##VIDEO ID:GelSz_94Si4## okay I'm going to call the meeting to order in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey notice of this February 4th 2025 meeting of the Bridgewater ridan Regional Board of Education was posted electronically on the district website and provided on January 31st 2025 by sending a 48 hour written notice to The Courier News Star Ledger Bridgewater Township Clerk R and burer Clerk and by posting on the bulletin board in the Harmon VW Administration building please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance flag the United States of America the stands Nation indivisible and Justice Mr lsky could you please call the rooll Miss Asuna here miss lochran here Miss Lee here Mr Pepe here Mr Walker here miss kry here Mr singer here we are up to the Mr Joi we are up to the superintendent's report okay thank you Mr singer so good evening everyone and welcome I have a few brief comments um this evening as believe it or not we are entering the second half the 2024-25 school year we're now officially uh entering the the third marking period so I I just want to provide the board some updates and and it's a an area we can talk about a little more in new business um but as a governing body there there are major challenges and opportunities that are going to arise for all of us over the coming months and first and foremost is the District budget as I've stated on on a few occasions um to this group and to the public the state funding formula coupled with a 2% um cap coupled with I shouldn't say coupled um along with inflation places a strain on every school budget in the state of New Jersey and obviously Bridgewater Aron is no different um the fiscal stress comes from the areas of the budget that accelerate levels greater than 2% on a year-over-year basis and and specifically those areas are Health Care negotiative raises Transportation utilities and outof District tuition costs essentially if we were to just turn the lights on a roll over our budget on a year-over-year basis you're you're at a approximately 5% between four and 5% that's what that number is equivalent to so with a 2% cap obviously we can't we can't raise um that Revenue so therefore Bridgewater ritin as well as schools across the the state enter each budget season looking for for ways to enhance our efficiencies and cut costs while at the same time preserving our programs this year is especially challenging because it's going to be difficult to predict until the time comes as far as what the state aid numbers will look like if you remember in in the past few years we were one of the the districts that was somewhat of a winner from the S2 legislation uh the S2 legislation revamped the funding formula and and uh the state really over the course of five to six years fully funded all districts so when S2 started we were underfunded to the tune of about $6 million so each year we were getting an extra million dollar from the state to help us navigate you know these inflationary costs so this year it's it's unclear as far as what the state is going to do um so what we have to do is prepare for the worst hope for the best but we're going through preparing for the worst so so our team has worked really for the for the past few months to examine the whole operation and figure out how to close a budget Gap that right now sits at around $6 million so we're making progress and continue to analyze and make adjustments to our overall operation so what I'm going to propose a new business and I just want to throw that out now I I want to discuss having a one-hour board ofed retreat related to the budget on February 25th um it would take place in a Clos session as it involves Personnel uh may involve uh negotiations when we talk about raises and things like that so it would be a Clos session item um and that's that's really the major obstacle I should say or challenge that we have right now heading into the next few months I also wanted to give a a brief update on the power school breach I want to make it crystal clear this wasn't a breach of the Bridgewater Raritan system power school is a vendor that we use as well as thousands of districts throughout the country use power school um for their student information system so they have sent an update as far as options uh for people and and it's got to do with credit monitoring Etc it was put out on the district newsletter last week I believe on Friday the district newsletter went out and I made sure right now that it is um on on the landing page for our district website so if anyone wants more information about credit monitoring options Etc related to the power school data breach it is all right there and again just to reiterate this is something that I have not even limited power I have zero power over um we wait for their guidance and then we post it as they're a vendor a major vendor and um and really if anyone has any questions they have emails and numbers where folks can reach out to them directly and uh figure out the best way forward so that's all I have for for board um items tonight just some other things that that's going on throughout the schools right the boy swim team won its fourth straight Somerset County championship this past Saturday the ranked number three in the state the uh Bridgewater Aron High School Jazz Showcase is this Friday February 7th at the high school auditorium the festival starts at 4 4 :0 p.m. with numerous High School bands and attendance um and it and it goes on pretty late I I think the last performance is 9:30 or 940 so it's it's uh it's a robust performance and um finally our high school ice hockey team uh woned 17 straight game on Monday they're doing a great job and they're now 19 and one ranked number nine in the state so that's just a snapshot of some of the great things going on there are tens hundred of other things but those are those are the headlines right now so thank you thank you Mr beerus uh I we're up to the president's report I have no report uh the only thing I wanted to add to what you said uh is uh at 9:30 on Friday uh the Earl Phillips big band is the headliner for the jazz festival right and they are also uh adjudicating uh that event so uh come out and you can see uh the Earl Phillips big band uh I have no other report so we're going to move right on to uh the committee reports with academic committee going first and that's Mr josi okay so we met on January 27th virtually at 5 o' in attendance were myself Miss Asuna Mr peepy Dr Jones Mrs Maia Mr Morello and Mr beers uh first item on the agenda was the gifted and talented review um a review of the parent information session was held on January 22nd Mrs Madia and Mr Moralo uh debriefed the district's annual gifted and talented parent information night 4K through 8 during which they