check one two Check Check One two Okay So we're going to start the meeting Please stand flexible to the flag of the United States of America and to stand one nation under God indivisible justice for all Roll call
please Yes Mr She here Mr Vichel Patel Yes Miss Pang Yes Here Miss White Here Mr Romano here Miss Anja
Patel here Mr Lugo here Mr Ronic Patel here Mr Jericho here We have a quorum Thank you Opening statement Okay In accordance with the open public meetings act public law 1975 C231 sunshine law The Edison
Township Board of Education has called caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Board of Education administrative office Copies of this notice were sent to the Home News Tribune and Star Ledger Thank you So today we are having our
meeting in the beautiful gym of John Adams So uh now we have uh the principal of John Adams Dr Valentine to you know give us say a couple words Good evening everyone I'm thrilled to be here tonight as the proud principal of
John Adams Middle School where we have the most amazing students and teachers in all of Edison A highlight for tonight in addition to the new space we are occupying is the Jazzing Chamber Orchestra who will perform their final selection shortly The Chamber Orchestra
is a group of 25 students within the total of 143 orchestra students that we have this year The JAMS orchestra program has truly blossomed from just 14 students back in 1998 when Mrs Montana
first began teaching to a projected 150 students next year That's right 150 talented young musicians making magic under the direction of Mrs Montana Nice little round of applause for Mrs Montana
We've grown so much that we've added another teacher to the program Mr Warren our fabulous new low string specialist who's already helped launch new bass and cello players This year our chamber orchestra received a special grant to support their community service work
They performed twice at the Veterans Memorial Home in Menllo Park and will head back in April What a wonderful way to share their talent and heart We can't wait to showcase all of our amazing grade level orchestras and the chamber orchestra at our spring concert on May
7th And just a few days later our seventh and eighth grade musicians will head to Dawn Park for the Music in the Parks Festival while our sixth graders are Broadway bound It's been a truly amazing year and the best is yet to come A special thank you to Mrs Montana and
the Chamber Orchestra who will now perform their final selection owed to a joy ride [Music] [Music]
Hallelujah [Music]
Start on here What what else [Music] [Music]
[Applause] thank you Good job So we're going to take a short recess and uh if uh the kids want to go home and you can go home and do your homework and then we're going to resume
just a short recess we'll resume our normal agenda Thank you Great I think that was it Okay Okay So we're going to resume our meeting and uh so we have two uh great
presentations that's coming up So I'll have uh Dr are ready say a couple words before we start the presentation Yeah thank you very much Mr Shei Um so ladies and gentlemen members of the board of education we actually have a few presentations um that you're about to witness right now um all stem from uh
the hard work of the planning uh committee in relationship to our uh strategic plan which was adopted um earlier um this school year Um I I'm really pleased with the work that's being done Um not only from uh uh a
leadership perspective but it's also wonderful to be a part of it and witness the great things that are happening Um watching staff members be empowered to work on um problems that affect the organization come up with solutions to those uh in order to make them better And um uh it gives me uh great pleasure
to uh introduce um a team that's uh really uh highlighted a component of our mission statement that we adopted um in uh a a manner that I think is going to be um uh catchy a little bit more marketable And without any further
hesitation I would like to turn it over to the uh to the Northstar presentation team Good evening Dr Alderelli President Xi and fellow members of the board of education Thank you so much for this opportunity to let our north s our northstar statement shine through This
is an idea that really sparked from our time at our administrator retreat at the Apple headquarters We are so excited to not only introduce our Northstar statement but know that it's grounded in the work of our strategic plan For those of you who don't know my name is
Samantha Grimmaldi I'm the middle school math supervisor I was fortunate enough to present this idea to Dr Aldderelli who turned around and said "Put together a team Grimaldi and you have six weeks to make it happen." So I put together this phenomenal team that is behind me
We have Miss Jennifer Fischer vice principal of Linda We have Dr Joanie Valentine principal of John Adams Middle School Miss Kristen Doy supervisor of academic programs And Miss Nicole Halpen
supervisor of CTE So throughout history explorers travelers and visionaries have looked to the North Star to find their way Unlike other stars that shift in the night sky the North Star remains constant a fixed
point of guidance during a long journey Today we embrace that same steadfast direction as we chart the future of our school district through our vision 2030 strategic plan
We are so excited to announce that our northstar statement falls directly under our engagement pillar Not only was it a great way to bring in our community members but it was essential that we brought in all stakeholders developed a
statement that could lead us forward as we continue our journey of our strategic plan to build the best products in the world that enrich people's lives Over the summer we had the opportunity I am so loud I'm sorry Dennis I just blew
your ears off I saw that I don't need a mic Um over the summer we had the chance to visit Apple and everyone over the summer we had the opportunity to visit Apple and we were really taken
by the idea that at Apple all work was driven by this mission statement Whether we were talking to the custodians who were sweeping the halls or talking to the head engineers all of the work that they did was driven by this mission And
when I look around the room and see people on their phones I can't help but think that the majority of us have our lives enriched by one of Apple's products because they do just that So coming off of Family Feud for those of you that don't know and winning the fast
money round I might add you can Google it I thought it might be fun to try your hand at a little game So I'm going to read a few Northstar statements from some other big corporations and team Let's see if you can figure out the company that aligns with this
mission to be Earth's most customer centric company Shout it out Amazon You got you win That was very good Amazon Boom Mic drop right there What about to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world mikey you're
two for two I like it I'll give you one more To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful Google Google Exactly Right We know them because these m these companies deliver they deliver the
product They deliver the mission They deliver the vision that's summarized in this Northstar statement And that's what our team has done We have put together a Northstar statement that is going to help shine a light on Edison and the
great things that Edison can do and the legacy we hope to leave behind So our Northstar statement is not just for us it's for our entire community So up here it shows us all the people that we needed to make sure that we hear their voices We needed to hear
from our teachers our students our parents across the board from elementary all the way to high school So Dr Valentine's going to share with you the journey that we took in the short weeks that we were given to get everyone's voice to come up with our Northstar
mission So as we mentioned we worked together for about six weeks and during that time we had a fantastic journey One of the things that we made sure we did was we got input from all of our stakeholders And when I say that I mean our students our teachers parents
community members administrators within the district We took a sample size and we made sure that we surveyed them to find out what their input was We had the privilege of working with Heather Daniel who uh linked us with thought exchange And thought exchange for those of you
who aren't familiar allows you to provide surveys to different people and utilize the AI component so that it will analyze all of your data So that was a really awesome tool for us to use because we were able to get that input from all of our stakeholder groups
analyze the data and then determine what our common trends were across the district So when we got that information back it was easier for us to then really hone in on the important key attributes to the members of Edison Edison Township
Schools So like Dr Valentine said we took all that data and then we sat down together as a team and we created our statement Um there was a lot of back and forth there was a lot of good conversation and then we took that statement and then I think we did what was most important
part of this whole process is we sent it back out And as we all know getting feedback is sometimes part of the hardest part of the process to hear feedback on your really like important stuff that you that you accomplish Um but it was the best part of the process because we heard from all of our stakeholders again We got feedback We
got what they liked what they didn't like terminology different words and then we got to sit back down again and refine and talk about the little nuances of this word instead of this word or change the order of things And because we went through that entire process I think we can really stand here and say
how proud we are of the final product Um and now I am going to bring back Sam to introduce and to show you all our final Edison Northstar statement It was a long journey but it was a short time frame We are so excited
to announce Edison Township Public Schools Northstar Statement empowering learners to shape the world with knowledge purpose and passion We feel strongly that this statement not only embodies the importance of academics but
also the values of a well-rounded education Our Northstar statement is more than just words It's our unwavering commitment to our students educators and community It represents our vision
values and purpose ensuring that every decision we make is aligned with the strategic plan that drives us forward Like skilled navigators we must stay focused on this guiding light Challenges may arise the path may shift but our
northstar keeps us moving with purpose towards excellence in education equity for all students and a thriving supportive learning environment As a district we are not just moving forward We're moving with intention clarity and
unity Together we will use this guiding vision to illuminate the way for our students and community Because when we follow a true and steady course we don't just reach our reach our destination we create a legacy Let's stay the course
embrace the journey and shape the world with knowledge purpose and passion We quickly want to say thank you so much to Dr Aldderelli for this amazing experience I came to you with a very you know rough idea and you gave us
this space and the place to really cultivate it So thank you so much for putting so much faith in us Another special thank you to Heather Daniel She has been an integral part of making this become a reality And I could never have done any of this without this fantastic
team of strong ambitious and dedicated women behind me They made this experience so impactful and personally one of my favorites of my career thus far So thank you so much for your time tonight Thank you
Okay next up it's me again Valentine Yes here I am again I'm wearing many hats tonight uh principal of John Adams Middle School is one team member of the Northstar presentation team and this role that I'm playing right now this role that I'm playing is the uh leader
of the district's innovation committee as well as empower Edison So I'd like to take a moment to share the story of empower Edison because it really is unique and it's exciting Empower Edison was born from a simple conversation and
that conversation happened probably at toward the end of the Northstar presentation finalization The team that just presented we were in conversations about our next steps and what that would look like So then there became this
series of whatif questions I can remember vividly calling Sam and saying what if we did this it was pause What if we worked with other administrators throughout the district and provided
them the same opportunity that we had because when I tell you and I know Sam mentioned this we had the best time This wasn't work for us This was a passion project of shared leadership and innovation that truly took off and went
in so many different directions that we never imagined And we wanted to be able to provide that same opportunity for our colleagues So the final whatif question was what if every administrator within
Edison had the opportunity to take an idea and align it to the strategic plan in a way that positively affected change and that's how empower Edison really came to life So after that
conversation everything morphed from there and skyrocketed into something at lightning speed We had conversations within our small group at the innovation committee We had conversations with Dr Alderelli and his team We just needed him to give us the green light which he
did immediately And then one of the things that became unique to our process is we worked collaboratively with the people at Apple We had such a great experience at our administrative retreat over the summer We wanted to recreate it
for our administrators within Edison but we also wanted to make it our own We wanted to curtail it to educators so that it became useful so that it became something that we really knew could become a legacy within Edison Through that collaboration through that
interaction what we did was we listened to the administrative team when we were in Apple when we were at the Apple Corporation in August And one of the things that we heard a lot throughout the day was what a great experience it was because everyone got to work with people they ordinarily wouldn't get to
work with And think about that from an educator's point of view As a principal of John Adams Middle School I get to work with wonderful people every day people within my building This particular experience allowed for us to work with administrators all throughout
the district elementary middle and high school Normally we wouldn't get a chance to do that So having that experience made it unique in and of itself Also then coming up with an idea and aligning it to the strategic plan helped build
