all right good evening i'd like to call the meeting to order in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act of 1975 the Ottabon Board of Education transmitted notice of the meeting scheduled at 6:30 p.m in the
Ottabon Junior Senior High School Media Center to the Retrospect newspaper and the Burrow Clerk and by postings on the Ottabon Public School District website and at the main and the Pine Street entrances of the junior senior high school roll call please mrs ronase amy
Davis here steven Wilson Sarah Cen Alison Lipsky absent mark Gaddy Bill Wilson Danielle D franchesco absent allison Cox Andrea Robinson Jonathan
Maxon absent whereas while the Senator Byron and Bear open public meetings act requires all meetings of the Ottabon Board of Education to be held in public NJSA 10 col4-12B sets forth nine types of matters that may lawfully be discussed
in executive session i.e without the public being permitted to attend and whereas the Ottabon Board of Education has deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters that are exempted from the public and as are noted on the agenda I'd like to have a
motion to go into executive session all in favor any opposed all right we will be approximately 30 minutes ask for a motion to reconvene the board of education meeting
thank you all right please stand for the flag salute i pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all oh I didn't say all in favor all right um next I'd like to ask our student representatives to make their reports um there's not too much to report on um right now people are just getting ready for spring break which starts tomorrow
after the half day um prom's coming up um I want to commend the guidance office for doing such a great job helping us seniors apply to scholarships apply to college um get ready for what the world is taking us to next um and that's about all I have to report on right now right
now as you can see there's a volleyball tournament um for FCA which is Fellowship of Christian Athletes and yesterday NHS had some of the preschool students here to do an egg hunt and read some springtime stories and do some fun
outdoor activities that was really nice and a good way to engage the older kids with the younger kids no okay all right terrific um before we go on to arguably the most delightful part of the meeting which is the student and faculty and staff
spotlight um I wanted to highlight just a couple of things that are upcoming since we have so many people here right now um first of all this evening our superintendent Miss Allen is going to be giving a presentation on um some of the things that we have in place for mental
health support for our students in the district and that is actually going to be recorded and it'll be uploaded to our website so if anyone wants to view it again or if there are folks here not here this evening that you know would like to see it that will be on our website we also have our budget
presentation coming up on uh May 7th that is a Wednesday evening that's a special meeting for the board of education not our regular meeting but a special budget presentation on our at our meeting on June 11th will be recognizing all of our retirees from the
district and really looking ahead our meeting on July 16th we will be giving a report out on our strategic plan um program what what came out of all of those wonderful community forums that we had and the things that will be put into
place for year one we know it's July and that's not the best time for folks but we want to make sure that our administration has a chance to work on those initiatives over the summer so we need to approve the plan and then we'll be presenting it again in September so that hopefully everybody will be back
from vacations and and more people will have the benefit of seeing that presentation all right now we will continue with our student and staff recognition when your name is called um please come up if you are feeling a little shy and you need to come up with
your grown-up that's absolutely okay and we just ask everybody yes even the older kids can come up with their grown-ups um we ask everybody to stay at the end uh for a picture and I will get started with our pre kindergarten student of the
month which is Edwin Mosen [Applause] hello hello right up here in center can I shake your hand all right this is for you to hold
and can can you stand over here so all these people can see right there rainbow see and they don't make those for grown-ups and that's just so unfair all right all right edwin's teacher writes that Edwin
prioritizes safety by walking in the hallway carrying scissors correctly and always following the classroom rules to keep himself and others safe edwin works together with fellow classmates and is always willing to help them whether it's
cleaning up after an activity or collaborating as a team during group play he achieves his goals by showing an eager attitude toward learning always curious and excited to try something new edwin is respectful as he listens
carefully to teachers follows directions and treats everyone with kindness and care edwin listens quietly to classmates but when it's his turn to answer he starts every story with "Well," and turns it into an epic tale
that makes the teachers laugh every time edwin has shown the most growth in his ability to be mindful he has learned how to recognize and manage emotions if something is bothering him he takes time to calm down and express feelings in a healthy way while it took some time for
Edwin to transition into preschool he has shown the most growth this year by making incredible progress in every area just like a bee in a swarm Edwin plays an important role in helping our class work and grow together great job Edwin
okay our kindergarten student of the month is Jackson [Applause] Per i'm gonna say some nice things now okay all right the kindergarten student of the month for March is Jackson Puffer
jax Jackson's teacher writes "Jackson is one of the most hardworking and responsible students we have in our class each day he comes into school with a drive for learning new skills and is never afraid of a challenge jackson is always respectful and kind in all of his
interactions with both peers and teachers he is always cheering on his friends when they have accomplishments big or small jackson is a bright light in our classroom he fascinates us with his humor and extensive knowledge of great movies oh I'll have to I'll have
to check in with you later on that one jackson always makes sure that the choices he makes each day are safe respectful and responsible for himself and others his teacher says they are so proud of the growth that they continue to see from him and his teacher is
honored to nominate Jackson as the kindergarten student of the month congratulations Logan Roth is the first first grade March student of the month logan come on [Applause]
up i'm gonna read some good things about you logan comes into school each and every day with a huge smile on her face as you can tell she is always excited to be at school with her classmates and her
teacher logan has been a a true safe respectful and responsible role model in our classroom she respects all of her peers and teachers she is a a kind friend who looks for ways to include others
the her teacher can always count on Logan to be a good role model in the class she follows the directions and completes all of her work and takes pride in her work as well and tries her best with everything she does her
teacher has been so honored to teach Logan this year congratulations Logan and for second grade uh Von Bule's teacher would like to recognize him as student of the month [Applause]
vaughn is always respectful to his teachers and classmates he uses good manners is friendly and kind and goes out of his way to make other children feel valued if someone is sad he tries to cheer them up if there is a conflict
he works hard to resolve it vaughn does all these things quietly not expecting recognition simply wanting to support others in any way he can von is also a very responsible student independently getting his work done and always trying
his best his willingness to learn to grow and to try new things have helped him to make great progress in second grade there are many ways that Vaughn makes safe choices throughout the day he follows the advice of his teachers and
works to follow our classroom and school rules carefully we would be remiss if we did not also mention Vaughn's clever and unique interests many of his earlier teachers will speak fondly of his love of vacuum
cleaners though his second grade teacher can share that his interest is machinery in machinery has evolved to a thorough understanding and appreciation of cars his teachers and classmates find this knowledge and of course vaugh
himself to be very cool vaughn we are so proud of you his teacher writes "Your behavior not only makes our school a better place it also sets a wonderful example for your classmates to follow keep up the good
[Applause] work." Okay it is my pleasure to recognize Vesper Link as the third grade board of education student of the month vesper exemplifies raw expectations in
and out of the classroom vesper shows respect to her teachers and classmates by following classroom and school expectations she takes ownership for her learning and participates in class discussions as well as staying focused and engaging during
lessons in addition she's not afraid to seek help when needed she shows achievement by giving 110% into all of her assignments by presenting her work neatly and making sure she uses all of the strategies she has learned finally she shows responsibility by keeping her
materials organized and being prepared for class each day she always lends a helping h hand to classmates in need by offering assistance vesper roars every day all day long and is very deserving of this recognition keep roaring
[Applause] Vesper and the four Oh he's so tall um the fourth grade um student of the month is Capri Grimmie i hope I'm pronouncing it [Applause]
correctly congratulations capri is consistent in showing the roar expectations at Mansion Avenue without a doubt Capri shows respect to all staff and classmates she is kind in her actions making sure
everyone is included capri has been working hard all year to achieve goals that she sets for herself she has shown a positive growth mindset when she feels she has not mastered something she goes out of her way to practice it capri has
taken ownership of her learning she is always an active participant in class discussions and applies new concepts to her work she loves to help others learn as well she takes responsibility for classwork she is always turning work in on time her materials are organized and
she loves to help others that keep their materials tidy as well she helps to keep her group on task and finish assignments that meet expectations and your teacher is proud to nominate you as the fourth grade student of the month for April
congratulations okay for grade five uh Zoe [Applause] Severance zoe's teacher writes "I am proud to nominate Zoe Severance for the Board of Education Student of the Month
zoe exemplifies the core values that make our school community thrive respect ownership achievement and responsibility she consistently shows kindness and consideration for others whether it's in class or during group work she treats
their peers teachers and staff with a positive attitude zoe takes ownership by sharing her thoughtful answers with the class she consistently participates in class and furthers class discussions her achievement is seen through her hard work and perseverance zoe always tries
her very best and submits work that is thoughtful and thorough she is a master at time management she always puts in the time to make her work stand out yet she never rushes i am proud of all that Zoe has accomplished thus far this year she has
