##VIDEO ID:kxigixp6mR8## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right good evening everybody Welcome we're at the midpoint of the school year welcome to the January 27th meeting would you all please rise with a flag salute [Music] okay all right the meeting is posted in accordance with chapter 231 PL 1975 Mr Paladino would you please call the rooll trusty Gillis here trusty Leon trusty monise trusty Mia here trusty Pacho here vice president daro here president benini yes I'm here sorry all right and can we have an approval for our minutes the minutes from December 16th and January 2nd um December 16th the closed session and public session do we have a motion motion and a second I'll second that Mr Paladino please call the role trusty GIS abstain from December 16th since I wasn't here uh trusty Leon abstain trusty massia yes Jessie PCO yes vice president daro yes president benami yes all right and we'll start with our presentations for this evening so our school representative our student government representative candy dong welcome and I think you have some information for us thank you good evening everyone my name is Candy dong and I'm your student board representative first I would like to offer our congratulations to all the students who are being recognized for their achievements tonight night in old news on Wednesday January 22nd the SEO hosted a successful Bingo night for students with 72 pre-sale tickets sold and over 140 participants last Thursday Bela High School hosted a trade presentation students had the opportunity to explore trade and Manufacturing careers through Hands-On demonstrations and tools in new news we would like to recognize and congratulate the BHS cheerleading team who are currently competing in Dallas Texas if you're looking for a place to do your homework or receive extra assistance from the National Honor Society Kasa is here for all students from grade 7 through 12 the location is at 5:22 courland Street in Belleville New Jersey Monday through Thursday 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the SEO will hold host a blood drive on February 7th please sign up during your lunch period or you can scan the QR code on the Flyers posted around school thank you thank you very much all right and we'll move into our reports from Administration our superintendent Mr parado thank you madam president uh this evening we have a few presentations that we'd like to make our first presentation uh by Miss Omari if she's here from the Middle School language orangs teacher has several presentations that she'd like to make good evening everyone a few of our Belleville middle school students have won the Young Writers fright Club contest the students were prompted to write a Halloween themed creative narrative using 100 words the following students won the contest jetti meras [Applause] next up we have Mia torturo come on up Michelle [Applause] Villa Ronnie Jimenez [Applause] Tatiana [Applause] Mendes Denise [Applause] Gara Alexis cabala [Applause] Mason beretto Alexa [Applause] McIntosh Gavin [Applause] leono Naya Bay [Applause] Daman [Applause] Bueno Julia [Applause] isander Jasmine mares and last but not least Sophia nen congratulations to all the students [Applause] thank conratulations congratulations our young [Applause] riters yep yeah [Applause] at this time I to call Mr Fabiano come up he has a presentation he'd like to make uh for financial math okay good uh evening everyone my name is Gerard Fabiano I'm a teacher here at Belleville High School and I also am the advisor for the fpla club which is the uh future Business Leaders of America every year we compete in both the regional competition and this year we got invited to go to to to the uh Regional Summit at uh seeden Hall University so it was very exciting we had a lot of students compete and we actually had one student uh who's here today Fabian Alva he placed first place in the financial math competition uh he competed against over 100 students throughout the region um and the financial math basically consistent of uh percentages depreciation interest rates so he did a really good job and uh he got first place so I just wanted to congratulate Fabian on that all right so uh fabian's here with the other fbaa members as well so they can come up we could get a picture but Fabian uh here's your trophy and your award I want to thank uh Mr rhs and the board of education for always uh supporting the FBLA it's a it's a great club and we do a lot of competition so thank you guys there you go [Applause] faan you guys can come up too to take a picture real quick the fbaa guys yeah y okay cool oh yeah that'd be good thank you yeah for okay the Board of Education and administration would also like to congratulate all the students of the month for December so we like to congratulate all of you for the fine work that you're doing and and doing also just for some notes the Middle School parent program of studies is putting on a presentation uh that program will start there'll be two sessions session one will be February 4th from 6 to 8:00 pm it'll be in person at the Middle School auditorium there'll be a second session February 6 from 6: to 8 it'll be virtual more information will be forthcoming as you get closer to those dates so I just want to make sure everybody's informed against the Middle