if everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance okay for special presentations during our next board meeting which will be on April 28th we will be um there will be a presentation for the
2526 school year final budget uh and as well as a hearing for the final budget on May 12th the updated demographic study will be presented by Dr grip who will be attending virtually correct uh I think Dr forte yes that's correct and
then on June 9th uh New Jersey school boards will be uh recapping our goals for this year of 2425 as well as presenting our self-evaluations and goal settings for 20 and helping us establish goals for
2526 school year uh this will be in a format of a board retreat so the meeting will actually start at 6:00 pm on June 9th superintendent's comments please thank you so we had our third session of the
anxious generation and Dr collins ran it so maybe Dr collins will give a little update when you get to your part we have the next one on the 22nd the 22nd is going to be a panel the panelists have been uh informed already and there will
be a press release going out we have we have a few questions now um I asked the public for input on questions um if you could take a look at them too if you have if you have any uh ideas for questions you could submit some it's on the website we probably have about 15
already um so we'll have a moderator and we'll have a panel of six people and we will ask a few questions and then see how that goes that that's going to be a little longer than the last one um but I'm excited to see how this panel goes
the other question I had the other comment I have here is about the um persons of the year so that's already gone out on social media and through the Friday folder it's going to come out in an email it'll go in the it'll go in the
uh local newspapers and we'll be asking people for their input through the month of April and then I'm looking at May 19th how does May 19th sound for the board meeting any uh any
issues with that it's one it's one of the ones that we don't have anything and it'll give me enough time from April April 30th i could have a meeting with the people the the
committee members maybe on on May 1st and get the names to the to the engravers by May you know second or so and I'll have enough time to get the uh get it ready and back by the 19th um any uh reason why the 19th is not good for
anybody okay so I'll I'll plan on getting that on May 19th um and Dr grip did say you'll have the study for us it should be before spring break which will give you a little bit of time to review it before he does his presentation on uh on May 12th and
that's it for the superintendent's comments great thank you uh assistant superintendent comments Dr cis sure um I this was our last uh besides the panel our last discussion of anxious generation i think the big takeaways
were that uh those that were participating were all in favor of looking at phone-f free options whether it's in their community or at the schools uh we as personnel of the school was were also of that mindset and also increasing
or at least making aware of the opportunities that students have for free play uh and just physical activity um during the day so I think those were the big takeaways that schools and community would both like to work on um
I know that Mike and Zena Andrea were both there if you guys want to say anything yeah first of all Dr calls thanks for leading it i think it was uh it was an
interesting discussion i think um I think that not many people understood maybe our policy within the school uh although slightly different than what uh is talked about in the book it certainly removes them a little bit from social media or at least from their
phones um you know I talked to Dr forte actually today about this i was I was asking him can we and you know one of the things I think that's really tough with this generation and by the way it's not even just this generation because even people that I have in their 20s that work for me even in their 30s it's
the difference on how to communicate on technology like when a text message is appropriate when a social media post is appropriate and when a phone call or a facetoface meeting is more appropriate and I don't know if that's something we can infuse in the curriculum we can discuss in like a have a speaker come
talk about it sometimes I I say infusion the curriculum because I feel like sometimes when we have a single speaker it's like a hit and run you don't like remember it but if it's something we can start talking to staff about to get them to understand how to communicate appropriately it's just a little bit of a thought that I was having as I was
reflecting on the um on the uh last uh book study but I I thought it was a really great dialogue and discussion um I think I think there was I think we got to a point where it's easy to talk about this problem it's hard to talk about the solution to it because I think there was
like a pause in the beginning and nobody wanted to talk um so then when the conversation started getting going I think it was good but it still got to a point where it's really hard to make these decisions on what to do about it because it's such a big problem that I think it's hard to figure out those individual things that might make a
small difference so I I don't know I don't know how to change that but that was really I think what the what the room was kind of feeling like to me uh just to add I I think it's a great conversation starter and it's a great jumping off point from the last
discussion hopefully in the panel we'll see uh maybe some strategies on how to really have those next action steps for us um and I and I do think it kind of comes back to us as a board um so I think there will be discussions in the
