[Music] good evening this is a public meeting of the Board of Education Clark Public Schools adequate notice of this meeting has been given in ordinance with PL 1975
chapter 231 and that a special notice was main Inc conformance with Section 13 of the ACT motion go back in public yes motion to go back in public Miss Harrison followed by Miss AC Colonus roll call all in favor I I all right pled
Your Allegiance yes sir [Music] Al to the flag the United States of America to the stand Nation indiv M acalones
here Mr beninga here Mr breedy here M harison here M Guerrero here miss sikman here Mr Lewis here Mr May pres Mr soral here and Mr dunker SLO here having 10 board members we have a
quorum at this time hand it back overiew Mr buo for the presentation of the tenative annual school budget thank you Mr President uh this evening we have a board resolution for the board to approve to submit the tenant budget to the county
superintendent uh for the 25 26 school year uh just to recap a couple of numbers here the general fund for 2526 total expenditure is 4 6,550 939 anticipated revenue is 9.3 million
taxes to be raised is 37 million 152 735 now what comprises of the 9.3 million uh as you know we have the sener received with Garwood uh that would be 2.5 and tuition received state aid is 3.4
million and our fund balance 3.9 uh $3.1 million special revenues 1.3 million and we also get that 1.3 million federal and state grants uh no taxes to be raised for special Revenue a Debt
Service is 1.8 million uh taxes to be raised with Deb service of 1.8 total budget is 49 milon 726 anticipated revenue is 10,766 and taxes to be raised
38,9 60,000 does any board members have a question okay thank you motion to approve the 10 budget reading followed by Mr smor questions comments
Please Mr iones yes Mr vinger yes Mr greedy yes Miss Harrison yes Miss Guerrero yes Miss Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr smoral yes and Mr duners SLO motion carried thank you uh
at this time can I get a motion for the approval of minutes I see Mrs Hickman followed by Mrs Harrison questions or comments seeing none roll call M acalones yes vinga stay
Mr breedy yes M Harrison yes M Guerrero yes on the uh J February 3rd and abstain on March the 5th M Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr smor yes and Mr ders yes motion
carried thank you now at this time we will go to uh we're going to open the floor to the public for agenda items only so if there's anything on the agenda that you would like to come up and discuss at the end of the meeting we'll be non-agenda items so at this time is agenda items only so seeing none
we'll move on to the agenda we have Personnel items 1 through 21 and agenda number one can I get a motion I see Miss aonis followed by Mr banga any questions or comments roll call please Mr acalones
yes Mr Binger yes Mr B yes Mr Harrison yes M Guerrero abstain on 3 4 6 7 10 12 15 18 19 20 any the
addendum thank you Miss Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr smor yes and Mr dunkers yes Mo carried Mr Lewis yeah I I want to uh just take a moment to thank
and congratulate June ctie our nurse who uh did a fantastic job in the Clark schools in particular the high school uh June you affected and helped so many students in our high school that would be remiss if I didn't congratulate you
and I certainly hope you have a wonderful next life congratulations Jan [Music] any other comments seeing none we'll move on to the next section curriculum and education we have items 22 to 24 can I get a motion I see Miss Harrison filed
by Miss aonis questions or comments a roll call please miss aonis yes Mr beninga yes Mr breedy yes M Harrison yes M Guerrero abstain on 23 yes on the
rest M Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr toml yes and Mr dun yes motion carried thank you uh we have item number 25 on policy can I get a motion see Mrs uh Hickman followed by Mr banga any
questions or comments roll call please M aonis yes Mr Binger yes Mr breedy yes M Harrison yes Miss Guerrero yes Miss Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr smurl yes and Mr duners motion
carried and then we have board governance items 26 to 31 can I get a motion Mr May followed by miss acalones any questions or comments R call please miss acalones uh yes on everything
except on 27 abstain on CY I'm sorry can you repeat that please yes yes on everything except on item 27 I abstain on C and D thank you Mr
beninga Mr beninga my bad yes Mr breedy uh yes on everything except for 27 uh letter a i
abstain M Harrison yes Mr Guerrero abstain on 29 and 31 and yes on the rest M sikman yes on everything I abstain on 27b Mr Lewis yes Mr May yes Mr smor yes
and Mr Thun yes motion carried and then finally we have items uh Finance items 32 to 44 Mr smoral by Mr breedy any other questions or comments roll call please Mr acalones yes Mr Binger yes Mr
breed yes Mr Harrison yes yes M Guerrero abstain on 32 33 35 36 and yes on the rest M Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr May
yes Mr smurl yes and Mr duners SL yes motion carried thank you all right so at this time we're going to hand over Mr Grandy for his report of the superintendent good evening and thank you Mr doners I'd like to begin by giving an update on our preschool we're excited because we're receiving funding
for an additional four classrooms at 15 students a classroom for a total of 60 new students joining us in September we originally were planning to house these 60 students at a mobile extension a module extension to the Frankie Henley
School as the process moved forward we ran into some unanticipated issues with these units and that forced us to look closer at our exist spaces and we have what we believe now
to be in a solution that we're very excited about that we believe to be the best solution we'll be housing our 60 preschoolers in an isolated wing of Arthur Al Johnson High School and when I say isolated completely secure from both
the exterior and the interior of alj it'll truly be a school within a school and I'd like to thank Mrs Al and Mrs P for really embracing this in in the recent days again it'll be safe secure and fully
operational the students will be given a complete and total preschool program including an outdoor play space we're anticipating preschool placements being sent this week and students who are placed at alj
their parents will have an opportunity to ask us questions via a Google form so that we can prepare responses and we are going to hold an evening event where we'll have those answers and we'll tour the parents through the
facility so that they can get to see the vision for the site not all the work will be done on the site obviously but they'll get to at least see the vision for the site come September alongside that we're working with our district architect to develop
plans to enhance our facilities across all of our district schools and information will be forthcoming in the coming months later this spring about more specifics regarding that process we're looking to be transparent but we
also don't want to release information prematurely because as you could see with this um initiative we are undertaking things change and once we have a complete and secure picture we will be sure to share that with our public and we thank you for your patience and your
partnership on the saing's agenda we're approving the 10 2526 school budget and I'd like to thank Mr bizo finance committee L by Mr small along with Mr BR mr's members and our entire board our Administration and our staff because