clearly earned the title of student of the month congratulations Zoe for grade six we have Aubrey [Applause] King aubry's teachers nominated Aubry for sixth grade student of the month they say since the start of the year she
has displayed Mansion Avenue role model behavior and continues to do so aubry shows respect for her teachers and classmates by always raising her hand waiting for others to finish speaking before taking her turn and making positive comments to others during group lessons aubrey is a kind and caring
student and her work ethic is commendable she takes ownership of her work by turning in assignments on time and actively reviewing and checking in about her work aubrey demonstrates achievement by f fully participating in
all group discussions asking questions and going above and beyond especially with her writing assignments finally Aubrey is responsible for her academic materials and preparing for class by being ready to learn her teachers say "Aubrey your hard work and dedication to
learning are admirable." Congratulations nice job [Applause] for seventh grade student of the month we have Alexander Erbano [Applause]
alexander Erbano a standout seventh grade student at Ottabon has been selected as student of the month for his exceptional character leadership and positive influence on those around him alex is one of a kind mature beyond his years and full of wisdom particularly when it comes to the great
outdoors whether he's sharing stories about fishing trips or time spent on his dad's boat Alex brings a unique perspective and energy to every conversation he also demonstrates a strong commitment to academics often seen helping classmates with homework or offering words of encouragement in the
hallway his kindness and natural ability to connect with others make him a role model among his peers in addition to his academic and social strength Alex is an active member of the wrestling team and proudly represents the school with enthusiasm and sportsmanship with a younger brother and
sister at Mansion Avenue School Alex sets a great example for his siblings and the greater school community we are fortunate to have him at Ottabbon Junior Senior High School for the years to come his continued involvement in academics extracurriculars and athletics will no doubt allow his leadership skills to
flourish we look forward to seeing him seeing Alex grow into an outstanding upper classman and continue to make a lasting impact at [Applause] AHS amber Pregartner is our eighth grade
student of the month [Applause] amber Pregartner has been selected as Ottabban's eighth grade student of the month for outstanding character strong work ethic and a positive impact on the school community a passionate soccer player and math enthusiast Amber brings
the same level of focus and determination to the classroom as she does to the field she is a younger brother in fifth grade and serves as an excellent role model both at home and at school amber is known for her strong work ethic honesty and dependability her smile is truly contagious brightening
every room she enters and uplifting those around her always willing to lend a hand she consistently supports her peers and teachers alike contributing to a welcome welcoming and inclusive environment amber has shown remarkable growth in our band program where she has emerged as a leader and an inspiration
to her fellow musicians her love for music and commitment to improvement are evident in every rehearsal and performance over the past school year Amber has taken her musical talents to the next level joining a select group of junior high students who have performed with the senior high band an impressive
accomplishment that speaks to her advanced skill and dedication she is highly motivated and takes initiative always striving to grow as a musician and as a student amber's contributions both in and out of the classroom have been outstanding and it was truly a pleasure pleasure to witness her growth
and success this year congratulations [Applause] The freshman class student of the month is Tristan Mendell [Applause]
congratulations all right your teacher wrote "Tristan exemplifies what we look for in an Ottabon student athlete he is a dedicated well-rounded individual who excels both in the classroom and on the field as a student standout student in honors biology Tristan consistently
demonstrates a strong work ethic and an eagerness to learn resulting in outstanding academic performance what truly sets him apart is his willingness to support his peers he is always ready to help classmates who may be struggling whether during class or after school his
approachable nature academic strengths and natural leadership make him a respected and trusted presence among his peers beyond the classroom Tristan is actively involved in Ottabon's athletic programs as a member of both the soccer and track teams he manages to balance his rigorous academic schedule with his
athletic commitments setting a great example for his peers tristan has a particular passion for math and science and shows a deep curiosity about the world around him at home he cares for a unique group of pets including a dog six snakes two lizards and eight turtles
highlighting his love for animals and the natural world with his strong character academic excellence and dedication to his interests Tristan is a truly deserving recipient of the ninth grade student of the month award
[Applause] congratulations lily Fardo is the 10th grade student of the month [Applause] lily Fahardo exemplifies what it means
to be a respectful hard-working and positive student she consistently demonstrates respect for herself and others always treating her peers and teachers with kindness and consideration lily is actively engaged in the classroom showing genuine curiosity by asking questions and
participating thoughtfully in lessons her strong work ethic and willingness to help classmates when they need support make her a valued member of the learning community lily's upbeat attitude and consistent good conduct help create a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere for
everyone around her beyond the classroom Lily balances a full life with maturity and grace as an integral member of the field hockey team she brings the same level of dedication and teamwork to athletics as she does to her academics she is also a proud older sister to five
younger siblings a role she embraces with care and responsibility lily enjoys math and is already looking ahead to a future in nursing a career path that perfectly aligns with her compassionate and driven personality her well-rounded character leadership and commitment to
excellence make her more than deserving of this student of the month recognition congratulations [Applause] Kyle Brown is the 11th grade student of the
[Applause] month kyle Brown Ottabon High School's 11th grade student of the month truly exemplifies what it means to live with pride and excellence academically strong and personally driven Kyle is one of the
most well-rounded students at AHS he consistently demonstrates leadership kindness and a commitment to excellence both inside and outside the classroom his involvement spans across athletics the arts and numerous extracurricular clubs making him a vibrant and essential
part of our school community whether he's representing Audabon on the soccer field sprinting on the track or performing in a school musical Kyle always brings passion energy and a positive spirit to everything he does kyle's extensive list of commitments is a testament to his incredible work ethic
and school spirit he's an active member of the soccer team winter and spring track teams and participates in Spanish club Spanish honor society unified teens to teens student council interact club national honor society and choir ensembles most recently he starred as
Barry in Prom the Musical captivating audiences with his talent and charisma kyle is a role model to his peers and a shining example of what it means to be an Ottabon student we are proud to recognize and celebrate Kyle for his outstanding contributions to AHS thank you Kyle for all you do to make our
school a better place [Applause] kaylee Mazone is the 12th grade student of the month [Applause]
kaylee Mazone has been selected as Ottabbon High School's 12th grade student of the month for her outstanding character dedication and academic excellence kaylee is an exceptional student who consistently demonstrates initiative and compassion particularly through her volunteer work in the animal
science lab without any ex expectation of reward credit or service hours Kaylee has gener generously given her time to care for the lab mice feeding them and changing their bedding almost daily her commitment reflects not only her love of animals but also her strong sense of
responsibility in addition she has played a key role in offering thoughtful input on the logistics of potential animal behavior projects and activities consistently contributing meaningful ideas that elevate classroom discussions in the classroom Kaylee is known for her diligence positive attitude and ability
to get along with everyone a dedicated student in anatomy she brings curiosity and enthusiasm to her studies especially in the sciences her passion for the field is evident in her future plans to attend the prestigious veterinary technician program at Camden County
College outside of school Kaylee enjoys spending time with friends and is close with her older brother her work ethic generosity and collaborative spirit make her a standout student and a valued member of the Ottabon [Applause]
community all right next we will recognize our um staff members for the month of March first we have Miss Brown [Applause]
the Havlin Avenue staff member of the month for 2025 is Miss Amanda Brown if you ever want to take a master class in classroom management you should visit one of Mrs brown's physical education or health classes it truly is a sight to see the students actively engaged in physically challenging instruction with
complete and total order in the gym in one minute students will be cheering on one another running drills throwing bean bags and giving high fives and the next second the gym is completely silent while they wait pensively for feedback and the next instruction to say students
are engaged is an understatement that same model can be observed in the health class for any of the classes that Miss Brown teaches in both settings her expectations are clear standards are high and positive supports help students succeed miss Brown serves as our most vulner serves our most vulnerable
students with kindness and care and helps every student see their own strengths and achieve more than they thought they could her fun personality and sense of humor make her a fan favorite among the students and staff alike amanda Brown is a certified member
of the Havlin code red team the leader of the dance into spring the coordinator of our field day events and a true cheerleader for health and fitness of her colleagues as she keeps signing people up for marathons triathlons and other challenging fitness goals that help keep our staff healthy and well she
serves our school as a community our school community as the assistant athletic director assistant softball coach and the former assistant basketball coach for many years and she just completed her CDL so she could provide transportation for our district we need that amanda keeps us on her toes
and we are grateful to have such a dedicated professional to work with more than that we are happy to call her a friend miss Brown thank you for your work support and dedication to our school congratulations on being selected as the Havlin Avenue staff member of the month
[Applause] great and for Mansion Avenue School we have Mrs [Applause] rosenberg look at that mansion Avenue would like to recognize Kristen Rosenberg grade five
English language arts teacher as our staff member of the month kristen has been at Mansion Avenue for many years she is a dedicated staff member that puts significant time and thought into all she does for her students whether it's decorating the classroom or planning engaging activities and lessons
