like to call this meeting to order. Notices of this meeting were forwarded to the inquirer, Courier Post, Clerk of the Township, the district website, and members of the board of education, and posted in the board of education offices at 17 Road, Blenheim, New Jersey. Please
note that this board meeting may be audio videotaped. Please rise for the flag. 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. >> Can I get a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Fritz, >> here. >> Mrs. Ganick, >> here. >> Mr. Gibbons, >> here. Miss Gore, >> present. >> Mrs. Hendry, >> here. >> Mr. Hutchinson >> here. >> Mr. Johnson >> here. >> Mr. Dentino
>> here. >> Mr. O'Donnell >> here. >> There is no executive session this evening. >> Can I get uh a motion to approve the executive session minutes for August 18th? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Lord. Mrs. Johnson with the second. Can I get a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Fritz >> abstain. >> Mrs. Gallanick, >> abstain. >> Mr. Gibbons, >> yes.
>> Miss Gore, >> yes. >> Miss Hendry, >> yes. >> Mr. Hutchinson, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. >> Miss Dentino, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Donnell, >> yes. Or abstain. I'm sorry. Can I get a motion for the board minutes
for the regular meeting August 18th? >> So moved. Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. First >> second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Gore. Second. Can I get a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Fritz, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Scallic, >> abstain. >> Mr. Given, >> yes.
>> Miss Gore, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henry, >> yes. >> Mr. Hutchinson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dentino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Donnell. >> Abstain.
>> Thought you were going to be abstain. >> Uh, Mr. Bido. Any changes to the agenda? >> Uh, good evening, Mrs. O'Donnell, members of the board of education, members of the public. Welcome to uh our central office for our September meeting. Mrs. Donald, I do uh have one
item I would uh ask the board uh to add on to 7.6F which is under the superintendent uh report. It is um for uh substitute uh teacher uh in our preschool program. So
if that is uh permissible under the attachment 7.6F um to add the name of Danielle uh Sheay S ha uh who will be a prek k long-term
substitute teacher. She will be assigned to Glenn Landing Middle School. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And no other changes. Thank you. >> Uh I'd like to move on to public comments uh for agenda items only. So
anything on the agenda? If you have something to say, raise your hands, I just ask you to come forward. Seeing none, uh, report of the solicitor. >> I have nothing at this time, Mr. >> Um, committee reports. Um,
can we I think we're not going to do the AI committee report, correct? Because we're doing a presentation, I'm assuming. Yeah, we just met to review the presentation last time. >> Okay. All right. So, um, curriculum.
>> Yes. So, it was me, Maryanne Johnson, Tim Tro, and John Belo. We talked about the ESSA grant allocation. We talked about the status of the science rooms. And then we we reviewed a SWAT analysis of teachers and administration looking
ahead uh, in the future. >> Perfect. Thank you. Any questions on that? Uh, Mr. Gibbons, the policy committee. >> Uh, yes. So, the policy committee we met via Zoom. Uh, in attendance was Mrs. Henry, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Bilo, and
myself. Um, most of these are just statutory changes. Um, you know, required by law changing wording of things. There was an addition for um something to do with not being able to >> change salaries.
>> Yeah. change salaries after postings that was discussed that was in there and then all of those items are on the agenda for tonight. There is one other item that was discussed that is not on the agenda which was policy 7510 which has to do
with use of buildings and there was dialogue about why that was changed at one point. the concerns around that being um it was it had to do with forums for candidates for school board to be able
to use the the buildings for that purpose and the concern was that there could be bias and who the moderator is and things like that. So that was all understood. Um, and then it was further going to look into how the wording should be if there was some sort of a
moderator that is acceptable to everyone and that that would be submitted at a later date. >> Perfect. >> And that was pretty much it. >> Thank you. >> Report of the superintendent, Mr. Bido. >> Uh, thank you, Mrs. O'Donnell. Uh
tonight under item 7.1 uh 7.1A uh we do have um the presentation which uh comes out of the board's AI committee and for that we have uh our assistant superintendent uh
Mr. Trow along with board member Suzanne Gallowan that are going to present tonight. So uh Mr. Trow and Mrs. Gall. Um, >> it's uh my apologies. Yes, Suzanne. Anything you need, Mr. TR? He'll he'll take a
stab at where I should stand. >> Just grab the microphone though. So, you're picked up on the recording. Thank you. The pres Oh, the presentation is over there if you want to look over there. So, good evening everyone. Um, my
name is Suzanne Galanac and um a part of the AI committee and myself and Mr. Trow will be uh presenting our um insight and recommendations. >> It's part of my frontal Okay, the agenda I'll do an introduction about the uh who was on the AI committee
uh the research that we did for the uh committee uh recommendations uh suggested next steps and we'll entertain questions and then we'll close. So um the AI committee we met for uh seven months. We met once a month and uh
one of our goals was to examine best practices and research on the use of AI increasing our knowledge of AI in an educational setting in order to create board policy. Uh the committee members are listed there. Myself, Mrs. Henry,
Mrs. Fritz, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Bedau, and Tim Trow were on the committee. uh we met with a um an agenda every time. Everybody had homework when we uh left and so we uh really worked hard together and we did a pretty good job I think. So
all right so next slide. So the research that we conducted uh one of the things was AI and education and we looked at uh current events and we looked at uh the school leader magazine that's produced for schoolboard members and we also had three of the committee members attend an
AI uh conference that was um held by the schoolboard association and that was AI preparing for today and tomorrow. And then also we shared firsthand experiences because we all come from different places and we all had different things to uh share. I mean I
work at a financial institution and um Nancy was uh going to school so she gave us some um information about um Ruckers and what they have for their uh AI policy and things like that. So we shared a lot of information together. Uh we also talked to um some tech experts.
