Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the Caldwell West Cwell Board of Education public conference meeting today, Monday, June 1st, 2026. Tonight, the board met at 6:00 p.m. in the superintendent's office here at Harrison School, 104 Grey Street for
executive session. The purpose of that meeting was to discuss personnel litigation, miscellaneous, and old business matters. That meeting has been advertised and is in compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act and NJSA104-6, also known as the Sunshine Law. The matters discussed will be made public
when confidentiality is no longer required and formal action pursuant to said discussion shall take place only at a meeting to which the public has been invited. Tonight the regular public conference meeting is taking place at 7:00 p.m. on the dot. Um the board of education meeting is being streamed live
but all community questions and comments will be welcomed here in person. The Caldwell West Cwell Board of Education regular public monthly meeting is also in compliance with the open public meetings act and NJSA10 calling 4-6 also known as the sunshine law. Notices have been sent to the progress in Cwell, New
Jersey, the Star Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and Tap into West Essex. Notices have also been posted at the Board of Education business office here at the Harrison School building and have been delivered to the clerks of the Burrow of Caldwell and the Township of West Caldwell for posting. Brian, can you please take the role?
>> Yes. Mr. Mr. Diamola >> here. >> Miss um D Martini >> here. >> Miss Landalfi Jefferson >> here. >> Miss Mack >> here. >> Miss Groso >> here. >> So we have five voting members present. We have a quum. >> Can everyone please rise for the pledge
of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Brian, are there any communications for the board this
evening? >> There were none. >> Okay. So, we have a full uh plate tonight. We're going to start with the superintendence report. We have a big lineup. So, okay. So, good evening everyone. Uh I'm very pleased to uh let everyone know that we have several
student recognitions this evening. Um and we have some of our administrators here this evening to help us with that. Uh, so at I know we've got a group of students who need to get out of here so they can go to the high school and participate in the concert. So, so I'm gonna ask Mr. Develin to please come up
first. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to start by asking uh Chelsea and Jackson to come up front, please. uh in a class with such bright and accomplished students, it is uh earning distinction of first and second in the
class ranking is truly an extraordinary accomplishment. It is my honor to recognize and celebrate the academic accomplishments of our valadictorian saludiatoran. The valadictorian of the class of 2026 is Jackson Proven. Jackson has a seven semester cumulative
GPA of 100.58. He is a National Merit Commended Scholar and an AP Scholar with distinction. In the fall, Jackson will be attending the New School in Manhattan where he will be studying jazz guitar and audio production.
>> And our saludiatoran is Chelsea Rudden. Chelsea has a cumulative GPA of 100.49. 49. Chelsea is also a National Merit Commended Scholar and also an AP Scholar with distinction. In the fall, Chelsea will be studying neuroscience at the
University of Pennsylvania. Um, Jackson and Chelsea are not just great students, they are exceptional people. They've represented their school well in all that they do and all their endeavors. Uh, we are fiercely proud of them. and as a valadictorian saludiatoran, they will have the
distinguished honor of addressing their classmates at graduation. Um, we are immensely proud of the two of you. Congratulations. Thank you. >> You want to take a picture? >> Um, you want to take a picture or wait for the I you want to
>> Jackson's got to get Jackson's got to get. So, let's do that very quickly. Y We have a couple of other students performing. So, if you would like, I'll call up the North Region High School Honors Orchestra members. If you could come up, Matt Peralta, Anna Ameilia De
Galdo, Lucasqi, Kaylee Elder, and Matteo Vargas. So students in the North Region High School Honors Orchestra were selected by their directors for excellence in musicianship and leadership. They joined
students from nine other high schools to represent James Caldwell High School and the North Region Honors Orchestra, performing highlevel music with peers from the surrounding area. Their devotion to music and willingness to put in extra time is an honor to themselves.
James Caldwell High School and our music program. Congratulations, guys. >> Thank you. I know they're really eager. We got They're like, "We" They showed up. They're like, "We got We got a concert. I got >> Come on up. Come on forward, guys.
thighs. Okay, I'm going to speak about one one other student, uh Mike Pingu. Why don't you come on up, Mike? Uh Mike's artwork has been selected as part of the Inspired Minds exhibition at the
South Orange Performing Arts Center. Um our IT guys were nice enough to put up um Mike's artwork there. Obviously, that's a digital version of his of of his work. Um, this exhibition is part of the SOPAC's
art education mission to provide arts and cultural experiences and enhance local school districts efforts to strengthen the impact of art and arts education. The program provides the opportunity for Essex County High School students to undergo a full professional artist
experience from application to adjudication through gallery ex exhibition and possible sale of their art. Being selected for this exhibit is no small achievement as more than 300 students from 20 area high schools
submitted over 1,000 original works for consideration spanning a range of genres and media including photography, digital art, painting, drawing, sculpture, fiber arts, and ceramics. Of those submissions, 70 pieces were selected for
inclusion in the exhibit. This is the second time Michael's work has been selected for inclusion at the SOPAC. He also had artwork exhibited and sold in 2024 inspiring inspired minds exhibit exhibit. Uh this year's exhibition is
currently on display and will be open to the public through August 16th. >> Awesome. >> Congratulations. >> Oh yeah. Let's do by your artwork so we can have your artwork. Okay, Mr. Develin, thank you so much.
And uh let's see. Miss Blackman, you want to do yours first? Okay. >> Okay. The Essex County Unsung Heroes Award is sponsored by the Essex County School Boards Association. This program recognizes those students who make
outstanding contributions to their schools and communities, but who are often overlooked by traditional student recognition guidelines. James Caldwell High School had the honor to to nominate one student from the class of 2026, and it was an easy decision to submit Tessa
Davidson as our honore this year. On Thursday, March 12th, the Essex County School Boards Association held their annual Unsung Hero Awards ceremony. This year, the ceremony celebrated students who have displayed the power of quiet strength, character beyond the
spotlight. It was an evening that recognized students who provide the quiet strength that nourishes our classrooms and inspired their peers to lead with a heart for others. It is a privilege to introduce this year's unsung hero from James Caldwell High School, TessaDavidson.
