Evening. I would 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 Burough 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. Ron Casease. >> Mark Gaddy >> here. >> Bill Wilson. >> Danielle D. Franchesco absent with
notice. Allison Cox >> here. >> Andrea Robinson absent. Amy Davis >> here. >> Steven Wilson absent with notice. Sarah Coen >> here. >> Michelle Kennedy >> here.
>> Thank you. Great. And I know and Ryan will be here later on. All right. Um for executive session, whereas while the Senator Byron Mair open public meetings act requires all meetings of the Ottabban Board of Education to be held in public,
NJSA104-12B 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 Ottabbon 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 in this agenda. May I have a motion to go into executive session? >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Will be approximately 30 minutes.
Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. [laughter] All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. Uh once again, I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask you to 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. >> All right. At this time, we are going to be um welcoming our newest board member,
Mr. Rutlinger. He is going to um say his oath of office and then be officially sworn in. So, if you would please come up, Mrs. Ron Casease will walk you through the process. For them to listen to me, right? So,
we'll let you here. Repeat after >> I state your name. >> I Ian Rutinger >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution
of the State of New Jersey >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And that I will I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> and to the governments established in
the United States and this state. >> And to the governments established in the United States and this state. >> Under the authority of the people, so help me God. >> Under the authority of the people, so help me God. >> I state your name. I, Ian Rutinger,
>> do solemnly swear or affirm >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member of a board of education
>> for the office of member of a board of education >> am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS9 4-1 am not disqualified as a voter pursuant
to RS 19 4-1. >> I am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense offense listed in NJSA
18A 12-1. am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A 12-1 >> and and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the
duties of that office >> and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Congratulations.
>> [applause] >> you take your seat. Welcome and thank you again for your willingness to fill the vacancy that we had. We're happy to have you with us. Great. Next on the agenda, we're going to hear from our student representative
who is now a rising senior. >> Hi everyone. Um, so a little bit of a warning. There isn't too much to talk about as we haven't been in school for a month, but mainly we had graduation which was great as usual. Definitely a bit of a sad night, I guess. It was more
of a proud night. And congratulations to Miss Davis, Miss Candidate, and Miss Robinson who all had kids graduate that day. It was really nice and I spoke at it. It was an honor. It was a great night. It's really all I have for today. Again, we haven't been to school for a month, so looking forward to next year.
Okay, next we have our superintendent and district reports. So, we aren't in school, but there is a lot going on. So, I wanted to update on many different things. I'm going to go building by building uh at Ottabon Park. Um there is a new clerk in the clerk's
office in the Ottabon Park um council. Uh so, we won't be having our same person. That's relevant to some people that have to do some interactions. They are cleaning out the offices there. Even though we're not starting with the construction just yet to put the classrooms over, there will be an established office for us to be using
over there. Um, there's also some playdates set up through the summer for the prek and the kindergarten students to get together. It's not school run. It's just organized dates to allow the students to mingle prior to the school year. Um, Miss Stenton sent out an email. I don't know if there's 10 12
dates available um at both sites so that the students can mingle together at Havlin. We also have the playdates. Same thing for the kindergarteners and um rally the program that we used last year that they did on the iPads for the movement that was paid for by the
flyers. We got an email today that they are sponsoring us for five more years um with fee free. They're they're sponsoring us and paying in full for five more years of rally to be used both at Mansion and Havlin. They were very very happy with the support of Miss Smeltzer and Miss Ledger and the
students and the the feedback that we gave in improving the program and the use of the program. So that was a very good um information that we got today. At Mansion we have ESY happening that started July 6th and will go through the 30th Monday through Thursday from 8:30
to 11. Principal interviews have begun. We have Miss Smeltzer and a panel of five, well, four teachers and a guidance counselor. So, six people on the panel. They will be doing interviews this week and next week. And they will send two to three candidates up to my office so that district administration can do the
interviews. And we hope to have a candidate for uh board approval for August. Um the musical for MA for uh Mansion this year, which is on tonight's agenda, it says it's for grades three to six. We're actually going to tweak that next
month. We're going to change it to say 4 to 8 and we have invited Mount Ephram to be a part of it. Um Tyler met today with Mr. Hunter. They are very excited about doing this as a collaborative event. So we now have grades four, five, and six in Mansion, seven and eight here at the
high school, and four to eight in Mount All working together for this musical that we intend to have the first week of December is the potential um date for that. So we're very excited about that. At the high school, our biggest
excitement is our AP scores were in. We had 83 students uh take AP exams. We had 144 exams total taken. We of course will have a presentation by Mr. Burke probably in August or September, but the data just came in and we are so excited.
Um the percent of students that received a three, four or five is 80%, that is up from 50% in 2022. It was 74% last year. We are definitely on a trajectory of um improvement and excellence in our AP. We
had three particular classes that had 100% of their students pass the AP exam. That was our AP Chem class with Mr. Harter, our AP pre-cout class with Mr. McKe, and our AP English language and composition with Miss Morrison. All
three of those teachers had 100% of their students pass the AP exam. And we will acknowledge them in September when we're back in the school year. I think we started that last year bringing the teachers and the students. Um, very excited about that. we had uh
had a lot of success. We're expanding, continue to expand, but we're definitely, you know, um trending in the right direction. Another important thing for the high school, which is on tonight's agenda, but on many people's minds, is the cell phone policy for next year. Obviously, there is a um a mandate
that says that we need to be without our internet, personal internet devices from bell to bell. Uh at Mansion and Havlin, that's always been the case. So, it's not really a big change there, but up here it is. So, the policy is going to be that they are off and away and in a
backpack or Chromebook bag. They cannot be in a pocket. They cannot be in a hoodie. They cannot be on from 8 till 2:30 bell to bell. Um, Mr. Leb has already started getting information out to the parents to get the parents on board to make sure the students were told before they left. Um, we are
already talking about not every student carries a backpack. How do we handle those situations? Um, and there's plans things for that. Another topic of conversation is field trips. If you look at the policy and things like that, it talks about buses first of all, which we don't really have an issue with. We
don't aren't a busing district. Um, but extracurriculars after school, that doesn't really fit under the bell-to-bell rule. So, we're not uh worried too much about putting too many rules and regulations in place there. That's not distracting from education. Uh, field trips is a different
conversation. Um, we're going to take that on a case- by case basis. As an administration, we've talked about it. There are some experiences where you would like the students to memorialize. You know, if you're at the Franklin Institute, you're link link uh Lincoln Financial Field, there's some things that you want to take pictures of and
memorialize. So, having phones, there's also the concerns if you're at Dornney Park and the kids are broken up into groups and somebody twists their ankle and needs to get a hold of a teacher, they they need a device to be able to get a hold of somebody. So, there is a time and place where it is appropriate. That doesn't mean that everybody's going to be allowed to have them on field
trips. So, we're going to address that on a case- by case basis. The main thing that we're addressing right now that we have a clear plan for is the uh bell-to-bell and how we want to handle that. Maintenance has a lot of summer projects going on. Three of the big projects are the window repairs, the
brick andmortar work on a building here at the high school, and the auditorium fire system upgrade. Anybody from the high school will appreciate how many fire not alarm drills but alarms did we have this year where you were put out in the snow, ice, rain, etc.