uh one was Steve Wells who was our super of technology here in Gloucester Township and then also some of the uh people that we met at the conference. Um we chatted with them when we were at the conference. Uh additional research that we did, we did case study analysis. Uh we uh looked
at other uh school districts um policies. We touched on uh Vorhees, um Kingsway and Gateway. Um, we did breakout sessions at the conference that I talked about on the previous slide and we also reviewed some uh generic
policies as well as uh policies that were listed on the internet. Uh, when we had our meetings, we um decided also to bring in our uh teachers as a focus group. So, we surveyed them. Uh, 450 uh teachers participated in that student in
that survey. And Mr. Tro will uh review those um findings when um in a couple slides and the feedback signal that education is needed for our educators about AI. So uh Mrs. uh wanted to know why I
brought this. When we went to the conference, everybody um pulled out well a lot of the conferences said listen AI is a tool. It's nothing to be afraid of. They brought a hammer but I just brought a wrench. And when when we uh that was one of the understandings that we had to
come to that you shouldn't be afraid of AI. It's not teaching just like I probably would need some direction on how to use this if you know or a plumber does when they're going. That's what AI is. We need to use it as a tool and not something that we thinks is a terrible
uh you know thing that's going to you know come upon us and steal away our jobs and everything. Uh because AI is something that we all use. Uh when we do streaming services, the Netflix picks the movies and things that you uh you know when you um this presentation the
baseline of this presentation was developed from AI. I put everything into the Google Drive, all the information everybody collected on our committee and I asked for a professional presentation to be given to the school board and to grab that information that we had on
Google Drive and it gave me a baseline presentation. Now I had to do a human intervention with that and make it to be our own but at least gave me a baseline saved me a lot of time and Mr. true. He showed us a report about um attendance and all that information. He probably
could save himself hours of time using AI. So, it's just something that we have to embrace because it is a part of um you know, technology, growing technology. Um and then there's a definition um that I put up there that one of the presenters gave at our
conference and that's from the new jersey.gov um on there. So, it's really a tool that we have to kind of embrace. Okay, some best practices we learned from other districts is um we need guidelines to promote the learning with
AI. Uh we also have to create a culture of collaboration with um our educators, administrators, students uh develop how we're going to use AI. Um, and staff can use it for a v variety of tasks, um,
lessons plans, IEP plans, different things like that. Um, Mr. Tro told us about one of the teachers that, uh, created a bot that's helping, uh, with the curriculum, um, that they have to work on. So, all those things save time, um, and help out. Um, and the policy
needs to be fluid because AI is right now is fluid and there's some guard rails that we could put in place, but we need to make sure that we grow with the tool. Um, and some of the things that we also learned was uh it's timesaver. Uh, it's thought partner. Uh, sometimes like
you get um brain fog or you can't think of the right words to put in a paragraph or a sentence or something and you could use um AI to help you. um improves learning and enhances training and even could develop baseline training that you could um then tweak to make it good for
what you need it for and it supports IE uh plans and documentation and goal setting. Um helps with um individualized um education and learning for students. Okay, I'm going to hand it over to uh Mr. Tro and he's going to talk about the
survey. >> Thank you. So, um, we did survey staff. We mentioned we had over 450 staff participate, which was a pretty good percentage. When you look, that's about 75% of our staff responded to the survey, which is, um, a really strong
result. And what it showed was really some mixed feelings. And I'll show some share some specific data. Um, but they kind of recognized that it could potentially be good, but a lot of them weren't sure how. And, um, just kind of expressed that need for training and support like we talked about. um
earlier. So um one of the questions was how often do you use um gen generative AI which we kept making sure that we put that out there so that people understood and we had defined that as well in the survey that that's you know where AI is
actually creating something with you artificially um because there's you know there are different types of AI and that was the big leap that's been happening recently is where it's creating things for you based on the parameters that you put in and what you saw saw was that only about
12% of our staff members actually really use it um regularly at all. Four was meaning they used it regularly, one not often at all. So the vast majority of our staff uses it very infrequently or not at all. And then when we asked them what their
level of interest was in training regarding AI um interestingly all over the place about half of them are like yeah not interested in all and other half um had a more significant interest in it. Um but a lot of them when they
did want it want it and when they had a chance to put in um you know open-ended responses really even we're just talking about getting a basic understanding of what it is um and how to use it. And I know when we share some of these case studies, people you can do that. You
know, like if you got a a par an email that you're sending to a parent and um you know, I've been using it more and more for my own emails now. I'll draft an email, throw it in there, say, "Make this more clear and concise and it'll give me back some examples for how to do it." And it's it's it's a really nice
tool. And teacher I've had a few teachers I've mentioned that to like you can do that like yep you can you can throw that in there. Interestingly though, in a little funny anecdote, I went to an AI conference and I was on my districts laptop and they said, "Oh yeah, there's some latest things that
came out with Google Gemini." So, I went to Google Gemini and I was blocked. Um, so I'm texting um and emailing our district uh people, can you open this up so I can actually participate in the uh in the workshop? So, our staff members can use Google Gemini now. Students, not
so much, but kids, they can. Um, just to back up, one of the points, I don't know if we have it in the slide here, that that has come out that we talked a bit about is one of the challenges we have with using it with students as a K to8 school district is um you have to be 13
years of age or older in order to use it without parental permission. And so we can't just the vast as a Kday district that's only really our eighth graders that we could consider using it with without parental permission. So if we are going to start using it in classes at all, we would need to figure out a
way that we would have to try to work with parents to figure that out. So primarily our focus is going to be with staff building their understanding and ways that they can use it as again as kind of teaching the basics in a K to8 setting. I don't know that there's a huge need for your average K to 5
student to be using AI in a regular basis, but in middle school there might be of interest and we're going to have to determine exactly what that'll be and how we would go about that whole parental consent piece. All right, I will turn it back over to Mrs. Gallanick to finish things up.
