I appreciate that. >> He did show me robotics because he did the edits for that. Oh, is it Give me a second. Good evening everybody. Written advanced notice of this meeting was provided at
least 48 hours ago. Such notice provided the time, date, and location of this meeting and included the agenda to the extent it was known at the time. Notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with law. Minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made available promptly to any member of the public requesting them from the board secretary
at 25 Lessian Lane, Heightstown, New Jersey. Minutes will be provided at cost and in accordance with board policy. Are there any board members present who believe this meeting to be in violation of the Open Public Meeting Act? There being none, we may proceed. In compliance with the fire code in the
state of New Jersey, I call your attention to the emergency exits for this room which are located there, there, and back there. Um, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Having read the materials received, I approve I move the agenda be approved as
submitted. >> Second. >> Me. >> Be it resolved that the East Windsor Regional School District may hold two close sessions at this meeting. beast closed sessions concern personnel HIV report of May 11th 2026 EWA negotiations >> did we vote we didn't vote on the other
thing >> do you want to start do you want me to do C Having read the materials received, I move the agenda be approved as submitted. Second, >> pull the board, please. Paul, >> Miss Drake, >> yes.
>> Miss Laruso, >> yes. Miss Maheri, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. That's it. >> Item D. Be it resolved that the East Windsor Regional School District may hold two closed sessions at this
meeting. These closed sessions concern personnel HIV report of May 11th, 2026, EWEA negotiations update, Roosevelt tuition, CSA evaluation. Minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need
for confidentiality no longer exists. Second. >> Pull the board, please. >> Miss Drake. >> Yes. >> Miss Laruso? >> Yes. >> Miss Mhery? >> Yes. >> Miss Patel? >> Yes. >> Mr. Weekes? >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Uh, up next we have our student representative report. Good evening. Good afternoon, board and board members. We are happy to be back tonight with this evening's report. This Thursday, May 14th, the class of 2026 will be having their senior dinner
cruise in celebration of the end of the year. Although it's supposed to be rainy, the seniors and teachers are very excited to eat, dance, and have fun. >> For our upcoming senior prom on June 12th, tickets are now on sale with the sales ending this Friday, May 15th.
With the end of the school year fastly approaching, we are in the process of finding student council members for the 2026 to 2027 school year. All applications and teacher recommendations are due this Friday and interviews will follow soon after. Good luck to all the applicants and we are looking forward to
meeting and getting to know the potential student council members. While AP testing is finishing up this week, next week both freshman and juniors will have state testing in the morning, while sophomores and seniors will have late arrival.
This week, invitations were sent out to seniors and their families to come and enjoy the annual senior awards night. Awards range from scholarships for essay based contests, athletic recognition, and academic awards. Congratulations to all the seniors who were invited.
>> Moving on to sports. To start off, the boys lacrosse team is moving on to the CBC tournament later this season. Uh senior nights for spring sports are taking place this week and today we celebrated our seniors on the volleyball team and the tennis teams. Uh we recognized their hard work and
dedication throughout their high school careers. I had the pleasure of attending both the senior nights for tennis and volleyball today and I'm proud to say that both teams put on an amazing performance and both teams won. On May 19th, the HHS choir will be
performing their spring concert at 700 p.m. in the auditorium. And on May 20th, the HHS instrument instrumental performers will have their concert at 700 p.m. as well in the auditorium. Come and support their last performance of the year. Good luck to all the students.
Next, on June 1st, we will be holding our NHS induction ceremony where juniors who are accepted into NHS will be officially welcomed into the organization and recognized for their achievements and dedication. Lastly, for our senior class, we have the senior car
parade tradition that's on Tuesday, June 23rd at 5:00 p.m. where graduating seniors will decorate their cars and celebrate together as they take one final drive through the school. This concludes our report. Thank you very much.
Up next, we have the Does the uh Does anyone on the board have any questions? >> Uh thanks. Uh continuing on, we have the uh technology plan update. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Um, so tonight we have two presentations, two brief presentations. The first one uh is
a technology plan update. As a district in the past year or so, we've been uh developing a technology plan really because um we really should have one just to kind of um kind of have some boundaries and some pillars as it relates to uh the technology that undergurs uh the operations of the
school district. Also uh connected to our strategic plan uh goal for facilities and finance. One of our uh objectives, one of our indicators uh 4.3 references leveraging technology to streamline district operations. So tonight uh Ray Nashi, our technology
coordinator will provide a brief overview. I'll provide the board with the actual uh plan uh subsequent to this meeting. Uh that kind of outlines our four goal areas connected to our technology plan. Uh those goal areas are hardware, software, infrastructure and security. uh technology integration uh
connected to uh instruction uh also professional development for technology integration and our fourth goal is connected to parent and community engagement. Uh so with that said I I'll turn things over to Mr. Neshi. Uh Ray I have the remote here if you want to grab it.
