Miss Carousella >> here. >> Mr. Cohen >> here. >> Mr. Corey >> here. >> Mr. Hayward >> here. >> Miss Stevenson >> here. >> Miss Calves >> here. >> Dr. Robinson >> here. >> We have a quorum.
>> Thank you. Mr. Mr. Cohen, if you're able to lead us through this flag salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Adequate notice of meeting in accordance with PL1 1975 chapter 231. Notice of tonight's meeting was mailed to the record and the Ridgewood News on January 7th, 2025. Notice of this meeting was also mailed to the burough clerk and was posted on the bulletin board of the
board of education office in the administration building on the same date. Um, Miss Stevenson, if you're able to read our mission statement, please. The Glenrock School District, founded on principles of education in partnership with a supportive community, provides an
exceptional education to all students to cultivate resilient, responsible, and engaged lo global citizens. >> Thank you. All right. Um, so Hudson, love to hear from you. >> Uh, hi, good evening everyone. Uh, hope
you had a great start to your fall. Um, unfortunately, I wasn't able to be at the last meeting. Uh it was fall break, but I'm happy to be back. So starting with sports, today starts the marks the start of most of our winter sports here at Glenrock, including basketball,
hockey, wrestling, track, bowling, and as well as the debut season for the swim team. Um so that's all very exciting. And I also wanted to take the time to congratulate all the fall sports teams on successful seasons. Um the theater program put on their play and Then There Were None last week from Thursday to
Saturday. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but I've heard very good things about the performance. Also coming up are the winter concerts with the instrumental music concert on December 10th and the vocal music concert on December 17th. Uh, in other news, the class 26 class of
2026 held a hosted a powderpuff football tournament last Friday uh with all girls all girls teams competing on the field. Uh it was a great way to fund raise for the class and also just have a good time, get outside and show school spirit. Um and yeah, in general energy
is pretty high at Glenrock right now with the transition to from Markham peri 1 to mark 2 uh as well as the holiday breaks uh coming up as well. Um I'd [clears throat] also like to bring attention to an issue that's been discussed in the halls from Glenrock High School for many years uh but hasn't
properly been addressed at the level of the board. According to board policy number 2430, extracurriculars are quote an integral part of the school program. Glenrock High School has a plethora of clubs and sports to choose from. However, some opportunities are limited. Policy number 2430 dictates that the
superintendent prepares a procedure to implement extracurricular programs. Currently, the high school the high school's mechanism for create the creation of new activities is the review board, which meets once a year during the summer. The process includes the submission of a Google form by the
person starting the club which provides information about the club. However, as of the 2023 24 school year, the criteria to get the club approved isn't clearly shown to applicants, causing most clubs to be denied approval. With submissions only being once per year, students have
to wait to propose new clubs and miss out on a whole year of programming and ultimately personal and intellectual growth. Additionally, because submissions aren't are during the summer, applicants can't meet with the review board to fix aspects of the club that weren't approved. These problems limit exposure to diverse interests for
students, ultimately hindering student development. However, these issues have have very clear and easily implemented solutions. The first one is simple. Show the criteria for approval on the application form. This can be solved with a quick copy and paste. However, the second one requires more effort. I
propose that the review board meet more than once per year and that the board of education approve clubs more than once per year. As a student representative, I would be more than happy to work in conjunction with both of these institutions to ensure that this idea materializes, but it is also critical that this is specifically stated in
policy number 2430. It is one of the it is of the utmost importance that students are given the opportunity to tap into their extracurricular interests within the school setting and I'm committed to secure that opportunity for the Glenrock High School student body alongside the review board and the board of education. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you very much, Hudson. Um definitely we'll take a a look at that. Um one of our policy uh chairs essentially u Mr. Cohen, you know, we'll we'll add that to the list of things that he can uh report back to us on.
Thank you. All right. Anybody have any questions or anything? >> Just want to say thank you for bringing that up. I know when we first talked about you joining us, that was one of the things we wanted you to come back with. Um, you know, ideas and solutions on how we can get stronger. So, just thank you for doing that.
>> Yeah, of course. >> And are is there a time-sensitive nature to this request? like as in like you know for a fact that there is a a club or something like I'm just curious. >> Um well not in particular but it's been like pretty much my entire high school
career has been every year it's people want to start clubs but like almost every time those clubs get shot down. I can I can only think of a handful of clubs that have actually been approved and I know I've can tell you that there's been like dozens of clubs that
have been that have people have applied to start. So it's been so the acceptance rate of applications for clubs is very low and I feel and I feel and the students feel that it hinders their
ability to tap into those interests. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you Hudson for coming and and sharing with us today. All right. All right Mr. Vanest. >> Sure. Uh brief report. First of all, thank you Hudson. Um, I think we've
talked about this before of uh we we very much appreciate you bringing issues to our attention, not just um giving us a heads up of what's going on, even though we we really enjoyed that as well. Um, and also um because you took half of my report by reporting the things I was going to talk about. So, u
uh no, I was going to say also winter sports are starting, but uh the fall production I did I did get to the fall production and it was really quite lovely. I don't know if any of the trustees had a chance to go. Um, it was in Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, which is a fun novel. I used to teach that to seventh graders and um
you move from sixth grade where everybody's like everything's great to a novel where everybody's dying. It's kind of a a rude awakening to those seventh graders. Um, but it was fun and they did a really nice job. Um, it was it was a really wellchosen play for a high school. I've never seen it before and I think that was nice. The roles were
really nice and uh the actors and actresses did wonderful job. Kudos to them and the crew and the the director of that. It was it was really a lovely performance. Um just one a couple other things. Um where' it go? Um James and I have
started budget meetings with with uh the budget committee here and we're going to start up with the um administrators. I imagine fairly soon >> in January. So so that's that's where we are with that. It's a it's a long process. So uh uh be be patient with us
as as we work through all of that. Um Michelle Dela Fortuna, our math supervisor, and Lawrence Slaterly, one of our middle school math teachers, just presented at AMTJ, that's association of math teachers in New Jersey. They have an annual conference every fall. Um it was at the uh Brookdale Community
College and uh I think this is the second or third year they've presented there. They did something on um like station teaching in a math classroom in the middle school level. Um she said it went really really well. They had I think 45 people in their session was really wellreceived and um just kudos to
her and to her staff for for leading these things across the state and within the district. It's it's really nice to hear and um really just want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and hope that you get to spend time with your loved ones or or without if that's what you prefer. Um and uh that you enjoy
lots of food or football or or whatever it is that that you you fill your time with. But uh I really really do wish a happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Thank you very much. All right. And then that brings us to our first of two public comments uh sections. Um this one
is for agenda items only. We'll open it up at 7:09 p.m. If you're able to state your name and your address and then uh you have three minutes and then uh you'll hear a gentle reminder just to wrap up your comments. Thank you.