Okay, so some of the areas of interest were enhancing the teacher teaching methodology, administrative task improvement and automation of administrative tasks. And some of those tasks could be presentations, reports, and lesson plans.
And those are different things that uh were you know talked about or at least um gotten from the survey that u the teachers uh took. Okay. So the recommendations uh basically uh we would like to um recommend that
policies existing policies be updated. We uh have a sampling of some of the policies there um that should be updated to put in those guard rails that I uh talked about and then create an AI implementation plan. Until we have that
uh AI implementation plan, it will be difficult to put a whole policy together because we don't know what we're going to run up against and the things that we're really going to approach there. So put a framework in place and um start to adopt it uh with the faculty, the
teachers um administration and um go from there. Uh the next recommendation that we have is to put in a um implementation plan uh which would include the staff training uh review of the student use and refinement of um
implementation strategies. It's really important that when you start implementing AI that you review it, you get feedback from the educators and the different people that are using it. Can't just like implement it and go, "Okay, we're done and we'll see it next year." And same thing with the policies.
They should uh have a regular uh cadence of being updated. Um look at them at least yearly. Um dependent on the fluidity of the AI, you know, maybe it's six months. And the proposed timeline is to update existing policies that we already have
in place with um prescribed verbiage um and then um start a pilot program for AI. Then review the feedback that we have from uh the target um area that we uh focused on for the pilot programs and
then um look at a broader uh area to implement AI. Um maybe get like u Mr. Tro said some of the middle school um students involved at that point and things like that. So, but definitely a step-by-step process with some um you
know target dates and things like that. Uh summary of takeaways is you know AI is important to education. We really do need to um look at this. It really um benefits the students and the teachers. So, we shouldn't um shy away from it. Um, we should, like I said, consider the
policy, looking at them every um, six to 12 months and then, um, make sure that we get the input from the staff um, because they're the people that are going to be using it to enhance the students education. And any questions?
>> Yes. >> Um, when you went to the conference, did you speak to anyone that's already doing this? >> Yes. Um there's a presentation on the Google Drive that we got from the um uh the supervisor of technology in New
Brunswick and they had a great plan. They do K through high school so it would have to be tweaked a little bit but I really liked his plan um because they talked about that collaboration and getting um everybody involved so that you could really you know put this force
in a nice systematic um method and and get feedback from everybody. I mean, they even had some of the um older students help with um some of the policy updates and things. >> Was there anyone local that was already up and running? >> Uh no, I do not believe so.
>> Okay. >> No. No. Some of the policies that we reviewed were very generic. That's why I said let's just uh update the existing policies we have instead of taking the time to do a very generic policy that we're probably going to have to update anyway once we start implementing.
Does the policy I mean does the AI committee have suggestions for updating those? I know you identified certain policies to update, but do you have suggestions for that to >> I don't have them right at my fingertips, but I think u Mr. Billo is working on some um language that needed
to be in there. So, um I'll follow up with him on that. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? Oh, go ahead. >> Yeah, I think was Didn't you go to that? Mr. Troy went to that. Yeah. Yeah, that's where he like uh found out about
like the training for the teachers and things like that. That's like why I think he's using it more now too, right? So, I just wanted to thank everybody for the opportunity because it was a great team collaboration. um got to know a lot of my uh fellow board members as well as they got to know me. It was a great
learning opportunity because some things we didn't know and we found out together and I appreciate everybody's uh attention and your recommendation considerations. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Tro. Thank
you, Mrs. Galeneck. Uh, under uh superintendent report 7.1B, uh, since we don't have Mr. Hillbrand any longer to present, >> um, uh, I will try to be brief. Um, New
Jersey state law requires that the commissioner of education develop program to grade each public school and each school district's effort to implement the anti-b bullying bill of rights uh anti-bullying specialists located in each of our schools. We have
11 are provided with a self assessment uh for determining a grade under the state's anti-bullying bill of rights act. Um, so the uh just so everyone knows this maximum score uh from the state's
assessment is a 78. Um, and all of our anti-bulling specialists have submitted uh their grade from the previous school year. That's how it's done. Uh, all the board of education members have been sent home
those numbers. Our average uh from our 11 schools is 70 74.36. Um and I've indicated to the board of education uh that barring any questions uh next uh month when we meet on a
Wednesday night 29th of October uh this will be on the superintendent's agenda for approval. So I wanted to thank all of our individual anti-bullying specialists. I think they do uh an incred incredible job individually in their districts and then
when they um are collegial with one another. So I wanted to present as part of the uh the act itself to present it in a open uh session. So I don't know if board members have questions. Um these numbers that are presented by the
specialists this year are very similar to a year ago. So, we're kind of hovering in that low to mid 70 range, obviously. Okay, there's no questions. That's uh all I have for 7.1.
Um, and to uh complete uh I guess the recommendations, I'd like to request a consent resolution for items 7.2 to B
through 7 6 M as amended move. >> Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. Second. Thank you, Mrs.
Roll call, please. Uh, any questions? Sorry, trying to move it along. Any questions? Nope. Can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scalanick? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gibbons?
>> Yes. Miss Gore? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hutchinson? >> Abstain on 7.6H. Employee ID 5721. Yes. And the rest. >> 7.6. What was it?
Mrs. D Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dentino. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Donnell. >> Yes. >> May I get the report of the business administrator, please? >> My report begins on item uh number eight asking for consent resolution for 8.1
through and including 8.7B. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. First >> second. >> Thank Thank you, Mr. Hutcherson. Second. Any questions.
