thank you adequate notice of this regularly scheduled meeting of the Frenchtown Board of Education has been provided in accordance with the open public meeting act by notification to the Hunton County Democrat on January 16 2025 a copy of this notice has also been
posted at the public school at the municipal building and filed with the burough clerk and we'll say the pledge i aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible liberty and justice for all mr blackburn here mr germany here miss Howard here miss Klein here Miss Nekahara here Miss Partella here Mrs nent here um before we move further in
the meeting we have a special announcement to make tonight so I'm going to turn it over to Jim for that all right thank you um good evening everyone uh we were able to have such a
awesome celebration more recently not only um with our faculty team um but also our all our students as well um as we found out I guess a little bit over a week ago that um Mrs igyard school
counselor and social worker um won our or won our county counselor of the year which is pretty awesome um I just wanted to say we could say so many things about Mrs iggy but first off
um we just really want to compliment her and I'll I'll speak a lot more on Friday but um exceptional work in promoting character education supporting mental health fostering positive behavior throughout our school would be a key member of our child study team um she's
developed many comprehensive chapter education program that teachers that teaches student core values like respect responsibility um and empathy through weekly lessons and group activities um and most of all her unwavering commitment to foster a supportive inclusive and respectable environment
here at FPS that makes her an invaluable part of our school and community she truly deserves this recognition so come on up here that's okay congratulations thank you okay thank you um before moving into
public comment I just had a brief statement that I wanted to read um from the board um it has been brought to our attention that some information about our grading policy that was shared at the last meeting may have been misleading due to
board members sharing their personal perspective at the time a committee of the board is currently working along with our staff and administration to review the grading policy we currently have in place any changes or additions to that policy will be communicated to
the school community upon completion of the work we strongly encourage any members of the public who have concerns about their child's grades to review the procedure for grading with their classroom teacher if the issue cannot be resolved at at that level we encourage
you to contact the CSA for the board policy on grading please refer to policy 6147.1 as well as the student handbook additionally at the last meeting there was significant leniency given to public
comment um and I take full responsibility for that um moving forward um we as a board and I personally will make an effort to limit public comment to what is defined in our agenda the board will take questions under consideration and reply at the
following meeting when necessary unless the question can be answered very simply um and just for clarification what is um stated on our agenda is the following um any anyone wishing to speak before the board may do so during the public
commentary portion of the agenda the presenter shall give his her name and address and make the presentation as brief as possible unless an extension of time is given each speaker shall be limited to three minutes speakers may offer suggestions or express their
concerns however in public session the board will not discuss concerns about individual students or staff members other more appropriate channels are available for expressing concerns about individual students or staff members okay um and having finished that
statement we'll move on at this time to public comment if anybody has any tonight oh yeah have to stand up state your name ashley Rodriguez Fifth Street French Town um there's been a lot of chatter about
the strategic planning meetings and parents are curious on the next meeting because they like we did so well the first two meetings and then she kind of lost us at the end of that last meeting so some of us were wondering if that was something
that was discussed with her or if it's going to be brought to her attention um yes that's actually on the agenda for tonight and after tonight's discussion um I will be emailing everybody who attended the last strategic planning
meeting to kind of go over what we'll do uh for next time thank you any other public comments tonight okay um then we will move oh we'll look forward to our
strategic plan update that worked out okay um so as a member of our public pointed out um we ended the last meeting kind of on a you know where do we go from here
note um Rachel and I met with our rep from New Jersey school boards about how to move forward um and at the next meeting and one of the things we felt strongly about that came out and and we as a board discussed was kind of having
a um a strategic planning vision um that would enable us to kind of move forward within those larger goal areas um to to then break down into groups in those goal areas and come up with some
um more concrete goals um so some of the steps um and board members you have this in your packet but some of the steps that we're proposing for meeting three is um number one to expand the meeting to two hours to
enable us to come to a consensus on the vision statement um in the first half hour or so of that meeting um we'll present an inclusive vision statement for discussion and integrate the group's