We may have had two in one day that that may be valid um due to some faulty things in the auditorium. So we are addressing that. Um again high school teachers and students will be very pleased about that. There's also some floor repairs and stair treads, which we
know are areas in need. Districtwide, there's painting and wall repairs happening. And at Havlin, there's a boiler pipe and a chimney that's needing reinforcing. So, lots of major things getting done. Um, spent some time talking to Mr. Hollander. He's very pleased with the work that's getting
done. We are very much on pace. Things are going very well. So, he's very pleased with his summer workers and our um custodial staff that we know is above and beyond and they do more than anybody really realizes. As far as other summer work as far as the administration, uh we do a lot of
work in the summertime, not just getting the buildings ready for the school year with the orders and everything and the interviews to fill any of our open slots, but we do some professional development for our admin team in the summertime as well. Uh we do a lot with the teachers during the school year. So we use the time in the summertime to
work with our um admin team. We have over the year found some areas for growth. Some things that we want to do. One of the main things talked about it in a couple of our committee meetings. We purchased this book called the emotionally intelligent leader by Daniel Goldman. We purchased this for everybody
on the admin team. We're doing it as a book study as you know we have the students do things of that nature. We provided them with a hard copy. It is available audio book and it's a great way to get the knowledge, but we wanted them to be able to take notes and and annotate and make this a part of their
professional library. I think there's a lot that we're going to gain out of this this summer. So, we have some plans with this. We already this week had a meeting about our district goals. We looked over the goals that we set last year, where we stand, how many were achieved, how many are still works in progress. We
looked at the action plan that was developed from our strategic plan last year and looked at what we've completed in year one. What are the things that we want to target for year two? We will have a lot of that prepared for our word retreat so that we can look at those things together. Uh we're working on a
communication plan at some of our meet and greets. We've heard from the community that there's a lot of disparity between how the different buildings communicate with parents. The frequency, the manner, the ways it's confusing. it's not consistent, things like that. So, we want to work on that.
Um, we also learned through the strategic plan that we're doing a lot that the community doesn't necessarily know that we're doing. So, what do we do to better communicate and make sure that everybody is aware of some of the things that are going on throughout the district? We have a workshop on hot
topics in school law. Um, we have uh Danielson training. This is what we use to observe the teachers. It's a tool that we use. It's um there's a company that comes in and gives the professional development. Not necessarily cheap. Uh we only have 10 administrators that need
it. So uh Mr. Burke has reached out to some neighboring districts to see if anybody was interested in joining with us for this training to make it a kind of a consortium type of thing. We've had six districts show interest. So we're very excited. We think we're going to be host hosting it here. We'll have 24
seats. So 10 will be ours and 14 will be filled by some neighboring districts. They'll help us with the cost, but it'll also start to build some of that that we want to be doing that that inter um district communication and collaboration and just bringing us together, especially some of our small districts
that are right around here. We always talk about isn't there a way we could help each other defer the costs on some of these things if we would get together. So, we have plans to move forward with that this summer. Uh we also have the high school administration has some slightly different uh
responsibilities this summer. So, there's some training on middle management, things like that for the people at the high school that they'll be going to. You'll see that on the board agenda as well. So, a lot going on for the administrators in addition to all the work that's happening in the buildings to get everything cleaned up,
ready, and improvements. We have new TVs being mounted everywhere in the the buildings. Um, you'll see them up and about. Uh, there's lots of plans going on with that. our new program. Our new teacher is coming in to work on our curriculum for the the media and production. Like there's a lot of
exciting things going on. Although Ryan doesn't get to see it all because he's at home, it really is a very very busy time in the summertime. It's just a lot different when the students aren't here. There's just a lot of different avenues for us to to work on. >> Great.
>> Thank you. That was uh very robust. Um, does anybody have any questions for Miss Allen based on that report? Okay. I would just I would like to piggyback a little bit on your AP score reporting. Um, I I'd just like to put my
parent hat on today. I don't know um where the initiative started or or whose um idea it was, but I was just absolutely pleased today to receive a personal phone call from uh one of our assistant principles, Mr. Corly, uh
congratulating um me as and my husband as parents on the success of our child passing the AP exam. And um it's my understanding that those phone calls are being made to all of the parents of the kids um who you know were able to to
pass the exam. And it was it was just a very um it was just a very touching gesture. It really was. Of course, we were excited for Noah and and he let us know and the rest of our family know, but it was just really nice to have that recognition from our administration. So, I applaud those efforts on behalf of our
um administrative team and and think it's it's a great initiative, not just selfishly for myself, but for all of the kids and parents in the district. All right. Um, next we have approval of our board minutes. So, may I have a
motion to approve the minutes uh from June 3 public session, which were revised, June 10th, executive session, June 10th public session, which also had
revision, and June 22nd public session. Okay. Uh, roll call, please. Mrs. Ronase. you want to do it? Um, actually probably now would be a good time, right? If because if anybody has any questions, Mrs. Ron Case shared some information
with uh with us regarding um the approval of minutes. >> Yeah. Yes. So um a question or concern came up at the last board meeting in regards to the minutes and the detail uh related to the public comments or board
member comments. So just for yeah everybody's um clarification with the minutes. So the minutes are to reflect a summary of the discussion so that any person would be able to understand the content of that
comments. Um, so at any time if a board member would like to revise the wording of minutes after you read them, you could reach out to me before we get to this part or you can actually at the board meeting if you want to revise
something before we vote, you can make a motion or say, could this be included? Could we revise the motion to include something that maybe you felt was important um to be in there? Thank you.