>> Any questions on anything? Okay. Um, no. He answered my questions earlier. >> Perfect. >> Roll call. >> Roll call, please. >> Uh, Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gallick. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gibbons.
>> Uh, I'm in no on check 138747. Yes. On the balance. >> Miss Gore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sandry. I am a no on check number 138747.
Yes on the balance. >> Mr. Hutchinson. Yes. Mr. Johnson. >> I'm a no on check number 138747. I'm abstaining on check number 138754.
Yes. On the balance. >> Mentina. >> Yes. Mr. O'Donnell. >> Yes. >> Any old business, Mr. Bilo? >> I do, Mrs. I do, Mrs. O'Donnell. I uh wanted to uh let the board of education
know that uh last month's meeting, we had gentlemen uh Mr. Miller and Mr. heirs uh both approached the board uh about um you know various things um as as parents in our district and we agreed
uh Mr. Tro and I to meet with those gentlemen which that meeting kind of like a first uh initial brainstorming session I thought it went well Mr. Metro has um um invite invited them to come to
a principal meeting. So um it was a good first uh round of meetings to hear from some residents who are also in education. I think are trying to um help with um insight on certain things. So I kind of welcome the meeting. It was uh
successful. Uh second item I'd like to uh let the board know. probably sending home the board a note, but our um Canon County teacher of the year, uh Miss Kowalsski has um been given an
opportunity to bring 20 and Mullen Millu students to Ruckers University. Uh the snag in that is that it is an all day event and we have a transportation uh issue. So, I'll be asking the board if they would uh uh fund a bus from an
outside u to allow 20 of our students to attend this. Uh I did immediately get on the phone with the principal uh bounds and say, "How often do we have to get a bus for these?" And she did look at the the schedule for a teacher of the year.
Uh and uh this would be the only special event. So, if the board doesn't have any objections, I want to continue to get some quotes for that bus. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Anyone No one cares, right? >> Do I move forward? >> No one objects. >> No one cares, right?
>> I like my wording better. >> Go for it. >> We will we will get quotes and we will go with the low parent bidder, but I know that uh Mrs. Squowski will uh you know, thank us. So, um and that's really all the old best I want to discuss. So,
I I have an item. Um, on the July 21st meeting, I voted on an item 8.5A under transportation where I should have abstained. So, I'd like the record to reflect that.
>> Uh, the July 21st meeting. >> What was your original vote? Uh, I voted uh I'm pretty sure I voted yes on something where I should have abstained. >> 8.5A under transportation.
>> Just had to clean that up. >> So, Mr. Longwood would reissue those. >> No. So, those minutes have already been approved. It's just Mrs. O'Donnell making a she consulted me on this and the appropriate uh mechanism would be at this meeting just to publicly announce
it should have been an abstain didn't impact the result of the resolution whatsoever. >> It was just listed in these minutes as a correction. That's correct. Facebook by a July 21st. She voted yes and she would like to change that.
>> Your your microphone is not on. So the >> the video is not picking you up. >> Miss O'Donnell spoke of 8.5A on a July 21st meeting where she voted yes and she would like the record to uh say that she abstained, but the minutes have already been approved. >> Yeah.
>> She inadvertently voted yes where she should have abstained. >> Speaking of the third person, >> um yes. And >> do I get fired? >> No, no, it is completely it's completely inadvertent. Again, it didn't change the outcome. It was just to properly correct
and reflect the record. Not not even that. No big as we say. So, all good. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Uh any new business? >> None at this time. Can I open it up to public comments on any items? Um, I'm just going to ask
that you come to the microphone so you know YouTube sees you and just state your name and where you're from. I don't I'm not interested in your address. Mr. Sweet. >> Good evening board. >> Is that Is that thing on?
>> Stop button. All right. Good evening. Um Sam Sweet representing Aerial Little League. Uh obviously from Ariel. Uh first off, I'd like to thank the board for allowing um us to put tarps on the pitcher mount of
the junior field to help us with that. Um but our executive board has been look discussing um our ability to to offer new opportunities for the kids to play more baseball in Township. And one idea is to
put lights on the baseball field at Ierial School that sit it sits adjacent to the school and it's a junior field and it's owned by the Glosser Township public schools. lights would provide the ability to start games slightly later and give the opportunity to host district playoff
games, making it making uh an opportunity to for the township to make money, the little league to make money, and also alleviate a burden of parents trying to rush leaving work early, coming trying to get there by 5:00 for a
5:15 game that might get dark by 6:45. Um, with the board's approval, we could begin to find fundraisers to accomplish this. We're not asking for any board money. We will we will handle all of the
monetary costs, including the cost of electricity. We're just asking for board approval. So, I' um I want to thank you for the consideration in this. And does anybody have any questions on what we're proposing? Evening, Mr. Sweet. Um, thank you for uh
returning. I know that I spoke to Mr. Shields, a principal, and and his township. He uh was familiar with the the whole TARP setup, so he thought it was going to be, you know, a success. And I appreciate you coming back, thanking the board for their approval. I
just uh don't want to uh say yes or no. I'm not the board, but uh can you have the commissioners from the league someone denominate your request into writing and send it to the board of education so they can consider? >> Well, I can do that. I'm on the executive board of your
>> Can you just I think then, you know, not opposed to it, but a written request I think might be, you know, appropriate. >> Okay, >> perfect. >> Any other questions? Would those lights have their own like meter or something or how are they?
>> We have a snack stand that has its own account at Atlantic City Electric that the elite pays for. So, we would just tap into that box >> and we would pay the bill. So, it would be no cost to the school board at all. >> And then, uh, someone asked me to ask a couple questions. They could not make
the meeting. Um, bring it back. Let's let me see if anyone else has anything and then I'll bring you back up. Thank you. Does anybody else have anything? Any item? >> Any any item?