School parent program of studies presentation thank you thank you Mr PR padal and I'd like to formally welcome Dr dele to the day is Dr deia if you have any reports for us just thank you madam president um uh just two quick um I'll call them announcements that uh just to refer the audience to uh agenda items 11.23 and 11.24 that I'll be speaking to briefly um first I'd like to uh speak to the um the partnership that we're entering with Monclair State University and we're very fortunate to have a representative from Monclair State University here uh who will announce uh and put a little recap to uh the formal partnership that we're forming with them to take uh place for the next three years in Belleville it's a pilot program on plc's and I'd like to ask Dr bageri if you'd like to come up and and please say a few words about the partnership itself hello everybody and thank you so much uh for this partnership um as you know Montclair State University and Belleville public schools has been in Partnership for many years through the Montclair State University Network for educational renewal and I want to thank all members for your continued support of our partnership uh through that work and I'm very excited to be part of expanding our partnership um through professional learning communities that we hope will serve your teachers as well as our preservice teachers and I think that that uh partnership will serve as an ongoing source of renewal for both of our work together um and hopefully bring you some fantastic new teachers too like one of them who presented tonight and so um that was just a great coincidence and I'm glad to be able to reference it so thank you so much for your uh investment in us and we are so excited to invest more in you thank you yeah you're not getting away that quick I'd like to invite uh Madame President Mr Vice President if You' like to um memorialize the moment with a picture with Dr bager and also like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr lepo Miss Shanklin Miss McIntyre Miss kcko uh Miss marietto and Mr mediate in they're bringing uh this partnership to uh the board agenda tonight so miss Shanklin you want to come up no anyone else that I called here no thank you very much Dr bager we really do appreciate everyone's uh partnership and and advancing the district forward and and absolutely finding wonderful uh Educators such as Miss Amari so thank you uh the second agenda item uh is U something that is uh probably going to be expanded upon by uh I would ra imagine other board members as I announce it uh which is uh agenda item 11.24 which is a resolution for valued shared services between the township of Belleville and the Belleville Public School System uh really what this uh marks is the opening of conversations to uh this is the first conversation of what we imagine a series of conversations to be between the township and the school system to identify shared service first needs and then how or plan to fulfill those needs uh to consolidate uh the funding from both entities and also uh and I don't want to get too ahead of myself but hopefully save a few dollars for the taxpayers in the consolidation of such uh I have to acknowledge uh councilman Graziano he's here tonight I don't know if he wants to say anything no he waves his right okay then Madam president if You' like to have any comments on it yes definitely and also would like to knowledge councilman Graziano I know that this was an initiative that he started many years ago and he also sat on the board and then was elected to the township Council so uh we're very grateful that you kept at uh this um program to acknowledge shared services and exchange different ideas where the Board of Education could work with the township on different programs and see where there were some overlaps so that um there could be a cost saving so we had our first meeting I understand that there are some smaller committees that are meeting and uh we we have another scheduled meeting coming up for uh an update um and just one thing that I want to say while you know the Board of Education and the council will remain separate entities um you know there's no reason why we shouldn't open dialogue and work together um these are very healthy uh discussions to have and keeping these lines of communication open only help us to uh acknowledge and Tackle things that might might arise in the future so I'm very appreciative to the township Council and to you folks here on the board of education our superintendence and VA thank you um with that uh do we have a report from Mr Paladino no report this evening okay we have a report from our state monitor Thomas Egan good evening um I could certify that there's a uh a review of the financial statements um that there are sufficient funds um on record and in the banks uh to ensure that uh all obligations will be um uh served uh through the end of the school year and there will be no continued deficit uh um secondly uh away from that the the auditor from the from the school district finished their audit for for the last school year that ended um June 30th of 24 uh and we'll be coming to the February meeting to explain and uh give the the entire results to the to the board in public as well as the to the public it did it did uh say uh that the the school district didn't out had an