New Jersey public's meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed on or acted upon. In accordance with this provision of this act, the Belvadier Board of
Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted with the star ledger in the express times and submitted to the town clerk of the town of Belvier on January 12th, 2026. The meeting will be livereamed at
www.beelvadersd.org. Flag salute, please. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.
The Belvadier School District in partnership with our families and community empowers every learner to grow, achieve, and lead through inclusive practices, rigorous academics, purposeful learning, and meaningful relationships. We honor our traditions
while preparing students to thrive in college, career, and life. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cone, >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Zuppet >> here. >> Mrs. Duckworth >> here. >> Miss Johnson. Miss Stephen
>> here. >> Mrs. Strafe >> here. >> Miss Walton >> here. >> Mrs. Wer >> here. >> Ms. White >> here. >> Mr. Cherelli >> here. >> Mrs. Gardella >> here. >> Mrs. Robbotham. >> Okay. Mr. Reid.
Everyone, please rise for the playing of our national anthem by our BS Middle School band directed by Mr. Reid. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Thank you so much, middle school band.
You did a wonderful job. At this time, we would like to recognize two students from the middle school band um who were representing us so very well at this year's Warren County 6th grade all-star band performance event in
Philipsburg. Mr. Reid, >> we have Isabelle Jennings. And we have Liam Hlett. Anybody over here? >> Congratulations, guys. >> We are also very pleased to recognize Addison Agens for earning the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizens
Award and second place for the Virginia A. Smith Memorial Scholarship. Addison formally received this recognition during a ceremony held on March 7th. Congratulations, Addison. We have a few more.
Dr. McKini, would you kindly come up? We are now going to celebrate our Belvadier Elementary School spelling bee winners. We have in third place R.J. Hughes. Second place, Hannah Pierre. And in first place, Adam Jones.
Okay. And now we have Mrs. Kane. Would you kindly come up? The following uh group of students are newly inducted National Honor Society, excuse me, junior national honor society members. These students have demonstrated academic excellence,
community service, leadership, character, and citizenship. And we have Desmond Arian. Roco Shabiron. Jacob Constantino, >> Esme Dao, Quinn Gayton, Elizabeth Hulcom,
Michael Oendo, Rowan Cooper and Max Staples. >> Would anyone like a picture here? >> I'll get one. >> Of course. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations to all of our students,
students, and families. If you would like to go at this time, you're more than welcome to. And you're welcome to stay and enjoy the rest of the meeting as well. >> I'm on an island. >> I'm on an island. >> Jackie. Jackie coming.
>> Jackie said she's probably going to be late. >> She had an appointment. Joe felt all alone. I was gonna have him move over a seat. >> I don't know where I'm going. I'll follow you. >> Miss you guys. >> We have a seat.
>> Yeah. Don't go so quick. >> You can fill in tonight. >> All right. We don't have our >> Hey, at this time I have a little something special going on. >> We have Miss Duncan here. Miss Duncan.
>> Miss Duncan has earned not one but two donors choose project awards. Both of these projects directly benefit our students through in-class and outdoor learning experiences. The first project earned Miss Duncan $3,000 to fund items that would support outdoor instruction. And the second, worth approximately
$350, provided us with a digital microscope. Miss Duncan is going to share a little bit more about each item. >> Hi guys. So, I had a whole but >> Oh, I have to use this. >> You guys don't hear me though. >> They can't hear you at all. That's the problem. >> Okay,
>> this is so like formal. Okay. Um, the these are my students. These are just some activities that we do. Um, I always like to bring outdoor um experiences to the kids, like real life hands-on experience. So, my original um I'm all thrown off with this micro this
microphone. Um my original thing was to do like a floating classroom. Um, and so we went to Lake Aon and we did a floating classroom field trip where the kids got to experience, you know, like actual science testing like say netting and plankton studies and things like
that. Um, so I asked for a gazebo with this company called Donor's Choose and it was $3,000. So I just thought, ah, you know, let's see what happens. And I got it. So I'm very excited about that. However, there was permits and licensing and things that we couldn't do here. So, what I ended up doing is we're going to
buy picnic tables and umbrellas and clipboards and a whiteboard for outside. Um, the second thing I asked for was a digital microscope, and I got that, too. Um, and this is really cool. This is really cool because it's not like a regular microscope.
It's not a moninocular, it's a binocular, it's not a dissecting, but it actually is um it can film, it can take video, and it can take pictures. And I tried it this morning and we had a lot of fun, but they're not that great. So, I'll try to show you some of them.
