##VIDEO ID:quf9i5N0Wrc## libery and justice for all thank you may be seated let me just part here for a second good evening once again uh I am Dr Donald Howard I'll be filling in for Bo president lauana best this evening she's not available pursuant to the open meetings open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows by having the time date place of the meeting posted on the bulletin board in the administration building on January 12th 2024 and by sending a copy of the meeting notice to the star Legend newspaper and the local Source on January 12th 2024 and by filing a copy with the township of Hillside and Hillside Public Library also January 12 2024 I will ask our board attorney to do the roll call if you will all right misso Miss uiti Miss hardgrave present Miss Horton given present Mr Howard pres Dr Howard present Mr Lofton M Parks present Mr Shapiro yes and president Howard uh best is absent excuse thank you sir do we have any announcements okay we'll move right along um our fired and lockdown Dr report has been accepted at this point in time we'll have our superintendent report by our very own superintendent Mr Glover be up next once again good evening everyone good evening everyone happy holidays there are so many holidays that we celebrate during this time of year so I will not be disrespectful because I fear I might forget one but if whatever we celebrate this season let's C celebrate it in the most healthiest and safest way that we can tomorrow is the 20th of December in in Hillside we will be releasing our students back to our families to begin their winter recess so they must come to school all day and celebra in all those you know glorious activities that will be taking place in our schools however at three o'clock actually let's say two minutes after three they are yours for the next two weeks almost two weeks we will see them again on January the 3 2025 promptly at the start of school for them before we begin I had the pleasure of talking to this great brother last night and I I gave him a challenge in a charge our student government representative please come forward Mr Cole come on up and give you a report for the [Applause] evening thank you good evening everyone evening my name is oay Cole and I am here as Hillside High School's Board of Education representative to let the voices of the Hillside High School students be heard the last time I was here I notified you all of a weekly Forum we released called tell me Tuesdays every Tuesday the student council publishes a form that students can fill out to notify me about issues they need to be addressed and improvements that they feel should be appreciated one of the more popular complaints we received this week was about both the boys and girls' bathrooms when the students want to use the bathroom it is a highly like it is highly likely that most of the bathrooms are that we are able to normally use are filled or closed this is a problem because it keeps students out of class longer than necessary and provides an easy excuse for students to roam the Halls before I go into the second complaint I would like to bring to light something that many students including myself are appreciative of though many of the bathrooms are closed for the school day and do not allow for students to make a quick and easy trip to the restroom many of the students themselves many of the bathrooms themselves look much better than they have in the previous years though this topic is not as dire as the previous one many students feel as as is as if it should be addressed students have informed me that lower grade schools have had more Chef days than the high school their request is that if possible the chef days at the high school be more frequent than they are now before I end my monthly report I would like to quickly acknowledge the accompl accomplishments of the 25 seniors that were inducted into the National Honor Society on Tuesday December 17th I would like to congratulate them on their induction thank you for the opport for giving me the opportunity to allow the voices of the students of Hillside High School to be heard thank you for your [Applause] time thank you so I want to just frame some things because I think it's important to understand the power of voice while some may not always understand the topics that are generated by the student one of the things that was key to understand is that this these are the concerns of our students they're not necess what we as adults always think may be the problems and I like how it was framed anything that's a distractor or take students out of the classroom is an important issue so that says as a priority of our students being in the classroom so we thank you for that it's duly noted I don't know how many of you understand how important the chef days are for our district and if you have not had a chance to go on our social media and and and also talk to your children about Chef Days please definitely look in look at the pictures that have been posted it's something that we initiated when I came into the district and talking to our vendor who's providing food services to our district it's a way of our students having more voice it was noted Hillside High Hillside the township the school district is believe the only District in the state that has two chefs in District Two Chefs that's an important aspect to understand because that means we have a greater voice in what's prepared for our students so thank you for bringing that to our attention as well we always begin by making sure that we make it visible and known our mission and our vision I'm really proud to say that there are folks who are watching it and and observing what we put out there for the eyes of our community to see today I had a very important conversation one of of our vendors and they spoke about our mission statement matches what their mission statement is in the area of making sure we strengthen the character of our students cultivate Innovation and Foster leadership so people are actually watching and listening new Pathways new possibilities I always frame this by saying please make sure that we are creating learning environments for our students where they can become active Learners and not passive Learners again it's very interesting the conversation that I had with the vendor today who is is a well-known Nation International vendor that would like to consider doing work in our district with our students and staff they spoke about their mission and their goal is to make sure they create students who are creators and designers students who are innovators um students who are producers and not producers and not just consumers I must say that over the last few few weeks this has definitely been a slide that I have focused on because so often our why is challenged and we tend to forget what's highlighted in yellow here is that the success and celebration of our students should always be at the core of our values the core of our work so many folks want to make it about other things it's not about I it's about we the collective doing the things that can make our students more successful and celebrate I'm G pause here for a second if you have not looked at our social media platforms and just had a chance to see all the things that are happening in our schools it's not just the festive time of the year to see the plays and the performances I'm going to get into it in a little while but if you haven't seen the fun that many of our students are engaging in the High School pep rally that took place about a week ago two weeks ago it's not just a prep rally where you're coming out it was interactive it was games it was funs fun you could see students enjoyed it now the staff may not have enjoyed it as much but it's about the students right um i' I've gone to had opportunity to witness the standing room only like standing room only events that are taking place this month one of our schools who traditionally doesn't always have standing room had Standing Room at their Winter concert most recently parents stopped us at the stopped me at the Honor Society event that took place a couple evenings ago speak very highly of the work that's happening in our schools so those are the moments that allow me to come back to this slide and say I have to continue to make sure I stay grounded because the why is important for our kids our students excuse me our priority goals haven't changed they won't change we're still centered on making sure that our five key points are the center of our work um two of these areas I have um beg to challenge our our executive cabinet to even think deeper and harder about what we're doing and how we're supporting our students and our staff core values students first clear communication and integrity we're not perfect and we we know we have to get better you and there's going to be some missteps and today I was it was brought to my attention about a space where we need to do better our communication what I will say in kudos to several members of my executive cabinet as soon as it was brought to the attention of my office I made sure that it was taken care of right away still doesn't mean that we were perfect and we we shouldn't have even allowed to get to the point that it did but kudos to those adults who stepped right away to make sure that we reverse the negative impact that it was having on our family and children Happiness joy is a time of the year when many people are in need of happiness and joy whatever you may celebrate think about giving a little bit of your time to somebody else who may be in need the gift of life is so important at this time of year and that's probably the most precious gift we get to anyone along that I'm going to stay on this slide for a second because a lot of times we we don't do check-ins um this this is a season where depression is at its highest point in the in the year there are folks who are alone there are folks who have lost loved ones and no matter what time of the year they lost them this is a time of year when they're sad check in on someone check in on your