provided a comprehensive overview of uh programs and services included which included um one small group investigations SGI in grades K through 4 number two was cluster grouping in uh mathematics in group uh in grade three and four item three um discussed was academically independent AI in grades 2 through five and item four was enriched enriched or E courses in grades 5 through eight at the uh end of this session um Mrs Maia and Mr Moralo also answered parents questions the information night was a great success um as brrsd brdar Ren um School District is in the third year of universal screening and expanded Services there was an increase in parent participation this year approximately 130 parents attended the E information night and 190 parents attended the K through five session the presentation and additional information regarding gifted and talented programming can be found on the district's website this was a really good uh success just add one thing AJ yeah um I just want to add in that we have right now in grades K through four and this is because of the expanded services in kindergarten in first grade in the Universal screening um we have over 400 students who are participating in gifted and talented Services which is more than twice as many um as we had about two years ago so it was very successful yeah and the increas is due to the expended um the uh what that's what I'm looking for the additional Services it's also the universal screening which means that people aren't registering for it we're just screening all children so we don't miss anyone yes any questions on that okay uh item two was the high school program of studies uh and updates were given uh as the high school course selections are beginning Dr Jones and Mr moriel provided update to high school offerings and programs which are intended to create on ramps and expanded opportunities which include new art and music uh semester courses a second year of Heritage Spanish a second year of engineering and two robotics courses and a change in history sequence uh students will now take US1 in 9th grade which increases access to AP courses and exams for the 10th graders uh AP Human Geography is being added as an elective and this was mentioned during the uh the meetings we had with the parents with um what's WR the strategic planning events and there was a a big demand for geography um so it that's being added as an elective and AP World will be added for juniors in um 2026 2027 uh AP Bio chemistry and physics C will run as six credit courses now which will allow students to take an additional course including a sec second AP science class um and finally elimination of German due to low enrollment uh Mr Moralo also provided updates on dual enrollment an increase of 99 students by the way and career concentrations and possible partnership with rvcc career training programs through the workforce Training Center any questions just a just a comment I I want to applaud the efforts of the committee uh you brought up a a few major items and and look one of them is changing the the specific science courses from Seven credits to six um I know of no other High School who had a seven credit science course that would jam up a student schedule the way these classes did so now students have the flexibility and the opportunity to take multiple science classes if they chose um as a junior or senior so again I think it it opens up opportunity for students if they want to seek that opportunity and and um you know it's a way of just opening up more doors for kids thank you though y um I wonder if we have any more specifics about uh how to sign up for AP exams and what's the requirement for signing up for exams yeah um we that's closed already yes the exemp now for next year yeah so AJ did bring that up and the you mean as far as communicating out to students whether or not they would be able to take an AP exam if they're not enrolled in the course is that what you mean yeah yes they'll be communicating it out from the high school so we did not have that information for the last academic committee meeting but AJ did ask me okay do we have a decision yet or that's still in the works before it's communicated out um I believe it's not in the works and I believe the decision was that but I'm I you know what I don't want to say just in case I don't have it correct I'd rather check but they're starting the scheduling process it starts towards the end of February so by that point they would have communicated it out but I will double check too all right okay y thank you but I think for September it should be cleared up what whatever happened you know it should be clear before September it'll be cleared up to communicate right yep yes okay one question yeah Apu history that was a twoyear course before was it a one-year course what's the change there so it was it was a two-year course it was called like you know AP and it was you know two years but actually you could only take the AP exam during the second year and be because kids came in ninth grade and they were taking world history what happened was they would go into 10th grade they would take the first year of what was called you know AP yeah a push and then they couldn't take the exam for it so they weren't taking the exam in 10th Grade so this way they'll come in as freshmen they'll take the honors level course which will be aligned with the AP course and then they'll be able to take the actual AP course with the AP exam as sophomores and then the following year will be able to add AP World and that wasn't offered here before so they'll be able to take that then their junior year so again and it increases opportunities thank you for that explanation appreciate great news okay uh item three on the agenda was policy um Dr Jones reviewed updates from Strauss as for the following mandated policies and there were no questions to these by the way and these policies include uh policy 5111 which is the eligibility of Resident non-resident students uh 5460 High School graduation um 5512 harassment intimidation or bullying 5533 student smoking and 55 regulation 5533 student smoking uh and these are on um the agenda for tonight any questions on that uh what were the the major changes in the Hib policy I think they just just added or yeah it was one if you look at it it just says or it's it's at the Jen if you look at the very end it's probably like on the last page and what it's doing is it's clarifying that when you're having when you have an HIV investigation and it actually involves police for some reason that the police can tell the district you know that they have to shut down their investigation while they're kind of doing their own investigation and so we're not held to timelines so regardless of where we are in the process at