##VIDEO ID:IUbO5zs1D-k## may I please call the December 17 2024 meeting of the High Point Regional uh Board of Education to order please stand for cl flag uned States for stands na indivisible andice our open public meetings act statement J open public meeting FL was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which that business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the board of education has called notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted at the Augusta Branchville and Sussex Post Offices and notice sent to the New Jersey Herald the Sunday Herald and the clerk of the bus of Branchville and Sussex and the townships of Frankfurt Lafayette and wage Mission State High Point Regional High School in partnership with staff family and Community is dedicated to the Quest for individual Excellence by fostering high standards of achievement we prepare students to become responsible and productive members of a diverse Society I please ask for a Mr con here Mr Diaz president Mr dun here M ory here M pal here here Mr Dona Mr van Stone here M wise here Dr R here uh motion will now be made that the High Point Regional High School uh Board of Ed enter executive session to provide an update on legal personnel and negotiation items which are exempt from public participation pursuant to New Jersey public 1975 chap 231 open public meetings act any discussions held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public when appropriate minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists the board will reconvene in public session in person and virtually at the conclusion of the executive session it is not anticipated that any action will be taken um make that motion may have a second second all in favor e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e please have a motion to return to public session motion and a second second all in favor I and the opposed okay back in public session uh turning towards our agenda we have no unfinished business uh so let's move to approval of minutes regular meeting minutes for November 26 2024 and the executive session minutes of November 26 202 um may I have a motion to accept minutes motion a second second any comments Corrections okay see none roll call please yes uh M yes M Dona yes Mr van Stone yes M horsey yes M wise yes M yes Mr dun yes okay that brings us to our first public comments section of the evening on agenda items only in accordance with open public meetings act we will open public comments for agenda items only at this time each speaker should State his her name and address you will have three minutes to address the board which which will be timed by myself we will limit this section no longer to 40 than 45 minutes please be respectful and mindful that your comments are being recorded uh any comments in the room any virtual comments I have a motion to close public comments so second all in favor I any opposed okay moving on uh presentations first presentation uh Dr Ripley is going to present Service FL to to members of the high point what did that so we discuss frequently the challenges of representing one's community and Board of Education position and the weight of responsibility is is not always evident to those who observe from thear those who are intimately involved particularly over the years get to see the cost that is paid for no re rate of remuneration for all board members because the weight of the decisions are great you represent your communities you represent the community not just fiscally but also the well-being of the children and your decisions and your time and your commitment as a as a a service to that Community something about which I am hopeful each of you is proud even if you may have had the occasion to suffer a to discomfort it is however my hope that the full bread of that experience was such that you you feel affirmed for having been here and so there's two outgoing board members the first from Lafayette who uh Mr Joseph confor it is my hope sir that uh your experience has been a positive and that um your Community Rec your sacrifice and appreciates what you have done for Lafia we appreciate you here and you will be Miss sir thank you if I could just say a couple words so um I've personally known Joe for decades um having the opportunity to serve uh on a board event with him the last years um seen aside a level of dedication um of stiiven that I maybe didn't see as as just friends and um I appreciate very much that you were here present and stuck with it and really added to our discussions and the value of so thank you very and our outgoing board member from Frankfurt Miss Gil Tona who is an educator herself um believe it or not it was brought up a few years ago that she and I actually worked together for a few months when I was a substitute teacher and she's like yeah I don't even know who you were but um you know Mr donut came in at a time of of some some challenges and was a stabilizing and one that is my sincere belief that your community and our district is stronger for your six years of having been on the board and to be able to make that state is something about which I'm hopeful you're tremendously proud because I am deeply honored and personally thankful for whated Bo for six years and for its impact on me professionally and personally has been you have been someone of great depth of character and strength strength is something about which we do not speak frequently enough and to that demonstrated that the beginning thank you for your courage and your [Applause] Comm I do not know the came on the board years we've uh become quite close and uh we have seen a lot of board members come and go during even those six years so uh I will say the last few years she's been my right-and person um on the board literally sitting next to me here on um and again has has added you know you like to have a a group of people that all bring some valuable talent to the table not the same talents and you know the things that I may have skills on gals were were a compliment for that um I I would like to think that we have steadied a ship that was a little bit turbulent in maybe the beginning of those six years