she thinks carefully about the culture she creates in her classroom and is sure to provide the best experience for all of her students kristen truly cares about each and every student she seeks out support and ideas in an effort to reach every single one and to help them
learn and grow kristen also warm warmly welcomes staff members into her classroom and is supportive and a co- a creative co-teer any student who has Kristen for a teacher is truly lucky [Applause]
and for the Ottabon Junior Senior High School we have Mr t again we are pleased to recognize Mr mike Teddigan as the Ottabon High School staff member of the month for March his unwavering commitment to his students and his readiness to help both inside and out the classroom make him an
invaluable member of our team he consistently demonstrates what it means to be a true team player whether it's supporting colleagues or often guid offering guidance to students he is always willing to contribute his time and expertise his dedication to creating rigorous learning environment is
inspiring to everyone around him his high expectations for his students are evident in the quality and the challenge of his lessons he continually pushes them to reach their full potential ensuring that they are prepared for success the passion he brings to teaching has a lasting impact
on his students and enriches the entire school community we are incredibly proud to have him as a member of our NHS team his hard work dedication and positive attitude make a real difference congratulations on being named staff member of the month for March we look
forward to the continued continued contributions you will make to our school in the future [Applause] we would like to take a picture of our students and staff of the month so if everyone could gather over there by the
glass doors we will get some pictures what's up good job i miss you i love that all right we do need to continue on with our meeting okay at this time our superintendent
Miss Allen is going to uh give us a presentation on our mental health plans for the district thank you there's a presentation that's behind you anybody that's still in the room that wants to turn so they can see it again we will record this and publish
it on the web you can put the lights down just a tad so we can see the screen a little bit better thank you so mental health is obviously a hot topic it's something that's very important to all of us uh we have a a good initiative moving forward
in the 2526 school year and I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to talk to the board and the public about some of the things that we are planning for next school year so we have a comprehensive approach that we want to look at um mental health
is not something that's a oneanddone it's something that needs to address in multiple facets we're going to be using a couple of different things to achieve this we'll be using a program called playful another program is dreams we already have care solace and we'll have
professional development and a mental health counselor for K to2 so for each of these the reason we need all four is CLUL is something that will work for the students i'll get in more depth in a few minutes but this is something that will meet the needs of the students in the
district everywhere next we have dreams which will be for the staff and the school personnel it'll give us training for the staff and the personnel in some mental health concepts trauma dealing with students who have some anxiety and stress to deal with care Solace is yet
another thing that we have that's available for families people outside of the school district if you know that your child is in crisis and needs a therapist and you can't find one this is a service that's available to you that will help you find and meet your needs the professional development and the mental health counselor we have will
help with our school counselors and giving training and things to our staff playful is transforming how students access support services we've had guidance counselors for years we have a mental health counselor but that doesn't mean every child is willing to
go down and talk to them students don't communicate in person as much as they like to on an app to chat with their friends with other people clul is a ondemand chatbased program that allows them to access to a person a trained
coach this is available 18 hours a day they can go on an app they can go on their phone on the computer and be able to access say "I'm having problems with a friend of mine my boyfriend and I just got in a fight i don't know what to do my friends are all at a party and they left me out i'm really upset a coach will come on and start an interactive
conversation with them if it gets to the point that they need other interventions they'll reach out to the school or to other services for those things another important aspect of CLA is called a universal screener if you've been to a pediatric appointment or a doctor's
appointment in the last few years one of the questions they ask you is "Do you feel depressed how many days a week do you have trouble getting out of bed do you have difficulty sleeping?" That's a type of universal screener that's used to identify people that are dealing with depression and some other things most
schools in the area already have universal screeners and use them to identify your atrisisk kids they come up as a red a yellow and a green so any of the kids that are in the red zone these are kids that we can make sure have scheduled visits with their guidance counselor the mental health counselor or
with a mentor to make sure that they're being having somebody to talk to that there's somebody for them to confide in we know we have to keep an eye on them there's data that shows the success of Clayful for example 46% of the Clayful users are boys it's statistically less
likely for a boy to say "Hey I'd like to go talk to my counselor i'm having some problems with my mom at home." They're not as willing to do that but they're more willing if they have a different venue to do it 77% of the students feel less alone after having one of these sessions
76% of the students feel less helpless feel more um reassured after a session and this is one of the things that helps with suicide prevention uh school in our area Haden Township is using this this year i also have a video here three minutes I'd like you to watch it's about
a school district you're going to have to click it on there a school district that uses Playful in their schools hopefully you can hear this as they said this is just one piece of the puzzle this is the the accessibility for the students for the things that they have outside of the school day
outside of the classroom dreams is another component dream stands for developing resiliency with engaging approaches to maximize success this is something that was brought to us it's a partnership between Division of Children's Services um DCF Children and
Family Services the state of New Jersey and the Ruckers University of Behavioral Health Services this is a coalition that will come in and train our staff our principles our counselors about traumainformed healing centered
practices they're going to use something called the nurtured heart approach um the students getting help the students finding out where their needs are is great but these kids are sitting in front of us while we're teaching class they're shutting down they're dealing with anxiety they're dealing with things from home and we're not recognizing the
signs all we see is a kid is despondent they're not listening to me i'm telling you to pick your head up pick your head up and I start to engage and get mad at them and whatever and there could be other things going on so it's to teach the staff how to be more cognizant of some of those things that are going on what does it mean to be trauma informed
considering how trauma impacts the relationship learning and behavior you got to realize that everybody in front of you is not there with a great background a fully fed Billy night of sleep and ready to learn that's just not today's world there's a lot of things going on in their lives around them etc
that could be affecting who they are in front of you we need to take those things into consideration trauma may be present and recognized behaviors as stress and response to traumatic experiences um part of the training I started the orientation was talking about that students that are willfully
defiant a lot of times we just are sure that they're being obstinate they're being teenagers sometimes that's not it there's an underlying thing going on with them that doesn't allow them to access those coping skills that they need when they need them learning to
respond to behavior in ways that resist retraumatizing uh some students don't do well with the u proximity type thing you're going over you're standing next to the child because they're being disruptive that could end up traumatizing them they could have issues with that and you don't realize that we're not getting to know the children
and some of their issues before we do some of these things and understanding our own responses to trauma and that we need to self-regulate we're getting heightened we get angry so then we take it out we need to be So this is training that will come into the school throughout the year work with us work
with our staff give us PD and help us with some training ourselves so that we can continue the PD on our own to recognize some of these traumas and to help teaching in a very different world that we're in today care Solace is something that we've had in this district for years but I don't
think everybody really understands the value of it care solace is something that works for families to help you get mental health providers you know your child is at risk you know you need to get help for them but you have no idea where to start my in I don't have any insurance my insurance doesn't cover
therapy i don't know how to find this this is a coalition that will help with that they help the school districts provide wraparound support for every student staff member family member this doesn't have to be for students this could be your husband is going through something this could be your mother-in-law is going through something and you need to get help they're here to
help they do something called a warm handoff referral service which means if you let us know we can contact them and say "This individual needs some help would you contact them this is their area of need." They match the services to you you call and say "I need a male to work
with my son i need somebody in the house and this is the insurance that I and they'll go through and find providers find things set it up and make sure it works for you this is available 247 365 multilingual support so our ELLL population always also has success and
has ability to get a hold of the needs they have and there's a resource center once again this is a very short twominute video that shows a little bit about how Carales can help families my clicker isn't clicking can you click me to the next
page here we go the last facet we has have is the professional development now that's we've already talked a little bit about professional development for the staff but we also have professional development for the counselors um again school counselors today when they went to school a lot of this grief counseling
trauma crisis intervention all of these things were not necessarily things in their coursework the things that students are dealing with today is much different than what the ste students were dealing with pre- pandemic so we're going to make sure that they get to the training and get the things that they need to be have even more tools in their toolbox to handle some of the things