friends check in on children this is when children don't know how to express so their negative energy tends to come out they may throw things in the classroom as a sign of attention they may just be they may use words that aren't their typical words um this is a time when we need to step back and think about the compassionate side of the work and understand that people's energy could be all over the map for a variety of reasons if you've ever lost someone if you've ever faced a traumatic event in your life you understand that it comes out in various ways so check in on family and friends especially during this time when they don't get a chance to be around people for about two weeks um think about those who may not be as fortunate to have a meal remember school is those space where many of our students come to eat 73% of our students receive free and reduced lunch you think about that Community this is Hillside where we are definitely a small tight-knit community but there are those who are definitely in need so sometimes inviting folks over for a meal or just bringing something to them you know those leftovers that we have please share because they might pray the smile on their face next we are going to have a presentation by one of our seven schools here Hillside innovation academy and Dr Silva and her team I see two of her Scholars with her so Dr Silva it's your time to [Applause] [Music] shine we're just gonna step to the side so that our back is not to you all good evening good good evening good evening board vice president best board members superintendent Glover the hillside community and of course my hiia family uh this evening I have my Scholars with me my scholar leaders and they are going to support me in delivering this presentation this evening we are basically just going to share some of the events and highlights of our um school year thus far there's plenty plenty more to come um so please check out our website look at our school newsletter when we publish it so that you can uh follow up on what we do here at hi next slide please some of the topics we will cover is our mission and our vision statement along with our core values as a superintendent says we always frame our day and our work with our mission statement uh we have a district leader and me program that we are doing at hiia our Scholars will talk about that our Aviation program uh some highlights from our computer science education week and of course we'd like to shed some light on our uh educator of the year so Scholars please introduce yourself and begin greetings everyone my name is David aoku and I'm currently the president of the H SGA good evening everyone my name is McKenzie simol and I'm currently the vice president of student government [Applause] Association so we're going to start with our hi mission statement and it reads we will continually overvalue each minute to maximize prepare and give the gift of Education to every scholar next is our hi core values and they read Excellence striving to do our best in all our endeavors respect treating others with kindness and consideration responsibility being accountable for our actions community service helping and supporting those around us growth mindset embracing challenges and learning from our experiences now the mission statement and the core value that I just read is really the foundation here at a hiia it serves as a Shining Light and a beacon to remind us of the standards we're held to every day to come here and strive to do our Excellence now I'm going to discuss our co-curricular activities so here at Hillside innovation academy we have the hi National Junior Arts Honor Society ran by Club adviser Miss teris um it's a club where students just get to express their creativity through ART and um I think one annual thing that they do every year is that they go to AP Morris and they give a little activity to kids on like how to paint a simple object as such that they don't know how to paint so our next Club is the hi School newsletter Club um it's also ran by Miss Terrace um it's a club where basically students show their editorial skills and they produce a annual newsletter that I think comes out every month or so I believe quarter quarterly quarterly um so it just really highlights what's going on here at hiia for parents and everybody to read and then we have the hi Student Government which we are both a part of and it's ran by Club adviser Mr Joiner um it's a club that really means something to those who are in it it sharpens your leadership skills and it just gives a lot of experience to those who really want to maybe just get into leadership advocation or the government in their um years next we have the hi photography club or yearbook and it's also ran by Miss Terrace it gives um at the end of the year they produce a yearbook um it highlights everything that went down here at hiia um it also has a lot of pictures um staff photos event photos and it just shows and highlights what really happens here at hi then we have the hiia Multicultural Club ran by Club adviser Mel um it's a club where students again get to express their creativity and they highlight different cultures um we annually have a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration party and we also have a black hery month celebration party which if you come you get to experience it it's really lovely we get to see um presentations on different spaces through history times and it really just highlights history they get to dance we get to eat and do some fun activities then we also have the hi National Junior Honor Society um that's something we do not take lightly here it's a club that highlights excellence and community service we get to serve the community sharpen our leadership skills do um just Outreach um programs to the hillside district and then we also have hi junor on aappa Honor Society which is ran by Club adviser Mr Harrison um it's a club that we highlight history as itself and we also highlight different events and then I think this year there will be um little event here at hiia highlighting that club and then we also have hiia science hydroponic steam Club it focuses on Steam Hydroponics and science um we do robots we work on Plants we learn about our environment and then we also have robotics which is ran by Club advisor Miss arafa we also highlight um robotics engineering and um yeah we highlight those through that club and then we also have my sister's keeper Club um I'm G to let McKenzie discuss that because I'm not we have my sister Keepers club which is led by Miss Vasquez and in this club it allows a free space for girls to express their feelings or what is different stuff that they would not allow would not feel comfortable talking about certain people it gets an open space to express their feelings and their personalities freely all right and then now we also have my brother's keeper which I can discuss because I am in fact a male so we do that is ran by Mr Roberson um it is a club where us as boys we get to discuss our feelings openly with with an adviser and that is that club and then we also have hi Pro society which is ran by Mr Joiner um we sharpen our debating skills public speaking skills it's a really great club and with Pros we highlight writing and poetry so that is also a great club and then we also have oh well we do not have bandn yet but we do have hi computer science club and basically we just learned about um computers the like everything that there is to it and then now I'm going to hand it over to Dr so so she can discuss our school year yeah very good very good so I need to correct myself because we do model excellence and everything we do so when you practice for a presentation you get it set in your mind what you need to say and I'm looking for president best to be there and she's not there so I stand corrected good evening vice president Howard thank you so much um so we have our ban but we have our ban coordinated or collaborated with w we have a couple of Scholars who participate in ban but it's with W so I don't want to take ownership of having one here at hiia uh we did receive a grant for a computer science club but it's not yet Opera um on the screen you will again see our mission statement uh and our priority goals for the school year our priority goals are aligned to the district goals with student achievement or Student Success social emotional Wellness of Scholars and staff and operational excellence so this is year four since our opening and we are still working to get our um practices down in terms of how we operate in the main office what of our expectations for communicating with families for uh the community and corporations and anyone who basically we interact with we want to make sure that we have a standard of Excellence and how we present and model what hi is all about so our annual school goals with the state we have a math goal a science goal and our student agency our seal goal and I'm really proud of the student agency goal um that goal came from our leader and meet MRA survey in which our Scholars our instructional staff and our parents participated in and the data showed us that our Scholars they have goals they have dreams they have Ambitions it could be something as completing my homework all week or making captain of the football team or getting into uh a certain high school or university when they get to that point but the data showed us that they do not have know how to write a smart goal and then carry it out to its completion so our goal is to increase their autonomy it is to increase their choice in instructional um activities that they um how they want to display their demonstration of learning so instead of saying all students are going to to complete this activity for certain lessons they may have options on how they want to display their learning so student agency is something that can carry with them not only here at hia but when they go on to high school and Beyond so we're really proud of those goals with math we again want to increase our proficiency across the board as well