they all play a critical role in the budget planning process as Mr Lewis mentioned Mrs ctie thank you for the great service you've given in our schools you were uh left-hand to me during Co and you've always been good to our kids and our
staff and we're going to miss you thank you and also we're accepting the retirement of Mr Philip scardelli who's been an ALG teacher for 19 years and Phil will also be missed next school Year's calendar will is on the same's agenda it will be sent
districtwide via School messenger tomorrow along with being posted on the district website Camp cougar was approved August 21st to 26 two two-day sessions for our incoming sixth grade students at a cost of $50 per student and we're details
will will follow from the com Middle School we're also excited for the return of the chk intermural track program at $50 per student and similarly details will be coming from com school regarding that program we had our national day of
unplugging last Friday and it was just good to see the kids return to um a lifestyle that was similar to when many of us grew up and um we were just glad to see that return and that not always being so connected to these electronic
devices our njpa high school graduation testing for juniors begins this week and runs through Friday this um High School except for juniors will be on a delayed opening schedule and the past two weeks we had read Across America which encompassed guest readers many of
ourselves and students from our National Honor Society visited come um visited from com to Henley School and Valley Road school thank you and have a great evening thank you Mr Grandy at this time there's a report of the Committees seeing none any new or
unfinished business all right so seeing none Aiden over to you thank you and good evening I'll begin my report with events at arthrell Johnson starting tomorrow March 11th 11th graders will be taking the njpa or
New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment completing this test is an important milestone for 11th graders who spent weeks practicing alongside that alj's chapter of the National Honor Society is currently hosting a food drive throughout the school over at car h k Middle School members of the
school's theater program just wrapped up their fantastic production of the musical Matilda later this week on March 13th cuff students will have a chance to embrace their creative side as they visit the Union County teen Arts Festival finally to close out the month the com PTA is bringing everyone
together for a spring dance on March 28th looking towards Frank a henley this month we'll focus on both reading and wellness activities this school has had a whole host of guest speakers come in and read and connect with students including members of clerk Police Department local Librarians and more
towards the end of the month on March 26th fourth and fifth graders will have the opportunity to showcase their hard work and dedication in their performance of their spring musical at Valley Road school this month is also big for reading from March 11th to the 13th students can tap into their inner
Bookworm and at their school's book fair excuse me alongside this next week Valley Road School is hosting their Wellness week which is focused on encouraging mindfulness and healthy habits among students during this week Chef eigor a dietition will host or will oh will go
to the school and teach students about what it really means to live healthy finally at the preschool a back to school night was held to parents to learn more about the program alongside this there will be professional development and March for teachers on the tools of the mind ccul thank
you thank you Aiden all right so at this time we're going to to open the floor to the public for non-agenda items but I'm just going to read some of the the points here a participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement
of his or her name their address and uh and then you have three minutes to to to state your case each statement B made by participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration with no sharing of time no participant may speak more than once on the name topic until all others who wish to speak about that topic have been
heard and all statements questions or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by a participant to another board member shall be re redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if such statement question or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of
the board or by the individual board member so at this time we'll open up the podium to anybody that would like to have a comment about non-agenda items only come up state your name your address and you have 3 minutes you guys can create a line if You' like
there's hi everyone um Nick cinar 896 Ren Road um I have questions about the pedophile um so my first question I'll run through a list of four questions and then I'll I'll be done um my first
question is why was his name excluded from the email um an arrest is public record you're sending an email for a pedophile in the school um I feel that that name was hidden because he of the
the class that he taught right our kids were submitting photos and videos to him on a daily basis so um that's concerning to me uh second one whose decision was it to change the class from or to make
the class a multimedia class um he drafted the curriculum so kind of feels like he set himself up for his own pleasure um why has this not been addressed to the
students um the kids are maybe not in the dark right because they hear it from us but they talk about it in school and they get yelled at for talking about in school and then there's an email that comes out that says there's counseling available but they get yelled at when
they they talk about it in school so I find that a little bit odd and then my last question or comment is back to school night happens once a year this teacher teaches four different sections
of the year four marking periods so the people who have him in the first marking period get to meet him and then the other three marking periods do not get to meet those teachers and I'm curious as to why that's the case because
obviously if many of us heard that a student is going to be submitting photos and videos of themselves throughout an entire marking period might have raised a concern for anybody who is expecting to have him the next three marking
periods so those are my three those are my four questions I can answer just the question of about the email um by state law we do it with everyone when we speak about Personnel it's confidential so we give
as much information as we can we just by practice leave the individual's name we do it every time so that's why it was done it was all in the newspaper you all know who it was so it wasn't just our confidentiality is different than the confidentiality that the newspaper
enjoys and other um entities do I understand he doesn't deserve and then just so we're clear this is Maggie Miller who is our attorney for the for the district Shannon parin 308 Parkway Drive um to kind of reiterate what um that
gentleman was just saying my son is also um an eighth grader at the middle school we were private until this year for several years and now I'm kind of regretting my decision to move back um so to kind of piggy back up what he was
saying we don't get to see every teacher and this class also required extensive uh photos and videos to be uploaded my son was required to create a website about himself that is currently