outstanding year financially uh and everything is going in the in the right direction uh on on a little bit of a cautious note um it's not official yet but the word that I'm hearing uh uh from various sources is that the the state aid uh for next year's budget which starting the budget season uh will be less uh what what what's good for us in Belleville is uh that we've have a solid Financial uh situation that any reduction in state aid will be handled um uh it may cause some inconveniences but uh we will prevail and move forward there are other districts out there that don't don't uh don't have the same Financial uh where all that we have some of those districts may be in uh deep trouble um uh last but not least uh as the uh our student representative mentioned um there was a meeting here uh last Thursday uh provided by uh the New Jersey manufacturers Association which over 50 students were uh able to see what uh advantages or what opportunities they may have in by joining uh the trades there were demonstrations of equipment uh with uh citing each of the different uh um major trades electricity um uh Welding which was a big hit the students loved it they were they were attentive they uh had an opportunity to do some Hands-On um experiments with the with these the equipment that was brought here by the New Jersey Manufacturers Association it was just wonderful uh the eyes of the kids uh were opened about the opportunities uh that the trades uh presented uh the representative of the firm pointed out that some of these um uh opportunities a student could earn anywhere from um75 to $85,000 it had the retention they worked at it uh and it was good the firm uh uh there was more activity with the firm um but that's just the highlights of it uh uh I think our relationship will continue with this firm uh and when that happens and if there's more information it'll be brought to your attention at that time so ends my report thank you thank you Mr Egan all right and do we have a motion to open public participation on agenda items so moved and a second yes second all right all those in favor hi all right Michael Sheldon would you please come to the [Music] podium uh good evening everyone happy New Year Michael Sheldon 47 Floyd Street just a small number of questions tonight regarding agenda the agenda firstly 12.39 you're apparently going to hire a very large Law Firm shank price Smith and King as special counsel there's no there are no cost estimates listed and I also would like to know why the need to hire special counsel uh we apparently have been doing extremely well with the bush Law Group the bush Law Group is also now a very large uh Law Group they handle just about everything under the sun when it comes to the law so could you please explain why you need to hire a second law firm as special counsel uh next question 12.33 uh there is a new chapter faith-based recovery LLC about to be hired at $600 a week and it says for a minimum four to eight weeks is that $600 per week per student or irrespective of the number of students involved I also would like uh uh if possible board counsel to um comment upon perhaps the slippery slope that you're entering into you're you're apparently going to use public Monies to hire a faith-based Christian organization and you know that may be a problem with The Establishment Clause of the Constitution so if if that could be addressed I would appreciate it uh Mr Egan already announced that the uh auditor Mr Bliss I assume will be back here next month to uh present the uh the budget or the audit for last year um I'm I'm hoping um that does happen and um as I will be asking once again later this evening um I'd like Mr Egan who um has been speaking very enthusiastically about the financial stability of our district to explain once again why last year he imposed a 6.4% tax increase on our district after Governor Murphy last February announced that we would be fully funded by the state to the tune of over $75 million and last year the general fund Surplus was well over $10 million so all these things considered there was no justification for the 6.4% increase on top of that there's a cap a 2% cap and if that succeeded according to I my understanding of the law the voters have to be allowed to vote upon the approval of the budget and yes I know there are certain exceptions to the 2% cap but I've never I've I asked Mr Egan to explain why the 6.4% increase was necessary I'd also like him to answer finally why as Dr msia said last May as chair of the finance committee she made multiple attempts to speak with Mr Egan about the budget and he apparently ignored every one of her phone calls and emails which I find totally inexcusable this is supposed to be a partnership we have a finance committee and he's supposed to be working with the same so if you could address those questions I would appreciate it thank you Mr Egan did you want to comment about uh next month's audit report the the audit report that uh um that's going to be presented in February yes I think um Mr Sheldon just wanted to verify that that is taking place that's going to take it's scheduled for uh the February board meeting yes did you want to comment on anything else not at this time thank you okay just Mr Sheldon I since I haven't reviewed the particular agreement someone from my office may have but I have