that anchor that foundation the unification that we've been looking for We're a very large district as all of you know So having that opportunity to have that anchor within the strategic plan and those pillars made it even more impactful How does empower Edison work
an administrator brings forward an idea That idea is then proposed to the central office team developed into a paragraph or two and with that idea that administrator uh proposes a team They'll propose a team that goes across the
district again elementary middle high school And from there of course our central office team is always supportive of our endeavors and our especially when it comes to innovation So they will greenlight the proposal hopefully in many of the situations so far that's
been the case and then what happens from there is the empower Edison team the consultants of these wonderful women that I get to work with and we'll reintroduce and what better way to celebrate women's history month than with a group of powerful women Kristen
Toy supervisor of special programs Christina Hughes staff development trainer Nicole Halin supervisor of CTE Samantha Grammaldi supervisor of middle school mathematics and Jen Fiser elementary
assistant principal Working with these women have has been an absolute privilege and having each of them serve as consultants for the work that we're doing and I'll share that with you momentarily has been tremendous So what we're doing is as I
mentioned serving as consultants for other administrators throughout the district who are looking to innovate who are looking to take ideas that they have and bring them to life So some of the specific projects that we've worked on so far and when I tell you we literally
just started this process in January and already business is booming We have three different projects that we've looked to develop The first the one that we just presented the northstar presentation and that is based on the pillar of engagement and that was led by
Samantha Grimaldi We also consulted with the programs and pathways pillar with Dr Fay Kim for the biomed science academy And then finally the portrait of a graduate project Edison 360 led by team
member and assistant principal Ken Blequesy So those are three projects that we've already looked to help consult and develop our role as consultants We offer resources support we ask the hard questions We serve as
the liaison in many situations to provide communication to all stakeholders and we really just look to make the six-w weekek process one that's very smooth In addition to the three projects that we've looked to develop we now have two that are in the works We
have one under the pillar of engagement with uh team leader Narav Lad and then we also have one under the pillar of wellness led by principal Michael Dugen So we're very very excited about the work that we're doing We hope to continue in the same trajectory Right
now we're working with administrators but our hope is that we're going to expand in our scope and sequence so that we continue to work not just with administrators but then also having our teachers join within our innovation and our student population as well We're
thrilled to be able to oversee this endeavor of Empower Edison We're looking to ignite innovation and inspire impact And that's the true story of Empower Edison Thank you [Applause]
Great job Great job Thank you Thank you all for the the presentations Now we're going to have the um Mr Cohen to come and present the computer science academy and everyone
knew that we have already launched the biomed academy and this is a new academy that's coming up this September So um you know joining him is uh Mrs Shannon Penn She is the chair of the curriculum
committee and we'll let her kick off this uh presentation Shannon thank you Well it's so cool to stand here on this side Um this next presentation has a special meaning to me because as a computer science major and a software engineer for over 20 years I've seen
firsthand how computer science and AI reshape the world So and also as a parent in this district for 10 plus years I've seen the growing interest and passion of our students for this field This is why this new year this year this
new board initiated this computer science AI Academy It's going to be introduced in both Edison High and JP and it's going to be open to all interested students And now I'm going to turn the stage over to Mr Cohen who's going to share more
details about this academy Thank you Thank you Mrs Pang And uh thank you to the board uh and thank you special thanks to the curriculum committee for all the collaboration in this and opportunity to talk to the community about a really exciting uh program that we're creating I also want to give
special thanks to our programs and pathways uh chairs with uh Miss Vaninda Goomer and uh Nicole Halpin uh working with Nicole in this in collaboration is really a school like a communitywide collaboration this has been but it's a
it's a product of a lot of background work she's been doing for many many years to build a lot of lot of incredible coursework that are lined up that are going to set our kids up now for incredible success This is actually the the second of many many many many
exciting things that are coming out of programs and pathways Uh and I'm excited to be able to talk to you about this tonight So why would Edison create a computer science academy and uh as Mrs Pang talked about you know computer science drives so much innovation that occurs
not just in computer science but across industries right and and I also want to take this opportunity to give a shout out to our our new northstar If we're talking about empowering learners to shape the world with knowledge purpose and passion this is a great way Computer
science is a great way to do that right so now we have innovators that are empowering the world and changing the world for the better through many many different ways in which computer science enables that pathway So could be through AI and machine learning Cyber security touches everything App and software is
part of everyone's lives Data and analytics sort of the sky's the limit So why should a current eighth grader in Edison consider this uh to start off as their high school pathway uh so there's a number of reasons what
this will give a unique learning experience and prepare them for big-time success in college and career Uh they can graduate with an industry certificate or credential in computer science They'll gain competitive ed in and really advanced coursework within
the industry and get hands-on experience and things like programming and software development And whatever emerging technologies come in as well we'll be able to bring it in and make it part of the experience they'll have real world experience options Uh we can provide uh
the a course in which kids can get uh credit for an internship to prepare them for real world uh workplace skills in the field of computer science and then they can seek out a unique internship that matches their interest and matches their schedule and get credit and or
they can also dive deep into research in the field through AP seminar and capstone research which the teachers do a great job teaching the kids how to really really dig deep and get a in-depth expert type level of knowledge about whatever they're studying So in this case they can get really deep with
their interest in computer science So how can you be a part of this for many of our students they're already enrolled As Mrs Pang said this is going to be an option for anyone who's really passionate about this Some students if you're if our we have ninth graders
already either in honors Java or AP computer science principles they are already on the pathway towards all those opportunities that we talked about If they're not um then all they need to do is will be able to reach out to the
guidance office and express their interest in switching their elective to either honors Java uh or if they would like to take computer science principles as a freshman uh then they they can show that they they've met that eligibility If they have not met that eligibility uh
which means they've either placed out of Python through a placement test that's fine If they we're going to give another placement test they can pass that and become eligible Or if not that's okay They can take a summer Python course that we'll offer and they and through working through guidance we'll make sure
that they have the opportunity There's a lot of exciting courses that are are in place and that will be in place as part of the experience Uh a number of AP courses We're really excited to be kicking off AB cyber security uh and um you know
giving the students the opportunity to to get their their hands dirty with the advanced robotics courses that we offer which are incredibly exciting Our kids are doing incredible things with the robotics Um and then of course they can dive deeper with the capstone and uh pile on some a number of different electives that we'll be able to offer
down the road So there is more to come Uh we by the end of this week will send out information to all parents about how you can be part of this program Uh we are not there yet So if you're excited
that's wonderful but don't start calling the guidance office tomorrow Please wait Give us the chance We're going to put it all in a package for you It'll go up on our website It'll be really accessible for you to have the information you need There's no uh deadline yet There's plenty of time So on Friday we'll be
able to send out all the information and we'll be able to uh kick off this wonderful exciting opportunity for for Edison students That's it Thanks [Applause] Okay So I just want to emphasize that
that you know this academy is going to be in both high schools Both high schools And uh as you can see there are possible pathways for the current ninth graders It's not only just for the incoming freshmen in the high schools there's a pathway for the um you know
current ninth graders as well So um just wait uh till Friday and um you know if your kids is interested in that and um check the emails Um there's some other thing that I want to mention that it's probably going to mention later on in
the um curriculum committee report is beside these uh three uhmies we have we have the STEM academy within uh it's already in Edison High this year we double the enrollment from 24 to 48 and we have 24 students uh in the um uh
biomed academy and now this is the third academy computer science and AI and um you know when we hired uh Dr Ourelli when we interviewed him and one of the things he mentioned is Edison is doing
so well and we need to get Edison on a map Okay So what we are doing this year with this curriculum committee is we are setting up the map for the New Jersey school district Um there are other
pathways that's you know I'm gonna do not want to uh steal the thunder from uh from Shannon and uh just want to mention a couple of them you know it's we're not only uh taking care of the kids who are high performers we're also looking for the kids who are not possibly not going
to college So we have um automobile uh automobile um repair esports fashion uh interior design and all of that So I'll let Shannon go through that when she um have her um you know
reports So that's my board member board president report So that okay that that plays into it So again I just want to thank um the administration team especially Mr Cohen and the supervisors and uh the curriculum committee you know
under the leadership Shannon Pen and Visho uh Ronic and Chris it works hard and we we know we push you guys very hard Okay uh but uh you know we only have limited time with the new board and I'm I'm glad that we're able to achieve
um you know these three academy that that you know we're able to deliver for September and there'll be more news coming up and uh for the next year uh be more exciting news u for the academic um curriculum uh improvements that we're
going to do for Edison Just remember what we are coming up We are the map for the school district Everyone's going to follow us All right Thank you very much With that said superintendent report Thank you very much Mr She I'm going to
keep my comments brief I just do I want to thank um all of the administrators who presented uh this evening Um uh really uh uh proud to uh sit up here and watch uh a lot of the hard work and the messaging that's been uh coming out through our administrative team meetings
uh come to fruition Um and the goal is not to stop there right obviously is we are modeling these pieces through our administrative team and then the goal is to trickle this out into our building levels right so that we have our teachers our power professionals all members of the organization working on problems um in order to make things
better right and do so in short design sprints um focusing on aspects of our strategic plan and the most important piece about all of these I think for the board's understanding is that we measure all of it right um because that shows a
level of importance by measuring um each individual component of the plan to make sure that it's effective and constantly tweaking it um is the hallmark of all great organizations and uh somebody reminded me today right you know our vision is 2030 you we're we're
we're you know five years away currently from from hitting all of our goals Um and I think we're doing a really really great job with it and I thank everybody for their support and relationship to that Um the last thing I wanted to mention I think this is the uh last
board meeting before spring break So um for those of you I hope you um have a wonderful time uh with family and friends Hopefully you're able to get away Um and uh that is the conclusion of my comments this evening Mr She thank
you very much Now we have the student council representatives I see Derk over there So go ahead All right Hey everyone Uh this past month this past month uh Edison High has seen a nice period of successful school events We've had two
sports tournaments with the first one being ping pong the second one basketball both of which went smoothly with solid turnouts And after the theater department after months of preparing the show they performed their annual musical And I can say after watching every show
at EHS for the past four years I can't think of one that I enjoyed more than this past one of the Adams family So so well done to uh all who were involved in its production Uh in athletics we just had uh varsity awards night last week where we recognized the immense success
of our winter athletes one last time And now spring sports are getting started with this week The team is finishing up their scrimmages before the regular season officially begins next week Uh there's a lot of promise across all teams this year including an entire returning squad of the of volleyball
