much in support of having a resolution but I think it needs to be the right resolution and it is a resolution that needs to belong to the council. And we are operating under the open meeting law. The open meeting law provides that council has all of its debate in a public setting. So we have not had any discussion. So hundreds and hundreds of people have been able to talk about this with three sponsors and the remaining members of the council have not been given the opportunity to see what was gonna be proposed tonight until tonight because that was the work of a small group. And therefore we couldn't take the opportunity to look at it and see what we agree to what we might not agree to. And I find the process therefore to be very troubling because there were several of us that have been thinking about this and realizing that there are some amendments that we believe not only address the purpose of the resolution but make it stronger by working through both statements made by people who've spoken tonight and through public comment and favor and people who've had reservations. So I think that brushing this for tonight while I understand all of the reasons to rush it for tonight is actually contrary to the whole process and is disrespectful of council is being asked to take a vote on something where we have not had a fair chance to have a thorough discussion and understanding about what we're being asked to vote on and to express some plots to our fellow councilors about what might be done to strengthen this. And so I'm very concerned about where we are. Councilor Ryan. I have no desire to vote now this evening but if this gets pushed through the way it's going I will vote no. I've heard and continue to hear this evening the very real pain of those in our community who feel they haven't been marginalized and that their experience in suffering has been ignored and left unrecognized. I hear that. This body back in October acknowledged the suffering and pain of one segment of our community it seems only right and just we do the same for another. I hear that. I wish there was some way that the 13 of us could communicate our own awareness of that pain our recognition of that pain and our collective desire for it to cease and for there to be a just and equitable solution and an end to the terrible loss of life that continues even to this day. That's a measure I could support wholeheartedly in the spirit of the prior resolution in October but this measure at the moment is not that measure in my humble opinion. And if we push to a vote tonight, I will vote no. Thank you. Excuse me. Are there other counselors who would like to speak? Anna. This town has taught me a lot. This council has taught me a lot. And as we've seen tonight, it's taught many others a lot. It was really exciting to see some of my former classmates here. One of the key things that this town has taught all of us it seems is that humanity is to be valued. We value it with our actions. We value it with our advocacy. We value it with our words. And for this particular body, we value it with our votes. I recognize that there's so much humanity wrapped up in this resolution. And I want to share my gratitude to those who have shared your humanity with us throughout this process. I appreciate the call or the reminder about how we consider this from the heart, from the head, from the soul. These entities do not function separately. They inform one another.  With my head and my heart, I will be supporting this resolution with the amendments as provided by the council sponsors. And I believe that for this council to ignore those, given that I recognize we have not had a lot of time, but given that by the time this comes back to us if we postpone it, we will have more amendments because the numbers will have to be updated again. So please, please, please, please, please stop, stop, stop. Please stop. She's gonna gavel you. Please don't make her gavel you. Do not make me do this. Lynn, no, no, no, it's okay. I appreciate the support y'all, but we've got it in our roles that you can't show auditory, audible signs of support. So thank you, you can wave at me. So I do, okay, I didn't mean it, sorry. So my point is I do believe that for this council to ignore that is to let down that value of seeing our humanity in this moment and of our ability to read and comprehend something that is in front of us right now. Those changes are not news if you've been tuned into the world. So I will be supporting this. Thank you. Are there any other councilor comments at this time? Jennifer Taub. I had what I thought would be a friendly amendment. Am I allowed to introduce that? There is an amendment on, there is a motion on the table. And yes, in my book, you can amend, but I will just reiterate that the counselors that have introduced this motion have said they do not want this one amendment. When it's not with you. Mandy clarified that that's not with them. I think we need to have a conversation about whether or not we are going to be as a council willing to amend a motion we are going to adopt. And the fact that it was presented to us in a way that said either take it or leave it makes me feel like I have been stripped of my rights as a counselor. Jennifer. Yes, you know, echoing what you said, we were told as counselors that if we wanted to propose amendments, and I think mine is a friendly amendment to submit that to the clerk of the council prior to the meeting, nobody knows who made an amendment or what any of the amendments were. But I did come into the meeting thinking that I would be able to do that. Pam, Rune. Thank you. I guess I would agree, I perfectly, I'm not perfectly, I am supportive of the resolution. I don't like the idea that we can't tweak it because as everyone has said, this is our first opportunity. We're also told that we could not send our concerns and our adjustments to the resolution to the three sponsors because that would be a violation of open meeting laws. So basically we are following the rules and that means that we do have the opportunity to make an adjustment if we feel it's needed in order to gain our support for the resolution, which is generally pretty good, but maybe lacking something. I would like to hear Jennifer Tab's friendly amendment. Councilor Walker. Yes, I just wanted to state that I fully support Mandy's opening statement and just wanted to clarify that she cannot change the rules of the council. And so we were not stating that no one can make an amendment. We were simply stating our preference as sponsors and that is all that it is. So the rules of the council stand as they always are, the reason why an amendment cannot be offered right at this minute is because there is currently an amendment on the table. It's not because Mandy Joe says that we don't prefer to have an amendment. So it's just a simple process question at this point. And so again, our preference is that we accept this as it is presented because of the work that has gone in with the community sponsors. But I do also understand as a counselor the importance of being able to read and review documents before voting on them. I understand wanting to do your due diligence before voting on something that has significant impact. With that being said, we did have a version of this resolution well in advance. This is amendments on the table, not a completely new resolution. We have countless times amended and edited resolutions in live meetings and voted on those resolutions at those meetings the same day that those amendments were proposed. So this is not a new thing that is facing the council. This is not a new thing we are asking you to do right now. You have time in front of you to look at the amendments and see whether or not you agree. You also have your own discretion to propose any amendments that you wish to propose when once we have already voted on the amendment that's on the floor at this time. In fact, when an emotion is made on the floor as an amendment, then when a motion is on the floor and this motion is on the floor for this, in fact, there can be a motion to amend without voting on the full motion. Okay, great. I want just to clarify the actual process of amendments. In fact, there can be an amendment and another amendment. The max is two amendments. Thank you, Lynn, for making that clarification. So we just want to be very clear and thank you for helping me that we are not stripping any counselors of their rights at this time. And I also just wanted to state that I firmly believe that as an elected representative, it is our moral obligation to speak out against injustice wherever it occurs. The ongoing violence in Gaza affects all of us regardless of our geographic distance. It's a humanitarian crisis that demands our attention and our action. And by calling for a ceasefire, we are not only advocating for peace and stability in a region torn apart by conflict but also affirming