##VIDEO ID:o3RqnlvVl00## e e e e e e e e e e e posted in the board administrative offices sent to the clerks of chadam bur and chadam Township the library of the cadams The chadam Courier The Daily Record The Star Ledger and tap news online Mr Jella sure M Ross yes Miss Allan yes mandro yes sir M PE yes Mr Ryan yes Mr Smith M Weber here Dr Z melli here seven president and account perfect if you're able please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance the flag is to our left I pledge allegiance to the flag United United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for perfect okay perfect so for my comments tonight um we are thrilled to recommend Dr Emily sortino as superintendent of schools for the school district of the cadams effective July 1st 2025 for those of you that either do or do not know Dr Lusa will unfortunately be leaving us at the end of June Dr sortino brings a wealth of experience and Leadership to this role she began her career as a special education teacher before transitioning into Administration her first leadership position was as a middle school principal in demerest followed by her role as an elementary school principal in Livingston and was later promoted to director of secondary special education for the past four years Dr sortino has served as assistant superintendent in chadam where she has gained a deep understanding of what makes our district exceptional She's Been instrumental in developing programs to meet the diverse needs of our Learners and has worked closely with Dr Lusa to enhance educational Excellence across the district we we are more than confident that Dr sortino's experience vision and dedication uniquely positions her to continue to strengthen our schools and support our students Educators and Community we're so happy to have you and um we know you're going to be an amazing asset to this District just as you have been and you know tough shoes to follow but we have faith Susan she well Susan wants to add a few things said there's no doubt in my mind that Dr Cino possesses uh the background and qualifications necessary to become our next superintendent our our district is really lucky to have a deep bench of strong leaders um if we roll back 13 years you may remember that Dr Luso was an assistant superintendent and I think that their close working relationship um working together over the last four years has really positioned her to understand our District's needs and she's going to be um ready and uh able to execute the key initiatives uh that are underway including the reconfiguration at CMS um Dr satino is always poised prepared and professional and well respected by her peers and this board and I offer my full endorsement and look forward to working her with her for many years to come thank you thank you Dr sortino anything so I would absolutely like to take this opportunity to thank the board of education for this tremendous opportunity I look forward to partnering with all of you to continue to move the district forward on its continued path of success I also would like to thank Dr Lusa for the last four years of of leadership and mentorship he's really positioned the district well for this change and Princeton is very lucky to have you um finally I'd like to thank my friends and family many of which are here tonight my mom my dad Cassie Cody and my husband Carmelo um I'd love to also thank all of the staff the incredible staff for the last four years in chatam I have learned so much from all of you and I'm really excited to continue our meaningful work together so thank you again for this tremendous opportunity I'm really eager to get started yes of course yeah uh Dr stino i' just like to say that while um Dr lusa's shoes are going to be very hard to fill in a lot of ways you're going from the hardest hardest job in the district to the second hardest so you got this and we got your back Dr Lusa you want to say anything sure um yeah this seat is definitely a little cooler with Dr danu uh over on on this end of the table uh I'll just say congratulations of course uh this is a a terrific selection on on the part of the Board of Education and there are a lot of people in the audience tonight I think if we opened up the mics uh and allowed all of them to speak we'd hear a testimonial that would uh last deep into the night um because Emily brings with her such a uh work ethic and perspective and decisiveness that she will undoubtedly move this District forward and make it better not just maintain what's going on she's going to improve over uh what is going on right now so kudos to her kudos to you for making a tremendous selection and I look forward to the next four or five months uh transitioning in Earnest so that come July 1st uh there is a smooth handoff and the Board of Education the school district uh is in good hands awesome Emily on behalf of Peter and Beth we just wanted to say congratulations we're so happy to have you as our new leader we've seen your leadership skills and we know you're going to continue to do excellent work and we're here to support you in any capacity congratulations okay awesome good stuff are we not taking pictures or like where's the media what's going on yeah let's bring your family up we'll take a picture I mean if the tap's not here we'll do it I'll send it to Picture Time picture time I'll do it sure who's the C who's the camera person I'll do it you going to do it I'll do it you're going have to send a picture to Ed I guess guys come on I'll go down there you guys mom and dad I was going to say come on dis and good St good job congratul huh yes I will send it to them I can edit it and everything it'll be perfect I'll send it to all of them cute okay well that's it for me tonight I'm going to move on to the administrative reports Dr Lusa I have nothing under my report I deliberately kept it lean so that we could um focus on the big news tonight okay perfect thank you business administrator