published and accessible by anybody who has the website address I was not asked I was not given a release and the media release that is signed at the beginning of every year does not cover graded class assignments it specifically states that photos and videos to be used in
displays and Publications including but not limited to local television broadcasts and newspapers and I don't feel that that adequately covers the fact that your kid could have their picture just put out there also they're
asking them students who are minors to turn these assignments in for a grade so I feel like that's not something that should be done without parental consent so either we need to look at this curriculum and say that there's a myriad
of ways that we can use other photos that are not of a student who is a minor to create a website or to learn about photo editing um also the curriculum as stated was created by this teacher and the portion that was the most concerning
to me which was the website was really broadly interpreted the students were required to pick from a list that was provided Ed by the teacher and I just don't think that a student putting their face out especially all the students in this class are minors and this is not a
class that was for photography or anything like that so it's not something that you can expect as a parent to see um I also was to reiterate disappointed by how the school approached this this is something that although I understand you can't address
it directly in the class these students are exposed to apps where this is directly related to that this gentleman and another gentleman in the same town were arrested around the same time for the same things where they were communicating with minors in apps and I
think that it's really a good teachable moment to just take the students aside and remind them of the dangers of the ABS and also that if they were the victim of something like this that they can approach any adult in the school because they're going to talk amongst themselves they're not going to come to you and tell you they're they're
teenagers so I really feel like that was a missed opportunity so I would like to find out how this is going to be addressed to the students if at all and how you're going to follow up with the curriculum to make sure that this doesn't occur again so I'd like to begin my comments
by just um saying that the administration the board we all empathize and we understand how you're feeling as parents the curriculums go through a revision cycle every 5 years and these
courses were no exception at the time when these curriculums were in place we did not have any of the knowledge that we have now and the assignments that were part of those
courses made sense from a filming perspective we have information now that we didn't have at that time some of the feedback you're giving this evening about back to school night opportunities for um semester
teachers teachers that the parents don't get to meet in September is something we're definitely hearing and please know we are not trying to silence our students from speaking about um this
unfortunate incident um unfortunately some students have been in making some inappropriate um memes and so forth in response to this and we've had to address that but we want to
keep um it's a delicate balance we want to address and be sensitive to our students but at the same time we want to um maintain as normal of a school as possible and as typical of a school as POS experience as possible for our students given this and
you know just please continue to let us know if your child is in need of any Counseling Services encourage your student um to speak to his or her school counselor but again please let us know and we will
help facilitate those connections you know please know that I'm just going to address your question regarding the media release um the media release is for um pictures videos things that are put out to the
public releases to the newspaper we don't do releases for curriculum because they are mandatory parts of of of the curriculum so there's not a separate release it's not getting released to the public that's why we don't have a separate release for that that's my understanding that anything that was
created in the classroom was just used classwide and wasn't published I address we will double check that because that not my understanding of how it's supposed to run so certainly curricula again it should be that
they're creating a website that not that cannot be accessed by or spread that that information spread to the public so we will double check that for sure but that's not our understanding of how that was supposed to work so apologies on that are there any other comments your name your address dragy 47 Post
Road Clark New Jersey um I I'd like to uh talk about Governor Murphy's um uh law which says uh that the parents have no rights when
um a trans child wants to change their sex and they have a the uh the school can actually talk to the person about that and even promote that child to change their sex without
uh parental consent that's the law that that Governor Murphy has in effect right now and was brought up in president Trump's uh joint session uh speech about
a week ago he had a lady there from uh Tallahassee and her daughter uh was [Music] uh uh indoctrinated by the school in Tallahassee Leon County Board of
Education uh and she wasn't she didn't give the consent to have her daughter indoctrinated on this and help her daughter to be uh transed to a boy I think well his daughter so must have been a
boy uh and uh he brought that up to she was there if any a lot of you probably watched it and saw her there and she was very sad and she sued the Clark board the um Clark the tal the Leon County
Board of Education uh uh about this and a federal judge came out and said oh it it's not worthy of a sup but now she's appealing it and I'm
sure not positive but I'm quite sure that if it gets to the Supreme Court she will win and that that County will probably lose thousands of dollars but the main thing is how could a parent not
be be told about this or consent to it when her daughter is being uh helped to be a trans boy it's
ridiculous uh and and also Trump brought up in this his un joint session of Union uh address that he had a he had a bill uh for no trans
boys trans girls rather in girl Sports and it was uh every Democrat voted against it so it's so bad uh thank you Mr Dre
and he has an and also he has an ex executive order that be know boys trans boys and girls you should obey that thank you Mr JG cuz he's he's the president and Governor Murphy is only your time is expired any other comments state your
name and your address anley bar 48 Skyline Drive I'm here to talk about the bag policy at AJ growing up in a time where these precautions need to be taken is scary but this precaution specifically causes more difficulties for us as students when I say us I am referring to
the 250 names signed on this petition here which is about oneir of our school school I spent 2 weeks going around during our lunch and flex blocks talking to the student body this consists of a mix of boys girls student council members and students in all grades I asked them how they felt about this rule
if they would support the words I'm saying today and asked them to sign if they agreed with me the most commonly used bags that spark this rule were lemon bags that mostly girls were using these bags are small measuring only 11.5 in in height 8.5 in length and 4.5 in width this paper measures 11 inches in