input um and then our um rep from New Jersey school boards will provide a clear explanation and directions for goal development she'll outline for the group the purpose of goal setting and give examples of items that are and are
not strategic goals um and then um the we'll divide into groups to create goals in those major goal areas and the final PL the final plan will be presented to the board for approval at a
meeting in the future after that um and everybody who's attended strategic planning will be invited back to that meeting um it'll be a regular board meeting but at that time um the public will have an opportunity to review it and to
comment um so I hope that explains um did anybody on the board have Yeah great i just I just wanted to add to that that one of the things we talked about was because we're a small school and Jim is
only Jim one gym who is both the principal and the CSA that we wanted to make sure that instead of having an exhaustive list of goals because we had five goals last time to see if we were able to get it down to maybe three goal areas so there
could be some real focus and depth on things that might genuinely be achievable so that was the other thing we talked about and we really did emphasize with Patty taking time to give the participants
clear instruction on what they're what they're being asked to do and what a strategic goal is i know I'm repeating a little bit um so that people are clear about what they're doing and why and why and then
what those goals will be used for and then how Jim will be responsible for turning them into an actual implementation plan so we want people to really understand what they're doing and why it's important and how it relates so
yeah that yeah um the goal setting I think is absolutely the the critical mission of the strategic planning effort um the vision I guess is also important but I'm not sure how we
could you know come up with a vision statement in a half an hour with a group that big um as well as really focus on the goals and I'm wondering if we should maybe set aside the visioning exercise for another time or or maybe correct me
if I'm wrong how important is it to the to the goal setting process may I have respond to that of course so um I have opinions here so um I feel like if different visions lend you have the same goal buckets for example we might have an academic bucket we'll surely have
that but then the this the strategies under that might be different for a different vision so if the vision is around for example the main vision is about leveraging the assets of the community and nature then that's going
to look a little different than if the than if the vision is more around sort of development of the whole person so the way you articulate the vision really helps frame how you how you do that the
the struggle I think and I think it's a real struggle and I'm not sure we have the right answer it's an answer in terms of approach is we had so many so much vision we had a very
broad and we really don't want to exclude any of that um and I think it was clear in the last board meeting that people feel strongly that they want their vision to be reflected so we made
a vision we made a draft vision statement which is kind of a mush of the visions that were articulated by each group and then I hope that there's
a a a really energetic and thoughtful conversation about what's important what isn't what goes what stays what we emphasize what we don't i mean that's it's it's super imperfect yeah but well I'm glad you already have
a draft a draft mission um vision statement that's terrific i guess a starting off place i thought we kind of were creating it from scratch from the great big pool of ideas we had last time what I what I see it the vision as is
kind of a um put it um just kind of a consolidation of all the outcomes um and I I think that you know we definitely had some people at the meeting last time who really um wanted that and thought it was
important before we go into the goal setting um to kind of define what this strategic planning group Okay was feeling yeah really my only concern was will we have enough time yeah well we we did talk about that and we were like you
know maybe we should do a fourth meeting to but then I felt like you know we've asked like we've said from the beginning it's a three meeting commitment and I felt you know concerned about asking people to come out for a fourth time that work out we'll see how we'll see
how it goes can I clarify the vision statement is this going to be the vision statement for Frenchtown school just for the strategic planning process yes and thank you for clarify that I just what it's for the strategic planning procision for which The goals are enrich
them yes it is are it is what do you mean well we're not the board is not going to adopt a vision statement at this time but the during the strategic planning process the community is meant to come up with a vision statement for
Frenchtown Elementary the school right no that's not then we're on a we're on totally different pages isn't that Isn't that what we're we're developing is is um a vision statement for the district
and goals that align with that vision to focus on over the next five years we not a mission okay not no I understand the difference um but that is the so the
purpose of the vision statement is to ensure that the strategic planning process that the goal strategic goals developed in the strategic planning process align with a commun shared community vision of where the school is
going so yeah I agree with that but if we in order to create that kind of a vision statement that would have to be approved by the board but it will with the um strategic plan it will be it will be
part of part of the strategic plan it will be the what is adopted the vision and the goals will all be adopted and voted on and official i mean how does everybody else feel about that that's what I thought we