as science in science we've been um outperforming the state last year it was by 10 percentage points this year was only slightly less than five percentage points so we still take the lead but we want those leads to be double digits so we're working hard to ensure that that happens next slide please Mackenzie currently at hi we have a leader me activity base which is which gives students that um opportunity to take leadership and what they do best and give feedback for what they think should be better at the school we have three different Lighthouse teams which is leadership which is R by Mrs arafa culture which is led by Miss Vasquez academics which is learn led by Mr Joiner they give students the opportunity to find leadership and what they do best and take control of what others can right here we have pictures from when the teachers were getting trained and also we have the leader me Scholars which is at the bottom this picture is also from our second Lighthouse team when we each got to know each other more and we got to go over the basics in what we're expected to do all right and now I'm going to discuss a very special program that we held here at hiia and it was an aviation program um we participated in a presentation facilitated by the organization of black Aerospace professionals obap a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education and advancement of minorities in all Aviation and Aerospace careers so this um presentation that we had it was really special because it was well growing up I never really saw people like myself people African-American people in the aviation field so this really just highlighted that was a great moment for me um they taught us about um we had Hands-On activities it was about people who ride the planes their schedules the people who serve lunches on the planes all that and it was really great so we did receive a uh sponsor to for four hi applicants to simulate flight at a certain organization and it's scheduled for spring 2025 so we look forward to sharing more about that with you all but now I will move on to the next slide which is when we had Computer Science Education week so hi Scholars coded robots as part of an extension activity for Computer Science Education week under the instruction of NGIT students from Drew Enterprises LLC again this is also a great program the coding teachers make it really fun to actually do coding because if you did coding you know that there's a lot of lines there's a lot of things you have to remember but they really make it fun and enjoying to be here and next slide we will discuss our educator of the year which was Mr pantastico which he is our physical education and health teacher um he's a really fun teacher we love his class he makes health and physical education really fun so it's really great just to be in his presence and we give kudos to him on winning that award thank you so I know we're all tired and we want to go home so we're about to uh finish our presentation I just want to say another thing about Mr pantastico um my 22 plus years in education I've never seen a physical education class run like Mr pantastico he combines Theory with application so if Scholars are learning how to play football how to learn the game of volleyball they're in class the first 20 minutes and they're learning the academic language of the sport and then they go out and play but it's not actually play Because as they're engaging in the sport he's asking them what is it that you're doing now demonstrate the skill for me what's that terminology so I've never seen a class run like that before and I give him all the praise because he is a new teacher coming from a different um career and has entered education and I've seen his growth and he's doing it very well so he is most certain deserving of hiia teacher of the year congratulations Mr pantastico and so our admissions process so it is an application based process to uh enter our lovely uh instructional space we hold an information session with the superintendent in mid to late January followed by the application process which we release sometime in February uh you have Scholars will have approximately a month to complete complete that application it's very simple um it doesn't take a lot of thought but we look for everything that you can tell us about who you are are you following directions does it say first name last name last name first name did you follow that because we want to make sure that when you enter this space you know how to uh pay attention to detail because the detail the critical thought the analysis is all a part of what we do and it boils down to the simplest things so we want you to be successful when you come here uh we mail out well we email out our acceptances in April usually right before spring break I wait until uh the evening when everyone has left school and is off so you know the elementary schools don't have to hear did you get accept it no I yeah you got accept it yeah so we wait until everybody's gone and they've gone home and that process can uh simmer before we come back from spring break uh re I can't have my glasses on oh we have a required incoming seminar um an orientation session and it's three days and that is held in mid August and basically that is a three-day orientation into what it means to be an hi scholar uh we do team building with McKenzie you should talk about it as a seventh grader just finishing it um we do team building activities we start to talk about leadership we go over uh what the expectations are when you enter this small But Mighty powerful loving community so I'm proud PR and privileged to be the principal of hiia I am um honored I wouldn't want to be anywhere else so thank you Scholars for making it enjoyable thank you to my hiia um teachers my staff uh the superintendent and my administrative colleagues it's a wonderful place to be and I intend to keep it that way so your support your Insight your network is needed and welcome please visit us please give me a call let's have conversations on how we continue to grow this school for our children in our Hillside Community thank you very [Applause] [Music] much Dr Silva did your Scholars introduce themselves yes we did they said their names I just want to make sure those are two future Educators I'm gonna claim it I want them to be in the field of Education very well done Scholars and Dr Silva thank you very much our instructional goals for kindergarten through second grade haven't changed won't change expectation continues to be the same how we get there is very important over the last several weeks our principles along with many members of their staff have gone through professional development they've had conversations with the office of curriculum and instruction the superintendent's office about how we are progressing in these goals we are also required by the New Jersey Department of Education to update our annual school plans those are documents that are required for each school to submit to the Department of Education funding is tied to that and so the November 15 first cycle goal has been submitted by our schools and reviewed and is continued to be reviewed by the district now this is a little small but I'm going to talk us through it and then I'm going to let us get to our point so we can hopefully be home before the start of whatever football game or activity that you choose to watch or engage in um bullet point number one so anything that we do in our district has to be driven by data I think folks who understand data- driven decisions you make them in your home you make them in in Fortune 500 companies you make them in every aspect of your life when you're driving on the turn plate Garden State Parkway you're making data- driven decisions use around time and which um street is closed or blocked off that is a subtle hint lunch applications in the our district are important aspect of collecting funds the completion of lunch applications so our data this year shows that we are at our highest point especially in our elementary schools our elementary schools are around 80% when I entered into the district three and a half years ago we were around 50% that's a data point that speaks to need overall as a district we are at 72 73% free and reduced lunch that's an impact in discussion around need so it's important that we understand that along that along with that comes just also the need and the challenges that many of our families are experiencing recently um our schools as a collective throughout the district embarked on a philanthropic effort to have the lunch balances reduced and there's a National Organization it's called all for lunch and lunch for all it's done throughout the country to help those districts support those families and schools that may have high lunch balances I rarely do this but it was recently brought to my attention that um there are those in the community who may not be aware of how this operates and thinks that the district may be inadequately supporting our students by having these high lunch balances I won't go into the details of how students May acquire High lunch balances and sometimes just by accident of the family but then there's sometimes there are students who are in need and their families just can't pay their bill so anytime you can partner with a philanthropic organization that can offer support that's not a bad thing let's not politicize let's not make it about the district doing something wrong when it's actually doing something to help Mr Matt leonardis shared with me two days ago thus far philanthropic efforts while it may seem small it does help to reduce our current debt is we have raised approximately $6,000 in philanthropic efforts over the last just four and a half weeks so that's just something that speaks to people out there in the wherever they may be at you could be a former graduate of Hillside and living in California and say you know what I want to help my old school her look I want to help my high school reduce their lunch balance and you may donate $100 to this fund it's money that