players from a team that went 19 and 9 and 11 and one in the white division last year So they're looking good And the baseball team who went six and 12 last year is bringing back most of their featured pitchers and hitters So lots to be excited about there Uh coming up soon for student council we're working on
creating a new event the teacher lips sync battle where we hope to have teachers like Miss Yokim and Miss Frey doing choreograph dancing for the entertainment of our students on stage for the school Uh in other news we're in peak college decision college decision season right now So my fingers are
crossed alongside with the rest of my classmates as we hear back from different universities And to my fellow seniors remember that the decision that you get from like your your top school or whatever top schools that doesn't define your worth obviously as a student
and that when it comes down to when you're making your decision between your top options uh it's smart especially with the current state of the economy and with of education in America right now to to make sure that the financial
aspect of it is a is a top priority to make sure you're doing what's best for for your future what's what's smartest to set you up for success uh down the road So good luck to all seniors hearing their application decisions That's all I have for now Have a happy spring break
Thank you very much Derek You brought up a very important you know aspect financial aspect right so you know students you know please uh consider how much the tuition is every year for some of these colleges A lot of the colleges
are equally you know competitive and when you graduate from those colleges it doesn't really matter So uh yeah keep those financial aspect uh in your mind I thank you for the good advice Yeah I uh I also you asked me last time to get Yes
feedback I was going to ask you that Yeah So I have I have the results I could share now some of them You want to share in public or you send me an email whatever you want to do Go Whatever Should I should I yes please So I asked the uh staff at Esen High
School about their thoughts on the new phone policy we have in the school where students cannot have their phones out in class or else it'll be taken away to the to the office for the day So when asked uh to rate the approval of their
approval of Mr Ross' new phone policy out of 55 people 74% said they rate it 10 out of 10 um their approval And then the other responses were all were eight and nine Uh stu teachers rated their students
overall willingness to comply with the policy and that that varied the majority being seven to eight but we also had plenty that were two three and four Those teachers especially said were in their their lower classes they saw lower willingness to comply with it Uh out of
the 54 responses um 54 said that they feel the policy's implementation was necessary for classrooms and uh 90.7% notice an increase in in attention and focus from their students under the new policy That's what I guess Thank you
so much Good good good statistics Right So totally different from the students perspective a little bit Right Complete opposite So really really appreciate it and it's firsthand information If you don't mind if you can send me I like to see the the actual numbers and uh that's great Uh
thank you Mr Ross for uh introducing the policy All right So we don't see any uh JP students here So if you want to go home do your homework feel free If you want to stay feel free to stay All
right Okay So uh now let's uh move on and uh we are going to open up for public comments for resolutions only So anyone public comments resolutions only Okay Matt Matt Revnack ETA president I'm up
here to question the Matt Yes Up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up There you go Thank you Okay Up here to question the board has on your agenda about getting rid of basically the brokers um very disappointed to find this out
about five o'clock this afternoon Like it or not my members and the members here contribute about $10 million toward the insurance which I believe is about 23% of the funding So we are stakeholders in this as well I'm
just curious because it says effective immediately What happens until you hire a new broker over the next couple months when my members have issues the brokers have been taking care of our issues In fact I got one today that was denied
twice and basically set up an a meeting with the broker my member and Horizon and it was fixed today So disregarding the brokers at this point without having something in place to deal with issues that arise is
basically irresponsible Um I don't understand the purpose at this point Maybe someone can shed light on that But I also feel slighted I'm not going to speak for Mr Ross I also did talk to Brian Ferry who represents the bus drivers and
custodians He was he didn't know anything about it either Um one of the things that has always happened in the past when a move like this was made is that we were bought into it because we are a stakeholder when you went to self-insured years ago when brokers were changed or insurance
plans were changed at least we were made aware of it because at five o'clock this evening my phone started to buzz off the hook and I didn't have answers because I knew nothing about it So I'd appreciate you know some kind of response to that
what the plan is moving forward without brokers We've had many prescription issues Somebody sitting in the audience called me today about a prescription issue Like I said we've had medical situations being denied One of my executive board members had one a couple
weeks ago and ended up in a hospital when it should have been approved It's not going to help if we don't have someone to turn to And I do want to comment because Miss Matson is the district person for insurance and she's been great to work with but she
does not have that relationship like the brokers have with the insurance companies Thanks for listening Thank you So you want to talk about the legal aspect of it so if the resolution that we have on the
agenda passes uh the next resolution on the agenda is to go back out for competitive contracting discussion with the uh business administrator Uh we can keep the deadline to 20-day response time uh
which is by statute Um and then the board may uh appoint immediately thereafter So we're looking at about three weeks The issue there's a issue with the wording of the resolution that
adopted the contracts that approved and ratified the contracts Um and we're looking to rectify that Thank you So the main reason is that the um the district sign a three-year contract with all um three or three brokers and uh we never
do that Uh when you sign a three-year contract people get comfortable and uh you know we all know that we have lost some state aid and uh we are tighting our our belt So um you know we tried to get out of this
three-year contract It is possible it could be the same um manager coming back but I just want to get out of the three-year contracts and we're not locked in Uh you you know when when you Excuse me I have the floor Be respectful Okay You want to be respect be
respectful Okay Keep keep the voice down Okay So you know we never sign a three-year contract I I spoke to the board president Uh yeah So um so the the the purpose is we want to get out of
three-year contract and uh so we can have them work harder uh for us and uh one of the contract actually has a automatic renew in the fourth year which is not executable and unfortunately if you want to get out of the contract this
is the way to do and we try to make it as less painful as possible As far as the concerns um it's a a $45 million business and if any of the the brokers want to work with the district they're going to work with
us So that's my answer Thank you very much Anybody else okay Yeah Go ahead This is gonna be a long one so I apologize Brian Rivera Edison Um
So if the board of education eliminates the health insurance broker it would have a serious consequences for the district's 4,500 staff members The 4500 staff members that feed supervise drive coach mentor and teach our students This
will cause a disruption in the coverage and benefits for our frontlininers All for politics Staff may experience lapses in coverage delays in claims processing or issues accessing health care services Essential benefits could be altered or removed without employees fully understanding
the changes Eliminating the broker could jeopardize the well-being of thousands of employees and create long-term financial and legal risk for the district I want to remind this board because five of them still sit on it that the selection process for the brokers was entirely managed by the
superintendent and his team We had no say on it This was his recommendations They developed the rubrics the criteria for the selection and all information and recommendations was shared with the board members If you did not read it or check your your email then shame on you
Stop checking your phone Pay attention The board filed the superintendent's recommendations and approved the decision accordingly Dr Alderelli sent every contract We read the contract He suggested a three-year term and we voted yes on it Now all of a sudden the board
changes and oh we never did this before so now we have to change it No that was the superintendent and his team's recommendation the individual that leads our school district That's the problem with this board You don't lead the school district It's the
superintendent So Dr Alderelli I got a bunch of questions for you and I know they're not going to be answered So when I rebuttal I'm going to restate them again Dr Alderoi and Mr Toth how are our current health and risk brokers performance how are they
performing dr Alderelli Mr Toth is it your recommendation to part ways with the current brokers dr Alderelli Mr Toth is this if this is approved tonight how does this affect the employees in our district dr Alderelli and Mr Toe what are some of
the consequences if this action takes place dr Alderelli Mr Toth and Mr Roth is this even legal is this your legal opinion that we are not in breach of contract and can we be sued mr Roth a
board member told me that this is your recommendation that you want this done Can you please explain um to us your logic so when we approve this the following motion to approve insurance consultants in accordance to
18A18A-42 award contract to the following firms to provide insurance consulting services per the specification CC24-9 risk manager Brandon Brown medical broker Doyle Alliance Group prescription broker Assur Partners the
vote yes Mr Lugo yes Anja Patel yes Vishel Patel yes Mr Schneider Yes Mrs White Yes Mrs Pang Yes Mr Romano Yes Mr Patel Everybody voted yes Now suddenly we want to change
it Now if you look at contract laws article 10 contracts extending beyond the fiscal year I got this from my board my uh superintendent friends and my business administrator friends You guys know who they are Article 10 contracts extending beyond the fiscal year 1881
18842 All contracts for the provision or performance of goods or services shall be awarded a period not to exceed 24 consecutive months Accepted contract for professional services pursuit to paragraph of subscription of NJS18A185 shall be awarded for a period not to exceed 12 consecutive months Any
board education may award or contract for longer periods of time as followed again awarded contract for longer periods of time which goes under under public school contract 18A1 18A42 letter E insurance including the purchase of insurance coverages
insurance consultant or administrative services including participation in joint self- insurance fund risk management program or related services provided by a school board insurance group or participation in insurance fund established by county pursuit
NJS4810-6 or a joint insurance fund established pursuit PL 1983 C372 C4A-1036Xquire for any term not more than three years So we were allowed to do three years and now it's the superintendent's recommendation and we
all voted yes Now Brown and Brown Assured Partners and DAG service agreement they all have termination clauses And when it comes to termination clauses if the if the contract requires just cause the board
must document reasons such as poor performance failure to meet obligations or conflicts of interest Now my questions here's numbers uh 8 nine and 10 for you What is the just cause for termination of Brown and Brown what is the just cause for
termination of assured partners what is the just cause of termination of DAG service agreement because if you don't have just cause Mr Ro off they could sue us Correct Okay Thanks Cost summary provided Again all the documents that Mr
Alder served with the entire board that people probably did not read but they did their own rubric and they gave us the cost of each Brown and brown was 185,000 for health broker Assured partners was 125,000 Doyle Alliance was
147,000 and Alliant was 175 So Doyle was even the highest It was the third And then for risk manager it doesn't even matter because it's standard per s NJ sig So I don't understand why we're looking into this Purely this is politics Somebody's owed something and I
want to get to the bottom of this and I hope you all either vote no on this or at least table it to have a discussion because what you're doing is putting our staff members in jeopardy Thank you for your time Thank you So the short answer
is the resolution was deficient and uh the the old staff will be covered uh with insurance doesn't say they don't it's not that they don't have insurance and um you know as I said uh with a $40 million business uh everyone wants will
work with us so uh we'll make it work the only thing we can do to get out of the three-year contract is by you know because because it's excuse me it the resolution is deficient thank you anybody else
Beth Taly 15 Midwood Avenue I was giving up for Lent that I wasn't going to get up here and speak but I just have to on this Please forgive me Um I understand what you guys are saying about you know the broker and the
three-year contract or whatever I wasn't aware of that My concerns are as a member and you know I'll be honest I have some issues where I've had to deal with our brokers this year for you know
um prescriptions and medical things through Blue Cross Blue Shield They have been helpful at times you know not as timely as I would have liked but they have gotten better and I've gotten what I've needed My concern now is this here says if you vote on it
tonight it's immediate termination of this These brokers are working with me as well as other members I'm sure right now trying to rectify issues that we have with our plan and stuff So that