>> Sure. Yes. just um uh press the button to turn on the green so we can record. Thank you. >> Okay. Hello everybody. Hello. I'm here tonight at the B um as the board of education knows to thank you for the consideration of my sabbatical request.
I also live in town 11 Ashton. Um Regina Scotty. I put together a few more words beyond my letter. So So few teachers go on sbatical. So the letter may have surprised you, but I'm not going to be an older teacher who
dries up on the vine. That is not me. I want to remain a teacher of high caliber and that means I have to do something that's in my head. That's my book. Just like we would rather hire a business teacher probably who had real life industry experience. Isn't the same true
to keep a writing coach agile having some industry experience in a new world of AI? I want to be a beacon and continue to give students a positive experience in literacy and show them that you can pursue a big goal like getting published. My purpose in life
has been for as long as I can remember to connect with young people on a daily basis for the short time that I'm in their lives and to give them a wonderful experience in literacy and self-improvement in the classroom. I want to communicate to young people on a grander scale with a wider audience a
bigger purpose. The books are in my head, but they need time and focus. And it's not surprising that at this point in my life, I have more to say to them in the form of a book promoting literacy in an AI world, hoping to be an inspiration to my students that you can
change in life and grow and accomplish new things just when others may have counted you out. There are many reasons why you want to have a writer on your teaching staff. I don't have to tell you that having a published writer speaks well of the caliber of instructors that
you have. A teacher who's a writer. Um, their words have some clout in the classroom with the writing process. Teachers who were doing and achieving have to be motivational to students. We talk about how to inspire students. That's such an important thing that we can change the direction of a child's
life. Writing and publishing will inspire students. I do not think those shoes are currently filled in Glenrock. do not think we have too many teacher authors presently. Teachers who have working experience in industries that they prepare the kids for, they're
really desirable. Those are reasons to have a writer on your staff. I can cite for you many more fast reasons that'll benefit Glenrock, like adding more writing electives and writing curriculum for those electives and better writing on state tests and networking that gives Glenrock opened doors and helping others
in Glenrock with the publishing process and prestige. But one of the biggest investments is undeniably integrating what my experience has been in the classroom when I return. It's the authentic insights into the writing process in the classroom after I
struggle, after I get stuck, after I have to fix it or the book isn't getting written. Integrating that, that struggle, they're so valuable. Relating better, relating more to how the students struggle, how they hit the walls, our daily classroom uh
instruction. I'm sorry, I'm sick. Our daily classroom instruction could be altered to take more of these real life authentic writing challenges that student writers go through and make them part of the course. I'm a writing teacher. This is what I do already and
I'd like to get better at it. Why not push my teaching expertise further? Of course, my writing instruction could be enhanced. We don't see the growth in the moment of with every student. Often it's latent because seeds that are planted take time to grow. But I know that the students
will admire the challenge that I took and they won't forget that. That goes for all of my students who hear over time about what I've done. If Mrs. Scotty could do it after being typ cast a middle school teacher for one million years, that gives others proddding who need it to go after their professional
goals. I think it makes their goals more attainable. The sbatical is an investment, no doubt. Of course, you realize that in denying it, we don't gain anything. I need the time to produce, but the return on the investment is tremendous when the
students experience my gains too from my ambitions. Please consider granting my sobatical. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss Scotty. Thank you. >> All right. Are there any other members of the
public who'd like to make a comment? Okay. >> Yes. My name is Carolyn Setlo. Um I have I live in Glenrock. I have um three children who have gone through the public schools. My son had the good fortune of having Mrs. Scotty for the
English teacher in middle school. She has been the most impactful teacher that my son has had to date. And it's not easy to manage a and teach a classroom of rambunctious middle school boys and get them to learn. Mrs. Scotty has been a devoted teacher
of the Glenrock schools and teaching our children in this district for decades. At this time, she is seeking to be granted a sbatical. She wants to step away from her role to grow and enhance her professional and personal development. Mrs. Scotty is not looking to leave our district. It's the
opposite. In fact, it will be good for um our district and good for retention and I hope you can consider granting that for her. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. If there are no other members of the public that would like to speak at this time, we'll continue on with our
agenda. We'll close uh first public comments at 7:15. Can I get a motion to discuss G1 through G4? Liz seconded by Edward. All right. Any questions, comments about G1 through G4?
>> Yes. Um, we have a very late addition to the list of field trips um that the theater arts class um is partnering up with the paper mill playhouse and the paperwork got lost and so we just got it today and we wanted to slip that in so that it could be approved because the
trip is on December 8th. >> All right. And so the um the field trip is >> field trip is to Paper Mill Playhouse to see a show >> for like middle school, high school, >> high school theater arts class. And we slipped it into the agenda today. It's
just not updated, but we didn't repost it. So >> understood. All right. Any questions or comments? All right. Just want to say you see our policies, etc. Okay.