not so I can't comment on the exact Services um I can't just make a determination that you that uh whether or not the name of an organization uh would violate The Establishment Clause at all it depends on the services and what's being take what's taking place as I said I I I I cannot comment um without having reviewed the agreement they've been hired just to deal with any conflicts that the original Law Firm has with this District so if they cannot take on a case for one reason or another because they're conflicted then we would bring in this firm they're just there to deal with any conflicts okay do we have a motion to close public participation so move and a second second and all those in favor all right we're moving on we are going to move on to resolutions for personnel suggested by the superintendent items number 9.1 to 9.40 do we have a motion to approve so moved and a second second that was Brenda m p PCO yeah yes you got that Mr Paladino all right and Mr Paladino please call the role trusty Gillis yes trusty Leon yes trusty massagi yes trusty PCO yes vice president daro yes uh president benam yes and moving on to resolutions for curriculum and instruction we have none so we will go to resolution for board action and board policy Suggestions by the superintendent um 11.1 to 11.25 do we have a motion so moved and is there a second second Mr Paladino please call the rooll trusty Gillis I have to obain trusty Leon yes trusty msia yes Jessy PCO yes vice president daro yes president benam um yes to all except item 11.3 okay and moving on to purchasing and business services item suggested by the superintendent we are going to we're going to table that 12.33 all right so is there a motion for 12 12.1 to 12.44 so moved and is there a second second Mr Paladino please call the role trusty Gillis yes trusty Leon yes uh trusty massagi yes trusty Pacho yes vice president daro yes president benini yes then on finance resolutions 13.1 to item 13.7 we have a motion so moved and a second second Mr Paladino please call the rooll truste Gillis yes trusty Leon yes truste massagi yes trusty PCO yes vice president daro yes president benami yes all right and we'll have a motion to open up public session number two uh remarks from citizens is there a motion so moved and a second second all those in favor all right Mr [Music] Sheldon uh good evening again everyone uh I want to um start off asking if there are any updates with the uh parking garage the uh Bond for that in the amount of 11.9 million was entered into back in 2022 I know you've gone out for two successive bids and each time uh the uh bids were rejected because you didn't have the finances available to uh build either concept but I'd like to know if uh there's any progress at this point in um realizing that parking garage uh you are um we are the district is about to complete the final pain on the $4.2 million State loan that was given to our district back in 2015 um after um the state discovered that our district was in such a financial Mass it also resulted in the appointment of Mr Egan as our state monitor in May of 2014 um Mr Paladino has said on record that he expects to make the last payment this March and uh in anticipation of that I think the board collectively on behalf of the community should contact the doe commissioner and ask in light of all of uh all these Financial considerations the repayment of the loan in full the fact that we've had huge general fund balance surpluses the last several years there's no longer a need to have the state monitor in place we need to have autonomy returned to our district so I'm asking all of you to please combine forces send a letter to the doe commissioner saying that as soon as they deposit that last check give us back control of our district uh I'm sure you are all aware that uh Governor Murphy earlier this month during his State of the State address uh expressed his desire to um have smartphones uh effectively banned from the classroom uh based on the comments that Mr Manon made here last month uh he and his colleagues are beset by the fact that that um while they're trying to educate our kids they're fighting against children using Tik Tok and Instagram and everything else Under the Sun um I personally feel it would be in everyone's best interest to um move forward with a policy here to ban cell phone smartphone use from our classrooms you probably know there are two Bills currently making their way through the state house um to do exactly this much to order the doe to come up with sweeping changes I looked U at Strauss Esme just to see if we had any policies in place and to save you the time trouble of researching this yourself it's District policy 2363 entitled pupil use of privately owned technology fact is here that this was drafted and in August of 2012 2012 and hasn't been changed since that time I think that uh your two committees your governance committee which is uh chaired by Mr Leon and Mr daro as well as your instruction program which is chaired by miss picho and miss Gillis need to sit down and try to preemptively map out a strategy before the uh State doe imposes this very same edict upon us um see the last next thing I I've noticed throughout these years that um many of our sister districts have nine trustees Nutley for example has nine Bloomfield has nine but we have