uh and there's a a level of consistency of of we have because of what you help this so thank you very much thank you um moving on to the presentations Speaker of the House us on the student council good evening um I would like to first begin with something that I mentioned last the hallway decorating as you may have seen when you came in it happened and it was Ved on the junior class class of 20126 is Christmas New York City um next up I have the food track collection which has been happening 11 DEC 11 and will continue until the 20th so any food that students or parents or community members want to donate bring them to the and the big thing um which is actually already happening is the spirit week which will be well actually I guess since it started it's it's been happening since the 13th on until the 20th and then we have two days next year that are also part of the it's a little bit of an extended so Friday last week was mad or Channel your flannel Friday so you were a plid or flannel shirt something along those lines uh Monday was unfortunately it was snowed out but it was merry Monday so wear Christmas colors uh today Tuesday was celebration of um so that to be that to be wearing BL Silvers and gold for Hond Wednesday is ugly sweater day so we ugly sweater for Thursday it is T Tidings Thursday so that comes with Santa hats headbands accessories socks uh jewelry anything that you consider a tacky th Friday is the the night before Christmas and all I wanted is a silent night pajama day so there are pajamas or sweats to school to ease into the winter break also on Friday we have the pep rally and the PE we will have the marching band and the performing for body and there will also be Sports announcements for wrestling and bowling and basketball basketball yeah and the athletes will be announced seniors will be talked about and be a great time along with that we'll also have some games so we're going to have and AD class Adat to R in first team and then next year starting on the second we have Thursday which is welcome back day's out of and then the following Friday is New [Applause] Year Mr Campbell you cover yes principl [Music] report basketball um good evening first off thank you to Mr con for and Mr has been a pleasure um your example of public service is something that's um not missed and on us and great example to our students so thank you a lot of time a lot of support and uh this uh on the agenda tonight is our program of study um fantastic document and I think it needs to be because our curriculum I truly believe is second to none in the region um if not the state um our ability to continue to run um an amazing array of elected forces is really profound particularly as we have had a contraction over the last 15 years of students that's required our staff to really creative and hardworking to sustain meaningful Life program so it's a great document I want to thank our academic supervisors as well as Miss Jesse the BRS from the curriculum office who uh created this document and who work constantly to um Mak Minor Adjustments to ensure that our courses need Student needs in the document you have all the state requirements and we show how the requirements are met and then show how combined with the electives students can create a sequence in each subject to advance and get to a certain level um we're also committed to trying to find ways that students can um regain their position if they need remediation we try and keep as many doors open as possible to our most advanced courses so the student in grade n or 10 these are ready for the honors level at that point we have where we can get them to the most rigorous courses and I think these charts are very helpful um the document also outlines the seven colleges and universities with which we have Partnerships uh every year we have more of our students taking college courses from earning college credit um I think we have more than 30 courses with seccc our number one partner got a great relationship with them but we have six other colleges work with us to provide those opportunities we also have uh an increasing number of students that have a half day schedule and High Point senior year and take morning or afternoon classes at the local college so we're excited to continuing to expand those opportunities um industry certifications is something that we provide mostly through our Tech and business programs and we also have a feature in the document that clumps or clusters together a series of courses that complement one another and can hopefully help parents and students think about how the combination of courses might help build towards a future college major or towards a career and that's our Pathways um not a lot of changes this year some years we've got a dozen changes um these four courses we think will be popular Civics is um a course that has not run in many years but we're offering it as a halfe elective a African-American studies is the most popular new course the College Board has offered in a few decades it's every year it grows in popularity so we're offering that to our students animal behavior um we think the students will enjoy and a business applications force that um tries to provide access to things like spreadsheets and Excel at a more basic level um and I think there's a group of students that will benefit from that when the board approves it uh this document is easily accessible on our website um year round um it's got videos again it's got charts so I think it's uh it's lengthy but when you're at a point as a parent or a student when you truly want to look at uh the variety of options it can be um very so and it's also not set stone we have it for the year but it will be on the agenda occasionally throughout the year as we add a course or adjust course and we ask the board to continually approve as we do that gol for students theirs get this Rob I will for impressive this so we have evolved quite a b over the last years theology so could also add um we used to spend $1,000 on a software program called Lucid to create this document and um Miss Jessica brid trans the entire document through Google um and it's just as good and more accessible