If you're able to call roll, Mr. Canelis, please. >> Miss Carousella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. Mr. Corey, >> yes. >> Mr. Hayward, >> yes. >> Miss Stevenson,
>> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robbins, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Can I get a a motion to discuss B1 through B7? All right, Dan. Seconded by Karen. All right. Questions or comments on the
B items? All right. Seeing no questions or comments, if we're able to call roll, please. >> Miss Carousella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Corey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward.
>> Yes. Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robinson, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> That just updates our long range facility plan. Perfect. All right. Um, so a motion to discuss P1 through P11,
please. Liz Calves, seconded by Ed Hayward. >> Questions, comments? Yes, Miss Stevenson. On P1, I'm going to abstain as where it pertains to May. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments
regarding the P items? All right. If we can call roll, please. >> Miss Carousella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Corey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward. >> Yes. Miss Stevenson, >> yes, except as noted.
>> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robinson, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. All right. And we have >> not to won't change my vote. Just wanted to call out the volunteer efforts that we just approved. So, thank you for that
valuable contribution to our uh to our community. >> Y absolutely. We have our Hib reports, our vandalism, vandalism, suspension and HI reports as we do in all our meetings.
You had a qu a comment about them. Okay. >> Yeah. Just looking at the numbers of cases in the middle school and and looking at comparison comparing to last year, I see concerning trend with the um
middle school cases. Um I I would like to understand from administration uh what are we planning to do or what's the um elements that are leading to this and do you agree that we're seeing a trend a negative trend in in in this situation?
>> May I also ask when is our next um I know our uh hiblaison um I think it's Michelle Dafertunia. So when is the next time that she um comes and speak with us? Typically, >> I don't think we have her on schedule. Um I I mean I would have to look more
closely at data, but I do not see anything alarming or any trends that are going on here. Um a lot of this you see as inschool suspension is um basically how we code our um uh restorative practices. So instead of just suspending them and sending them
out, they are working with them in a productive way to to work with them. couple of the people that you see on here um they're actually it says one day of in school and then a day of out of school. It's the same instant. It's the same child. Um so they're they're splitting between those things. Um but
it's certainly a conversation to continue on with the HIV coordinator, with the administration about about what's going on and what are the things that we're doing proactively to do this. But I I don't see it as a concerning trend. I see it as unfortunately a bit par for the course
for this time of the school year. Okay. >> Yes. >> I believe the second report is in >> February. >> February >> from historically. Thank you. >> All right. Um so that brings us to our
second of two public comments on any items. Um so if you're able to state your name and your address and you have three minutes. All right. So, we'll open at 7:21 and close at 7:21. All right. So, then we have old business
and new business. Our first old business, um, refunding the bond auction results. Um, do you have an update for us, James? >> Yes, we do. >> [clears throat] >> So last week uh we entered the bond market with our auction and the appetite
was uh very high for our double A plus rated bonds. Uh we had 16 underwriters uh join the auction. Um and we were able to achieve uh a yield that was even lower than what we had originally uh
talked about. We had talked about $1.3 million in savings. Uh we think once the uh transaction finally closes, it'll be closer to $ 1.9 million. Uh so uh we had a very very good uh auction of our
bonds. >> That's phenomenal to hear that we have even more savings than we intended. Um so thank you. Any questions uh to Mr. Canelis about this? No, no questions but just mandated but
well executed and delivered to market. So we looked attractive. So thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. So we'll move on to um new business. Uh the first order of new business I would like to bring um so
Miss Miss Scotty signed her right notice so that we would be able to talk about uh the sbatical in public. Um so again just for any members of the public that would be you know wandering typically uh especially with personnel items we would
have these conversations in close um and when members of the um staff then sign the rice notice requesting that it be um discussed in public then we do. Um, so, um, as you all, uh, know, Miss Scotty is a, um, renowned member of our staff that
wants to have, um, a a one-year sbatical to write a children's book and is asking for our consideration in um, granting a one-year sbatical according to um, the reasons that are are stated in her
request um, and where they align in our policy. Um, so I guess would C can I have you I'll start first. Thank you. >> Sure have to. So um Miss Scotty requested this um and sent it as as a
letter to me initially and she and I met last week on Friday. Uh we had a very nice conversation about um the work that she does and and you know uh we we all know she's a very very good teacher. She's been here a good number of years and uh is very well respected. So we we
talked about writing instruction. We talked about her work with students. We talked about her work at the dog park. We talked about a number of things going on. Um, you know, uh, her her passion for education is is is incredibly strong and and and to be
inspiring to students is is a is something that that absolutely we will want to see. Um the the difficulty as as I explained that the board may have is is the financial part of this that according to the terms of of the contract a sbatical would uh include
paying 75% of her salary and benefits and that is that is a a very high cost um especially as we're facing facing budgetary things that that we're facing that all districts are facing right now. Um I we did some some research in the in the office uh my staff helped me out
with this. Um there have been to our knowledge um three folks that have done something similar in the last 20 years or so. In 2020 a staff member um applied for a sbatical for his dissertation for a PhD and and the board denied that um
for for cost reasons. Um, in 2002, a staff member requested a sbatical to for the 2002 200 2003 school year uh for travel and cultural immersion to a variety of countries. Um, and the board
uh denied that request for financial reasons. Same staff member requested again for the 2004 2005 school year and was denied that as well. And so he ended up taking an unpaid leave of absence for the 2004205 school year to do that
project. So the board did approve that. Also in 2004 um a staff member uh actually didn't request a sbatical. His his letter said uh I know it's too late in the year for me to request a sbatical but I'd like to take a leave from September through January to to write a
musical. And uh the board approved that unpaid leave as well. So so this is kind of the the history of of where we are. And I don't think that we're in much better financial shape today than we were in 2020 or 2004. And and so it would it would not be my recommendation
to the board to to do this as unfortunate as that is. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and are you able to share what the financial um cost is for for the district or or give some clarity around that? >> I believe that do you have it or do we
just have the rough numbers? >> I believe you said >> the rough a rough number. I believe the salary would be around $77,000 and plus benefits on on top of that as well. >> So the the cost of you're talking about the cost of miss um like essentially Miss Scotty's um position
>> and then we'd have to pay for a a replacement as well >> replacement as well as benefits for the replacement um for a year. Okay. Um well before I I go does anybody have any questions or comments or anything like
that? Um any anything? >> Sure. >> This isn't a uh a brief on behalf of the finance committee, but just considering some of the more like state level macroeconomic constraints that we have. This is
it'll be a challenging year that we that we'll get through. But um issues at the state level like our 2% cap on on budgets which in previous years maybe 20 30 40 years ago would have allowed for more flexibility in these options. Uh I I know that we're constantly trying to
manage within um within a budget that we'll have to do very we'll have to do very thoroughly this year. So it it is a it is a real active constraint on ways that we can financially uh prop but perhaps there's other ways that we can
kind of support. So >> yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Yes. Steph. >> Is this something that needs to be decided now or can it be considered as the budget's being built to see if it can be figured out somehow?