>> Great. Thank you. That's important to know. Michelle Candidate, >> Alison Cox, Mark Gaddy, Sarah Coolen, Ian Rutlinger, and Amy Davis.
>> Okay, motion's passed. >> Thank you. >> Well, would that pass? >> Oh, >> we were a board of nine though. June 3rd and June 27. Okay. because of
not enough votes, because of those in attendance. I want to just be clear. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Before we go on with the um first public
participation session, I did want to um repeat a statement that I made at the June 22nd meeting. That meeting was not recorded and there were not many people here. So, I wanted to make sure that um I shared what I had to say at that meeting. Um and also a little bit more
too. Did the air just get louder? >> Yes. Turn it off. >> Um so, uh this is what I stated on June 20 uh at the um meeting on June 22nd. I wanted to say that the meeting on June
10th um has been on instant replay in my mind and it was something that I had not experienced in my 12 going on 13 years on the board and while I don't think anything could have quite prepared me for that evening I've spent much time reflecting on my actions talking with
our board members and looking for a path forward but before I go forward I feel that I have to acknowledge areas where I could have and should have handled the meeting differently. So some of the areas of opportunity that I have um highlighted
is I should have made an opening statement at the beginning of that meeting and acknowledged the community's presence and why they were there that night. Um and I also feel that I should have reviewed how our board meetings are conducted because not everybody comes to
the board meetings. they don't always understand that we have business to take care of. We have an agenda to follow. Um, and I think it would have been helpful to let the public know at that time that they would have going to have plenty of time to make their comments and that we had um already agreed as a
board to extend that amount of time for public comment. Um, in regards to our superintendent, Miss Allen, um, I would like to apologize to her. Um while many of the people there that evening were
respectful in how they were addressing the board and Miss Allen, um I should have asked when Miss Allen was not addressed respectfully that um people make sure that they do address her with
respect as she is our superintendent. And also, um, I think Miss Allen has has put this question to rest, but the reason Miss Allen was not at graduation last year was because it was her son's graduation. And that is absolutely 100%
reason to not be at our graduation here in Ottabon. And also, a superintendent's visibility is quite different from a building principal's visibility. A building principal is expected to be at all of the activities and all of the functions that pertain to their
building. But a superintendent oversees the district, not just a particular building. And it while a superintendent may not be at an activity for one building, that may be because he or she is at an activity or an event at another building or is perhaps dealing with
other district business. I also wish that I had Defend is a strong word, but I wish I had spoken up in regards to how Mansion Avenue was portrayed that night.
Becoming principal of Mansion Avenue School is anything but a demotion as was hinted at that evening. Mansion Avenue School is a blue ribbon school. It is our highest performing school in the district and they have an amazing
culture and climate of positive behavior that has served as a model for other buildings in our district and other districts in our area. Um I also in that uh to that respect I I ask that if you would like to take a
look at Miss Smeltzer's statement it has been attached to the June 22nd meetings. Mrs. Smeltzer spoke at that meeting as well and it's at those minutes it's attached. So, if faced with a similar situation, and I certainly hope that I am not, or
none of us up here are, um, I will keep these areas of opportunity in focus and strive to do a better job. And I ask for grace and forgiveness in light of the challenging situation that I faced at that meeting that night.
Since then, um, I have had a couple of additional thoughts and I wanted to share those this evening. that during that meeting um several of our students and community members in attendance spoke very respectfully and passionately
regarding their views and in order to hear the many voices in attendance. The board did extend the time allotted for public comment well beyond the 15 minutes for topic as as is our policy. We welcomed civic engagement that
evening and we welcome civic engagement at all of our meetings. And in fact, in thinking back to that night, one of the highlights was the overwhelming support and encouragement our students of the month got that night. The resounding applause and enthusiasm
for those students was really heartfelt. But going forward, I would ask the community to also reflect the same way that I have reflected after that night. And I would ask that everyone is
respectful at our meetings. Many of our community members that were there that night are volunteers just like we are, and they know the number of hours that are dedicated to volunteer work. The fact that a recess was necessary to allow the room to calm and
quiet down was was very disappointing and shouting and yelling prevented us from listening to each other's points of view. And I was glad that we were able to move past that and and be able to listen and hear each other.
I would ask our community members to maybe look for opportunities to gain a better understanding of how a board of ed works, how our meetings are structured, and what our procedures are. On our website under board of education, you can select the tab becoming a board member and you can see schoolboard
frequently asked questions and learn just how a board functions. And I would also ask that they continue to attend our monthly meetings and our meet and greet evenings. I think that if our more of our community members come and see our meetings, come and talk to us at our
meet and greets, you'll gain a better understanding of the work that's accomplished in our district. You can hear everything that Miss Allen shared with us tonight. Um, and gain an insight into the high priority that we each place on student success. So, I thank you for allowing me that
time to make those statements. All right. Um, next we do have our first public participation session. I'm not going to read through all of our paragraphs here, but if there is anyone that would like to speak on agenda
items, this is your opportunity. You're waving your phone. Oh, you can't. Oh, yes. Good evening. Trisha Martell, president of the Ottabban Education Association.