means you're leaving myself as well as our members hanging with you know getting things straightened out for our medical care at this moment Is this something that has to be done right now or it can't wait closer to when we would
usually negotiate you know for the insurance brokers cuz how long exactly is this going to take us to get like new people in place is it something immediate in the next week or we're going to have to at least wait
till April or May before you you know before you put out bids for new um brokers for us as well as you know when they start Those are just I guess my questions because you know we're going to leave a lot of members as well
as myself hanging because I'm sure once they find out if you know they're terminated tonight I'm not going to get any return you know resolutions from them at that point So just you know what's the timeline for getting new brokers interviewing them and actually
getting them in place to help us because being self-insured everything's brought back into house Carolyn Matson is fabulous Um our administrators up there have been fabulous in helping me with stuff but
they can only do so much So just you know what's the timeline for this so that you know we can go back to the members and say like hey you know yes there is more help for us to get Thank you Thank you uh our attorney already responded um you know the timing and
just want to make sure that you have full access to any of the insurance companies and you are all covered by the insurance company So that's what it is Any other public comments yes Hello Carrie KTO Just a quick question
Um as you know if our members have a medical issue it's often on an urgent basis So they can't wait three weeks three months however long to get an answer So if somebody has an issue tomorrow who do they call if they can't call the broker who should they contact
that's it That's it Carrier Okay again you have full you have full access to the insurance and uh everybody is covered Okay Matt do we have any other first timers sorry No first timers Okay Okay Sorry No no
one's denying access to the coverage We know the coverage isn't changing What we're saying is when issues arise because our insurance companies play God and deny things who the hell do my members reach out to that's the question
If there's no broker in place who takes care of the problems for them when you're missing a drug that you need and it's being denied or you're having a medical procedure like my one member did that had to be put off to August because
it wasn't approved it got cancelled So two weeks later she ended up in a hospital having the procedure done anyway but they had to pay for two days in a hospital rather than in basically a uh a day situation That's our question No one's denying or questioning a break
in the coverage What we're saying is a break in the service And there's three aspects to it There's the cost there's a medical coverage and then there's a service provider And quite honestly if we're not getting a service provider that's part of what we pay for And if people have issues and they're not
getting them rectified that's a problem So we want to know who it is that we reach out to our members reach out to when these problems arise I went through it myself I had a knee surgery denied and six months later had to have a knee replacement because it was denied So
these things arise on a daily basis You may not be familiar because you're not dealing with it We are And that's the problem That's the question we're asking not about that there's a break in the coverage or a change in the coverage itself but these outside corporations like Evercord at Horizon all they do is
say no denied denied denied And you're in a battle to fight it The question is who do we get to fight that battle with us because when you call the insurance company yourself you're getting no denied and they read a script It's a script they're reading from Our brokers
have been great with doing those things I don't give a damn who you have as a broker As long as they do their job and they're fiscally the right fit for the district I don't care We've had the brokers The broker you just replaced last time was did a great job I know there were some other issues on your
part with our people They were great but we can't have a break in terms of our members getting what they're entitled to what they're paying for That's the problem Thank you I think the I already answered the questions Uh you call the insurance company Thank you the
carrier Anybody else okay Brian come back Board President can I ask a question yes So Brian before your rebuttal I would like to ask you you just mentioned you just told the entire public that some board member told you this is actually
our attorney's suggestion This has nothing to do with the insurance I just wonder would you mind to tell us who that board member is if that B member wants to say something he can It's not Just so you know this whole discussion is in a close session It's confidential
information And you just told the public that one board member told you this confidential information totally violate the ethic charge of disclosing a confidential information discussed in close session Well I'm surprised that you did not know this as a former board
member You did not know that the close session information Let me finish first Mr President this is not a back and forth Yes Yes I'm not asking you to respond I'm just saying you I'm surprised that you didn't know this is close session information that's being disclosed I know it's close session and
uh as a former member this is just surprising Maybe this is a practice you used to have Dude you're on the phone texting everybody on WhatsApp Okay Wait Stop Stop Yeah Let him let him three minutes and then we can go from there
So as I entered today I asked somebody whose bright idea was this and they said this was the recommendation from the attorney So there's your answer because the idea sucks It's horrible That's not my question Well I just answered it So anyway it's my time to
rebuttal I think the idea is horrible I hope board members that are new actually are paying attention and listening but I'm going back to my 10 questions that were not answered So Dr Dr Aldori Mr Tove how are our current health and risk
uh brokers performing how are they performing are you satisfied with their work number two Dr Ali Mr To is it your recommendation to part ways with our current brokers you are the leaders of our district What are your
recommendations dr Alderelli Mr Toe if this is approved tonight how does this affect the employees of the district saying making them to go out of their ways to tell them to contact the health insurer is ridiculous They pay for this assistance and they deserve it God
forbid someone doesn't get their medication they get sick they die Are we liable because we don't have a broker again politics Dr Alder Mr Tove and Mr Roth is this even legal is
this your legal opinion that we are not in breach of contract and we could be sued again there's no just cause to get rid of these individuals You don't like the wording of a resolution well guess what it's legal I read the contract of law to you all It's legal The fact that
he cited that statute it's legal Mr Roie uh to the board again for just cause What is the just cause for termination of Brown and Brown what is the just cause for termination of assured partners what is the just cause for
termination of DAG services agreement again every board member got this information Everybody got the contracts Everybody got the specs Everybody knew it was a three-year contract if you read it What tells me this is you did not read it Voted yes Voted yes Voted yes
Voted yes Voted yes Voted yes All of you's voted yes for this Suddenly change a board Election seasons are coming Goten hireer money is dried up We need to find some stuff The reality the board made a decision The the people are performing
well You're putting our people at risk Make a conscious decision Do the right thing Thank you Thank you Anybody else now I see in this that it says by no um by June 1st we should have a new broker
That leaves us without a broker me as a member and my colleagues and everybody else who works for this district who has these insurance plans without somebody to aid us There's a lot of um employees here We're on all
different plans depending on how long we've been here what plan you choose to take Yes we do have insurance Yes we do have um prescription people that we can call But I know firsthand and I'm going to tell you all I have you know tried to
resolve issues myself a lot of times because I've had a lot of issues Um and I'll be honest going back with my alipes and losing my hair and trying that for years getting on the phone to call either Blue Cross or Blue Shield or
Express Scripts or US RX Care because if your prescription is more than $2,500 a month you have to reach out to them It is awful You get the runaround You get somebody reading the script Nobody gets back to you Nobody will give you a reference number and you go in circles
and circles You can't get a supervisor Nobody wants to hear it because all to them it is about their bottom line And I understand their corporations They want to make money us having brokers in place kind of as a safety net and a help
to all of myself as well as all of our members who are insured through the district and not having them They have the access to hire people at the insurance companies and the prescription places that we don't have access to So
we're not getting resolutions directly as a member calling them That's why we pay for these brokers and you're leaving us three months without anybody to help us It's very upsetting and
concerning So please I understand if you do want to change brokers but do it at a time where you're not leaving us hanging for you know three months out of the year without somebody to help us Thank you Please reconsider Thank you So just
uh you know uh want to say that the you know Dr Alelli we're going to send a email to the staff as to whom to contact um you know during this short very very short period of time It's not to June 1st Okay It's not the June 30th whatever
you're saying So um they will have it There are two resolutions There's there's there's two resolutions The goal of the board is to if the resolutions pass the goal of the board is to have a
contract from as soon as the board passes the resolution to May 30 of 2025 and then a full year June 30 no May 30 2020 and then June 1st June 1st 2025
through May 30 2025 And that's the reason that the PNC uh property casualty broker uh yeah contract runs with the company with the PNC company runs from uh we have to have a broker of record as
of June 10th of every year So this way the board ensures that the broker that is getting paid for it will be doing the work as well Yeah The key answer is the resolution was deficient So that's your answer for it Okay All right Any other
public comments see none Can I have a motion to close public comments okay Motion Okay Motion Uh Ralph Fargo and Ron Patel Okay So all in favor i
Okay All right So we're going to move on Uh can I have a motion to approve personnel agenda okay Mr White Do I have a second second Uh Visha Patel Uh roll call
please Mr Erico Yes Mr Ronic Patel Yes Mr Lugo Yes Miss Patel Yes Mr Romano Yes Miss
White Yes Miss Pang Yes Mr Vishel Patel Yes President She Yes Motion carries Can I have a motion to approve administration curriculum instructions and PE pupil special services motion Okay Mr Ero
second Okay Uh Mr Visha Patel Mr Ero Yes Mr Ronac Patel Yes Mr Lugo Yes Miss Anja Patel Yes Mr Romano Yes Miss
White yes Miss Pang yes Vice President Patel yes President She Yes Motion carried Now can I have a motion to approve a finance resolutions motion Can we discuss this first since there's something there's a new resolution
motion Yeah You have that motion to put on the on the floor then you can you can have your And you have a second Yeah Okay Vishel Patel and uh uh Mr a second right yes I did Yes Okay Yeah
Chris has approved Thank you So um I'd like to start with uh uh uh Mr Roth actually have a question about this Um is it your legal opinion that this does not breach our contracts like if we
were to take action is it your legal opinion that this would not breach our contracts with these brokers that we have currently i don't like offering legal opinions in public But the response is that the um
resolution that was adopting the three broker agreements was void at the outset because the resolution in of itself was improper So therefore because it's improper it it's the contracts could not
have been appropriately adopted Okay Can we get a second opinion on that because I actually showed that resolution to other attorneys in municipal law They see nothing wrong with it This is the only honestly yourself and President Xi are the only two people that I'm hearing
from that there's something wrong with this resolution Everybody else that I've actually showed this to had no issues with it Can we get a second opinion that's not on me sir That's on the board I'd like to make a motion to get a
second opinion I'd second that Parliamentarian I I believe we have an original motion on the floor This is superseding Well there's a superseding motion Okay So that means that we have a we have a first we have a second and we
can you know we can take a And just for the record make sure the record's clear There's a motion to get a second opinion that's not staying You'd have to make a motion to remove it I do understand it All right I
just want to make sure we're all on the the board understands it You may and Miss Luga may but I want to make sure the whole board understands a motion The motion on the floor right now unless I'm wrong Mr No no no You're absolutely 100% right Just to receive a second opinion
not tableabling or uh pushing aside the motion That's currently part of the finance package Is that accurate mr She can I respond yes Uh in other words before we started if someone said "I'd
like to table section C of finance then that can be done then instead of now Now it's too late." Well again I just want to make sure I'm explaining the motion I'm I'm asking for
your terminology Do I ask I I should should I have asked for that for a motion to motion to table the motion to table number C and D has the resolution I procure I don't have it in front of me I'm trying to do
both D uh so D all right so let's stick with the first motion first motion is to get a second opinion if you want to have a motion to table even Even though it's moved you can still move to table because there's a superseding resolution
So you can make a motion to table at any time You'd have to make a motion to table and then get a second opinion and whatnot But for right now the only motion on the floor is to get a second opinion Okay So