Tessa is a quiet and friendly presence, not only in each of her classes, but in the halls of her school, where she can always be found with a smile on her face and her current reading selection under her arm. During her time at JCHS, her dedication and determination to her
schoolwork has allowed her to advance in her studies and take more challenging classes each year. Although school does not always come easy to Tessa, she can be counted on to give her full effort so that she feels confident that she has given her all. When told she was selected, Tessa humbly said, "All I do
is try my best." And that daily commitment is exactly what makes her so deserving of this recognition. We are so proud of all that Tessa has accomplished over the last few years. We know she will continue to succeed as she takes her first step in higher education at
Sussex County Community College in the fall. Congratulations again. Okay. Now, um Mr. Adamo is here this evening and he has a uh student who um is going to be recognized
um one of the fourth grade students. Right. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Dr. Fenari, members of the board, and members of the community. I am happy to be here speaking tonight to recognize the creative and artistic talents of Wesley Sedlichek. Wes, if you could come up and
stand up here for a moment. Wesley is a fourth grader in Mr. Prodigian's class at Washington School. Every year, the Washington fourth grade teachers promote student participation in the My Essex County fourth grade poster contest. Ear earlier this school
year, Wesley was one of the students that chose to enter this poster contest. And this year, Wesley was chosen as one of the winners. On May 28th, Wesley was honored at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Justice Building in Newark, where
his poster was displayed. Wesley gave a description of his illustrations on his poster, which you could actually see right there on the TV behind you. Um, the illustrations include Cherry Blossoms, the train from the Turtleback
Zoo, Grover Cleveland, the Essex County Airport, Shaquille O'Neal, and my personal favorite, Yogi Barra. Each year, I receive a copy of the Essex County 15-month calendar, which features the winners of the fourth grade poster
contest, which I hang in my office. And Wesley, I can't wait to see your poster featured in next year's calendar. I wonder what month you'll get. A shout out to Mr. Christopher Durkin, Essex County Clerk, who always makes sure that Washington fourth graders participate in this fun contest. And one final
congratulations for Wesley. Wes, congrats on a job well done. Can I can I just say one quick thing? Um, everyone, I work for the county clerk. Um, and so I will say that we had a record number of entries this year, record number of new schools
participating and over a thousand posters. And of those posters, Wesley was one of the top 15. Um, and I will say that one of the things that attracted the judges to it is that he very cleverly in the Essex County logo,
it's usually a lion. And he replaced the lion with the two new lion cubs, Keo and Anga, at the Turtleback Zoo who were born this year. It was very historic for the zoo. And one of the things that the judges says is, "Whoa, what insight of a fourth grader to replace the logo, the
lion and the logo with the two baby cubs, almost like a new generation." And so Wesley, I wanted you to know that. I know I let I let Chris be the star at the MLK building, but in the board of ed meeting, I get to say my piece. And I wanted to say that you we are so proud
of you. It's really amazing. And um I do have a hand in designing the calendar, so I have to think about what month you're going to get, but we're really excited. So, we'll give you a round Okay, we have a lot of students to recognize this evening and so far it's
been a wonderful night. Um, so next I'd like to ask Erica Brock to please come up uh to talk to us about the uh Essex uh the Essex County Pep essay contest. >> Hi, good evening everyone. My name is
Erica Brock and I'm a fourth grade teacher at Washington Elementary School. I'm also the chairperson for the Caldwell West Calwell Education Association's PEP committee. PEP, which stands for public education partnership, is a campaign that shares the successes of New Jersey's public schools while
building community support and involvement. PEP programs aimed to help increase community awareness of all the wonderful things happening in our public schools. In addition to recently supporting the Caldwell West Calwell Education Foundation the other weekend at the annual 5K run for education, one
of the other activities we took part in this year was the Essex County PEP essay contest. Each grade level was given a themed topic to write about. This was our district's fifth year participating in the contest. I received numerous submissions from students at the elementary and middle school levels.
This year, there were four grade levels that participated. Despite the lower number of grade level submissions this year, we did manage to have a strong showing with the entries that we did have, walking away with one semi- finalist winner and three finalist winners, one second place winner and two
first place winners. The topics for the contest were as follows. In second grade, I look forward to going to school because. In fourth grade, what is your favorite part of the school day or year? In fifth grade, who is a person during your school years who has instilled
pride in you? And in seventh grade, why is it important to accept others for who they are? I would like to start by acknowledging our semi- finalist winner. This student's essay was picked out of all the essays in his grade level in the Caldwell West Calwell district to move on to the Essex County level. He along
with three of his family members are invited to a special after hours night in July at the Turtleback Zoo. When I call his name, I will ask the student to please rise to receive his applause. Kevin Wilson from Wilson Elementary School, fifth grade.
