[Music] God indivisible andice roll call please yes Mr shei here Mr vop Patel here miss Pang here miss white here Mr
Rano here miss Patel here Mr Lugo Mr ronac Patel here Mr ero yeah here you have a Corum thank you opening statement yes in accordance
with the open public meetings act uh Public Law C or 1975c 231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has caused I'm sorry uh has published notice of this meeting 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 the Star Ledger thank you yes audit presentation Dr AR yeah so the um uh our audit presentation is going to
be done by uh HFA is that the uh yep correct um that's going to be presented uh at our Action meeting um they will be talking about um uh state of the budget findings Mr sure they're going to they're going to speak to uh our fund
balance uh at the end of June 30th 2024 they're also going to speak to our findings and corrective action plan we do have one finding which is actually a good finding uh we have uh too much money in our Enterprise uh fund that's
from our food services operations uh you're not supposed to have more than 3 months worth of expenditures um in that fund we do um we will uh use those funds obviously we're going to invest back into the program on uh uh more Capital
Equipment and uh upgrades to the cafeteria seating uh but that's the only finding we have uh so all in all we have an unmodified opinion highest level of attestation one can receive so uh it's something to be very proud of uh as a board and uh as a
district right thank you strategic Plan update yeah our um our second presentation for our Action meeting is going to be uh our pillar of programs Pathways uh and proficiency that is going to be done by our both of our co-chairs uh our chief academic officer
for Elementary Miss Bender Gomer um as well as uh Nicole Halpin um supervisor here in Edison Township uh to talk uh all about the Fantastic programs uh and access that we're going to be providing
students um from K to 12 so keeping the momentum going all right thank you so board presid comments I have a lot to say but I'll keep it on Tuesday uh there are a lot of good things that's
happening it's all good so uh I'll say it on Tuesday and I hope we can wrap up this uh open session in record time great uh superintendent report yeah yeah uh thank you board president she um
yes so um if the uh the board you know obviously we had the opportunity to look at the agenda right now we'll go over a couple of the highlighted Alum uh uh items under Administration uh we have a resolution for uh youth art month which is for March time to celebrate creativity uh the talents of our
students um you know I don't have to tell this this body here or members of the audience our district takes immense Pride um in our Arts programs uh the access that students have as well as the success they receive on both ends of town um that would not be done without a
supportive board um as well as talented students and a fabulous staff so um looking forward to celebrating youth art month in March uh also on the agenda are a list of policies uh Strauss Esme uh which is our uh uh uh program that we
utilize for policy updates uh in concert with uh our attorneys as well as our board committee uh we've had uh alert 234 which talked about the memorandum of agreement uh uh there were a bunch of mandatory policies related there to um
uh our operations between law enforcement officials as well as uh revisions to state laws with uh Hib um our general policies also we talked about that are listed right there today they range from Food Service to uh use of cellular phones uh some of which
are mandatory other which are policies that we revised for existing ones uh we also had one that was tabled from the last meeting also just to um for uh clerical component which we've addressed um as well uh also under admin under Administration we will be approving the
hi report uh from January uh we are proud of the field trips that we offer uh to our students for the many different things that they uh that they attend right from after school activities for the programs um extremely excited about that uh that the board
provides not only the funding for that but also supports the um the extracurricular components also and our staff too that um you know that that go above and beyond just to make sure that uh they have chaperon for those trips too so greatly appreciate we have our
professional development also which we are committed to making sure that our teachers and administrators are getting the best uh very best training uh exciting we have a bunch of uh new courses that we're approving uh AP courses as well as honors um expanded opportunities for our students uh that
they talked about during uh the last curriculum committee meeting and we'll expand upon that during the minutes of the next next uh Action meeting and for our pupil Services we have um our outof district students as well as educational placements um based on mckenny vento uh
just a couple additional pieces that I know are usually highlights for this time of month uh we do anticipate uh approving a school calendar um relatively soon uh we have the opportunity to review it not only in-house um uh but we've gotten suggestions from staff as well too uh
board members are currently reviewing it also um so hopefully will'll be able to um maybe put that on for uh Tuesday's agenda um still a little bit of a work in progress just working out a couple things but um I'm confident we can get it there uh there was uh a change to the