All right. Thank you, Mark. Uh, as as Mark noted, this this presentation is taken uh, it's a summary of our technology plan. It's a three-year plan which would run uh, as soon as we adopt it. So, from now until probably about mid year of 2029, and then the goal
would be to uh, produce a new draft and have a plan every three years moving forward. Hey, you want a different mic? >> Is this one not a All right, that's better, right?
All right, I'll be as mobile as I can with uh some stationary mics, but we'll be all right. So, uh the mission of the tech plan, there's a mission and a vision in the tech plan, and it is taken uh from the overarching mission and vision that we have here in the
district. uh but with a skew towards the technology and obviously uh accomplishing the tenants of the plan in you know the the greater atmosphere of education here. So uh develop a academic social emotional skills in a safe
inclusive experience grounded in best practices creating productive citizens for a global society and that language should be pretty familiar uh as I mentioned. So the vision now um again taken from the plan, East
Windsor Regional School District's vision for technology integration focuses on transforming the educational experience to prepare students for an evolving society. And we have some bullet points in there. Uh using technology as an integral tool, empowering teachers, ethics and
responsible use, and personalized learning. And these pretty kind of align with the goals. The technology plan has four goals. and th those bullet points as you'll see uh align with with those goals. So right now, and this should be, you
know, just kind of a refresher for everyone, we have a one-to-one iPad program in our K through2 grades, and students are assigned an iPad, staff have an iPad, and then uh one of the learning environments is Apple Classroom. In grades 3 through 12, we
have a one-toone Chromebook program for all students, and the learning environment there uses Google Classroom. We also have uh what was termed a few years ago when it was first introduced classroom of the future. And that
includes an interactive LCD projector in every classroom as well as document cameras. And uh teachers are also assigned tablets that they can use wirelessly to present in the classrooms. And then we do have some specialized labs uh MacBook
cards, PC labs. We do have a MAC lab in the high school and we also have STEM labs in uh our elementary schools. We performed two needs assessment surveys when we were building the plan. One was for certificated staff and one
was for non-certificated staff. And the input that we received in those surveys went a long way towards us developing the plan and and identifying the areas that we needed to focus on. 71% of our certificated staff indicated
that they have a high comfort level with classroom technology which we thought was a positive. Um you know we we strive to get the right technology in their hands and then also to be able to support it so that they can use it efficiently and effectively. They did
identify within the need survey some uh PD areas and some of the we we gave them categories that they could select from or they could manually enter things. Um but with the categories we gave them to select uh 52% identified a priority PD area of
identifying digital resources 44% was differentiating instruction and 38% was tech integrated teaching strategies. So those were some of the higher percentages that they identified. Goal one I mentioned we have four goals. Goal one is hardware, software,
infrastructure and security. One of the things we're doing uh as far as connectivity goes on a networking level is replacing our existing wide area network which is the network that connects all of our schools together. Uh that's going to go from um a somewhat
slower technology to a solution called least dark fiber which we can light ourselves. Uh and that will allow for much higher speeds and that's also going to allow for redundancy in between the schools as well. So uh one outage can't
take the entire district down. Safety, we are integrating an emergency alert system. We are in the process of installing that in the high school now. Um that's going to be everything from emails and text messages when there is some type of situation that requires a
broadcast. There's apps that administrators can use on their phones to initiate any type of these emergency broadcasts uh and IP powered devices throughout the schools including the clocks like you see up there. We'll be
able to scroll messages, flash strobes, and play audio. So, we are in the process of implementing that which we anticipate taking uh the next several years. And then our refresh cycle for student devices. Right now, every K3,
six, and nine student gets a new device. We lease our iPads for three years in the K2 environment. So every 3 years, we're refreshing that. And then the third, sixth, and nth grade students all get new Chromebooks, which last them for
three years for third and sixth grade. And then in ninth grade, they get one extra year as a 12th grader with that device. Our second goal was integrating technology for curriculum instruction and assessment. Uh and just a couple of
focus areas there. New Jersey state learning standards compliance. Uh information literacy making sure that uh all content areas are incorporating the technology digital citizenship on the part of the students and then uh using
assessments digital platforms that do align with those state standards. professional development. So, you know, we want to make sure that we're addressing technology in the classroom, but we also want to make sure that the our staff has been trained in how to properly use the technology and how to
deliver the best instruction with it. So, uh this goal three would include creating teacher cohorts that would support the individualized PD plans. um collaboration between skips and technology committee to get together and
uh address whatever needs that have been identified and that's that's going to kind of be an ongoing thing throughout the life of the plan and then uh identifying resources that can be used for PD whether it's tutorials that staff can watch on their own uh or turnkey
training that you know the district staff can roll out to others. And then our last goal is digital communication and some of the stuff we've already done. Uh a new website which we did launch and we migrated from Ed Leo to API. Uh branding and uh you
know we we continue to do that. That's kind of a never- ending thing with our presence on social media. Digital signage um for anyone that's been I'm sure the students have seen it in the cafeterias. We do have digital signage playing on the TVs talking about events happening in the schools. um events
happening in the community. So, that's something that we've incorporated in the cafeterias and the plan is to eventually roll it out into other areas of the buildings as well. And then parent support uh back to school nights, parent learning nights that we're doing. Uh
we'll be holding in all schools to make sure that our parents are aware of the technology that we're incorporating and if our any of our parents need help with uh accessing things like Genesis um they can get support at these nights.