Um, I mean, do you know concretely? Is it something that has I I mean, I don't I can only speak from what I see the policy say, like is it something that has to be discovered? >> Um, there's a timeline for approval, but
I I'm not sure where it is right now. It has to be submitted by a certain time. >> Yeah. >> Um, but I don't uh submitted between October 1st and the first day of January of the year proceeding. So, it has been submitted. Um I
I don't anticipate the budget >> Yeah. >> being such that that we could we could do this unfortunately. >> Yeah. >> Um I just you know I appreciate you speaking to us and coming here and letting us have this conversation in public. I want to correct you and one thing. You said that you are a um tcast
teacher. You're you're more than that. You're a legend at the middle school. Um so I hope you know that. Uh my kids didn't have you and they talk about you. So, um I I just want to say thank you for that. >> Thank you for for saying that, Stephanie. Um
when I when I was looking at at making this decision over the weekend, I I appreciate your email, Miss Scotty. I I know normally we don't really get to interact with the public, but I'm like I'm breaking the laws here. Um so, um you know, I took a look at your email. I
had already been like researching and looking trying to ask um board members that have been on the board over the past like 15 years. I had a chance to speak with three board members to find out not only um why previous sabbaticals may have been
approved or why they might have been rejected. um just kind of looking at at the um the decisions that prior boards have made because I know in in the email it stated like that had been approved before but every board every board year is different every um thing that we have
to look at as to like the reasons why we do or don't do something on any given year is totally different and so even in this scenario I wanted to treat you as an individual and your request as just its individual request in addition
there's not is things that have a clear return on investment. Like we when we're talking about sometimes things that are related to people's lives and and and the value that we place on certain things, it's not always directly known that it's going to it's going to
deliver us a 25%, you know, like return on investment for what we do. And it's hard to sometimes put that into the frame of reference. So even knowing what the financial constraints of our budget are that we're about to be facing this year, which is extremely challenging not only for our district but for many
districts across the state of New Jersey um that are in um extremists more than than than we are. Um I also wanted to look at some of the other reasons. Um, and if I think about the uh the ask for
for writing this novel, a lot of times when I look at the sabbatical and when sbaticals um tend to get approved, you look at um you know, academ academia and you know like writing at the collegiate and beyond level. And some of times when you're looking at research, it ends up
being like we want to see what you're publish what kind of research you're publishing not only in your field because if your field is like for instance English then it could be interpreted more broadly but perhaps it's more like well what kind of like research protocols or research things
you're publishing that are going to then turn around and then get brought back to um the the district like what are you um you know doing new research or finding uh new um methods of teaching or new um
things that you're doing uh that are going to change protocols and change um practice in in your class or in your your department. Um and I'm not I'm not exactly sure that I I see that here. Not in a not in at least not in the linear
way that I'm I'm used to um evaluating. Um, additionally, I would say that the another thing that I was thinking about was that it wasn't necessarily from from what I read um connected to a like a publishing house. Like I would like to see some sort of um you know like way
that I I hate using the word accountability like that it it keeps you accountable to the process but more like if there was a timeline that says okay by March these are the deliverables by June this is the the plan by November this is the turnaround just something more that is
going to be able to keep you on track because the way that it is right now at the end it could very well be that that it didn't materialize for whatever reason like are accounting on you to be able to stay um on on task for that
process. And with this large of uh of financial investment and also not really seeing a clear um full return on investment for this amount of um money that the district would be investing, I I just had like some major challenges um
with with my decision- making. So, I just wanted to be able to share that process um and kind of give you a little bit more as to, you know, what I'm thinking. Anybody else have anything? All right. Well,
>> so um is there consensus around the board? >> Yeah. >> About where we stand on this? >> I mean, I need to hear Yes. I need to I I loved your speech and I you know you
your rep reputation preceded you preceded you and uh I think that the budget is the key unfortunately. Um you know I was in the budget meeting so far this year and it's not a good picture. Um if there were another way to do that
that didn't involve that that would be a different discussion maybe but uh unfortunately at at this level I don't think we can afford to do it through the budget. So, I'm sorry, but >> thank you. I I I I do appreciate the
work on the budget committee and um being able to bring that perspective um in advance of this decision and do, >> Miss Scotty. Thank you for um sharing with us your passionate speech. Um
certainly have heard a lot about you and again, thank you um for all the work you've done for the students here in our district. Um, and for me, I want to say to you, encourage you to like do it anyway, right? But I think at the end of the day, ultimately, this does come down
to balancing um, passion versus unfortunately a budget. So, I think that's ultimately where where I sit at this time. So, thank you. >> My son had you, as you probably
remember. Um, and you did an excellent job. You're excellent in the classroom. I think that was on display here when you when you spoke to us. But um I think Demali al spoke quite eloquently about the the balance of the cost. Like Liz, I hope
you do do this at some point because I think it would be a wonderful thing. But cost and as Demi was saying also like return on investment, we have to make sure that everything balances out and what's best for for our district. But I I I thank you for putting yourself out there to try to do this because that
also could be an inspiration to people. >> Yes. Thank you. All right. All right. So, um I think we have enough consensus there to support the recommendation from you. Thank you. >> And I'll echo what they said. I I really
admire what you're trying to do. I really wish I could recommend this. I truly do. Um but uh so we'll follow up with her um officially in in the morning. >> Thank you. And I just out of curiosity, is there anything like within um professional development that allows
people to pu pursue these kinds of things like writing like either writing a workshop publishing like you know I'm not sure I'm I know we have some PLC's going on right now. I don't know if there's anything about public professional writing. Um, I've I've actually led some of those in my my