our commitment to human rights and dignity. Our resolution sends a powerful message that even from a small town in Massachusetts, we refuse to remain silent in the face of suffering and oppression. Thank you. I'm going to go back to Jennifer Taub and she is going to make her motion to amend. Thank you, Lynn. I would like to move that the clerk of the council cause a copy of the resolution in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel to be included in our mailing to our state and congressional representatives as well as to President Biden and Vice President Harris. The resolution currently before the council states, quote, whereas on October 16th, 2023, the Amherstown Council gave unanimous support to a resolution condemning the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel that took nearly 1,200 lives. That language has since been proposed to be amended by the sponsors. But that resolution that the council approved on October 16th does not include the, quote, therefore be it resolve clause instructing the clerk of the council to, quote, cause a copy of the resolution to be sent to President Joseph Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Edward Markey and Representative Jim McGovern, unquote. So therefore these elected officials will not have seen the October 16th, 2023 resolution that is referenced in the current ceasefire resolution. So I would like to request and proposed that that prior resolution, which was never sent on to our elected officials because it was not requesting action, but since it is referenced in the currently, the resolution currently before us that this be included in what is sent to our elected officials. Thank you. Athena. Is there a second? Yeah, is there a second? Shane seconds. Okay. The motion, this is amendment to make clarity the motion that's on the table. Athena, is there anything else you wanted to add to this? Okay. The motion's been made and seconded. Are there any comments on this motion? I really want to ask counselors to be mindful of the time and I'm going to ask the clerk of the town council to use the clock. Councillor Walker. I just have a clarifying question for Jennifer. So the amendment to this resolution is to add that wording to this resolution or to just also send a copy with the resolution. It's actually to add that language to the previous resolution. So can that motion now? Point of order. Point of order. It's to mail both resolutions. To mail both resolutions. But so is it not actually an amendment to the motion itself? Is it just like an action of the council of mailing votes? Or are we asking for the wording of this resolution to be changed? I believe Jennifer, please. Well, I was told it needed to be presented in the form of a motion. Right. I mean, for me, that would this to know that this was going to be included would impact might have an impact. I mean, it might have an impact on whether other amendments needed to. We would want to see other amendments made. So I was told it's I don't believe it's changing the language of the resolution before us. But I was told if I wanted this to happen, I would have to present it in the form of an amendment. That's why I consider it a friendly amendment. Mandy, Joe. So I believe to clarify, if I may, Jennifer, that Jennifer is essentially asking that the last be it for the resolved item of this resolution be amended to add the phrase and the resolution in the wake of Hamas's attack on Israel after the first after the phrase copy of this resolution, I believe. Yes. If that clarifies it for others. So, Athena, could you show that on the screen, please? OK. Are there any of any further questions, Andy? I'm still having problems with this entire process is being so out of line with any process we've ever had on any other consideration of an action because there have been significant amendments to resolution that we do not have in writing did not have in writing in advance. We do not have in writing before us now other than on the screen in little pieces. We don't have time to reflect on it. I understand all of the desire to have a vote now, but I think that a vote now is very much against the entire process of a council that is trying to operate under the open meeting law and that you were violating the open meeting law by demanding that we consider a motion without having an opportunity for due consideration and deliberation, which is what the charter expects that this council do. And therefore, I really do not think that this process of now forcing action on a motion that has had significant number of amendments that we did not see until this time. And I have an opportunity to consider is just totally out of bounds. The motion has been made and seconded to add the following to the motion that's on the table. Is there any further comment? Anna? I think, Andy, I recognize where your point is coming from, but where I'm struggling is that the reason why those amendments were presented kind of en masse was that the sponsors kind of had their act together and put them all on a sheet of paper for us. I think that the difference is that this happens often where people come in with amendments that they individually have thought up and they say them out loud and then Athena types them in. That happens constantly to resolutions, to proclamations, to anything that we have up in front of us. And so I think that while it may seem overwhelming to have these up all at the same time being put in here, I question whether it's really that significantly different than the process that happens quite regularly. And I know that I don't have as much experience, but I've seen this happen quite regularly where amendments are presented, sometimes substantial amendments are presented in the moment and are put into a resolution proclamation, bylaw, et cetera, and then voted on that same day. So I do reject that premise. I think that the way that they were presented is slightly different, but I think actually benefits us in being able to look at them all at once. Anna, I mean, Andy. Okay. Sorry. This is significantly different because of the number and the size of the amendments that have been presented. It is really totally contrary to any prior practice that we have never had this extensive a change with this much time pressure involved because we've been told that the school is requiring us to vacate the auditorium. And for all of those reasons, if we were in their normal setting, we would at least have an opportunity to take a break and get copies in paper of the amendments so that we can look at them. This is really a process that is totally contrary to the open meeting law. And I think that I would probably have grounds for a complaint to the attorney general about this. Mandy, Joe. I call the question on the motion to amend. Okay. The question's been called. Is there a second? Second to Angela's. Okay. It's non-debatable. We move immediately to whether or not to amend the motion that's on the table. With the following statement, as you see on the screen and the resolution in wake of the Hamas attack on Israel. That's what you're voting on. Just that. We're voting just whether to stop debate on the motion to amend. I'm sorry, you're right. We have to vote to stop debate. Okay. And we're stopping debate on this issue. All right. Lynn Griesper is an I. Mandy, Joe, Hanukkah. I. Bob Hagna. No. This is only on this amendment. Councilor Lord. Lord I. I'm sorry. No, you said it was we were gonna stop debate. Is that correct? On this one only. Then I'll change my vote to yes. Thank you. I wanted to make sure I clarified that. Councilor Lord. Lord I. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Aye. Councilor Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Aye. Jennifer Tob. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. Anna Devlin-Goth here. Aye. Councilor Ette. Aye. Unanimous. We have amended the motion. No. We have only voted to stop discussion. All right, now we're going to move to whether or not you approve this amendment to the motion that's on the table. Okay? Councilor Hanukkah. Aye. Bob Hagna. Aye. Councilor Lord. Lord I. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Tob. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngelis. Yes. Anna Devlin-Goth here. Aye. Councilor Ette. Aye. Lynn Greismers and Aye. It's unanimous. We have now amended the motion that's on the table to include the phrase. All right. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry. Got that one? All right. Now we're back to any further discussion or comments.  