So our timeline, and this is not an all-inclusive one, but these are kind of the major points. Uh year one is our uh wide area network upgrade that I described. Uh we are just about done with the permitting process for that. There are a lot of permits that are
needed because the fiber cabling needs to cross the turnpike. Um so that involves all kinds of permitting. Uh depending on how they're going to get from a telephone pole into the building, there's permits that are required for
that. We've done a lot of surveys and we're hoping that by the end of June they're ready to start construction on that. That construction is not going to be very invasive in the buildings. Most of that construction is going to be happening outside of the buildings. Year two would be incorporating digital
citizenship into the curriculum. Year three, emergency alert system completion. Uh that would be for the entire district. The goal is to have that emergency alert system in place by the end of year three. I did miss IP phone deployment is also a year one
project and uh we're in the process of rolling those phones out to the high school and then finishing up with all the rest of the schools throughout the rest of the year because that is an important component of the emergency alert system and then ongoing onetoone refresh and professional development
amongst those teacher cohorts I mentioned earlier. So this is just a little bit of a review. I did talk about the onetoone program already. The infrastructure uh is going to be across the whole district. Obviously those grades that were mentioned in the onetoone are the
target group for those devices. Uh PD would be geared towards the certificated staff and the engagement involves the community and the parents. All right. Any questions? >> Hi. I have couple of questions. So slide five, right? Um what is what is
differentiating instruction? >> I don't know if Mark you want >> differentiating instruction. I mean one of the definitions connected to this is adapting ways in which you can um present information to students in a way that either addresses a learning style, a learning level, uh a learning
interest. So it's really just creative ways in which teachers can prepare materials for students that's more accessible to them uh depending on their readiness level or interest. >> So uh is this a new one like we have or >> no differentiated instruction is not
just a technology approach uh it's a it's a pedagogical approach >> creative >> it's how you teach it's preparing lessons that you think are connected to the students before you uh in creative ways. So technology is just one of the avenues not not the only way. >> Correct.
>> And slide nine. What is incorporating membership of the SCIP? What what does SEIP stand? >> Uh the skip is an acronym school improvement panel. So each school uh has a team um that's comprised with at least twothirds teacher membership,
certificated staff within the building who meets uh with the building administration, primarily the principal, assistant principal. Um and and primarily there's a there's a few areas of focus for skips. One is to ensure um the roll out of the evaluation model
within the school. one uh one strand is to en to ensure support for new or novice teachers and one is to engage in some building based professional development. So this is kind of what we're looking to uh leverage the the teacher voice and the building needs as
it relates to professional development uh connected to technology integration and kind of merge that with the technology committee. They both are like, you know, >> so the skip is just an acronym. It's part of the New Jersey Department of Education. Uh it's a recommended team that should be housed within each
school. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you, Ray. So, we'll transition over here.
We're now going to transition to the student safety data update. >> All right. So, just a quick introduction. Um, this is this is actually a requirement uh of the Department of Education. So, twice a year, school districts are required to
report. There's two reporting windows uh connected to certain incidents that get placed uh into the student safety data system uh which is an electronic portal with DOE. So, this reporting mechanism and and Lauren O'Brien, our our supervisor of counseling will and she's
also our district um HIP person, anti-bullying coordinator. Let me get it right. Uh she's going to provide kind of just some data for the reporting period one, which stems from September through December. So, September 2025 through the end of December 2025. And there's some
key um uh strands or or or or areas and domains uh that we're required to uh report on. So, she's going to provide that information here. We'll be back again. I think we have until the fall to provide an update regarding reporting
period 2, which will be from January through June of this school year. So, with that said, I'll turn things over to Lauren. >> Thanks. Good evening, everyone. >> I'll click for you. Okay, thank you. >> Hold on, let me go back. >> Do you want to do you want to say
anything here? >> No, the first good to go. That's good. >> All right. >> Okay, so this is just an overview of what the student safety data is. Uh just gives you all an idea of what we are required to report. So this reporting
period is September to December. As Mr. Daniels mentioned the second report period actually covers um a a longer span of time. So this is the shorter of the two report periods. Um so these are the categories where we are um where the
incidents are categorized. The first one is violence. It gives you some examples of um what constitutes an infraction that we would categorize as violence. The next is vandalism. Again a few examples, a short descriptor.
uh substances. Uh one thing to note here that I think comes up often is tobacco is not included in this category. Um so we're looking at uh substance use, substance possession. Um and also paraphernalia falls under this category.