I would next like to acknowledge our finalist winner. This student's essay was picked out of all the essays in her grade level in the CBO West Coal district to move on to the Essex County level where her essay came in second place. She too along with three of her family members are invited to a special
after hours night in July at the Turtlebeck Zoo. She was also honored at the Friends of Education benefit last month and received a certificate and prize. I will now read the name of our finalist winner and ask her to please rise when her name is called to receive her applause. Annalia Peralta,
Washington School, second grade, second place. And now I would like to acknowledge our first place winners. These students essays were picked of all the essays in their grade level in the CO West Calwell School District to move on to the Essex County level where their essays came in
first place. They too along with three of their family members are invited to a special after hours night in July at the Turtleback Zoo and were honored at the Friends of Education banquet last month and received a certificate and prize. I will now call their names one at a time and ask them to come up and read their
essay. Sienna Rapetta, Wilson Elementary School, fourth grade. Y is your brain like a machine where all the gears work together? Mine doesn't always work that way. Sometimes two gears go in opposite directions and the
machine slows down. It works that way because I have ADHD. One thing at my school that helps my brain work well and keep focused is our gifted achievement program. GAP is my favorite part of school because we build things and work
in teams. I like building interesting things in GAP. Once we build a robot model from cardboard and another time a roller coaster prototype. Building is creative and hands-on and lets me move
around. I also enjoy working in teams so we can divide and conquer. For example, in our Mars colony project, each team member is responsible for two sections about sustaining life on Mars. It helps
with ADHD because not all the pressure is on me. I can focus just on my part. To conclude, GAP is my favorite part of school because I build things and work with classmates on interesting projects. It helps me focus and stay calm, which
is hard to do sometimes with ADHD. I am lucky my school has GAP. >> Great job, C. I don't know if I could have read it that well. And now I'd like to call up Caitlyn Hulahan from Grover Cleveland Middle
School, seventh grade, first place. Yay. Accepting others for who they are is honestly one of the most important things we can do to make the world and our own lives actually livable. It's a concept that gets thrown around in school assemblies or on those kindness posters in the hallway, but when you
really sit down and think about it, it's a big deal. When we accept people without trying to fix or change them, we aren't just being nice. We're building communities where everyone feels safe enough to actually be themselves. In a world where everyone is constantly being
told how to act, look, or think, true acceptance is like giving someone permission to finally breathe. One of the biggest reasons why this matters is that it creates a genuine sense of belonging. Imagine walking into a room and feeling like you have to hide your hobbies, your culture, or even the way
you talk just to fit in. It's exhausting and honestly, it's lonely. When people, especially middle school and high school students, feel accepted by those around them, their mental health and self-esteem improve significantly. When we accept others, we're telling them,
"You are enough exactly as you are." This removes the fear of judgment, which is usually what keeps people from sharing their best ideas or their true talents. Then there's the social media aspect which makes everything 10 times harder. We live in this world of fitting in with
the trends and perfection filters where it feels like you're always being watched. On apps like Instagram or Tik Tok, it's so easy to judge someone in two seconds based on a single post. We've become obsessed with wanting to fix our lives. And that makes everyone
super judgmental of anyone who doesn't fit in. However, that's not real life. Social media often pushes us to be clones of each other. If we don't actively fight and accept the messy, unfiltered parts of people, we're going to end up in a world that's completely
fake. I strongly believe that breaking away from the online pressure to judge others is the only way to stay unique. Another thing is that diversity is what makes life actually interesting. If everyone thought the same way and like the same music, the world would be
incredibly boring. Similar to a garden, it's beautiful because there are different types of flowers and plants that grow differently. Humans are the same way. By accepting others, we get to learn about different perspectives. Maybe someone sees a problem differently than others do because of their
background. If you dismiss them because they're weird or different, you're the one who loses out. Admitting you don't know everything starts with accepting that other people's experiences, thoughts, and feelings are just as real as yours. Acceptance is the only real
way to stop bullying. A lot of nasty behavior comes from people being scared of what they don't understand. When we decide to accept people instead of judging them, we break that cycle of constant perfectionism and criticism. This doesn't mean you have to agree with
everyone on every single thing. You can disagree with someone's opinion but still accept them as a person who deserves respect. This is unfortunately normalized to be a highle skill that even most adults can't seem to figure out. But it's the only key to solving
actual problems. Human rights start with the basic idea that every person has dignity no matter who they are. Also, accepting others actually helps us grow. When you're constantly judging people, you're usually being just as hard on yourself.
If you're always looking for flaws in others, you start worrying that everyone is looking for flaws in you. However, when you practice being open-minded, you start to feel more relaxed and confident. You realize that you don't have to be perfect either. Acceptance is a two-way street. The more you give to
it, the more you get back. There's also a biological side to this. Today, our brains react to social rejection like it's physical pain. When we practice acceptance, we're reducing the pain in our community. We're creating an environment where people can thrive instead of just trying to survive the
school day. Finally, it's important to realize that you can't actually change someone anyway. You can pressure someone to act a certain way, but you can't change who they are in their heart. Trying to control people just leads to resentment and ruin friendships. True friendship is seeing someone's true self
and sticking by them. No matter how someone is different from yourself, accepting them is the best thing that you can do for them and for yourself. In the end, accepting others is the foundation for a world that actually works. It boosts mental health, helps us learn, and stops unnecessary drama. It's
not always easy, especially when someone is really different from you. But it's always worth the effort. If we want to be free from ourselves, we have to give that same freedom to everyone else. By choosing acceptance over judgment, we don't just change someone's day, but we
change the world. Thank you, Caitlyn, for that very thoughtful essay. I just want to take another moment to congratulate all the students who participated in the essay contest this year. They truly did an outstanding job, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of their essays. I look forward to next year where I hope
we will have an even stronger showing of student participation in the contest with even more essays for me to read and to submit at the Essex County level. Thank you for the opportunity to showcase our student writers. >> Thank you, Miss Brock. Thank you for doing this every year. >> Miss Brock, if we could have you and the
student essay winners, if you could have them come on up, please Now, I'm not sure if any of them are with us here this evening, but I do want to take just a moment to thank our um student board of education representatives. Um we haven't seen them
at every meeting, but when they can be here, uh the student representatives from the high school sit at the board table and they're part of the uh the discussion and they can't vote, but they can they can certainly add their voices.
Um so I just want to thank uh Tea Fiori, Adeline Lmens, Angie Perth. I always get this wrong. Angie, just come and yell at me tomorrow. Tara >> Tara >> and Maya Jorgens Jorgensson.