height and 8.5 in length leaving little to no space above it you can't carry much besides some folders papers your Chromebook and maybe a pencil case we're requesting to unband bags 13 x 133 in or less this creates just enough space for things like the 2-in minder that I use
for just my morning classes bags also create a sense of privacy for women who make up majority of bag users by Banning bags more Trip store lockers have been caused for personal items gym clothes and hygiene products these trips are out of our way considering we usually have multiple classes across the building
from our lockers carrying our stuff also leads to dropping things in the hall since we have to have papers notebooks and our Chromebooks for six classes every day I'd like to take the time to remind you that this is our school day I'm talking about our five days a week 7 hours a day this rule causes inconveniences for us
as students more than it does good for security I did do some research to find the hardest reality about security in schools the National School Safety and Security Services responded to a clear bag idea saying someone could still carry weapons on his or her person which is what we anticipate individually ual
to do who choose to bring a weapon to school they later on state that clear bags also give students less privacy which goes against what we want because privacy is part of what we are currently seeking even if a traditional size backpack were to be see through there are still chances of weapons getting into a building reducing the size of our
bags to tote bags instead of full-on backpacks can create privacy for students like me and also lower security risks to go with our idea there will obviously have to be rules to go with it making the ability to carry a bag safe and a privilege th currently there's a rule that requires us to carry our IDs
in the hallway throwing these IDs into our bags would not only be easier for us to actually use them every day but would make us and our bags more identifiable if there was to be a security threat another idea would be requiring students to put a sticker on bags with their name and ID number similar to our lockers our bags would also be able to be checked by
security guards admins or teachers if they were deemed harmful or suspicious to us or other students in conclusion we're requesting to unband tote bags 13x13 and anything smaller to give us what we need for our school while also keeping us safe thank you Mrs bar I would love did you rehearse that
under 3 minutes because you got 4 seconds left you you did you did a fabulous job you you definitely took your three minutes you took advantage your three minutes so thank you and do you have do you want to say something as well okay and then we'll address it Isabella
Hernandez 380 Westfield Avenue um I'd also like to add on to this I'd like to mention the fact that so many schools around the county are already using backpacks throughout the the day and not we're not just asking for backpacks we're just asking for much smaller so these schools would be Union County vocational technical schools Westfield
High School Scotch Plains Fanwood High School Cranford High School raway High School and planfield High School schools such as Governor Livingston as well have specified rules that they can carry around tote bags and not backpacks the common concern with these use of bags throughout the day are their misuse and their safety concerns which we've
already been hoping that we can Implement into our school even more um examples of this are seeking we're seeking to stay inside the 13 x13 range for a bag um there are already security guards planted around the school ensuring our safety and watching any
suspicious Behavior we're already recently have been implementing the the phone policy where you keep your phone in in the classroom so that will like prevent any suspicious Behavior or communication and just overall safety within our schools so that we can have
this privacy and our own independence as students thank you thank you so Mrs bar Miss so just real quick on that so we appreciate your time uh we heard you and then miss bar if you want to leave your petition with Mr Grande or something like that and we can we can take a look
at it and go from there uh I believe it is a school policy not a board policy at this time um so let us let us take a look at at at the policy and we'll go from there okay thank you [Music]
state your name and address yeah good evening John griefs 30 Parkway Drive uh I just had a a brief question about the uh preschool with the high school adjustment that you guys are doing is that a long-term solution is that something that's going to be going on for you know 5 10 years from now uh
because you know I know that there's a lot more younger families kind of moving into town and you know that seems like something that may possibly grow and do you guys have space for that is that so I'll just real quick as Mr Grande said right this is our our
solution short term uh we do have a district architect looking at other plans throughout the district that we'll we'll talk about later in the spring once the board has had ample time to discuss those plans uh because as Mr Grandy said things do change and we don't want to say we're going to do one
thing and then have to change it in front of everybody Mr Grand any comments on that I was going to say the same thing Mr toners that the preschool and the plans to enhance our district facilities across the district are kind of going hand inand so we'll be able to
answer that question better this spring when we have um information back from the architect okay and then I guess one one other one not my related is you know last year's school budget was an increase of uh you know like 1.2 million it seems like this year's is more than
that even it's like 1.5 increase from last year is that roughly right I don't want to say the wrong thing um is that so the increase from last year so last year so 2023 to 2024 is $1.2 million
increase I believe and then this year from 24 to 25 It's seems like it's about a $1.6 million increase is any of that additional money that for the increase going towards increasing the facilities or is it all in the bond referendum that
you guys are doing the B I know there's may be more to it than that but just yeah the bond referendum is outside the scope of the budget so whatever is in the budget basic for salaries Transportation special
ed um books textbooks uh things like that so the referendum is completely out of the uh the scope of the budget but the goal of increasing resources like facilities that's not included in that it would only be with the bud budget referendum because I know that the
budget seems to be for upgrading the facilities if your question is if the if the current budget is to enhance the facilities if you know there seems to be a increase in the budget significantly over the last couple years is any of that going to increase the facilities only the bond
almost question and in 25 26 budget there is no projects in the budget for facilities okay all right uh thank you for clearing that up I appreciate your time thank you so much I just I just want to make a point and and it's really about the prek
program I think a lot of people want to know what's really going on as we move forward but but I think the important thing to understand is we received a 5-year grant for the prek it's for three and four year olds
and it's going to expand over the five years to get more people seats and going through that process we're one of the few schools in Union County in the area that will have full day prek full day