were doing well I just think about you know the goals that like the the goals that we've set as a board versus just it being a little uh muddled in terms of we have all these different goals now we have the goals we set as a board and then we have the strategic
planning goals for the next five years and the and I don't know I do we have as a school a mission or a vision statement just we have a mission statement we don't have a vision statement so would I be wrong in my interpretation
my understanding is we have the goals for the current year 2425 that we set out for ourselves and now we're engaging in the strategic planning process And the point of that is to create a shared vision with the whole community around for the next 5 years here's where
the school wants to be so it's kind of a future focused vision versus like this is our mission and this is what we're about day in and day out and then the goals that come out of the strategic planning process would then influence the 25 26 school year and the following four years that would influence the
goals we set for ourselves and the goals that Jim sets for himself and the staff for the next five years so it's almost like at the end of this year we look through our strategic plan and that informs what we do going forward is that a Okay that's my understanding as well
so I love the fact that we've we're suggesting the expansion of the two hours because I think there's so much energy in the room and people are so committed i don't think a single person is going to be like oh no too you know people I think people are really engaged
and want to contribute um my one input would be the same way that Patty is giving a clear expect explanation and a set of kind of directions for the goals i think a clear explanation for what a vision is is also going to be really helpful if we're asking folks to develop
one and so like we've got kind of a draft here which I think it includes everything that was discussed in the room but from my experience working on vision statements and this is again in for-profit companies so I recognize it's a different process but generally they
are tend to be a bit more tighter and focused mostly because if you have a vision that is so broad it becomes really unruly in trying to execute and I think for a small school with limited resources we might need similar focus of
Patty giving kind of a a a broad sense to folks of like here's what a vision is here's how it's used here's how it could influence the goals and here's kind of the the pros and cons of having one that's broad versus one that's narrow and letting people decide which way they
go but I think if we choose to go with kind of a broader vision statement I think it's really important folks understand that there's going to be some drawbacks to that and if we choose a narrower one same thing but like I think a little bit of level setting from Patty is going to be important for the group
because even now like we're sort of working through it and some of us have done it before anything else okay um so I will send out an email to um folks who attended
both the first and second meeting or either the first or second meeting um with what we've talked about tonight and um you know continuing to spread the word um okay so we'll move on to our board secretary report um Teresa
anything that you specifically wanted to point out um no except what's listed nothing additional um then we'll move on to the minutes yeah update on the Yes psc yes meeting
which happens only twice a year so this is my chance to show you wasn't terribly eventful um so the educational educational services uh commission is um serve its own district in the county um that provides services to our school i
think primarily transportation for us um what else do they do for us we don't do very much what they usually do i didn't think so but they are required to have a member of of our board on their board um and that's me this time um or has been me um but there were some things they
brought up which I thought were interesting um first that they participate in the same cooperative purchasing agreement that we do um so it goes beyond just our little you know sunny district group um uh their budget is increasing by 2% um so I guess
they're sort of subject to the same kind of rules we are even though their budget comes from this districts that contribute to them they're not really their own tax base um there was a question from one of the board members about u if there are cuts in federal funding what are the
potential impacts um at uh ESC um one of them one of the cut programs that might be cut would be adult basic education um uh because they can't come back to our districts the you know the participating districts to ask for money for that because you know we're we're
elementary and secondary uh uh programs um that's a budget of 1.5 million that might go away if if that's if if it does get cut by uh the federal government um and lastly uh they receive um uh funds
for individual disabilities the idea program um this year's budget will be 75% of last so that's being cut back in age two say that again i'm sorry the individuals with disabilities is being cut or would
be they've told the budget for 75% of what they had last year okay includes my my report thank you Adam you're welcome um okay so we'll need a motion to approve the um February 25th regular and executive
session minutes any comments or questions on the minutes all those in favor opposed or abstain abstain and 8.1 will need a motion to approve the preschool expansion aid budget in
the amount of $714,649 moved second any comments or questions on 8.1 that we'll need a roll call can I just um clarify yes okay so the reason