does not come into our district it goes into this fund and they send the resources to us not to individual schools so just so everyone's aware that this is not something that is a scam or something Shady that the district didn't do this is just our way of helping to reduce the lunch balances that currently exist for some of our students student enrollment I think it's important to be transparent we have some people say our class sizes are overcrowded actually our class sizes are not our class sizes may be physical education you may have some large classes and you may have some in some specialized areas but Hillside has actually seen a decrease in enrollment this year by approximately 41 students well superintendent Glover what are the variables that has caused that to happen it's important to understand that when you have a change in enroll mayate could be for a variety of reasons but I just want to give you some numbers and the impact that it will have potentially on us we are around our national six-year average which is about 3,000 so in some they may not say it's a big difference but it does have a fiscal difference when you think about state aid and allegations our Charter School enrollment is 100 students as students that go to charter schools in Essex Union and Hudson County that's at a cost of about $2 million to the district that's $2 million walking out of our district to other schools I'm about school choice parents have that right speaking of school choice we have about 20 students who go to a choice school we have about 77 students non-sp special education who receive instruction at private schools and we have recently found out that we're going to probably have to pay for the transportation of those students to those private schools well superintendent Glover what private school are you talking about Rosel Catholic union Catholic we don't pay the tuition but we've been in litigation it looks like we may have to pay their aid in Lo transportation when you start adding that all up that becomes money is coming out of our district now here we are fighting hard to keep our students in our district that's why we're doing so many things and we are marketing ourselves and that just says to me that we have to do a better job because approximately 200 students leave our district when you have 200 stud students leave your District that speaks volumes I also was recently informed that my preschool enrollment for the first time in a long time is down that also speaks to the patterns of families coming in to our Township this is a little plug to my community members people move into towns into into areas based on schools property taxes has something to do with people will pay for good schools when we bash our schools I'm not moving in here that's what people say so please think about that as we are collectively in this 2.2 square miles of family and unity and love as we communicate about our schools because it also impacts our community we have a growing population of older citizens in our community their families aren't coming back if they don't think the schools are safe and they don't think the schools are doing right again not perfect but no district is perfect so I just want to be reminded that these are things that impact our schools my goal is to get approximately 50% of those students back into our district and not lose anymore budget season is on the horizon Dr E and I have been in communication we we also have been in many meetings over the last few months and folks let me hit you with a dose of reality that has been shared with us by multiple state agencies New Jersey Department of Education New Jersey Department of Labor and others state aid this year is going to be flat funded or reduced for our school districts state aid is going to be flat funded that means whatever we received last year we will either be flat funded at that same rate or possibly reduced but the cost of everything that we know we have to do teacher salaries Transportation Etc is going up I'm putting that in your ears because budget season is on the horizon what does that mean that means we're going to have to evaluate our Partnerships vendors and non-instructional resources that means a lot of things that we may have been able to do in the past we have to be a little more creative and I say that against the backdrop that I am still committed to making sure that we are creating Innovative projects that continue to prepare our students for postsecondary College and Career and Readiness today I sent to the principls and Dr Silva was the first person to jump on this the aviate there's a Department of Education and Atlantic County Atlantic cap Mage County um Aviation seminar that's about to take place in February if you do the research you'll find out how many young people are going into the aviation field but it's a very lucrative space in fact you know all those delays if you have flown recently out of nework airport they've had to reroute planes and air traffic control to Philadelphia because there a shortage of air traffic controllers it's a very lucrative time sensitive I mean time in intensive program but it's an opportunity again so I'm looking to make sure that we're looking at our budget but also making sure that we continue to be Innovative we have our partnership with Amazon boot up hopefully we will have our another partnership on the horizon with two other V ERS that are pretty prominent in the country right now the next two are policies and I just want to give everyone a kind of an update we are required by the New Jersey Department of Education to update our cell phone policy I will be having conversations with our high school students to G of prep them for what's on the horizon parents will be talking with you next you can't take my baby cell phone you can't do that I hear it I understand it yes yes and more yes however the New Jersey Department education and statute is saying that we have to strengthen our cell phone policy and there are some things that your babies will have to get used to doing the instructional hours of the day after school maybe even lunchtime they will be able to reconnect but if you look at research on brains right now they need to disconnect artificial intelligence everyone in this room right now is engaged in artificial intelligence because if you have a cell phone you use artificial intelligence we are required by the New Jersey Department of Education to also adopt policy on artificial intelligence by April onor before April of 2025 and the final piece here is high school graduation requirements this is mandated the class of 2025 and Beyond must complete financial aid applications you are required so anyone has family members graduating this year no matter what district you're in but here definitely here in Hillside that is a requirement Governor Murphy put that in place and the Department of Education is enforcing it this year hillside's requirement is that every student graduating in the class of 2026 and Beyond is required to get at least one industry value credential at least one explain industry industry value credential is a credential that says that you a teaching certificate is an industry value credential CPR AED certification is the industry value credential there are certain jobs that require you to have a certain certification compt cyber security those are industry value credentials they're also stackable that means you have to take level one in order to get to the next level so there are many credentials that students can graduate from high school and be able to enter into the workforce with but there are also some that are stackable last year we had two of our 10 students who took our compt networking certification which is a college level course and certification that many people don't pass to of our students passed that last year and are able were able to go and get a job making about $50,000 while still in high school so that's the level of credentialing that we trying to bring there's Google certifications there's Apple certifications there's Microsoft certifications that our students are able to achieve one of the reasons why the coding class is so important to me and making sure we have a pathway is that if our students walk out of elementary school as they are highly knowledgeable about coding and Robotics by the time they get to high school our high school cour offerings change dramatically not only can our students walk out with an associates degree which is a certificate they can also walk out with ap and other Advanced courses and potentially walk into jobs as they exit out of high school here in Hillside accolades and announcements young Mr Co already spoke about our n our National Honor soci at the high school congratulations to those inductees I think that's a round of applause as the servant congratulations to our Junior RC members um believe it was last Saturday last Saturday the members of our Junior RTC War I think it was second and third place if I'm not mistaken I'm going off top of my head but they performed well and I want you have to give honor and accolades to these students because three years ago I remember when they participated in the competition it didn't go well they have gotten better every year so congratulations to them grat congratulations to so many other spaces within our district where our students are excelling and thriving I'm happy to see so many of our teachers doing great things and being awarded things in our neighbor their communities folks this is what it's about we could go on and on about the accolades and announcements of our students but I just want to make sure that you are aware of that fin announcement for me is that or two final announcements our district is required to submit chronic absentee action plans and we do have those that will be available on the website at the beginning of the new year there are some students who still struggle to come to school but we want to make sure that we have a plan of action in place to get them where they need to go and salute to our crossing guards