kitten Garden we started that kitten Garden program about 14 years ago I think this is a tremendous asset for the community to be able to have something that basically is Affordable by being free it's going to be safe it's going to
be clean and it's going to be well provided educationally we're in the early stages and I think Mr Grande is going to bring this up because I think it's a good point we're trying to enhance as we go through uh starting three-year-old to have that in this
school district so more information is going to come out a lot of people are inquisitive they want to kind of know what's going on and Mr Grande has put some stuff out in the community to get the parents out we're going to have 60
students in this prek program and it will expand but I do think that we need to communicate I think people need to know what's going on because I think this is a very valuable program so I just wanted that point to be made as as we move forward thank you thank you Mr
Lewis state your name and your address for the record good evening John Henry bar 48 Skyline Drive I need to preface my remarks uh by uh letting the board know that I'm speaking as a Clark resident I am not speaking in my capacity as the
municipal prosecutor for the township of Clark I not speaking in my capacity as a member of the Board of Education of the Union County vocational technical schools and I am certainly not speaking in my capacity as a commissioner of the election law enforcement commission I am just here today as a uh parent a proud
parent I might add uh and a proud product of the Clark Public Schools um I do want to say that um uh what you heard from my daughter anley tonight was entirely her own doing I had nothing to do with this she decided that she wanted
to bring this issue to the board her father may be a big political junkie but she's not uh and I'd ask you to heed what she had to say because quite candidly I am you I think I'm keenly aware of the struggle between uh considering uh student security and
student freedoms it is strug is something that all School boards and administrations deal with uh but this might be something that she's pointed out where we may be able to provide some more flexibility such that uh teenage girls have the ability to carry things that they need to carry with them uh and I'd ask the uh the board to consider
that I know this may be a school policy but I also want to tell you I have enormous confidence uh in our school administration uh both at alj and quite candidly K with the ugliness of the past couple weeks what happened uh I did uh speak to Mr Del mono outside coma the
morning after the big incident and um uh he reassured me uh in in in an outstanding way and I can't can't imagine uh that the day was any less stressful for him than anybody else uh but I'm actually quite pleased um uh with how the the administration handled
it the only suggestion I might make and I know there's no there's no guide book for crisis management for every potential scenario especially what we had to deal with this past month but um the only suggestion I would make is uh my my daughters uh uh were with this
teacher they never had an issue with this teacher uh and they were shaken they were genuinely shaken I was concerned about their mental health and um uh I was glad to know that there was counseling available I just my suggestion would have been that the knowledge that the counseling was available uh would have been a bit were
reassuring to me as a parent earlier on I want to uh uh wrap up by uh noting that one of the things that Angley talked about is something that could affect student performance I have spoken privately to the superintendent and several of you about student performance one of the things that bothers me a
little bit about Clark right now is that in some statistical categories we're in the bottom half of the county when I think we should be in the top half uh we need to do a little bit of tweaking a little bit of this and a little bit of that to get us into that top half we have the talent pool in our schools with
the faculty and the administration to get that to happen I'd like to see us get that to see that happen but the one thing I do think the board should uh consider is um when it comes to certain statistics on starting salaries for teachers we are too low we're just too low we can't be where we are and with
that I as I said I was wrapping up that's the point I want to make I thank the boom thank you Hi how are you um Jessica Trend 92 Hall Drive um I'm here today mainly to urge the board to reconsider the current
teacher contracts thought it was good fitting to piggyback off of that which I believe is up for renegotiation in 2026 particularly in regard to compensation and health benefits for our teachers General and special education teachers therapy providers child study team
members and power professionals all of which as you know are being lost at an alarming rate just in the last few weeks we lost at least one teacher and three par professionals at Henley alone to higher paying districts yesterday we learned our Music Teacher is moving up
to the high school the Professionals in these roles face unique and often demanding challenges in supporting our students they work their work require specialized skills emotional dedication and a deep understanding of each students individual needs needs however
despite their critical importance their compensation doesn't fully reflect the complexities and responsibilities of their roles I strongly believe that our teachers power professional and other key members deserve greater recognition through Fair pay including appropriate
differentials for those who have specialized roles and functions these professionals play an indispensable role in our educational system and should be compensated accordingly additionally ensuring access to comprehensive and affordable health benefits is crucial in retaining these talented individuals
investing in the people who dedicate themselves to helping children will have a profound impact on both their well-being and then naturally the overall success of our educational system competitive pay coupled with Benefits that reflect the demands of their jobs is a necessary step in
attracting and retaining highquality professionals who are vital to our children's success I end this portion with respectfully asking the board to reconsider the teacher contract provide better compensation and enhance benefits the staff deserve our respect support
and investment for the invaluable work they do every day with the short time I think I have left I'd also like to bring up the lack of Continuum of services that in-class resource option is virtually non-existent at the elementary school level I said this two years ago
at a board meeting my son has had access because of my advocacy but it's inherently discrim discriminatory against any child with a language and a learning disability or a language disability this needs to change this is
how we've always done it is just no longer an acceptable answer um as you can see there is a growing team of parents um Behind These requests I do thank you for your time and I do look forward to your collaboration this is also why we were concerned with
preschool we are for that we do want the students and the mandatory grades and needs to be met first before expanding I think that's critical Patricia Fontan to Partridge Ron Clark New Jersey so I am here um
about the preschool and I know that there's a lot of things that you can't answer yet but as a mom who already had to put a deposit on a you know backup plan because of so many uh questions that have not been answered I just wanted a little more transparency um I