that the amount um is is at 714 um is because we had a carryover amount since our program started in the middle of last year and we didn't open the second classroom so there's carryover um funds and they don't carry over to the the
next succeeding year it skips a year so it wasn't part of the 2425 but is part of the 2526 so there was about um over $200,000 that's part of this is sort of a a one-time you know increase in what
we have so we have those funds already and they're going to be they'll be planned in for um spending in 2526 okay any questions about that then we'll need a roll call
mr blackburn yes mr dy yes miss Howard yes miss Klein yes miss Nahara yes miss Parta yes mrs nent yes and and we will need a motion to adopt the tenative budget for 2526
so move second comments or questions about the budget what did our tax are going to be was it 1.95 for Jim is that what you mentioned yeah one we're down to one 1.95%
um right teresa I just want to make sure thank you yes I do want to thank Jim and Tera for um all of their hard work and resourcefulness and creativeness um and
um you know we know you put a lot of hours into it and we really appreciate it thank you so we'll need a roll call on that as well Mr blackburn yes mr germany yes miss Howard yes miss Klein yes miss
Nahara yes miss Partell yes mrs na yes um and we will move forward to Mr h's report um I just I really wanted to say thank you for that support because um and I'm
gonna you know reiterate like Teresa I can't thank you enough for your support in that but also to to feel the support of the board in that process um really means a lot so I want that noted and thank you um all right so
um chief school administrator we're just going over we have um HIV obviously we zero this month um no separate uh suspension our security drill and fire drill um for February and then twice a
year we have to report out um and we've I think we've done this a couple times now board of education where we have to report out what what things are we doing to support um to support you know what what kind of
education are we giving our students and staff and in order to support students um you know staying in that lane of kindness and respect staying out of the HIV world um and doing things um and I think you know each year through the support of you know as we talked about
many of the teachers that play a role in this Mr ziggy Mr on Tempo all these um different people the nurse and so forth that play a role in this um you know each year we we've been able to increase the programs right and programs look differently you know
programs can be as simple as we know um having a character education lesson which we do monthly and different topics as well as bringing in Marley for once a month to just because it's Friday and because it's Monday and maybe we're coming off the weekend and we just got to do a good thing here um to get
everybody motivated for the week um it can be targeted situations where we have refreshers with groups we have set that we do at the beginning of the year mid year but sometimes we need a little refresher we're getting um you hear a couple things hey let's bring everybody back and reset um so we have been
focusing in a number of ways um with our team's also part of that team to leave her name out um who's who's been helping us so um last year at this time you know I know we often talk about that but we were at 42 programs last year at this
point this year we were 61 in the same time frame um I I keep saying at some point we're not going to be able to keep increasing that um but I do think our team is is coming up with more creative
ideas to embed in our daily education and I think that's why you're seeing more of this go on um so that's where we're at with that report as far as trainings go it's not about quantity right it relates to that the it's specific people um that are on
our um but yes you know and and so the trainings isn't going to always be because we don't have to do it every year um but we should and you know get make sure somebody's doing it each year when it comes to our HIV um our anti-bullying coordinate coordinator and our anti-bullying specialists um versus
our behavior threat assessment team so that's that was the new thing last year so that's why it was higher because we had all everyone member of our school and safety team um we got trained with the course of last year so everybody's been trained on that too which brings
another um it brings another piece to that puzzle of how to best support a student best support the class around um other students in the school and sometimes the staff as well so I'm seeing a whole bunch of zeros here you think that is that an improved
effectiveness over prior years um so last year at the same time we had you as so we had one we had one at that one HIV confirmed at this time last year whereas this year we don't
currently have one at this point [Music] yeah of course Let's yeah let's move um a motion to affirm the HIV regos or abstain to the you want you want me to jump I
can we can we can do it together if you'd like um I think you know we've had So 9.2 we've had discussion about our um immigrant students and families right we had a
really um supportive discussion last month um we've been continuing to be in touch with our local superintendent and be you know keep in contact with what's going on in our county and throughout the state um we've connected with our council on this just to continue to work
through um one of the things I just felt I felt such a a supportive nature from our board on this um that I felt like let's just get the let's do a resolution right now because the the policy process takes a little bit of time um so you