Uh weapons is pretty self-explanatory. And then HIV confirmed. So this number is the number of cases that are investigated and substantiated as an incident of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Again, just from September
to the end of December. So this is a snapshot of report period one for this school year. Um the highlights up at the top are just uh numbers that are compared to our report period one of the previous school year.
So in an effort to compare apples to apples um I'll show some slides later on that compare report period 1 for the 2526 school year to report period one for 2425. Um, so if you look at the uh table on
the bottom, those are our numbers for this report period, you will notice or you know, if you've seen these presentations in the past, you'll you'll notice that uh the the bulk of the incidents are at the 612 level. Um, so
you'll see for the high school we did have four incidents of violence, three of vandalism, 28 substances, uh, one weapons. I would say for that last category, HIV confirmed, we do see we do investigate cases across the district.
Um, but typically our numbers middle school and high are are um, higher there as well. So for creps, we had uh 10 incidents of violence, three vandalism, two substances, and one weapon. Um EMK,
we did not have any reportable incidents. Same with Rogers. Uh Drew, we did have uh two violence incidents and um the one HIV confirmed. So the totals are down the bottom. Um and then in the
next slides I'm going to go through each category with a just a little bit more detail. Okay. So on this graph you will see uh this year's numbers are reported in the the green teal colored bar and then the
the bar underneath it is the report period 2425 school year. So you can just compare uh where we are. So we did have a a slight decrease in these incidents and I think that every time I I talk
about this category it is generally um you know like a student on student fight. Um so that pretty much covers what is um what is shown up here on this slide for violence
vandalism. Looks like we stayed static here. So these incidents are um typically damage to property um and maybe the occasional theft that is reported in this category. So both creps
and the high school had three incidents for this year. Okay. So substances, if you take a look at our um number being 30 overall, and that is between the middle school and the high school,
we did have an increase. Um if you take a look at specifically the high school number, the incidents that we reported, there are 28 incidents. Um I did kind of just do a little bit of digging to see what those incidents look
like and who they included. uh there are within that 28 incidents that represents 18 unique students. So uh what that tells us is that there are some students who are involved in you know more than one incident throughout
um and in talking to the high school about the increase of 28 incidents this year versus uh 18 in our report period 2425. There's some talk about, you know, some increased supervision,
um, more adults in the hallway and essentially just catching students more than maybe we previously had been. Uh, the next category is weapons. Uh, very close to where we are the last
report period uh, for 2425. Um, these The uh examples are down the bottom. Generally speaking, we you know, the the the weapons that we might see would be something like possibly a knife. Um and
then, you know, we we don't see any any of the other examples in this category in our buildings. Okay. Okay, so as I mentioned, these are the HIV cases that have been investigated and substantiated. So these
are the cases that uh we have found evidence of HIV and we are down uh across the board. I will say that in in this category and most others, we do tend to see an uptick in that report
period too. Um, so when I'm back again, probably sometime in October to talk about report period 2, uh, that gives you kind of a a full picture of the the entire school year. So, just briefly talking about some of the remedial measures as I like to do
when we go go over this. Um, it's important to keep in mind specifically for uh 612 where we see the majority of these incidents, counselors and assistant principles are working very closely together. So when a
student is involved in an incident and there's discipline or they're involved in um an HIV case, the uh assistant principal will often work with the counselor and then the counselor after the discipline happens and the counselor kind of takes over um does some
reflection with students. Um, you know, I always say we like to talk about uh decision- making, emotional regulation, how could this have, how could this go differently the next time? So, counselors are involved in a lot of the incidents that we report on today and
just that happen in general. Um, even if it's, you know, just a a misconduct, the counselors are getting involved at some point to support students. Uh we also have a student assistance counselor who works specifically with students who um
are involved in substance offenses. So that's that's an automatic. So anytime that a student is involved in an incident that um has to do with substance use or substance possession, the SAC counselor is going to get
involved in that. Our SAC also engages in some prevention work throughout the building. um some classroom lessons, assemblies, things like that. And at a certain point, the SAC might be making referrals for students for additional support
outside of school. Finally, talking about our school climate and safety teams. Um, as the anti-bullying coordinator for the district, I do work closely with the anti-bullying specialists in each of the buildings and they all sit on the school
climate and safety teams and those are building level teams. They meet regularly. They talk about um the discipline incidents that have been happening in the building. They're looking for trends in terms of the uh
HIV cases that they've investigated and they're using that data and that information directly to drive programming in the building. So that might be a set of lessons that counselors will go in and deliver in classrooms. Um at craps at the middle