that point if the police tell us you know that we stop investigating we stop investigating until we can resume and that was already in the law but they just revised the policy to align with it so that's the only actual change thank you yeah okay and um finally you know um we do have a committee goal that I wanted to recite uh since we just met for the first time and the goal of this committee um will be to assist assist the full board in better understanding The District's academic plans and C curricular initiatives and to continually address areas for growth while capitalizing on the strengths of all Learners across the district um that'll be the committee goal and we adjourned at 7 p.m. our next meeting is February 24th same time same place thank you Mr josi next is community Rel ation with Miss lran sorry for the pause we met on February 4th and um the committee discussed goals meeting frequency and format um we discussed school happenings and events and uh we explored ways that the board could be notified of school events and invitations we discussed the school budget as we've been doing in almost every committee um and as part of our goals uh which was to kind of improve uh or or to collaborate more with uh the municipality and Community Partnerships we discussed ways that we can improve upon those relationships on a variety of topics including shared services facilities and safe routes to schools um we had a discussion about brsd as a send Reed District which basically means that we receive students from other municipalities um and we discussed Community Partnerships and because we had a full agenda we really didn't elaborate but the idea was um like how can we as a community relations committee collaborate with Community Partners to address a variety of issues um we had a couple walk-in items um we discussed Improvement of awards for facil facilities or for faculty and student recognition uh we discussed whether the board would benefit from having identifiable merchandise like you know like a we it was like a the card lanyard thank you I can't think of the word like a lanyard or some sort of business card of some type um and last we discussed disciplinary matters and District procedures as it relates to prohibited items and our next meeting oh sorry was there any questions I just blew through that could I just ask a little more on the uh or by send receive relationship that doesn't refer to the fact as my understanding that we're a Regional School District that would be from outside Bridgewater and from outside raran thank you any other questions our next meeting is on February 11th thank you Miss lran Mr Walker with Finance facilities and transportation is next our meeting is scheduled for February 18th at 6 p.m. we move that to adjust with that and we'll stick with you for negotiations as well yes so we have a Emil out for negotiations the committee is moving for getting together um those please respond it's looking like the 17th right now I think that's the current so there's one more member to respond so if they could respond as soon as possible you can schedule it that's all any questions thank you Mr walker uh Personnel committee with Miss kist uh our next meeting is February 18th we picked five I could remember five 5m virtually so that Mr Walker can have a full docket that night yes are there any leers I Know It uh I don't have to be are there any leaz on our delegate reports yeah as mentioned last time um the Ed Foundation will be holding uh mix and Mingle for education on February 27th from 6: to 9: at dote Ben restaurant uh in Martinsville and this uh each ticket will include authentic Italian meal red and white Italian wines so this this will be a good event so it's um annual uh fundraiser uh so I hope everyone can uh attend just one thing uh to me that I mentioned last time at the Bureau of ran uh the burough is hosting a um a town hall event with uh state senator Doug steinhardt assemblyman John Deo and assemblyman Eric Peterson uh the date is uh Monday February 24th uh at the council chambers at the municipal building uh so uh they ask you to come and join them to discuss state county and local government issues do you know the time on that uh 6:30 thank you for that um yeah I have uh so Town Council met on uh February 30th and as a followup to what I brought up last meeting um the council unanimously approved a resolution that revised its obligation for affordable housing from 4 and I think it was 22 or 474 units to 417 units um and I just wanted to elaborate on that that like while it sounds like 400 it's like okay it's just 400 but what that really means is like well over 2,000 units so it could you know impact the district and impact um roots to schools so I just wanted to update that and that's just the third part of a multi-art process to this um the final affordable housing number will be issued on April 1st and then they can begin planning for that I'm sorry can you elaborate on how the 400 becomes 2,000 I was confused by that um so to incentivize developers to build the affordable housing they would build it's about 20% of the total project would be allocated to affordable housing so when you see those numbers sort of play out it it can be up they they told me it was like 21 so the 400 is the 20% and then the other 1600 is the 80% yes my math doesn't always math well so thank you for that yeah I think in redin with the proposed uh development at the ran mall it's 425 or so units and about of about 50 of which would be affordable housing is my understanding broadly all right thank you any other on reports uh seeing none we're going to skip back to the student representes report if that's all right okay so um so sorry that I'm late but yeah it was very interesting learning about um what's going on as well um okay to start off the buzzaround school at the moment is the anticipated delayed opening this Thursday so we'll see what the road department says about the weather conditions that morning and whether or not we'll get to sleep in um academic wise second semester classes just started and I know if you seniors that are already committed to colleges um have switched to a halfday schedule uh not me um senior IA season is really starting to creep in um AP seminar students have begun their team presentations while AP research students have started collecting data for their projects um and AP Capstone which was newly implemented this year I think Mr hurger said um uh at the end of the first semester the students uh presented their final projects with um the music and business business student concentrations showing their like culminating research for example I know um one of the students Julian um studied performance anxiety and Incorporated Live musical performances in his presentation and