that were coming across the administrators will be trained in trauma-informed strategies because again sometimes that um hard tact coming at you with with you did it again we talked about this i thought we said taking some different ts and dealing with the discipline with students who are repeat
offenders and trying to figure out the root of the problem see what other ways we can do to help them become more successful the mental health counselor plans to move around i'm going to make it a K12 position that will move around all of the buildings i envision them being at the high school three days mansion one day and Havlin one day
because our students at all grade levels are dealing with different traumas and the teachers will be trained on the trauma effects with students in the classroom some of what we've talked about with our dreams coalition but some other workshops and things that we've already researched ottabbon Public Schools is
dedicated to addressing the needs for the mental health support the school and the community there's multiple facets it's not a oneandone there's lots of things all of these pieces of the puzzle are going to be available to help our students our teachers our staff and our families we're all in this
together thank you thank you Miss Allen board members I have a question um for the mental health counselor position is like there going to be some sort of plan in place to ensure that they have time to be able to see the students that part of
the mental health counselor position was seeing on a daily basis part of why we're using the universal screener is to make sure that we can make the identify the students at risk and get to those first it's not going to be a just go when you want to we're going to have another means of making sure because
although now let's say she's seeing 80 students there could be a hundred that need the services and 20 are being left out there could be 200 need the services but we don't know what that number is because we've never used those universal screener so we need this data to be able to see are we able to meet everybody and
much like at the elementary schools now the guidance counselors can do a lot of that as well okay so in theory there's plenty of counselors at down the line we need more we'll figure that out um Kerasolus and Clayful we already use Kerasolus and Clayful will they provide
like monthly reports on how much they're being used because they do there's an expense with Clayful so we want to make sure yes Clayful has all the data that will let us know exactly how much it's used and Carololis we can also they're all very data driven we'll be able to do a lot with that and you can present those to the I guess operations i can
present it to everybody you want thank you playful i just had a concern um when it said that if there was further issues that wonderful if it's going back to the
school and saying hey they need to be connected mental health but what happens when this is a child that's reaching out they're struggling but maybe they're struggling and their thoughts are are more
homicidal than suicidal I I just want to make sure that in them reaching out for help and I understand that you know if they're talking about how they want to take a gun and shoot everyone in the school and things like that it's still in that sphere of of kind of like
counselor um client confidentiality when things is also that you then go to the police i want to make sure that this is not where they're going to get arrested for their thoughts that we want them to talk and want them
to so that we can get them the right help and more that this would be a mental health track where correct it would be a voluntary or involuntary commitment type of thing so they the um this was just a brief overview they do have tiers tier one tier two tier three
tier two is when there's something that's a concern that they want to make sure the school follows up with the next day and they will contact the school email text etc if there's something that's a level three self harm concern of that nature they knew do contact the off the police for wellness checks they will they don't do the our concern was
another thing that was raised okay well I wrote to Mr leb and said that Jane was upset and sounded suicidal but Mr leb didn't get the message so where does the liability fall they don't let anything like that happen they make sure that they reach out for wellness checks things of that nature school is also notified but if there is something
that's concerning they do take the next step to whatever agency needs to be contacted but we can I can show you some more of the specifics on that as we get closer to it no but like in case that like somebody is having a crisis or they're feeling a
certain like I know that when my grief hits me it hits me at random times it's not something that I can schedule how is that going to be played into how you're saying there's going to be like a needs to be seen first so C playful like Clayful for example is a I'm talking about in person in person well in person
during the school day there will always be there will always be somebody available at at a moment's notice i mean you know we're a small enough town if they're at Havlin and there's a crisis we're going to go just like right now when there's a crisis we pull somebody to go to another building the other nice thing about Clayful is like you said it could be 11 o'clock at night when these
things pop up there's an app there's somebody available to you until 1 in the morning what we find statistically and you know students although they should be going to bed at 10 o'clock at night a lot of times that's the hours that they're up watching social media doing things that's starting to affect their
self-esteem and whatever and that's the time that they need to talk to somebody when they're with their friends and around people they're not feeling as depressed when they're sitting home alone in their room by themselves hearing parents fight in a fight with their boyfriend or girlfriend things of that nature with their friends that's a
so that's one of the nice things about this is that there's somebody available to you all the way until one o'clock in the morning any other questions i was just going to ask that no no no okay um thank you very much um
yes thated and available on the website for folks to uh continue to reference all right and it's still you attendance report yeah you did everything that I wanted to do the strategic plan in July the mental health thing there that was that was and the preschool that the NHS
did the other day i do want to do a shout out sorry shout out to the National Honor Society we had the preschool over for an Easter egg hunt um anybody involved in the preschool knows that we had a water mane break and the preschool had to be closed the students were here at the time we had to call an
audible suddenly your six uh activities bea became an hour and a half worth of activities they didn't break stride they had no problem they came inside had the the media center set up story time set up the littles had no idea that none of this was scheduled they thought
everything was just But we literally at 10:30 got a call that they're not going back to the preschool what do we do now and by 11:30 families were contacted students were all home there was plenty of supervision the entire time the staff at the preschool was great the staff here was great but I'm new to the
district seeing what the National Honor Society kids did was just amazing they were so good with the kids as is but stepped up took over things like I'm worried about do we need to this do we need to that and no it's done it's done it's done we're good okay what can I do you go back to your office we'll come
find you if we need anything okay um it was really really nice to see everybody step up and take ais situation take it all in stride nobody panicked nobody freaked out kids were all taken care of and home sleeping soundly by 11:30
because we ran them good for a couple hours excellent to hear all right thank you all right next um we're going to have the approval of the board minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes from March 19th executive
session and March 19th public session roll call please alison Lipsky yes andrea Robinson Bill Wilson Steven Wilson Alison Cox Danielle D
franchesco Mark Gaddy Sarah Coolen Amy Davis motion passed thank you next is our first public participation session this is for agenda items only the board of education
recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board has set aside two portions of this board meeting for
public comment on any school or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of interest to the residents of the school district for the first portion this portion public comments are invited on matters pertaining only to the agenda for tonight's meeting for the second portion
which will be at the end public comments are invited on all matters pertaining to the school district participants are asked to announce their name address and any group they may represent if applicable the board reserves the right to limit public discussion and public discussion of a
particular topic will be limited to 15 minutes and individual speakers will be limited to three minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and we ask you to reference bylaw number 0167 of
the Ottabon Public Schools Board of Education manual the board uses public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizens complaints stated or actions requested by the public may be taken under advisement by the
board or disposition at a later date or time the public comment sessions are an opportunity for citizens to share their opinions and remarks with the board it is not a question and answer session the board may or may not respond to public comments at the time they are made and
is under no obligation to do so the board does not endorse public comments nor will the board be held liable for comments made by members of the public any individuals who may be the subject of public comments including district employees shall retain all rights against defamation and slander according
to the laws of New Jersey having said all of that um is there anyone who would like to speak on an agenda item welcome to come up to the podium um I will make this short and sweet my name is Nicole Philippy i live at 107
Tweet AV here in Ottabon i have a current junior so class of 2026 student um I think I can speak for some of the parents that are here for the class of 2026 but um there has been talks of not potentially having a senior trip for the
kids for next year and I'm here just to show my support for it and um would like to not at this moment but maybe at the end go over some points um for the positive for the kids of why they can have it and also I would be
willing to I know some kids don't like rides or get motion sickness and I would like to for next year um being a Disney lover come up with some alternatives while they're in Disney as far as the foods they can do the shops the shows the parades and other things like that
so um that's all I have to say for now thank you hi there my name is Moren Matson 2011 East Graberry Avenue i have a sophomore and a junior in the high school and I too am here to support this senior trip
continuing and I will just share that in the last few days there's been a lot of misinformation disseminated and I think that stems from the lack of information as a parent of a junior I don't know
what's happening for senior year I feel very uninformed about it and I believe in student autonomy for information but in this case I feel like if there was some sort of connection and parent involvement
um we would have a little bit more empowerment and information on the back side that we would be able to respond a little bit more uh in an informed manner that's it thank you hi my name is Rick Brown i live 226