Uh and I to ensure transparency and equitable access to opportunities. Stipens for extra positions such as those listed under human resources items 47 and 48 on page 20 should follow all of the rules and practices we're posting
for all staff to apply rather than be filled solely through appointments made at a board of education meeting. This has been a long-standing practice for things such as new teacher orientation and similar opportunities involving additional pay and continuing to honor
it supports fairness, encourages participation, and aligns with established hiring protocols. In addition, on item 48, the total payment column does not equal the sum of the previous two columns. Thank you. That is all right. So, everybody looking
down uh and typing or Yeah. Uh Gargoia 220 Wyoming. Uh two things. One, you brought it up in your little uh monologue, but I just do want to say I believe you I've told a few board members this before, but I think you guys did an exemplary job going through that evening. It must have been hard for
anyone and I do encourage people to come to the meetings, go become run. Doesn't matter who you are. If you meet the requirements, go ahead and then you will learn that the people that have been elected to to do this job are not going out of their way to make their community a worse place. And that's kind of what I
got the the vibe uh last month that no, these I'm not going to count people aren't going out of the way to make the school or the district a worse place. Um, secondly, I wish I knew this. Are we where can we if we are allowed to read
the first readings of certain policies? Is that open to the public or no, specifically policy 5561? >> All the all the policies are listed on our website. That's not
right. >> Okay. >> The way that it's in the way that is in the maggots is um as an attachment. However, once the board approves or adopts the policy, then it becomes obviously active on the website, etc.
>> Okay. So, there's no Am I allowed to ask questions about the said policy without being able to read the first? I know I got a minute left, but it >> So, that would your Yeah, it is on the agenda. Your but your point is taken. Um if anybody is
familiar with the policy 5561, I don't necessarily know if you are or not. My question is are we working with BCBAS in uh the use of physical restraint and seclusion techniques for students with disabilities and are they attending more
than a fivehour class? Is there I have been involved in I was becoming a BCBA before I went back to school and changed my career. Um, I did the thousands of hours to become one and I know the emotional and physical toll it takes on using physical restraints especially on
individuals who require them and sometimes were a lot stronger than they appear. I was wondering how we were going about or who we were talking with in regard to this policy. Thank you. >> So most of the changes that are on this
particular policy are from what we the the guidance we get from Strauss Esme. Um, again, these things are technically public. So, if you contact Rachel, my secretary, Rachel Kums, tomorrow, we can share a copy of it, but it's not a policy yet. It's in draft mode, we'll
call it, because we haven't had a governance meeting to be able to talk about it as a group. Um, as far as BCBA, we don't have any on in district on staff, but when a student warrants one, we do bring one in from other agencies. And yes, every special ed teacher is
given training. It may be the five-hour training every year. um on it's handled with care is the name of the the program that we use but everyone not that that this matters. It's not a quantifiable thing. It doesn't matter how many times you have to do it. It's not something we have to do frequently.
It always does is obviously a last case resort but when we have s students that are involved enough that may need it, we do frequently bring in a BCBA from an agency for that purpose. But we'll be happy to share that with you and please share with me your concerns so that when I have my next governance meeting we can
go over that. Um but the the ones that are on here right now are really just based on the information that we got from Strauss as anyone else for agenda items. Okay. All right then. I'm going to close that public participation session and
I'm going to move on to governance. I would like to recognize Mrs. Coulen as our governance chair. All right. Um so for this month we did not have a governance meeting. Um, I did look through the policy alert. I think
it was from April. Um, and there were somewhere around 20 uh, policies and regulation changes in some form or another. So, I looked through to determine which ones seemed most important to have in place by the beginning of the school year so that we
could have first read this month, second read in August, and then they should be in place for September. Um so just to go through them for you a bit here. So um first of all we have student discipline and code of conduct for the three
schools. My understanding is that we approve these each year regardless of whether there are changes. Uh the primary changes for this year have to do with the new cell phone policy especially for AHS but there is some um change in the Mansion Avenue code of conduct as well um relates to cell phone
usage. Um but for the most part they are the same otherwise. Um policy 0162 notice of board meetings has to do with the um PL 2025 chapter 72 which did away with
requirements to post meeting announcements in legal newspapers. And so now we can post them on our website, but that has to be conspicuously placed on the board's official website uh with links to the text to those legal notices. Um 0162.01
legal notices uh is about the rules surrounding the time frames for posting of the legal notices and use of an internet archive of previous notices. I think the archive has to be in place for one year. Um, this was all supposed to be in place by
July 1st. Our district has been doing this, but we didn't have it codified yet. Um, number 1643, family leave. There were newly passed revisions to the NJFLA uh to reduce the time period in which an
employee must be employed to be eligible for NF NJLA from 12 months to now three months. And then the hour requirement subsequently was reduced from 1,000 quote unquote base hours to 250. So these provisions
will lead to an increase in our NJFLA leave eligible staff. Um the policy itself is over 40 pages long, but the eligibility requirements are the only changes that were actually made. So it affected two pages of the 40some page
document. Um, and then where you see that it was revised for us is just that there were a couple of optional um, places on there and in the past we've chosen to use a rolling 12-month period to determine that eligibility. So, we're using that option
again at this time. Policy two 2200 curriculum. Uh, so NJAC6A 8-3.1A3 quote requires boards to make all approved curriculum pacing guides and citations for core instructional
materials publicly available to offer greater transparency for families and communities. And then section B2 of the rest stays the same, but B2 requires districts to provide students with access to advanced coursework. So the new policy includes all the information
from the previous regulation. So the regulation is actually being abolished. You'll see that below. Um basically the policy is going to include all the information we need for that policy 5511 dressing and grooming. Uh this is language that was agreed to last
year but the policy itself uh had not been updated at that time. Um it is worth noting that there are some stipulations that there can be additional dress road dress code requirements for certain classes. Um so while those aren't specified in the policy, there is a section in the AHS
student handbook that states appropriate athletic attire for PE includes t-shirts with sleeves. So no tank tops or crop tops and the use of sneakers. I know this is a question that came up in my household. Well, why can't I wear a tank top? And I said, I don't know. It's not against the dress code, but it is in the
handbook for AHS. Policy 5516, student use of internet enabled devices. Miss Allen already spoke about this quite a bit. Uh the only thing I'll really add is that internet enabled devices include smartphones, tablets, smart watches, and
smart glasses. So all of those items would need to be turned off and kept away during the school day. Um, there are exceptions, some limited exceptions to the policy. So, if there are provisions in an IEP or a 504 plan,
specific medical needs, um, emergency situations, things like that, there are those exceptions. Students are to go to the office when they need to get in touch with a family member, and families must call into the office to request that a message be given to their student, which should
only be emergency situations. Okay. policy 5561 which Mr. Gua had asked about. Um the only change really to this policy compared to what the policy on our website currently is is that they've
added that the superintendent um or designate must report all incidents of restraint and seclusion through the student safety data system SSDs. Um and the revision that you see mentioned in here is just again there
were two options and we had to select the option that our district does allow for the use of um seclusion and restraint obviously not on a regular basis but when when needed for the student safety. All right. In terms of regulations, the
2200, as I mentioned earlier, that was abolished because the policy now covers all of that information. And then uh regulation 5516, use of electronic communication devices. It's it's really similar to the policy and then it just refers to the respective uh
code of conduct for information about disciplinary um practices. Uh further down here, uh number three, we have the Mansion Avenue handbook. Just has updates to include information about the new cell phone rules. And then
the high school handbook, um again, it's primarily adding information about the new cell phone rules. There were some um changes that I didn't discuss with Miss Allen until this morning. So, there was revision there. It was mostly minor things like a reference to vice
principal. Um whereas the um classification now has been changed to assistant principal um updating the mission statement so that it um complies with our strategic plan um and clarifying a couple of points on there.