So um one of the things that uh we appreciate about students becoming part of the process, the governing process is that you know we're here for students and the um the insight that we get from
our students whether it's through uh the essays that they submit or their ability to you know come to the microphone and speak. We've had many students come to our microphone during the course of this school year, whether they were high school or middle school students who were sharing things that are going on at
the schools or voicing their opinions about things. That's part of of how we learn to be good citizens and contribute to the growth of of our district. So, we appreciate our students and um for Tea, Adeline, Angie, and Maya, we just wanted
to say thank you to them as well. So to that end, um I have a couple of things I just want to share with the board. Um there are uh many times when this process, for those of you that aren't part of the day-to-day and the
decision- making and how things work behind closed doors, you feel sometimes I get comments from people saying, you know, well, how do you come up with that decision? How do you make, you know, one decision over another? What's important? So, um, I just want to say that we try
to be as a district as consistent as possible. And recently there was some confusion over some of the decisions that have been made or people thought we were making around our special education programming. And I just want to clarify some of that for those of you who may
have heard things that either were somewhat true but maybe not completely factual and and I want to just clarify because as you know as Caitlyn so eloquently put in her essay and I want
to thank you for your essay because it was beautiful. Um, everybody, every person who comes to our schools, who comes to our table here, who is part of this this district, everybody has value and importance. And we are we are so
thankful for the many many diversities that we have in our district whether it's thoughts, our backgrounds, our likes, our dislikes and you know those are all very important things that you know in order to make a community a
community. If we were all the same life would be very boring. You know we certainly uh value and respect everyone and our students are so important to us. They're at the center of everything we do. So, when I hear things like um how
did the district make a decision putting money before students, you know, we've got a budget. We certainly do. But for our special needs students and the programs that we offer to them, it's important to remember that before we put any dollars toward anything, we have to
know what our students need. So, I want to, you know, give a shout out to the special education department because our child study teams work closely with parents in order to develop what we call an individualized education plan for students with special needs. And those
plans help us to determine what programs we offer and where we offer them. And in some cases, you know, the dollars and the cents are really the last thing we think about, right? because we want to make sure that all of our students are um are in a position to get the best
education we can possibly offer to them. So the the budget is while it's developed ahead of time as Mr. McCarthy always says the budget is a plan and that plan is developed far in advance just because of the requirements that we
have of its implementation. So, our budget, we started developing the budget in the fall for next year. And think about all of the ways that people's needs change are identified and how students learn and grow through the
course of a school year. We don't know when that budget is developed what a child is going to need for the following school year. We do that through having partnerships with our parents, through our teachers and their case managers, the child study teams, the principles,
the general education teachers, and all of our students that are in our special education programs, each of them has an individualized education program. So to think that we base our budget on those needs is backwards. We have to make sure
that the needs themselves are identified and then we figure out from the pot of money we have how are we going to accommodate those students and every one of them is is different obviously if it's an individualized plan. So I just want to make sure that that is
understood first and foremost. Secondly my door is always open. I mean I have had parents and teachers who have questions. I try to be very responsive. So, I would appreciate anybody who has a question if you don't get an answer or
the answer you're looking for or you need more explanation from your school because it's always teacher and then if you happen to have a student with an IEP, their case manager, the child study team, the principal, if you don't have
enough information, you can always email or call my office because I do try to be very responsive. And I think that the the um misassion maybe is that when people email the entire board, all all five of our board members, that each of
them is going to respond to you. No, they typically have me be the one to respond. And really, that's because by law in the state of New Jersey, if we have the entire board on an email chain, that constitutes a board of education meeting that is unadvertised. So that's
against the law. It's against their ethics. So the board charges the superintendent, whether it's me or whoever your next superintendent is going to be, to kind of respond to those messages. So if you are emailing and you um you copy the entire board, understand
that if it's to the board that the board president typically is the one to respond for the whole board and if it's something that they need me to respond to, I find out all the information and then I respond. Um, and I also just want to say that, you know, we appreciate
when people have questions and ask us because it's the only way that factual information gets to the folks who have those questions. Um, the the uh notion again that that we are putting dollars
before students is is really not the case. Yes, we have to identify those dollars well in advance. If you saw the budget hearing that was a couple of meetings ago, it happens when it happens because the state requires us to submit a budget at that time for approval. But
it does not mean that that budget is set in stone to the point where we're going to already know or already have predetermined what we are going to offer. Um, I don't know if you've read about some other school districts who
are in um, some dire financial straits and have had to reduce their staff numbers by quite a number of of teachers and other staff positions. We've been very fortunate in Cowwell West Cwell that you know the spending has been done
wisely. We've always put the students first and I just wanted to clarify that and you know board members if you have any questions for me please let me know. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is that the end of your report?