school there's anal committee. So they may also look at some of these trends and um use that information to inform what the SEAL lessons are going to be at the middle school level. So um I say that just to say that we are constantly
taking a look at these numbers. We're taking a look at the information and um we're using it to adjust what we're doing accordingly to add additional programming to add additional supports for students. Okay, I think this is my last slide
actually. So, this is just a list of the anti-bullying specialists that are in each building. Um, I think this is actually part of the compliance to to be able to report this out at um any time that we're going over the the uh student safety data. So, just for your
information, this information is also available on on the district website, so parents can always access it. Any questions for Lauren? >> Hi, I have one question. Hi. >> So, this is regarding the substance
offenses, right? I do see the remedial measures uh after like I think the incident is known the students are referred to the student assistance counselor. Right. Yes. >> And who provides assessment referrals to appropriate support services. So this is
like aftermath the incident happened. So what are we trying to do to prevent this because now that the number has gone up right it's not one or two it's like relatively up. So what are the measures to prevent it actually? >> So that is actually a a big part of the
sack role. So there is a SAC counselor at the middle school and there is also a SAC position at the high school. And one of the things that they do um you know a portion of their job responsibility is to get out and to go into classrooms
even you know student for all students not specifically for a student who has had any kind of discipline infraction related to substance. Um they're also running groups with students. So that's another thing that sometimes we find
that students who are maybe struggling from a mental health perspective may also be struggling with a substance, but we're not aware of that piece yet. So counselors, APS um are working very closely with the SAC to make referrals
to for to the SAC for students who we may not even be aware of that have uh substance concerns. So those are some of the preventative measures that we are are uh working on. Now, uh the other piece that I want to mention is for some
of these students who we see show up more than one time, um they're also getting some extra support from the SAC. And that might be a situation where a SAC is going to work with the student and the family really to try to see what
kind of outside services we might want to refer that student to. And also was there any incident where like you know these students who are like taking all these substances influenced the other students? Was there any reports like that? >> Um I don't have any specific data on
that but just knowing and understanding the developmental level of the students and the age group that we're looking at. I'm sure that there's absolutely an element of that. Right. Hey, so just Laura, could you just clarify the substances we're referring to though, just so people because that list can be
a scary list to look at. I think we need to be specific in terms of what those substances are. >> Yeah. Thanks. I think I usually do that. So I I didn't do that tonight. So all of the incidents that I've reported tonight are marijuana. >> Okay. Okay. Anyways, uh now that the
preventative and remedies are there, we should see these numbers going down, right? And how often do we assess this? >> Well, I think there's a there's a number of different factors at play here. So, we absolutely want to assess. So, every year, twice a year, we're looking at
these numbers as they come out and we're looking at what do we do? And that's something where, you know, us as administrators, but also the the the school climate and safety teams in the building are taking a look at specifically. they can drill down to
their building, their grade levels, and those students to get an idea of what's happening and then what we can do moving forward to make some adjustments and hopefully make the change. You know, there is I have seen even in the time that I have been here, there's been a
lot of changes culturally in terms of access uh specifically to marijuana. So, that is absolutely a challenge. you know, um, our SAC counselors engage in professional development. They have professional networks. So, we're really
trying to stay ahead of the curve. Go, >> which can absolutely be a challenge. >> Thank you. So, I just want to understand like uh I feel I think once a year or twice a year may be like, you know, a big time. Maybe we should do a quarterly
assessment. Can that be like, you know, thought about? I mean, we can think about it. >> which So, a couple things. One, we're doing a report tonight, which is um kind of or required update, but we monitor this data pretty much every week to be
quite honest with you. So, you know, when we dig into the the the first reporting period or really either one, >> one of the things we didn't talk about tonight is that, uh, you know, one of the realities is that, um, you know, we have a school, a high school of,600
students and we're referring to 28 cases. And I think any anything more than one is too many. But, but, however, you know, we've got students who are teenagers and they are going to be curious. Uh we're concerned that we have a cohort of students uh especially with the uh um I'll say legalization or
decriminalization of cannabis who do have easy access uh to it and uh they're engaging in um you know you using that within the school setting. What we haven't reported tonight is that we also have students that are vaping nicotine
products uh within the school. So, if you recall a couple of years ago, we did invest in some uh sensors within our restrooms. We also have some increased monitoring of those areas. So, some of this is related to that as well in terms of how we're monitoring it uh which sometimes can increase how many
individuals that we are identifying that could be participating in that issue. So I think for us we'll continue to uh you know whether it's through our health uh curriculum in terms of decision-m uh try to be proactive regarding you know the pitfalls and dangers and and why to not engage in this uh and we'll