Good evening. My name is TJ Shug and I'm from Somerdale. I'm here tonight to express my concern regarding my daughter's transportation to and from Choose Elementary. For the past three years, my children have been approved to ride bus 85 without issue. This year, however, our request was denied and the only explanation we have been given is
that our daughters are classified as walkers, being that we live4 miles from the school. No further reasoning has been provided and there appears to be no exception to this rule. Despite the fact that our arrangement has been in place since my older daughter first started that shoes, my concern is not only about consistency, but about safety and
fairness. We employ a babysitter to watch our non-schoolage daughter and help get our other daughter safely to and from the bus stop along with her own children. This stop where my daughters would board is only one mile from CHW Elementary, not the required two miles that was communicated to me by district employees. Also, bus 85 stops at two
other locations closer to choose before stopping at the location where my daughters would board the bus. Allowing them to make remain on bus 85 does not inconvenience the district in any way. It does not alter the bus route. It does not add a stop and it does not exceed capacity with a roster of only 23 other
children riding that bus. More importantly, denying this transportation means that my 8-year-old and six-year-old daughters would be home alone for 30 minutes before leaving for school each day due to the fact that my wife and I are in education and must leave well before our daughters do. That is not safe or reasonable for an eight
and six-year-old. I was also told that there are absolutely no exceptions to this rule. Yet my nephew who lives six miles from Shu Elementary was denied transportation as well while another student that I know living just 0.5 from the school and on the same path to to uh choose was granted busing. This is a
clear inconsistency in how the policy is being applied and it leaves families like mine with no clarity or fairness. What troubles me further is that this decision was communicated to us on October I'm sorry August 25th which is so late in the summer that we had no opportunity to make alternative arrangements with latch key already
being at capacity. we were left with no options. I want to be clear, my request is not unreasonable. I'm simply asking that my daughters be permitted to continue riding that same bus that they have safely taken for the past 3 years. I respectfully ask the board to consider the fairness of the situation, the
safety concerns I have raised, and the impact on my family. Thank you for your time and attention. I shared with you um email communication timeline of those that correspondence and then uh just what I just read here and full transparency AI helped me kind of
generate the conversation. >> Thank you Mr. S. >> Anyone else? >> Anyone Anyone else with any items? Mrs. Porter. >> Hi. How are you?
>> Good. >> Okay. I just wanted to come and bring to your attention >> name M where that's all. >> Kelly Porter. I live in Valley Brook. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Um I just wanted to come and bring to your attention, Mr. Vo, my son has been in your school since preK3 MD and every
year I had Tara Walters communicate with me prior to COVID um regarding Epipen. My son has anaphyllexics and cat dander. He can't his throat will close like he he has anaphyllexics. It's not a It doesn't need to be a cat in the room. It can be dander from somebody's clothes, a
jacket from a kid, a teacher or whatever. It's well documented. It's written his IEP for a trained aid for the bus. But right now, I'm driving him to and from because our bus was coming 20 minutes later than school started because there's an issue there. And I agreed to do it. I'm happy to do that with my son. Actually, I'm very happy to
do it. Um, I just wanted to make you aware that every year since like I this is the second year I chase down your school nurse in the summer before school starts to make sure somebody is trained in working with my son. In speaking to Mrs. Mayor, is that how you say it? From
CW Lewis where my son is. Um, there wasn't any urgency to communicate with me that the bus aids were trained. And then when I went in to meet with the guidance counselor the day before school started just to introduce my son for his therapy sessions like per his IEP. When Mrs. Mayor came into the office, I kept
insisting that they communicate with me that somebody's trained, you know, because he was going to take the bus the first day, but there was a whole situation with the bus. And I respect Mrs. Kyone's amazing. I'm not here to knock your bus. I'm here to be like a pro advocate for the EpiPen and kids with anaplexics and their families who
want to trust that you guys have a system. And I don't think there is one. I think that there should be somebody designated. I emailed Mrs. Walters and she never even replied to me because I've always did that. Excuse me. I've always done that in prior years prior to maybe like prior to us going to Straford
and coming back like prior to co and then being here or being at CHWs last year. I had to hunt down the Mr. Dr. Rose did everything. He's amazing. But being at Mr. Tedton school, Mr. Autton school, it's very different because it's middle school and I think that they kind
of relax and I I'm not here to knock I think he's a great principal, but you don't relax when you have a kid with anaphyllexics in your school. And then when I pushed the nurse to find out if anybody was trained, it was when I met with your guidance counselor at CW Lewis that she went and got the nurse to ask her because nobody followed up with me.
I don't know her email. I tried to communicate with her through the portal and that doesn't work well. Like I don't know. It gives me an error message to send it to the nurse. But in being transparent as a mom, I can't just send my son who is communication impaired to your school without like followup and
something. Every child should have that. There should be an action plan for every kid in your district with anaplexics and not just for the bus. I don't know who's trained in the classroom. I asked Mrs. Mayor and she said it was their option to volunteer to do the EpiPen training. If a child if something
happened, that's a real liability. I mean, I teach CPR and EpiPen, excuse me, EpiPen training for a living. Do you want me to get back up? >> Yeah, finish your thought. >> I'm happy to come in and I'm a instructor trainer for emergency care and safety, national safety, American. I
I have the searchs to do it. I'm happy to come in and train anybody. I know your nurse can do it as well, but it didn't seem like it was a priority to me in speaking with her that the people in your in my son's classroom were trained. So, if there's a child with dander on their clothes and they're in the
classroom and the nurse is in the front of the school and he's not on the bus and we only train the bus, where's the real action plan? I don't know that anybody's ever come to you with this, but I think every year in August there should be somebody who's assigned to um do this. There should be a due diligence
in the district that kids who can't self-administer because my son has a medical disability. He cannot carry his own pen. I think that this is very important and it's something that should be not like found out after something happens. I don't even know that the people in my
son's classroom are trained. I asked Mrs. Mayor and she said it's up to them. I think that's horrible honestly. >> Can you take a look at that and get back to >> Mr. Porter? I uh think it is important certainly epipen training and uh I will look into it. I'll speak to staff here.