future in terms of maybe in IMP or governance or somewhere where it can live uh where that conversation can start with us with what what does that look like for our schools and for our district just to add one more thing too I was just thinking I mentioned this to Dr
forte also today the challenge with this is that we had a really great group of parents that seriously want to make a difference but we have that might say they shouldn't have their phone at all or should be put into a locker as you walk in the building and everything
you have as many other parents that are going to say,"I need to get a hold of Johnny if there's an emergency or I need to get a hold of him for this or that or if there's a lockdown I need to know what's going on." Um so I just want I'm not saying good or bad i'm just making a statement as to what we may see as we
move through a process if we were to make any changes that you're going to see as many individuals that might have a challenge or an issue or not believe that it's the best route to go thank you uh and just an update on the kindergarten registration we're sitting
at 150 students right now lake View at 71 Riverview is 66 and I have that I'm just holding in the flexible tenant zone at this point this concludes assistant superintendent report thank you Dr cullis business
administrator comments please during the last meeting I mentioned that uh the district received notice that we were uh needed to implement the breakfast program at Lake View i did request a waiver and they grant granted
that waiver last Thursday and we will have to implement it for the 2627 school year another comment uh if you are intending to attend the New Jersey School Board Conference in October in Atlantic City please uh let me know i
did make make reservations for everybody but I do need to cancel if you're not coming thank you excellent um thank you Miss Garowski we'll now go ahead and open up the um evening for public comments at 7:40
p.m seeing no one in the chambers and no one online we're going to close it at 7:41 p.m old business no action to be taken miss Dallas can you uh walk us through that please i sure can um at the next meeting myself
or someone else will go through the following resolutions for approval uh the board reports for March 2025 the education reports for March 2025 uh the minutes for March 2025 special meetings and regular sessions
thank you next item on the agenda is new business action to be taken mr capello can you walk us through personnel please i'd be happy to um if there are no objections under personnel I would like to move items 1 through 4 um item one
includes resignations retirements employee leaves extra pay salary adjustments those items include um two resignations uh some leave replacements uh some lunch uh lunch uh recess aid replacements and
and resignations and also uh retroactive math tutor and additional hours for a 20-hour math tutoring number two is a board approve an employee for an extended leave of absence under the FMLA act and finally uh number three sorry
not finally but number three uh another uh approval for FMLA and then finally number four is to resolve to uh hire a new hus substitute uh and v via teley via I'll second thank you questions or
comments roll call please Dr moore yes misselis yes miss Eststerino yes mr cass yes mr anderson yes mr capello yes mr kim yes dr moore
can you walk us through please yeah i'd like to move the uh following uh for approval under uh resolutions uh following resolutions under instruction and program item number one is to approve the uh following uh title three consortium purchases for uh looks like
Longill Township Minehill Township Riverdale Rockaway Burrow second thank you questions or comments roll call please dr moore yes miss Adelis yes miss
Asterino yes mr cass yes mr anderson yes mr capello yes mr kim yes all right there are no actions under governance so Mr anderson under finance please sure if there are no objections I'd like to move under uh D finance the following
resolutions number one let it be resolved that the board accept the 2025 safe safety grant through the New Jersey Schools Insurance Group Eric West in the amount of $3,200 for the period of July 1st 2025 through June 20th 2026 and item
number two is let it be resolved that the board approve the attached contract for student number 20302333 for the 2024 2025 2025 2026 and 2026 2027 school years i'll second
thank you questions or comments roll call please dr moore yes Mr delos yes Miss Asterino yes Mr cass yes Mr anderson yes Mr
capello yes Mr ken yes Mr cass operations please under operations there are no actions to be considered for transportation tonight number two building and grounds
you have two items to move 2.1 is I'm asking the board to rescend the motion of March 28th 2025 e2.2 for DNL paving to repair the damaged collapsing storming at Lake View School they're not able to do the job
2.2 is that the board approve detach quote from R alrich and Sun LLC in the amount of $5,000 to be paid for maintenance reserve and the repairs necessary for the damage and collapsing storm drain at Lake View School lower parking lot
can I have a second second oh thank you Mr anderson thank you questions or comments roll call please dr moore yes mr adelis yes miss Asterino yes mr cass yes mr
anderson yes mr capello yes mr kim yes all right new business no action to be taken these will be resolutions that will be discussed uh or approved during our next board meeting uh Mr capello can you walk us through your personnel please uh sure i or someone else at the
next meeting will be moving items under uh personnel uh right now these items include uh new hires resignations cashing out vacation days uh summer uh 2025 uh prep and summer hours they also