and salute to Hillside Education Association for the lunch in that was given to our crossing guards yesterday they are the unsung heroes and quiet Heroes that make sure our students get safely from one point to the next we don't we don't understand and many of them are elderly folks who are out there in the morning rain they're they're probably better than the post office because no matter what they're out there and they know our babies they know them and they know when they're not doing right and they can definitely tell you who they are they've watched many of them grow up so accolades to them happy holiday seasons to them and thank you again to H Education Association for the lunch in yesterday that was given to them next Community me meeting was supposed it was supposed to be this December 17th we moved into the 22nd folks have a beautiful holiday season please go out and do something healthy for yourself make sure that you take care of your loved ones do something that will improve your mental health and if you do engage in anything festive do it safe and do it wisely thank you thank you so much superintendent Glover for your comprehensive uh report as it is every single month you do a wonderful job with that so just want to give you your public thanks while we're standing here or sitting here may I have a motion to go into public comments there second second all in favor I residents are required to State their names addresses in subject matter in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting May exceed 15 minutes the presiding officer May limit each statement made by a participant to three minutes duration issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and are response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments at that time we'd like to open the microphon anyone like to make a public comment [Music] good evening board members evening my name is Megan dorsonville and I a senior at Hillside High School and I was recently inducted into the National Honor Society this past Tuesday congratulations it is to my understanding that other schools in the district are receiving tutoring while the Hillside High School is not over the course of my four years I have taken many AP honors classes and the reason I've been able to hold such an exceptional GPA was because of the tutoring hours that my teachers offered here I have over a 100 signatures of students both my fellow NHS inductees and regular students who are in favor of bringing back the tutoring we are respectfully asking for you to reconsider this issue and hope that it can be solved by the time we come back from winter break thank you so thank you for that once again congratulations one of our bright Scholars just so it's on the record tutoring has not been stopped at the high school there are some things that some adults have to complete in order for tutoring to go into effect and we do understand that it's timely that our students receive tutoring so tutoring will be re re begin as soon as a couple of our adults take care of some things that they need to okay all right I really comment but I want to make sure our students hear the facts so that you get it right I appreciate your advocacy though I really do because that's important for us to know you can go back and tell them and I will be more than happy to come and share we will be getting tutoring as soon as some of our adults take care of a couple little minor things okay all right thank you thank you very much you can leave that right up BR it right up to me thank you may I take this over this side thanks good evening all my name is Amry Cumberbatch uh 1455 Bond Street I kind of want to see everybody's faces um we're gonna have a dialogue I'm a parent five kids in the district and I'm going to ask for attention from the board members so I'll wait Mr glov why do we always have to meet like this why do you remember the last time I was here why I was here my son attended hiia let me give you a history of who I am my son attended hiia and I'm not going to go into details of how he got into hiia from W cuz I heard Dr Silver this evening said that it was a lottery [Music] um process right or wrong a Lottery application that wasn't my son's situation it was no Lottery you you asked me how he got in Dr civil could tell you or the teacher could tell you but that's for me to know and for you to find out um let me ask the board members and I believe you know if if I'm going in the wrong direction any parent here or any member of the community here you know just say hey redirect let's let's pause and address it the right way thank you very much um babe can I get my phone for a second cuz we might not be meeting any uh football game [Music] tonight if these members are here tonight I would just like for you to say yes or no Miss Bess no okay Howard yes or no no okay no Howard CeeLo no no CEO okay we're going on the list I may not be pronouncing this properly but h e g w a i k hide no okay Hamlin no I guess none of these boy members are here tonight okay hardgrave no okay Horton given present no okay okay Lofton no okay Parks no Shapiro thank you thank you so I guess none of the other members that I called out by last name are here present okay Mr Glover you said and if you recently said that um approximately 100 students well 100 students are leaving the district and that's $2 million out of the district right correct me if I'm wrong Am I Wrong yes no I'm not wrong I'm right thanks Bay and you want approximately 50% of those students to come back want to bring them back into the district well I'm going to turn my back to you guys and talk to you guys let me give you a little reason why parents may be taking their children out of here I just give you one about the lottery system because I wanted to debunk that a little bit I'm a very transparent parent I'm not naive and I'm not biased my son who is now in high school I'm going to give you guys a list of issues that I've been experiencing here in the hillside District when it comes to school for the first um year for six months out of that Year my son went without a special education teacher while he was here at hiia we all know that's a viol of what kind of right well understood don't need explaining okay here we go my son while walking to school one day here I'm going down memory lane while walking to school one day here he saw a car hit a scroll and the scroll was dying picked up the scroll wrapped the scroll in his took his sweater off in a cold day wrapped the scroll in his sweater and said he going to give the scroll a burial on his way home at the cemetery because he's an empath my son was suspended the same day I will tell you guys Mr Glover know of me very well because we meet under the same situations every single time I'm going to give you a reason Mr Glover why I students and parents may be taking their children or or considering other options outside of the hillside District now Mr com I just need to advise you uh you're a little over your time I'm gonna give you about another minute though okay oh no we're gonna take more than a minute because you're going to hear me you know why you're going to hear me because the email that I sent to every last one of you here went unnoticed went unre unacknowledged yeah you guys know of me very well and I am going to demand my time now since you didn't have time to meet with me on December 20 on November [Music] 25th you're going to meet with me now it it shouldn't have to take me to come here to gain your attention now on November 21st my daughter was suspended from Hur and looker because she was having playful banter at with her friends now I understand the serious of my daughter's actions I do I am all for discipline every parent your child do something wrong you discipline your child right no no you can't speak about students at a public meeting ma'am you can speak with the it's my child it's my child it's my child now here we go I'm here I'm gonna express myself to you tonight because one way or the other you guys are going to get the message as to why parents are taking their children out of the district you could watch your time all you want but let me tell you how it goes these individuals here that we entrust with our children let me tell you something they have the lack of regard for who you are and your concerns Anything could happen and not one of them I have not received we're here in December this happened since November 21st and I am yet to receive an acknowledgement of receipt of my email that I sent to the president that I sent to the board members it's very rude of you Dr Glover it's very rude that a parent is here and he's having side conversation just the same as his assistant principal were doing while I was meeting with the principal of her and looker it had to take me and my husband to get to her and look at to have a resolve you know why because these people first step or first method is to do punitive damages instead of doing restorative uh actions no guys over your time I'm sorry you're over you can't physically remove me oh so you want to physically remove me that is fine I will remove myself but given the fact that you don't want to give me time and you ignore my email we're going to have a different kind of conversation and I know you don't care no you don't because if you did care you would have sent a receipt of acknowledgement from my email every last one of you got my email thank you m every last no no no it's not a thank you don't Pander to me now don't Pander to me because it had to take myself and my husband to homeschool my child and after after suspending my daughter they did not even provide a method of how they're going to get her the education that she needed while she was on suspension I had to reach out to the school to ask the school where the documents for my daughter to have her to have her education to continue her education instead of disrupting her education crickets of course of course very rude very disrespectful it speaks volume it speaks volume of and then let's not even go there on December 2nd