then can I rephrase that and motion to table this until we get and so we have time to get a second opinion on the resolution i believe it's under procurement D I don't know what the I'm I don't have in front of me I'm sorry the number
It's D2 What is it John mr To D2 and three D2 D2 Okay D3 Okay So you want I'm sorry Mr Luga
You want to amend your motion amend the motion to actually have a table for this particular resolution dealing with the brokers All right So if you put a motion on a table it's got to be for a specific period of time And so would you like I
need to we need to articulate a time When you put on a table it's e either an indefinite which basically kills the motion or for a definitive time period So 30 days What do we next board meeting oh 30day You're not going to get anything
back in 30 days I would actually say table it until it's reviewed Three years Three years Well well it's once it passes this the life of this board it dies Okay So you can't do that You can't do that
Indefinite I'm sorry sir Indefinite Well that means it's you're going to take you're table until it dies I just want to make sure everybody understands Yeah sure So Joe you second it Oh I Oh yeah Absolutely I'll second Okay All right So
roll off to table the um the the resolution D Okay Well it's it's all of it No no no it's section 4 line item D
It's the two and three D2 and three Do D2 and three Okay Roll call Mr Erico No Mr Ronac Patel No
Mr Luga yes Miss Angina Patel no Mr Romano no Miss White All right Now we're voting to table this
Yes And I'm going to say yes Miss Pang no Mr Vich Patel no President no Motion fails Okay So now you're back to the now the superseding Well I'm sorry Mr
President We're back to super the original motion Now the superseding motions are over This motion is for finance Yeah the entire finance section Sure But I just have one more question too about just cause Dr
Alderelli and Mr Toe Do we have just cause to terminate these contracts it's already it's already motion It's not it's not again it's this has nothing to do it's go it deals with the
it deals with the wording What you're saying what you're saying is the wording was bad That's what you're pointing That has nothing to do with the terms of the contract Okay But we still have signed contracts with companies Yes And Okay So you have a signed contract with the company they got paid
or would have gotten paid under that contract There's a legal theory called quantum error route which means that you get what you pay for So if you do some work and you can't agree on the contract then the contractor is going to get paid
for the work that was honestly performed That's basically the theory of quantum So the fact that they got they were voiding the contract because it was void abidon is the contract should never have been approved the way they were If that's the case then we go to the legal
theory of quantrome which means that they got paid for what they did but they won't get paid going forward never get to the the terms of the contract So whatever regardless of what that contract says because the contract was void from the outset Yes Okay
Thank you Okay she Yes If the if the contract was void from the onset Yes sir Do we get all the money back no That's what we just thought about quadrero work was performed and they we have we got
services provided and they provide services When does the when does when does the contract end as of our vote yes sir Tonight Yes And is there carryover not according to the resolution No sir
Because if the somebody broke then there can't be because if the void the the resolution was inappropriate to begin with acknowledging the inappropriateness and allowing it to stand and perform work under that resolution would be
inappropriate Okay Just as long as I understand that if somebody uh this afternoon fell down and broke their leg it would be covered Well the insurance is not affected It's just whether as the intermediary broker
if there is if you need the intermediary broker that would they would not be here for the next 20 or 20 some odd days Okay I just wanted to make sure I know what I'm voting on that Yes sir Thank you for trying to explain it as best as I can for you I understand I understand Okay
Mr Sheep Yes Um just to uh clarify I know Mr Rivera said you know someone in the parking lot That was that someone was me Mrs Pang And I did not say that this was the recommendation of the attorney I did say that the attorney did
advise us that this contract was voted on incorrectly and that we could resend the contract Um the attorney doesn't tell us what to vote on or what contracts not to
and vote yes or no But I just wanted to clear up the clear both of our names that um I had a a very brief conversation with them saying listen um as a board member we have an attorney for a reason and I listen to the attorney and that was probably the
extent of our conversation Mrs Pang Thank you Raf I know it's not you I'm sure it's not you Thank you Mr Shik through you to the attorney I I have a thousand questions
Uh is there legal is is there an illegal is there legal opinion that the contract was was signed and it was agreed
to by the lawyer that the board had And if the the contract was that bad Does board have legal authority through a through a vote
to attach the lawyer if I may uh board members and Mr President I explained the resolution I was uh and the reason behind the resolution I believe that's appropriate
Any other legal advice if you want to adjourn to executive session to have further discussion on it that's fine I'll be more than happy to discuss it in there Um Mr Eric only half You only can listen to half of what I say Okay Um but
uh if we want to just have any discussion in uh any more legal advice we should do that in executive session not not in public Okay But are you I'm sorry Den Are you saying we should go into executive session now i'm saying
that if you want to ask questions that offer more legal advice than explaining why the resolution is on the agenda then we should go into executive session Otherwise the resolution I explained the resolution the resolution
um stand it's been motioned and second and unless anyone has any legal more legal questions beyond that then we should go exact otherwise then the vote should be called So we already have the motion on the floor So let's just go through it But you know we have
other discussions we can talk to Okay Can you can you uh just explain what we're voting on now are we voting we're voting for the entire resolution Done Are we voting for number four yes Finance and facilities Yes Which is my
understanding is one two three Oh and mine doesn't say one two three Mine says I have one public com finance facilities One two three Sir procurement That's procurement You know it's part D Okay
Mine are in mine Mine are saying A B C D E F and G It's part of D It's part of D The insurance part of B Okay D David Part of D Okay Very good All right Thank you All right So we already have a motion You have it right okay So roll
please Mr Erico No Mr Mr Ronac Patel Yes Mr Lugo No Miss Angina Patel Yes
Mr Romano No On the whole packet Number four The whole packet Noted Miss White All right I'm going to vote no on D and
yes to everything else Miss Pang Yes Mr Vich Patel Yes President She Yes Motion carries Okay Now we have uh our committee reports We have a lot of them So we're going to
have a athletic committee start with uh Mr Eric Thank you Mr She All right Uh in attendance we had a meeting on March 4th 4 p.m at the education center In attendance was myself Vichel Patel Shannon Pang Dr Hus Dave Marzano and
Dave Sandell Uh we welcomed Mr Marzano to his new position Uh we went over the many successes of the uh sports in the winter uh from both JP Stevens and Edison High School There's uh like 15 or 20 of them here So I don't want to
mention them all but almost every athletic sporting event had a success at both high schools We discussed the spring sports coming season In the past we had some issues with busing and things like that Uh both ads said it has improved greatly over the last year and
we're going to be back into a full GMC uh schedule going forward instead of just playing our inter uh middle school teams Um the season starts on 3:10 which has passed already Everyone's looking ready to go Uh cricket uh update Uh Mr
Sandell did find interest at Edison High School and did find a coach that will work with them I know this is very important to Mr Vishel Patel Um and at at JP Stevens we already had that going also at our last meeting and I think Mr
Patel is going to cover it in the uh his report about the readjustment of the fields at Woodro Wilson and I think he's going to discuss that So I'm not going to get into that And Steelers Thunder Um girls flag football JP Stevens going to pilot a program this spring Um I think
it's actually an NJSIA sport now Uh so they're going to pilot a program at JP Stevens and hopefully we'll also do that at Edison High Uh update on the fields Construction is beginning Tennis courts at JP Stevens are hopeful for complete
for completion by fall of 2025 In the meantime they're going to play um I forget the name of the park that's over there Um what's the name of the park that they they play at the war site Yeah the alternate site Oh yeah I know what I'm talking Yeah you know what I'm talking
about right um uh the AD did request portaotties because there's no bathrooms there So we'll take care of that Uh uh open discussion incoming coaches and engagement That was brought up by Mr could tell that how are we evaluating
our coaches how are we helping them to improve how are we helping them to get better um we're not looking to make you know waves with any coaches but if there's a a topic that they need to maybe uh want to improve on um maybe we could offer some kind of staff
development internally or externally uh which is a great idea Uh the ads did say they do written evaluations on every single coach every year and some of them haven't been so pleasant and some have been great So at least we know they're
working on their evaluations Um coaches clinics that I just mentioned Uh a second trainer has been requested um because with all the sports going on the two high school trainers have to go to the two middle schools when they're playing sports at the same time So if we
can get a second trainer basically to help out at the middle schools that would be great but that we have to look into the budget for that Um new gym at Edison High School was discussed I would love to see a new gym there Um in in my opinion it's pretty embarrassing to have
a group four school with a gym that size Um you could barely fit 200 people in there If you go to South Brunswick you go to Monroe you go to these other school districts they have tremendous gyms And I think uh Dr Dr Alder Rally agrees with us but again property money
the whole bit is a tough issue And we discussed sports bubbles so something we could look at Um some other districts do it So we're going to keep looking into that and and look if it's feasible and you know again within our budget and
means And that concludes my report Mr She Thank you Thank you very much So just a you know very long report just a uh quick uh question uh middle school uh schedule return to GMC We going to do it next year or Yeah we're going to play uh
all the middle count middle six county uh districts u and instead of just playing cross town teams Okay All right So next community relations public advisory Shen
Sure Um so community relationship have a have a committee meeting on February 27th from 6:30 to 8:30 at ad center This is our attendees are Dr Adarelli Dr Hus
Dr Tui Miss uh Heather Danielle myself and uh Mr Jerry Shi So as we noted in the last meeting this committee serves as a bridge between our community and our school administration We have implemented sis to engage our students
and launched PA uh parents united in listening sharing and engaging to foster parent involvement On February 27th we held our first house meeting bringing together parents from nearly every school alongside with our committee and
administration team for a open discussion on various school related issues Parents voiced their top concerns covering a wide range of topics from academic to technology use in classroom to school facilities transportation
mental health and communication with our staff Questions were asked and answers are provided The discussion remained frank friendly and most importantly very constructive Each participant shared their
perspective fostering open dialogue that deepens our understanding of each other's viewpoints By acknowledging the challenges we all face we strengthen strengthened our connections and most importantly build trust U this is a true
power of communications This meeting was well organized with snacks and small goodie bags for parents to take home after it it's adjourned at uh around 8:30 I would really like to extend my sincere gratitude to our administration team and the committee for staying late
to accommodate our working parents That's it Thank you Okay Thank you So it was a good meeting really So um glad to see the engagement from the parents Um so next you have two more uh curriculum
committee meeting reports me again Um curriculum meeting uh first one was held on February 27th from 4 to 5:30 p.m at caucus room at ad center Attendees are myself Ronic Patel Michelle Patel Dr
Cohen Dr Alderelli Dr Hus Miss Heather Danielle Dr Fay Kim and Miss Meyer We talk about the bio um Matt Academy So we all know Middle Sex County has six magnetic schools and each year we're
losing some of our top students to these schools Edison High also has a wellestablished STEM academy for many years and there has been increased demands for similar program at JP Stevens So in response our committee
took the initiative to launch the bioac academy at JP this year to highlight this bio academy offer students advanced courses from 9th to 12th grade including capstone project research opportunities and real world
experiences modeled after Edison High STEM Academy This biomat academy is open to students from both high schools thanks to the dedication and hard work of our superintendent Dr Adarelli our chief academic officer Dr Hope Cohen JP
Stevens principal Dr Fay Kim and our science supervisor Miss Mayer and Miss um Heather Danielle This initiative has now come to a reality During this meeting Dr Kim and Miss Meyer delivered a excellent presentation on the program
The committee discussed various aspect in detail including program size timeline application process and placement criteria To ensure that no talented students is overlooked due to a single test score all the students are
welcome to apply and the selection will be based on seven placement criteria In addition multiple administrators will be involved at every stage including the interviews to maintain a fair and transparent process The email was sent to all eighth