Princeton Avenue in Hadenfield New Jersey but my son is Kyle Brown he's a junior i'm here to speak also on the issue of the senior class trip next year uh I realize you know looking at the agenda there's a motion to approve it tonight i would urge the board to pass
that motion and approve it um I think I've heard talk you know through social media through text group messages that there's some question as to the value of a trip to Disney World i think some people look at it as just a five-day trip to an amusement
park i think what the board should keep in mind that there is there's a lot of educational value to this trip not only are there life lessons these kids can learn from learning how to pack a suitcase efficiently and effectively so
it doesn't go over the weight limit for the airplanes and incur an additional fee learning how to navigate an airport learning how to live in a hotel room for five days with three other classmates which my son's an only child he doesn't
share a bedroom with anybody at home and Disney itself i I would argue every class that's taught in this school could learn something from a trip to Disney from math science engineering um the language arts all of that there
is something that can be learned from going to Disney World so I would like the board to keep that in mind that this is not just a frivolous meaningless trip to an amusement park um
it means something to these kids and in connecting with people on social media the past couple days i've had people reach out that said "Oh god I went to Disney 30 years ago on my class trip and not just from Ottabon but Kyle's mother
went from Cherry Hill uh former town uh resident went with his hat in township class." Like it matters these these memories matter and they will last these kids a lifetime thank you good evening do Barnett's 139 Virginia
Avenue um my daughter is class of 2026 um sophomore i am here as well to speak on behalf of some of the things that have been heard spread about the senior trip i am a teacher at a neighboring high school i have actually gone on senior trips with some of my
students in my high school at the Black Worth Pike Regional School District um I can tell you I teach seniors i've been teaching 28 years i also am a graduate of Ottabban High School in 1993 i went on the senior trip here granted the senior trip in 1993 was $685
but I will tell you that you know the fact that the current senior trip going up to about 1,800 is still a fantastic fantastic bargain when you think of the price of Disney and the opportunity for these kids to go and spend time with their friends for five days um doing as
Mr brown said bonding as a class having this experience going through learning about themselves and the travel um I do want to make a comment also to the fact that there is not a lot of information forthcoming as a parent my daughter graduated class of 2021 sometimes it's
difficult to find out what's happening when it's happening because we're not you know the website's not always up to date things are not available and you really do have to kind of find information um some of the misinformation some of the concerns I think comes from the January 24th 2025
retrospect paper where there were members of this board that were quoted saying that you know that was financially um an issue for many people to go on the senior trip and though granted it is extremely expensive um my concern and my fear as a parent is that
if you begin to question not doing things because of finances where do you draw the line do you start taking away prom because it is expensive to have prom tickets do you take away homecoming because homecoming is expensive winter ball tickets now granted these things do
cost money and they do require students to like make an investment and parents to make an investment but I as a parent and as a teacher our school district we have done things in my school gathering and collecting prom dresses and things from other people encouraging students to go camden County just held an
initiative to be able to go get free prom dresses there is information out there and if you ask there are ways that you can get help to try to encourage more students to participate in these coming of age right of passage activities that I believe are part and
integral to the high school experience and the maturity and the growth of these students these kids granted are coming to Ottabon for a fantastic education i moved back to this district because I believe in the tradition and pride of excellence that is Ottabbon High School and I would really really hope that this
board would continue to move forward with providing that same quality of education to these current students who have been through quite a bit in the last six years and um moving forward I just hope you will take all that into consideration and reach out your parents
are here they will help you if you ask evening Matt Rapto 435 Chest Street uh just want to expound on that i my daughter graduated last year Isabelle um and we were just talking about the trip and it is a very very important part of of the experience the high school
experience i believe that to be true i have a uh Sean is an eighth grade so this affects both ways um I understand for you you're never going to make 100% of people happy i get that but I also understand that a free flow of information back and forth also kind of smooths over everything and if people
don't feel like they're being told things then they're going to get upset and then stuff starts to happen on social media and we lose tell you the truth almost instantly um I will say fundraising wise I know it is expensive uh but I was involved with project graduation and also sixth grade so there
are people calls here people have stepped up in the past I know that co kind of if you've been around long screwed with the fundraising for the seniors um because it started earlier before and with that lack of of social stuff we lost a lot of that um I do
think it being collaboration we're for any parents to step up and start this fundraising early have a group per grade um because senior year not just the trip senior is expensive we have proms and pictures and uh what else was there we I know we tried to buy yearbooks there's a
whole bunch of things that we can help out people with um that you don't realize until the very end there's a lot of bills do at the very end um so I would just keep an open mind to it i would hope that we continue the tradition because it is a good tradition um and it's not just like people said it's not just a fun trip there is a lot
to it and I think we should uh we should look at it and communicate it about it before we make any harsh decisions thanks hi I'm Elena Winship i live 279 South Black Horse Pike Mount Ephraim and I am Kyle Brown and I live at 206 Spruce
Street Ottabon New Jersey uh we'd like to actually the back of that fundraising thing and you know like he was saying there are a lot of expenses at the end of the year whe when it comes to homecoming even though it's only $10 people still have to buy dresses and you
know pants and a dress shirt you have winter ball you have numerous field trips throughout the year and then it comes to senior trip cap and gown the expenses build up but what we're more up here to talk about is the fundraising aspect of it we were told
from the beginning of high school that we're supposed to be doing fundraisers every year to build up these you know savings accounts almost to help with this these numerous expenses but what it seems like is that there isn't enough
support and backing to help that i feel that we need to put more effort through class advisors and through class fundraising in the beginning to help now this backload so that it doesn't come down to junior year when you know tonight we had a Chick-fil-A dine and
donate so that we could cover the cost of a a personal fundraiser that would go directly into every single student Disney bank for the amount of money that they raised singular singularly so we
just want to say that maybe this whole uproar of you know criticism of cancelling seniorship and all shouldn't be about the expenses and how much it costs but more about putting more of an emphasis on fundraising earlier and
stronger yes so I obviously agree with all of those points but as someone with a lower income I have a single mom and the fundraising has really helped i feel like there has been
efforts made i just want to speak truly more of what an impact these events make on me as a person even though it like we struggle to afford sometimes but me and my mom we've worked towards fundraising like she's set on me going on this trip
even though we struggle and that's fine but there's so many other people that I can speak for just like me i struggle with money but so many other people that would still like kill to go on this trip because it's so fun and it's also
sometimes a little cheaper than just going with your own family because wouldn't you want to send your kid if you can't afford to send yourself and your kid wouldn't you rather them have that experience that you're not able to give them with you there like wouldn't
you still have that experience overall than not at all [Applause] uhoh right is there anyone else who would like to make a comment on an agenda
item all right i am going to close this public participation session of the meeting and we are going to move forward with our agenda items i would like to recognize Miss Lipky for governance
davis so governance met on April 8th this month um we reviewed uh some for second reading the harassment intimidation and bullying uh the high school graduation and the
student smoking which as mentioned last time with the first reading I went into in depth what each one was the only changes that were made were changes that were manditate were mandated by law so they were mandatory um like students smoking it included vaping because they
didn't have vapes back when they had originally wrote this um things of that nature so there's nothing here uh the high school graduation is now the law is that uh t parents have to complete a
FAFSA application you know things like that nothing that is in any way harming anyone and it's just it's what's mandated by law um the first read that we had was activity participation fee program this is just a change and it
just came down to it was hard to balance the books when we had $100 for a single child and then $150 if it was two or more children in a family and you know which is 100 which is 150 is that two or
more what's happening so uh it was decided by administration that it would just be easier and more fair if it went to $80 increments so it's $80 if you have only one child who's engaged in activities $160 for two or more children
so if you are like me and have a singleton your activity fee goes down $20 if you have two or more children it is going to go up $10 but it still as you can see is is more fair on on its face when you
have you have two children you pay 160 but then three four seven more kids you're not going to pay anymore but it it's having that that each you know it's an increments of $80 but it gets capped at 160 so that's what that is
um and at our meeting on April 8th we did do a a mini dive into the code of conduct uh we definitely are looking at um making some changes so that certain things that we know that there are kids that struggle with lateness and things
like that we are looking at possibly making some changes if it's legal for us to do so uh where we have put forth the idea of instead of it being five latenesses equal an absence it would be five latenesses
equal a detention if you an afterchool detention if you failed to go to your afterchool detention it would go to a Saturday detention and if you fail to go to your Saturday detention it would be in school
suspension so this is something where instead of it being an absence and then you are capped at 18 and I have risk losing credit and not getting credit for that school year this is a way of kind of addressing the need to be on time