for us to make changes so it's more current so that was a great deal of work on her part and it saved us that annual subscription cost so get is quite something so um you've heard before we have an AP Capstone program we were the first school in the county to offer it we were um I think the fifth in New Jersey um it's a twoyear program that has uh two courses typically in grade 10 or 11 students take AP seminar um and in junior or senior year the second half they take D research on the research level the students engage in U graduate level um research and they have to do unique um a unique study on a topic that had never in their particular way been examin they do a review of literature um they do all the steps that you would do to earn a doctor or to earn in many cases a master's degree in a rigorous program um these are the five standout students that will be presenting Thursday um to our our panel um interesting topics um and I want to thank my colleagues who serve three or four times a year as a panel to guide the students and give them feedback uh Dr Ripley Dr D and Dr L have gone through this process fully um and done their research and this is what the students are modeling so they have three examples inhouse who have earned a doctor the IRB we're very proud of this um um most colleges and universities but not all colleges even have an IRB we formed our own um and so uh we submit we follow the national ethical Norms um that require you be incredibly rigorous in U how you treat human subjects so you hear human subjects you think we're going to be um doing shock people uh just a surve most of our students do surveys but when you ask someone for their opinion and their information we have to be able to guarantee if we say it's Anonymous anous document how we um uh destroy the results uh when and where we do that Etc so there's a rigorous process to make sure that we follow that and the students understand that there's a serious ethical element to truth and ethics as they do their research really exciting part is we have members of the community of the county who are all doctorate level um and they volunteer their time they'll be here on Thursday they were snowed out yesterday here on Thursday and they come in all having done either PhD or an attorney as a JD doctor level they've done their doctor work and they guide the students as well so uh our students are great they're probably a little nervous you're in front of a pretty impressive group and they handle themselves um incredibly well and it's not just um you know they ask tough questions and in many instances the guidance that they give leaves the students to take the research back and and revise it and make it better so we're excited about that and if anybody here wishes to join us on Thursday let me know um 9 to 10:30 seats availa to have as unties research that done while much less so on the high school level is my belief that it's far greater than than S County where people are aware of things that we doing here around the state aware it's very ni okay we have no other business so let's move on to action items per instruction so just drawing your attention to the faculty student and student excuse me attendance for November as attached a suspension report for November is also attach and I'd like to move items four through seven together four is the harassment intimidation and bullying reports for November 27th through December 17 2024 um number five are the field trips um with an attachment number six professional development activities and there's an attachment and number seven is to approve the 25 26 program studies that Mr Campbell just um shared with us so making a motion second and any discussion um I have a question on item three the suspension report attachment G3 um there were two particular um um items that I just was wondering if there's a reason or some indicator or something that we're finding uh inappropriate behavior it's doubled from last year with 14 instance versus seven and and I can kind of predict this one substance possession we 13 incidences versus two last year so this year as one of our district goals was to address vaping and we installed Vape detectors and those Vape detectors we install good VAP detectors such that uh the number of instances increased rapidly once they went online in in in those numbers is directly attributed to that we are seeing an impact however those numbers didn't back down to less robust numbers thankfully so while we're hopeful that means that kids are aware that the VAP protectors are there they're working and that they can't Vape here so we're hopeful that those numbers will continue to reveal that there's less vaging going on because as as has been discussed for a while this is a an existential threat in our opinion to student wellbeing particularly the nature of we don't always know what in those bapes and as I have passionately expressed to the county and beyond that you know all due respect our concern is that a kid's going to we're we might lose a kid without uh you know heavily in that um I just got a notification from the county that they were they're going to reimburse us about 65% of what we put out um we did put out uh inclusive of cameras and V protectors we are going to get approximately 60 to 65% of that R which is fantastic news but the number of instances to which you're making reference regarding the substance use we believe is directly attributed to the uh the impact of detectors that were not online imately the instances of behavior are certainly troubling however we had a year year or two ago that I might have been last year to some degree I get last year was that you were still experiencing behavioral regression post such that we needed to be more Vigilant to address student behavioral issues um and I don't want to in any way make light of this but to some degree the Giuliani notion of the squeege uh people at the end of the West Side Highway which I don't even think there anymore I don't know if anybody has any idea what I'm referring to but um the notion that you know broken windows if you address those the larger things um I am not a of suspensions and student discipline