another senior named Evelyn explored book talk um which is like a play on Tik Tok um and it an and she analyzed its impacts on reading Trends and the business aspects behind it um in terms of like School scheduling the elective fair is coming up and underclassman will start scheduling um for next year classes soon and the eighth grade parent night will help incoming students and their families begin the transition into High School providing valuable information on course selection and the scheduling process um in regards to sports the hockey senior night was last Friday um the swimming senior night took place recently and the upcoming senior nights include girls basketball on February 13th and boys basketball on February 18th and the boy swim team is now um Fort Pete Somerset County chimps so that's great and um for basketball um they recently had a Dan grigal night um which was an annual basketball game honoring the late gym teacher and Coach Mr grial um and it was held with support from middle school teachers and teams along with a special ceremony during the game and additionally the on the ongoing Mr grigal three-point scholarship fund fund allows parents and community members to make donations for every three-point shot I think it's like 50 cents per three-point shot um made in boys and girls varsity games to raise money I think for a scholarships but I'm not really sure um in terms of Performing Arts the jazz showcas is coming up in other schools will be joining the high school and the choir Broadway night is February 19th or 20th and they are performing comedy and tragedy and um in terms of clubs the prowler newspaper um is starting weekly updates I think and debate just attended a regional competition and mock trial competitions are starting I think Isabelle is at a Mock Trial Competition right now so that's why she's not here and um NHS volunteers are starting service projects for um Wellness for the winter cause and with Valentine's Day coming up there are a lot of anticipated special fundraising events for example hope Squad a mental health club is giving out Valentine's Day hearts with supportive messages on them and lastly the junior class Council recently announced the um cruise dinner up the Hudson River in May which I'm definitely jealous of but at least we the seniors have prom and stuff like that so yeah that's it thank you very much any questions for our student rep well you're of course welcome to stay but uh as you might have studying to do we understand thank you we're now up to our public comment period individuals and our groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters in accordance with board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the to address the board for a maximum of 5 minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website and we ask that you state your name and residence for the record as well thank you good evening everyone my name is giovana Quintana and I'm here again tonight as a concerned parent I'm not just worried about my child's safety but about the safety of every student and staff member in our district I never thought I'd have to talk about something so serious as Weapons being brought into our schools let alone the lack of communication and accountability that followed this past December two knives were brought into my child school that I witnessed during a holiday party this should have been handled immediately with transparency action and communication with parents especially incidents during school hours with children present where police were involved but instead we've been kept in the dark what else are you hiding from us days have passed and many parents have been told about this I'm sorry days have passed and many parents haven't been told about this serious incident our our trust in the system was shaken and it's been broken when I saw those nights I tried to stay calm I didn't want to cause panic because I believed that the school would have handled it responsibly I thought the safety of our children would be top priority but I was wrong instead of taking action to protect my child I was asked if I wanted to move my child to another class so the student who brought the KN could come back the rules and procedures right now seem to Prior prioritize the ones with the behavior issues my child and the rest deserve protection and uninterrupted education instead of making sure the student is held accountable they offer to disrupt my child's educ education this is not only unacceptable it's deeply disturbing parents should have to fight for communication regarding threats made towards their child or possible classroom safety issues and we shouldn't be left wondering if the school's priority is the safety of all students or just the convenience of avoiding difficult conversations I'm reaching out to ask you a question what message are we sending when incidents like these are downplayed or ignored what kind of President are we setting when those who put others at risk don't face much consequence while those who expect accountability are pushed aside we need transparency we need accountability we need policies that put the safety of our children first not convenience I'm Mas asking this board to investigate why parents weren't notified what steps will be taken to prevent this from happening again and how we can rebuild the trust that has been lost We Trust our children to th to these schools every day believing they are in a safe environment it's your job to make sure that trust isn't misplaced thank you for your time thank you Miss quana Joe cther RAR de burrow here tonight uh in regards to ongoing situation at JFK Primary School RAR and burrow I'm concerned that not enough has been done by the Bridgewater ran Board of Education and I feel that a lack of consequences for someone's actions ultimately leads to the repeating of the same behaviors as we see far too often in today's society I'm a father of two holds his kids accountable for their actions and I expect this school district to do the same timeline for the situation is as follows November 20124 JFK's student was stabbed with a pencil by their classmate after this incident the student who had been stabbed was advised that their classmate was not a threat and both remained in the same classroom December 2024 during a Class party it was discovered that the classmate in question had two kitchen knives in their desk February 2025 despite violating distri polies I stop your one second and sir I I just have to say this just as a public service announcement and then you can go on I'm not cutting into your time but I think we have to be very very careful when we're singling out a student in a public fashion because you just have to know and anyone else who gets up here has to know you are