know I'm happy to sit here with you know the board of education to say we'd like to um be resolved that Frenchtown Board of Education fully supports the guidance titled school related um and federal requirements finish the second half of it pertaining pertaining to immigrant
students and families issued by the NJ NJDOE ensuring safety security and well-being of all regardless of immigration status um and I I just want to add on to that that I did I did speak to our um legal council about this um
and she said that it's such a fluid um kind of situation that they're you know stress stress and New Jersey school boards are working on policies there are very few in the state that have been
adopted um so she it was also her suggestion that she said she said I you know you if you guys want to be proactive and adopt a policy you absolutely should but in the meantime you might want to consider a resolution while that's kind of getting worked out
over the next Yeah she doesn't think it's going to be a long time um but over the next couple of months maybe um and she said you know when we were speaking she said it sounds to me like what you want to do is just make a stand saying
that how important the safety of your students is and she said you know her suggestion was to communicate that with the resolution now and follow it up with a policy um when we have more information to work with so we we will continue to work on that in the coming
weeks but um we just wanted to make sure that we had this moment and you know because I felt you know we all felt very supportive from our last meeting and um okay so um we'll need a motion to
approve the resolution so move oh sorry all seven any comments or questions it's a good start glad you're addressing it like that for now yeah and then we will we'll get to it in policy we're
obviously made some adjustments just with our language when it comes to um visitors so we'll talk about a little bit more when we get there so this is step one we're going to talk about step two which will take a little bit with the policy revision um and then we'll continue to you know work with our local
um superintendent group and you know hear what other boards of education are doing as well but you know we've been speaking to our attorney as K said as well okay all those in favor opposed to abstain
okay and then the calendar so knocking on wood that all right calendar revision uh so speaking to um a lot of the local superintendents we this meeting they move forward with um what are we going to do um so we're aligned
with three two other schools um Holland and Kingwood to my best knowledge in our discussion that are just going to take the last two days of school year off um so that's my recommendation for us to do that as Well um so that would just for those eighth grade parents um that'll
put us as the 12th with the last day of school on Wednesday and Tuesday night the 11th would be graduation no I'm saying I'm saying sorry Tuesday the 10th yeah
Tuesday the 10th sorry thank you tuesday the 10th and Wednesday Tuesday the 10th would be graduation and Wednesday the 11th is our last day thank you it's two days because we were the full all right do we have a motion to approve
the revised calendar so move a second all those in favor i opposed or abstain no more snow days I guess huh not going to run yeah you never know we will come back to
this um Okay um I just have a couple of things we already discussed strategic planning um but um I wanted to let the board know that um so um for those of you who are unsure we've had we've had
the same attorney for I think like 10 I don't know how long but a lot of years um and more recently in the last couple of years we've also had a special ed counsel um who frankly works more with
the district than our other attorney does um but uh both of those attorneys have left the firm that we contracted with um so and we haven't really I don't
think we've even heard from the firm as far as like oh you know you can use this person now um so we're kind of up in the air we do however have our um our special ed council was voted on and we are still
communicating with her and like when I I reached out to her last week about some legal counsel so and she's she's well verssed in all areas not just special ed so um for the time being um
we are using her um and moving forward if it's if it's okay with the board we'll continue to use her until we come to our reorg meeting at which time if the board wants to go out
and interview other attorneys or if you know we'll get some recommend recommendations from um those of us who have worked with andor our other attorney um but that's where we stand stand now
we do have legal counsel but it is not the um the firm that we have contracted with is now um this our special ed counsel who is on her own what's the name of the special counsel
the individual the individual it's Jodie Howlet howlet so now she's functioning for both people she's functioning as our council yeah whereas we used to have two well we used to have the whole firm oh so you could
you know um we had you know Bruce Padulla was our our legal counsel for years and then um he actually encouraged us to work with Jod for special ed issues but she like it that
They both can kind of do anything but she would you know oh so she was a special ed specialist within the firm yeah yeah does she handle any other districts completely or is she's most of her other clients are mostly focused on
special ed i'm sure she does because even in my conversations she's referred to counsel that she's given to other districts on things that are not special ed in nature um but we can get that information
certainly um I will say that you know when we years ago when we hired the lawyer that we hired at the time um we did so because of the nature of our district we're such a small district