with also understanding that sometimes things happen and it would be better that you get in in school detention rather than possibly losing credit for the year so that are some of the things that we're looking at to try to have a more holistic restorative justice
approach to the code of conduct and so just wanted to let everyone know that that's on our agenda and what in governance we've been looking at the other thing that we are putting on Miss Allen's radar is the junior uh student
representative on this board because I believe Miss Helena is going to be the student representative and not the apprentice come next year and so we will basically need a new Helena big shoes to fill but I know we have the people the
students in this school to do it and so that is now being put on the radar and I anticipate because we the school year is coming to a close that sometime in May you're going to have some people that the students get to select and vote in
rank choice voting as to who they want to be their junior student representative on the board so uh that's wonderful and Miss Allen will h can talk to Mr wilson who will explain rank choice voting very beautifully uh but it
actually is the most equitable and fair form of voting so um we're doing everything we can so that every vote matters and that's all so as Miss Lipky said in the um governance meeting we did had a huge
conversation about attendance policy it wasn't just late it was uh there's different kinds of late we have students who come in and miss first miss home room but are here for first period and then you have a student who is absent for late for an hour and at this point they're being handled the same way so we're looking at a lot of that part of
the code of conduct was repeat offenders and we were talking about the loss of good student standings which may not affect any of you you may be unfamiliar with that terminology but it is something else that we're looking at and trying to clean up a little bit um so we we really it's like it was a mini dive but we had a lot of discussion about a
lot of ideas and we're researching with some other districts to see how they handle some of these repetitive problems to see how we can clean them up thank you all right any questions comments or discussion on non-aggenda
items all right i just wanted to say again that um New Jersey school boards is hosting a conference on AI i know that was something that was on Governance's uh radar and we've had um some meetings on that already that's on June 6 it's from 9:30 to 3:30 at the
Mercer County College if anybody's able to go to that um and also I just wanted to share not everybody got a chance to hear this but Jane said that there are students that are actually asking about the process to be a student rep on the board of ed that's very exciting that
that's that's a credit to you guys um you know who have really been um the trailblazers in these positions so thank you for that i've been hearing interest about this position since I think like December like ve very early i have
people ready to apply to this and they're very curious about it and interested there's a lot of students here at Audabon that really would like to be involved and be part of the conversation and it's really awesome i'm really excited to see who else will be up here with me well again thank you for for setting the standard and for um
giving everyone something to look up to that's just great to hear and Miss Davis if I can just say I think the reason why Helena was getting people coming up to her and asking in December was that was when she took the initiative and did an entire poll of the student population on
AI and then as part of her job as a junior student rep and on and she's on the governance committee and that was incredibly informative and helpful so I think a lot of that is you so that's wonderful the two student reps on all
the committees have been have given a great um insight we've many times been having conversations in the middle of something and then one of them will say "Well I've noticed or yes I've heard that or no I haven't heard that." And it's like "Oh okay we we from a different perspective think that something's a major ordeal." And they say "Yeah no it's not." Or we think it's
not an ordeal and they say "Oh no it really is." So it's really nice having student representatives as a part of the committees to give us a different perspective thing i' I've found it to be very helpful yeah but it's not our It's not our generation though so we need that voice
we need that voice a lot okay all right um and then I just want to note that the agenda under governance it should say that it's a motion to approve items one through two i think it had said one through one um so uh may I have a motion
on items one and two under governance any questions comments or discussion on items one or two under governance okay roll call please andrea Robinson yes bill Wilson stephen Wilson yes
alison Cox Danielle G franchesco Mark Gaddy Sarah Coolen Allison Lipsky Amy Davis Motion passed yeah i would like to recognize Mrs cox for operations
mrs davis we did have a meeting April 1st our next meeting is May 6th um at our meeting we had discussion on the budget of course it's the budget until May 7th it will still be the budget um but just all aspects uh you
know personnel although it's not we're not human resources it does affect the budget and all of that so every aspect of it uh we also talked about shared services between Collingswood and Audabon and also Belmar they're on the agenda and that's for our techn
technology services um we are continuing to talk and will continue to talk about preschool expansion uh for the 2025 no yeah yeah 2025 26 school year but also
we're projecting it the 26 27 and future years so always looking to grow that program it's very successful and then we also did uh talk about the tax levy incentive program which I'm now going to read a prepared
statement the Ottabon Board of Education would like to announce that we have taken advantage of an opportunity afforded by the state to apply for a tax levy incentive program a resolution was passed at a special meeting on Wednesday
April 9th and although this meeting was publicly advertised as are all of our meetings due to low attendance and the absence of a reporter we thought it was important to communicate the action taken if approved the resolution
available on our website could amount to an increase of approximately $260 per year on a home valued at 2004 thou 204,500 in Ottabbon please note this is
not an official number until approved and certified if approved we will be able to fund initiatives generated through our strategic plan forums increasing staffing and fulfill select budget requests not allocated in the
current budget please join us for our annual budget presentation scheduled on Wednesday May 7th at 7 o'clock in the Ottabon Junior Senior High School Media Center which is here also um I have a couple that I just want
to mention what's on the agenda that I didn't mention prior um we have our February board secretary reports cash reconciliation reports and transfers March and April's bill lists safety drills as listed and we received a
donation of $1,999 from the Scully Found Skully Family Foundation to support the Wave which is our workforce and vocational educational program and that's all
all right any questions comments discussion on non-aggenda items under operations all right then can I have a motion for items 1 through 11 under operations questions comments or discussion on items 1 through 11
i just wanted to you know point out that Allison had mentioned it but the uh almost $2,000 grant uh for our workforce and vocational education program is is great uh it's it's really something that the Ottabbon can be proud of um the
special education department has done a great job in preparing these kids for life after school and for you know life in the real world and uh I'm glad to see that if I we're going to move to well this is part of the agenda because it's the wave
program um I would just miss uh Allen there have been requests from the students that if the cafe could be open maybe through at home room or first period or some other times because they would like to take advantage of it
foundation who was Bill Scully is he a graduate or I don't know Scully was the spouse of one of our faculty members that's right okay thank you i would like to thank um Mrs ron Case and Miss Allen for the quick turnaround
time that um that the state has placed us under not only in the regular budget cycle but in this all of a sudden tax levy incentive uh opportunity for us um a lot of moving parts a lot of you know a week to do this two weeks to do that
so I I appreciate the continued effort um on our budget and making sure that um we can achieve the goals that we have for the district so thank you both for that all right uh roll call please for
operations Bill Wilson Stephen Wilson Alison Cox Danielle D franchesco Mark Gaddy Sarah Coolen Allison Lipsky Andrea Robinson
Amy Davis yes motions pass thank you next I would like to um have Miss Robinson recognize Miss Robinson please for education the education committee met on March 25th and our next meeting is on
April 29th at our March 25th meeting we talked about the recent testing that was completed including the NJGPA and the access testing um we were presented with a new eighth
grade elective a middle school media elective which will be offered next year to eighth graders um including ethics around technology podcasting videos things like that um we talked
about preschool expansion and some curriculum writing that is happening over the summer one thing that was brought up uh was that students [Music]
are having more difficulty engaging in productive struggle and sometimes they're giving up in ways that maybe they wouldn't have years ago so that we are as a district trying to start a a conversation a teaching conversation
about encouraging productive struggle and perseverance and uh we also were presented with the mental health resources that we were presented with again
tonight just the ways that the district supports students in their mental health and then on tonight's agenda there is the HI report the facilities requests conference
requests and field trip requests including the muchloved Disney trip for the class of 2026 and that's that's it anything to add to that Miss nope okay
um any questions comments or discussion on non-aggenda items under education um Miss Robinson just mentioned the preschool expansion and uh I just wanted to say thank uh Miss Allen uh and all the people that attended all the
meetings and worked tirelessly to make the expansion happen for next year we have a small expansion and continuing to work to expand it in the future um I know a lot of people were part of that mr burke was there Miss Ledard a lot a lot of the teachers um and so u working
tirelessly to make that happen i know a lot of families are going to benefit from this a lot have spoken that they would like to see greater expansion or working on it and uh I want to thank you for making this happen and making progress very excited about the um pres preschool expansion and to continue with that and
just because the education committee mentioned I just want to thank the parents again the attendance for the NJGPA testing was amazing we had really high attendance rates we had very few students that need to do makeups and that takes everybody to be on board for that to happen it's a great statistic to
have we have NJSLA coming up next if we could have that same support it would be very much appreciated it's good for the kids it's good for the community if we can get these scores in and really show all that Ottabbon really is something in from hearing all the
parents talk and then and about not just this senior class trip but more in the future um and then hearing the students talk about fundraising as well um I know that this has been kind of bandied about