know that the original plan of putting trailers at Henley was squashed as there was many concerns with that um safety concerns moving kindergarten classes out when they're more you know in need than the prek so I think my question is the
plan with the high school um I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around how that's going to work out um because it is a high you're having you know teenage kids mixed with three and 4year olds and I know that they're going to section it off and stuff but are these kids meant to stay in the classroom all day are they going to have
the opportunity to be able to go outside and play are they going to have gym time do we have access to seeing the curriculum before we decide to go through with the free prek versus going private um another concern is you know the high school new drivers in and out
drop off pickup after care before care there's just so many questions and I know that it's an amazing addition to to Clark I and I really do think that it's amazing I have two older kids in the school system that I had to pay for so this is a great addition and I thank
everyone involved who did get it but I just wish there was a little more transparency because we do have to make so many decisions early on um I know with featherbed I already had to put a a deposit in um so if there's any little thing that you could share with us I
know they're going to email us with placements but are you taking other suggestions because I know the rec center used to be set up for a preschool back in the days so why can't they be there or is there still going to be classes there in addition to the high
school is the partnership with Discovery and Kinder still there I just feel like there's so many questions that we all just want answers for um another thing that I also want to speak on is um my current second grader now um his amazing
teacher from last year is leaving the district um because she's so underpaid and didn't get health benefits for 3 years so I do want to piggyback on what a lot of the other parents said that teachers in Clark are extremely underpaid and we are losing very very
valuable teachers because of this all the districts around us their salaries are so much higher and I feel that we need to put a better focus on raising salaries getting better benefits for these teachers um so that our kids can
have valuable um education and not just hire anybody I mean I feel like nowaday we're just taking anybody and honestly compared to other schools Clark is very low and I moved here 15 years ago thinking that we did have a good school
system but a lot of kids don't go to the high school here a lot of kids are picking private a lot of kids are going to vocational schools and we need to find out why why don't kids want to stay in the Clark School System when it comes to high school Sor your three minutes are up oh thank you
[Applause] good evening Michael scholman 382 Carolina Street uh I think I would second what many of the parents said and it's I applaud them for all coming out on a busy busy Monday night teachers
have to get paid more we're happy there's a preschool but but yes transparency is important Mr Lewis you said it you know we want to get it right but as a parent and this is my first go around with a kindergartner we had a plan a lot probably just to come here tonight and
to not have information about where the school's going to be or the hours is there going to be before and after care how is that going to work what is The Five-Year Plan what is the plan after 5 years if the grant runs out it is very difficult for parents to
plan with so many unknowns so I do think it is important for there to be a dialogue for the folks of the board to make themselves readily available because I know the superintendent is I've already had to email him and he's incredible to get
back to me but the board also has to and make sure they are out in the community explaining these things to people and it's not an email that triggers a flood of responses uh less questions come when there's more answers in the first
place as to the other issue that's been discussed tonight um this was an investigation by the somerset prosecutor's office where the individual lived but obviously the individual taught here in Union County they were not part of the investigation as I can see it has the
school um been the subject of any search warrants or provided any of the computers or data I think it would put a lot of parents at ease to to know if this was something from Somerset County and stayed there or if this did
involve students here in some capacity and probably the answer is we're not going to tell you maybe but but I think that would put a lot of people's minds at ease and not have that anxiety that's sitting with them which is what I heard tonight which is public websites and things that were definitely
outside of the curriculum so I guess those are my questions and comments I thank you for your time so I can say we have been cooperating with the somerset prosecutor's office and I can't tell you what we've been
asked to turn over or not turn over um so to a degree yes we are we are cooperating we've been advised and the somerset prosecutor's office said we were free to say this as far as we know again we we know limited information
about the investigation but as far as we know there were no Clark students involved in the activities of which of which this individual is being accused of that's the information they provided to
us I just want to make a point for the last two speakers uh and also Mr bar as well um a lot of statements that were made are true and they're Fair statements we do need to have
enormously better transparency that people understand there is enormous amount of teachers AIDS par support that are fantastic in the Clark schools I start there there's a lot of things that were mentioned that we need to address
and get better um the board of education has sent their P students their their children through the schools and some of the things Mr bar said we need to do we need to have better scores you don't need to talk
about and hide from anything it bothers me personally when students don't pick alj they don't pick the Clark schools so the point is not to hide from that it's to go after and address it to have some forums to get the best poers we get the
best support that we can get we understand the situation to plate with salaries believe me I really enjoy living in the Clark Township but as a board member and the board is very committed to making the schools
better so sometimes when you hear some criticism it's constructive criticism and I just want you to understand I'm excited about the prek program I think it's going to be a home run full day kitten Garden uh there's there's people
that were on the board that we supported this but we got to get better we really do so I'm not going to duck that issue we have to turn around and get rigor more commitment more understanding what the parents want as a parent I would
want the same thing so we're not taking a blind eye to it I say this to Mr Grande and to his administration we're going to work at that we got to get those questions answered and we want you to know we're a committed board and I know we care so the questions that you
raised were good ones but we do know our situation and I think this is a good step having prek that is for free I really believe it's going to work out pretty good but Henley Valley K the high school we all got to get better we all