legally liable for anything you say against this student you could continue to do what you're going to do it doesn't matter to me but I'm saying it as a public service announcement we're talking about a 10-year-old kid yes sir I completely agree and I am not slandering this trial by any means I'm simply stating facts and I'll be but you're calling them out okay excuse me there's a public comment period you get he is about to talk right now excuse me I haven't interrupted anyone I'm and he is giving him the full time that he's allotted so there's no reason for the the gallery to get involved in this he's going to talk his five minutes okay I won't mention that anymore so we'll move on so her District policy number 8467 entitled firearms and weapons created June 2016 16 and edited September 2024 and I'll be paraphrasing for the purpose of time District policy number 8467 States the Board of Education prohibits the possession of any firearm or weapon in any school building for the purpose of this policy weapon means items in enumerated in njsa 2C colon 39-1 are the title 2C title 2C is the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice for the Board of Education to which the Board of Education defers to define the a weapon 2C 39-1 R States weapon means anything readily capable of lethal or inflicting serious bodily injury the term includes was not limited to gravity knives switch blades staggers dirts stilettos and or dangerous knives 2con 12-1 States a person guilty of assault if of a person um one attempts to cause a purposely knowly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another I'm going to refer back to District policy now the district policy 5 number 5512 titled harassment intimidation bullying created May 2016 and edited as recently as this past month which states the Board of Education prohibits acts of harassment intimidation or bullying of a student the board has determined that a safe and civil environment in school is necessary for students to learn and Achieve High academic standards harassment intimidation or bullying means any gesture any written verbal or physical act which it be single a single incident or a series of incidents that takes place on school property subsequently disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the right of other students and that a reasonable person should know that the ACT will have effect of physical or emotional um effect of physically or emotionally harming a student placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm for their person or property creates a hostile education environment for a student by interfering with the student's education or by severely causing physical or emotional harm to the student the Board of Education expects students to conduct themselves and keeping with their levels of development maturity and demonstrated capabilities with the proper regard for the rights and Welfare of other students and school and staff I am not suggesting that this student be charged criminally but that the Board of Education recognize the severity of the situation and protect all students involved I am aware of other families that have left this District because of a lack of action of this board as as it pertain to hibs harassment imitation and bullying so in closing I will remind you of line two of New Jersey Board of member code of of Ethics which I will make decisions in terms of educational welfare of children and will speak to develop maintain public school that meet the individual needs of children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standings thank you for your time thank you Mr s dear superintendent and members of the board my name is Melissa Fernandez and I have three kids in the school district I expressed my deep concerns last time about a recent incident involving two knives brought in by a child in an elementary school and how it was handled I am alarmed by the potential risk to student safety and the apparent shortcomings in addressing this matter the school district notifies us of every fire drill cyber security breach and in October regarding a potential threat to the middle school thank God for those threats were non-credible but I appreciate being notified that the police investigated and in the words from your District in an email thus said the security of our schools will remain Paramount to me and the entire School community and we take all reports seriously all reports such incident was reported based on the information I have an elementary school student brought in two knives clearly weapons into a classroom during school hours when children were present while I recognized the challenges involved in managing such incidences the situation was not handled appropriately as no district-wide message has been sent it is never too late to send an email and address the situation could have been been like dear parents an incident occurred involving a weapon with the help of the Ron police and through investigation the matter has been handled the Bridgewater Ron school district has a no weapons policy and if such and such happens so and so will result the personal details of who are involved is not the issue and is not even being asked to be communicated this is a real life situation and we need to have these conversations with our kids especially now more than ever that it is happening in our schools elementary schools middle schools doesn't matter High School this could have potentially been catastrophic if it wasn't for the brave mother reporting it Dr Beers superintendent beers members of the board you have the ability to invoke real change and support this great Community I love Bridgewater Ron I went here it's a great Community it's been falling off but make improvements with transparency and policies it could be better please hear us and please be better the plan in place is not working the safety of our children must always be the top priority I respectfully request the following a detailed explanation of what the procedures are for such incidences not just tell me to read the handbook assurance that proper safety Protocols are in place and are being followed consistently information on how the school plans to report report similar incidences in the future including any changes to the policies and procedures and I understand the complexity of the school administration and student Behavior but transparency and effective action are critical to maintain the trust between the schools and the parents from other parents it's it's very broken right now but I would like to see parents and the board work together to make things better to see some actual change it's it's time in closing it's never too late to address this matter and send that email thank you thank you Mr Fernandez is there any other public