here there i hear it in different groups in in groups of our committee meetings and things like that but is there something that we can have a PTA in the high school i know that there was some talk about that they were doing it for seventh and eighth grade um but it
really sounds like that there are parents that are in invested um and I don't know how to go about that obviously it's not something for the board to do um but if there is some type of way that maybe a PTA because it
sounds like the parents want to kind of be involved and be involved early um and I don't know if they know how to start it up either so I don't know who is the person to kind of talk to about it and things like that but um if it's just kind of something that bringing to Miss
Allen's attention to our attention um but it sounds like we are kind of in a place where everyone in the community and I think kind of the students and and and I don't think that I could see the administrators and and teachers being upset to have some extra
support and someone else to kind of do some of the heavy lifting um so maybe that's just something that would be beneficial for those future children uh so that this can continue and this tradition can continue and possibly at a
lower price for the students so along those lines one of the parents mentioned a couple about the lack of communication and I have a student in high school and I have a student in the middle school and the communication from the PTA is like watch so not just the financial aspect of it but just the
communication aspect of it will be very helpful uh non-aggenda items under education okay then can I have a motion for item number one under education all right any questions comments or
discussion on item number one okay roll call please stephen Wilson yes allison Cox yes danielle Der Francesco mark Gaddy sarah Coolen alison Lipsky yes andrea Robinson
Bill Wilson Amy Davis yes motion passed thank you may I have a motion now on items 2 through 12 under education do we have a second thank you any qu without Jonathan you uh you guys got to step it up
all right any questions comments or discussion on items 2 through 12 tack on to that what they were saying i I think um I heard Mr on item 12 with the senior trip um what Mr brown was saying I I I echo
the same thing for my kids who are years off from from this trip but you know I want that experience for them um I think it's a great experience like like you said and I heard some of the parents um ste and some others saying it sounds like they would like the idea of
fundraising and having the school behind that and I've said that you know giving um I'd like to see us look at trying to increase and better support fundraising and giving payment options for parents and that those have been things that I've really been focused on so I think
if we can continue on that um it might help some of those families that $1,800 is a lot in one chunk so yeah as long as we keep on that I'd love to see that um I'd also just like to say I went on the trip like a month ago and I think
that it was a really valuable experience for me and my classmates learning how to share a room with somebody especially people you become very close with as many of us are going to college and living at college i myself am living in a suite with three other girls so I think that this was a great experience
on how to manage yourself and manage your time with others and when you know you need alone time i think it was also really good to give kids some independence from their parents teach them budgeting skills you know kids went with a set amount of money and Disney is
expensive the the food there is very expensive and you only get I mean you have to bring money for like souvenirs if you want to get souvenirs you get a meal card well there's a meal card for a certain amount per day which covers like a meal
or two depending on how you stretch it one to two meals i stretched it for two meals every day on ours no when I went it was a meal card and I think that on food I spent less than $100 for the whole trip just keeping myself fed because you
bring food with you a lot of kids use I used half of my suitcase to bring snacks so I brought stuff for breakfast every day and you know stuff to have at night when I was in the room and I might have needed a snack because I know myself I have medical things that I need to eat at certain times so I made sure I
brought things that were high in sugar or high in protein because I knew I needed to eat it um but I just think that it was really a valuable experience teaching everybody how to be independent from your parents um and for the people that did bring the extra money learning how to budget it and stretch it over
five days um and make sure that you were able to do what you wanted to do i just think it was a great experience so and I would be remiss if I didn't just mention that 50% of the senior class didn't have that experience they
had a week off of school and so I just think we need to make sure that when we are talking about these things that are available to the students that we are meeting the needs of the majority of the students and currently it sounds like
50% is close to a majority but at some point we may need to revisit this trip if it no longer serves the needs of the senior class the needs the interests the finances of the senior class I also just
want to comment as I have said before in other board meetings no offense to anybody in my grade we do have a lack of participation in my grade compared to other grades um and I do want to comment that from talking to people in the grade below me right now is junior class um
75% or more of them will be going on the trip like there is so much hype in that grade for this trip so there's a there's a lot of feelings in that grade and I think that and a lot of people in my grade also chose to take their own trips
let that be known um like probably at least 10 people in my grade decided to go I know a girl went to like Puerto Rico i know other people went to Florida on their own or went down the shore for the week so people people did stuff on their own that week when they were off
so just to add to that point I am a junior so this directly affects me at the moment but most of the parents here tonight that spoke have a kid obviously in the class of 2026 and it's true that our class uh participates highly in these things and even in our junior
class group chat we do have a group chat on Snapchat with everybody that has Snapchat so a lot of people were very um intrigued about this and curious about why this was being talked about and um what to do to fix this um so there's a lot of people that are interested in
helping and having this field trip next year and people really are just looking forward to it and if if numbers are an issue you can always maybe it's more of a communication thing so maybe send up send out ahead of time and be like are you even interested in being a part of
the senior trip and if you know if majority says no numbers are numbers but if there's a lot of people that are interested ahead of time maybe take that into consideration brought up the group chat so I just wanted to say
that I was so disappointed in the junior class and that group chat because of the things that were being said and the unkind way that they were being that they were sharing their feelings knowing that they were talking
about the parent of one of their classmates and so I I just that really disappointed me about the junior class is that that that was happening and my son had to read those things about his mom and it was
like I I'm gonna vote for the junior class trip tonight you know like it it's I don't understand where this um anger and villainization has come from but it it
did really um make me question our our community that's that's incredibly valid um there are definitely certain people in everyone's classes and things that don't know how to share their emotions properly um some people take those group
chats and take it out of control but I'd like you to know that uh many many people uh were concerned for the person you were related to and we were curious about how they felt in this situation and not at all were we supportive of if
people were mean like it was very it was talked about there are just mean people everywhere um we really were not happy with how people handled it we definitely talked about it and we considered how people felt and I'm sorry if you felt that way it was not meant to be that way at all if someone said things like that
that's truly just cruel to Helena's point about taking the survey I think you know a survey could kind of bring up a lot of options so I think it sounds like the current trip is five days so maybe you could survey like would you be interested in a four-day
trip or a three-day trip and just kind of seeing what the majority feel is appropriate because that can help with the financial end of it but I'm I'm not suggesting that it should be less than five days but just kind of throwing out some other options so that you can see
like at this many days this percentage of the class is in support or willing to go at this many days this percentage of the class and kind of getting a feel for it that way too just to have some other options um if those finances are a concern they do a survey before and after the trip they did a survey
beforehand to see who was interested in going um and all that stuff and then after the trip we all got everybody who went on the trip got sent a survey about what we liked what we would want to change any complaints we might have anything we wanted to say like kudos well done just stuff like that like I
know that a lot of people's complaint was like maybe we could fix an issue maybe we could give a little more money on the meal cards or maybe we could change the park days to this to this to meet everybody's and I'm in senior counsel right now which is where we talk about a lot of stuff like this like
Disney we do a lot of the planning for stuff that isn't already pre-planned like where we're going each day all that stuff but um there have been a lot of discussions about the senior trip in senior counsel recently and like we do take people's opinions really into
thought when we're talking about it um and those surveys were super super super helpful so he most likely will be sending one out at some point to the junior class um which an interest form about oh do you want to go blah blah blah what's your concerns this that this
that else all right then can I have roll call please on items 2 through 12 under education Alison Cox yes Danielle D Franchesco
Mark Gaddy Sarah Cen Alison Lipsky Yes andrea Robinson 100% yes bill Wilson steven Wilson yes amy Davis yes motions pass thank you okay moving on to human
resources that's me the human resources committee met last night um everyone was in attendance and present um we discussed uh any of the open
positions in the district and also how uh the interviewing is progressing for those certain positions we reviewed the job description for the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction um once approved uh this
evening the job will be posted and just want to um highlight that there will be no budgetary impact for that position coming on board we reviewed the superintendent action items for the year everything is current and progressing we also reviewed
the process and expectations for the pre-conference meeting that we're going to have this evening right after this uh to discuss uh Miss Allen's evaluation we are planning to recognize our retirees at our June 11th meeting
and Miss Allen shared that she's planning to connect with the community throughout the summer with recorded updates on the website so sort of the way that um she mentioned that the mental health presentation will be uh available on the website she wants to um
have multiple opportunities to check in with the community through the summer um she and one of the things that she wanted to highlight was where we are with the strategic plan and how it it's progressing and we also like I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting we