Board of Education meeting as well too uh you know we were we were planning on opening up JP Stevens uh with a bang in March uh and uh unfortunately uh we we're unable to do that JP is a little bit delayed um so we thought that we would move that meeting to the May
meeting which is probably one of our biggest attended uh you know attended meetings uh May and June right we have staff recognition in May student recognition in June so what better way to open up uh both of those programs
with uh a brand new Auditorium over at JP Stevens um we're also going to post some slides of our current expansion projects coming up um so if you arrive early to the board meeting next Tuesday they'll be posted up on the screen um uh and last last but not least listen you
know February and and January you know if you've been here the entire time in New Jersey it's been cold uh it's been extremely cold it was 26 degrees this week last week was freezing cold too March 20th is the March is the first day of spring which we are hopefully uh you
know come sooner than later and we start to see some of the warm weather um you know we have had a few heating issues in some of our schools um you know that's what happens sometimes with you know equipment that uh has been in the building since 1954 you know in certain
cases but uh you know our staff has done a really good job is the minute that it you know it's brought to our attention um our buildings and grounds uh uh director and assistant are right on top of it you know we get our in-house people in as well as the vendors uh we work on it as fast as we po possibly can
you know the last thing we want is to provide an a freezing cold environment to to students building principles have done a great job of relocating um those classrooms that were affected uh to the spaces that have heat so I want to commend them and I also want to thank the staff for being really flexible with
that too and the students also so um looks like it's going to be 42 degrees this weekend and hopefully that's a sign of things to come sunscreen yeah and sunscreen exactly exactly and and that concludes my report Mr Mr she thank
you um agenda uh items review yep you and then yeah John Financial stuff oh yes okay great my portion um item one's your standard Financial reports um however on that will be the uh comprehensive financial
report like I said unmodified opinion one comment which is a really good one having too much money is a great thing um I'd like to take this time to thank my staff Miss bety Miss Raymond Miss Mendes um Miss Kellerman uh Mr Garland
they were instrumental uh all year and you know going through the audit process um streamlining things um and and overhauling the business office with myself and the rest of the business office staff including payroll um everyone involved that it it really has
been uh a really big team uh job so I'd like to thank them all for their hard work uh we have some contract Awards coming up uh we're going to be awarding uh a contract for magga math a software license um Apple computer iPads I think for set grade one the entire grade one's
going to be getting an iPad so they could probably teach me how to use it because I probably don't know how that well um but all in all not too many contracts procurement we're going to be uh we were out to bid for Marshall for the addition and renovation we're going
to have to reject unfortunately the bids at this time we received some correspondence from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection they want us to uh redesign some of the Wastewater fun uh management system I think it was originally designed to be an underground
system with piping and all sorts of you know things like that and now it's what's going to be they want it above ground so we're going to have that redesigned and we'll get it out to bid as soon as possible but we do have two other bids that we're going to be uh awarding one is for switch gear at
Edison High School so uh I think the original gear is what's powering the building so we're going to have all new switch gear there um and also the other one is for the interior Renovations and secure vestibule uh phase one of Edison High School so uh two new projects
that'll be awarded both uh under budget which which is great news uh we have a minor change order at JP for some uh additional testing uh that's going to be charged to the allowance so no additional cost um and we're going to be receiving uh a stem
grant for ,200 uh $ 122,500 and uh that's it for this time no Transportation contracts yet yet thank you Mr to all right so uh you know going along
the agenda so seeing it's cold outside um I like to switch the order uh for the comments so I'm to open up for public comments so anyone public wants to speak yes yes go ahead Anthony Mara 5 ketto Court in
Edison I've been coming before the board now for roughly a year speaking on policy 5756 almost exclusively and I have brought God into my conversation almost every time why because he is the central
Focus you can't thumb your nose in God's face time and time again and expect him to ignore it a year coming before this board and no action you took a swing at it back in September and October unfor fortunately it didn't come to fruition
there were three board members who had the courage to do the right thing and vot to bip but that didn't didn't work because we didn't have all the votes God says have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and for this reason