continue to do that. So in terms of the the are you asking for a report to the board quarterly? Is that what you're asking for? >> Yeah I can provide you with a monthly assessment. So right now the board gets a report each month for me. >> Okay. uh regarding students that have
been uh connected to situations that require that result in them being suspended. Right. >> So you'll see on that report the reason for that so that you get that every month from me. >> All right. Okay. So but >> sure I look >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
>> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you Lauren. Uh next we have our superintendent report. Okay, good evening again. So, just a few updates for this evening. Um, last week
I'm kind of retroactively acknowledging that we did um participate in teacher appreciation week. Teacher appreciation day was last Tuesday. Obviously, this is a national uh recognition and it's just an opportunity for us to kind of take time out uh and provide uh some
welldeserved crucial um celebration for the role that teachers play, not just in terms of educating our students right now, but their role uh in society in terms of developing the future. I just want to thank our teachers, our educators for their continued dedication and commitment to our students. just
some um couple of points of uh positive news. So, probably about uh maybe three years ago, the board supported the adoption of an esports club. Uh they kind of transitioned to a little bit more of a competitive uh program. Uh so,
just uh I want to congratulate our Heightstown esports program. They're going to advance to the GSC spring 2026 state finals. Um I guess they're playoff they're playoff finalists in two games. So, apparently we have a Rocket League
and Mario Kart team. So, congratulations to our esports program as it continues to evolve uh within our high school. Just a quick reminder that um this week, Wednesday, May 13th, 6 PM,
Heisttown High School auditorium, the PLLD um fifth grade concert will take place. So, uh, looking forward to to seeing them kind of showcase their skills as the year progresses. I do need to make sure before I go any further
that last week, I think it was Thursday, I I got a chance to uh have the opportunity to attend the the third night, the sixth grade concert over at Kreps. I was I was I was overwhelmed with uh uh joy uh by by by attending
that concert. And I'll just say this, I mean, uh, and you probably hear me say this quite often, but, um, I've just been so impressed with our community because when you have a situation like a co-curricular program, uh, like like a music program that that does not exist
without a partnership with families. So, uh, I think it really, you know, that's just one of the examples in our school district. I think that illustrates kind of that partnership where we've got uh motivated talented students um you know a cohort of teachers who are really you
know locked in on on ensuring that students realize the benefits of participating in something like that and inspiring them. And then we have a parent community that realizes how important that is. So uh huge numbers of students participating. I think almost 200 students in the chorus. This is just
for sixth grade. uh we have a growing um orchestra program. So it was great to see our students who transitioned from fifth grade and kept with the program in sixth grade and our our bands were were um really impressive. So packed stage,
packed seats. Uh so so a great night. I definitely want to commend all of our students and our music educators at Kreps Middle School. Uh just a couple of events. This is event season. uh a lot a lot happening right now. So just in in addition to what I just shared, we do
have a pack night, a parent advisory council meeting also this Wednesday. It's an end of year celebration, but also we we'll have information for families connected to some summer planning which includes summer reading at the middle school. Uh the principal,
Dr. Lugo, uh she's implemented an MHK principal chat uh just to engage with families. So this month, May 21st at 6:30, I think there's a collaboration with uh the principal and HUCPAG, our special
education parent group, uh that will occur, I believe it's in the library, right, Dr. Lugo? At 6:30 on May 21st. Um couple of things that relates to arts, a lot of art action right now. So we have our Heightstown art show June 10th, 5:30 in the Heights Town High
School Library. Um on June 11th, uh the MHK art show will take place at MHK in the library beginning at 5:00 p.m. And then um just a quick shout out to our jazz band. So um a jazz band's been
doing quite a few competitions um past few months and uh they concluded I think their their competition season uh by participating in the state jazz championships. So, I want to congratulate the Heightstown High School
Jazz Ensemble. Um, they finished their competitive season with a second place finish at the TIA New Jersey State Championship Jazz Festival. And the ensemble received a superior rating with a score of 93.94. So, definitely want to commend all of our musicians and our
music educators for supporting our jazz program. Uh just a reminder, June 15th, the board of education meeting on June 15th. That will be the meeting where we recognize this year's retirees. And I believe that meeting may begin at 6:00
p. p.m. I have to double check. It may start a little earlier due to the the nature of of the programming. So with that, that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. Um
at this time, it's the uh First opportunity for board member comments. Does anybody have a comment? >> I do. I wanted to just start the conversation if we can perhaps discuss moving the
time that board meetings start maybe to 6 or 6:30. I don't know how that works with because we don't have a lot of people here. just something I thought we could we had visited this topic a couple years ago, but I think we have a lot of newer
members. So, for me personally, it would be easier to come earlier and then we could get out earlier, but I don't know how that works for everyone else. >> Um, >> do we do would we hold it for old business? I don't know. Paul, thoughts?