report Mr dqu sure just very simply uh oh har and construction finished the vestibule update uh the doors are all now operational and being used at all six schools uh the planning for the summer construction projects has begun and uh determining which projects will the end of 25 26 budget and more to come for that in the March meeting okay cool thanks and student Le on report summer things okay so feels a bit a little bit lengthy but um so first off we have a couple of our school Awards so um CHS sent a team from a couple of our physics classes here at the high school to to the njaap PT Statewide physics Olympics and they won first place so Props to them for that that was awesome um for music we have our duuple I'm like definitely butchering this but um duuple ream uh this Wednesday February 5th here in the auditorium at 7:30 um it's essentially kind of like a symphony of like or orchestra band and chorus um just honoring Maurice dru's late father and it's just a way to kind of see um our chs's music like all together at once so it's really it's going to be a fun time wouldn't want to miss out um school events over uh January at the high school we had our military and law enforcement openhouse at the CHS Library this was like around mid January and we had a bunch of like representatives from different branches like we had the US Air Force we had the Marines we had Army and Navy and a lot of different other branches and they shared different um opportunities and job trainings they could offer as well as like Roc and um to college what those opportunities could look like and then um lastly just a couple of clubs that have been doing pretty well this past month we have our play unified um Club at chadam which uh partners with EC uh right by Lum field and uh the basketball team has been very very successful and had a basketball game pretty recently a couple days ago and it has been a great opportunity for our students um or for students from etlc to kind of experience Sports in such a sports heavy Talent like chadam so that's all you awesome thank you so much summer um okay moving on to our committee reports for personnel Miss Weber yes thanks thank you is it on yep is on Nick okay sorry uh we didn't we haven't met yet but we're going to meet again March 5th um but I I also I wanted to ask Dr stino's folks to relay a message for me to the to your children I don't think they realize the power that she wields right now because she gets to call snow days and once chattam calls a snow day often the neighboring towns follow suit so if I were you I'd yield some of that that's like better than Santa Claus so I take full advantage of it and we are meeting again March 5th perfect uh curriculum Miss Ross for we have not met since uh we were last here but we will also be meeting on Mar okay finance and Facilities who's on finance okay perfect 212 we last met on January 8th that was PRI the last board meeting so we already accorded that and our next meeting will be February 21st 12 February 12th February 12th okay perfect thank you and for policy and planning Mr Ryan same schedule uh policy has not met since our last meeting uh we're meeting next meeting is February 12th okay excellent thank you um any Ladi on reports I do you do yep I'd like to just highlight two things for CF the first being there is a comedy night coming um on February 22nd it's going to be at the CMS gym um that's a Saturday night so definitely buy your tickets it should be a fun one and then I wanted to highlight a donation that is um in our agenda it uh is a donation from CF of $47,000 uh to provide partial funding to implement the um learning spaces one and two for the CMS library media center redesign so thank you for that yes thank you for that that's awesome um anybody else nothing okay perfect um Mr qua I'd like to motion to move the minutes from the uh last meeting public and executive Miss Weber will need to abstain okay do I have a second second minutes uh for the regular and executive session from January 13th M Ross M Allen yes Mr delandro yes M peek Mr Ryan yes M Weber obain and M Chelli yes agenda pass uh minutes pass 601 okay perfect thank you so much um okay this is going to be our first opportunity for public commentary um hearing of the citizens during the public commentary section of the agenda is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are or are not topic scheduled for the current meeting to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers will will be asked to limit their comments to a reasonable length of time you have a timer three minut yes 3 minutes Mr jandra will be timing if you could just please um sign in and state your name that would be great hi I'm Kate D santz um good evening I'm the supervisor of student support services and tonight I'm speaking on behalf of the CAA and our student Support Services Department it's both an honor and a privilege to stand before you in support of Dr Emily Ino as our next superintendent I feel privileged to have worked with Emily for nearly four years in the district first as a school counselor and now as supervisor of student Support Services through working together so closely I know firsthand the dedication vision and integrity she brings to every role she has taken on Dr sortino is incredibly smart Forward Thinking and always puts the best interest of staff and students first she has demonstrated time and time again the ability to make thoughtful decisions that benefit students teachers and the school Community as a whole through the department of student Support Services Dr sortino has dedicated herself to creating an environment where every student feels valued supported and inspired in a short time she has made significant contributions to the district including the introduction of our 18 to 21 program the establishment of our Aspire program the expansion of our preschool and the acquisition of a bus for our student Support Services Department