Let's see. Oh, this is we were uh painting hearts. We worked with an art class because we dissect hearts and so I thought that would be fun. Oh, I have to go into my email. No, I don't. Eric, how do I get onto the app that I
downloaded? Okay. So, do I have to go to mine? >> This one. >> That's it. But it was down there. But that's okay. I don't know if that's me. Shoot. >> You need to yourself.
>> Yeah, I needed to have my own. Shoot. It It's not ready. But basically, you could look at under the microscope. um you can uh snap a picture of it and so you get a good view and the kids can see what they're actually looking at because nine times out of 10 they're actually looking at particles not what
they're supposed to be looking at and then you can take a recording as well. Um and so we're going to do a field trip if I have permission to go to the Pquest River and we're going to collect plankton and an indicator species indicates if it's a proper like healthy water and so we're going to look for
that. Last year we had a lot, but I couldn't film it, so I can't prove it to you. But the Pequest was pretty clean. The Post was pretty clean. So that's that. And uh we're going to be collecting a check next May 25th. Um I forget the name of the family.
>> The symbolic check. >> Yeah, >> this is the um Kelanova Company and the uh Kylo family. >> Okay. Yeah. So I'm nervous. I'm going to go, but thank you very much. Bye.
>> Thank you. In all fairness, this was rather last minute. So, thank you for being here. Um, I, you know, couldn't think of a better person to explain the microscope than the science teacher. So, thank you. I have Hannah's report.
>> I I can read it. >> Oh, perfect then. Yeah, she's still at Newton. >> Okay. Um Hannah Leear, our board, our student board representative couldn't be here, but she did just send her report. So, excuse my scratchy voice tonight, but I'm going to try to read it for you
quick. Um the Leo Club has some upcoming events. There will be a Maravey Harper's Grill trip on March 27th. They have the Harmony Easter egg hunt on March 28th. The Leos will also be rebuilding and cleaning up Fireman's field deck and ramp on April 17th along with the FFA.
The Special Olympics at Hacketstown High School are on April 26th. And finally, for the Leo Club, they will hopefully be assisting the community center and the environmental commission with events. Next from the art department, the Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs program came into the art classes to talk to the
middle school students this week. It's a government sponsored program that teaches about fishing and gives free fishing gear to the kids. Chase Wilkinson spoke to the younger students. Warren Hills High School hosted its first annual countywide art show and we submitted 10 pieces from various
students. One took third place, senior Emily Priest, whose digital work you can see in the display case outside this room. The wood shop and art classes are working together this month on their annual birdhouse contest organized by the Belier Community Center. April 25th, the birdhouses will be displayed and
judged. Mrs. Null and Mr. Lutz worked with their with former BSD teacher Eileen Behey to make a scoring rubric and make sure the contest focused on using recycled materials while we celebrate Earth Day. Next, the drama club successfully put on
three performances of Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, which ended with a standing ovation at the Saturday evening show. Future educators had an amazing time reading to the elementary classes for ReadAcross America week. This year, they also joined in by announcing and participating with the students in the
Drop Everything and Read. This month, the students will be planning take your child to work day for the staff's children on April 24th. And lastly, FFA currently has two teams preparing for their upcoming CDEES. One competing in a mechanics in April while another is training for dairy cattle evaluation.
Their annual banquet will be held on Saturday, May 2nd at the Belvadier Manual at the Belvadier Manor. Additionally, two students have applied for their American degree and one student has submitted for their state degree, an honor that less than 1% of FFA members get to do. So, thank you
Hannah for that great report. Y right. So looks like we need a motion for executive session. >> Motion. >> Any second? >> All in favor? >> I.
>> Any nos? Any abstensions? Okay. We will be going into executive session for matters rendered confidential by federal law, state law, and court law. Individual privacy, personnel, employment matters affecting a specific prospective or current employee. Any
discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as practicable. Minutes of the private session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All appropriate persons who may be discussed in private session have been adequately
notified. The board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the close session in approximately 20 minutes. Half hour. Half hour. Half hour we're going to go with. Okay.
Are we leaving or Okay. So, we are on to our first public participation. We very much welcome input from the public. There are two times during regular meetings that the public is invited to speak. One time is early in the meeting before the board votes when
you may speak about any item that is listed on tonight's agenda. Towards the end of the meeting, there is another public forum to address any matters of public concern related to the schools. To ensure fair and efficient meetings, each public comment session will be limited to a total of 30 minutes at the discretion of the presiding officer.
