welcome everyone to a meeting of The Hunton Central Regional High School Board of Education please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the pop open public meetings act and that advanced notice required therein has been provided meeting notice was also posted in the boardroom of the upper school campus sent to The Courier News Star Ledger Express Times and hunon County Democrat and sent to the clerks of Delaware Township East Dell Township Flemington burrow ritton Township and Readington Township the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda Miss Spitzer if I could have a roll call please Mrs blutfield here miss dougen miss gong here Mrs Kellogg here m M odonnell here Mrs Peterson here Mr Rymer here Mrs santangelo here and Mr Fowler here we could all rise for a flag salute please I to the flag flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you I'll read the district mission statement for a change this month Hunton Central is an Innovative educational Community dedicated to the intellectual social and emotional safety and growth of all students while fostering curiosity and promoting Wellness we aspire to create powerful learning experiences establish strong Partnerships and serve as contributing members of society next item of agenda we have the approval of the minutes from our May 20 meeting can I have a motion to approve them please second second any discussions or changes seeing none roll call please Mr Rymer yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell abstain Mrs blackfield yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss gong yes Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you I see no record of Correspondence received in the past month for the board and so I will hand it over to you Dr Shadow for your superintendent report thank you um in June of this uh of uh this year there were three incidents reported of HIV one was resolved through a preliminary determination and the other two were identified as no Hib at all so zero identification of hibs in terms of in school suspensions June we were down from 41 to 16 in school suspensions and out of school suspensions we went from 13 in May to 10 in June and that pretty much sums up that report we did graduate uh I believe the number was 658 diplomas were awarded and as you heard me speak um our graduates amassed over 46 Million worth of scholarship offers now that doesn't mean they got all that money but some of them got to $300,000 worth of money and that's a significant amount of money for a graduating class and I must say that Mr Brandt Mr Thornton the administrators teachers everyone Board of Education did a magnificent job uh to tell you the truth that was my 47th graduation and this graduation was as good as one I that I've ever seen it it was that good so you would be congratulated as a board of education and as a community students and parents and professionals so that's my report thank you Dr Shadow next we'll move to public comment for anything on the agenda for tonight's meeting if any members of the public would like to come to the podium make any statements about our agenda items you're welcome to do so at this time yes sir um so there's the superintendent report but typically this section is open for anything that we're going to move as part of motions in our agenda if You' like to speak to those parts there will be a time later on in our meeting when we have open forum for anything else that may not be on our agenda seeing nobody I'm going to close public comment section and move to our organizational items it looks like we have a board meeting schedule that is being presented um for the 2024 2025 school year there are a number of special meetings meetings in addition to our regular meetings I think we all know about that those special meetings are all as as noted on here part of the superintendent search um so in order to get organized for the upcoming year as far as our meetings I'll entertain a motion to eventually not yet do the board meeting schedule we also have as part of his organizational items revisions to the school calendar for 20242 to change the first day of the second semester from January 30th to January 31st and then we have a list of a number of Staff evaluation instruments that we'll be doing for 20242 typical for our preparation for the next school year um so I'd like to entertain a motion to move these three organizational items thank you is there second second any comments conversations questions seeing here none M spiter roll call Mr Rhymer yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss gong yes Mrs S Angelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Mr Rymer Student Life good evening today we have 13 items to move starting with tuition and transportation for special Edge students number two is professional development plan and mentoring plan statement number three is the uh memorandum of understanding between Ryder University and hun Central for the tomorrow's teachers program the next is TCNJ for the uh professional development school network articulation of that agreement number five language instruction educational program that's a three-year plan number six NJ JSA that's the um that's the New Jersey state inter Scholastic Athletic Association we're we're rejoining that number seven is the reopt uh all of our booster groups booster and Club clubs number eight our new clubs we have an AI club and a marine biology Club both sound pretty cool uh number nine we're going to be moving to uh rename two clubs they're going to merge Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering clubs will now be known as tabletop games number 10 is our to approve our corporate sponsorship program again number 11 11 nursing Services plan number 12 100 uh Central school-based Youth