include a series of uh FMLA uh leaves they include uh the updated list of staff for the ex uh ESY school year um the attached will be the attached list of the summer exploration staff for 2025 and um more
FMLA uh yeah I think that's I think that covers it great thank you uh there were any board members with questions or comments okay um M Dr moore can you walk us through IMP
uh yes uh either myself or someone else will approve the following resolution under instructions and program item number one is workshops and expenses there's uh one event it's an all-ins summer inclusion leadership conference
at Kain thank you uh any questions or comments regarding this resolution could I take a moment to ask a question about the uh agenda not the agenda but the minutes for the IMP committee uh
that was held um in April or last week um it looks like that uh Miss Johnson reported the IMP percentages um Mr capello or Dr moore did you guys want to comment on that did you find uh that discussion um like what was uh part
of that discussion and what did you guys feel uh Sandy you can uh correct me if I uh if I misspeak at all i I I mean the the gist of it was um uh that number seemed I was I was curious if that was a
growing number if she anticipated it growing she said it was a fairly constant number like it's a little lower than last year um and we seem to hover around that number and um we looked at the where the um the identifications
were coming from uh a majority of them if I remember correctly I don't have it in front of me was um later in the school year but there was a a bulk that came you know as a result of uh uh prek and um um a smaller number was was
transfers and um some uh increase as I recall all if if I remember correctly around 2010 um had to do with um changes in the way that um eligibility was and uh the dyslexia laws and dyslexia screenings so
we saw a bump during that period of time um trying to recall off the top of my head um there's anything else the number is slightly down um the number of students that are being declassified is
up and although it's not a huge number we're excited to see that more of our students heading into middle school um are being declassified and we did have a handful of our prek students being declassified before they're going into gened kindergarten so that is great news
uh we are still working but uh very closely with how do we fill those gaps um as they move through elementary school so that we can have them declassified in ele excuse me in middle school that was really one of the goals uh and I do feel like we have a very
strong CST team right now and are are working pretty hard at setting rigorous goals that will lead them to declassification so I feel that that that is an improvement uh but it was nice to see where the numbers were
and just the process just explain the process of how we classify and what are some of the criteria so great thank you that's very enlightening appreciate that i had a question how does that percentage match up with or like in same schools that we often
compare ourselves to with you know testing and uh salary administration etc we are higher um than some of our comparison schools than most of our comparison schools uh and we've talked a lot about why is this um we do offer
quite a range of services that not all of the schools do offer and I feel like we take it pretty seriously if a student needs a certain environment we find a way to find that service um I have heard a lot of anecdotal stories of districts
that have turned students away from getting IEPs that might have benefited from a service that they didn't have uh we do have quite a wide range our hope is that we can put those in early and get them declassified heading into you know middle school that's our hope
less important that we di diagnose the problem if there is one for all the kids and not uh leave somebody out and I would guess that um the state would be higher if you lump the whole state together or those stats aren't available
i don't know what the actual classification rate is at the state um we've pretty much been comparing ourselves to our area um I think that ours is on the higher end you know when we look at it we are always trying to see what would be a realistic number but
it's very hard to say if there's it's hard to say let's try to get it lower because it's the only way that it gets lower is if our students are able to achieve and either they have found strategies to work through disabilities
or um well that's really the only way because the disability will still be there it's just that can we work through strategies to get them to compensate and be able to get to an achievable level no it sounds like it's a it's a good plan and it's and it's working that's like a
turn style because eventually our kids go on to high school and they're not in that percentage but you're getting a new bunch of students to uh evaluate and some of them will eventually go in there we do have a lot our preschool has more
than doubled in the last decade of the number of students that are coming to us through early intervention um you know uh child find where there are advocates in the community that find children that
may need those services great thank you very much uh if there are no other questions or comments we'll move we'll move on to governance uh under governance we are going to be reviewing uh for first reading three policies uh the third
party the third policy is the board committees that we're revising to include the government governance committee and the roles uh that the governance committee thought uh we could uh be responsible for so please feel free to look at that and see if you have