understand that so thank you yeah if I can ask a clarifying question so when you're referencing the um the pay scales right are you more referring to the the starting salaries the lower end of the guides as we call
it yes the guide it's a non- non-tenure benefit benefits oh no I I agree I work in the benefits world so I I I totally understand no I just wanted to get some clarification for for our notes we as Mr Le said we
are very aware that there are obviously there's negotiations that are involved here right so it's not as easy as like where I sit in Corporate America where you just kind of turn around and say okay we're going to pay that person a little bit more I think it was more than that but and that's something that listen
I'll be candid that's something we'll never compete with that's like impossible right yeah no taken if I could just make a comment I've um I've been on a teacher negotiation committee now for the last four
negotiations um I think our relationship with the teachers team has been really good um we haven't had great we haven't come to a great impass in terms of our negotiations what I find most challenging and most difficult is every
one of these pay models are different and they incentivize teachers in a different manner we we look to our attorney for advice to say where are we you know you do these contracts all the time because you know I I think my my uh
cboard members would tell you I'm extremely sensitive to making sure teachers are being paid what they should be paid um I don't think they should be paid more than than they should be paid I don't think they should be paid less than they should be paid and I just happen to have two of my children are in
education so I'm set i'm extremely sensitive to that what's most challenging to me is to use this analogy I feel quite often that I'm flying a plane with no lights on in the sense that I don't know we've we've spoken
with the teachers team I'm still waiting to see the first piece of data that shows us where we are in comparison to other school districts to other similar schools we haven't seen anything I would
think that from the teachers perspective you would expect that they're going to come with supporting documentation to say Hey listen this is where we are here's where everybody else is which could kind of help us we we feel that we've made some adjustments in the pay scale we think there's still opportunity
to make more and talking about health benefits is absolutely K complete agreement but I I want you guys to know that we are you know um giving it our best uh good faith effort to to try to get to a fair pay scale for everyone and
we do rely on the teachers negotiation team to say hey are you guys satisfied with this is this where you think you should be you know and so we've had a pretty positive relationship so I hear you loud and clear this isn't the first time we're hearing this but the
Challenge from our perspective has been finding the appropriate supporting data you know when you compare school districts what we're paying teachers to teach in the Clark School District may be very different than what it is to teach in Elizabeth guys it's a completely different environment so that
gets factored into it so all I can tell you is we will be negotiating in good faith to come to a fair number and to make sure that what we're doing is reasonable and appropriate for our teachers Administration not only because we want
it to be because it should be and that's where our heads are at thank you Mr smor are there any [Music] thank you Oliva Megan Decker 30 Prescott turn I'm going to return to the prek for just a
second um so I did appreciate hearing that we're open to constructive criticism I am the mom of someone currently in the prek program I am thrilled about there being free prek at this point but I will say that the roll out and continued roll out leaves a lot to be desired from the parental
perspective um the communication has been incredibly challenging to get a sense to what some of the other parents were talking about before about us having to make decisions I lost a full month's tuition payment to my daycare because I had to pull my son out mid year to start in January to be
guaranteed the September start um for the the way that that rolls out I think it's challenging for parents to need to be able to plan this far in advance and not get the information that we need if you look at the current website for The Clark prek program there's no mention of the grant there's no mention of the
different sites there's no mention of the differences between the sites or you know who offers before care who offers after care what the timing is who offers summer coverage these are all things that we're thinking of is we're making these calculate right so if you can't share all of this information confirmed
I absolutely get it but it would be really helpful for us to be able to get it right at least a sense of ballpark this is what we're looking at this is where it's currently operating I think some of the other challenges that we faced is a lot of this has been via Word of Mouth um I would not have found out
about the Clark PK program if I wasn't in the Clark mom's Facebook group and I feel like I pass that information along to other parents that I also with my children in private care in Westfield at the time and I feel like there's an opportunity for better communication out to the community because I think part of
the difficulty in planning a 5-year plan maybe that we actually don't even know what demographic we're working with how many prek AG children are there in the community at this point that we're looking at enrolling in the program and what are we looking at in terms of before care and after care needs so I know this time because we were at a midyear rollout there wasn't an
opportunity for example to request a site placement switch but if I was placed at the municipal center I would have been screwed I work in the Bronx I commute 3 days a week with a 2 and 1 half hour drive if there's no after care it's a program that I can't utilize so having something like that thinking
about that moving forward about giving parents the opportunity to say hey I would love to do this program can we rank preferences can we talk about limitations that would help us in making decisions moving forward thank you Mr
Grande thank you for sharing that feedback and um there is on the district website under departments on the district website under departments there is a tab preschool that is current with our with
our additional state aid the preschool expansion Aid it has an FAQ it has a record of all the communications that have gone out so I would recommend and this touches on some of Miss Miss fontan's questions about the curriculum
there's a link to the tools of the Mind curriculum so I would recommend going like I said to departments preschool and you'll see all that information there and Miss Fontan some of the I don't want to take up the time now but some of those more specific questions that you can find answers to on the website if
you call my office I'll be happy to you know talk to you about them [Music] one-onone thank goodness I was afraid I was standing messing up the audio or something hi Jess coff uh 24 Colonial Drive in Clark um I just wanted to come
up and say hello not bringing up any issues um I'm the newly appointed councilwoman for the town and I am so lucky that I get to be the Board of Education liaison which is super exciting because back in the day Tommy Lewis and I got elected at the same time