>> I believe it is. Yes. >> Okay. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. So, tonight we'll only be voting on one uh thing, the HIVs in curriculum and technology. Otherwise, this is a conference meeting. So, first I'm going to open up the agenda, the
public comment items on the agenda only. We'll peruse the agenda and then at the end open up the public comment to anyone that wants to address the board on anything outside of the item agendas. Okay. Thank you everyone, all our students who are leaving for coming and congratulations again. Um so right now
I'm going to open up public comment on agenda items only to remind the public participation shall be governed by the following. Participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of their name and address. Statements are to be limited to three minutes duration. Participant may speak no more
than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. Boards use the public comment period of the meeting as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, not to debate issues or enter into a question answer session or a cross-examination between
the public and individual members. Please be aware that not all issues brought before the board will be resolved this evening. Boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate. The presiding officer may interrupt,
warn, and or terminate a participant's comments if they exceed the allotted time or are objectively obscene. Participants may be civily liable for any obscene, defamatory, or slanderous statements made during the public comment portion of the meeting. At that, um, would anyone like to get up and
address the board on anything on the agenda? Hi, my name is John Gachon. I live at 63 Elwood Terrace in West Caldwell. If what I'm saying is not on the agenda, it seems to me it is, but if I am mistaken, please just correct me and I'll speak at the end. Um, I'm a public school teacher
with 26 years experience, so I've been to more than my share of board of education meetings. So, I want to thank the board members for all that they're doing. And I want to thank Dr. Dr. Fernari for a statement and I plan on giving you a call this week and make an appointment to address my concerns, but I do just want to voice them to the board while I'm here. Um, and I
understand, you know, it's not necessarily a question and answer. Um, one of my children goes to Harrison and I know the board cannot speak about personnel issues and I'm not going to say any names. Um, and there are some changes coming at Harrison next year uh with some t uh teachers not being
renewed and other teachers from other parts of the district being moved into the school. Um, and my concern or question is I don't know if those movements are budgetary in nature or if that's there's just some restructuring going on in the school that I'm unaware
of. Um, but I'd like to, you know, like I said, I'll make an appointment with Dr. Fernari to discuss that. But that is a concern of mine. Um, and also I I don't want to conflate two issues and I'm I this is my first time attending a Caldwell West Coard of
Education meeting as my son just started in Harrison last year. Um, and I don't want to conflate two issues, but I do want to say that if the concern or if decisions were made and teachers were not renewed for budgetary reasons, while I understand the difference between
operating uh budgets and capital reserves, I I just want to say on the record that I think it's a bad optic for our town it for a fieldhouse that was voted down twice by the public to go forward if if it is the case that
teachers are not being renewed because we have budget ary concerns and like I said I understand those are different pots of money that sometimes can be interchanged but not easily. So those are my concerns. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Fernardi, do you want to respond or
>> to the either we'll make an appointment? >> Okay, perfect. To the fieldhouse. >> Okay, so um I know we've said this before. I and I I appreciate the fact that you'll be reaching out to me. That's great. Um, one of the things that I just want to clarify again, I think
we've said it at a number of board meetings, but I know not everybody attends every board meeting or has the opportunity to watch it on live stream. Um, the the fieldhouse um was put up for referendum twice and the vote for that fieldhouse is um the way the district
would pay for a renovation was the issue that was being voted upon. So the the ask during those two votes was if the community would consider the district raising taxes in order to pay for through a referendum question the
construction of the fieldhouse. The first was a $16 million version and the second was an $8 million version. Right. Okay. So, um that would mean that the taxpayer would have uh the burden of the
cost of of those um either of those scenarios. And it was voted down twice. Um that did not take away the issue of our fieldhouse being approximately 80 years old and having had no work done on it in probably 80 years. Um if any of
you have ever been in our fieldhouse, it is um it's adorable on the outside. It's this nice little brick structure. If you've ever been inside, uh, you wouldn't want to go back. Um, it's run down. It is, uh, you know, there there are code issues with the second there's
a little second floor that's been used that, um, is really not safe for students and staff to be utilizing. Um, and there are other issues with modernization that just haven't
happened. Um so the district has what we call capital reserve and that account um over years many many years the money that uh you might have a little bit of surplus each school year and some of that surplus ends up going into some of the reserve accounts. Capital reserve is
one of those accounts. And so the current version of the fieldhouse, we haven't even seen the architectural drawings yet. That's coming soon. We have haven't had a chance to to get those back yet from the architect. We expect that within the next couple of weeks. Um,
so those uh modernizations or the changes or you know, we're going to be talking with the architect about their their design, but we're talking about a budget of about $4.5 million, which we happen to have in our capital reserve.
So rather than the $16 million version or the $8 million version that we would have had to go out to the community to help us pay for, we are using monies that have over time been placed in the capital reserve account to construct some something that is both equitable
for male and female athletes, that has public restrooms, that has meeting space for the students and the coaches, that has all of the code violations that really right now do exist because it's 80 years old and code
has changed drastically in the last 80 years. Um that facility is going to be safer, more modern and and better equipped to serve our students and our staff um and the community as well. So I just wanted to make sure that that was
clarified um that and we're doing that without going back out to the community to say we need more money from you. This is money that the district has saved over time in that capital reserve account. There are other projects that are also coming out of that capital reserve um account, namely two roof
projects that we have that have to get done. Um Mr. McCarthy has talked a couple of times about the fact that this winter was really a tough winter. And with all the snow that happened in those two big snows storms, there was snow that stayed on the roofs and the weight
of the snow because between those two storms, the first storm didn't get a chance to melt off of those flat roofs until the second one hit. So, we had, you know, a lot of weight distributed with the snow there. And as the snow melted, we realized that there were leaks in some of the schools in two of
them. So, uh there will be roofing work done at Jefferson and at Wilson. So, that's coming out of Capitol Reserve. There's also um an elevator that we don't have in any of our schools um the
uh ability for um ADA compliance. So, one school in your district, one one of the elementary schools has to be ADA compliant. And so we're putting an elevator on Washington School. We had our architects take a look at all the schools and say, "Okay, of your four
elementary schools, Washington is the one that can accommodate this elevator." So that's also coming out of capital reserve. And the board trying to be responsible as possible is hoping to keep about another roughly $2 million in the capital reserve account. So, we're
really trying to be fiscally responsible and we cannot use that capital reserve money on anything but construction projects. So, I just wanted to make sure that that was clear that we're not trading teachers to build a fieldhouse. So, I hope that's helpful.
>> Oh, yeah. I just want to quickly reiterate that I appreciate that explanation and I do uh understand maybe not everyone does because like I said I've been a public school teacher for 26 years. I do understand the difference between the capital reserve. So I just want to clarify or reiterate what I said that it
just even with all that you just said is if if teachers are being let go for budgetary reasons, it's still a bad optic for you know there's very few people are I've been to tons of board meetings over 26 years. Not a lot of people come to them as you all know. Yep. Uh, so in the town, you know, not
everyone's going to hear that. And even people that do understand it, like I said, it's just a bad optic. That's all I want to say. Not that I think anyone was not an accusation that anything was being done incorrectly. >> No. And not taken not taken that way either. Okay. Thank you. >> Hello. I'm Kaylin Beanie and I'm
probably one of the people that mistakenly emailed all of you at once. So, I apologize for that. >> That's okay. Can you just say your name for me one more time? >> Kayn Beanie. >> Beanie. Beanie. Yes. >> I am a West Caldwell resident. >> Um my daughter currently goes to Harrison School and her older sister
also went to Harrison School. Very fond of the teachers that were not being renewed. Um so I was interested in an explanation for that if you're saying it's not budget. Um you know where is the evidence that supports these specific cuts were necessary then? And
then what objective criteria was used to determine that these two teachers specifically needed to not be renewed because the positions were filled. So it's not that the job is eliminated, it's just these teachers. Um and then I guess just more transparency is what a
lot of people are looking for when making these decisions. Like both of my daughters went here, these teachers have been here for a really long time. You're asking us to trust, you know, you with our children and we do and then it sort of feels like you're ripping the rug from under us. And so I would like a little bit more explanation as to that.