distant past, but uh there there sometimes are are things of that nature. >> Okay, there are. Thank you. >> All right, so on to Sorry. Um the next new business item is the 2027 2028 draft calendar um for our
last item for um our meeting today. Thank you. Oh, sure. Sure. >> All right. So, what I'm handing around to all of you right now are paper copies of what we shared with you. I I'm a dinosaur in some ways and I like
paper. So, uh sorry trees, but it's it's nice to have something in front of us. Um so what you have in front of you and this is fairly well similar to what we've done in past years is you have um well this one is that there's a photocopy from the contract that lists the the specific holidays that we must
um must include on our calendar. The calendar that you have um is is not really a draft. It's like a preemptive thing before a draft. and and it's a similar drill as before, which is we've marked on here um kind of the the
non-negotiables, those those holidays that I listed. Um and then we also marked in there kind of the the more logical ones that we we're pretty much going to need to follow. Um the rest of it on this other sheet that looks like a spreadsheet is kind of a a list of
things for you to consider, right? Um or you can see if it's on the draft calendar or if it's not on the calendar. So we have to kind of consider some of these things. So um as as we've done in the past, if if you kept the calendar exactly as it is and everything's
movable, not everything, some things are movable. If you add days off, we have to move the end date >> to later. If you move things earlier, we can move things earlier. So So that's kind of where we land. So starting at the beginning of the year, actually we'll start in September. Um Labor Day
is the 6th of September. Um, historically, traditionally, uh, we start classes after Labor Day. We have asked the question, do we want to start earlier? And that was a volatile discussion and, uh, thought exchange. And we're still wounded from that, I
think some of us. So, um, so that's where we are. So, typically we would start the day after Labor Day, which is the 7th in 2027. There are six days, staff days before that. So there are three professional days for staff and
there are three for new staff orientation. So the new staff orientation happens in August. Those are labeled in yellow there. And then the professional days. There's a change. It started this current school year that we put all three of those PD days at the beginning of the year. It used to be
that there were two at the beginning of the year and one the day after graduation. And we moved that this year. When I walked around buildings this this year during those few days chatting with teachers, I got so many teachers saying, "This is great. We can breathe. We can plan. We can do." They really liked
everyone I talked to really liked those. That doesn't mean every teacher, but everyone I talked to um really liked that. What that means is that the June 22nd is the last day of class. It is also the last day of for staff. Everybody's everybody's out on the 22nd. the 21st and 22nd in the contract also.
So the last two school days of the year are also uh early release days. That's why there's a line through them. If if so um what we could do is just kind of go through the year starting at September talking about these dates. If
we move the start date then we have to move the PD days etc etc. So comments, questions, concerns about start date on September 7th. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Uh specifically on start date um as I mentioned like for this for the
calendar year 2026 27 uh starting the school year in the second week of September is undue burden on working parents. Uh it extends the summer break with not no necessary need for that. Uh
I looked at uh Ridgewood and Tennifly and both school districts are starting on the first week of September in 2026 27. I would assume that they do the same thing for 2728. So um I do not see any uh reason to
start uh on the second week. Just to address the survey that we had in the town, I did a survey as a as a parent. The survey was about starting the school year in the middle of August, not about um starting one week, one once every or
twice every six years. And so I don't think the survey uh results uh are an indication of what u parents want for the September year. uh it's an indication that parents and
and I would agree that do not want to start in August in the middle of August but uh starting in the second week of September uh when parents do not have support uh for the first week um is a mistake in my opinion.
>> Uh yes m please. >> Thank you Mr. Vaness for sharing with us about the three uh professional development days at the beginning of the school year. Um, I think that's important to have that there because it really sets sets the tone for the year
and allows teachers to come back and to plan and get everything together and it, you know, it helps them to have their year formulated and get up ready to run when the school year starts. So, I think that's that professional development time where there's no extra stresses of
getting lessons plan, you know, it it just makes it I think better for the staff to prepare for the school year. So I like those three days in the beginning um for them to do that. That's all. >> I like it as it is. Yes. >> Yeah. So in in conversations with folks
that I know amongst them, several school teachers, they've talked about the fact that they want to be able to have their full summer, happy to start that first week of September. Um, and I think in this district at least, most parents are fairly well acclimated to start after
um, Labor Day. And so I think most people plan for child care or to take a family vacation. So, I would just be I'm not um feeling very strongly that we would need to move uh the teacher development into August and have the
kids start the first week of September. [clears throat] >> So, I'm I'm not against having the teachers development before. I think we can do it in this the week of the 17th to the 19th and then the 24th 26th. Uh again it makes sense to me to start
after Labor Day but once every six uh years and it happens to be twice this time. Uh Labor Day falls in the second week of September. So in that case I I do believe that we should start the week
earlier. Uh it just increases the burden on working parents to find uh childare and support. basically saying that uh they're accustomed to that. It says that we expecting them to spend more money on on child care uh without any reason. Uh
that in in in just will help us get a full week of vacation in November. Um that might be the next subject but I am against uh having two days uh in November. Uh we talked about survey but
we never we switched to a full week in November. We never asked the parents what they thought about it and we unilaterally the board and I voted against it. Just to remind you in January uh unilaterally decided to move back to having two days uh in November
without consulting the the town getting surveys getting feedback. So uh and and anecdotally I did hear from a lot of parents that they like the full week off. So, uh, another advantage of starting, uh, the school in the week,
the first week of September is to allow us to have a full week off in November and not just bringing kids one day on, one day off, one day off. >> So, I would I would like to just comment on on some of the assumptions that I heard.