while at work why am I having CPS Child Protective Services showing up at my home and it was quite convenient quite convenient that after CPS got involved for an unrelated issue for an unrelated issue of an anonymous call from one of your Educators here in Hillside that they now you yeah you want to cut off my mic go ahead cut off my mic of course do that no because no no no because I'm going to miss you excuse me you are violating the rules you had your time ma'am no I have not had my time you know why because I sent you all emails upon emails especially Mr govern he have been ceed on every single email that I have sent come out with us no I am not moving no don't tell me I can't do not tell me I can't it doesn't matter ites no it R here and I'm a parent and I followed every rule before I got here I followed every rule before I got here right now so I well hold on a second you're telling me I'm out of place you're telling me I'm out of place time is up excuse me you're telling me I'm out of place who is the parent in who have children in this District no no no who is out of place no are you are you no somebody's GNA one of these members are going to answer me tonight why is CPS shown up at my home disrupting my house come back no Mr GL the time is up you're right your time is up but your convers time is up I'm addressing you why is C sh about my home my child putting fear in my children's life Miss CB your conversation is in the wrong confence form this is the wrong form I don't talk tell me you know what your secretary told me on December on 1125 you know what your secretary told me do you did you know I showed up at your office miss miss miss they could call the federal police I do not care because I'm your parent I'm the one who have to talk to my children of what you have put my family through you're talking to an upstanding citizen who pay their taxes every single year nothing is old not the way do you know how much emails I sent to these people they let me help you out so that's what that's what we should tell all the parents here that they're going to continue ignoring you no they won't yes they will they have IGN ignored me since November 21st and the only how I could have gotten that record removed off of my daughter was because CPS got involved I will help you shame on every one of you shame on every one of you I know all yall have cell phones and all yall saw my email and all yall ignor my email he going tell me I'm out of place out of out of who is out of [Music] you [Music] this I'm sharena Del ra 63 clock Street Miss exactly I'm going may I have a motion to extend time please motion I just want to say as a mom one second one second do I have motion to extend time have a second all in favor all thank you please continue sharena Del Ross 63 clock Street I've been in this District a long time as a parent and I do understand her frustration but we need to work with her to let her know that there's a different way to handle this situation and I'm willing to work with her and let her know that somebody cares because that's what she's saying nobody seems to care but she don't understand that you do care so I I know that but I will talk to her um not that I'm any better but I'm just saying I'm a mom and I do understand when your children you feel like your children are being attacked or suspended or whatever the case may be I don't really know her story but I just feel for her as a mom I'm up here because I wanted to talk about some things on on behalf of Mrs Davis the principal and Mr G goord our vice principal I want to talk about some things that Ola Edwards has been doing first I want to talk about the lunch from last week they had real chicken y'all they had chicken with a bone and these kids like the lost their mind they were so happy to get this chicken they were like Miss Ross you got to go in the camp they got chicken breast like big ones too and then the little ones were like why didn't we get wings in a leg we want a big chicken too but it they loved it they loved the sides all of that so hopefully we can keep that momentum going and then I had a parent called me and she said that her daughter was like this is not the same chicken we had in school so she wanted the chicken that was in school so now the mom wants that recipe I'm like are you serious really so that's with the lunch then I want to talk about the winter white dance that we had and I want to thank my union haa they donated bicycles they donated scooters they donated snacks and the parents came out and they donated we had stuffed animals for them and of course me we had books so so the kids had a great time we had 3 and I think it was 35 students only six did not show up and it was a great time had about all of them cuz I was at the door and it was cold so they had a good time with that and um I want to talk about the real book incentive the kickoff that we had it was a smash we had a good time and some little quirks we got to work out but for the most part it was wonderful the teachers kind of wanted to be mentors and I forgot about them so we're going to initiate them into that when we have the second one and the second one is going to to be on January the 10th on a Friday and if you are available and you want to be a mentor any of you please see me after the meeting so that I can write you down and and um put you at a school because they had a great time the kids got the stories and then they got to take the book home and little girl kept bringing the book back to me and said why you keep giving me the book back she said you can keep it I said yes you can keep it so they were excited the parents were excited some of the parents want to know why they didn't have this before so I I like to get the parents feedback so they were really really happy about this Library building and stories and all of those things the other thing that I like to do each year for our school is the Salvation Army toy drive I called them today and they caught me back and we serviced 500 68 families 568 families with toys and scooters and coats and clothes and just a whole lot of Happiness so I'm real happy about that so and I just want to say have a wonderful holiday and be safe thank [Applause] you good evening everyone Aruna mura 133 silver a teacher at w Middle School um two things first off just to speak a little bit on the leader me Lighthouse teams at w our students have 100% bought into it they attend every meeting if they can't attend a meeting like a responsible young man young woman they are coming to me and letting me know ahead of time which speaks loads to their responsibility their buying all of that so I just want to say thank you for bringing that to the district because I I can see a change my students are speaking up more in class they are more engaged in uh anything social studies related Civic engagement and this is not just the students that's on the lighthouse teams it's affecting everyone else in the classroom so that's amazing I can see that already so thank you for bringing that to the district um the second thing just a little plug a little um reminder that our daddy daughter dance has been approved by all of you so thank you so much for that uh tickets are currently on sale so bring out your little princesses um grades K through 12 um and let's have a good time and celebrate thank you [Applause] oh sorry hello everyone uh my name is Jacob KRA hour I'm actually not a resident in Hillside uh I'm a concerned member for the community uh as well as the board regarding their budget uh I work for Brown and Brown Insurance I'm an insurance broker uh when we I saw this agenda I saw the increase in costs and I made sure I came out here to to kind of voice my opinion to see how Brown and Brown might be able to help um obviously I've been in the industry for over 20 years uh knowing the taxpayers knowing the the the the employees uh obviously as well as the board and administration you're all facing a very tough year from a financial standpoint um as Mr Glover pointed uh to the state is looking at cutting cost Governor Murphy put out that article saying flat but it also said he's it could be a 5% reduction to every District in the state so when I saw these numbers on the agenda I said wait let me come out here let me explain to you what we can do to try to help to minimize the increase you have on the insurance um one thing I noticed is you're looking at a stop-loss premium of over $2 million uh it's about 2.5 million based off this agenda we were your insurance broker uh three years ago I pulled the files that we had um and your stop loss premium was $1.6 Million so that means that increased a million dollar over the last three years that is extremely concerning um what I can tell you is our organization would always bring that out to the market we'd probably bring it out to 30 35 different markets and we would drive that cost down tremendously uh based off of these numbers that I'm looking at in this agenda I can guarantee you if Brown and Brown was helping the district the taxpayers administration and the board we would be able to save you a minimum of a half a million dollar to a million dollars if we were taking scrubbing the the documents and being able to look at everything and take it out to the markets now with that being said we understand you have to secure coverage right coverage needs to be secured for for January 1 so all your teachers have benefits all right that wouldn't be an issue if we came in and helped right the the thing is the the community that I live in the industry we we are Insurance Brokers right Insurance Brokers help contract with the insurance companies with that being said Brown and Brown could look at all the documentations the information bring it to Market and help save some money all right and still while securing your current coverages so your staff will have insurance um some of these numbers are just alarming for example about 1.7 million on your prescription spend um why that's fully insured when your medical plan is self-insured to me doesn't make much sense um