a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh no longer two but one two genders not male female and a host of others two I've spoken of the golden rule do
unto others as you you would have him do un to you is there a person in this room is there a person anywhere in this state who wants to be kept in the dark your children are contemplating changing gender the whole idea of it is is
ludicrous and you're not told because this policy says keep you don't tell you you're a mom and a dad and you're not told come on and this is your decision you've asked you want this you want to keep the parents and edicine
in the dark do you want to be kept in the dark that's hypocrisy if you don't I've spoken of the fifth commandment on your mom and dad I suspect there are mothers and fathers on this board do you feel honored by being kept
in the dark I think not every every person has a spiritual heart I'm not talking about the organ that pumps blood there's a spiritual counterpart you can't see it you can't constantly ignore truth and expect it to
remain static it's going to harden you either go toward the truth or you walk away from it time and time again now our God is a forgiven God he's a merciful god but you can't your nose in his face time and time again and expect nothing
to happen the truth will come to light one day it's going to happen it's happening in other towns recently uh mororo Middletown I think one of the other M towns down there uh abolished 5756 and it's happening other in other towns in
in New Jersey you either be part of it or you're you're not part of it if you're not part of it it's going to happen be part of it stand up for the children in this town do the right thing
and of course 5756 says the boys can compete with girls how ridiculous how absurd in my day that would have been a joke now it has to be it it has to be
shown to be wrong and and the and the restrooms you want your mom in a restroom where there's a guy in there pretending to be a girl 5756 is not mandatory so some may say well if we abolish it what do we replace it with a
common sense policy a policy that says let's tell our children those who are contemplating changing gender of the risks involved you're going to have surgery you're going to take drugs they have permanent
consequences you have surgeries you cut off a body part it's not growing back you think they're not going to regret that later I'm 68 oh I'm can't I'm 68 or 69 years old I'm 68 I've made decisions I've regretted I wonder if there's
anyone who hasn't they're children you think they're not not going to regret something like that you wonder why the suicide rate amongst transgenders is so high it's claimed that it's it's because it's Prejudice that nonsense we have a fundamentally
ingrained gender and recently the Department of Housing Health and Human Services and the federal government has issued a statement they're basically only two genders they say yes it's it's it's following president Trump's declarations those are common sense
declarations abolish 5756 bless the students of our town send a message that says Edison knows that they're only two genders we don't want our children harming themselves we don't
accept this as correct policy we don't want to teach that gender can be changed only later for the children to to resent it we're the Educators we're the grown-ups we're supposed to show the children yeah this is right and this is
wrong please abolish apolog 5756 and do not keep ignoring it do it now please thank you thank you very much anybody else see none can I have a motion to end
public comments motion so who's first Ty goes to the runner okay Joe Wi all right all in favor I I okay right so uh now we're going to go
to board member comments any board members yes thank you Mr shei I just wanted to uh thank the uh Chinese school at Edison High School for inviting us over there to celebrate uh it was amazing ceremony uh with the young kids and uh
the adults they put on a great show every year that's probably my fifth or sixth time to have gone there also um we attended last night a uh I don't know what it was called it was way over my head though Tech yeah some techn know Green
New Deal stuff and um the kids was unbelievably bright they lost me after they said like Dr said when they said pollution after the next 10 words were too big for me uh but they did a great job teacher yeah I'm not a science teacher I'm glad yeah really and then uh
today we went to the volleyball uh tournament up at JP Stevens where the ETA raises funds for you know local charities and things like that so uh you know I try to get to as many events as I can and I enjoy every one of them thank you Mr she thank you anybody else yeah
jior I also went to the it's the mid I for it uh the mid Grand technical review you know and they gave us a survey to feedback they were incredible there were only nine of them and if you had seen them you would have been nothing but
proud I mean they were just so and it's true if you got through the first few words then you were out in a different realm they all they should all be in some Think Tank somewhere because that's how good they were they were just so so
great and um their their goal is to you know save the ridan river and they they're creating all these different things to take care of the pollution and and if you would anybody that's lived here forever you know you know how bad
the rarin it was and still is like my father used to say don't ever eat a fish or crab from that river ever you know and you know it was that's just how polluted it was from Kim buuk and from you know uh the Arsenal and all that runoff and stuff it really was abused