any comments regarding that the first two policies are actually in reference to um a comprehensive equity plan uh which is being mandated by the state and I want to thank um Dr forte and the administration because there was a list
of over a hundred different policies that needed to be updated and they found only two that uh the Denver um bylaws or policies uh were sort of not in compliance so two out of over a
hundred is a phenomenal statistic so uh thank you Dr forte for keeping us up to date with all the policies um the second resolution uh is the resolution that um uh so I sort of
put together uh under Mike's advisement uh to discuss the economic impact or the impact to the board of educations uh from all the housing development policies that the state is enforcing so
this uh resolution is whereas a Dville Township school district is committed to providing highquality education to all students while maintaining reasonable class sizes and ensuring adequate resources for instruction and student services and whereas the state of New
Jersey housing development policies have led to an influx of new residential construction within Dendle Township resulting in significant increase in student enrollment within the district and whereas the rapid increase of student population has placed
substantial strain on the district's facilities staffing and financial resources making it increasingly difficult to maintain the high qual the high educational standards that the community expects and deserves and whereas the increase in student
population has also led to a greater demand for special education services requiring additional personnel specialized programs and support services to meet the needs of all students and whereas the current state funding formulas and aid allocations do
not adequately account for the immediate and long-term financial burdens imposed on the school districts facing sudden and substantial enrollment and growth and whereas local taxpayers are unfairly burdened with the cost of accommodating additional students while school
districts have limited while school districts have limited avenues for generating revenue to fund the necessary expansion of educational services facilities and educa special education programs now therefore be it resolved that the
Danville Township Board of Education urges the state of New Jersey to acknowledge the challenges faced by the districts experiencing increased enrollment due to housing development policies and take action to provide additional support including but not limited to adjusting school funding
formulas ensuring that any modifications to the state aid formula also reflect student enrollment growth in impacted districts and provide increased financial assistance accordingly increase special education funding allocate greater resources to school
districts experiencing an influx of students requiring special education services to ensure that all students receive the support they need infrastructure grants establish state funded grants to help school districts expand facilities upgrade technology and
improve infrastru infrastructure to accommodate new students cl uh class size reduction assistance allocating additional funding for hiring teachers and support staff to ensure that the class sizes remain manageable and instructional quality is maintained
impact fees on developers implementing policies that require developers to contribute financially to local school districts to offset the cost of increased enrollment due to housing developments transportation support providing additional state aid for transportation services to support the
increased number of students who require busing enhance planning and coordination require closer collaboration between municipal planning boards school districts and state a state agencies to assess and mitigate the educational
impact of new residential developments before approval emergency aid allocation establishing a mechanism for districts facing rapid enrollment surges to apply for emergency funding to address immediate needs be it further resolved that copies of this resolution shall be
forwarded to the governor of New Jersey the New Jersey Commissioner of Education the New Jersey state legislature and other relevant stakeholders to advocate the necessary policy changes for financial support so I'd ask the board members to review
it and make comments whether here or you know by email i'd be more than happy to uh take any kind of comments and uh adjustments yeah I'll make one right now it's a very well done resolution and it includes solutions
which is you know it's like somebody's going to say "Oh they're complaining about it but they don't have a solution." So you do have a solutions there very well done and long overdue and uh obvious going down to uh to Trenton but I'm wonder if we could share
that um with was it 27 districts or the in the uh and the lawsuit about the uh that's going on now with affordable housing and the mandates the numbers and everything like that because um this would be a
just a great thing to see if it doesn't have to copy us word for word But if uh you had more districts doing this type of thing passing the resolution uh because there is an election coming up and uh I mean this affordable housing is a mess and you stayed away from the the
non-educational issues that are associated with it which also are a problem especially the environmental issues and the cost of taxpayers with the uh the increase uh need for more utility support sewage water etc
okay uh we'll be uh voting on that resolution during our next meeting so uh if there's any other thoughts or changes or suggestions I'll be more than happy to um listen to them uh Mr anderson under finance could you walk us through