comment seeing none I'm going to close that portion of the agenda is there any respons no okay we're up to uh what I have is item number 11 but I think it's item number 10 uh the approval of the minutes so moved second are there any changes to the minutes seeing none Mr lsky Miss suuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lochran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes motion passes we're up to the approval of action items first is Personnel 2517 for which I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion second any questions or comments Personnel 2517 seeing none Mr lsky could please call the role missa yes Mr josi yes Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes the motion passes we're up to Corum 2546 through correct 2549 second any questions or comments seeing none Mr lumy Miss Asuna yes Mr Joi yes Miss lochran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we're up to business 2599 through business 25101 so moved second any questions or comments um just point out how great it is to see U I would like to thank the van Holton PTO for the mini grants and the donations for the class trips as well as the high school PTO for their Min grants uh Mr lumy could you please call the role Miss Huna yes Mr josi yes Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes we're up to other 2521 and other 2522 so moved is there anything that needs to be discussed if so we need to be in closed session seeing none Mr lumy could please call the role Miss Asuna yes Mr Joi yes Miss lochran yes to 21 abstain from 22 Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe uh yes on 21 abstain on 22 Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes motion passes lastly we're up to policy 2511 for which I'll entertain a motion are you going to do questions yes after the motion goes through second are there any questions um actually just have a comment I um I'm I've often been critical of um the harassment intimidation and bullying policy and uh and as it was kind of demonstrated um earlier I don't think that state holders fully understand the definition and so while I have more to elaborate on I'll wait until our next meeting um but I am going to vote no on that policy Miss Lee I have a um question about the uh five uh 111 eligibility of Resident non-resident students uh I wonder how many students is this policy going to impact uh Curr that we have we already have this policy in place this is just right we so we have this policy in place the only thing that actually changed on so I can't speak to if somebody will be moving in or moving out because the only thing that changes on here is when they Revis this policy I don't know when it was about six months ago or maybe a year ago um they made a change that people had questions about because there was something where the um County Superintendent now has to approve um uh we have to charge students tuition if for example they purchase a house here but they're not actually moving into the house until October and we want to let them start in September we're required to you know to charge students tuition likewise if we have a student say a senior whose family moves away in April and we want to let them finish out the year here were required to charge tuition so the change was that the way they worded the policy last time to align with the law it left some confusion so people weren't sure if they had discretion to just let the student stay or not and what they clarified this time around is we actually do not have that discretion we we are required to do that and so that's the only change that we've made to the policy are we charging or what's the current practice so so we would need to charge going forward we need to anyway because it's the law um what would have to happen is this would have to likely go to fft and you would have to come up with this is what tuition would be for a student and then they would prate it depending on you know how long the student was actually going to be in our district so and that has to be approved by the county superintendent once we come up with the amount but the policy is just saying that we're required to do this that's what the change es mhm okay and I noticed that in this policy there's a uh comment about or the language about uh not asking uh immigration status but also there was a mention of two visa types not being eligible can you I I don't understand that part maybe that's already in policy it's already it is it's already in the policy so that's what it is so we don't accept students who are here on visas that's there there's some options where districts can do it and we have not and so again for us we didn't change any other part of the policy the only part of the policy that we changed was the part we were required to clarify but that would be for non-resident students yes it's all yes who are on Visa that's correct so if they're living in Bridgewater the Visa that's that's correct doesn't really apply non-residents yes so for someone living in briw that that in the district that that kind of like have eligibility from dread point of view that Visa type doesn't apply is that is that what my understanding if if it's a student who's a resident of Bridgewater raron has address immigration right then they would be able to attend school here it's only if they're not a resident these are for non-residents okay does that make sense I I think the law probably deals more with whether I mean because this is for Charter Schools private schools public schools in New Jersey right right so I think while there are private schools and charter schools that might accept M non-residents with visas that's not really applicable to what we're dealing with okay well I guess if that's the case we probably don't need that language in our policy we need the language because that's what's required by law uh but that there is a model policy for this where Pro this is the mod policy from model policy right right this is the policy so the other thing would there would be different language but this is what we have saying that we do not accept it so that does have to remain in there because it clarifies right yeah I think I understand I agree yeah all right the language now thank you I'm sorry to switch back to um harassment intimidation and bullying but I just I wanted to ask um the district has no control at all over what is in the policy it's state mandated correct like I mean we could change words but the reason that we use Strauss Esme is so that we ensure that our policy adheres to the law and the law is State mandated but the law is State mandated yes but is also defined by the state by that policy whereas like it acts all acts of harassment intimidation and bullying fall under the code of conduct they aren't necessarily