any any decision that anybody makes on the board, none of it is going to be based on us arbitrarily wanting to to hurt uh working families that are going to struggle. Like I would say that that the the same amount of people that might
um not like to start before Labor Day, they're going to be another group of people that are going to prefer to start after it. uh in all of the conversations and we talk about um the the families that enjoyed the the week off last year. I can tell you personally for me it was
difficult, right? Last year it was difficult for me to to take off that amount of time between me and my husband and my daughter and making sure. But then this year knowing that it was expected like I was able to take off the time in advance because I had to almost
plan that a year ago and and and tell my job a year ago that I needed to have that week off. Right? So I did notice that this year anecdotally that there were more people that hadn't liked it last year that did like it and spent the time by just deciding to go on vacation.
But there was also another group of people that still found it problematic. Um and and and so hearing that like I would just I would just ask for any decision that we make which one this is a board decision right like this is it
is part of one of the myriad of decisions that we have to make as a board. Um and and and that is why you know like the public entrusts us in [clears throat] in in doing the the duty that we were elected to do. Um so I just asked you know like consideration you
know that way. Um what we need to figure out is whether or not we are going to um follow along with one of the things that the teachers are saying that is helpful for them to be able to plan for the year and if that b if that following their
their ask is creating an undue burden to the members of our community. Right. That's part that that is part of what the ask is. Why are you shaking your head? >> Yeah, you're tying two different things. The teachers preparations day could happen on the week of the 17th to the
19th and 24th to 26 with a start of uh on the 30th. So nothing uh in starting on the first week of September prevents for having those u six professional development days and and I'm all for the six professional development days. Um I
I don't see the issue. And how does that prevent that? >> Professional development days. That's the challenge, right? The 24th through the 26th is new teacher orientation, correct? So, you're you're just saying that you want the the teachers to start a week earlier is what you're saying.
>> So, so again, like I mean, we we can't always have it both ways. Like we want we want to say that we, you know, are appreciative and we're thankful for the for our teachers and that we want to respect their you know, like the summer vacation period and we are also asking for their input on what is also going to
work and things like that. And then we're also going to start now at at August 17th for the teachers to come in and start. I'm not finished yet, please. >> So, we're going to ask for the teachers to come in on August 17th to start their year so that then we can start before Labor Day, which when we did the thought
exchange when when I looked through all of the comments, there were a significant amount of comments that had to do with the fact that they did not want to start before Labor Day. Like that it it just I'm not I I understand that's that period of time. survey was about starting in the middle of August
and the second part >> it wasn't middle of August it was the last week of August >> it was we can open we can check it again and the second part is uh I don't understand why why starting in why in Ridgewood starting in the 17th whatever no why is that not hurting the teachers
but this that you don't have to >> I am not a member of the board of education in Rididgewood yeah so I cannot excuse me excuse me I cannot speak to why Rididgewood does or doesn't or fair or whoever does or doesn't do something. It is our responsibility here because that came up. It was like, well,
other schools do start earlier in the year. Other schools start later in the year. What does Glenrock do? And I was repetitively instructed what Glenrock has our own trans uh our own traditions and we want to honor those traditions and we're asking for our teachers to
then give us feedback. I'm not dismissing your your request, right? Your request is that you've made it. We're all evaluating it, but at the same time, by evaluating it, you're making it seem like, well, because we don't aren't following what you want, that we don't care. That we don't we don't care what
what's best for our teachers. We don't care. I'm not finished speaking >> that we don't care what we're not thinking about what is best for our our our our parents out there. That we're not caring about what's best for our teachers. We all like our responsibility here is to take our nine opinions or
eight and then figure out how we are going to translate in that into what's best for the district and it's complex and it's difficult. That's it. So, thank you for presenting that aspect of, you know, like what we need in terms
of the communication that we're having today. That's it. >> Love to add some comments building off and moving on. Um, one, this conversation we have every single year. This is two years in advance. I'm going to steal your thunder and say this is this is not a calendar that we have to
be able to share with the public. I know uh some people in the public feel at a disadvantage that they don't have materials to be able to review. You're looking at a box of Legos and it's just the parts right now. We we're trying to put something together that makes sense to have a couple drafts in response to
the uh before Labor Day. I think that's the 11th commandment uh as we found it a few years ago. You do not start school before Labor Day in Glenrock. Heard it loud and clear. We had three versions of the calendar. I'll I'll remind the board of my comments. There were two horrible
examples and one that was still bad and and we threw them all out and we came up with one. We did not start before Labor Day. If we want to review that decision, we should review all the data and also to include that in mind. My point that I'd like to raise up is to say fantastically we found that we don't
have religious observances that restrict our ability to open schools in the first week of November because we have I do see that some of the Jewish holidays fall on a weekend in October and we're still starting late. So we're going to the end of June. It's very hard for our
calendar to not end before um not end before June 20th. Um and sorry I'm just throwing again some of those building blocks I mentioned. We do not have a week off in February. Somehow Glenrock had an extra year a week in our years 20 and 30 years ago. That's still not part
of what we do. We've shifted a bit to that November uh week off >> partly because of religious observances. Also partly because of security and and coh coordination concerns that we had with the with the bureau. I'm looking forward to new ven uh new opportunities