eighth grade uh eighth graders in the district encouraging them to apply and we did receive a overwhelming positive response This new academy really marks a pivotal moment for our district in my mind expanding the opportunity and raising our education standards to a new
heights And um immediately after following immediately following the launch of our bio Matt Academy the committee turned its focus to the next major initiative the computer science and AI academy as
we presented tonight This academy will be available for both high school eliminating the needs for busing between campuses This similar to the bio academy also give the students provide the students
with competitive edge and advanced coursework and hands-on experience on programming software development and emerge emerging technologies They can also earn a certificate or a credential to strengthen their college
application and career perspective and gain real world experience through seminars and capstone project and some industrial industry- based internship Doc Dr Cohen provided a comprehensive overview of the program
outlining the course structure the potential certificate certifications and internship opportunities The committee held an indepth discussion on entrance criteria which will include placement tests during the school year as well as
a supplemental test classes and exams offered over the summer We also discussed the computer science pathway So for students interested in computer science but not yet commit ready to commit to the CS AI
Academy or those who have not yet passed the placement test Rest assure we're not going to close the door on the opportunity That's why our committee in collaboration with our administration team have developed a
new CS pathway This pathway will allow students to take computer science courses in ninth grade deepen their understanding of the subject and if they choose transition into the CS academy in 10th or 11th grade It also ensures the
students can continue with their skills while keeping the option open to join the academy at a later stage This committee envision computer science and AI as the next major driving force across our industry Our goal is to extend this incredible opportunity
opportunity to as many interested students as possible We believe this initiative will establish the Addison School District as a leader in the academy innovation further solidifying our
reputation for excellence and forwardinking education That's all Thank you Thank you So this is as I said um you know the um just head out for the information till
Friday for the CS and AI academy and uh we're offering multiple paths to join the uh uh the academy Uh so if you're in the CS path you can still join uh you know the second year or the people in the ninth grade they have a possibility
to join as well Um so just uh stay tuned for the information All right So next up we have the finance and facility So Vish hello Uh we had a two finance and facility committee meeting this month Uh first one was on
March 3rd uh at JP Stevens from 4:30 to 5:30 Uh we discussed different financial item We reviewed the audit reports uh reviewed the surplus and reserve dollar that can be transferred to the next fiscal year Um there is an excess
surplus for 16.9 million budgeted for FI26 and we have a remaining about 10 million estimated remaining dollar in the capital improvement uh budget for fiscal year 2026 We reviewed the stated
uh that was deducted or reduced by $2.8 million We also discussed the prek program for FI26 and how we going to you know plan and start the program Um on the facility side we reviewed the change order There there were no change order at the time for Marshall's uh Marshall's
bid DMR is preparing the new bid package and they will send it out for the bid once NJD completes the review And for fiscal year 2026 we also reviewed the capital projects that we have budgeted
for FI26 which are EHS orchestra EHS and JP phone systems ES and JP softball fields JP access roads uh JAMS bus stop and parking and AC at Washington and JMP
Uh we also reviewed the healthcare budget uh for fiscal year 2025 Uh we received the rebate of 1.4 4 million till date and anticipating to receive 1.5 million by the year you know by the time year ends and we are looking at for
fiscal year 2026 3.75 million in rebate uh for the next fiscal year The committee met again on March 18 from 4:30 to 5:30 Uh the meeting started by reviewing the healthcare budget presented by Doyle Alliance Group Um
after that we reviewed the 2026 budget balanced at 0% We also reviewed the capital reserve budget for 20 2026 which is going to be about $22 million We discussed the land purchase around Palm Beach and Kage I think you know the entire board has been
discussing it for a while So you know we brainstormed an option whether you want to purchase that land Um then we discussed the legal services RFP for general and special education legal council and then we reviewed the budget statement that's I don't know if
it's already published in the tap info Edison newsletter or the news um online you know news portal for the on the facility side Marshall's bid is out on March 21st JMI beard is under OC review and we
had a one change order at JP that will be covered from the allowance for electric gas and technology upgrade Um we also discussed the WWMS athletic field update few community leaders reached out to me I guess Sunday night
that some of the layout uh could cause a harm to the school building So I had a meeting with administration you know it was a lightning speed you know we met on Monday morning reviewed that field arrangement and decided to you know make some changes uh on the arrangement so
that we don't uh end up uh damaging any of the school property and that's end of my meeting minutes Thank you Thank you very much Next you're up again uh food committee Cool Um we had a our first food services committee meeting on March
3rd at JB Stevens at 4 pm In the attendance were Vishal Patel Mr Ralph Ero Miss Anja Patel Miss Jackie Mr John Toad uh Dr Chris Hus Miss Armida and Mr
Giov Uh we we reviewed the reports presented by Machios um and and they said the participation of students across all schools have gone up for both breakfast and lunch Uh we reviewed some past rebalances which is about
$220,000 across all the schools Um Marsh informed us that they conduct periodic nutrition education during the school events uh they gave some examples where they had a you know side table during their school events where they were educating uh students and parents about
nutritions and then good eating habits Um they also informed us that they donated two cards to Edison High School and they will be donating 5K scholarship to both uh EHS as well as JP High School this year as well as they are doing
every year They also talked about some tryyouts they did for samosas Excuse me They did the try out of one of the food items samosas at both the high school which they said was successful and they plan to roll it out
uh across the secondary school in in coming months and that concludes my meeting minutes Thank you Thank you very much Yes So just want to you know uh highlight uh one thing here that uh you know our food vendor is given $5,000
scholarship scholarship to both high schools $5,000 scholarship to both high schools This is I call giving back from these vendors Uh I hope that our other vendors will do the same I know some of them are doing it and I hope more
vendors uh will be participating in this and and give back to the community Okay So next up special ed uh Rick Hello everybody The special education committee conveyed for our two meetings
held on February 26 2025 and March 19th In attendance at both meeting myself Mr Ralph Ero Mrs Virginia White Mr Joe Romano Dr
Elder Ali Dr Mr Tuhi Miss Daniel Dr Hus and Mr Tote During this meeting the committee discussed prek placement procedures for the 2025 and 26 school year It was confirmed that all current
preK student enroll in the Edison prek program will automatically receive a prek seat for September 2025 and will not be required to participate in district lottery process All other
student seeking prek placement must participate in the district lottery Additional information regarding the lottery process is available on the district website Please reach out to Dr Tuhi or Miss
Netzel for any questions The committee also received an update on the Edison success success academy which has been operating since September The po the program has
successfully provided educational services to students who need needs were not previously and adequ adequately being met with the district This initiative has resulted in a significant
costsaving for the district while supporting students in more inclusive and effective manner And this concludes my report Thank you very much Okay so now we're open for public comments So anyone public comments on
any issues yes Anthony Anthony Mara five KTO court in Edison I'm here to speak on policy 5756 But before I start I want to compliment the board on this place This is a nice place First time I've ever been here Uh the
cornerstone out front says it was built 1960 That's over 60 years ago From my brief encounter with this building it's wellmaintained Well done All right let me get down to business 5756 I've attended enough board meetings
to hear something described as a portrait of a ga of a graduate I want to give you a portrait of two students in the Anderson school system Portrait one is a student born as a boy who grows up to be a man or born as a girl grows up to be a woman That's
portrait one Portrait two is a transgender student portrait one that student stands a much better chance of having children because he hasn't done any serious damage to his reproductive organs Portrait two the transgender
student Oh he's he or she has done damage to his reproductive organs either by surgery hormone blockers or whatever else is out there portrait one that student has a lower risk of
suicide as opposed to the portrait of the the transgender student The numbers are undeniable Even the LGBT community doesn't deny it That the transgender student has a high risk of suicide Now what I want you to do by the way the
what I mentioned about having children that's in the usual way I know there's adoption of other methods but the usual way and we all know what that is What I want you to do is to remove the label from portrait number two of the transgender student You have a student
who has increased risk of suicide and can't have children the usual way Is that the kind of student we want to foster in our school system absolutely not I mean do we want students i'm sure all nine members of the board would say
no suicide that that's that's one of the that's that's like the ultimate tragedy But now super now put back on the label of transgender student Oh we have to permit this We have to permit it It's an ideology That's nuts Just because it's
transgender we have to tolerate increased suicide and our children doing harm to themselves That's crazy There is nothing in policy 5756 that violates New Jersey's law against discrimination I've heard it
said that if 5756 is eliminated there's nothing left We have no guidance That's wrong That's absolutely wrong Teach the students the risks the the transgender students the risk of adopting that
lifestyle I just mentioned some I'm sure there's more I can't think of Is that done here i wonder I wonder The NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Association
recently changed their policy to prohibit those born as men to compete with women Now that's a big organization You've probably seen it in the news They come they've come to the common sense
opinion that men should not be competing with women Has the board of ed done that has the board of ed done that obviously not Boys competing with girls i sent you a video some time ago
of a girl named Payton McNab It's worth repeating because this is tragic This girl was in a high school student on a volleyball team where the other team the competing team had a
transgender student That student spiked the ball at her hit her so hard she suffered traumatic brain injury She's not the same person anymore Is that what we want in Edison do we do we have to wait for that to happen you know that kind of thing happens a lot in in our
society whether it's just transgender Do we have to wait for the drunk driver to kill someone before we do something well we obviously have walls against it Do we have to wait for the construction action before we fix that problem in the building do we have to wait for one of our girls to get hurt by a transgender
student before we take action i sure hope not I mentioned before you can't thumb your nose in God's face And it's it's happening God tells us "Men who remains stiff necked after man rebukes will suddenly
be destroyed without remedy I want only the best for this board." This isn't me This is God speaking Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any fear of God in this board God also said "Have you not read he who created them from the beginning
made them male and female For this reason man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife Two shall become one flesh." In other words two genders That's it Just doesn't seem to come across here Your son or daughter has decide to
change gender and you're kept in the dark Is that what you want you want the school board here to say "No you're not going to be told." You'll be told about everything else He's doing poorly in math doing poor in English You'll be told about that
But you can't be told about this This has become this has taken such high priority that it it defies it defies sound reason Please abolish this policy and replace with a common sense policy where we
teach our students the risk of of of living a transgender lifestyle Thank you for your time Thank you Anybody else yes Sue Susan Campion chairperson of the ETA scholarship committee Um I just want to
put it out there to any parents that are watching to make sure that your seniors go to the guidance office and ask not only for the ETA scholarship Um there are some scholarships that are awarded by the committees but other ones the applications must be filled out Um the
ETA ones are due the end of April and when I checked last week there were no applications at either high school Um I did contact the heads of guidance to make sure that they um got them on the Google classrooms and um are trying to
get the word out Maybe the principles can make announcements to remind the seniors to go and pick up applications There's a lot of money out there School is expensive Make sure you fill them out We can't award the money if we have no scholarship applications Thank you Yeah
exactly I was surprised nobody applied that the ETA scholarships a lot of money Um so uh Yeah Yes ma'am Hello Can you hear me yes All right Very good evening to everybody here Um I'm