When you approach the microphone, please state your name, city, town, and group affiliation. Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes. Time may not be yielded to other participants. All statements must be directed at the presiding officer. No
participant may address or question board members individually. Please understand that the public comment portion of our agendas are not question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all
comments are considered and they will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when speaking. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. The presiding officer may interrupt and or warn if necessary. Please understand
that the board will not be responsible for the content of comments made by members of the public. Members of the public are cautioned that they are speaking at their own risk and the statement they make that are directed at a particular individual or individuals may be subject them to legal liability
or defamation. Please also understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board will not respond in public to comments about students and employees. So this opens the public participation the first one of the evening for agenda
items only. Is there any public participation on agenda items? Thank you. Good evening. Chris M. Coyle Association President. The association asked the board and again asked the administration to include your staff in the budget
process so as to be transparent about its impact on our members. I've reached out to Dr. Garcia in email. Additionally, I've spoken with her in person regarding this on two separate occasions. My members who stand to either soon be rifted or outsourced and no more are no more secure or prepared
to move on. Past practice has consistently been to share the impact with the association early on and then work administratively to keep that worst case scenario from becoming reality. I simply request the same professional responsibility with this budget. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Any other additional public participation on agenda items? >> Nope. Okay. So we are on to committee reports. want policy >> if you want to do. Yep. If you will
start with policy and governance. Okay. So, policy met on March 2nd and I provided every board member a handout for policy um board committee policy
0155. Um, we knew that we wanted to update the section that's highlighted for everybody in yellow. Um, basically stating um, no more than four board members and the president shall serve on all board committees to state that the president
could designate that fourth member as part of the the committees and they don't need to participate in every single one. Um, so we updated that after our meeting. Um then we had another conversation with uh Melissa and she had brought up that you
know we may want to allow the president or the vice president to sit in as that fourth member if for some reason there are some absence absences depending on what the committee is and what's going on around that committee. So after a little bit back and forth, we uh came up
with additional language that doesn't make it required but an option which is what I highlighted for everybody at the bottom um where we would like to add to that
paragraph that the president may assign designate as the fourth member of the committee and in the event that one or more committee me members are unable to attend a scheduled meeting, the president or vice president may attend. So, it leaves the option open if they
want to attend. We didn't get to review it as a policy committee before this meeting, which is why I wanted to bring it to everybody's attention. I did let the committee members know ahead of time that we'd be talking here. If we can all agree that we're okay with that, I think we're still be okay to move to second
reading. Any questions, comments, or concerns? I have a question and it's more of a generic question and I know we screwed this up because we thought the policy was one thing and it turns out it was really something else because of Strauss estimate but it used to be five committee members plus the president so
it capped it at six. Is there a reason why we opted to take it back down to four or which we didn't think it was? You know what I'm trying to say? >> You're jarring my memory. We did talk about having it as five and well the president actually being the fifth and
we just felt I think keep me honest here that we felt like there were so many committees that it was just not enough people to go around. >> I get that because that did happen when we had five on a committee but it also got us clo if there was going to be um
a contentious vote on anything it put more members on the committee. So you if the committee agreed but more board members didn't, you were closer to a majority when it got to vote rather than the committee being shut down all the time. So there was a plus to having more committee members than f than four.
And if with four you could have a tied committee. So if the committee can't come to an agreement now you're at a tie instead of a 3-2 vote. >> Yeah. I mean we talked through um because the number of members on a committee had come up before as a as the
subcommittee we did talk through because at the end of the day it's still the board that makes the vote not the committee. though. That was why part of the rationale for not moving to increase um the committee size because even if
the committee is tied, the other eight members or six members of the board could vote the complete opposite, >> right? >> Or they could all vote the opposite of the committee. >> So, or it could not make it out though.
Mhm. >> So, we we talked through it ex extensively and didn't see the need to change it. >> Okay. I'm just asking I want to make sure it was out. >> Yeah, we we definitely discussed it and I think we also talked about it a little bit with Kelly when she was here for the
board norms. Very high level though and we didn't have an end. >> But she said four was the standard practice. >> Yeah. But that's for smaller smaller boards. Yeah. I mean, I would hope that if a committee is hashing stuff out and they're not getting anywhere with it,
they're bringing it to the full board for further discussion anyway. Like, if if there's a lot of back and forth, I would want that to come here so that it could be discussed further if there's a lot of strong feelings for or against something before the committee would recommend it.