And I know you explained about the IEPs and the specifics maybe of the plan for that. People are really interested in knowing if they're going to stay in their prospective schools or if you plan on moving everyone, how that's going to work with busing and scheduling, things
of that nature. Was that three minutes? >> Good. Okay. >> Thank you. It's a personal issue. >> Okay. Um, so I just want to be able to say this in public because sometimes I think
if like as again I think I said before it sometimes feels like we do things behind closed doors. um staff uh employment matters just as in any business or you know staff employment matters are um actually
um protected and are confidential. So we can't comment on anything to anyone other than the staff member about their their employment. As a matter of fact, you'll see sometimes on an agenda um there might be something that we don't even
use a staff member's name. we might use their staff ID number because that particular information is protected information. So um I cannot say anything about individual staff and why someone was renewed or not renewed. I can tell you that there is certainly an
evaluation and observation process that all of our teachers and administrators and non-certificated staff as well have you know undergo during the course of a school year. So in um in the process of trust, please know that there are
criteria for everyone's position in a school district and we we try to do um as much as we can to support our staff members as well. So professional development is something that's very important. Um when we have renewal and non-renewal, it happens every year. Uh
teachers work on uh under a one-year contract. There are uh if you're familiar with education, I don't know how many of you are familiar with I know some people are with the education lingo, but tenured and non-tenured teachers um the state of New Jersey used
to used to years ago it used to be uh three years of employment and on your fourth day of reemployment you earned tenure since 2012 that has changed to four years of employment and on your first day of your fifth year of employment you would earn tenure. And tenure rights have changed as well. In
the old days, people used to say, "Oh, if you get tenure, you're done. You're set for life. You they'll never be able to fire you." Sometimes that was true and sometimes it wasn't. Currently, there are specific um regulations and requirements that are
under New Jersey state law as to whether um during the course of the evaluative process, for example, uh you know, if a person earns certain scores or other scores, the superintendent has to act in
different ways and the commissioner can get involved. So the this is an actual process based in law about evaluation the observation and evaluation of all staff. So I think what we need to be clear about is that no matter what administrators are trained to and we
have to do calibration so that if I'm looking at the evaluation rubric and another administrator is looking at that same rubric that we've had training and we we do co-observations too to make sure that we're using that tool in a way that's consistent so teachers don't get
misinformation or different information. One administrator says I'm great and the other one hates me. You know, there we don't that's not a thing. So, we really try to be consistent in the use of those evaluative rubrics. So, that's one thing. When we have budgetary situations, there may be um you know,
and again, I'll reference some of our neighboring districts, districts across the state of New Jersey who have had some severe budget cuts. Many of those those staff positions were cut because they had fiscal issues they could not surmount in any other way. We are
fortunate we don't have that situation. That's not to say that we would never have a situation where um the budget just doesn't allow something. But we put forth a budget for this coming school year that cuts absolutely no programs. As a matter of fact, we've added a
couple of things along the way. If you recall, there were some two sports that we added this year for women athletes. We've expanded some of our other uh programs at the high school through clubs and and um also when we talked a
little bit a while a little while ago about special education, you know, if a students if there are students who need a program and we have that program but we need to expand it, we expand it. So, I don't want to give anyone the impression that these um renewals,
non-renewals, um or appointments or filling positions or changing the positions that we need, it's not done arbitrarily. And that it's important to know that we don't just cut for the sake of cutting. We don't just let people go
or bring new people on because we think it's a good idea. Uh, as far as the programs, um, I know there was some concern about elimination or changes in some of our special education programs and, uh, specifically at one of our schools.
The I spent mo much of my day today trying to help families who have emailed me to understand what the reality is. And I just want to make sure that, you know, again, we make those decisions based on the IEPs of our students who with
special needs. We try to keep students in their home school if at all possible. If it's not possible, we and we have that program in another school in our district. Those students then would move to that other school, but that's that's secondary. That's not the main, you know, we try to keep kids in their in
their own neighborhood school if at all possible. But that's not to say that it's always possible. One of the things that special ed law understands and replicates in in its um messaging is that least restrictive environment
starts at the neighbor at their own a student's own school. But if it's not possible to have every program in every one of the schools, then we and we try our best to provide it in one or two other schools within our school district. Um that's not the norm. That's
not the thing that happens all the time. when it happens to a particular student in a particular family, I know that it can be very personal and feel not great if if my child has to move. Um, but that's that's not our primary
objective. Our primary objective really is if a student needs something in their own school and we can make it happen, we try to make it happen. So, just to clarify and and uh you know, I hope that that is helpful to you. Anyone else? Thank you, Dr. Bernardi.
Anyone else? And remember, this is agenda items only. I will open up public comment at the end for anything else off the agenda. Okay. So, we're going to move on. Um we're going to do we're going to vote curriculum and technology.
So, let's just move the HIVs to start and then we'll just quickly go over some of the highlights on the agenda. Go ahead, Daniel. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, motion to approve item A only under curriculum and technology on this evening's agenda. >> Can I have a second?