Yeah, come on. Yeah, I mean, this is, but what was the problem was is that I had a series of, but not a large number of amendments that I was, that I had prepared for the original motion that I thought would strengthen the original motion by making sure that it was factually correct and that it was going to have the ability to get the entire council together. And I think the entire community together to vote, to be in support of this. I'm very troubled still by what's going on, what I was proposing, going to propose as amendments. I'm going to say what they are without making a motion because I'm not sure, because I really believe that at this point, that there's an atmosphere that is very uncomfortable for me. And essentially, I assume that it's not gonna, that there would be a problem. But one, to add a whereas clause that Hamas positioned the military assets in Gaza, such that many Gaza residents are in harm's way. Another was whereas fighting continues on both sides with Hamas firing rockets into Israel, Israel attacking Hamas and non-combatant citizens of Gaza and Israel, displaced from their homes, injured and killed. I would have removed the whereas clause that has to do with the $14 billion because there has been no pledge of that money because there has been no legislation on it. And I was gonna propose some changes that I thought would strengthen the resolved clause. I could not do any of those things because of the way that the open meeting law prohibited us from being able to act. And I therefore am really troubled by what is happening. So Andy, I believe that if you wanted to place those motions on the table, you could, we'll seek a second. Do you have them in? Athena, can you place them in the motion that's on the table? Or? She does have them. I don't have these incorporated into the motion. Right, please go to the top of the screen. The first two, I'm not gonna deal with this and took 25, 250 hostages. The first two are the whereas Hamas positioned its military assets in Gaza such that many Gaza residents are in harm's way. The second and whereas fighting continues on both sides with Hamas firing rockets into Israel, Israel attacking Hamas and non-combatant citizens of Gaza and Israel, displaced from their homes, injured and killed and. So can we stop there and just see if there's a second for that? Andy, do you wanna place that in motion? I will place that in motion. Is there a second for those two? Second, Rooney. Okay, thank you. Would you like to speak to your motion, Andy? Yes. I think that you've gotten the general theme of what I was proposing to do, but I think that what we have heard today is the recognition from several speakers that we've heard along the way that what is happening, which is totally egregious, it requires the joint action of both the Palestinians as represented by Hamas who've been the lead combatants and the Israelis who've been under the direction of the current government of Israel acting in a totally outrageous way that there needs to be action that taken that is recognizing both that this is a something that calls on both the Palestinians through Hamas and particularly Hamas because I think that there are many innocent Palestinians who have been injured by outrageous actions of Hamas and the Israelis. And that's the basis of this request. Are there any other comments? The motion to amend has been made and seconded. George Ryan. Actually, my comments are for later. So I have no comment on this at the moment. Okay, so the motion's been made and seconded. If there are no other comments, we would move to vote on the amendments to the main motion. Okay, we are going to move to that vote. And you're voting to add the two phrases that you see on the screen in pink. We're going to start with Bob Hegner. Aye. Councilor Lord. Court aye. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. If you cannot be silent, we will have to end the meeting. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Taub. Yes. Alicia Walker. No. Pat DeAngelis. No. Anna Devlin-Goth here. No. Councilor Ette. Yes. Lynn Griezmer is an aye. Councilor Hannake. No. The amendment passes. We go back to the original resolution, the original motion. So we can do this.  One of the things that people need to realize is no matter when you bring a resolution to the council, we have the right to debate it. And we have the right to amend it. We fully respect the amount of work all of you have put into this. Heather has her hand up. Heather. I do apologize at my newness of this political debate. I got confused and I need to change my vote, please. My vote is a no. Thank you. It still passes. We're back to the original motion. Are there any other motions? Vandy Jo. I would request that we take a two minute recess. OK. Maybe because it didn't go in for four hours. I completely understand. So go out, go to the right, move the door next to the door to set up for you. And it's on the right side. That's the first door. Please return to your seats so we can continue the meeting. I'm really distressed. Please can please return to your seats. We're going to continue to pause for a moment while one of our counselors has taken a break. And I also the town manager has consulted with the custodial staff and they are giving an extension to 11. That means we pay them over time. OK, that's OK. It's fine. OK, they deserve it. OK, Pat. I make a motion on that motion to amend to remove the phrases community sponsors more than 760 Amherst residents see attached list counselor sponsors Patricia D'Angelo, Alicia Walker and Vandy Jo Haneke and the attached list of community sponsors at the end of this of the resolution. This is no longer our resolution. I second that. Second Walker. Motion's been made and it's been seconded. Can I speak to it? Yes, you can. Yes, please. Mandy, Joe, I had to do my speak to it. Mandy wants to speak to me and I said what I need to say. Pat said what she needed to say. I believe I'm going to have more. Well, council procedure eight point eight withdrawal measures requires that sponsors must have written requests to withdraw a measure and that that measure can only be withdrawn if the withdrawal is on in the council agenda meeting, even though no vote is required. So in order for us to withdraw a sponsorship, we cannot invoke rule eight point eight under the rules. We need to need to amend this resolution to withdraw our sponsorship. I request that the council grant us the ability to withdraw our sponsorship by voting for this motion to amend. So in fact, what we need to do is rate that rule. I'm going to quote a resident. Councilors, I want to write one last time to express my hope that council will vote on the resolution as written. Without stripping it of its parts that acknowledge that Palestinian civilians are equally deserving of protection under international law. And these rights can never be conditional on the actions of any group opposing any of the moderate points in this resolution would make an official town statement that Palestinians are less deserving of basic human rights that are supposed to be universal. Human rights must be protected whether the civilians are Israeli or Palestinian or any other group. We cannot compromise on this. This is a fact recognized by over a thousand Amherst residents, businesses, religious institutions and organizations who have put their names to this cautiously considered wording. I ask you to pass this resolution without stripping it of its basic important acknowledgement of our grief and humanity. We have just failed to recognize the humanity. We have tried to place blame instead of listening to the voices and honoring the lives of Palestinian people. I am ashamed of us. I think that we've been trying to find some middle ground here and well. No, excuse me, please do not interrupt the speech. And we can see that we're being pressured. Point of order. Is this a comment on the motion to amend? Is this a comment on the motion to amend? No, because there's a debate on the motion to amend right now. Debate is on the motion to amend and the motion to amend is to remove the sponsor's names from this document. And we just had a speech that was saying exactly what about that? I didn't quite, in other words, she was supposed to speak to why she wanted her name removed and why you want your names to move. That's why I wanted the names removed. That's why the other 700 and some residents wanted their names removed because it is no longer the resolution that we are asking this town to pass. It is no longer a resolution that listens to the voice or supports Palestinian people. Excuse me, we must speak as we are asked to speak. Councilor Ryan, did you finish what you had to say? The computers just died. So I don't know if that's a message from someone but I'm finished for the moment and I'll raise my hand if I need to speak again. Thank you. Pam Burney. Thank you. We heard from all sides tonight and I'm looking at the inclusion of the two phrases that were just added. Which in my opinion does nothing to diminish the needs, the humanity of the Palestinian people who are in, let me finish, I'm trying to collect my thoughts on this. What it does is it says there are factors that are causing this. And when I read the phrase about Hamas positioning its