what we'll be voting on next meeting sure let me just get back to my spot at the next meeting uh under def finance I'll be moving uh our normal checks list as well as um the 2025 2026
budget for the Dville Board of Education uh the numbers are listed in the agenda and the full resolution um we'll read through it at the next meeting but please feel free to ask any questions tonight or uh before the next meeting and the final item will be uh so far at
least on the agenda is to approve the resolution regarding providing milk for students for the 2025 2026 school year uh and the uh listed prices uh are in the agenda thank you questions or comments
okay Mr cass can you walk us through the uh operations portion please i'd be glad to under operations nothing coming up for transportation under building and grounds i'm going to ask the board to approve detach uh MOA with the county
college for 2025 26 and that's to uh use their grounds in case of emergencies and we have to transport students to that location item 2.2 Two is to approve the attached share services agreement with the township of Dembele for the purpose of sharing services of class 3 special
law enforcement officers for the 2025 2026 and the 2026 and 2027 school year thank you questions or comments i just if I could uh just one uh about
the class three officers um in watching the news lately I know there's been some pretty large districts in northern New Jersey actually Wayne is one of them that has a significant uh budget crisis and they are looking to either phase out or switch out of their class 3 officers
and try to find another solution i just want to point out that uh you know we are obviously even in a tough budget environment continuing that our commitment to that so I think it's I think it's admirable because again a lot of districts are are really struggling to to keep to keep that program going thank you for pointing that out mr
capabello did you notice there was um I believe Middletown I think it was Middletown recently they were just about to get rid of it and the township pick is picking up a much larger share now and that I think that has to do with the fact that the township budget gets to be
passed right and they can do things without some of the things that we can't do but I did notice what you're talking about in several districts it's it's a financial burden it's not not going to say it's not um and uh Dearis and I are going to talk a little bit about a possible funding question after we get
this budget passed and then we'll bring it to the finance committee to talk about if we want to go forward with that great thank you any other questions or comments okay okay the next item is uh for the good of the cause committee reports correspondence discussion items or other
items that uh board members wish to discuss in today's meeting i want to congratulate the Valley View performers who put on The Little Mermaid Jr this past weekend uh three wonderful shows by a really talented cast i want to thank the
teachers the administrators and the students because there was a student director this year there were some other um you know opportunities for the kids to get involved the sets were wonderful um and the it really came together so I want to say thank you to the to the
administration and to uh the students if you caught it it was a great show um additionally I was able to volunteer for lunch uh at the middle school uh even though my children protested uh multiple
times but uh I did it anyway and um I would say thank you to all the parents who volunteer for that position for 10:30 to 1:00 handing out lunch every single day um it was not easy it was not easy and I think we should have a
conversation about that about you know providing some help there or if you can volunteer please do um but it's a big job uh but thank you here's my uh four points for
highlights unless anybody has any other ones on the uh May 19th meeting we'll be doing the um persons of the year at the May 12th meeting Dr grip will present an updated demo study on April 28th we'll have a the board 2526 budget and
approval and the board approved the $3,200 safety grant from our insurance carrier anybody have anything else to add no that sounds good thank you um I do want to share a few things that are going to happen as well uh we do have um
Dr forte's review that we have to um provide so please uh um look for an email from me this week which will include maybe links for his review um that we'll have to um have an evaluation
done and then we'll have an executive or board retreat on May 19th uh prior to the May 19th meeting to discuss uh his evaluation uh we also have a board self-evaluation as well um we all I
would like to use the new school board's tool that's similar to the superintendent tool that's provided by New Jersey school boards uh so that will also be included in my email to the rest of the board so that we could uh provide us uh provide a self-evaluation that
will be presented during the June 9th meeting i think that's everything yes okay any other board members not that anyone needs to be reminded but spring break is next week
just so thank you you all know okay uh is there a need for a second executive session Dr forte no there is not public I think you have public comments yes thank you um I'd like to open it up uh for public comment at 8:07
p.m seeing no one in the in the room or no one online we'll close it at 8:07 p.m as well since there is no need for a second executive session could I take a motion to adjurnn motion to adjurnn second
i heard um Mr capello but I um I'm not sure about the second so I think Mr mr cass mr cass okay he beat me so fast all in favor i I any nays absentions we
are now adjourned at 8:07 p.m