Um, I had already spoken with Miss Cayion, so thank you for giving her um, acknowledgement. I know that she takes it very serious. I know the driver and the aid uh, were willing and I know Miss Walters did go over and train them uh, for your son because it was just a
different set of um, driver and aid this year. So, but I think in inside the school when we take a look at that, we're we're going to reach back out to you. Okay. >> And if it cost the school something, I'm I can come in and train them. If your nurse can't, I'm happy to train your whole staff like what for free. I I don't need I just want to make sure my son is
>> Sorry about we appreciate that. Let me look into it and we're gonna >> and every year it should be like a plan in August that somebody I mean CST is not open 12 months. I, you know, I can't communicate with the school nurse is not in until the day or two or three before. And I think it's a real liability for
the district to not um prioritize that and the kids who I'll be back if I don't hear back from you, Mr. Bidau. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Anyone new that wants to speak? Mrs. Frretz
Blackwood, New Jersey. I just have a quick question. And I think everybody knows that we're doing a lot of building in Glustester Township and it's my understanding we're somewhere around 3,000 town houses, apartments, and homes in the works. Um at the um zoning board
meeting that I went to, a lot of residents and parents asked about the input that the township and the council have together in discussing um the number of students in school, how all these builds will affect classrooms, um
transportation, a lot of cars on the road. And it was told to us two weeks ago at the council meeting that you do have input and that informal discussions go on every time they're building something. So my question here is who in
the district is the key person or the point person that those in um casual or unscheduled meetings uh are with. I mean, we were told that they were with u someone from planning, someone from
zoning, someone from council, but who is our person here? Would it be the superintendent? Is it the school board? Is it the um I don't know, the bus supervisor? That's all. I just want to know who the person is that has these informal discussions so that the schools
have input into we're getting more kids. What are we going to do with them all? I mean, it's a lot of building and it's a lot more traffic on the road. Uh, bus safety. There's there's a lot of concerns and it isn't just mine. It was residents and parents asking at these
various other meetings. So, they weren't clear on who handles that within the district and I'm hoping you have the answer. >> I hope that wasn't a headache you >> Good evening. Welcome back to to the board meeting. I totally understand uh
what you stated um but uh this is the first I'm hearing of a revelation of informal meetings occurring. >> So you're stating that >> township repres representatives said that informal communication
>> is happening with this board of education regarding building projects. No, he he didn't say he said the school district. He said the school district has >> this school district. >> This school district as well as Black Pike Regional School District in town.
>> And I'm only asking it because it's it's been a few years now that I hear all these people complaining about well the school district what are they doing with the kids? Where's their input? How do they feel about what my own opinion which without fact is that the school
district isn't included. However, uh two weeks ago at the council meeting, you can view it yourself on video. It's it's said there that you not you personally, that the school district has informal discussions on on these matters. So, if
we do, I'm asking who is it? And if we don't, then I guess I have to go back to somewhere else and tell them that's not true. >> I would classify those meetings as extremely informal. Um, that's a joke.
>> Well, I mean, it's a concern. >> Um, it is a concern. >> I think, you know, for clarification, any township uh office or division, whether it be policy planning wants to interact with this board or this
district, we are um certainly willing to do so. And um so if they would like to do that moving forward, we certainly would have formal meetings with them. But but what about the informal meeting? Is that have
>> informal or formal or any type of >> But we have them. We were told we do have them. And I'm trying to get at the fact that do we have them or we don't? My my guess >> I don't recall any. >> Okay. Well, I didn't I didn't think we did, but I I don't you know want to assume. So I thought, hey, I'll ask. But
it would be a good idea if if we're going to build this many and we're going to put on the school district more children and um we should have but we were told we do have so >> I just looking for clarification and who that point person would be but >> I guess there isn't one.
>> Thank thank you >> Mrs. France. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any anyone else? Mileo. Mrs. delay. Do you have new stuff you want to inform us about? >> Well, new stuff or
>> things that haven't been addressed yet? >> Things that ha That's new stuff. >> Yes. Things that haven't been addressed. >> Okay. Darthy Hope DeLo 1500 New Brooklyn Road terminated employee of Gloucester Township Schools. Um, where should I
start? All right. I have a question for Mr. Bella. The question is, how are Orlando Marcato the personnel director and Desiree Marcato the >> We've answered this twice. This is the last. >> No, you you he answered it once.
>> I also um answered >> you took me on the sign at the You took me on the side at the Meadow Diner. >> No. And I told you in this meeting. I told you in this meeting. You told me at the Meadows Diner, >> Mrs. Delea, we're not going to have conversations about employees. If you
have new information to give us and new things to discuss, I am happy to >> open the floor to you. >> So, I need to uh I need to get an attorney to do the research because his answer was just like the Smiths. He said
no, just like the Smiths. I really find it a hard and hard um an I really find that hard to believe that those two work in the same office with the same last name in the same kind of um authorative
positions and they're not related. I really find that hard to believe. >> All right. Okay. Thank you. >> You have anything further? >> Yes, I do. Uh, I was terminated five months before I would have had my benefits for life.