>> I second. >> And then Brian, whenever you're ready. >> Yes. Mr. Dol, >> yes. >> Miss Martini, >> yes. >> Miss Linda Jefferson, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Ma,
>> yes. On everything but 41, I abstain. >> Okay. with extension noted. Motion carry >> and then moving perusing the agenda to the board. We have two new clubs being created proposed by students for next
year. Film club application and the National Art Honor Society. Um we have some the annual kickball game between Wilson and Jefferson, some field trips. Um
just looking through personnel just the appointment of staff certificated and non-certificated continuing ed summer camp. If at any time anybody has any questions please feel free to interrupt me. Um I did see
under finance and facilities we have the Jefferson um outdoor classroom which we're going to Jefferson school HSA is going to they uh submitted a proposal to the board to do an outdoor classroom that the finance and facilities committee has agreed to accept and you
know a board can ask questions about that um next week before we vote and then we just have some more facility usage mostly at high school and then just policies, all first readings uh of policies and a revision of one other
one. >> Uh does the board have any questions or comments on anything? We will do committee reports next week. Um all right, that being said, then um we're going to open up public comment to anyone that wants to address the board on anything at this point. Public public
participation shall be governed by the following. I have cotton mouth at this point in participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of their name and address. Statements are to be limited to three minutes duration. Participant may speak no more than once on the same topic until all others who
wish to speak on that topic have been heard. All statements are to be directed to the presiding officer. Once again, boards use the public comment as an opportunity to listen, not to debate or get into question and answer sessions or crossexaminations. Be aware that not all issues brought
before us will be resolved this evening. Um we might delegate the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate or seek additional information for ourselves. The presiding officer may interrupt warrant and or terminate a participant's comments if they exceed the allotted time or objectively obscene. And
participants may be civily liable for any obscene, defamatory or slander statements made during public comment. Would anyone like to address the board on anything else this evening? Hello. Hi. Um, I'm Angela Vasoitz live at 32 Ellis. Um, I did just want to
address the special education that you were talking about tonight. Um, I myself am a special education teacher, general ed education teacher, so familiar with the IEP process. Um, my really concern was that
parents kind of had to make a choice to stay in their home school or possibly not have an in-class resource teacher. That's not to me in-class resource is not a specialized program. That's like a very general first movement that we make. So that is really my concern. And
I'm glad that it was settled. Um, but it's to me when a kid starts school and that type of population like it's hard for them to transition and change routine. So to ask a kid to move schools and then not receive or
stay in their home school but then not receive that in-class support teacher, >> that's that like weighed heavily on me. Um, so I just kind of want to made that known and I thank you for hearing the parents that spoke about it because I just think it's really important and
don't want to see that population kind of fall through the cracks. But that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So if you don't mind, >> so um, thank you for for your comments. I just want to make sure that everybody understands that there was really no
choice for parents to make. Um it was not decided on a whim or just you know out of the blue to uh create the opportunity for students to have
something that they already had at the school. One of the things I think I mentioned earlier is that when we make placement decisions that we need to take all of the information into consideration across the district as far as staffing and movement and all of
those kinds of things. So, um and if uh if we do have a student who needs to move from one school to another, it's really because there's no other option. So, in some cases, for those parents who have students with IEPs may be familiar
with this, sometimes a placement decision may not be made until the end of the school year, the prior school year. Um, we try to do that um by the annual meeting for each student with an IEP. Sometimes we don't have the answer
until June. And so I just want to make sure that it's clear that um the we were never going to force a parent to say I'm going to keep my student in that school but they're not going to get their no a child will always be given their
services no matter where they happen to be. Um it may be in a different school possibly but we would never condone the board wouldn't let us do it. the state laws of the state of New Jersey doesn't let us do it and we would never do it as educators to deny a student services. If
a student needs those services, they will be provided. So, I appreciate your question and I just want to because I know you said, you know, that it it rang, you know, it made you feel, you know, uncomfortable and I appreciate you
saying that. Um these are the kinds of things that um rather than have questions out there or you know people believe things that are aren't really you know the way this this district operates um I I can't vouch that you
know none of those things ever happen anywhere in any school but I can tell you in Calwell Cwell that would not happen. Nobody would to be denied those services. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Does anyone else want to come up?
>> You want to go first? >> Okay. >> Hi there. Uh my name is Melissa Beanie. I'm at 13 Vanes Place. Um so my children go to Wilson School, which is I believe uh most of the IEP um issues stem from
the support at Wilson. So, the reason why I want to speak up today is I actually have a psychology background, specifically in child psychology. >> I know that there's a difference between what's right and what's, you know, legal, uh, as far as movement and where they can go. But I do want to stress
that once a child's in a school, you should s seriously consider keeping them there, not moving them. It's a difference between, hey, they're starting out in kindergarten, this is where they're going to be in their homeschool, but once they're already established, especially two, three years in, they have a network there. They have a support system with their principal,
they have their guidance counselor, they have their friends. A lot of these kids, when you're talking about IEPs and in-class support, it's not just something on paper, they need help uh maybe with a physical disability. It's mostly a lot of it is social. So when you try to shift them around, it really
sets them back and there's regression and then you're going to have more problems as far as behavior and outburst. So I do want to just stress there once they're locked into a school, please try to keep them there. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. >> Uh
good evening everybody. I apologize for my lateness. I was uh a little tied up coaching a playoff baseball game. >> So I No, we did not win, but that but uh you know I I had a win earlier in the day that I'm a little more happy about
>> and uh >> can you just state your name and address? >> Yeah, my name is uh James Corino. >> Thank you. >> Uh I live uh 29 Deadwood Road. My son is a student at Wilson School. Uh my son does have an IEP. Uh for the last couple weeks, we were in a little bit of a rough spot thinking
what what is going to happen with this placement being up in the air. Uh I actually had a lot prepared. I wasn't I was going to miss the game tonight. >> You know, earlier events in the day happened. Uh, so I I'm I'm not going to read what I