>> Yep. Good point. >> So, >> okay, that was my question. >> And this this is a good one. We can always like >> No, we can go back again. go back if we change our mind in the year. >> Okay. So I have one question. What guard rails are in place in the scenario of
say we get notice that we have a committee meeting in less than two weeks and then you can't attend that one because of you know it's less than two weeks notice. So then somebody gets appointed to the committee and then the next meeting is less than two weeks
notice and then somebody else gets appointed to the committee because that individual can't attend because that happened to me. So every time there's a sports committee meeting because I only have two weeks notice I can't ever attend and there's somebody that's going
in my place. So what's the guard rail to avoid that to say it's solely on one person's schedule? It's not a a group agreement of the timeline of when the comm committee meeting should be happening because we don't have a a
sports committee meeting scheduled since February 3rd. So we opted out of the alternate. >> Okay. So if you can't make it unless the vice president or the or the president or the vice president feels deemed that
they want to attend, then you have the meeting with that person absent. I think it's fair to say if two people can't make it on that day and this committee of only two, we probably need to reschedule. >> Instead of sending the president and the vice president to supplement, instead it
should try to be a quorum of the >> of the four. >> Yeah, there is nothing. But just to be clear, you can actually have a committee meeting cuz I've checked this with >> Mr. Croo. I've checked it with um the New Jersey board. If one person can make
it and you need to have a meeting because it's timesensitive, it can be done. So, we don't have to have four people. We don't have to have three people, but ones that we can try and adjust, we can. But if we try to always get everybody's schedule, we all know what our calendars look like. It's just
not going to happen. So that's why if my thing is if if the policy says the president has to assign the chair. So that's my designate if I'm assigning it. If that's me I that that's my thing. So if that chair can't be there that
designate can't be there then I'm going to try to be there or I'm going to try to see if Carolyn can get there um to represent as the designate to fulfill the policy. But again, that can be one person is the guidance that we've gotten if it needs to happen.
>> I think we need to continue to have scheduled meetings, which I know we've been doing. Um, and I do want to comment for one member to attend a committee meeting to make recommendations to the full board, I don't think it would be very effective.
>> No, it's not ideal. Absolutely. No. But if we need to meet to try and get something to then discuss and bring out a couple notes and stuff to get the process started, we can do that if we have to. >> If it's a timesensitive thing, but otherwise, you know, we'd be looking at
trying to change so that we can get more members there. Absolutely. But we all know how many people got sick this week. If we had had a meeting, we would have been in big trouble. Um, so you know, we'll we'll definitely try and work on it, but we have we're starting with the
guideline to update our policy to make it more manageable to have representation at our meetings. >> You have a committee of four and it's a two to two vote. We're going to bring that issue to the board without committee approval. >> Well, yeah, you're going to and then
talk about it. >> So, we're not voting, >> right? >> No, no, no. making a language. >> Yeah. Recommendation. Yeah. >> Recommend. >> Yeah. >> So, we vote here. We're in agreement.
>> Yeah. But if you came in and said, "Well, what did the committee recommend?" You say, "Well, we couldn't recommend it." Feeling was there were two people that said yes, let's >> do this and two this and no. >> Agreed.
>> It was coming to the board without a recommendation. >> Mhm. >> Okay. something we couldn't settle at the committee level. So, you know, these were maybe the two options we came up with, but we couldn't decide either way. What does everybody else think? >> Jackie, where is the twoe reference
coming from? >> That was for like the sports committee when we were trying in the beginning of the year. >> Student activities. >> Yeah. Scheduled. Thank you for clarifying. >> Um, when we were trying to get it scheduled, so it was just like two week notice, two week notice. And you know
all of us have very busy lives as well. So trying to plan ahead so we can all have the opportunity to participate. >> But this is it's not it's not part of our board norms. It's not part of a policy. It was just a practice with one particular committee. >> One particular committee.
Point of that is that if there's always if you never have enough notice and not all the members have the ability to attend their appointed committee, it's not necessarily fair to that member when the vice president or president are the ones who then have the ability to constantly step in.
>> It sounds like one commit sounds like we need to address a practice with one committee. >> Well, we haven't had meetings since February 3rd. So, >> okay. Any more comments on policy? >> Oh, I'm not done. >> Yeah. >> Okay, that's just that policy. Um, we
also reviewed a couple of policies for the Freedom to Read Act and um these are all items, by the way, that are on the agenda. So, we are looking to um add two policies that will tighten up
our uh regulation around the Freedom to Read Act and then actually abolish a a third one. The policy that we're abolishing basically just refers to the other policies and we felt like it was ineffective. Um, we reviewed the booster club policy
and we are going to we are suggesting that we recommend a sixth require we are recommending adding a sixth requirement that booster clubs and organizations have their own ENI number. Um, and then items that we talked about
but didn't make the agenda are the cell phone policy and our uh use of facility policy. So, we're still waiting on some data for that. The cell phone policy must be in effect by September. We have our grant that we need to use in this budget. We're thinking that whatever we
spend that money on on the grant will probably guide a little bit more into the policy everything. Okay. Any other questions on policy or governance?