seven and I I I've never quite understood why we have seven instead of nine in fact there's a state law and I'll give you the reference here in case you want to search uh Title 18 yourself uh 18a 12-11 and it explicitly says that uh uh Board of educations are supposed to have nine members and it's obviously designed so that every three year well every year you would have three trustees up so you be possibly swapping out onethird of the board during each election cycle whereas in Bel we have this odity where we have this year happens to be the three Cy the three member year but then the other two years it's two and I I I'm just wondering are you board members need to check with councel are we in violation of state law that we should actually have nine members here and if that is the case I know I'd like to know one way or the other based on my cursory research I'm obviously not not a lawyer I'm a physics person but it seems that um we should have nine members here so something I'd like you to address and then finally um we're all horrified by the uh uh ice raids taking place they've already been in nework um as you should all know that under federal law and in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution ice cannot enter a building without a warrant so I'd like you to make sure that all District staff are aware of the fact that if I should ever come here looking for employees or children whatever that they are not to allow them in until uh the superintendent and board counsel have a chance to make sure that they have a valid warrant all right we have a very particular sensitivity here in Beville more than 75% of our students at this present time or Latino and we need to be cognizant of that fact and not let ice and other political forces run halfhazard over the rule of law so I would hope that you would make sure that everyone in this district is aware of their constitutional rights I have everything posted on my Facebook page if you want to reference it I have it from different legal sites to help uh uh immigrants who might have to deal with these issues know what their rights are but um uh if you can answer some of my questions during this second session I would appreciate it thank you Mr Sheldon we already have everything in place for ice we've already had the administrators are all pretty much aware of the procedures the protocols on what to do just in case uh there's any type of uh situation that develops at the schools so we're all set with that and ready to go thank you and Mr Sheldon the uh board the statute that you cited per nine seven actually three five or seven members so it's not just nine it actually permitted districts to be structured um with a series of different uh number of board members 181 12-11 the Board of Education shall consist of nine members or it shall consist of three five or seven members ERS as and if it has been so determined pursuant to law or had been done by res by referendum is provided by this chapter um who shall be elected at annual School elections in the districts for terms of three years that I couldn't tell you but we can look at it I can we can see if that there if there has been what the what the history has been but remember um with the school districts have been uh and there been charged with you know educating the students back to the 1800s so it all depends on when school districts were actually created and how so we can we can look at it no I I'm saying we can look at it I'm not you don't have you don't have to file an Opa request I'm saying we can look at it may I yes the board president has given me authorization to look at it so we can look at it thank you thank you and as far as the cell phones go we we had the meeting and discussing some of those concerns uh few several months ago uh we will be meeting again try to schedule some meetings to sort of come up with some kind of ideas but we are still waiting to see where the governor goes with the policy changes that he wants to make before we have to reimplement some of the changes that he's telling us to put in so we're waiting to see to get that signed and then move forward but we are talking about it and suggesting different ideas ways that we could incorporate uh this policy into place because it's going to take a little work with some of the conditions that uh you know their families have to understand they got to be involved and the process that we're going to have to go through so we are we on top of it we know what we have to do but we're still waiting for the governor to make his call and the DOA sure is going to pass it on to the districts and tell us to do whatever we have to do so we'll be ready to go sooner or later yes they do they have them hanging in the back you put them in there right so we've talked about that so many union members we've discussed it with have brought that to our attention as well I mean Ramsey they use a lock box they use a lock which can be opened so kids put their phones in already so that's already happening in Ramsey so again we we are aware of all the different districts you know trying to implement this policy but at the same time some districts are also backing out of it because there's been some quite a few issues so we're trying to get all those issues out of the way before we do something and move forward thank you and just