Services Program it's the affiliation agreement and number 13 is to approve four foreign exchange students two of which are from Germany both Juniors we have another Junior from malova and a senior from Italy so I'd like to move to pass all 13 of those items thank you is there second second all right any conversation questions no Mr Brandt isn't here and U he will speak on it um we are going to do a survey to get additional information uh data moving forward I I think sometimes uh the best of intentions um maybe move too fast too quickly so we're going to take a look at the data and see what the data brings us when we um you know go go to the public to the students and the parents and from what what I hear it pretty split how is that survey going to be done I I don't know that it'll be it'll be done well Mr Branson on vacation for a week it'll get started on it when he gets back so it'll be over by the middle of of um July and when does that determination need to be made to get the schedule all set for next year well you can't wait too long so could very well be that it gets tabled to until we look at a little uh in a little deeper digging in terms of what students want what they're comfortable with because there are two sides of every story and um I think what what really drove Mr brand to want to move in this direction is walking through the halls and seeing so many students sitting and eating on the floor a basic human right should be to have a table or to have a seat somewhere so that you're not sitting on the floor so I think that was the motivation behind it and I think some times the best intentions um sometimes get ahead of us and um so we'll talk about it we'll do the the survey and see what the data shows okay anything else about the motion on the table if none Mrs Spitzer roll call please Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs S Angelo yes Mrs Peterson yes Mrs beld yes Miss gong yes Mr Rymer yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Mrs Peterson I believe you're doing operations in transportation this month yes we have 19 items on the agenda tonight to move so we're going to start with our regular Financial reports to move the financial reports of the business administrator um the second one is our usual invoices uh to approv District invoices presented for the pay p in the amount of $10 million which is um $779,900 transfers which is something um that we also do each month and uh that just basically does a summary of what has been moved from one account to another we have the end of the year Capital maintenance Reserve Appropriations um this is when we move unexpected line item budget amounts from both capital and maintenance accounts to both capital and maintenance accounts pursuant to chapter 23A title 6A of the administrative code and this is an annual motion that we do in June uh fiscal year number five is fiscal year 25 Elementary and secondary Education Act Esa Grant to authorize the application and acceptance of the funding under the elementary and secondary Education Act in the amount of4 8,388 number six is stabilized school budget aid grant to move to accept the stabilized school budget Aid Grant in the amount of $1 14,520 this cost has not changed for several years which is something of a miracle um number eight is extracurricular activity fee we are moving to approve the superintendent's recommendation to recognize no extracurricular activity fees for inclusion in the um activities for 2425 school year um this district has also done this for several years and it's excellent that we can continue it this year uh health insurance renewal the rate changes for July 1 2024 through June 30th 2025 number 10 liability insurance renewal um renewing policy coverages as negotiated by CIS um number 11 Cooperative purchasing Services we're approving participation in the mammouth ocean Educational Services Commission for the 2425 school year number 12 Food Service supplies and equipment we are approving the purchase of some equipment for our cafeteria services and this is paid out of last year's cafeteria funds uh that were made through the cafeteria Services number 13 withdraw from the maintenance reserve for the security camera upgrade um this is a contract with Eastern Datacom and this is to update and replace our existing security cameras number 202 uh sorry number 14 2024 um extended school year routes this is awarding summer Transportation routes that need to be that needed to be quoted uh number 15 the jointure with hun County ESC 2024 routes to approve summer Transportation routes contracted through um the Educational Services Commission in the county number 16 is the 2024 2025 Delaware Township jointure renewal for uh revised joint Transportation routes between uh the central school board and the Delaware Township Board of Education number 17 is the similar but for East Amwell jointure renewal uh and this is transportation routes between central and East Amwell Board of Education number 18 is a purchase replacement security van we had one of our security Vans um the secur the insurance company total it um so we've moved to purchase a 2025 Ford Explorer active four-wheel drive as a replacement for our 2012 Dodge Caravan for our security department and then number 19 we have our 20 24 2025 professional service providers this is to approve lifespan Psychiatry for psychiatric evaluations and with that I will uh move one through 19 thank you is there a second second thank you any conversation about the Motions hearing none Mrs Spitzer roll call please Mrs santangelo yes Miss gang yes Mrs Peterson yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs blutfield yes Mr Rhymer yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Mrs bfield believe you have an agenda item or two in Personnel 30 items to move