discussed the strategic plan presentation it will most likely be occurring in July which is kind of appropriate because July 1 is the beginning of the academic year for those that don't know the academic year runs July 1 to um to June
30th so we'll kick off the new year in July with the strategic plan presentation and then we'll do that again in September in case you know families aren't able to join us in person or via Zoom on the agenda this evening uh we have a
motion for a resignation with intent to retire we um extend our thanks to Miss Griffiths for her years of service in the district we have a motion to approve a resignation we um have a motion to approve our assistant vice principal of
athletics is he still here this evening mr baker you want to just give a wave there there we go um we have a motion to approve we can applaud after gets approved motion to Hang on motion to
approve a special ed aid um there's a motion for a retroactive long-term substitute position and another motion for a long-term sub motion for FMLA requests a motion for two staff members to transport students to a golf
tournament in their personal vehicles we have a motion to approve a substitute driver whose name looks really familiar a motion to approve uh district substitutes as noted motion to approve personnel for children's nights and a motion to approve the job description
for the assistant superintendent of curriculum okay having said that um do you have anything to add no okay not not yet any questions comments or discussion on non-aggenda items under
HR all right then can I get a motion for items one through 14 any questions comments or discussion on items one through 14 under HR really okay oh good there we go uh I want to
welcome Mr baker to Ottabon yep but I'm not clapping yet so close all right uh roll call please danielle D franchesco Mark Gaddy Sarah Coolen Alison Libsky yes andrea Robinson
Bill Wilson Steven Wilson Alison Cox yes amy Davis yes motions passed now we can all right um we have our district HIV report as noted in the agenda special program representatives uh Mr steven
Wilson anything for Camden County Ed services nothing interesting or exciting happened at the last meeting okay uh Mr maxon isn't here for Camden County School Boards i know the next meeting is the same as our operations meeting again
it's a hybrid meeting um it's the first Tuesday in May not sure what date that is is it the six thank you um and I know we're registered for the conference for October yes Mrs ron Case
we are and we we do have uh rooms uh so uh anybody you know later we'll see yeah later you'll take a Yeah a straw poll when it gets closer and you're going okay um all right uh back to Mr dr
steven Wilson Ed Foundation was unable to attend the meeting last night because I had a prior engagement and my alternate got it stuck in traffic and missed the meeting as well so unfortunately we have nothing to report okay understandable all right uh community
outreach Miss Gulen yes um so I had sent an email to everyone with a start to a calendar of events um requesting that who's able to attend and interested just put your name on there so that we can kind of keep
track um the next big event is Audabon Day which is next Saturday already um so we had a couple people express some interest in being at the table for that so we'll figure out a schedule um for that and an activity of some kind
um please if you haven't already checked that go ahead and check i'll be adding events as I find out about them as well um it's great to have our engagement and participation um at some of these school events be it a band concert or um community events and things like that
i'm also trying to find out more information about third Saturdays which still is not settled or third Fridays rather which is still not settled at this point but if it becomes settled at some point I will definitely let you know and I don't know if this is totally appropriate but in my hat as a
celebration committee member I will just say that some information will be going out about volunteer opportunities for Ottabon Day so National Honor Society or anybody that needs service hours will have an opportunity to sign up help vendors unload and things like that in the morning um to get some of your hours
in so look out for that thank you thank you thank you for putting that together for all of us it was very comprehensive um Miss Coolen I it was something interesting that I saw on on the Facebook but I thought because I know that apparently that Mount
Ephraim does something big the same time as Ottabon Day and I thought there was an interesting reason why we always keep it on the same day and it's highly relevant and I thought maybe you could explain that sure so we had a public comment at the last meeting saying it
would be great if Audabon and Mounty from didn't do them on the same day because it's hard to get to both the reason that Audabon has Ottabon Day on the last Saturday in April is because of the birthday of John J audabon which actually is the 26th so this year the
Ottabon Day will be on his birthday so higherups in Ottabon are very um reticent to change the date not that it could never change but probably consistently it's going to be on that last Saturday of April so I'm hoping that Mount Eirm doesn't have as specific
of a reason for having their event on that same date but that's out of my jurisdiction so thank you for that information great all right uh Mr gaddy for ad hoc committee we have not met since the last
meeting but um I I want to report that um our superintendent and and the director of curriculum seem to be very gung-ho about uh including Mounty from Moore and earlier in the process and and I'm I appreciate that so I will bring
that up when we do uh Mr leb had a meeting with um Mike Hunter the superintendent principal over in Mount Ephraim um our eighth grade extravaganza is going to be collaborative both both districts involved in that next year's seven eight
uh catillian is going to be comprehensive and as they has suggested the eighth grade trip which isn't always two tall pines but we're going to make something so they sat down and made some plans for this year already and tentative plans for next year when they left they met together to do interview
process for scholarships that are given out every year and they had a really good planning session out of that I touch base with him clayful and another product rally which we didn't talk about today are other programs that Mount Ephraim is going to invest in with us so that we have that unified
um um initiative across the the towns so yes we really are working on improving it all right and uh board member orientation miss Lipsky nothing has been planned as yet and I
apologize for that i had some big things going on in my personal life that have to take priority um however uh I did promise that mentors will be coming your way so plan that you will
get mentors soon and and have that mentors um when they see you they'll be like "I'm your mentor and do jazz hands." Um which No they won't i know thinking of the mentors they won't do that but in my mind you should also put it in your minds that they have jazz
hands they're just you know imaginary jazz hands no glitter either yeah no glitter though although glitter is really awesome but it gets everywhere and never comes out so that's the next thing and then I think just in some conversations that I had with Danielle
maybe we will do something where we can kind of do a deep dive into the NJSBA website um so that you can see where the superintendent evaluation is uh where other workshops are things like that how you can sign up for the June 6th um AI
thing so because there's things there that if you don't do that deep dive or it gets overwhelming um so this is a way so we can kind of do that so maybe we'll bring our computers or our Chromebooks and kind of have a sesh and kind of do that
okay i know ner as Danielle said a nerd sesh so that's right former debate geek all right uh any board member comments i believe I saw on Facebook that Miss
Papone got accepted to Lasal University lasal so congratulations just wanted to congratulate you what are you studying awesome well congratulations um I would just like to say on a
personal note I also have a member of the junior class as a um my younger son and he literally has been talking about the senior class trip since his older brother went um which would will at that time be three years ago and um I would
say that to Mr brown's point about learning how to pack a suitcase they have to learn how to do laundry when they come home from the trip please all right um any other board member comments okay um second public
participation so this is an open discussion the same uh rules apply that did to the first session but the only difference is if anybody would like to make a comment it is not restricted to an agenda item so if there's anybody that would like to speak now would be
the time matt,5 Street um I came tonight to to look to hear some facts about what was going on in because I don't like the Facebook it's just so much drama and we we all can all agree how much drama there's Facebook i think in this case
before the board is considering some something a major change 10 minutes with Mr thomas Edi would have answered a lot of questions he could have spoken to what's involved what the money goes to he could have spoken to participation trends you're from your community because he's been involved in for so
long um and in in speaking of participation I think that is kind of on us that parents teachers board all of us i've seen the trends go up and down like I said I was involved in project graduation last year we had a good
turnout the year before did not um and I think fundraising at an early stage if you get the kids involved this is not just parents fundraising this is the students do it as well then they have an investment in their own future and I think they'll be more inclined to
participate in that way if they own part of it um and last thing super unhappy about the eighth grade graduation changes um forced fun doesn't work uh most these kids want to get a piece of paper in their hands and go out to dinner with their family um and that's
what that graduation did so this other thing I maybe it will work I I have my doubts and I wish we would have known about it earlier before it was just told it's happening thanks anyone else hi I'm back um Elena Windship 279 South
Black Forest Pike i just have questions which you're not inclined to answer regarding Miss CBO and her position i'm really curious on how you're going to compensate and I know you gave all of the different ways but what about the
students who have such like deep emotional connections with her they've truly bonded to her as you do with most therapists like she is who they look up to how are you going to replace that
with just another counselor in the building at the time especially say someone's having a panic attack no one can calm them down they're having a crisis she's not there she's elsewhere maybe with another student in crisis how
are you going to help this student that is in so like such desperate need how are you going to compensate for that student and that's Got it all right uh then we'll close the second public participation session um
the board is going to be going into a second executive session uh however no no action will be taken afterwards um so before we adjourn for that I just want to remind everybody that our budget meeting is set for
Wednesday May 7th at 7 um here in the library media center and then the next general board of education meeting will be Wednesday May 14th um it starts technically at 6:30 but as you know we go into executive session and the public particip public session starts really at
7 all right having said that may I have a motion to go into executive session all in favor any opposed okay all right thank you