and they are trying to clean it up but these kids and I hope they do the magic that you need to do to get that done you know so you know we have to support them because it's just it was an honor to sit there and listen to them I was so proud
to be part of that and that's it for me okay anybody else Mr Shing yes yes uh I too was amazed at our students uh they they took up they took up on a
project I mean r River has been uh questionable for years uh myself I'm a resident of 55 years and uh I wouldn't go near
it uh we have a boat dock okay and we have people launching boats alongside a Kim buuk now anybody know what Kim buuk is well Kim buuk you can't walk on it that's how bad it is and at times at
times at certain times it glows you're right Andy it does glow uh but we've managed to cap that the EPA we had uh three sites in Edison uh that were super
fun sites and we're working on those these kids no young students young adults they're working they're working to take and take a tiny step on cleaning up the
river I think think I think it might be taped I'm not sure and if you get a chance to look at it and listen to the students be proud our students are doing the job now we need
more and I want to help them so I'm just going to ask everybody if you can I think it's could be on the board uh something on the board on our website take a look look at it and then
go our students are doing the right thing our parents and our teachers are doing the right thing just step up and help them that's all I have to say thank you for everything they did a great job M she so I want to talk about two
things one is appreciation and second is call for Action so I want to appreciate Miss Valentine she started a program using the win period it's called I think sing Symposium harup Symposium where um they partnered the students with the
teacher to come up with the passion projects and then I attended the events where the kids were pitching the passion projects to you know other you know other residents from the town and I was amazed you know seventh grader eighth grader coming up with the passion project some of them wanted to create a
website some of them wanted to sell certain products that they are passionate about um so I I want to give kudos to um principal to come up with the idea and and I want to call for action for all the other Middle School principles to come up with similar
programs so Mr Kohan if you can communicate to them and see if they can offer similar programs or other programs like that in a school just real quick this is a program that sorry so everyone can hear on yeah so the good news is this is a program that uh I launched in partnership with big
picture learning we initiated it as a way in which to reach students that needed a little bit of extra support in feeling part of a community and building relationships with with staff we piloted it at woodro Wilson and at jams and the success has been great we've been doing a lot of assessment hearing from the
kids what they benefit from it as well as looking at are we seeing improvements in attendance and grades and we are and so I'm meeting with uh Brian McGrath and um antonet emden on Wednesday to talk about bringing it to their schools and we'd like to have it at all four middle schools next year perfect you ahead of
me thank you all right so um I just have a a couple quick things uh yesterday was the 100th day of the school so we're more than half over we are on the uh home stretch I hope we'll have a a very
successful school year um the other thing is um the uh Community Relations Committee we sent out a uh an email to all the parents ask them to join to the parent advisory committee
and uh within two days that two days we received over 150 something registrations so that will make I work a little bit harder to you know to pick the uh the 50 parents so um uh this is the first step uh this is the first
meeting and we'll have more meetings um this is more of a general meeting and based on the topics that were uh that's coming up uh we discuss we might you know tlor into different groups elementary middle or high school because they have different issues but this is
the first step and um we want to hear uh from the students uh is the stages program and we also want to hear from the parents that's the parent advisory committee so uh just stay tuned we have a lot of good things that's coming and these parents will be notified the
meeting will be uh on the 27th 7:00 that 7 o' here in the S Center so uh um hope that we'll see a lot of uh collaboration a lot of energy um in the room when we all when we all had the 54 kids here for
the sages program all right um so with that said um if we don't have any other board member comments we're going to adjourn to the privilege session in accordance with the njsa section 10.4 hyphen 12 the Edison
Township Board of Education adjourns to confidential session for the purpose of discussing the following confidential personnel and board matters pending litigation student matters legal matters hip appeal can I have a motion to
adjourn to the privilege session motion to appeal all right uh do I need a roll call on this do a Voice vote if you like yeah can I have a all in favor okay any NS okay uh we don't
expect to come back to have any other uh uh actions so I see you guys on Tuesday in the new beautiful Herber Hoover Auditorium uh Jim I'm sorry sorry Auditorium is next okay
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