One thing that I forgot to mention is um under the I guess it's academic honesty section or something plagiarism we should probably add a reference to the AI plan as part of that as well. Um, our next meeting is scheduled for
I'm assuming August 11th at 7 PM. I don't know which building though at this point. I've lost track. What is it? >> Yeah, that's something we have to form up at the retreat. >> Okay. Um, anybody have any questions?
Miss Allen? Thank you so much, Mrs. Coolen. Thank you for um that detailed email that you shared with um all of the things that you noted in the handbook. That was really wonderful. Um Miss Allen, do you have anything to add? >> No, just I mean I I thank you for going through the alert, finding out anything
that was uh needed to be done prior to our next meeting because that was a lot and you know, we've talked about this before. I go through it all and I'm not really sure. So the second set of eyes and then even with the other policies and things that I sent over to you to review it for me, I really find that
extremely helpful. So um it's it's a big help. Thank you. Uh no, I think you hit everything else that I have noted. So >> we'll probably have a lot on the agenda for the next couple of months because stress as may noted that there were some changes in statutes and so we have to
kind of catch all the policies up and this is only a portion of the one from April. So, expect it to be kind of robust for a little while. My main question stemmed from knowing if the AI policy had to be approved tonight in order to be
um ready for the upcoming school year. >> So the AI policy is a second read for tonight. So that actually means that it is it will be approved tonight. Yep. >> Yeah. No, I was just making sure that >> Yes. >> technically is this the only we we'd have another meeting if it did not get
>> Yes. Yes. >> So theoretically, if we wanted to have more discussion on it, I think we could table that or postpone. I don't know what the appropriate language table for one month and then there would still be time to have it in place for the beginning of the school year because we
do have the August meeting prior to the start of the school year. that might make it a little tight for administration in terms of having things in place. But, you know, if if it seems worth ongoing discussion before
Yeah. But my my only concern of it is I've done a preliminary read of it once and that's one that an area that I I work with every day and I'd like to make sure >> that things are going that way, going the right way. I'm sure that everybody
has been thorough on it. Um, I just haven't been able to put as many much time on it yet. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments, or discussion on non-aggenda items under governance?
All right. Can I get a motion then for items one to four under governance? >> Any other questions, comments, or discussion on agenda items one to four? consider tableabling um so that Mr. Rlinger as a new member of the
governance committee and this being an area of expertise for him as an opportunity to review that and give some feedback or >> um we can I mean we need somebody would need to make a motion to table it. Correct? >> Yep. Somebody's got to make a motion.
I'll make a motion to table um item number two uh regarding the AI policy um again so we can have more discussion about second there a second
oh you seconded sorry thought you were asking for a second all in favor I >> any opposed Okay. So, I now need roll call on items one, three, and
four under governance. >> Yeah, we >> that was that was done before the table. >> Roll call. We're good. >> Michelle Kennedy, >> yes. >> Michelle, um, I apologize. Allison Cox,
>> yes. >> Mark Addie, >> Sarah Coolen, >> Ian Rutlinger, >> abstain. Davis. >> Yes. >> What doesn't pass?
>> Three does not pass. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Moving on to operations. I like to recognize Mr. Gaddy. Thank you. Uh the operations subcommittee also did not meet uh since our last board meeting. Um we still have an active RFP
posted for an architect of record for the next school year. The window for proposals to be submitted closes on July 23rd and then the interview process will begin after that. On tonight's operation agenda, we have the usual fiscal items.
uh May's board secretary report, cash reconciliation report and transfers and June's bills payable list. We have the safety drill reports for June. We have motions to approve the removal of uh Rothman Institute as position of record
and the addition of Cooper Health Systems as a position of record. um that involves going from an annual fee to a per event charge which is going to save us a good amount of money and uh our AD Chris Baker apparently put a lot of work
into getting a better deal there. So that's much appreciated. Um we have motions to approve the schedule tax payments from two of our municipalities, one for Ottabon Burrow and one for Ottabon Park Burough. We have a motion to approve the lunch prices for the next school year. If I'm
reading correctly, the price of reduced lunches will stay the same, but other student lunches will see an increase of 10 cents. We have motions to approve the allocations and submission of the idea B grant and the ESA consolidated grant for the next school year. We have a motion
to approve a 60-month copier lease. We have a motion to approve having speech therapy services done by an outside agency for two days a week as coverage during a district employees leave time. And our August operations committee meeting is
also PBD until the retreat. Any questions? Miss Allen, do you have anything to add? >> I do not. Not for operations. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh any questions, comments, or discussion on non-aggenda items?
All right. Uh, first then, can I have a motion for items 1 to 16 under operations? >> Okay. Any questions, comments, or discussion on items 1 to 16? All right. Roll call, please.
Allison Cox, >> yes. >> Mark Gaddy, >> Sarah Coen, >> Ian Rutlinger, >> abstain. >> Bill Wilson, >> yes. >> Michelle Candidate, >> yes.