I just I don't I mean since we're doing policy just really quickly I have a question and since Jackie mentioned that they didn't have the sports >> what is it called >> student activities >> sorry sorry sorry >> wait student activities and community relations >> and community relations do we make
notice in the policy that I mean as this says here the chairperson can request a meeting at any time is that something that we should visit cuz I know that we have scheduled our committee meetings like is there a reason why we don't have
the community right now? There's things that need to be done timesensitive and a lot going on in some other committees. So those are taking priority for schedules number one. Number two, it kind of depends on what's going on in some committees. Some committees right
now are going to meet every two weeks because that's what's going on and other ones, you know, might meet a month or two in between. So, it kind of depends. There's it's always been where there's some committees that don't have to meet as much during certain times of the year
and then other times of the year that are going to meet more. So, it doesn't there's there's no in my mind there's no way we should say >> everybody has to meet every 30 days or every six weeks or anything like that. It it's it should be fluent because you
know right now you have finance it has to meet every two weeks maybe more often depending they've had probably eight meetings in the past two months you know right >> so it it kind of depends on that. No, I agree. And and just with that with that because it does have that community
portion to me that seems like it would be an appropriate time for us to be discussing some of that as well. That's why I was asking. >> There's a meeting scheduled for student activities and community relations next week. >> Oh, thank you. Perfect. >> This big there's this big calendar we all have.
>> Well, this is the third meeting. It's been two two whatever two of three or whatever. But to that point, um, with them with the discussion today and and you know, some of the points about, um, the
approval of the budget and I do feel like there are things that, you know, could be discussed at the sports community activities, >> student activities. Yes. >> Yeah. I'm gonna have it right by the end
of the day because it used to be called sports. Yeah. And in the policy, we did update the names of here. They're on the handout, but they are in the first reading. Thank you. >> Okay. Are we all good on that?
>> Okay, good. Because I keep losing my notes on my phone. >> I keep having to pull them back up. Okay. So we met as personnel negotiations committee and finance and operations committee back toback um on
the 12th right after all our aid numbers came out. So, personnel negotiations, um, we talked about some supports that are needed. Um, how many aids were currently in need of,
um, and looking at those numbers. Uh, let's see. We talked about the training um that happened the following day on the 13th and we reviewed
our budget proposal and the effects of how that was going to um possibly affect personnel moving forward. And then we went to I got to switch sorry to my
other notes into finance and operations and we discussed those numbers and where the committee has been working on for weeks now to try and make those numbers match
and what we actually got and if that was going to be very helpful and Dr. Garcia is going to explain more on that. >> I know it's a little bit hard to see, but this is just a very simple graphic why we have
>> a microphone. >> This is a graphic to explain um how we got to this 1.658 u million dollar gap here. Um as you can see through this pie chart here, we have
46.8% 8% of this gap um applies to an increase that we have for health benefits of $562,000 and salary increase. This is projected. We have special education costs that have increased to the tune of $569,000.
These are special education costs that are mandatory. And then we have the smaller chunk here which is less than 20% which is the general operations uh programs um different um operational uh facilities
that type of thing. That's what that accounts for. But if you look here for special education increases and then projected salary and benefit increases we're looking at over 80% of that budget gap. This is where it comes from. While we did get a slight increase in
state aid which amounted to $173,000283 that was capped. If they had stuck to the original funding formula which has um was changed several years ago but if they did the formula we would have actually received um $1.8 8 million
increase, which is of course part of what impacts us as we're moving along over the years, not having that funding for funding formula um fully um what's the word I'm looking for? Funded. >> Fully funded. Yes. Um has impacted every
district, many districts, us included. Um so this is just to get an idea of if they stuck to the funding formula, we would have gotten $4.8 $8 million of state aid this year versus what we got which was an extra $173,000
um and totaling 3 $3 million give or take. So it's a $1.65 million shortfall. Um as you know
Mrs. Duckworth mentioned we have been really scrutinizing over this looking at everything and we know that there are fixed costs that we are not going to be able to change or decrease at this time for those increases. The special ed component again this is just the increase and then we looking at those
health benefits which I know has been out in the papers for a while. So faced with the again sorry for my voice. Um faced with a budget gap of of that um of that magnitude
the finance committee has met multiple times and reviewed as well as the administrative team to try to determine what are the options to close the gap. And unfortunately the I mean every department was looked at, every option was looked at. We've tried to take money
from reserves, from sales of property, um things that haven't happened yet, but we're we're trying to look at each area, but unfortunately um staffing and tax increase are going to be affected in order to close that gap. So tonight on the board's agenda is
a preliminary numbers for the budget which will go to the county and then once that is approved then the board will have more discussion um on what is the detail of what's in the budget at the April and then at the May 6th meeting is the actual public budget hearing.
>> Thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board on any of that information? And I know you guys have been getting weeks and weeks worth of notes and drafts and
No. Okay. So, let's go. Correspondence. Do we have any correspondence, Shel? >> I do not have any. >> Okay. So, we're on to superintendent report, please. All right. Congratulations to the girls basketball team for a strong ending to the season.
They were seventh seed heading into the states out of 16 school teams that had qualified throughout the state. Uh Leah Wilson finished the season with 46 points and Natalie Sorcerer ended her season with 588 points for a career total of 251
points which is impressive. >> Um congratulations to all the players and coach O'Neal for a wonderful season. Uh in addition to Miss Duncan, um I'd like to give a big shout out to Dr. McKini who was awarded $1,300 from the Wolfinger uh Wolfinger Wilhelm Family
Fund to go toward the life skills room and Mr. Zettorm who was awarded $1,600 from the Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs Educator Minigrant to go go toward the high school play. Congratulations to all students who participated in this year's National
High School Model United Nations event recently. We'll have a few special recognitions uh for those students in our uh at our next regular board meeting. We also wanted to celebrate and acknowledge that we um went to the Warren County, New Jersey School Boards
Association unsung heroes event. Um it was a great event. Uh Adam Jones was our eighth grade unsung hero and Dylan McGovern was our senior unsung hero. Uh we'll formally recognize both students at our next meeting as well. District staff participated in crisis
prevention institute training recently focusing on strategies to deescalate which supports improved classroom management and promotes a positive learning environment. The district, I'm happy to say, completed our on-site QAC monitoring with the county office, which included a
separate facilities visit. As a reminder, we do anticipate requiring a district improvement plan for instruction and program based on student state scores. Uh, student state test scores, excuse me. Once we receive our scores, we will proceed as needed. I
would like to thank our team for their partnership and collaboration to prepare for the monitoring. There's a lot of work that goes into this. Um, and it's certainly a team effort. Um, as you know, this year's winter weather was quite significant. I'd like to thank
Mr. Kennedy and the team for their work to prepare our fields for spring sports. Um, the fields really are looking great. I had a chance to uh take a little tour last week. I know it's a little chilly today, but we're hoping that improves soon and we'll continue to be able to have our events for the spring. Um I
also just wanted to give a few quick updates from our previous board meeting. Um a part of our uh attendance corrective action plan was to ensure attendance letters were being sent out. The administrative team has been updating notices and our Genesis student information system. Um notices will be
scheduled to go out as uh to comply with department of ed regulations. So they'll be going out at day 5, day 10, etc. Um, also there was a question regarding the Third Street playground memorial sign for Melissa Burnernhouser. Um, it has been removed. Thank you to Mr.
Kennedy for that and it will be placed on school grounds in the near future. Um, a quick little plug. Our Belvadier and Harmony special education advisory group is hosting Detective Mark from the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children
Task Force. That's a mouthful. to present online risk and safety for children for parents, guardians on Wednesday, March 25th. It will be at 6 PM in our auditorium. All community parents and guardians are welcome. We've also invited our sending districts. Um
but please note this presentation is for parents and guardians only. Please do not bring children to this event. And that's about it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. All right. So, we are on to our agenda
items. We're looking at policy items 1 through 11. Can I have a motion for 1 through 11? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any questions on one through seven? >> 11
>> or 11, I'm sorry. >> No. >> Number seven would be with the revised wording. >> Yes. >> Yes. Seven will be with the revised wording of the copy that you have that Carolyn passed out.
All right. All in favor of 1 through 11. I >> Any nos? Any abstensions? Okay. All right. So, we have personnel items 12 through 18. Can I have a motion on
personnel items 12 through 18? >> Motion. Any questions on personnel items? No. All right. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Serbone? >> Yes. >> Dr. Zeppath?