equipment, it is as true as every other statement that has been made tonight. It is a joint resolution that we are crafting because there are people that we heard from tonight that were extremely pointed in their arguments about the role of Hamas in this situation. Did they bring another vote? My stop. Thank you. I'm trying to understand that making these two points does not diminish what the town of Amherst says should happen, which is a ceasefire. And that is the bottom line at that. And now therefore has not changed except for what the sponsors brought forward. I find it hard to believe that every person that endorses this resolution cannot accept those changes because it reflects. Please. Thank you. I am in as much pain and I have as much anger as you but I need you to be quiet. Please, if you need to stick your fingers up down sideways but or whatever, but keep it silent. Thank you. Pam, did you finish your comments? I guess so. Lynn. Excuse me, yes. I don't see how that was speaking to the question on the floor of the amendment which is to have removed the sponsors names. That's what we're talking about right now. The amendment on the floor is to remove the sponsors names both the seven hundred and sixty and the councillor sponsors. Are there any other comments with regard to that? Councillor Walker. Yes, I just also wanted to speak to why I would like to be removed as a sponsor. I have met with a lot of residents from this town. Some of them being Palestinian residents and my goal here is to uplift and centre the Palestinian residents in Amherst at this time. We have had conversations. We have made amendments together that we thought have taken into consideration some of the feedback that we have gotten from other residents in this town. And we are unwilling to make amendments like this because there is no justification for what is happening. There is no reason. There is no justification. There cannot be one. And so trying to add sentences that sort of hint at a justification for the loss of life that is happening in Gaza does not centre and uplift the Palestinian residents in Amherst who we have spoken with, we have met with who are hurting, who are losing family members and loved ones. This is belittling and silencing their voices. We have already made a resolution that states some of the things that we are adding to this resolution. It is unnecessary. It is watering it down. It is taking away the central focus of the resolution. This is not what the sponsor signed on for. This is not what I signed on for. I am here as a representative for my community as an at-large councillor to represent constituents across the town and I will stand behind them. Are there any other comments from councillors? Jennifer Taub? It may not be. I apologize if it is not speaking precisely to the motion but it would seem that the heart of the motion is that we, the Amherst town council, call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza. That is not what we are talking about. It was stated that we had stripped the resolution and it seems like that is what the resolution is asking for and we haven't touched that. Councillor Shane? I have just a question. Do we have a resolution at all if the sponsors have dropped off completely? Nope. Nope. So is there no resolution at all that we would be voting on tonight? It is a question rather than a conclusion. It is a question. I was prepared to vote yes on the amended resolution that we saw that came from that the sponsors did. I thought they were fairly minor changes and they worked. So I think this is an unfortunate turn of events in my opinion. One of the options is that the move to take the resolution, to remove the sponsors, be tabled for the moment and we go back to the additional two paragraphs and see if it passes. And if it passes, then we would go back to the other. If it doesn't pass, then we are back to the original motion except for the clarification that was added with regarding the original resolution regarding Hamas. Mandy Jo? I think it's a shame that there are three counselors that sponsored a resolution here that are asking to be removed as sponsors to the resolution in this council. Our fellow counselors are potentially going to say, no, you cannot remove your name as sponsors. When rule 8.8 of our rules would allow us at the next meeting, if we postponed consideration of this to remove our names without a vote, we are asking to be able to do that tonight so that we don't have to postpone this using our right to postpone so that we under our rules can follow the rules and remove ourselves. It is a simple courtesy to your fellow counselors to accept that they no longer wish to sponsor this resolution and allow them to do that in an efficient manner within our rules of procedure. Now to answer Kathy, counselor Shane's Kathy Shane's question, rule 8.1a of our rules of procedure requires that a resolution have a counselor sponsor for the resolution to be in front of the council itself. Therefore, if we remove our names from the resolution and none of the other 10 counselors wish to put their names on as a sponsor, which they could all do, any one of you could do by making a motion to amend to add your name as a counselor sponsor, then the motion, then the resolution, I would argue would be improperly in front of the council tonight, but only until someone decides to add their name as a sponsor and actually sponsor the resolution themselves. Counselor Rooney. I do not want to see this resolution turn into dust. I think it's so close. I think I have some very personal opinions on it, which I have not shared tonight, but I would support this. I would be happy to be a sponsor because I think it's, I would like it to represent the community that I'm seeing reactions in the audience that somehow something is worse than nothing. And I don't want to belittle that, but maybe we don't have resolution then. Okay, the motion's on the table to remove the sponsors. Is there any further discussion? Seeing no further discussion, we bring it to a vote. The vote is only on the motion to remove all of the community sponsors and all of the counselor sponsors. We start with counselor Lord. Lord, I am Rooney. Yes. Counselor Ryan. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat D'Angeles. Aye. Anna Devlin-Gothier. Aye. Counselor Ette. Aye. Lynn Griezmer is aye. I'm not clear why. Counselor Hanneke. Aye. Bob Hagnan. Yes. Okay. The counselor's sponsors and council community sponsors have been removed. We are now without a resolution. Order. The meeting is adjourned. I said the meeting is adjourned. No, George is calling a point of... I'm sorry, point of order. What is it you wanted to say? George. George, point of order. I had a question, just a procedural question which hopefully someone can answer if one or more counselors this evening wish to put their name to the resolution as it currently stands. Would that be proper at this point? Excuse me. I'm not asking anything. This is a question to the council. This is a question to the council. Oh, yes. So I just, I just wonder what, if someone could clarify that for me, I'd appreciate it. I mean, we don't know. The question's been asked whether any counselors who want to put their name on the resolution. I see no hands at this time. Look at George. We do not have... George, was there an additional question? Well, if it were permissible for a counselor to put their name on the current resolution as amended, I would be willing to put my name on that. I would like to have us with a resolution that while it doesn't do everything I would like. Excuse me, we need to have the decorum of allowing the council to speak. Lynn, we can't really do this if this is the way the audience is gonna... Excuse me. I think we're gonna deserve it. Excuse me. Excuse me. We have concluded public comment. I, fine. Go out and demonstrate. We have concluded public comment. It is time for the council to have it right to speak. Lynn, I suggest we take a recess. An atheist. May I suggest that perhaps some other counselors might like to speak. Thank you. George, was there anything else you would like to say at this time? Lynn, we cannot conduct our business in this kind of setting, so I would suggest we adjourn. Some of us might have had other things we might have liked to said that you would like to hear, but you have not allowed that. We can't hear on Zoom. Point of order. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? I can't... People on Zoom can't hear. Can you hear me? Yes. Now we can hear you, thank you.  Just to let you know we couldn't hear you. Thank you.  