I still don't have my benefits. Um, I still don't have my pension. 10 months after I was terminated. Every time I go to the administration building, Desire Ray Marcado stays in the back. She knows I'm out there to ask a question. She
stays in the back. I never uh get to be face with face to face with her to answer to ask the question. So I want to know >> So you're saying I I want to just be clear on this because I want to know what direction to take. You're saying that you're entitled to your pension. You haven't received that in 10 months.
>> I'm entitled to my pension and I would have received it a lot sooner than 10 months. >> I I'm I'm going to have that looked into. uh policy number uh 3161 examination for cause. It's a district
policy. Um it's for teaching staff members. It was created in March 2009. Now that's policy number 3161. We have policy number 4161
for par professionals support staff and that's what I was um written the exact same way the exact same wording. It's written the exact same way. >> Do you have Do you have a lot left? Do you have one or two more points? Because
the time went off. So, I want to gauge if I should have you come back up or if you can finish >> sit down and then come back up. >> Well, if you can finish quickly, I would much rather do that than have you come back up. Okay. I was recognized for 35 years of
service by Mr. Tro. I was sent an email and that was five and a half months after I was terminated. Oh, you're not answering the question about Orlando Marcato and Desiree Marcato. >> Yeah, we we can't talk about staff members, Mrs. Deleo. It's been It's been
asked. It's been addressed. I'm looking for any It's been asked, it's been addressed, and we're not going to talk about staff. when you said it's just like dismiss. >> Okay. All right. I appreciate your comments. Does anyone else have anything? >> No. >> Well, I wanted to see if anyone else had
anything first. Don't tell me. >> I'm just making sure you I'm just I'm just making sure that the >> Excuse me, >> Sam. >> Samu from Ariel. Um, couple questions regarding I guess
fields. Um, the the first question is the sports fee going to the upkeep of the fields. Um, because apparently Mullen's baseball field needs a ton of dirt infield mix and the field is crooked and it's also
looking like turning into a grass field. So, which means it's just a bunch of weeds. So, who's taking care of that? Mullen field. Um, Glenn Landing's baseball team can play games at Taylor Avenue, but Mullen, for
some reason, can't go to the aerial field by the aerial school. Why is that? Is that a um an insurance issue? And finally, why does Gwen Landing field
hockey get to play at the turf field and not at the school? >> These are not my questions. Just >> point. >> The Glen Landing turf field. >> Glenn Landing apparently is field hockey is playing at the turf field at GT Park
and not at the schools. Why? Why do they have it? And apparently Mullen and the other ones don't. >> This Glen Maryanne, >> it might be TBAAA. >> If you if if if we're going to talk, we
have to turn on our microphones. I'm so sorry, but we're recording and if you look at the recording later on, we don't hear you. That's all. Um, does does Len Landing have a field hockey field? Because I'm wondering if maybe that's
why they're playing somewhere else. Maybe they don't have a field hockey field. I'm certain the staff could put the striping down to create such a field but >> okay >> obviously adjacent to all that campus are turf fields so they must have been
invited in some way I don't know how they got the pathway there but your question is can other schools Lewis and Mullen also play on it >> yes I mean I know the soccer Glenn Landing plays there as well um it never really we have a grass field
at Mullen You'll you'll look into those >> microphone's not >> and then you'll look into the >> um Taylor Avenue versus playing at >> all. >> Is the Mullen baseball team would like to play at the aerial field if possible?
>> Baseball to be able to play at aerial and it's called Taylor Avenue. >> No, Taylor Avenue is in Blackwood and Glenn Landings baseball team can play at Taylor Avenue. Mullen the aerial field is in Mullen's backyard. >> What's that? >> Can or does
>> does. >> And they also have baseball fields. >> Yeah, >> I'll look into it. >> But those aren't our fields. So, how >> people schools play on off-campus fields often. I just think >> No, no. From what I'm understanding his question is, can they play there? But
it's not our place to say yes, you can go play at that park. That's not our >> Well, we still have to authorize our team to >> But I field is the Glosser Township >> School Board. >> So, could Mullen, which is in your district, play on that field
>> since the Mullen field is not being upkept. >> Okay. He'll look into it and >> and get back to you on it. >> You get gave him just for fun. >> Yeah. Can I gave him this? >> That was just for fun, Mr. Sweet. >> Great question. as I can. >> While while he's looking at that,
>> do we bust the I have a green light. >> I see that. >> You see, I listen. >> I would have pointed at you. >> Yeah. Um but if the Glen Landing students are playing at Taylor Rav, >> do they get bust there? Because that's a long walk. >> I mean, that's M Mr. Bill is going to
have to look into it. Not only will he update Mr. Suite, I'm assuming he'll he'll update us as well. That's a >> on what's happening. Awesome. >> Mrs. Frretz, >> the microphone can't hear you. Mrs. >> Speak on this, but since Mr. Sweet asked
some questions, I actually have some information that I can give you. >> Okay. Glen Landing Field floods out all the time. And so that's why the Glen Landing soft baseball team plays at Taylor A and that's been in place for
years. That's not something new. Okay. Now, my own granddaughter plays Glen Landing softball and their fields are further back. There's a big property there and you could accommodate is fields if you wanted to. Unfortunately,
the district does not own the proper equipment to create a field. All we can do is with the existing fields is try to get them uh to look like a field and to right before a game. And as Mr. We might have mentioned measurements have to be
certain way. Everything has to be certain. So we have one person in grounds that handles that one person for every field that we have. But our fields are not up to par to begin with. So what we
don't we need more dirt. We need better equipment if we're going to maintain them all ourselves. And that's part of the problem. The reason that the main reason that the Glen Landing kids played on Taylor A is because water accumulates there. I don't know the reason, but it
has for years. So what happens is if you have a game a rain right before a game, they you'd be ruining your field and you can't play there anyway. But that is a big property and you could make fields there. Awesome. But um >> I appreciate your man in sight and skill
and what we do is maintain what we have. Got it. >> Didn't build or make those fields because we don't have the equipment to do so. >> Perfect. >> And I I've asked about fields because I've gone with my granddaughter to fields in other schools and they're really nice.