>> Yeah. because I know we're we're currently we we're starting at seven to allow for committee meetings to start at six, >> but we don't have a committee meeting every meeting. >> Not everyone, but we have a it's fairly consistent. So, I guess
>> we do. >> Okay. >> Okay. Just bring it up. >> The issue there is then the committee meetings would need to start at five and Um, first opportunity for public comments. Please uh sign in on the board
>> or podium. Sorry, there's a signin sheet there. If you could just uh >> No worries. If you could uh if you could say your name and your uh >> Yeah. >> presence. >> I'm Richard A and I'm way here a block away in Heightstown. All right. Um
sorry I'm not normally a public speaker or anything like that. I want to thank you guys for having this on YouTube. By the way, it's something that we don't see out of uh a lot of the other public meetings. Um so I called on the way in about these
data upgrades or whatever's happening. Um one of those things I I was just curious about because we do hear that in the school that at least from the student ends of things, I don't know if they're throttled or whatever, but they don't really have much bandwidth. I don't know if that's because it's
whatever is taken up by operations or what's left over or do do we know how much bandwidth it comes to these schools. Uh the other question that I had about that which I know this is public comment but maybe it's something for you guys to think about is um let's see well in the
way of that how are we benefiting from it? I don't know what the current bandwidth that comes into the school is but what is the upgrade and then there were comments made about security integration inter in inter campus things. So what I'm curious about
when it comes to that is what why is that needed versus being able to utilize a VPN? That's I know people hear about that for uh nefarious reasons and things like that, but the reason why VPMs were events that were exactly the opp the uh
implementation that you guys are discussing today and it's be extremely more cost effective. Uh these are the kind of questions that I would love to hear from the school board. You got you you had a lot of good questions. Yeah. And uh I I'd like to see you guys become
more watchd dogs of of things like this when it comes to really helping the public understand what you guys are voting for. Um, I'd like to thank Jessica Falco again for showing up. Uh, we were asked for our
votes for her on school board to help improve our kids' lives and here she is again for the second meeting in her row. Thanks, guys. Uh, the vape detectors, Mr. Daniels, uh, my daughter is here tonight. she is uh involved in an
incident regarding your rape detectors. I understand that they're more of a deterrent uh than an actual like it's not going to stop anybody from doing these things correct. But I guess what I'm getting at is by the time by the time these things go off just like a a
smoke detector, the fire already has happened. So, I I don't know what that's doing except for you guys showing up to a a bathroom where the person that also already committed the violation uh has already left and then all these
kids are essentially shaken down for something that they didn't participate in usually or maybe you guys are catching them. I I don't know, but uh not not in my experience at least. Um the let me see. I had a couple more things and hopefully I'm not running
into my time here, but uh uh as far as SAC goes, um my question for that maybe it can come from the school board another meeting, but are these people that are already applied by the school is this an extra responsibility? Are we hiring other people to do this? I don't know.
>> 30 seconds, please. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. So the the other thing that I'm curious about with my last 30 seconds is um when we had this slotting incident or whatever it wants to be referred to as what whatever came of that we didn't
find a threat but who made the call to uh Mr. Vincent over here his office we don't we don't know nothing came of it the public doesn't know but our kids go here and we're supposed to continue to I don't know have this huge emergency response and I don't know what's come of it. Thank you.
Mr. Abalone is your last name, >> correct? >> You know, I'm going to follow up with you just you hit you hit quite a few different questions just now. So, I can address some of those, but it will be more meaningful if I just reach out to you. Will you I just just to clarify when you came to
>> Sure. When you came up to the podium, were you referring to the you referenced the data center? Is that what you were talking about? >> No, there was a gentleman earlier um that was speaking about data upgrades. >> Oh, okay. >> Running a cable across the turn.
I don't know. There's commercially available to all these areas. You guys want to link schools together your Yeah, that was my IT guy that was talking. >> Yeah. >> So, are you an IT person
>> quite a bit? Yeah, I was involved with school stuff here as student. >> Okay. So, what I'll do is I'll follow up with you and I'll have my IT person. We can address your questions. Okay. >> All right. >> Good. You're good to go.
>> Good evening. Uh, my name is James Aval and I live at 15 Edward Drive. Happy belated Mother's Day to all. Um, as all mothers and fathers know, parenting is a blessing, but one which carries significant responsibilities. In light of that, I'm here for the third time to address the board of education to
request adopting a parental rights policy for opting out of harmful districtmated classroom technology. Since my last remarks, my wife and I uh met with Mr. Daniels on April 21st uh virtually because we are not technophobes
um to share the details regarding our previous requests. Our conversation was productive and I'd like to publicly thank Mr. Daniels for his time and his professionalism and for keeping the dialogue going. Um later on that very same evening the board of education meeting in Los Angeles Unified School
District which is the second largest school district in the country that serves over half a million students. That board adopted a measure which limits screen time for students uh eliminates devices for preschool through first grade uh and allows
parents to opt out of onetoone devices. Uh the resolution was drafted by a board member and will according to him um position LA Unified as a national leader in setting thoughtful research based limits on student screen use and
classroom technology tools. Um, LA Unified banned cell phones in schools last year, well before California's mandate, which is July 4th of this or July 1st of this year. Um, a onetoone device limitation simply the next logical step in the next course
correction for the educational setting. Uh, New Jersey has banned cell phones coming up uh in schools beginning in September from bell to bell. Um, so I think that the next step, the next logical step right uh for the course correction is an opt- out policy. Um, so
why not do what LA Unified has done and be a leader? Let's have East Windsor uh Board of Education adopt a parent parental rights opt out uh policy so that we can provide right an appropriate
setting for our students to learn. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any any further comments? Um at this time we will be moving into executive session will be about 20 to 25 minutes. Oh, waiting for a ride. Gotcha.