just here to request name address name and town Okay Um I just want to share that name and address We need your name and town Right Sorry My name is Manisha Chavla I'm wearing many hats tonight Um I'm a
parent and a teacher and I'm I love uh working with this district Uh my request actually I wanted to share a story Um recently in 2024 August and September beginning I had a life and death
situation out of nowhere I was in the ICU for 2 weeks and there were many many procedures that were conducted on me thankfully for the right reasons because I'm here right alive However um since then September 24 until now
I've been receiving a lot of medical bills which are crossing $200,000 And I've been chasing Horizon uh left right center but it's been quite difficult to get them to get in touch with them and get the answers But many
of their uh they keep denying the claims from the hospital and I feel like I'm a mediator between the hospital and insurance They need some information from the hospital and then hospital needs something It's just a lot and u I
think the broker situation might help That's what I think So um I trust that you will take the best decision for us and that's my request and that's all I wanted to let you know All right Thank you very much Thank you Yeah we will
take u you know the best decision for the for the staff in the back Yes Beth Taly 15 Midwood Avenue I'm saddened by what happened with the vote tonight I understand you want to change brokers I have no issue with that as a taxpayer
resident and an employee here The issue is that you've left all of us employees of this district hanging now with nobody to help us I've been receiving letters the last month from
Evacore which is a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield going back from 2021 requesting money from a doctor's visit on January 17th of that year but it has no reference number no
doctor's number when I call them And the portals for Blue Cross Blue Shield don't even go back that far So I don't even know what doctor appointment it is and for what it is but they're asking me for money So the
broker's been helping me figure that out So I guess now I'm going to be delayed on that as well as some issues I've had with trying to get some medication secured and other things with the doctors secured The brokers would help me do that
Now I have nobody to help me because I'm sure as all of you know when you are on the phone with any insurance company as well as the prescription companies especially express script you go round and round in circles and every time you call and you think you're going two
steps forward you're getting no we never said that another person on the phone you can never get it resolved and it is unfortunate that this morning when I looked at the minutes and printed come out There was nothing about this on the agenda And then around
4:30 when I'm looking again all of a sudden this is there So I hope all of you who voted for it especially our new members understand what the brokers do for us and how they help us Also did you I'm
just you I'm not you're not supposed to go back and forth Does this also include our risk insurance broker that was let go tonight as well is that a yes i'm guessing it's a yes as well God forbid we have a fire at
a school something happens at construction and don't smirk at it because we don't know what can happen Who's going to help us in the interim so I hope all of you people who are sitting here really did your due diligence and looked at it and it wasn't
just a line item so we can cross off that we don't have to pay for this amount of money for brokerage for these people so we can I don't know stash some money or do whatever And I'm also a little bit confused as a taxpayer
board attorney and that firm we had hired last year who helped broker the deal that we had for the three years And now we come back less than a year later and that's no good and they didn't do everything right So I don't know who
to believe as a taxpayer and where my tax dollars are going But more than that I am so upset that we are all left hanging with our medical care possibly being delayed and things being denied and nobody to help us navigate it or if
there is even one person in a district this side size it's impossible for them to do it That's why we hired these companies If you wanted to change that's fine You have your reasons for it but you should not leave us
without that safety net there Thank you Thank you Anybody else yes Charlie Good evening Charles Ross principal Edison High School president of the EPSA I wanted to just sit there and I
told you guys on Thursday when I came to the caucus that I was going Saturday with the students They took it all the way down at the North Planefield Fire Department Um it was really a great moment for everyone because it's not just you know I'm the person that gets up at the board meeting and tries to
have some fun with you guys Thanks to everybody's generosity Um but it's the the ETA members it's members of the custodians union that put it together It's students It's the secretaries at Edison High School that did a white elephant on their own and raised over $800 in that This is all what we do for
children's cancer So I appreciate if anybody still wants to donate it's never never too late Um I could get some of that Mashio's money too Mashios if you're watching Armita it's St Baldrick's.com You could sit there and do that Speaking of food um local business shout out we got a great new
place called Tika Express on Route 27 in South Edison that does Indian takeout It's an Edison High family Um I wanted to talk a couple more great things about what's great about Edison School District I know um under the guidance of Patel the rise student conference is taking place tomorrow It's a student
leadership conference at Middle Sex um county or Middle Sex College where each of the students from the inclusion groups at each of the six secondary schools are going to lead breakout sessions There's going to be a keynote speaker I know Dr Kim is coming So
that's something really demonstrates how Edison is reaching out to get all of our students to the most rigorous possible curriculum We've also had some wonderful guests Even though we haven't been back at the home of the Eagles in the auditorium it's good because practicing there tonight is the JP Stevens drama team And this weekend I think it's
Thursday Friday Saturday Two shows on Saturday They're going to be doing Foot Loose It's a fantastic musical I've been sneaking in watching some of their dress rehearsals They're going to be fantastic Thanks to all of the guests and Miss Young and Dr Kim for them being such wonderful guests in our building and you
know a lot of different things Just wanted to like Dr Alderelli said it's the last um break It's the last meeting before the break for everybody in terms of their celebrations coming up Hope everybody who celebrates the Eid has a wonderful Eid next week and we get into Passover and Easter Hope that
everybody's able to spend that time with their families and to celebrate themselves Thanks everyone Thank you Anybody else matt you can come Good evening again Matt Revnack ETA president I mentioned the other day I was going to come to speak
piggyback on what I said the other day and as a teacher I want to use this platform as an educational tool about public education In 1979 under President Jimmy Carter Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act establishing
the Department of Education as a cabinet level agency which is why the department cannot be eliminated by executive order but would need an act of Congress The Department of Education does not set educational standards or curriculum that
is in the jurisdiction of the states and local school districts The mission of the Department of Education is to promote educational excellence ensure equal access to all such as ensuring civil rights laws and access for students with
disabilities They are responsible for managing federal funding Basically they are the gatekeepers and watchd dogss of federal funds that are earmarked for programs such as Title One and Elementary and Secondary Education Act E
uh EA as it's known to support lowincome and impoverished students in schools the IDA Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1975 funding for vocational and technical education as well as monies to
assist students attending college via PEL grant and student loan programs Most funding for public schools come from state and local resources with the federal government contributing approximately 8% of public school funding Here in New Jersey it's about
5.3% which uh totals about $1.1 billion but those monies are earmarked for the intended purposes that I previously mentioned No one is opposed to eliminating wasteful spending However
that actually is the charge of what the Department of Education does Now how does this affect Edison you actually saw in today's board minutes a few of those title programs I mentioned Title one Edison gets approximately $2.4 4 million which goes
in needs for low-income families extracurriculars like tutoring after school programs etc Title two we get about $445,000 which basically is for hiring instructional coaches professional development etc Title three we get
approximately $249,000 which is for our English language learners Title four STEM programs AP programs dropout prevention and community engagement we get approximately
$121,000 IDA part B we get $4,371,000 that supports our students special education students students with disabilities And we have other aid additional areas of federal education such as the impact aid Medicaid
reimbursement voged and preschool development That's about $478,000 for a total of over $8 million So that's what we're talking about that Edison would lose if we lost our federal funding You may have heard the president
say "We spend the most money on education in the world but are ranked last That is not true and does not represent all the facts While our per pupil expenditure is among the highest there are a couple countries in the world above us
Luxembourg is actually the most There are underlying reasons for this which are never discussed Such expenses as transportation costs free and reduced lunch programs co-curricular and sports etc need to be taken in consideration
They do not necessarily happen in other countries of the world The cost of health care Countries such as Canada for example have centralized medicine So that is not part of their education budgets Here in the US our policies are
what is known as fake free appropriate public education for all something that even our founding fathers believed in That is not necessarily the case in other countries around the world We are not last in the rankings In fact in most
polls we are the upper middle However we educate everyone We are not an education system of the halves and have nots What will happen to our most needy students if federal funding were to be
diverted to other areas would service to our special needs students be cut if federal funds do not roll into the states and states are required by law to fund special needs that will leave one of three options Revise the state laws
on special education fund special needs programs at the expense of other programs or significantly raise state and/or local property taxes To put this in perspective I was at a
conference a few years back at the NJ convention when a representative from the college board came in at presented and stated "Congratulations New Jersey You have the top SAT scores in the country." Actually he said Arkansas does
but they have 5% of their population take the SAT New Jersey has 95% taken In closing public education will be severely impacted if funding is diverted to charter or private schools
or a school voucher system Funding needs to be used for its intended purposes These other forms of education are not held to the same standards as public schools We need to let our legislators know that one of our most important institutions
is public education and that we will not stand for any changes that will negative negatively impact our schools our students or our chosen professions One more thing I want to add and I'm out of time but give me another
minute On a side note wrap it up please Yeah All right I'll come back That's not a comeback Let's not come back Bad you know that right So any anyone else yes Harish Harish Tartini 45 Mckenley Street
Um not sure if this was already covered If so apologies Um regarding the transportation subscription busing So a lot of parents had this question if they would know the exact bus stop of their
kid for the next school year before they pay the subscription busing fees since that cannot be refunded under any circumstances I know that rule was pretty clear earlier also So uh this is because last time for in
in order to maintain the efficiency and timeliness of the bus service uh some stops were eliminated Um so if that is not feasible for them they would rather not opt for the subscription busing I mean I
understand the dilemma because everything has to be run in a lean and mean way So unless and until it is at least 2/3 or 3/4s filled up it's not possible to run the bus efficiently since it is subsidized even the
subscription busing I understand that So how difficult is it uh after the initial response uh to make the bus stop public uh before they pay the fees so that is first question and second
Okay Any other questions so uh second is uh some people didn't receive the subscription busing email So does it automatically mean can they safely conclude that they are eligible
for uh the free busing because there were some discrepancies I heard on social media like uh some people were eligible for free bus but they still received the email so they are a bit confused Uh we we just told them to check with
the transportation department directly instead of trying to figure out the distance on Google maps and all that So that's it pretty much transportation So the uh the email uh clearly said that only the people uh who need subscription
bus they should apply for the mandated uh bus They don't need to do anything because by law we're transporting them As far as bus stops and a subscription I'm going to ask you know Eddie and John to answer that Yeah So I would I would say that
um so the the the the routes aren't done until late right so you're you're working on your your routing right building your route packages You're doing that in the months of like May and June and into July And you're doing that based on your paid bus roster So and
then once you have that roster you do equidistant you know bus stops and proximity to students home So you want to know who's actually on the bus not maybe on the bus So my recommendation would be is that anybody that thinks that they want subscription busing should sign up for