>> Mrs. Duckworth? >> Yes. >> Miss Steppen? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Strider? >> Yes. >> Ms. Walton? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wer? >> Yes. >> Ms. White? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cherelli? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Robotham? >> Yes.
>> All right. On to education items 19 through 28. Can I have a motion for 19 through 28? Motion. >> Second. >> Any questions on 19 through 28?
>> No. All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Any nos? I need to um I would like >> Yes, I'm gonna abstain from number 20 and number 22. >> All right, so we are on to business
items 29 through 35. Can I have a motion for 29 through 35? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> I I have some questions. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I and this might be
for Mr. Croo, but I didn't understand the name change on a public bid. >> It's not a wasn't a public bid. It's on a >> the third street. >> It was on the auction. >> Oh, the understand. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yes. There was a uh same basically the
same, but there uh check with the uh company that did the the auction said it's standard practice happens the contract contract I think paragraph 15
said that buyer could be changed signed only with written approval of seller and that's why I felt that it's put on
and good news. Looks like the closing place probably next week. >> Thank you for explaining. >> Any other questions? 29 through 35. >> I I have a question. Um there's a neurosych charge I know for $5,000. Just
um to better understand that process. Was that uh a consult a consultation for um a somebody who may have disagreed with an assessment or was that related to um a medical clearance?
>> It does not have to do with a disagreement to an assessment. >> Okay. Can you share what the processes of um you know contracting with a neurosych specialist? Do we have any type of contract in the sense of do we
foresee that we're going to be utilizing them more often where we could get a cheaper rate? That is not um something that we would gen that is very specific to the circumstance. Um it is not a typical thing that we would
do but the circumstances warranted it. >> Um and I'm I cannot really say more about it. But I think we're just looking for the process around like when like how does it get to that level, >> right? That's what I'm asking. >> Um >> not the individual. >> Generally, you would reach out to quite
a few individuals that do certain kinds of assessment because it's not an easy type of assessment to obtain. >> Um and you look for the provider while also looking for the availability of the provider. >> Um and that is generally the process.
Um, it's also very specific to whatever the circumstance might be. So, um, I will tell you that based on this evaluation and the price that we were able to, um, get, it was actually lower than, um,
>> others. And we usually do an evaluation first and then recommend that >> this is not a >> like in normal practice not this situation would we do an evaluation first >> because I was doing some research and it was basically like our would do and then if that doesn't suffice or we or our
evaluation says there needs to be further than we would recommend. >> This is not a special education matter >> but I'm not asking about this specific situation. I'm just asking in general if it were a special education matter what would that process be? individual side. It's not about the individual.
>> No, we're not >> for an evaluation. Mean for like an IEP? >> Yeah. Before we would we would take on the cost of an evaluation like this, is there a steps that would occur? >> This isn't >> No, I know this isn't about that. >> Um so, okay. If we're talking about an
IEP process and an IEP evaluation, then yes, we would internally do our evaluations. Um, very rarely would we go with somebody outside unless we needed to outsource because of the availability of our assessor. Um, but this specific
situation is not is not IEP related. Um, and I unfortunately Yeah, but we're not >> can't be discussed with >> Yeah, but we're not asking about this particular situation. I'm just c I'm I'm want to kind of understand. So we can
talk about that in new business then because it's not it's not the agenda item. >> It's not the agenda item. >> Yes, it's not the agenda item. >> Thank you. >> So that's okay. We got the question we needed for the agenda item. Okay. Any
other questions on 29 through 35? No. Okay. All in favor of business items 29 through 35? I >> I >> I >> Any nos any abstensions? >> Nope. Okay. >> Okay. So, we are on to continuing
business. Do we have continuing business? I have a question. Um I I don't remember when I asked it, but it was at some point. Um, I know that you guys haven't met yet, but just maybe if you could ask about the um I think we had an agreement with
St. Luke's where they were talking about having someone come in for mental health and just wanted an update where that was >> for sports. >> It was Yeah, it was it was through St. Luke's, but I think it was more for, you know, around that area for student
activities and things like that for mental health and the stresses and things like that. wanted to see where we are >> on continuing business or well >> we have tenatively scheduled a retreat board retreat on May 2nd.