to name just a few she's an exceptional leader who understands both the challenges and opportunities we face in today's educ ational landscape it's not just her credentials or achievements that make her the perfect choice for this role it's her passion for people she Champions both staff and students tirelessly working to ensure that the Professionals in our schools have the resources and support they need to thrive she understands that behind all students Milestones are the dedicated staff members who invest their hearts and souls in their students we know she'll continue to prioritize creating a district where Educators and support staff feel valued heard and empowered to make a difference as she expans her leadership as superintendent in student Support Services we know this to be true and how fortunate now for the rest of the district in the chadam community to experience her leadership as well Emily you have the vision the heart and the experience to lead us into an even brighter future thank you for all that you do and will continue to do you are awesome best of luck as you begin this next chapter thank you [Applause] hi I'm Amy R Ali and I am a a parent of three girls in um chadam one in the district and I am um have worked a lot formerly with cpeg who's a parent organization group with working with special services so I had to take the opportunity to run over here tonight because I was so excited to hear the news for you Emily and I second what you're saying that um we're all going to benefit now from things and I I can speak from a parent perspective um Emily came in like the biggest breath hurricane of fresh air into from the parent perspective she is responsive she is compassionate she is calm in all the storms which sometimes there can be many I have watched her take on such unusual challenges that we've had over the last several years I don't think I need to name them um really unusual and unexpected where I always said to myself how is she doing this and now I see she has two little ones and I'm even more like how is she doing all of this um in all of our meetings she has never once thrown anyone under the bus she is professional professional and um and I just really want to dwell for a minute on the word compassionate because often times you know the parents that I worked with personally myself if you have a student in special Support Services sometimes the high school experience is not the typical one that everyone around you is having and it can be a struggle and um this woman has bolstered myself as a parent and also my child and is her biggest cheerleader and I never thought I would find that here and I'm just so appreciative that um the board saw this and that she's moving up to an even bigger bowl that I was really praying she would put her hat in the ring for so congratulations Emily thank you so much for all you've done and um I I'm so excited for you and for all of us and thank you and if you need any parents on the hiring committee for student Support Services I will volunteer MH student hi I'm Patrick R I am Patrick Ryan and I'm a student in cougar Academy I just want to congratulate Dr Lusa on his new opportunity and say how happy I am that Dr sortino will be our new superintendent she has been incredibly supportive of our students so best of luck to Dr sortino [Applause] hi everyone um my name is Stephanie Lazarus I'm the mother of both a seventh grader and a nth grader in chadam schools um congratulations Dr sortino um I wanted to thank those of you um on the stage who took the time to respond to my letters um in the last couple of weeks I really appreciate your attention um and I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss the possibility of the change to the ISL program that's been proposed uh my first comments are that we need more time as a community alongside the board to discuss this important topic and work together and to have the school Community understand what is being proposed as is clear to me and speaking with other parents that most of the community had no idea that this was even a possibility we need time for understanding and time time to come up with Alternatives there is a solution to every problem and just simply cancelling this ISL program is not the answer and is certainly not in the best interest of the many students that will be affected regarding ISL in general this is a very important program that allows students to have enough time in their schedules for both their demanding academic schedules as well as their demanding athletic commitments ISL allows for a student to have a study hall in lie of gym if they meet the requirements of athletic commitment and approved activi outside of the school this includes all non chadam High School athletic programs this study hall is crucial to students like my ninth grader who takes 14 plus hours of dance per week along with a demanding class schedule if ISL is eliminated any student in this situation who still needs a study hall but now must take PE will be forced to drop another class from their schedule to have enough time for homework and studying perhaps while unintended these students may now need to take some classes in lie of getting a job or in lie of attending valuable other summer programs for their enrichment additionally this will be yet another blow to our music program following the cancellation of the Disney trip earlier this year where kids may now need to choose to stop taking their well- loved music elective as their number of class slots will be decreased by one these are important topics for the board to understand as we discuss this topic further I ask the board to reconsider their thoughts on discontinuing this proam program at the heart of this decision should be the well-being and encouragement of the hardworking chatam students who strive to accomplish all that they can with limited hours in the die if there were students being untruthful with this program then