I just wanted to say that if I had understood that there couldn't be any changes to it as presented, I probably would have voted differently on the two suggested amendments, because I didn't proceed this, but I did not understand that we were, it was an up or down vote only as presented. And just the other comment I wanted to make is I think the power of what you all have done is immense and the Congress people getting it directly from 750,000 people is much more powerful than 13 counselors. I'm not saying the council doesn't matter. I'm just saying that your voice is, whether I signed on to yours or not, but I did not understand that if we made any changes, I appreciated the changes that were made and I thought they were good ones. So I did not perceive that there would be this result. Anna, hold on. My question is similar to what's being asked in the audience is that so with the understanding that the council sponsors are affixing, the former council sponsors, excuse me, were writing their name on this as written and that changes beyond what they had provided in their amendments would lead to them withdrawing their own names from the sponsorship of the resolution is there a procedural path forward where as we vote to rescind or vote to remove the prior amendment and I'm stuck because the council sponsors would have to add their names back first in order for us to consider that. Athena, I believe that it's a vote to reconsider. But I don't think it is because we don't have the information. Go ahead, Athena. Emotion from the prevailing side can be considered at the same or the next regular meeting following the vote on the measure. Emotion from the non prevailing side would have to come with additional information. Okay. The prevailing side in this case was vote to... Excuse me, hold on. Thank you. I appreciate that, okay? Pat. Yeah, I'm forgetting what I wanted to say which is not good. We never, the sponsors, all of us removed our names because of the amendments that passed not because additional amendments passed. If they were amendments that we could have accepted we would have accepted them but you cannot ask us to avoid the lives of Palestinian people. Okay, Pat. So the amendment that caused you to remove your names. Were Andes amendments. Were Andes amendments. Which passed. Okay. The prevailing side on that was the A's. Are there people from the A's who would like to ask for reconsideration for those two amendments? Kathy would like to... Kathy would like to vote to reconsider. Okay. I will second that vote. So now we go back to a vote to reconsider and the reconsideration is whether or not we're removing whether or not we're adding. Point of order. First, you need to vote to reconsider and then you would revote the amendments. Thank you. There's been a vote made to a motion made to reconsider and it's been seconded. We now move to a discussion or is it on debatable? It's debatable. It's debatable? Okay. Are there any comments? George, this is a comment on the motion to reconsider whether or not we add those two amendments. George. Again, I'm back to the whole process here and how it violates everything that this council stands for in terms of how it does its business. There's a constant back and forth, a constant interruption, a constant involvement in our business that is not, just it's not proper, it's not appropriate. And so we are being bullied and being harassed into these actions and I personally resent that deeply. The fact that I cannot make my own informed judgment in good conscience apparently is beyond the comprehension of most of you. And so you are constantly undermining that democracy by your refusal to allow us to do our business. The fact that we don't always do what you like is not our problem. Now we- Excuse me. Stop. I would say to my colleagues, this is not the way we should do our business. You cannot make thoughtful and informed judgments in this kind of situation. We did have a vote. We voted for these amendments, which I took it many of us felt made this a stronger and better resolution. The sponsors no longer wish to sponsor it and they were drawn. We could have someone come forward. I would be willing to do so. Perhaps someone would join me and sponsor the current resolution as amended and we could vote on that. But the idea of reconsidering a vote we just held because we're being harassed and bullied. No, no, no, no, no. Excuse me. This kind of back and forth land is simply not acceptable and I don't see how we can do our business in this setting because they, no, no. I have heard from many people in my district and the idea that you represent all of them is ludicrous. I've heard people in support of this. I've heard people against it. I've heard many people say it's none of our business. You tell me who's right. Do I get to do a count? Am I supposed to do, right? I ultimately have to make my decision in good conscience. But you won't allow me that. And you won't respect it when I finally do make that decision. And that is outrageous. But you don't know that. You don't have any sense of shame.  We basically work for you. That's right, the people in this room. But you are not the citizens of Amherst.  Lynn, I don't see how we can do our business in this context. Anna, your comment. So the vote to reconsider in my mind, I appreciate this, the motion of the second. If there wasn't one as someone on the non-provelling side, I was going to say that we got new information from the sponsors in terms of what this looked like going forward. I think I will please beg of the folks who are here. I'm so grateful you're here. And please, please, please, if you can try to give us. I know we don't deserve your grace at this point. But if you can give us a little bit more of it, I would appreciate it. Because I'd like to continue to try to figure out the path forward here. I think the vote to reconsider, the sponsors wrote this. They are not under any obligation to keep their names on something they don't agree with. They have every right to remove their names from this. And they can explain why. In this instance, it means that this resolution did not have support to move forward. And so I think this vote to reconsider is very smart, because it allows our sponsors to reaffirm what they wanted when they signed on and brought this forward along with the community members. So I think the vote to reconsider makes a lot of sense here, given the councilor's apparent wishes for the maintenance of how this resolution was written. Andy. Yeah, I mean, I think that I feel like I haven't been heard, haven't been listened to. One thing that everybody, that I think George was trying to say is that we were elected by the entire community. And as any legislative body, we have a responsibility to act as a body to try and craft resolution to problems that are presented to us. There is not a major community that I know of that passed the resolution on this issue that has not had amendments to the resolution that happened within its council. Certainly Cambridge did. I believe that Northampton did not pass the original resolution that was presented to it. And but in the end, the resolution, if it's a resolution of the council, has to belong to the council. And I think that that's what is getting lost here in the intent. We all were looking to end the evening with a resolution that was calling for an immediate ceasefire. But we were all looking for a resolution that would try and end the horrible things that are happening in the Middle East. And because of the way that this is transpiring, we seem to be losing that battle. And so I am very concerned because I think that what is happening here has the potential of really destroying the confidence that this community is a whole. And I'm not talking about just people in this room. Talk about the community as a whole is going to have in our form of government. And I think that's what's really the most painful part of this whole thing for me. If there is a motion on the table now to reconsider the motions that I made, I think that that should go forward and be voted on. That will be inaction of the council. And then we'll see where we go from there. I feel like I really appreciate all of the work that went into the motion that was presented. But I felt that there were some things that could make it stronger to represent the entire community. And all of the people that we heard, and I don't know the best one does, but if the will of the council is to come back and say that they're reconsidering the motion and so be it, and then if somebody calls for vote on the motion, we'll each vote on the motion as we deem appropriate. And I just wanted to sort of urge all of you to remember that a motion gets presented to the council, but it is an action of the council. And if the council loses the ability to deliberate and carefully consider as they have other councils on this very issue, that it is really not spoken for the art, for a form of government that has a representative body if you can't allow the representative body to act as such. So with that said, I would urge the council after discussion proceed to its vote. So the motion on the floor is to reconsider. It's been made and seconded. Pam Rooney. Do the vote, do the vote first. I didn't hear you. Do the vote first. Okay. All right, we're going to begin the vote with Councillor, I don't even know where I am. Councillor Hagener. Yes. Yes to reconsider. Yes to reconsider. Councillor Lord. Yes. To reconsider. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councillor Ryan. No. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes to reconsider. Jennifer Taub. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. Ana Devlin-Gothier. Aye. Councillor Ate. Aye. Lynn Griespersen. Aye. Mandy Jo Hanneke. Aye. Motion to reconsider is passed with 12 in favor and one opposed. We're going to now go to the actual motion. The motion that was put on the table was to add the two phrases whereas. So if you vote, they're shown right here. If you vote to include them, you vote aye. If you vote to not include them, you vote nay. Are there comments that people would like to make? I'm seeing a hand from Pam Rooney. Thank you. I would like to make a friendly amendment to this motion that I would remove the second whereas, but keep the first one. I think Hamas has a role in this. Hamas has some responsibility in this. And I think recognizing Hamas' role in no way diminishes the rest of the resolution. I would be very happy to vote for this resolution with this recognition that Hamas has some responsibility. Is there a second? I would second. Okay, so the motion at this point would be to remove the second one, but not the first. Is there other comments, Pat? I'm sorry, Pam, you've already spoken to your motion. Pat? I'm going to repeat myself. Leaving the whereas Hamas positioned its military, blah, blah, blah, is still diminishing the voices of the Palestinian people, diminishing the actions. What we, when we made the resolution in October, we were talking, we felt it was justified for Israel to respond to Hamas' terrorist and brutal attack. It was unanimous, but Israel, its military, its government has stepped over the line so it's not justice, it's vengeance, and it's ongoing and deadly, even as we sit here and argue. That whereas is inappropriate, wrong, and should not be approved. Anna? When we passed the resolution on October 16th, I have a very clear memory of Pat asking to add a clause or whereas into that resolution, and I was trying to pull it up, talking about the impact on the residents, on Palestinians, that modification was not added to our ultimate resolution for the reason that that resolution was about condemning Hamas' attack on Israel. In that same logic, in that same vein, it should not go the other way. We did that one and we kept it specific to the topic that it was supposed to be about. This one should be in the same direction. Could you please keep the thing up on the screen, Athena? Thank you. Jennifer? Yeah, is it up? So I was actually, because I was gonna ask the question of, could they be separated and we could vote individually, I was actually, would be willing to not have the first whereas, but the second is just a fact. Fighting is continuing on both sides. There have been more than 11,000 rockets Hamas has fired into Israel. I don't know why that's just a fact. It's not, and the first resolution, so that would be my request if we could keep the second and not the first. All right, right now we're voting to re, actually we're voting to the way it is. We didn't split the motion. No, the motion on the floor is a motion to amend Andy's motion to remove his second whereas. Right. So are there any other accounts or comments? So the motion on the floor is to remove, is to keep the first and to remove the second. No, the motion on the floor was to remove both. Yes. Yes. No. And then somebody made another motion. And it keeps it in her head. Hang on. The motion is to remove both. No. Okay. We moved to reconsider Andy's motion. Andy's motion was to add to whereas clauses. Pam Rooney just moved to remove from Andy's motion, the second whereas clause. So the motion on the floor is to amend Andy's motion to remove the second whereas clause. If that motion passes, the council will still need to vote on Andy's motion, which would only include the first whereas clause. If the motion of Pam Rooney's motion to amend fails, the motion on the floor would be Andy's motion to add two clauses instead of one clause. Right. So the motion on the floor is the one that you see on the screen, which is to remove the second one. Okay. Questions? Anna. Is there anything preventing a further motion to remove the first clause? I'm serious. I actually do mean the question. I understand why you're asking that question. I would. It impacts how I vote on this question. Can I answer that one? Please, Mandy, if you've got an answer. So there would be, after this, there's two motion to amend on the floor now. So we cannot accept a second one right now under the rules. But if this one passes or fails, well, if this one passes, there's one whereas clause on the motion to amend. It would seem the, if you wanted to not add that one, you would not move to amend Andy's motion to remove that one. You would just vote against Andy's motion on the floor. If this one fails and there are two motions, there are two clauses remaining in Andy's motion, then it could make sense to make a motion to amend, to remove the first one from his motion. So I have a question before we move. And it was my understanding that you as the three sponsors did not want either of these. Is that correct? Yes. And therefore the motion to reconsider was the motion to put, to re-vote on whether or not these would be amendments to the original. And then a motion was made to just remove one, but not the other. Am I getting all that right? Okay. Pam, you put the motion on the floor to remove one, not the other. My understanding is that the counselors who are sponsors would still want to remove their names if we leave one in, but take the other out. Point of order. Our names are still not on this resolution. We have not reconsidered that motion. That's true. All right. The motion is to remove one.  I think what is at issue is whether there should be any recognition of the role of Hamas in the tragedy of Gaza. And these two amendments that were approved by this body just a few minutes ago were an attempt I felt by a number of us to do that and create what we felt was a more balanced resolution that would win greater approval in the community at large, though clearly not in this room. And that's why they passed. And now if there's been an attempt to remove one or two of these, but it seems whether it's one or two is immaterial, because both of them are statements of fact. The question is whether this body, in order to create, I think a more balanced resolution and one that reflects our consensual discussion, whether we wanna keep them in or not. And I personally would like to keep them in. And I hope that my colleagues will continue to vote that way when we get to that point. I would just suggest to my colleague at my left that perhaps just letting the two, just removing her motion and just letting us vote up or down on these two would be perhaps the quickest way to resolve this matter. I understand she meant well, but quite frankly, at this point, I probably wouldn't vote to support it. I would like us to simply vote the RNA. Do we want to make some kind of statement about the involvement of Hamas and all this, which I believe we should do, or do we not? And that's I think whether it's one or two. So Pam, the question is whether or not you remove your motion. I remove my motion. And the person who seconded it? That is me, and yes, I agree with that. So we take the strikes off of this. We're back to the motion for reconsideration. We have voted to reconsider and now we're going to reconsider whether or not these two whereases will be kept in the resolution. Resolution. If you vote yes, they stay in. If you vote no, they go out. Yes? No. Is that correct? No, it's not. The motion on the floor now, Athena can correct me, is to amend to remove the phrase, no, to amend to add the two whereas clauses, a yes vote adds the whereas clauses, a no vote, okay, is that what you said? That is what I said. Thank you. I have another comment. Okay, Mandy Jo. It seems to me the council wants to amend the motion, but wants to amend the resolution because they're uncomfortable with it as a potential majority, given how they voted on these two whereases. Yet they want to insist or hope that the council sponsors will continue to sponsor a motion they do not support. And when the council sponsor said, we don't support those amendments and we no longer support this resolution, the rest of the counselors said, oh, what should we do? And instead of a counselor stepping up and making a motion to amend to add the phrase counselor sponsor and then putting their name on it, they went back to, should we add these two whereases? If you're not willing to put your name on the