>> Yes, >> we scheduled what are the hours of that because it's the same date as the FFA banquet. >> Yes. And Kelly said she needs three hours. So, I will definitely talk to her to make sure that we are able to
be out of there to go to the banquet. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Everybody will be getting an invite and I >> Good. Oh, that's right. I did I got 1 to 5. >> Yeah. >> Whether we said that or not, I don't >> we had talked we had talked about that. Yeah. Doing like a one o'clock. So, I
will confirm with Kelly that, too. But I highly recommend that banquet. Mhm. >> It's great food and the kids are phenomenal that run it. They just Oh, it's >> I thought I couldn't cope. >> You want to see what Belvadier has to offer? That banquet's a really good
place to to see some of it. >> It makes you aware of the fact that our students are so good and it's just excellent what they do. I mean, they're getting prizes and it's national competition and it's not just school districts in Warren County. It's national competition and they're winning
it. >> They are. they are. >> So, just leads me down to talking a little bit more about um student recognition and I know we're thin with um a with everything going on,
but if we could maybe take a look into promoting more of that on our school website, things like that, just so more people know, getting it out to the community in different areas. I know we've talked about um social media and a lot of the boosters have their own
social medias and maybe FFA does, but just kind of linking maybe our website to say, "Hey, you know, check this out or here's or put on the website, here's a link of of booster social medias or something." But just another way that we can from a school really endorse some of those uh great things that are going on
and recognitions. Tyler, we probably have to be very careful about putting links to social media >> um >> boosters >> that are because they're not managed by the district. >> Okay. Well, we can scratch that and then maybe just put them on the website.
>> Not the social medias, but I mean just put the recognition things like that. Just add it more. >> Any other continuing business? Um, so we unfortunately lost our person from St. Luke's for wait room. Have they had any
discussion as to >> They have been working on finding a replacement on that? They are working on it. Um, I checked with Mr. Carabinus about that. >> Awesome. I'm sure it's a daunting task. Any new business?
Um, I just >> I was going to circle back to >> Yeah, we'll circle back in a second. And I just really want to do a shout out to the boys baseball team. Their clinic with the younger kids this weekend, last past weekend, and I think they're doing another one on Sunday was really great.
All the kids seem to have a really wonderful time and it was freezing. So, the fact that they came back happy at all was um says a lot about the kids who rarely ran that program. So, I just wanted to shout that out. So, just to circle back um with regards
to that specific that type of evaluation, no, we do not do that evaluation in our school setting. >> Okay. So, maybe we'll take this offline. I have a couple of questions just about that, but I I want to get my ducks in a
row before I ask them. >> And I just from I don't know if there's a policy. I was looking for a policy around it. So, if there is one, I'd be around >> just like how we manage external consultations for student services and
like again going back to the contracting piece seeing like um I thought Tyler mentioned something that was interesting to me about our relationship with St. Luke's and you had mentioned a delay um and the cost and I just wonder if there's any opportunity there to leverage something that has a little bit
better access as well as reduce cost with the relationships that we already have and how that works. It's not my wheelhouse. I don't know. So, I'm throwing it back out there to those who are experts like yourself and policy committee if there is a policy that
exists. Any other new business? I'm gonna say if you all missed the musical, it was fabulous. If you missed it, I'm really sorry, but you can go. I know Dr. Garcia shared with the board
and staff and stuff and you can go on WFMZ and watch the clip of it. They did great. The last night all six of our seniors were in tears. Like, it was really great. So shout out to them and that whole program for what they do. And the support of other
students coming in and families was wonderful. And thank you to all the parents who helped everything come together. And we had parents helping with sound and everything else. And it was great. Um
and providing all the snacks. So it was great nights. Any other? Nope. Okay. So, we are on to our second public participation. Um to ensure fair and efficient
meetings. Each public comment session will be limited to a total of 30 minutes at the discretion of the presiding officer. When you approach the microphone, please state your name, city, town, and group affiliates. Each statement made by participant shall be limited to 3 minutes. Time may not be yielded to other participants. All
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defformation. Please also understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board will not respond in public to comments about students or employees. Any public participation?
Hi, Tammy Cop. I'm in Belvadier and I'm one of the co-leaders of the local Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs program, Keeping It Real. And I wanted to thank Mrs. n for allowing us to come into the school and
tell the kids what it's about. Any other public participation? Nope. Okay. So, I need a motion for executive session for pending or parti anticipated litigation and attorney client privilege.
>> Can I have a motion? Very good, girls. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any abstensions? Okay. So any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential may be be made public as
soon as practicable. Minutes of the private session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All appropriate persons who may be discussed in private session have been adequately notified. The board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the closed session in
approximately a half an hour. Um and we will not be taking any action when we come back. Okay.