That just All right. All right. Hello everybody. Um I'm taking over for Michael who um covered for me earlier this evening. So welcome back. Um, we're going to move on to item number seven, old business. Um,
this evening we were supposed to have a curriculum curriculum committee meeting. Um, unfortunately we were not going to have enough people, so we're going to reschedule that. And upcoming in June 15th is the wellness committee meeting. So, those are our upcoming committee
meetings. Um, and we will now move on to item number eight, our second opportunity for comments. Um, our second opportunity for board member comments. Any members of the board have any comments? Michael? Um, I had the chance
to I had a chance to go to the uh the high school arts gala on Saturday night, which was really awesome to see. And um it's the third year they've done it. And uh it was a great opportunity for the kids to get some individual recognition in the
the the theater performing arts and and music programs. And it was really exciting to see um just the the volume of kids that were there that that we went because um our son just wanted to support. He wasn't he wasn't receiving
an award. He's a freshman, but he was excited to be there. I think the energy level around the arts programs is great and it definitely, you know, is is a is a an incredible asset to the district and a definite motivator for the students to be involved in those
programs and have them available. That's great. I was not available to go, but my son went as a plus one to one of his friends. So, he was excited to go and he was really excited to see rock band being an accolade as they were getting some awards. So, that was good
because um that program is developing as well. That was fantastic to see. Any other board member comments? No. Then our second opportunity for public comment. Any members of the public wish to speak? Okay. Um,
there being none, we'll move on to item number nine, mandated policies for uh, second reading. Uh, item A, policy 0142.1, nepotism. Item B, policy 1220, employment of chief school
administrator. And item C, policy 1552, sexual harassment staff. >> Second. Any questions? Pull the board, please. >> Miss Drake.
>> Yes. >> Miss Laruso. >> Yes. >> Miss Patel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Weeks. >> Yes. >> Miss Lance. >> Yes. Item 11. I'm sorry, I scroll too quickly. Item 10,
>> mandated regulations for second reading. Item A, regulation 1552, sexual harassment staff. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Pull the board, please. >> Miss Drake, >> yes. >> Miss Laruso,
>> yes. Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes. >> Now item 11. >> Having read the materials received, I move that the board approved the routine agenda items as submitted. Item A,
staffing for 511, 2026. Item B, HIV report from April 27th, 2026. Item C, ESS agreement, substitute rates 2026 through 27. Item D, approved travel and related expenses. Item E, job description, graphics technician
secretary. Item F, EWEA sidebar, Thespsbian Club. Item G, approved new HHS scholarship opportunity, the Heightstown Cultural Arts Commission Student Volunteer Award. Item H, technology recycling batch number 70. Item I, approve MHK Dungeons and Dragons
uncompensated club. Item J, approve uncompensated MHK Project 7 Club. Item K, approve MHK knitting and crochet uncompensated club. Item L, approve HHS overnight field trip Disney Orlando, Florida for spring of 2027. Item M,
approve new field trip sites for upcoming trips. Item N, approve revised criteria for HHA scholarship. Item O, out of district placement. Item P, professional services for students. Item Q, co-op purchases. Item R, resolution
to issue -ate form 471 award for EWRSD virtual environment and battery backup revised. Item S, tuition agreement for the Roosevelt Bureau 2026 2027. Item T, transportation agreement with the UCSC, MCSSD,
ES, CJ, and MEC. Item U, vehicle maintenance proposal for 2025 to 26. Item V, resolution authorizing the use of state contract and cooperative purchasing programs for full year 2026-27. Item W, approval of proprietary
providers. Item X, approval of professional services for 2026 2027 school year. Item Y, approve use of competitive contracting process. Item Z, bus evacuation drill for April 2026. Item A, A, surplus property disposal
vehicles gov deals. Item BB, Chartwell contract renewal year three. Renewal year three. Item CC, approval of change order for transformer replacement project. Item DD, board meeting minutes approval. Item E, report of the board
secretary and financial report of March 2026. Item FF, expense and transfer reports of school monies report for March 2026. And item GG, bill list of May 11th, 2026. second.
>> Any questions? >> I have a question on the Disney trip. Is that for the band? >> Yes. Any other questions? Pull the board, please. >> Miss Drake. >> Yes.
>> Miss Laruso. Um for item DD, abstain from the 32326 board meeting minutes. Yes to the others. Thank you.
>> Miss Patel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Weeks. >> Yes. >> Miss Lans. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um we'll now move on to item number 12. We do have a second executive session this evening. Um there will be no um action
items discussed here. So we'll just um close the meeting after we're finished um discussing the CSA evaluation. Thank you everybody. Have a great evening.