all a Hib right but they all fall under the code of conduct correct all all hips are code of contuct not all code of contuct are hips yes right that's correct okay just checking um I just want to make sure that people uh recall that for uh policy 5460 High School graduation uh this board passed a resolution a few years back arguing against requiring the completion of a faster form as a graduation requirement sadly the state legislator uh legislature uh decided to go ahead with that regardless uh so we have to update our policy and require that despite the fact that the board suggested that we didn't want that Steve just so you know students can submit a waiver their parents can and if they're 18 they can right but they have to submit the waiver that's correct I think the the waiver was always there right I think it's always been part of the process where you can wave it it's just right no I it was always uh it was always a waiver that uh so you're talking about the furpa waiver yeah this is Fafa fa never mind any other comments on the policies or questions seeing none Mr lomsky Miss Huna yes Mr Ji yes Miss lockran yes to all except for 5512 no Miss Lee um yes to 5 all right no to 5111 and no to 5512 yes to the rest Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kry yes Mr Sanger yes the motion passes we're up to Old business is there any old business that anyone needs to bring up I just want to I'd like to you know just have to make a comment on on a few items that that were brought up and and it's just for General guidance for the board and and for the public we should know that the Bridgewater Aron district has a code of conduct that's reviewed by the board of education on a yearly basis and provides guidelines for student discipline uh the major reason for a code of conduct is to offer consistency throughout your schools um and and to make sure that students are treated the same for the same consequences at at least as much as he can between schools uh no matter what the circumstance right this code of conduct is clearly listed on our district website and I've got to say relative to the the issue that's brought up I I've got to say that any notion that this issue was brushed under the rug is patently false as with any disciplinary matter consequences are are given out and Protocols are established to ensure the safety of all students unfortunately this is not for public consumption and that seems to be the major block here um it does require a level of trust from the public but we're not going to be we're not able to share this information nor will we ever share this information all right and and why is that the reason that there is this law called furpa furpa stands for the family educational rights and Privacy Act it's a federal law that protects the privacy of students education records furpa applies to all public and private schools as well as any Education Agency that receives funding from the US Department of Education the purpose uh of of furpa is to set out requirements for the protection of the privacy of parents and students all right and and what does this mean we cannot provide identifiable information about any student what makes this this situation especially difficult is that folks in the audience know who this child is this isn't some random instance and as I said before because of federal law I'll say again we don't brush it under the rug and and I'll say also to make to make the the the assumption that Aldo Russo the principal at JFK is brushing things under the rug and not handling student information I just find that difficult to believe and I know for a fact he's had multiple conferences with multiple parents over this issue all right so again we just can't provide that information and practically speaking situation has been handled we can as a community disagree on how it was handled maybe some folks would have done things differently but we continually work for the Safety and Security of all students and we appreciate your feedback but this is not something that we broadcast to the community um and and look I agree with accountability transparency Etc and and I'll say there has been accountability here accountability by the student account accountability by District leaders and that's not including me that's the principles and and the people on the ground and all punishments and actions uh were in line with District policy and that's all I can share and I'm just going to ask everyone because people people got pretty excited and I get it I I'm a father too but you're putting the district in the unenviable position of now having to protect an from adults and that's what I'm most worried about as well the protection of all students and I really think we have to be careful because we're talking about children and I don't want people to leave here saying well see they're brushing it under the rug because that's not the case but I think it it is one where I know the principal who's there I know the protocols that are in place I know it's been shared with folks I know it's been shared and I at this point there's just no additional information that's going to be forthcoming on this and we continue to monitor this situation just like any situation that occurs in the schools so that's all thank you quick question sure can you touch on the emails that we get when we get notified about fire drills and all these things are those mandated you have to alert General that this is happening yes and and if there's a a school threat right we right there's some type of threat towards the school um we can disagree about about this um and I don't want to get into the specifics but this one does not fall into that category um can I just ask in terms of like the the idea of broadcasting um an issue like this is this um consistent with how other other school districts operate in New Jersey yes and I think Rebecca to your point um I think policy that mandates uh notification when we have fire DRS that right right so anytime like I get them from the votek too so all of that stuff is is absolutely in policy and that's what you know I appreciate Mr syy the referring to policy those are the relevant policies that I read this weekend which led to my email to Miss Jones Dr Jones excuse me is there any other old business to discuss and thank you Bob for responding uh I just have one um based on the last meeting I did consult with the board attorney regarding the concern raised about um how we do our action items and he has confirmed that the way that we go through the agenda is uh legal and appropriate there is no legal requirement to verbally read aloud the title of each resolution stating as we do that a motion is sought on all on a list of resolutions is perfectly acceptable and legal and in fact some boards vote