which was you know a couple decades ago um but the Board of Education I mean like 20 minutes ago not decades um but the board of education has always been my heart in the first place that I was able to get involved with um for the town and uh I'm just excited to be able
to be the liaison for this um and look forward to hearing all the great things that everyone's doing but I just wanted to come up and say hi and if anyone ever needs anything you all have my number thank you okay I just want to make a closing statement
because this was a good forum this is a good meeting there's a lot things that were said and we have to make sure that we have good transparency we have good communication so I want everyone to understand we are listening to what is being said
tonight marala krona 86 Stonehenge terrorist and Clark um just to speak to kind of what everybody has said this evening I think the many concerns that were brought up are reflective of one common thing um often times it feels like the many stakeholders in our School
Community are left in the dark and it also feels like some of the decisions are for our schools do not always have the best interest of the children at heart um it feels like things are thrown together quickly and maybe not thought out uh as someone who's worked in
education for 20 years and as a parent of three children in the Clark School District One of the major differences that I notice between neighboring districts where I have worked and our own is the low level of communication in Clark where other districts send weekly
newsletters provide frequent communication and an open forum for discussions about decisions that impact our children my opinion is that Clark falls short and I'm here tonight to encourage you to work on communication and to urge you to form a parent liaison
Committee of some sort that would improve communication amongst parents the school board administrators and teachers uh while the Board of Education and the superintendent are the heads of decision for our district the other constituents mentioned work with our
children daily and see their needs firsthand parents and teachers see where children struggle or where they are not challenged enough and where they might need more why not give them a say or allow them some opinion in what is decided uh parents and teachers opinions
should be the first source of input that the Board of Ed considers uh I don't recall an instance where my opinion was asked uh regarding curriculum or what have you in our schools prek um teacher pay what whatever it might be uh our
students need rigor challenge continuity and strong staff like the many wonderful people that we do have in our schools but we'd like to retain them uh so that we can raise the bar on Clark Public Schools education it would be wonderful to have more frequent and effective
communication input of staff and families and a proactive versus reactive approach I look forward to partnering with you and making this committee a possibility and a success thank [Applause]
you are there any other comments yes state your name your address hi my name is m sorry my name is Michelle garula I'm at 143 Hayes Avenue um good good evening ladies and gentlemen um I have two children that
attend Frank K Henley School um I would like to start off by saying that my sons have wonderful teachers this year and I just couldn't be happier in that regard um but things at the school have bothered me for some time um finding out my children would grow up without a
library one of my pastime favorites was extremely disappointing then the playground and finding out that my children get only one day of play on the playground uh versus black top only um due to lack of
overcrowding that was also extremely disappointing um one of my biggest and finally one of my biggest setbacks of all was the realization that my children do not leave their classrooms for specials um that means no computer class no music
class no art class um what a what a disappointment what a shame honestly um our children go to school for 6 hours a day and in these cold months have if they do not have gym they've only left their classroom for cafeteria time of
which they have what I don't know 20 25 minutes and I've heard our you know get screamed at because it's the first time that they have stretched their legs all day and and seen a different environment um sorry one second uh I personally feel that this is
an injustice to their mental health and their childhood um allowing for a change in environment impr prives um excuse me improves focus and mental well-being it provides more opportunities for Hands-On learning um and it's a break from the routine a change and scenery um that can
help back um combat uh boredom re-energize students and it just improves their overall learning experience all of which are crucial for healthy learning development and performance um I just think that our
children deserve a space to learn and grow in a healthy way and I'm I just don't understand what we're doing now I understand there's a 5-year plan um you know with the recent uh I pods I don't know what we call them um pref you know
I it was my understanding that these were approved in 20123 to expand the Henley School for certain things that we needed so then they were introduced to be used for preschool and then they were taken off the table again so what are our
children getting and I'm not talking about a 5-year plan my children will not be there in 5 years you know they're in a classroom all day long for you know five days a week it it's it's a long time it's it's and I don't feel it's right and and I don't I just want to
know what plan there is to do something and not in a 5-year plan like in the near future plan um because there was money for these trailers and now they're gone so where are we putting those funds for our children like now
um you know G you're minutes you mentioned you know Miss gar am my over time okay well that's what I got thank you do we have any other comments hi I'm Daria pretter 290 Madison Hill Road um I've never been to one of these
and didn't even prepare anything I was hoping to hear something touched upon when you were discussing the agenda my son goes to Frank K Henley School he is in third grade his teacher is leaving she resigned it was vaguely touched upon nobody really
elaborated is there a replacement for her I did see maybe two numbers down that there was a third grade teacher hired is that going to replace Miss sepa and also I'm concerned because he had a substitute today not one not two but
four in one day that's not really acceptable when they're supposed to be learning and they have four different teachers throughout the day so I was just hoping this is his first year taking the state exams will they be preparing him for that will he
have one teacher four teachers how many going forward thank [Applause] you that situation with the multiple teachers going in the classroom is class
coverage when we're unable to find a substitute teacher our goal is always to find one substitute for the entire school day but when that's not possible we circulate teachers in during their prep periods to provide the needed coverage
we we do have a Darth the substitutes no doubt yes this evening for grade three at Headley school yes yes any other qu or any other comments All right so seeing none we're going to close out that portion of the call can I get a motion to adjourn Miss
Gro Mr small all in favor thank you everybody I wanted to talk [Music]
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