and like we went to interview some firms that like barely even returned the phone call and I'm not saying this to take anything away from Bruce but one of the things in addition to the fact that we felt he was good at what he did one of the things
the thing we like most about him is that you know he calls and he's responsive and um you know we don't speak and Jod is the same way like we don't speak to them that often but when we need them they're responsive and that's in my
opinion really important um I'll be required to have retained a separate lawyer for special ed is she we just have Okay just happen to have them both yeah and she she's a part of the Machado group now um just so Okay yeah just so
people are clear on that and you know we can but yes I mean I don't I don't know specifically um I you know when we call she backs up like you said and that's um important and been helpful to us bruce hadn't had been at Machado is that where
he was no he was at they were both the history is they were both they did work together Mary and Jacobs right and at at that firm we used them both
right but for separate things and then Jody left and went to Macado and we stayed with Bruce for at Clearary Gio bruce has now left Clearary Gio and started his own firm okay and we didn't
get an offer from Clary Gobe to say "Well here's now who you can contact as your representative." Bruce has reached out and said you know here's my firm um and you know so Jody you we
can choose right now who we want i mean I would recommend that we do an RFP either way because you're really supposed to do an RFP especially if you don't have that doesn't mean we have to choose anybody else it just means that we should do the process now should that
be done at this point or at reorder i think it should be done now to a for the school year to for July 1st oh okay all right um do we need to vote to move
forward to do the RFP or can we just I mean maybe that you're authorizing me to you know to solicit RFPs but legal legal accounting okay um Okay
um I think that's all I have other than a couple of things in executive sessions um so before we move forward then we'll need a motion to uh move forward with an
RFP for legal counsel second all those in favor i oppose or abstain okay moving forward on the agenda we'll go to 11.1 and we should also have one to appoint Mcato for the balance of the
school year okay um then we will need a motion to appoint Makado Legal Firm for the from now until June 30th so moved to have second okay all those
in favor opposed or abstain now we'll need a motion to approve the first reading of policy um 1250 i'll second okay um Jim do you want to do a little
just let us know what's changed here yeah so we just you know we in our after our visitor visitors anyone that's you know just describing who the visitor is we added um chief school administrator design um each possess the authority to
prohibit any person into a school district where it's reasonably the person would be enimical to the good order of the school so basically if there's a destruction that we're concerned of um we have the ability to prohibit and that's you know it goes on a little bit longer you know um but how
we can you know obviously reach out to our means local police things like that to help us um if we do in fact think it's going to create a disturbance within our school environment okay um then thank you yep and that's this is very
aligned with the go current current guidance that we're getting from NJO so the highlighted language is a new language correct the highlighted is the new two paragraphs in the policy part of visitors and then there is one more just
the regulation yep and the regulation just saying district staff shall prohibit the entry of visitors and immediate you know so as our tra our staff has been trained any visitor goes through the front desk right and we start there like um but they also can
prohibit someone from coming in to the front lobby which is you know more more defined now in this policy um and then the reasons why they associated with that policy the revision in our policy so if you had to be out of the Is there
specific people you're kind of preparing for this as a designated correct there's there's people that we've been training we we meet with we remind um you know and you know we've done we've done some official training on what it is um and
then we will continue to your point if I'm out of the building that's why we want to be able to do that i can tell you that the team knows what to do for sure um and then our our supports in our community that will be helping in this response um our council attorney that's
is in the to know of what we're doing um so that's all in play on any but that's a good question for sure any other comments or questions all those in favor I opposed or
abstain and then we need a motion to approve the second reading and adoption of um one 12.4 and 3570 a second comments or questions on this on
these okay all those in favor i opposed or abstained and we need a motion to approve the consent agenda items 12 i know why did I skip oh you didn't get to the principal side of it okay I can
go now all right turn it back sorry about that so All right so thank you for that and you know again for everyone's support um as we move forward with some of those revisions um first off we already got to say thank you to the rest for your
support um on on building that budget um some another highlight we're not only did we have Mrs iggy um you know for our count county counselor of the year award um but one of our students Jarro Katalo won our unsung hero award at school