so you know we have broached the subject of going to a nine member board in fact trustee munes has brought it up a few times but uh we were all satisfied with being a seven-person board but let's see what the attorney does come back with I think that would be fair uh moving forward so thank you all right and now we have uh Eric I I don't know how to pronounce your last name Eric I'm sorry good evening everyone my name is Eric gy 9 North V Street um I have just a couple of concerns and it goes to school for and the uh Transportation issue I'm the guy who's been emailing you about the school buses not conforming with the appropriate laws of New Jersey and putting out their stop signs creating a hazard for the kids I don't see seem to get much out of it or anything like that because they still do it so we do we're there every morning with our daughter in high school and we have a child at school number four so I can assure you that it's not being done properly all right if you had the police officers that you sent those notices out for the amount of tickets that people would get if they violated the various uh laws out there doing their jobs then you know maybe they would see the school buses and be able to report directly back to you cuz my wife is here she can attest we pick our kid up every day most of the time the Bello cops are double parked and on their phones I'm a cop and that's embarrassing so now in a more personal setting I wanted to ask the superintendent how my name got to a police officer that I work with about my email to you and I'll say it again Michael minikini is the brother of the chief of police I wrote you an email superintendent of schools and I got a call from Mike minin who works with me not the Beville school board about my email why good question I wouldn't have any idea I don't what are you doing I don't have any idea that's not my my concern as far as you getting as far as somebody you're contacting I don't get involved outside of the outside of the realm of what what's happening I don't I just think it's it's this happened after school hours or whatever this happened it was something during school hours that no the incident happened but your situation with the chief or whomever it may be it it came from your office sir someone from I nobody in my office nobody in my office called my name someone else's mouth nobody in my office only two you had a hard time understanding it last time and you're having a hard time understanding it someone from I'll talk to you guys someone from my Police Department called me about an email that I sent him how is my name going out of District to a police department about what I'm communicating as a parent of two students thank you you're welcome and thank you enjoy the evening do we have a motion to close public part participation and make a motion mve all those in favor I okay and we're going to move on to our closing statements and committee reports and I'm sure Mr Sheldon you'll get a lot of information when you hear um what some of the Committees are doing with a couple of things that you expressed interest in um so let's first call Jean Gillis who has a committee report and comments good evening I'd like to take a moment to provide a brief update on a few key initiatives we're working on first we're thoroughly analyzing the applications provided to students to ensure there's no overlap and that each tool serves a unique and valuable purpose additionally our curriculum teams are enhancing professional development opportunities for our teachers allowing them to refine their their skills and further strengthen their expertise on the 16th uh staff at the elementary level had choices of professional development that was provided by District directors supervisors and teacher coaches we continue to collaborate closely with our directors of curriculum and instruction to enhance RTI strategies and support Student Success as mentioned before the high school hosted a successful visit from the New Jersey manufacturing extension program which welcomed over 60 students for hands-on experience with welding and Laser etching and finally on January 6 gasa expanded his scope to include third to sixth grade providing valuable academic support for all students with additional assistance available for our multilingual Learners and we remain committed to fostering a strong academic foundation for all students thank you thank you very much trusty Pacho good evening um as a little reminder of the business office staff is hosting extended even evening hours assistant parents we completing the 2024 2025 School meals and Summit ABT applications uh we accepting meals payment and other assistance related to the child's Food Service account uh we located a Buble Board of Education uh 56 R Street Buble no appointment necessarily we open next Tuesday the 28th 4 to 7 and Thursday 30 to 4 to7 welcome everyone um one reminder we have U winter reses District we close febru February 14 to February 17 thanks good good night thank you trustee Pacho uh trustee Dr misia uh good evening I first I would like to congratulate uh the students who received Awards this this month uh in both writing and math uh our students demonstrate so many talents uh academically artistically in sports uh that make us so proud and it's I have to tell you it's my favorite part of