for personnel tonight um I'd like to first of all thank Miss celosi hay for such detailed minutes they really were um very helpful and hopefully everyone has had a chance to go through them I will just kind of run through everything quickly um more for the Public's sake but um hopefully everyone else has has read through these minutes um first item we have resignation of uh four employees two of them we are actually appointing in the next Motion in 3.2 we have a grounds person and a bus driver in addition to several other positions in 3.2 which fills many of our open positions um couple of positions that are still open but we are in pretty good shape for beginning our next school year then um 3 three 34 and 35 we just have the appointments of a long-term sub Proctors monitors and test coordinators and summer front desk security appointments in 36 we have curriculum writing and that is due to the revised standards in English language arts and math and the requirements um there's requirements to use the English and math standards in other content areas so it actually impact the entire curricular program the next couple of items we have Am Pm supervision broken out power professional and other supervision because those are different rates we have the appointment of an extended school year student worker and appointment of substitute secretaries for the coming school year 311 and 312 we have the renewals of M Kel loie hay and Miss Spitzer they were not renewed when we did the rest of our renewals because they require their contracts require approval from the county superintendent and we just recently received those approvals uh 313 we have the renewal of an unaffiliated support staff for the the coming school year in 314 we have the revision of a salary step for an HC cea employee and that's to match his educational degrees 315 we have a revised renewal for the JTC bus drivers and that's a result of last month's motion to approve the labor agreement for the bus drivers Association and so we now have their new rates for the coming school year 316 we have the appointment of an interim director of special services Mrs publicover I hope I pronounced okay um she has 40 years of experience in special education and that will fill a need for us until we hire a permanent replacement for Dr web who is retiring at the end of this month um 3177 18 and 19 we have our schedule C um both paid and unpaid advisors and our coaches listed 320 we have post Severance contribution for our director of special services who is retiring and um this is just a way to really have a tax advantage for both the employee and for the District 321 we have the approval of summer employment extended school year teachers power professionals speech therapists and behaviorists and then 322 is the extended school year bus drivers 323 is curriculum and instruction professional development Workshop attendees and that's for IND District professional development that will be occurring this week the next two items 24 and 25 we have our summer Academy and summer Institute instructors the difference being the Summer Academy is an invite only program for atrisk students and that's funded by grant money and the summer Institute is meant more for acceleration and enrichment opportunities and that's funded mostly by the tuition U paid for by families then we have 326 Counseling Services summer work 327 home instructors 328 is our annual ual planning day for the Aspire program development um also Grant funded 329 is our regular uh monthly professional development list and then 3:30 is our leaves of absences so I will move Personnel items one through 30 thank you Mrs butfield and we have a second conversation questions hearing none seeing none this fer could I have a call no it's I need to focus Mrs Peterson yes Mrs cogg yes Mrs S Angelo yes Mrs odonnell yes Miss gong yes Mr Rymer yes Mrs blutfield yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Mrs Peterson I believe we're on to policy before I hand the mic over to you I know we've had a whole bunch of back and forth an email um so while we have 13 no I'm sorry 11 items in this motion if I could ask that we bifurcate them and split out policy number 31421 as a second motion I think that will simplify some of our conversations if you don't mind thank you so much the only thing we'll need to do is put them on the for floor first then make the amendment so put them all on at once and then we'll pull out three all right I'm gonna I'm go ahead go for it all right so don't get too excited even though it's just one item we have here we have 11 policies and again I'd like to thank M kelos hay because this has been a Herculean effort to identify the policies that we need moving forward there's a lot of updates that are necessary and a lot more updates that will be coming in the near future um so uh she's been doing really a lot of work on behalf of the administration to find out what is necessary so we have 11 policies for first read tonight 10 of them are updates that the Administration has identified as necessary updates to ensure we're fully prepared for the start of the district's qac reporting process in September for those who don't know mo most people don't qac stands for equality single accountability Continuum so this is completed every 3 years we're required to have certain policies in our policy manual to receive all of our available qack points the reason we have such a long list tonight is twofold some of our recent updates from our policy vendor in response to some pretty substantial Administrative Code updates uh that were made in 2023 others are older updates from the vendor which were not adopted at the time um when they were provided to the district so we need to update them now so I will start with the 10 qac policies first uh the