and exploring venues where we now have more civic opportunity, public buildings that we can explore. These things can change in the district. We can discuss things. We all know our neighbors if they're elected officials or not. We can figure some of this stuff out. U helping
pole workers to find proper uh proper bathroom uses could be the simplest solution uh that we have to be able to run three consecutive school days in that first week. None of that has any bearing on when school starts or not. It's just a problem in the middle of the year. I think we've adapted to having a
week off in November followed by a kind of a bum week right now. We have two and a half school days out of five calendar days. This is I think was the term no school November. Is that still the thing? >> Well, that was [laughter] >> um
>> Well, it's back on the plate, I guess. So the the the the election aspect, I think that that's one when we when we had our draft um that led us to like this actual week. Um we were hoping that by now we would have been able to get um
the elections at least mostly out of the school and we still haven't gotten to that place yet. Um >> I look forward to helping with that as well. >> So again, as a reminder, what what I think the hope tonight is we kind of sketch out something rough. I give it to
you again. We get feedback from anybody who's listening or watching who wants to give us feedback. We can run it by the GRE for their feedback. We'll be talking about this again in December on the 15th. We'll talk about it again as as many times as we need to because this isn't until the 27 28th school year. So,
trying to move the conversation forward. Can we get consensus on starting on the 7th? We have one who wants to start before. What is what is the Can we move forward on this? Where where where do all we all stand on before or after
>> start? I actually like the idea starting um early as well. Um less more about the high schoolers and college prep and things we heard back. But um that's my personal feeling I felt from the community. We heard um the absolute
opposite. And it wasn't just mid August. Um, I don't want to totally revisit what you just said, but it really was our family vacations every year that week before Labor Day. So, people just, it was so adamant. There were so many comments. I don't know if you saw all the results, but um, I'm for it, but I
don't think the community is, so that makes me out for it. Um, because I take myself out of it. And I think when we look at things, it has to not just be about the elementary and maybe middle school parents that are maybe in our networks, but you have to think about we're prek through high school. So, we have to think about that continuum of
grades. So, just wanted to throw that out there. I also noticed um Dewali is not on here. There's a question mark. So, I don't know. >> We're not We're just trying to get the first day and then we'll go through the holidays. >> Yep. >> All right. Um
>> as I stated before, I mean um for starting school for the students on September 7th, having the staff come in the first, second, and third. I mean, if we're worried about child care for our residents and our working parents, our teachers are also working parents and it
may be difficult for them also to find the 17th, 18th, and 19th. It's kind of, you know, it's summertime and and we need that time. Staff needs that time to rest, recharge, and prepare themselves for the year. And I just really, you know, having been in education and I'm
glad that as I'll repeat myself that the staff did like it, but those three consecutive days are so vital and they're so close to the beginning of the year that it to me makes sense to have it there. And if the staff was pleased with it, that that's even makes it even
better. >> Agreed 100%. Um, I think going into the middle of the summer is not the way to go to uh work as a community really. It's uh everyone relies on those vacations, including teachers, including parents,
including staff. And at the end of the day, I know we're only talking about September, but the end of the year date, right, people, I think, get angrier about the end of the year date, we've had years where we'd have to go to the 29th, and that's a, you know, bigger problem. And
it's the same amount of daycare ultimately. I know it's inconvenient whether it's on one end or the other, but uh it's it's there. So, I don't see this as a a necessity to push it back just because of that. So,
>> I I had a question. I see you have it. There's two weather days in this >> believe that's correct. Yes. >> Okay. >> What was your question? >> Two weather days. >> Snow days. Weather days. Yeah. And there is no state platform for
remote instruction that would Yeah. So that's when we get to that. >> I know still perhaps that's something we can >> and we will double and triple check all of the counts of the days but we're trying to get the the broad strokes I'm saying. >> I'm hearing consensus for starting on
the 7th. >> Yes. >> I want to address that the point about the August. So if you look at the calendar for 2425 the school the teachers came in the last two weeks of September. So I don't understand the logic why is it not doesn't work here but it did work in
2024 and 2025. So I think we're just changing our logic to makes the make the calendar versus looking at consistency and and working things through it. Uh so I would look just at the 2425 and see when we when the teachers came to the uh professional development days. not but
to to clarify the last two weeks of August. Did you >> Yeah. >> mean to say you said September and that's it. >> Last two weeks of August. Okay. >> Okay. But it sounds like there's consensus for the 7th. So let's move on. All right. >> Rashashana in 2027. Um starts October
1st goes through the 3rd. October 1st is a Friday. when we looked at past calendars um when holidays were on Fridays, we did not have that day off, but it's something we wanted you to consider and talk about.
>> Okay. Yes. So, typically we don't. Um and if if I'm correct, does Rashashana when it begins and Boaz maybe you can weigh in when it begins like is that something that begins in the evening or is it
>> Yeah, it's Friday night. I don't see any >> conflict reason to to to have that day out. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um yeah, we just we put both that and Yam Kapoor uh is next. That is on a weekday. Um it is uh I believe it begins
on on the 11th of October. So that evening. Um or perhaps it's Sunday night. I don't >> Okay, >> help me out here both. >> Saturday. Sunday. >> I'm not sure off the top of my head. Um >> um but but we have that as as marked as one of the holidays
>> the 11th. Okay. >> Um the next one is Diwali which is on October 29th uh in 2027. It is a Friday and this opens the can of worms about the first week of November because if
you remember last year we had that Friday off before the week also. So it turned into a very long week um if you take off the Friday the 29th here and then we have the 1st and the 3rd of November are the ones on that election
week. So if we are taking off Dvali then I would that would be on the 29th >> correct? >> So then we would take off the 29th because Dvali is on is on the 29th.