through the exercises that I've done over the last let's say decade uh I'm I can probably shave about 30 to 40% off of the pharmacy spend alone that's why I'm saying we could easily take a look and and try to try to squeeze anywhere from a half a million to a million to help with your budget um anything I can do to help I would love to love the opportunity to take a look at data uh help you see how we can save because honestly the increases you're facing year-over-year it just it just doesn't make sense to me any questions anything I can I can help you know you got to remember your your staff is paying part of those the contributions as well right we know obviously with chapter 44 those staff members are not paying according to what the cost of the the medical program is but the members that pay chapter 78 are all right um I honestly these numbers are egregious uh I think you can do better as a community for your taxpayers um and I don't think we should just let this go by without looking at it or letting another consultant come in to take a look um it's it's it honestly these numbers don't make sense to me at all how guarantee coverage because the way so when we I'm sorry the question was how can we guarantee coverage so the way it works when you when you lock in and you buy the coverage with the insurance companies it doesn't matter who the consultant is that's actually presenting it to the carrier right you will lock in that you will lock in that coverage and everyone will have insurance now keep in mind you still have two weeks until January 1 all right so what I would like to what I would recommend is at least let us explore that stop-loss market because we can get proposals back before January 1 and maybe you can get sunlife to come down or possibly bring in another stop-loss vendor that can help secure some savings all right keep in mind when you do that there's no actual harm to your members because as you know stoploss just is the reinsurance right that's there it's going to have no impact because their claims are still being paid you just have that as an extra layer of protection on your health plan all right um again I'm looking high level in if I scrubbed every little piece of data we could probably find more money to save you right when you're a self-funded medical plan and and prescription plan there's a lot of customized things you can do to help mitigate large costs thank you sir you're very welcome thank you thank you Angela Lawler 54 hden Street um as the haa president I just have a question in regard to the statement the last gentleman made um I don't think we have time to change anything um currently correct because January 1st is right around the corner and tomorrow's our last day of work and I don't need my employee well my employees sorry my members worrying about whether or not they have coverage so I understand it's on tonight's agenda if that was to be if that were to be adjusted um what would be the impact on my members if any that's my concern thank you all and Happy Holiday it's been a night yay yes one more day we can do it very brief comments yeah I'll be very quick so as I stated nothing would impact your members in terms of that it would just be exploring markets so with that being said a lot of times we can make agreements with insurance companies to where they understand the situation you're in and there'll be no issues on your members so what I would recommend is if we were able to look at it uh let us look at the data try to see if we can save you money we can still lock in the coverage with the insurance company so your members are fine everyone will have insurance all right honestly what I would I would offer you know give us two months to show you what we can do you know we'll turn around we we'll turn around the proposals quickly and we'll save you as much money as we can um I really think you need to look at this and at a minimum you have to audit what your current consultant is doing because the increases that I saw based off of what the numbers looked like when we initially had the account it's egregious it really is thank you everyone we have anyone else for public comment Al righty then one moment Al righty then motion to closed all in favor I thank you very much we'd like to thank all the members of uh the community for their comments superintendent GL do you have anything you'd like to say thank you Dr Howard first and foremost students I want to just share something with you because I have students in the room and it's a teachable moment public Comon is an opportunity for you to definitely share your voice and we should never be alarmed when people share their voice public comment is also a space where you're supposed to share your voice in a very particular manner so that your voice can be heard Um passion is one thing but sometimes we have to understand that passion can sometimes bleed into other things where people don't listen but this is an example of never be afraid to share your voice your passion will never be muted and even the passion of our parents won't be muted so I just want you to be aware that it's never it's uncomfortable sometimes but you have to still make sure your point is heard and never be afraid to share your point um I'm g go in order Miss Candy rolls we always appreciate your comments and I I think everything you said was self-explanatory um Miss um madora thank you once again for highlighting leader and me which is in our elementary schools in Middle Schools hopefully next year it can be in our high schools thank you to crauser did I say that correctly okay Mr crauser thank you for your comments I'm sure the board will take it under advisement and Miss Lawler I'm sure Dr E will follow up on any comments you may have um as far as the The Passion of our parent this evening I never talk about students publicly we're not allowed to there are some um circumstances around that particular case that were not communicated to the public so um please note that I will never share that situation I just wanted to be clear that the parent was not ignored the parent and board members have to always position themselves in the way where they have a line that they stay and operate within superintendent's office was not ignoring and in fact the decision to adjust some things in the in that particular case was done by me I was aware of the situation throughout the whole time as well as the principal of the school communicating with the parent on a regular basis but without going into the depth of that particular circumstances please note that the board members operated within the space that they're allowed to so I don't need to defend defend them but the board members did what they are allowed to do superintendent's office and the school principal were always in communication with the parent the superintendent's office but I made the final decision to make sure that some discipline records were adjusted but again passion we understand we have to be accurate in that so that the community doesn't believe we just ignore folks we make mistakes but we correct them right away thank you board member and Dr Howard for allowing me to share that want to thank you even more so for very eloquently explaining exactly how policy rules and procedures work and uh it's very important that Community understand that it's not ignoring we are just operating within the confines of what our roles are our roles entail so thank you very much for your very very lucid and wonderful explanation of that process and procedure this time we're going to move into committee reports uh Mr Shapiro would you mind giving the committee report on finance I was out of town and not present oh that's right I'm sorry um was that Finance harra Miss harra would you mind giving the committee report on finance please the finance committee met on Monday um December 16th and we discussed items one through nine uh yeah one through nine on pages two through five of the agenda excellent thank you um Mr L EG here were you also here for buildings inrs hard [Music] grave I take the whole slate oh if you would you mind please give the report from building and grounds please miss uh hardre the building and grounds committee met also on Monday uh December 16th and we discussed items 1 through three on page six of the agenda thank you very much Miss Horton Givens could you get a report on education please can you hear me yep good evening everyone the education committee met on this past Monday December the 16th and we reviewed items one through 10 on the agenda thank you Miss whorton given Miss parks to get a report on labor please good evening the labor committee met on December 16th 2024 and we went over the items 1 through3 on the committee report thank you very much I'd also like to welcome back at she came in but our board president miss best has joined us so I'm just welcome him back in uh at this time I would like we'd like to entertain the motion to go into Clos session motion second all in favor I I be it resolved pursuant to the open meetings open public meetings act that the Board of Education meet and closed executive session at this time to discuss matters relating to Personnel labor negotiations attorney client privileges contract negotiations and any any or other cont um issue where necessary the board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the Clos session the matters discussed in Clos session will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for cality confidentiality no longer exists thank you very much and we will see you in a moment got any Hearing in 30 seconds right --------- ##VIDEO ID:9yrbHmhmkco## hi thank you all for your patience um I do want to apologize for my tardiness um as we always take care of uh everyone else's children and we make sure that our Scholars no side are well I had to do that for my own children tonight so that is um why I was tardy to the meeting so please accept my apologies but I know that you all were in good hands with our vice president Dr Howard so thank you all okay so let's close this out okay um board