that is done in a reactionary manner I'm not suggesting that that's necessarily the way it is but I will state definitively that our student culture needed to improve and after having tried so many methods and so many things over a number of years the the postco behavioral agression was regression was and so I believe that the number of instances to which you're referring are a manifestation of a change in our attempts to improve student culture I will tell you sincerely that it was not something that it was it did not necessarily come for me but I don't say that that I'm upset with what's been done because I was at a Los and I said look everything that I we we've been trying to do has not proven successful to the degree that I had anticipated so perhaps we need to at least for a Time become less focused on look we're very student oriented we believe in multi-tiered systems of support to employ so that children do not fall through the cracks we do not believe in I do not believe in copious as I've wrote up before I think it fits kids for orange jumpsuits and that's not what we're here to do we're here to love kids and teach them about life and part of that is proper behavior we needed to address our student culture and I believe that that has improved those numbers we will reassess as time goes by and it's my hope that they will decline from here and we are able to students centered in our approach thank you m sh yes M donut yes Mr van Stone yes M wise yes M pal yes M yes Mrs Diaz yes Mr con yes Mr D yes person there's no policy that's what I say every month yeah all right I want to move items one through six number one is the recommendation to approve a student teacher uh number two is a recommendation to approve um an Extended Medical lead for an employee as listed number three is to approve um The Substitute Teacher attending safety training after school hours uh number four is uh recommendation to approve individuals as substitutes for the 24 25 of school year and number five is recommendation to approve the following six period assignments December 16th for the of the 24 25 school year as listed and number six is a recommendation to approve um Justin sorry about the name to uh observe classes one day per week all he's doing his clinical field experience making a motion seeking a second second discussion Mr yes Mr con yes yes M ory yes Mr van Stone yes M yes M pal yes Miss SCH yes Mr dun yes I will move the three items under extracurricular is a recommendation to approve Eric Carlson as a volunteer swim coach for 2024 2025 it two is a recommendation to approve the creation of a First Responders club with Mr Jan Wright serving as a volunteer adviser and number three is recommendation to approve the following individuals as volunteers for the spring musical attending uh background checks as listed I'll make that motion may have a second second any comments I'll just note that there is one word in with those three items and that is volunteer if not for people that are willing to step up and volunteer for many of these positions um they would not exist so we thank very much their um their time that they dedicate to our school for um for these different activities discussion yes M wise yes Mr van Stone yes M ory yes M Tona yes M Diaz yes Mr conour yes M Shan yes Mr dun yes so as was said no policy items we have no negotiations items we have no buildings and grounds under Finance I'd like to move items one through six together one is recommendation to accept the report of the board secretary business administrator for uh October 2024 is a recommendation to accept the report of the treasure for November 2024 item three is a recommendation to approve uh the reported transfers a minimum expense transfer report for the month of November 2024 item four is a recommendation to approve for payment pach schedule of audited bills dated December 17 2024 and five is a recommendation to accept the adult education agency account athletic account cafeteria account construction account petty cash account scholarship account school store account Student Activities reconciliations for the month of November 2024 where we add an account every month um item six is a recommendation to uh authoriz approve and authorize the execution of the following tuition contracts between High Point Regional as setting district and the following District as existed so I will make that motion for items 1 through six and have the second second any discussion I have question I'm one two why is why is the one for the month of October for both the board secretary and business administrator report but yet two is just for the treasurer there's no board secretary report that was that that should be so I'm going to then U modify number one we'll say that was a typo that should have been November all right so I'm going to reread item number one thank you uh item number one is to accept the report of the board secretary this administrator for the month of November 2024 make that than so with that rision any any comments Mr yes yes Mr Diaz yes Mr Dona yes Mr van Stone s yes M pal yes M wi yes Mr D yes uh s Our Last Action items uh Transportation has responsibility to Mr con so that he can bring us to CL okay for transportation I will move one through together for the board to approve award for grps and contracts for the 24 25 school year seeking a motion in a second second roll call okay Mr yes Miss Diaz yes M Tona yes Miss sh yes Mr van Stone yes Miss pal yes Miss wi yes Miss ory yes Mr D yes you have to that recording I'm going to have to uh no correspondents uh nothing really under miscellaneous so let's uh go to our second public comment section of the evening same rules apply please state your name and address anybody would like to come to the podium or any comments on our virtual platform quiet evening uh may I have a motion to close public comments motion second second all in favor I any opposed okay any uh non committee board member reports or comments just want to say it's been a pleasure thank you an honor thank you thank you educational enlightening op your eyes to really CL behind the seat thank you everybody motion to motion second next all in favor I