boards um so Kate was able to join myself um and Deborah Bilman also with the family um March 5th yeah March 5th and there was a big celebration in Flemington um a number of schools and we
had that moment um with Jerick and his family and we really you know can't say enough and just want to say congratulations to him um and another you know positive very positive proud moment for our school um and the family was um you know really elated with this
everything that you know the board and um school did for him um so so just wanted to say that um SE or uh read across America week just doing some recap um so everyone all our board members have a I love to read please
promote it um our teachers did a wonderful job um with read across America made K2 preschool across the board everybody was integrating activities for that week so we really appreciate them um we had some special guests um Kelly Pickering from the
library came up and read to a number of our students um and we also were um thankful to have um our executive super superintendent of Hunter County Mr wantoire came up um and read to a number of um classes as well so we had some we
had some visitors and it was just a great week to keep promoting the importance of reading because we want our students to continue to do that and nothing better than just to model that um we have two so two community integr a
couple more community integrations we have going on right now um we are in planning um with Artyard Jill we're a little bit back and forth right now on being part students will be participants in Hatch which is another upcoming event down there and I'm sure you've heard
that we've had um Miss Bonnie from Yoga Loca has been in doing some recess sessions in February and doing one we just had one the other day and we have one more recess yoga session in March so um we appreciate you know her support
and PTO for that um it's been great uh River Union but uh drama club they are working really hard doing a really great job um that continues um and we're getting ready believe it or not May 1st and second when their performances is
literally just get right around the corner so we're excited for them stem club's been rolling really well um getting you know our students are showing up and participating and and it's just been really good to see that Miss Mahen um two time homework club
have been filled to the max which is amazing so Miss Sio um and our our middle school teachers Miss Waraznik as well as Miss McCann but we've also had a number of um teachers subbing when they're not there and so forth so it's been a really nice collective team effort so we really appreciate that and
our students with the addition of some snacks uh homework club has really turned into a a place to be and that's only going to help our achievement um for sure so we're we're we're happy about that volleyball club's coming to the end to go so Mr scar has been doing
a great job running that um yearbook club is going strong um sales will be coming soon so another thing to just keep an eye out for um and then our spring clubs information on our spring clubs running clubs sketchbook clubs will be out um as we approach spring
break believe it or not um and again thank you to our club leaders really just can't thank them enough for the work that they're doing um reminder strategic planning meeting was on 41 um we have our centennial celebration committee team has been meeting i got to
be a part of the last one um as we planned our hundred years at FDS which was pretty cool um our Milford Little Falls preschool open house is going to be on 43 that's coming so just mark that on your calendars we'll be getting that information out soon too um yeah spring
we got a lot coming down everybody because the fact is the faculty met today there's a number of things music and art events district arts festival which is huge for us um banding chorus is next Thursday so if you if you haven't had a chance to go there head up to Delvo and certainly check that out
um we have another professional development opportunity for our teachers this Friday we have 12:30 dismissal um in the afternoon we have Karen Weatherall she'll be back um from Elevate Educators and we're going to continue our discussion on math strategies and implementing um different
different strategies and manipulas into our instruction and and um have the teachers do um a lot of collaborative activities as we build around that not only for this year um but as we plan for next year um and we had a good discussion about started we begin our
discussion about testing plan again in May um and the approaches that we're going to keep and then we're going to um continue um as well as we'll be going back to our students to get some more input on you know to best support them during that testing
performance next one I got for um thank you again for um listening Thank you thanks J you're welcome um so we will need a motion to approve items 12.1 through
12.6 including um the item in the addendum the final item any comments or question oh we don't have a motion sorry i'll move I'll second
any comments or questions about any of those items i had a question about the standing desks um how do we determine that was a crucial investment and just sort of
what's the background on I feel like I'm in the hot seat now is that you yeah that's me all right Lay on it's me i want so I've been working with Trisha Hurley to identify what are the right opportunities for right grants so we have around five grants right now that we're going to be applying for the first
deadline is the Fargo family foundation grant which is a family foundation that's based out of Frenchtown and they tend to donate things that are or donate to things that are really practical in nature and so Miss Hurley reached out to all of the other teachers and kind of