it at that time Wait for the phone call Um and the confirmation notice from transportation in the event that the route meets and the stops meets with their satisfaction Uh they'll be on the list If not they have the opportunity to
withdraw their application Um and they would then go to people that are on the wait list Is that is that fair to say fair you can't you know ask for a refund after two months uh you know um being when the school starts right so um
that's what it is If they they don't like to stop uh just drop out right away Okay Any other comments right So Harish before you leave um Ericos and Patel when he ran for
election it says bus services for all students uh more stops no fee increase so there shouldn't be an issue you should be fine anyway are you guys going to answer any of my questions or should I just sit down
I've asked about 10 questions already and not answered But I'll add another one I'm reviewing the finance committees You guys met twice There was no discussion about removing of brokers You met on March 3rd You met on March 18th And there's nothing in the minutes discussing about
brokers So my question is when was the discussion about brokers then that's number that's question number one Um back to busing I know last year we we had many complaints coming to the board
regarding busing He actually lowered the mileage I believe I think he knocked it down to 1.7 About you So my question is if we're giving free busing to everybody Ron um why are we not why did we put a limit at
two i thought everybody's getting free busing My kid has to crossfield Avenue and Route 27 to get to school I also pay $470 a month for child care to get him to school So if I could pay $625 to get him to school I'd rather do that
So it's not fair That was something you ran on Free busting for everybody Follow up of your obligation That's what you ran on The second thing or third thing I want to talk about So we're going back to the
discussion of that resolution Now Chris took it to municipal lawyers who had no issue with it I took it to superintendent and BAS and attorneys and they had no issue with it But one individual kept saying "Oh
wait It's bad It's written wrong." Now my understanding is I believe John you wrote the resolution I did think you did a good job on it You you stated the statute but it also was reviewed by Matt Mench our attorney So if that attorney said "Hey everything is
great Why is it an issue now?" So now we're taking the advice of this attorney saying the resolution is wrong which none of us believe it's wrong It's our own madeup truths So when these individuals decide to sue us because it is a breach a breach of
contract Now do we hold the attorney liable for this because he gave the advice to the board do we hold Matt Mench liable because he's the one that approved the resolution to begin with i don't know Do I make sense here or you know I I really would love to
hear from my leadership You know what I mean i love you Eddie I give you the fifth year because I believe in you But you know I've asked multiple questions every month and I get no answers You know Ana we we voted yes
last year to this with no issue Suddenly there's an issue Now people are talking Is it because you're running for mayor everybody thinks they're running for mayor now I don't know But you know this sounds all skeptical You know I'm I'm I'm looking
at what people's intentions really are here Then my final question is last year there was a flyer that was posted up in cafeterias Um I'm going to refer this to the food
committee You stated something that samosas were great Everybody loves them Last year someone put up those flyers A tool bakery I believe it was They were illegally posted up there where I know Chris and I had issues with it We said it while we were on the board We
actually had a meeting me Chris and Joe Romano And I believe Mr Hus was there with Mashios themselves And Mashios let's just say they were very sorry that that occurred So my question is now I believe a Tul Bakery is another mayor
candidate running for mayor Is this the individual that's supplying samosas for our schools because to me I think that would be a conflict of interest Why is a mayor candidate in our schools so can someone tell me if that's
Soul Bakery and I got a minute and 46 seconds if anybody wants to answer anything Feel like doing a cristo You done i got a minute and 31 seconds I could sing dance do everything It's my time I guess Okay you can I'm just waiting for some answers Well you could
you answer if you finish you know ask the question you can sit down We'll answer it I keep falling for the same trick Dude Christo is the man He really nailed it I got to learn from this guy It's a joke Really is Okay Any other public comments
Matt are these comments or rebuttals sir uh let's rebuttal then right just to finish up what whatever we said you know if you want to rebuttal that's to finish up my speech on a side note please pay attention to what is going on at the
state level Know what the gubanatorial candidates position is pertaining to education Matt Matt let's be fair right i I didn't let the other people do this Let's let's let's have a You know I I would assume that as a president of 1750 of your people you give me an extra
minute or two I I'm sorry And it's also disrespectful to say uh please don't come back up I have never come up here and bashed anyone attacked anyone In fact even last meeting I came up to explain why we did or didn't do something to inform you guys Matt we can
we can talk offline Uh if you want There's really not much to talk about If you want to talk about something that I any board member responded to your first comment you can come for rebuttal Okay Well I'm responding to the statement that was made about please don't come back up It's disrespectful It's rude for
someone that for basically about 20 years in this district I have always worked and tried to work cooperatively with our administration who I have no issue with at all our board of ed members etc I have never come up here in 20 years to attack anyone Even before
when I responded and just basically this is what I'm elected to do and this is what I'm paid to do about our health benefits You don't live it every day we do And to sit there and shake your head and say no or whatever is not the case
And it shouldn't fall on people that are already doing a job I like I said I don't care what broker you hire I don't give a damn as long as they're doing their job But you have on here June 1st So the way I'm looking at it is you have no broker as of now and on June 1st
you'll have a broker That's a twomonth and week gap of not having a service that we need to be provided And you're sitting there shaking your head now However as I originally stated it if the meeting was held like it should have been between my
union leadership Mr Ross' union leadership etc Probably this would have not happened tonight But again it wasn't done the right way Thank you Motion to close public comments I'll take that motion Okay Do I have a second
okay Mr Romano and uh Mr Eric All in favor yes Okay Now we'll open up for board member comments Any board member wants to say anything mr Sheep Yes Well I I wanted to take a
moment and uh extend recogni extend my recognition for for three group of people The first recognition is for Miss Samantha Ginaldi Miss Jennifer Miss Nicole Halpin Miss Christristen and Dr Joanie I mean the way they explained the
Northstar statement journey it was inspiring I mean I see their passion in it the you know every word they use was you know wellcrafted and uh kudos to them for doing it and coming up with such a nice mission statement Uh second
rec recognition I want to extend it to Mr Kohhun and Miss Hapin again for for the speed with which they made a decision on happening you know making the CIS CS AI academy I know it's fast and I I'm sure there there are ways that
they can improve it if there were more time but I I command their courage to start and iterate because nothing is perfect whenever you do something for the first time no matter how plan how much plan you do there's always things you can change so I command the courage
to do it you know with such a fast you know less amount of less number of you know weeks and courage to trade it over the period of time And lastly I want to give recognition to Dr Ali for leading by example and empowering his team to
innovate inspire and elevate Um I I see three examples where we are making a decisions and and we are iterating over it Right one example I want to give is the sports I think last year we tried to improve our our sports scheduling by
bringing the sports inter school and and we realized it it wasn't perfect It wasn't what we wanted So we quickly changed that in the in the winter season Uh second example I guess is the selection criteria for bio academy
um administration you know realized that we could improve the selection criteria and in a matter of days based on some feedback they received they were able to update the selection criteria and accommodate more number of students and then keep the process fair and square and I guess third example is this CS CSI
academy I I don't know what iteration we are going to do next but I you know give a kudos to the entire team to start this academy uh quickly and I'm sure we'll iterate over it and then we'll make it better Thank you Thank you So um I just want to echo same
thing that that you know just example is the biomedical academy within three days after we talked to the administration and uh things changed and uh the speed and the responsiveness from the administration team Dr Alderelli Mr
Cohen and Dr us and and uh our supervisors you know the um our entire team Thank you Without your uh speedy response that would not be possible So um I also have a
question for the administration So we heard a lot of um uh requests from the public about prek So uh do we have any comments last year the uh um lottery already started
Uh Ronic touched a little bit on the uh prek situation So uh Dr Already if you uh is Dr Tul is still here yeah sure Uh Mr She um yes So I I know correspondence uh went out to um a select group of uh
prek prek students currently right now but I'm probably going to mess some of the dates up and I'm going to call Dr Tui up to the podium right now to um just kind of clarify some of the processes I think the question uh Dr Tui is uh in relationship to uh prek for the
uh upcoming school year Upcoming school year and and yes thank you Mr She and uh Mr Patel thank you for the report You did an awesome job in your first report and we didn't want to uh to preempt our board of education So as Dr Alderelli mentioned we had a communication go out to the parents of our current preK
students sitting in seats right now students who started the year at three years old and next year will be four years old Um they they have a good understanding of what the program looks like for them next year Tomorrow um any students who will be participating um and our partner locations are going to
receive communication from my office in terms of process moving forward um lottery procedures and timeline So uh by this time tomorrow night anybody who could potentially be part of our prek program will have all the information they need So this is uh uh the people who are
already registered to participate in our prek program Yes So they do need to pre-register still unless anybody who's not currently sitting in a classroom We'll need to pre-register so we can vet them for residency and then they'll participate in our lottery process Anybody who is sitting in a classroom we
already have all their registration and they'll move straight on into next year Okay Thank you No problem All right So um yeah I just uh want to mention that what Dr already mentioned and uh the spring break is coming up and it's
perfect time for the students to take a break a break and and relax and we're coming back for the uh you know the second part of of the uh the school year to finish up finish up So um with that
said uh can I have a motion to Yes just a minute Oh sorry I didn't I just had to mention this because it's just so good We all received this uh letter from John Salei about the uh JP Stevens band program on
Thursday March 20th at the CJMA Region Concert Band Festival in Monroe The JP Stevens Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band both earned gold ratings Um as a result
of their performance the wind ensemble was awarded top honors among 40 band performances across central Jersey and will represent the region region 2 in this year's evening state gala festival
a prestigious event showcasing top six ensembles across the entire state Congratulations to all the musicians on this outstanding achievement And he goes on to say that he's so happy that um it
uh continued Andy Dola's legacy He really really is so humble I thought and you know Mr Zazali has done a magnificent job moving that whole program forward in a very very positive
way You know JP Stevens band is incredible And we know from tonight's performance with Penny Montana and her group this school is one of the feeder schools for that band So you know that it's just going to keep getting better
and better Good job Mr Salei Good job kids I mean you were not only are you academically talented you're musically talented to boot Thank you for listening Thank you Any other board member any comments chris
thank you President She Yeah I just want to uh just echo about the empower Edison What a fantastic endeavor I coming from I I am a scientist I am an inventor and when I hear people excited about ideas I get excited because I know I know what it feels like to bring something forward
and to see it through to fruition You know kudos I I think it's a fantastic endeavor and uh I hope to hear more fantastic things from them uh to to come Um secondly I think we had our ETA president up here at the the podium Um I
think he used the word uh irresponsible but quite frankly I would actually say that's too soft of a word right now Um and um I would like to say that uh in your 20 in the 20 uh March I'm
sorry May 21st 2024 email uh Mr that you sent out You sent out how the uh staff ranked the brokers correct and uh different categories how they ranked their strengths Um and um Brown and
Brown came up on top unanimously across four people Um honestly I don't know I can't even put it uh into kind words right now to see them dismissed Um but uh I just wanted to make a note that somebody who did not make the cut was
Alamo and I hope not to see them back Thank you Thank you Any other board member comments all right Can I have a motion to do we have a motion to motion motion
Motion to adjurnn Motion tojourn Okay Second Second Okay Done All right All in favor hi All right Meeting is adjourned Thank you very much