>> Ian, um, I apologize. Amy Davis, >> yes. >> Motion passed. >> Okay. And then, uh, can I have a motion for item number 17? Any questions, comments on item number 17?
Okay, roll call, please. >> Mark Gaddy, >> Sarah Coolen, >> Ian Rutlinger, >> yes. >> Bill Wilson, >> yes. >> Michelle Kennedy, >> Alison Cox, >> yes.
>> Amy Davis, >> yes. >> Motion's passed. Okay. All right. Um, in Miss Robinson's absence, I will attempt to do this. Uh, first of all, there is an addendum
for education. Um, it should be motion uh number 13. It should read motion to approve the mediation agreement for TD and JD, OBD versus Otto Public School District Board
of Education. So, that should be uh on our agenda. Um under education you can see a variety of um conferences to be attended. Uh we have some field trips also noted.
Um happy to see that the uh seventh graders are going to be returning to Citizens Bank Park again for a joint field trip with Mount Ephraim. I'm very happy to see that. And also, um, just to note, uh, number two, there's going to
be a bus tour for all of our new, uh, employees and teachers to get a chance to tour our entire district. Um, and we are including, um, Ottabon Park and Mount Ephraim as well.
I believe Mr. Ren is going to be the bus driver for that event. Uh it's just a nice chance for all of our new employees to become familiar with our community. Um number six, we have our Camden County Tech School students. We have 11
students that are going to be attending. Uh we have uh an out of district placement noted and then um some additional conferences uh zoo field trip
and um we have a clinical practice for grade two and a contract for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind as well. And then number 13, Miss Allen, do you have
anything to add? >> Um, like I said, the we didn't have a meeting this month. Our meeting last month was actually um a very active meeting. We went over uh a lot of things about data and talked a lot about how we're using and some other things for
course placement. Uh Mr. Burke did a presentation, I'm sure he'll do it for the board later on or maybe for another committee, um showing the amount of growth that we found through um which is just one of the programs, one of the platforms that we use. But we know that a lot of times there's a lot
of um can't think of the right word. Students don't necessarily take the assessment seriously. So, we don't always get a very true picture of where their strengths and weaknesses are because we can't get them to. When we start using these assessments as more of their placements and have more meaning
to these assessments, they seem to take them more seriously and we're getting a much better picture of where students strengths or weaknesses are. It's also allowing us to schedule them better and put students into honors classes that can really handle the rigor. um identify students that belong in CP and general
classes to make sure that we're giving them the supports that they need. And it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but we are seeing a difference already in the culture of the building, of the teachers, of the students, um and the seriousness of them taking these assessments and and
hopefully that will also translate to our state assessments, which of course we won't get scores back from till who knows when. Um >> it's oh yeah, that definitely could. Um, but the concept is still good. The fact that it's not what we want it to be, the concept is like it or not, we're
evaluated based on these state assessments. So, we need the students to be giving it their best effort. And the way that we do that is to get the culture to understand that they matter and not just fill in the B things and whatever. And we were getting to that point with some of our internal things, with some of our internal testing. And
so we're really getting them out of that mode and to realize that you need to make your best effort on everything that it counts. It matters. It's and it's really quite um reassuring. It was very exciting to see some of the growth that we that we noticed in our students and our classes and Mr. Burke went to each
of the we did uh presentations at the end of the year with each of the faculties and showed them that you know some of the students have grown three and four grades worth of growth in one year because they really sat down and started taking things seriously. So we're we're excited about some things
coming up in the next year or so. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any questions, comments, or discussion on non-aggenda items under education? Mrs. Uh so just to to add to the discussion
about the last meeting, there was also uh talk about summer work and in particular um students are going to be given lists of books that they can choose from. This is an optional assignment, but um they can choose to read one of the books on the list and then when they start the school year,
they'll write about that book and potentially be able to earn extra credit um for that for their ELA class, I believe. Um, alternatively, if they don't choose to read one of the books, they'll write about their summer break, but it's to kind of give a writing sample for the start of the year. Um,
it'll be handwritten, a handwritten writing sample. So, maybe practice your handwriting over the summer if you haven't done that much recently. Um, but there there is a list of books that the public library I just got the the email from Mr. Burke as a parent um, with
information. So, the public library here in town has copies of all the books that are on that list. So, they should be accessible for everyone if you want to take an opport take advantage of the opportunity to um maybe get some extra credit to start the year out, but also have something to write about other than your summer if that doesn't sound
appealing to you. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um I just I noted um when I had a meeting with Miss Allen uh on pa I think it's till page nine I have a different agenda but the AI summit that Mr. Burke
and uh Miss Costell are going to I had asked that after they attend that attend that workshop that maybe they share um some of the information with either the governance committee or the AI task force. I thought that would be worth us uh hearing about.
And also, I think Mr. Wyn, they're going to ask you if you can join them for the bus tour on August 26th to give a student perspective of >> the district. Yes. >> Yes. So, mark your calendar.
>> All right. Uh any other questions, comments, or on non-aggenda items for education? All right, then. Can I have a motion for items one through seven? >> Roll call, please. >> Sarah Cullen,
>> Ian Rutlinger, >> abstain. >> Bill Wilson, >> yes. >> Michelle Kennedy, >> yes. >> Allison Cox, >> yes. >> Mark Gaddy, >> Amy Davis, >> yes. >> Motion's passed. >> All right. And then can I have a motion
for items 8 to 13? >> Questions, comments, or discussion on 8 to 13? >> Um, I'd like to say the zoo trip that is uh on here. Uh pretty as a parent of a rising first
grader. Uh this was the kindergarten trip from last year. It ended up being we were in a tough spot. The rain the initial day was rained out. The rain day was a date that we had to make an adjustment to the calendar. So
we missed that the trip was going to be forfeited. Um they were facing either forfeit or giving the kids passes to go on their own and uh it was a kind of a not a good situation either way and they stuck with it. So, I really want to appreciate I should sorry express my
appreciation to uh the team at Havlin for making sure that the trip did happen for the the students uh couple months after the fact, but they stick, you know, they stuck with it, made sure it happened for them, and and I'm pretty excited about that. So, um thank you to everybody at for doing that.