sponsorship as a sponsorship to this resolution, then don't add the whereas clauses because the three counselor sponsors that started this evening will continue to have our names removed if those whereas clauses are added. And if those whereas clauses are added and no one is willing to sponsor it, we go back to where we were, which is in frankly, a motion that is inappropriately in front of the council under our rules. Jennifer. I thought councilor Ryan said he would be a sponsor. Yes, he did. You have not moved to amend to do that. I think we got derailed at that point. No, blame elsewhere. It was kind of hard to make the voice work. All right. The motion on the floor at this point is whether or not you support keeping these in or not. It was a motion to reconsider that vote. Okay. George or Mandy Joe. If I may. Yes, please. As I said, just a moment ago and I'll make it brief. I think this was an attempt by a number of us in good conscience to support this, but to make it stronger in our view and to make it more balanced. I realized that not everyone agrees with that and that's why we're going to have this vote. We've already voted once, we will vote again. I would urge my colleagues to maintain their fortitude. This needs to be a more balanced resolution. We represent everyone in the town of Amherst, not just the people in this room. And so I hope that you will continue. I bet you will vote to keep these two whereas as in as we did originally. Are there any other comments? Okay. Councilor Walker. I just want to say again that we have already passed a resolution condemning Hamas. We do not need to further condemn Hamas in order to support Palestinians. It adds no value to this resolution at all. So it's unnecessary. And I just want to say that I think this council really needs to learn how to get out of its own way to support and uplift the voices of all residents. It doesn't look the same all of the time. There is a difference. We have already supported the residents who wanted us to condemn Hamas. That resolution still stands. We are now looking to tell our signal to the residents in this town that we value the lives of Palestinians. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Two things can be true at the same time. And this one resolution does not need to signal all of those things. That's why we have different resolutions. So I ask my colleagues on this council to think about where you land and where your privilege is. And to think about how you can use your privilege and your role to uplift marginalized voices in this community. Because they are being overlooked and they are being silenced right now. Our own opinion doesn't always matter. It doesn't always matter. And I am willing to say that not all of these things came directly from me. I am supporting the residents of my town. And that is okay too. Jennifer. To me, this resolution is, which we are upholding and has not been changed. In the resolution, we call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza and end to the Israeli military siege of the Gaza Strip, the release of the hostages and detainees on both sides, the removal of obstacles to urgently needed humanitarian aid entering Gaza and an end to unconditional, although I think that wording's been changed, United States military aid to the Israeli government. That is the, to me, that is the crux of this resolution and we have not changed a word of that. This is calling, what is important is to call for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid and release of the hostages. So I stand by that. And that has not one word of that has been touched in any of the proposed amendments. So, excuse me. Thank you. George, you still had your hand up? Sorry. Okay. The vote before us is the reconsideration. I have my hand up, but I'm not sure what I'm gonna say. I'm sorry, Pat. That's right. I know. That's fine. Blame, right. Blame and balance. It's very interesting that we think balancing diminishes voice. Balancing diminishes the reality of people in Israel and Palestine who are fighting, working together to create a ceasefire, to create a different kind of community. Palestinians in Israel are like the black citizens of the United States. In terms of how they are treated. Jim Crowed. And I didn't wanna go here, but we pat ourselves on the back because we're balanced. I almost said the F word I get in trouble for. We cannot be balanced on this issue. We need to stop blaming and listen to the people who are being destroyed and who Netanyahu has said are animals and he would not rest. And his government would not rest until they were destroyed. Just like you quoted, or as people quoted things from Hamas. And Hamas sickened me because of how it uses Palestinian people for its own power, for its own gain. But Netanyahu is doing the same thing. And we need to balance. What are we balancing? Human lives. The motion on the floor is to reconsider this, whether or not these remain in. If you vote yes, they remain in. If you vote no, they are removed. Are there any other questions? I'm going to start the motion, in this case with Councillor Lord. Lord, no. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councillor Ryan. Yes. Kathy Shane. No. Please, audience. You do not respond for another person. Thank you. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Taub. Yes. Alicia Walker. No. Pat DeAngelis. No. Anna Devlin-Gothier. No. Councillor Ate. Yes. Lynn Griezmer, I pass. Councillor Haneke. No. Bob Hagner. No. Lynn Griezmer is a no. It's eight. So that these no longer are part of it. The hour is now 11.30. So let's vote. Paul. No. At this point, there's no sponsors. Well, we are voting to put our names back on. Moving to put. I'm sorry. Mandy Joe. Thank you. I move to amend to add the phrases community sponsors more than 760 Amherst residents see attached list and council sponsors Patricia DeAngelis, Alicia Walker and Mandy Joe Haneke and add the attached list of community sponsors at the end of the resolution back in. Is there a second? I second that. Okay. Are there any further discussion? I'm going to move to a vote on that. That is just to put the sponsors names back on, both community and residents. Pam Ernie. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Yes. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Taub. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. Anna Devon-Gothian. Aye. Councillor Ate. Yes. Lynn Griezmann. Aye. Mandy Joe Haneke. Aye. And Councillor Haneke. Bob Hagner. Yes. And Councillor Lord. Aye. That's unanimous. We move to the original motion, which is the vote on the actual resolution. Mandy Joey over your hand up. Thank you. Are there any other comments? We're moving to the vote on the actual resolution. And we're going to start with Councillor Ryan. No. I'm sorry. Councillor Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. No. Councillor Taub. Abstaining. Alicia Walker. Yes. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. Anna Devon-Gothian. Aye. Councillor Ate. No. Lynn Griezmann. I'm going to hold. Councillor Haneke. Aye. Bob Hagner. Yes. Councillor Lord. Yes. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councillor Ryan. I already did, Councillor Ryan. We're back to Councillor Griezmann. Reluctantly, yes. The meeting is adjourned.


Hey everybody, welcome to the Lotak Way. I'm Jessica and today's video is going to be a plan with me. It is back to school season and that means it is time to plan a all brand new homeschool year and I'm so excited. This is probably my favorite time of year mainly because it means planning and shopping and those are two things I love most about homeschooling. So last year during the back to school season I shared our six simple steps for big picture planning your homeschool year. If you have not seen that video yet I highly recommend you check it out first. So I'm gonna link it right here for you guys because that is going to be for the most part the steps that we're going to be taking today together while you plan with me to plan this upcoming homeschool year. Now the first thing I do when it is time to plan is I pull out my grade level checklist. These are the skills in math and language arts that I say should be mastered by grade level should remember that we homeschool that can be flexible your kid doesn't have to be on target there's no such thing as behind.  