created a list of what are the practical things the school really needs and the standing desks were the number one priority amongst the teachers the other things that came up were kind of art room shelving and storage which we recently just received uh free shelving
from Mudtown Studio so that has been uh fulfilled by our local community shout out to Mudtown um another one was a soundboard for the special ed room another one was um fiction non-fiction books for the library so updating the collection in the library but I think standing desk desks I want to say four
separate teachers pointed it out and um in my limited research and Jim feel free to chime in the situation is that there's a lot of kids who are sitting for a long time such as us and prolonged sitting can lead to restlessness and instead of forcing those children to sit
they're given the option to stand at their desk but what that then creates is you know like they don't have a devoted area to work in it's kind of like a loose you're standing maybe someone is behind you so you so it becomes a bit more disruptive then they have to lean down so it's an uncomfortable position
and then all of a sudden it kind of creates more disturbances in a classroom on top of them already feeling a bit restless and there's a bunch of research that says standing desks are actually really effective not just for adults but for children as well and as young as like six seven eight years old so
there's the grant is for 12 desks six to fit children fifth sixth seventh eighth grade and another six to fit K through five um they're pricey but ideally they'll be an investment that lasts a long time so these are higher quality desks and it's around $5,000 so like two
two desks per classroom or something like that or one I think they'll be distributed by the teachers where they feel it's most appropriate so I don't know that every classroom is going to get two or some of them are going to get a few more i think it'll depend on kind of the student composition of each classroom that's for sure um thank you
thank you that's that's fantastic and the teachers have right well thank you for writing when it gets you know we'll have a obviously we'll have a plan um but definitely I appreciate you you know getting you know we were able to get feedback from our teachers our last back
not this past five week but few ago and you know kind of see what we can do i think we do a number of things like you know we raise our carpet we we put a lot of um of our er money into some alternate seating and you've seen different like bean bag chairs and
things like that within the classrooms um so we have put energy there um but I think this would just be another resource so between carpet your chair standing um in a more to your point I think it's just more of an opportunity we do still staff some students the same
right now and they might lean and so forth that'll be at their level um so just trying to provide another resource within the classroom so I appreciate you working with the teachers on that the other two will be more science focused so that was the other things we were looking for grants that were math and
science specific um so the next one that we'll apply for once this one goes through is the rural tech fund and they often times sponsor things like you know mostly materials and science classrooms or specific lessons and then we'll apply for a grant with green matters and they
focus on things that are more climate change related but could potentially be a good opportunity for a STEM club with fund a specific project cool yeah beyond those we're just going to keep applying i'm imagining that like
I look at this as like college applications you just send in as many as possible and hopefully you get a couple back that are positive in terms any other comments or questions about
our consent agenda okay we'll need a roll call then mr blackburn yes yes miss Klein yes neah Harris yes bartalo yes mrs nent yes
[Music] unless there's anything else from the board we'll move on to public comment okay um at this time we have another opportunity for public comment if anyone from the public wants to comment
i keep mine for the next one thank you okay um then we will need a motion to move into executive session to discuss uh terms and conditions of employment and individual privacy student matters
so move seconded all those in favor opposed or abstain okay thank you everyone from the public for attending we appreciate you coming thank you thanks for coming guys good
night good night have a good night this is the best group we've ever held in business um I did want to mention before we adjourn um they're um moving public yes this is a this has
to be in public that's why I was waiting to mention it um we have um for next years and now I've been lost maybe um I'm
sorry um I'm talking about choice in and choice out um at this point um At this point we have [Music] um
nine definite choice in um students and we have I'm just confirming but I believe it's 16 anticipated choice out
so right now we have 19 three more no it's three more because there was six and eighth grade yeah so next year it's six less than three more it would have been 13 but because there's an additional three is 16 now the the
anticipated um enrollment for next year in ch including choice in is 109 that's also pre that includes prek yeah
going up that's going up that's good um and choice out is 16 um and just as we have um one of our choice I know one
family has two um one of our choice students um moved into French so long um and then one is going back to
um okay so then um and I can share I'll share the spreadsheet with everyone that Sandy sent me today okay so we'll need a motion to adjourn so moved second all those in
favor i like to