>> Thanks for clarifying that. I was wondering why the trip was because I know it's usually at the end of the year. I wondered why it was in September. >> Anybody else? Okay. Roll call, please.
>> Ian Rutlinger, >> Bill Wilson, >> Michelle Kennedy, >> Alison Cox, >> yes. >> Mark Gaddy, >> Sarah Coolen, Amy Davis, >> yes.
>> So, nothing passed. >> Nothing in 13. >> Correct. And just to clarify, things are not passing just due to an absence of board members. We don't have enough in order to have a motion pass. We have to have six yeses. So, I just I don't want
anybody to think that there's a massive vote against everything on the agenda this evening. Okay. Uh moving on to human resources. In Mr. Wilson's absence, I um Mr. Steven
Wilson's absence, I will report. Do whatever. >> Yeah, I I wasn't expecting education, but here we go. Okay. Uh human resources committee met this evening. Um and we reviewed open positions in the district.
Uh we also talked about our new hires, some of the changes that needed to be made in our position control roster and um Miss Allen shared with us about the um opportunity with the Danielson training
and Mr. Burke inviting surrounding districts to come um to participate with that which I think is is terrific too. Um, on the agenda this evening, we have a very robust agenda for July for human
resources. Uh, we've got a motion to approve resignations and new hires. Motion to approve a voluntary transfer. Motion for an FMLA request, a motion to approve a substitute co custodian. Motion to approve our academic coaches,
extracurricular contracts, and a motion to approve volunteer marching band staff. Motion to approve the pacing guide committee for the junior senior high school. Motion to approve compensation for adviserss of independent study. Motion to approve our
MTSS summer committee members. Motion to approve administrative buyback of vacation days. Motion to approve a staff member for extended school year. Motion to approve members of the instructional council. Motion to approve
chaperones for Mansion Avenue school evening activities and the Mansion Avenue school safety team. Motion to approve SEAL and HIV interventionists at Mansion. Motion to approve advisors for
a variety of clubs at Mansion. Uh motion to approve summer hours for several staff members. Motion to approve the Havlin Avenue School skip committee and the preschool intervention and referral team. Motion
to approve the PBIS team at Havland. Motion to approve staff to screen newly registered students. And a motion to approve headteer at the Havlin Avenue School. Um
yes. So, as Miss Martell noted, we should on page 20 make a correction to the total payment. Uh, page 20 number 48. It should read
210 as the total payment for both individuals, not 230. And there is an addendum. Thank you, Mr. Caddy. Uh, we do have an addendum for human resources. So, this would be item 58. We
have a motion to accept the letter of resignation effective July 15, 2026 from Steve McCormack from Mansion Avenue School. Okay. Anything to add, Miss Allen? Nope.
All right. >> Oh, this is wrong case. >> Well, I just have a concern with um when we vote on the second half, which is mostly the elementary, there are things that are
summer that are happening now. Um and I'm just worried about the payment of the employees. So, I made a suggestion to Miss Allen. We do have our retreat meeting on July
27th. Have we advertised for that meeting? >> We said no action will be taken. >> Can we revertise for the meeting and change it to be an action meeting as well as the retreat in order to have more members there and
>> vote on these items? Sure. Absolutely. Uh can I have a motion to recess for a few minutes? Motion. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, we're going to check on this. Thank you. All in favor?
>> Any opposed? >> Where were we? >> Did I have a motion for items 1 to 26? Or did I? Did I have? >> No. Okay. All right. Here we go.
>> Can I have a motion for items 1 to 26 under human resources? Second. >> Any questions or comments for items 1 to 26? >> Question on number um for on two items
actually. Number 14 under the academic coaches. Are there outside of contractual hours requirements for there? Is that a position that is posted every year for all of that? Those >> it is posted every year. It is meetings
outside of the school day. They're they're I think monthly meetings and they are uh the regular meetings and they are outside of the school day. >> Okay. Um and then my second question is on number 15, the INRS team members.
So the question for that is, is that also outside of the school day or do those meetings occur during the school day and the number of staff that is listed for that? is also outside of the school day. I can't remember the It was a much larger
number for the high school. It was decreased two years ago right before I got here. I think they cut back the number that was involved in it. Um I I don't remember what else. Yeah, it is. It is outside hours. Yes.
Isn't iron arrest the one where there's like specific lists of people like you need an administrator and so many teacher or there's like a variety of different positions. >> There are requirements certain spots that need to be filled but teachers can
volunteer to be on it or apply to be a part of it. But yes, there's usually guidance counselors. There's usually special ed and gened are represented. CST guidance, things like that. Yes. And I guess I have a follow-up question to that because when I'm looking at number 20, um,
the MTSS summer committee members because that really directly relates to INRS are not any of those members of the INRS team. Oh, maybe one of them is, but the other two are not. I actually I need Mr. Burke's assistance
with this one because that's the MTSS summer work that's happening for the high school. Yeah, come on up. Okay. The MTSS summer committee work. I don't think he knows more about what that summer committee work is than I do. So,
yes. >> Hi everyone. So the um the MTSS work that they're doing over the summertime is um it's really looking at a lot of the the data trends throughout the course of the school year. And you're
right, there is a lot of crossover there. Um but they are looking at a um a larger uh piece of this and they're trying to pull in other voices. Um that's why you see uh folks that aren't on the INRS team that are also on the uh doing some of the work over the summer.