make the program more strict require the students to attest that their information is accurate and complete shifting any accountability to the student and their parents and off of the school district who did their job to satisfy ISL I ask the board to reconsider their decision in favor of the students who are working hard academically and athletically and who need these programs why remove valuable programs from students that have done nothing wrong there are many school districts surrounding us that allow students to have this important program Summit Milburn Morristown these are large school districts that are working with their students to allow them to satisfy their state and District requirements with the ISL program lastly my older daughter who takes dance and many of her classmates who take programs including gymnastics have no opportunity to join a dance team or gymnastics team here at chadam high school these female dominated activities are not represented at the school and they cannot choose to Simply join the school team as it does not exist I would ask the board how you would propose a solution for these students please reconsider and work with the students and parents who are very concerned about these conversations help these students accomplish all they can in academics and a Athletics both which are very important to their acceptance into college programs in just a few short years we need to be able to work openly together to find Solutions and not to Simply cancel valuable programs thank you all right hello everybody um my name is Chad Smith I'm a resident of the township I have uh three I'm a parent of three uh children in the district and I'm also here to ask the board to reconsider the discontinuation or reduction in scope of the individual student learning program uh as was very well stated before this program affords the opportunity for students to enrich uh their themselves uh both academically and AC and athletically uh through school sponsored activities uh We've Alo corresponded with the administration for the school the uh reasons supplied for limiting or reducing the program were uh largely based on compliance and uh we'd asked that the board reconsider the uh the rationale for discontinuation as we feel it lacks substance uh compliance is something that can be managed it's a matter of understanding requirements uh constructing a system and program to be able to manage those requirements and then to ensure compliance through uh regular audits as was well stated before that burden of compliance and providing objective evidence to show that students are in line with what uh the state of New Jersey requires can be put the burden can be placed on the parents and the students and uh the risk of uh loss of compliance or lack of accreditation for that program uh is not uh is not substantive so thank you okay thank you all I'm going to close this uh section of the public commentary we do have another opportunity later in the meeting after our regular agenda um now moving on to our regular agenda for personnel Miss Weber yes excuse me thank you an I would like to draw your attention that Beth has a bigger addendum than she does the regular agenda so here goes uh so Personnel items A1 through [Music] a18 and then if you jump to the addendum 27 page addendum there are additions 1567 not additions I'm sorry um modifications to 1 1567 946 and an additional one of 19 so it's a lot you know mostly names being added to existing items but uh I just want to point out that there's quite a few names that have going to add it perfect I'll second now if we vote no on two for Emily does that mean Mike stays or it doesn't have any weight whatsoever it makes everybody who spoken favor of Emily upset that's good enough that works for me I want to see more snow days more snow days okay a agenda items A1 through 18 and addendum items 1 5 67 9 14 16 and 19 and the special item of A2 M Ross Yes Ms Allen yes Mr delandro yes M Peck yes Mr Ryan Yes M Weber yes to all and a special yes to two and I'm so looking forward to working with Dr sortino continue working with Dr stino and M Chelli yes agenda item is pass 70 excellent thank you congratulations um okay moving on to finance Sally do you mind oh me Finance yeah sure okay I'll make a motion to approve the finance I and Facilities items B1 through B5 second just just a note of a couple of donations um eight and n ation from the CF for $47,000 to provide partial funding for the implementation of innovative learning space and Innovative learning Space 2 at CMS library and also a donation from Ms Chen for the ESL program and the funds are going the $500 are going toward the ESL program so thank you everybody these donations help tremendously yes M Allen yes Mr delandro yes M peek yes Mr Ryan Yes 1 through 12 exstension 13 through 15 thank you m Weber yes and M chiarelli yes B1 to 12 passes 70 uh B 1314 15601 perfect thank you um um for curriculum Miss Ross yes I'd like to move uh action items C1 through C4 agenda items C1 through C4 Miss Ross Yes M Allen yes Mr delandro yes Ms peek yes Mr Ryan yes yes M Weber yes and M Chelli yes agenda items pass 70 perfect and for policy Mr Ryan Yes i' like to move action item D1 second agenda item D1 M Ross yes Mr Allan Miss Allen yes Mr delandro yes M PE yes Mr Ryan Yes M Weber yes and M ch ear yes agenda items pass 70 perfect thank you um moving on to board business anybody have anything else for board business that we have not already discussed no okay uhhuh second opportunity for public commentary um as I stated earlier if you you could just sign in and state your name that would be great good evening everyone Bill Heap uh first uh Dr Lusa good luck on your new adventures um I didn't always agree with you but uh I think your decision to keep schools open nobody should underestimate mate how important that was during the plague lots of school districts went off the rails and it was UN an unoy disaster for