member board member hardgrave can you please take Finance mad president before we do that I just have the question following up on the conversation that we had in um public session Dr E would it be possible for us to address um the suggestions that were made by Mr crackower and adjust motions 6 through n place a p SE with a the other Brokers that wouldn't be up to me Mr shapir sorry that wouldn't be up to me I'm saying could it be done technically not not the decision to do it but technically can we take the six through n and do that from a technical perspective Mr Hammer you want to split the resolutions up no change the name on the resol change the name within the resolution someone would have to make that motion technically do that if some someone wants to make a motion to amend the resolution you'd have to move that and be seconded and have so Madame President if I may um amend motions six through nine and replace the terms Rd paresi as they appear throughout 6 through n um with brown and brown and Nar the two different brokerage firms will volunteer to do this work and see if they can reduce our rates but what does that do for they bind they bind these terms and then work to reduce them I understood I feel that I mean I understand and I did come in on the tail end of Mr I'm not sure um was that a okay I'm sorry so was that a disc was that a move motion motion for discussion or so is there no second money guys address L there I think we just need to discuss this a little bit further for six months that's how we got here then we can then you can discuss it a few seconds discussion it's not a voting on it yet okay well I'm a second so we can address our questions if that's what we're going to do so are there any questions on the motion I don't I don't understand the ask the ask was to replace to take motions 6 through n replace the BR record with under Finance within right under Finance motion 6 through n as the are currently written just replace the brokerage names from RD paresi to Brandon Brown and Nar and give them the opportunity to bind so that we're bound so that everybody's covered but to then continue to work to reduce the rates where in theory our current Brokers have had that opportunity and this is what they came back with and they actually had three opportunities because this motion originally appealed appeared in October and it was punted in October then it was punted again in November and here we are in December so how do we know that the rates will be to our liking if we do that there's no guarantee which is why I say give him 60 days to try it and if not we could revert back to Rd we we don't lose anything would we not benefit from some type of presentation to get a little bit more detail we we only saw just a snapshot of what they offer I think there's it's that's a much more nuanced process that needs to be discussed more in detail not that we're not open to it but no I'm just saying nobody got a presentation from RD P either in fact he came to the committee meeting I asked him two questions he left and said I didn't do my job right I need to go backs and then all of a sudden the race dropped $60,000 we're talking about a million I'm priv of that conversation I do understand that um and as Dr Howard just suggested it might just be um it might not be the right thing to just make a decision based off of uh a brief presentation from the representative here at Brown and Brown tonight I think we would need a little bit more information um and to actually sit down and discuss and and listen to all of the everything with all the numbers before we would make such a decision like that tonight I don't know if that would be really um that would be the yes exactly that wouldn't be fair for us as board members to do something like that tonight I I would just say that Brian Brown represented US helped build this entire program safely money when they were our Representatives before and since they haven't been our Representatives the rates have skyrocketed and it's caused the district and the members money I said I don't see that we lose anything with this but and RFP went out for this correct okay and so did they did they um complete an RFP y okay and so they weren't selected correct they weren't they weren't selected for whatever reason they weren't selected office presented the committee with their determination okay and so so you're you're asking that we not honor the determination that they made I'm asking for us to seek better rates for the district and for its members yeah that's our job so okay so you want you want us to switch to Brown and Brown and if they and uh if they don't come back with a lower rate and it reverts back at after 60 days to De so why can't we go with pesi now and then convert to Brown and Brown when they come back with the lower rate he's not going to be authorized to go out to market for us paresi was authorized to go back to Market and this is what he came back with and he even said that when it came back to the stop loss insurance he only brought it to two other carriers and one of them didn't even respond I'm not comfortable I'm not comfortable either with that any more questions on the motion pretty much how do we move from here like do we still have because obviously we do not want to impact the district district you know they have to have cover so the motion is there we would vote on the motion one way or another and then we'd be open to make another motion if I just get be clear if right now there's a motion there's a motion to amend the resolution depending on what happens to that motion to amend if the motion is approved then you would vote on the amendment if the motion is not approved then you would vote on the resolution as listed so no there was just a concern from the membership too about the change in their benefits at this time and no change from what's on the paper just the opportunity for the broker to negotiate a better rate okay um so are we going to vote on this on the motion R motion to amend there a second on the amendment yes there was a second Hargrave no Horton [Music] given Mr Howard Miss Parks no Mr Shapiro yes Miss best this is to amend I'm just not comfortable right now I'm sorry no Mr Howard what oh what did he say uh at this moment uh I'm not entirely opposed to it but until I get further information my answer is going to be no for the moment all right back to margerie for the motions [Music] I move [Music] um oh I'm sorry I'm sorry um member harra can you please move the I move uh numbers one through nine on the finance agenda there a second second M Hargrave yes Horton given yes Mr Howard yes Parks yes Mr Shapiro yes on one to five abstain from 6 to9 for the reasons previously stated is best [Music] yes are we done with this one car motion for uh member harra Hargrave can you please move buildings and grounds I move U I move items one through three on uh the building and grounds agenda second roll call please miss hardgrave yes Horton given Mr Howard yes M Parks yes Mr Shapiro yes sir who best yes member Horton G will you please move education yes i' like to move items one through 10 [Music] UC there a second second good question Mr superintendent on six I was not present for the committee meetings can you just illuminate that for a second good program I just yes and there's been some contract negotiations that we discussed um our board attorney has looked at it so Lumi is a platform it's a AI platform but it's also really centered around the um language arts literacy space where students become creators and authors of literature specifically in this case story books where they are have the opportunity to create their own stories based on their own narratives take that story from the concept phase all the way through the phase of publication where they also will become an entrepreneur and doing that they will also be able to merchandise um and take their product to market with the possibility of one day having their books in schools such as ours that they have authored and and created what grades is that one for we are looking at it from 5 to 12 it was originally a concept of middle school and high school but we want to start it in fifth through 12th grade one other question on 10 is there any Financial or budgetary impact of 10 or is it just the conceptual framework that we're adopting we if we don't adopt it we don't receive the financial implications but yes thank you yes M Harr yes whorton given yes Mr Howard Dr Howard says yes Parks yes Mr shapira yes sir best yes than practice can I have member Parks will you please move labor I motion to move um items 1 1 through 13 on the labor agenda there a second second second SRA yes whorton given yes Mr Howard yes M Parks yes Mr Shapiro yes deep prayers for number 133 sorry for number 13 de prayers prayers oh thank you is best [Music] yes is there any old or new business well tonight we do not have our I'm sorry we have one resolution from our board attorney I apologize yeah this is a a resolution to approve the release involving Hillside versus the B the burrow of Morris Plains it's currently Agency [Music] number 824 in the amount of 9,689 70 motion second second there a second thank you all in favor I okay um before we depart from this place we wanted to just wish uh board member silow a happy birthday she is not here this evening but we do wish her a happy birthday as also this would this meeting would be her last meeting on the board serving as well as member Lofton um who is in Germany I believe supporting his son um so that's why he is absent tonight children our our family first so we just and yes member aiti she is also out of the country with family and that is why she is not here tonight she had death she had a loss in her family yeah so we want to keep member uiti in our prayers as well as everyone else that is going through um hard times during this holiday season but we do wish everyone a happy holiday season and that you get home well get home safe tonight and bless everyone good night I'm sorry motion to adjourn hi good night everyone good night