Um That's does that answer your question or >> so my question my followup to that is is if you're doing through the MTSS are you using the link platform to to start the processes of it because then that becomes another training that would
have everyone have to go through and members of the INRS team if they're going to be the case managers of it of of different cases they need to understand that platform and how to to do all of that information in there as well. >> Yes. So there's a lot of like one person
or two a couple people learning and and as as someone with background of that it takes a long time and it involves really a whole lot of time spending and doing and able to do it effectively in order to really progress monitor and to set goals and short-term goals and using the
data from it. So it's just a lot of there could be a lot of I don't want to see anything lost in it. Right. >> Um and making sure that it is fluid as possible because if it's not as fluid as possible it's going to fall. Yeah. And as part of that, >> you're you're 100% right. We actually trained the entire high school staff on
how to use um intervention manager in Lincoln last year and then we provided extra training for the INRS team last year um on how to be a case manager as you mentioned. You're you're 100% right. Um, you know, we've taken a lot of proactive measures to to make sure that
they're prepared and the staff is prepared because you know, it's there's a lot involved and um, you know, to get the most use out of it where you know, you have staff collaborating on interventions um, around one child. You might have multiple staff members that
are dealing with the same staff with with the same student. So, we're able to we and we train the staff in how to use the system to um uh to work together uh to to help the the child out. Um so, yeah. And we're using Yeah. Link is a big piece of it. We're also using uh a
lot of data from uh from Genesis with Turnstyle and things of that nature. Yeah. >> Yeah. Go ahead. Is um is Lincoln and intervention manager going to be your warehouse where you're housing all the information and pulling everything or is it going to
be you know where all where staff members that are providing the interventions are going to be required to input their data in input everything is that what it's going to be for every student coming starting forward that's part of >> yes yeah that that's the yeah it makes
sense in in our view to have the same place where we house data about students be the same place where we from beginning to end um provide the um the documentation and the I'm going to call it paper trail um you know regarding a
student's progress through the INRS process um and and in addition to that um you know we are really looking at and and we are moving to the language of MTSS because we do understand the value of the tiered system and I don't want to get too deep into the weeds here with like the different tiers and and all
that kind of stuff because you know I Um but uh but yes, you're absolutely right and I I do think that that is probably the best practice. So um I I think these questions are really good. It helps us highlight um some of some of the the quality work that that's actually happening at the high school regarding and and some of the big shifts that
we're making um regarding uh interventions for for students at the high school. >> Good. All right. Any other questions for items 1 to 26? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Michelle Kennedy, >> yes. >> Allison Cox,
>> yes. >> Mark Addie, >> yes. >> Sarah Cen. >> Ian Rutlinger, >> Bill Wilson, Amy Davis, >> no to number five, and yes to everything else. motions passed except number five.
Okay. Can I have a motion for items 26 to 58? Any questions, comments on items 27 to 58? >> Okay, roll call, please. >> Alison Cox, >> yes. >> Mark Gaddy,
>> yes. Sarah Cen, Ian Rutlinger, >> Bill Wilson, Michelle Kennedy, Amy Davis, >> yes. >> No passing due to attendance >> or failed to lack a vote. Okay.
Okay. Um before I go on, I I want to reiterate again what is happening. Um it is a failure to have enough votes be based on attendance.
Um, and right now what I think we're going to be doing is we have a meeting scheduled for July 27th, which is our retreat. We have advertised that as a no action meeting, but we are going to change that to be an action meeting plus
our retreat. So, um, any of these items that did not pass because of either people needing to, um, abstain or lack of attendance this evening will be back on the agenda again and we'll we'll have
an opportunity to vote on them and um, hopefully have them pass because we'll have the right number of people. Okay. So, I just want to make sure did I did I express that correctly? I just want to clarify it's not that we don't have a quorum. We do have a
quorum. It's just that one of the board members who is here uh is conflicted out of certain votes. So it's not that we don't have enough people. It's that certain conflicts exist which limit the number of votes that can be obtained for any given vote. Um so just to clarify
that. >> Thank you. No, that's that's very important. >> It's always a always unique situation. Okay, moving on to our reports. Uh, we have our HIB district report.
Um, and we have our special program representatives. Mr. Steven Wilson is not here this evening for ed services. Miss Robinson is not here this evening for school boards. Mrs. Coolen for Ed
Foundation. Ed Foundation is on a summer recess, so there's nothing to report. >> All right. Uh, Mrs. D. Franchesco is not here for community outreach. I would like to say that we were once again in a an award-winning board of
education for the Fourth of July parade. >> Do we have do we get the trophy yet or Mrs. Rob Miss Robinson has it? Excellent. Okay. Um, it was a very hot day, but it was it was a lot of fun. Kudos to everybody that puts that those
parades on. Um, okay. Uh, Mr. Bill Wilson for mounting from ad hoc committee. Okay. We do have a we we have a scheduled meeting for tomorrow night. Yeah. Okay. Um, and um, obviously
um [laughter] I think that's a typo. >> I think that is a typo, Mr. Rutlinger. I don't think you're going to be the chairperson of the board member orientation committee. That is a >> I think that would be great. >> Yeah, that's a typo. I think we'll we'll
let um uh we'll let someone else take that for you so that they can help with your orientation. Sorry about that. All right. Um >> tonight for sure. Okay. Any board member comments?
do have one comment um in regards to the AP courses as we're adding more and we're looking to keep improving the offerings. I just want to make sure that students that are taking we really need to look at students who are taking the in-person AP courses and students that
are taking option two AP courses are held to the same standards such as midterms [clears throat] and the midterms being counted as part of their cumulative GPA because currently if you are taking an in-person AP course you have to take a midterm and it's counted
as part of your GPA. If you're taking an online AP course there is no midterm. So you it's not counted. So that can lead an advantage to taking online and option 2 AP courses versus inperson
Uh the second public participation is for um any discussion at all. Does not have to pertain to agenda items. Is there anyone who would like to make a comment? Okay. Seeing none, I will close us. Then uh we do not have a need to go into
another executive session. So as I stated, our next meeting will be um on July 27th. We'll be starting at 5:30 here in the Junior Senior High School Media Center. So we're going to change that to action will be taken. We'll have
another go around at these items on the agenda. And um >> can I but just ask just uh are we doing one first and then the act like are we going to do the board
>> board motions first action first and then take a recess and then go into the retreat >> retreat. Yeah. >> I don't think I don't think so. Correct. Yeah. Thank you for that question. Can I have So that'll be Oh, and it says
Wednesday. It's a Monday. >> Okay. So, the next meeting with ACT will be Monday, July 27th at 5:30. Okay. Can I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? Motion. All in favor? Any opposed? All right.
Thank you everyone.