of coming to the board meetings each months to see just what they do and and to see that so many of our students across the board and so many grade levels really have so many wonderful talents that we get to see um I attended committee meetings last week for personnel and finance uh Mr Egan shared with you the information that was discussed at the finance committee meeting um and that the um audit report will be presented next month at our public session so you'll get that information as well um that's all I have to share this evening so progress thank you and truste Leon thank you madam president and good evening everyone we have some individual highlights I would like to touch on an exciting announcement for this coming spring first Aiden Carrero achieved a remarkable High series score of 671 at the ex County boys bowling championships our cheerleaders have also made us Proud by qualifying for Nationals and recently competing in the Cheerleading Association All-Star competition in Dallas Texas our girls wrestling team had an amazing showing the exis county championships with stand up performances including Isabella Luna taking first place at 152 Cassandra cross and Tiffany Guan oiza Restrepo earning second place at 145 and 132 respectively and Sheila Dickerson securing third place at 1 38 last but not least I'm thrilled to announce that we will have a varsity girls flag football team competing in the super football conference this upcoming spring so a very good showing for our girls this past month thank you something going thank you trusty Leon uh vice president darl uh we certainly appreciate all those that came out tonight are watching us online I would like to to congratulate all those that were awarded this evening from our talented young writers I know nobody's they they all left from but uh to our financial math Wizard and for recognizing the students of the month uh we have some great uh things that we're doing that they're being awarded for I'm very happy to hear that uh we also and I I don't want to Mr Egan and and Candy did allude to the New Jersey manufacturing extension program we had last Thursday I had a chance uh to come here and to participate in it as well uh was very formative uh it offered our students a great opportunity to see what might be available to them as a career in the trade or manufacturing Fields a lot of Hands-On went on uh I think our students were over enthusiastic uh where they didn't know what to expect uh but ultimately we had more and more students coming into the presentation which doesn't happen that often uh which is great to see uh I also had a chance to try some of the welding and some of the things out as well so it was exciting to see some new uh initiatives uh and hopefully we'll be able to continue this partnership with that uh going forward uh um I am chair of the governance committee we had our initial meeting last week this year we hope to be reviewing many of the policies out there that should be updated and adjust accordingly one for example is our public participating in meetings policy which Mr Sheldon I'm sure you'll appreciate that because it's near and dear to your heart uh also to help create new policies for us that may have not previously existed uh but have been become needed over time and and the 2363 I think was your one you were talked about that's one I'll I'm glad that you gave me the number that's way it's easier for me to find uh I think the communication one uh just for the future so we know it uh just just a thought just because we've been doing something the same way we've done it for many years does not mean we shouldn't be open for change or at least to be able to present an opportunity to try things that make us better or more transparent as a district um I've been also spending a lot more time with our local parent organizations the hsas the opes uh uh as a liaison I've been learning firsthand a lot from them and hope to become a more valuable resource to their interfaces with the administration to the board uh as much help as I could be to them uh thank you all for coming out tonight we appreciate it thank you vice president darl all right and just some final comments again welcome back everyone uh we're reaching this midpoint in the school year so I know uh everybody is gearing up as we're um you know at the top of the hill as they say and getting ready to ride down uh it's 2025 this is exciting uh there's new beginnings new opportunities uh the board trustees are actively reviewing policies because there are many and many changes that are coming up uh also reviewing curriculum and uh the budget because this is that time of the year I have no doubt that this board will make great strides on the work of previous boards and the past superintendent so I just want to thank you all for collaborating and spending the time and dedication for being up here together um let's continue to make a profound difference in the the lives of our students and for all of the staff and the families here in our lovely Township of Belleville so with that said I'd like to wish everyone a good night enjoy your winter break and we will see you for the next meeting in February the next meeting is is February 24th thank you do I have a motion to close our meeting so moved and a second second all those in favor by have a good night