wrote, but what I will say is pretty much I came in late, but what everything that was set before me, you know, I second I agree with u my son's issues are definitely my biggest concern. Uh, is not as much as the classroom. What
happens in the classroom? He is, you know, he he's coming along. He's doing great thanks to the people at Wilson School. It's it's great for us. And that's why that being a risk of going away, that's what really kept us awake the last couple weeks. >> You know, I just came from coaching
baseball game trying to get some of these kids to play baseball or football. >> Build those relationships, those that that trusting that comfort that he needs that he struggled for >> for so long. >> You know, he he had that he has that of Wilson. So that threat of it being taken
away, you know, that was that was a rough rough thing to think about. So, that being said, I I will say that that is something that should always be considered. >> Um, and I really kind of want to appreciate the fact that we did get
feedback from you guys today and things were able to work out. So, thank you for that. >> And, uh, that's just, you know, I'm in it with them. So, so you see me around and, uh, you know, thank you. And just always keep that in the back of your mind that those issues are not always
just sometimes the building is the IEP >> and we're we're very lucky to have Wilson School be our school. >> So thanks. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else want to come up? >> Good evening everybody. Uh my name is
Dan Hkel. I'm from West Caldwell. Do I need to give my address? I don't mind. Uh three Patrick in West Caldwell. >> And just can you just say your last name? I just >> Hankl E. Thank you. That's fine. Thank you. >> Um I'm just here to throw my support behind uh everybody tonight. I feel like
I've learned so much in the past I don't know 48 hours on this subject. Um >> it's it's been a lot. Um I totally agree with everything that everybody has said. Um, and I know that sometimes the situations or decisions that the
superintendent is faced with are difficult and it's not always the board making those decisions, but we certainly appreciate you having or being in our corner or at least it feels that way at least given the way everyone seems to have uh, you know, appreciated your feedback and listening. Um, it really goes a long way and it matters a lot
that when you guys are faced with these decisions, it seems like you really uh, appreciate the gravity of the situation. Um, and I just would ask that you guys keep that in mind as always because I don't have a kid who has an IEP. But if I was faced with one of those uncertainties, I would be up in arms. I
I think the issue is for parents, it's difficult knowing that such a big decision that could really impact your life is up in the air and you don't really know like the mechanisms or the cogs that are turning the wheels behind it all. So, I guess that could be um, you know, frightening and confusing. So, I really appreciate um the effort
everyone has put in to respond to those parents and uh do everything they can to keep the status quo. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Okay. Just want to make sure everyone has an opportunity.
>> Okay. All right. Um any comments from the board before we move to executive? >> No. Okay, I just want to thank everyone for coming out this evening. Want to thank everyone who took um the past weekend, I think since Friday, to write
emails to the board and to Dr. Fernari. Um you know, we're the five of us are all active parents in the district. This is not a board that has children that are far gone and we just care about taxes being raised. We all have vested interest in this district. We all have
children that range from, believe it or not, the Harrison School Building through James Cowwell High School and they hit every step of the way. Um, I can personally say, as I've told some people, and I'll share myself that I have two children who have IEPs. One is just graduated college. So, for parents
who think that it's going to be the journey is worth it. Believe you me, it is worth it. Um, and did not have an easy time. And I have another one currently in with an IEP and a lot of our board members do. I'm not going to share their stories but have children with IEP. So, we're very sensitive and
everything that you said about the homeschool that means something to us. I just really want to clarify that when we make and and you too, Melissa, like what you said, it's very powerful and we feel the same way, right? So, we're not just here to educate children on an academic level. I look at kids like Jackson and
um uh oh gosh, Chelsea, thank you Chelsea. I look at Jackson and Chelsea and they're an anomaly, right? like they're phenomenal, but like like there's kids like they're they're they're on the outskirts, right? They're the other end of the spectrum, right? They're they're at the top, but that's
just not why we're here, right? We're here for social and emotional benefit of children as well. And so, like keeping them in their homeschool, we understand we understand that that plays a very vital part in their IEP. I actually like what you said, James, like sometimes the building is the IEP. I could not agree
with that more. Right. That's their those are their friendships. Those are the building blocks, right? They're not taking SATs in second grade. They're trying to form relationships. They're trying to form trust, right? They're trying to find their way, what works for them. They have teachers in that building that know them, that talk to
each other, that can help them. So, I just want to be very clear that always keeping a child in the least restrictive environment, keeping them with their friends in their homeschool, that is the goal of the district and the goal of the board, right? Um I also want to say that
um to address I just want to go back so I can call in John. John John um to address what you had to say. I can't go into everything. I don't want to make myself get mixed up because of personnel related. But I will tell you that I understand and the board understands
that the optics of the fieldhouse we're getting killed on it. We see it. We see all the terrible things written. It's we read it all the time. The thing is though that you'll understand too is that like that's also part of a child's social and emotional well-being in the school district, right? It's their
safety, right? It's their physical well-being. That's also comes under our purview and our responsibility. So for 80 years that went neglected. We're not taking money away from teachers and programming. We actually are bringing in new programming, new writing curriculum,
new new new uh English curriculum. Like we're bringing in things to make things academically better for children. the safety of our kids and the equity of female athletes who have no place and don't belong. That's important also. And so, yeah, the optics aren't good. I'll
take the licks. You know, no one's doing this to get their name on anything. We're doing it because the kids need it. And this board, and I I've been on this board of ed for almost 10 years. I've never worked with a group of people that cared more about kids and that put the
needs of children first. I'm very proud to stand here. I'm very proud of the decisions that are being made. I'm also very proud to live in a community where people show up for their kids. And so even show up for their kids when they don't have a kid experiencing that problem. So um so thank you to all of
you. So that's all I wanted to say today. We do we will be back here next Monday, June 8th, um for a voting meeting. And I encourage you to attend and be be part of it. Doesn't have to be a problem to show up. Be part of it and share your opinions and your thoughts. We do welcome it. Um, that being said,
can I have a motion to enter into executive session at 8:13 p.m.? >> I'll make a motion. >> And can I have a second? >> Second. >> Brian. >> All in favor? I. >> I. >> Against? Nay. >> Any abstensions? Motion carries.
>> All right. Thank you everybody. Have a good night. >> Exactly. Right.