on the entire act action item agenda genda at once rather than breaking it into different um categories I understand that that was not the entire uh concern but I did want to address the legality of it and it is perfectly acceptable is there any new business to discuss Miss Lee first I want to thank the uh parents and families to come out to spend their time with us um uh thank you for your comments and and your words um I do have a new work new business that I want to bring up that's the njsba delegate assembly it's uh the spring session is uh uh scheduled uh this year uh May 10th uh if our board wants to uh bring any resolutions to that delegate assembly uh we might need to do that uh during uh our March or April time so that we have a time as a board to to vote on the resolution whether we want to BR to delegate assembly delegate ly uh vote on resolutions that will become part of the uh nsba um stance and policies uh guidelines it doesn't have the legal uh uh implication like the law however njsba legal Advocates will start advocate for the issue on the issues that that pass delegate assembly so if we want to have any policy legal or um legislative issues uh we want to bring up to the nsba so that that uh Advocate can start pushing that uh examples in the past include to include pilot uh School District in Pilot discussion include uh how referendum money uh should can be collected next year instead of the same year also included um uh other uh aspect uh and I think uh for the uh situations is about uh bullying harassment and intimidation if this board had a uh opinion about how the policy or law needs to be I think we can probably explore that Avenue to go through nsba delegate assembly uh just remember the timeline it's May uh 10th if you have any suggestions comments uh please reach out to me I'll try to take the lead on that and collaborate with with anyone of us here to try to form a resolution if we if we like so uh Miss Lee thank you for that I just forwarded you a email that I gotten which is the uh notification of resolution cut off dates the timeline's a little bit shorter than that it's uh March the 6th is the deadline which I think gives us one more meeting right for the May assembly um usually it's about two months before uh I'm not sure if I'm getting those emails because I was the delegate last year if those go out to everybody but uh I can I'll certainly forward you anything um yes please if I I get in the future uh regard uh relating to that yes um and I want to make sure that I get registered for that this year if there any change of who is uh the uh delegate and thank you for that information so within between now and next meeting if you have any resolution you on to work out please reach out collaborate with me that's uh come up with utions to meet this deadline and see if we can use the nsba platform thank you and I would just suggest that if there is anyone that has a a resolution it should go to committee uh most most of the Committees are meeting between now and the next meeting so it would be good to have that at your committee meeting which committee we're trying to go through whatever committee is appropriate for that policy that is affected by the resolution uhu so if it's a Personnel issue it'd be academic all right I'm sorry if it's a personel issue it would be personel if if it was student uh or or curricular it would be academic operations facilities Finance we go to fft all of which are meeting in the next couple weeks I also wanted to add to that before you even maybe consider sending it to committee um there's a policies or positions and policies on education which is on the NJ sba.gov you know uh demonstrate that you don't really have to move forward because they've already got something either specific to what you're considering or that fits within a broader umbrella so with that there's a committee that actually looks at the submissions they will look through what was done in the past and what was submitted and decide is this new or this down before yeah yes but I'm just trying to save you the time and effort if you just go to the that website you can find out real fast yeah we can do a pres screening like that too I agree thank you any other new business the uh speaking of the next meeting February 25th that is still a regular meeting I know there had been some talk about making that Retreat right so and B feel fre to jump in on me um we're looking at making that meeting a six o'clock call time uh to go straight into closed session to discuss personnel and negotiation items that are uh that uh relate to budgeting um and then yes at 7 o'clock we would go into our regular regularly scheduled meeting which includes our training uh where Patty ree will come and do our is she doing the three hours or Mr Walker is she doing the three hours ethics ethics training okay cool well we we usually do three hours as well so that's why I'm asking that's fine you should that's fine uh so I set up ahead of time so that we had her in the schedule because it those schedule books up pretty quickly so you're more than welcome to communicate absolutely I apprciate it can I have a question about that so if we if we have a retreat can we take actions during that meeting no we can't take action I mean on what like if we are going to vote on anything resolution wise to njsba that that wouldn't be during Retreat because that would be we wouldn't be able to do that in closed session well not in closed session but in Retreat is not actually not a closed session at 7 o' will we 7 o'clock is a regular meeting it's regular meeting not a retreat correct just train all right so we have a regular meeting that day so I think there are a lot of boards that have a regular meeting and then a retreat after or before we've usually done it just one or the other but I think you can do both yeah that is in the same evening as long as I understand that there is regular meeting that people can our board can take action yep okay not to belabor but I just wanted to let the board know that I sent out the manual of positions and policies so you can check your inbox with thank you miss lockman any other new business items so are we having a retreat or what's the plan we're having retreat at six o'clock on just double check and I didn't know if it was clear with public with regular meetings to follow at 7 so the interesting about that is that's the state budget announcement day too Bob so you won't get a number Kevin you won't be the first one to download them because but we at 48 hours do we got our numbers correct 48 hours for the best anything else for new business seeing none I'll entertain a motion second all in favor anyone opposed we are adjourned our next meeting is as we've said multiple times now February 25th call