most people and uh I think that was a true display of leadership I hope Princeton understands what they're getting if they don't you're always welcome back um and I notice that uh they're going to welcome you with a $90 million bond issue it's always nice to have a little pocket change to throw around in your new job uh Dr Santino welcome whether you like it or not you will have a Target on your back uh there are always people who think they can run the district better than you uh I have been known to sit in the cheap seats and shoot a spitball or two at the board no reason to think that that won't continue uh but um I do think uh you are fully prepared for the job and uh I wish you the best of luck going forward thanks good night it would definitely be boring without you Mr Heap so we're glad that you always do come and spit those spitballs we're fine with it um okay given that I will take this opportunity to close the public commentary adjourn the meeting we do not have an executive session correct we do not have an exe executive session okay did you want to add anything yeah no I I I just want to say um I was probably part of the original crew that put the ISL in in the first place and the and the A and the fizzed uh exemption for our student athletes those that are involved in chadam high school based activities and we did this because we recognized that students work very hard and many of them are devoted to activities outside of school that are demanding and rigorous and we wanted to try to recognize that um but what started years and years ago as a very very tiny cohort of a few kids has grown into something much much larger and part of the issue is certainly that it's difficult to manage that and even though we've attempted to place the burden of compliance on parents and students that's not always Fe feasible and some of the adults that have been involved in this uh haven't always been responsive or accurate in their record keeping and and those kinds of compliance features of the program the other issue though that I have more concerns about at the current time is that uh the advisers and the teachers who run these programs are not accountable to the school district they're not employed by the school district they don't go through the hours of mandated training that every staff member in the District must go through and that includes training in sexual harassment harassment intimidation and bullying uh all kinds of of stuff that we are obligated to provide our employees on an annual basis uh we don't know when a when an adviser or a coach or a teacher changes there's no notification requirement for someone who's not employed by us to us uh we don't know if a student has had an issue uh at the activity they're involved with with another student and if it's something that we should know about there's a whole range of issues that arise that we've learned from over time can be problematic and uh create a liability for the district when we're relying on non-employees to vouch for the supervision or attendance of children so I of course defer to the uh Board of Education the curriculum committee can continue to discuss this we've had Dr Walker in and we know what the position of the high school administration is about about this um but I just want to make clear that it's not simply a recordkeeping um burden for the high school that's not the reason why we're we're making the change we're making the change for concerns that are much more significant than that most school districts don't offer any exemption from fiz Ed uh for students who are athletes of theirs my own kids attend a high school that does not have any type of exemption even though my kids have been involved in athletics um and some school districts of course offer an option to or ISL like program like we do others do not um so we can continue to discuss that but the the concerns are much greater and I just want to make everyone aware of that uh because I know there are questions and their disappointments and whenever we have a policy adjustment when you have 3600 plus students in the district and 12200 students at the high school you do the best you can for to account for the health of the school district and the health for the greatest number of students possible but at times um there can be individuals who are affected in a way that um will not necessarily be the what they want and I think that's kind of the situation that we're in right now ask question yes you can Mike I just want to ask you a question the students that are um playing a sport in chadam for chadam high school they still have to take JY right they're just exempt for their season they're exempt for the physical education portion of SE when they're when they're in season they still have to take driver's education or health or and in ninth grade it it they take it all um yes they're they're excused while they're in season so nobody could replace they can't take a class other than PE even if they have an exemption you can't it's not a replacement they're not giving up a class they're just giving up study hall or getting additional study the benefit is that when they're when they're in season they then have another study hall if if they already have one in their schedule they have another if they have zero in their schedule then they would have one 50 minutes to St yes or catch up you know whatever whatever it might be just that block that gym area that's it that's a study then as opposed to going the gym yes for That season got got it and obviously multiple season athletes could have that accommodation for more than one season but nobody will have it for the whole year but not for the not for health or for driver's education and those and not for fresh at all right got it thank you anybody else have any other questions comments okay I will adjourn the meeting congratulations Dr stina well done [Music] e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for