>> So that's this is her last year so you won't hear me complain. >> This is her but but the same thing is true for the boy, you know, for the boys, right? And for soccer and all that. Awesome. >> I've been to all these fields and Mullen is bad. It's even bad for girls
softball. Yeah. >> Got it. All right. Thank you. >> Awesome. Anyone else? >> I'm sorry. >> What? I I feel your pain, Mrs. Deleo. I >> We take Mr.
>> Not from the not from the audience. Does anyone else have anything? >> I appreciate that. Um, okay. Board member comments. Mrs. DeLo, thank you very much. We're going to move on to board member comments. >> Um, Mrs. Dentino. Yes.
>> Thank you. >> Um, Mrs. Porter had mentioned about her bus. Um, I was just curious if that bus is still 20 minutes late every day or has that been addressed with the Boston people? >> I I don't know that.
issue. >> This first >> Okay. >> Anything else? Thank you. Any other comments, Mr. Gibbons? We'll go around the table. >> Was the transportation committee met on those issues?
>> I don't know who's on the transportation committee, but >> yeah, I I'm not on transportation now. You're being disruptive, Mrs. Deleo. Please. You're being disruptive. And I'm I'm not trying to be I'm trying to be
very respectful. Thank you, Mr. Gibbons. I'm sorry. >> No, I don't have u I mean, I we're just going to look into the uh blessing issue that you guys brought up and uh just thank everybody for coming out tonight. >> Any other board member comments? >> Fine. I have several.
So, um, we are planning with Mr. Tro's blessing, um, visits to the new science room. So, I want to just remind, um, the board that check your email if you'd like the opportunity to see that, you will have that. Um, I also, speaking of
transportation, I also want to remind the board that our policy says that all the committees need to meet at least twice a year, more for of course some of them that need to meet more. So, if transportation hasn't met, I'm not sure who the chair is on that, but um we're
coming towards the end of the year. So, um twice a year meetings for those, please. Um I wanted to uh thank Mr. Bilo for the roll out of the school year. I heard everything went mostly smoothly. If there's um bus issues, please you can
call transportation committee meeting as well and update the board on that. Um I on my way to work on the first day of school driving down um Eeriel Road, I got stopped behind a bus and here comes
the kids out of the house with dad and mom dancing on the porch. He had a huge inflatable bus on just dancing around. And can I tell you, it brought me back to when my kids were in elementary and middle and I sent them off to school dancing in my driveway. like it just it
made my day. And so dance in your driveways. Your kids will be fine. They won't be in therapy later. Not for that. It'll probably be something else. My my kids are in their 20s now. They're fine. It's fine. Um I also want to just thank the amazing work of the AI committee. Um
I I I don't know how many I I've said it 12 times before. like when we put this committee together, I did not have the expectations that they would um just run with it and just do amazing things with it and your presentation tonight was perfect. So, I appreciate that. So,
thank you very much. Absolutely. No one else can I get a motion to adjourn. >> Yeah, I I didn't know I thought you meant like questions with that. Um >> Oh, no. Board member comments. >> Uh no, no, no. Um when Miss Rutz was
talking about the um buildings and things like that, we don't ever like get invited or told like when do we know when the public knows that new stuff comes up? What what do you what like for instance like like
when there is an apartment community that's about to be broken? Like when do we as a district get notified? like when there's a now leasing sign like >> I as board president I haven't been notified of anything. I haven't been
asked of anything. >> So how is one supposed to plan >> when they people people that go to both meetings? Thank you for updating us. That's >> I'll just keep my I'll just bite my
tongue. Um, >> Miss Hendry, could you just clarify uh in reference to what you're referring to plan for student curriculum or >> No, you're talking about the buildings that's been going up throughout town,
>> the influx of children being registered to our schools. >> The more the more building, the more kids we get in our school. >> So, we just came from a curriculum meeting tonight and Mr. Trove does keep those numbers, okay? And he and he has all the numbers. I have the paper right here of the students in all the grades
and all the attendance and things like that and he keeps the trends of those kind of things. So he does know and he's pretty good at predicting what's happening in the district. So he does have those numbers. I have a paper right here if you want to see it after we adjourn. But those numbers are being
kept. >> I recall seeing a study done by an outside company also letting us know of trends and and building and whatnot. But I I believe that the the point she was trying to clarify was that she was told at another meeting that there is a open
line of communication informally through with the district, but these other things are we were seeking out that information, not being told it. That's what I believe your point was. Correct, >> Mr. Tro. You're you're seeking out that information. I just want to clarify.
You're just keeping an eye on stuff. >> I just monitor the district's >> enrollment, right? That's the enrollment. over the last 10 years. >> Got it. Not not what's happening outside and what's coming in under Got it. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, I understand what the point she
was making. I'm just saying that we do have some of that data so we're not operating in the dark. >> Right. >> Any anyone else any other comments? >> I was going to say I did attend the uh council school meetings with Mrs. Johnson this weekend. The transportation
always needing bus drivers. So if anybody knows anybody Yeah. Please let them know. were always hiring for bus drivers. And then there was the other um I guess opening hiccup was the rooms use. Is that what it's called? Right. Rooms that um >> Oh, yeah.
>> I'm sorry. >> The app you're talking about? >> Yes, the app. Yeah. For communication. There was a little hiccup with that, but that's been getting resolved as well. So, >> growing pains. >> Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Thank you, Miss Score. >> Second,
>> Mr. Gibbons. Thank you for the second. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Have a great night.