So for us, since Emily is going to be going into fifth grade that means I'm going to be pulling out the fourth grade, the fifth grade and the sixth grade skills to look at. The next thing I pull out after I've pulled those out is just the actual planning page which is the skills checklist and of course some of my favorite erasable pens. They're absolutely amazing when it comes to homeschooling so if you don't have some I suggest you get them because erasable pens are amazing. So the first thing I do as I look at the grade that we just came out of. So for example, I'm gonna start going through the skills. The first one is identify the main events of the plot, discussed character traits and motivations. I believe Emily's mastered that one so I'm not gonna put that on my list because I don't think we need to focus on that this school year. Next up we have define elements of figurative language. We did do a little bit with that last year. We did not master it however so I am going to add figurative language to my list here. That's something I want to focus on this school year. Use a variety of sources to obtain information. I think she's very, very good at that however I am going to put research on my list so we can focus on researching, compiling those resources into something that we can use like a report. So I'm just gonna keep going through all of fourth grade first. Then I'm gonna move to fifth grade and then if I feel like I do not have enough in math and language arts I will look at sixth grade. That does not, well actually I'm just gonna, that's never happened in math. Math is not something Emily has ever ahead in if we will. It might happen in language arts though so I'm going to just finish that out for language arts and math. I try to keep language arts on one side of the page and math on the other so I can distinctively see how full each subject is getting and then I'll make some other notes for myself as well. Simple overview of the skills that I really know that I wanna work on with her this year. So we have things like figurative language, researching, exploring different genres, practicing debating, working on poetic forms, the different types of forms, how to do them, writing them ourselves, outlines when it comes to writing so how to properly outline what you want to write and then working on different forms of writing. So personal writing, narrative writing, all just different kinds of writing that will also come into play with like our mail time and our journaling. So personal writing and writing letters and just kind of working on writing in general. And then for math, I have fractions galore because we really need to dive deep into fractions, understanding them, adding them, subtracting them, multiplying them, dividing them. The equivalent fractions, just really all things fractions, perimeter and area, volume and measurement as well as the metric measurements as well. Money, I really wanna focus on making change and not just making simple change but making change up to like if somebody was to hand you a hundred dollar bill being able to make change without a calculator and I want her to be fast at it. So that's something I wanna work on with her time zones. We worked on them a little bit this year. I want her to understand not just how they work but especially in the United States, I feel like when somebody says even me as an adult when somebody is like, I'm at PST, I'm like, wait, what is that? And then I have to like look up the conversion.  So if it's 3 p.m. here, it's 12 there. Like I just want her to be able to know that and not have to look it up every single time. So I wanna work on that a little bit more. Angles and so like we're talking about triangles and angles in general, decimals and percentages and being able to convert them back and forth easily and work with them without being scared of them. And then ratios. So that is the start of my list. Now, if we manage to conquer all of this and let's say the first three or four months, then I will go back to the checklist and I will add more to it. But this is a really, really great place for me to start. It gives me a really good idea of the things that I need to have on hand to teach the concepts that I want to teach her for her fifth grade year. So now that I've done that, the next thing I would typically do is choose our one thing for this school year. Now that would mean a family meeting, which we have already had previous to us filming this video. But that means us sitting down together. Typically, Kevin and I sit down together first and we discuss maybe options for our one thing. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, every school year we choose one thing to be the focus of that school year. So in previous years, we've chosen read alouds, poetry, tea time, art. Last year we chose field trips. I find that when you focus on one thing for a whole school year, when you really make it a priority, it becomes a habit and you no longer have to go out of your way to do it. So by the end of the school year it has found its way to kind of like live in your home school year and then you can focus on something else. So like now we're really good at read alouds and we're really good at games and we're really good at making poetry or tea time happen and we're great at making room in our home school for field trips. So this year, Kevin and I discussed a few things as Emily is getting older and then we presented her with the few that we discussed and our one thing this school year is going to be logic and critical thinking. I am not the best at making room for that in our home school, although I know the importance of it. So I will be making room for it this year. We've seen I guess the need for it, especially as she's getting older as her brain is developing more and because I know that we're only going to be getting into more and more complex mathematics like algebraic thinking. And I know that critical thinking and logical thinking will help her with that. So we're trying to kind of help her on that way and not make algebra later on as scary as it could potentially be for her. While also giving her what we feel like is a much needed skill when it comes to logic and critical thinking. So I'm also going to make a note of that just somewhere on my checklist just so that I know that the thing that we're focusing on this year is logic and critical thinking because that's one thing that I need to make sure I'm remembering. And so now that I know what our one thing is and I know what our concepts are, I am going to take this checklist that I made and I am basically going to go inventory our home school resources. I'm going to see what games we have on hand, what books we have on hand, what manipulatives we have on hand, what things do I have already in my possession that will help us achieve these, you know, mastering these things? Like do I have things that will help us achieve mastering figurative language? Do I have things that will help us achieve mastering fractions? Do I have enough logical and critical thinking things on hand? Now I'm going to have a lot of things on hand but I'm also going to want to add a lot of things too. So the first thing that I'm going to do is I'm just going to go inventory our shelves, see what we have, figure out what I need more of or what I don't need any more of and then we'll go from there. I'm writing my shelves which means that this is my absolute favorite part. The next thing I get to do is shop. So I've just kind of taken my checklist and I went and looked at the shelves. I know what I have on hand. I have quite a bit of logic and critical thinking stuff. I have some stuff for fractions. I have some stuff actually for almost all of this but I did make a few little notes saying, okay, this is what you need more of.  So I now know what I need or what I would like. Let me put it that way because that's what we tell Emily to say for us to be able to master these concepts. So my next step is to shop which is my absolute favorite. So I'm going to shop some of my favorite places, Amazon, Rambo Resources, Usborne Scholastic. This year I'm also adding Mindwear in because they have a lot of logic and critical thinking stuff. That's pretty much it. That's what I do. It's super simple. I do it normally in less than a day. I just sit down, I say, okay, this is the day we're gonna do it. I'm gonna pick the things that we're gonna be mastering this year, what we're gonna be working on. We discuss our one thing. I go through an inventory, everything that I have on hand or that I would like to purchase. In addition, I shop. Now shopping might take me more than one day because I like to wait for primed day and try to get the best sales and the best discounts but pretty much I have my carts set up everywhere of all of the things that I want. And then I check out whenever I get the best deal. So when like short learning sends me a discount or something like that. And that's it. That is how I set up for our homeschool year. After everything comes in, the last thing I'm gonna do is purge through all of the things that we no longer need. And then that'll be it. We'll be ready to start fifth grade. So if you want to see all of the things that I bought to set us up for an amazing fifth grade homeschool year, if you're excited for back to school hauls, make sure you're subscribed and click that little bell so you'll be notified when all of the back to school haul videos go live next week.