>> Just from a practical point there's very little that's harder in a corporate working career than taking the Friday off before the week you're going to be out completely. So that that is a challenge to even have not just coverage to be able to practically request that
for a lot of our working families. >> How many consecutive years have we had it? We've had it off for >> we've had it off. Yeah. Well, and and it the only times that we haven't had it off is when it was on the week when the actual date fall fell on the weekend. >> Yeah. I don't know how we not have it off.
>> Right. Yeah. It's just it's not one of our contractual ones and it's been a >> Yeah. you know, one that we wanted you to talk about. It's why it's on the map here to to discuss. But also that leads into the the conversation about November because if you have the Friday off and then Monday and Wednesday are the only
days, it may be more likely that folks just take those days correct >> on a whole long vacation whether or not we have school. >> But the absenteeism rate is high school. >> Is that across the board or elementary school?
I don't know that I have it broken down by school. I just had the data from just globally >> overall. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, the absenteeism rates were significant um for those dates. So,
if we did have the 29th off, um where what would we >> what would we lose there? Like where else would we pull from I assume? >> Yeah. So then the the other thing is we are meeting with the town.
Why aren't you fill us in? >> So we have been in discussion with uh the municipality on how we can possibly get elections out of our buildings. Um and there are two ideas that are on the
table. One that we talked about was having all of the voting sites here at the high school because it's a much easier space in the corridor by the auditorium to close that off. Um, which would then
precipitate us not having to have the day off. Uh second I I was just in fact reading that the library was approved for funding for handicapped accessibility which was one of the obstacles uh the burrow was facing for
not using the library. So, tomorrow I have uh my initial meeting with uh the burough administrator who who recently started um and this is one of the topics that we're going to discuss to see um if
we could try to maybe get this in play for uh the June elections where we are the June primaries where we're usually in school when the voting is occurring. So, we're gonna see what happens there. >> Thank you. I know we've been working on
this for some years. So, um that really brought us to like this year really hoping that that would change in time for this year. But I understand that pro governmental processes take longer than hope. Um so then if we like let's just say that we took off Dvali in
on the 29th just based on past practice then would that add a day to the end of um this year this current year? >> Yes, it would. So it would move it to the 23rd would be the last date. >> The 23rd would be the last day. >> Any anything we Yes. Anything we add in
moves it >> to the right. >> Yes. That would be Friday at this point, but we're not >> done. Right. So it may well end up Monday or Tuesday, right? >> Yeah. >> True. True.
>> All right. Um All right. So into November. Yeah. So the consens we will do Dvali again because that is our practice and and that is what we're doing. Okay. So into November it's the November week.
Oh. Oh I thought you were okay. All right. Um so we'll move on past the second because that's part of the discussion that we just are talking about. The fourth and the fifth are going to be um teachers conferences. to ask about the election is that
like the board owns the the buildings and and we've been doing the discussion every year and every year. Can we just put a foot in the ground and say we're teaching on the third and and that's it and the town needs to deal with it
otherwise and just drag it another year. >> Well, I'm not completely uh versed on uh the statutes in play here. I do believe that we have to make every effort possible uh when there are no other facilities for the municipality to use
for elections and they they they do have a legitimate issue and that they don't have any uh handicapped accessible buildings that also have that also have parking. So I don't think we can put our
stamp our foot in the sand as you said uh and and say we're teaching and and that's it. Uh I think that uh we can somehow come to a collaborative uh solution. I think we just need uh some additional time to see if we can work
that out. And the addition of the library bringing that into play uh I think might be the final pin that we needed in order to get this resolved. >> And are you able to follow up with regards to the arboritum? I thought that
was part of um a discussion for what was possible >> the arboritum >> if we can also just follow up and find out if they're evaluating >> yeah the town has explored every available
option that is handicapped uh accessible and they have been denied at every uh venue. So the municipality has in fact done their due diligence in asking uh other venues to hold the elections. >> So I'm just I mean in that same vein so
we have to >> they get to deny but we don't you know that I'm I'm not saying that like I understand we're we're >> those are nonpublic entities. We're a public entity. All right. The arboretum is not municipally. >> I thought it was but
>> yeah and it it's built in the last three four years. So certainly ADA was >> my understand is that they have asked. I I I think we can take our municipal partners at face value when they say that they've asked and there are no options.
>> All right. So, um, December is, you know, the usual. January is the usual. February is the usual. I see April. I'm just looking at holidays. >> Okay. That seems normal. the 29th.
That's normal. All of that. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, really it just comes down to um right now starting earlier. And >> one more question. Um >> is the last two days contractual that
the both of them are half days >> or just the last day? >> I believe that yes, that's in the in the contract. >> Both of them. All right. All right. So I mean one this is just our initial discussion like like you said Mr. Beness this is our initial
discussion. I think that we've >> all have like a lot to think about after our discussion today and that we can come back to our next meeting with you know either additional questions think about additional questions that we need to ask our administration and then you know like go from there.
>> Um does that sound reasonable? Okay. Are if you have additional questions that you'd like to ask um then please, you know, send them in >> and um we can get them answered before our next meeting and then we can have additional discussion.
>> All right. All right. All right. So seeing no other items, I believe that our next meeting you have December 15 and that's it. Uh can I get a motion to adjurnn?
Oh, now I get all the volunteers. Uh Stephanie and then seconded by Ed Hayward. [laughter] All those in favor. >> Any opposed? >> All right, we are adjourned.