first one is 0131 bylaws policies and regulations this was a May 2021 stra Esme update uh contains updated language related to the process for passage annual review and abolishment of policies policy 0132 which is number two is executive Authority this was an update provided by straa May in 2012 and contains really minor language updates necessary to get us in compliance skipping to number four uh is 1240 evaluation of superintendent this was updated by stra asme in May 2017 uh the key to this update was to specify that the board president or design shall design shall oversee the evaluation process uh number five 1523 comprehensive Equity plan is from the 2024 February update from our policy vendor most of the updates that came in the 2024 updates are in response to changes to chapter 7 of the administrative code which was adopted in 2023 these are significant textual updates which will bring us into compliance with the 2023 code changes we have added some definition to a couple of the policies to make them a bit more user friendly and we will likely do that with the remainder of the um the ones from chapter 7 um so that they're unified across the board um but all definitions contain the exact wording as used in the definitions in chapter 7 itself number six 1620 uh administrative employment contracts was updated by stra Esme in September 2020 it contains additional language related to use of quantitative and qualitative Merit goals in superintendent contracts number seven 2260 equity in school and classroom practices was updated by Strauss Esme in this past February 2024 update in keeping with that 2023 Administrative Code change number eight 22 2422 is the Comprehensive Health and physical education policy which was updated by Strauss as May and August of 2021 this contains the areas of curriculum which are mandated to be included in the health and physical education uh number nine uh 2423 is our bilingual education this was part of the February 2024 update by Strauss asme um they you will not see many strikethroughs or bolded words on this because there was a complete rewrite of the uh code for um this area of curriculum and education so rather than trying to do a black letter right up because so much of it has changed it would be really hard to read uh Strauss Esme basically presents this as a policy replacement so you have access to both the current policy and the updated policy it is not highlighted what is new because there is so much that is new it's best to just really read it as a uh a new document there are a lot of changes for instance there's no longer the use of the term elll English language Learners they now use MLL which which is multilanguage Learners um so that's the basis for that one we have number 10 24281 standards based instructional priorities this was proposed by Strauss Esme in January 2009 this was not an update it's an initial adoption we need to adopt this policy to be prepared for qac um but you will note that it uses some outdated terms like elll instead of MLL and Core Curriculum content standards which would was the precursor to the New Jersey student learning standards um it is likely that this policy is going to be updated by stra Esme soon given the updated language um but we just decided that it was more important to get this um on the books now rather than wait for a potential update before adopting this fortunately there's no limit on how often we can adopt or amend a policy um we can amend it if and when that update comes but in the meantime to get really in compliance with everything we need to get this one on the books um 5750 Equitable Educational Opportunity is the last of the qac PO policies and this was another February 2024 update the committee will likely add um definitions to this one as we did in the other ones before the second read but those types of editorial changes are not substantive so it would not revert the policy back to a first read and then the final policy for first read is actually number three on our list it's 01421 nepotism this policy is not required by CC but it is required by the law uh it was first placed on the agenda in March it was tabled to answer several board members specific concerns so in the interested transparency I'm going to outline the efforts the committee and the administration have taken to address those concerns uh there were five main areas of concern raised by Miss blutfield Miss Kellogg and Miss gong uh first there was the suggestion that the committee not present any amended policies until the committee's description was finalized which has now been done one second thank you second uh Miss blutfield was concerned that the bylaw did not go to Personnel committee for review and discussion prior to being proposed for Amendment which it has now done and was available for all board members to review and waste questions prior to this meeting uh Miss blutfield also had concerns about not having our legal advisor review the proposed wording prior to first read and that concern has also been addressed by a thorough legal review by our board attorney which I will address shortly third Miss gong was concerned that we did not have enough input from Administration since Dr Shadow has taken the Helm of the district we have been fortunate to have four administrators attend our committee meetings who have provided really helpful insight and feedback fourth Miss Kellogg had concerns about the different aspects of the wording within the policy to answer and alleviate her specific concerns we sent a transcript of her comments from that March meeting to the attorney for consideration she and all board members have been provided with the response from our attorney one particular concern was that the policy language straight into aspects of collective bargaining and conflicts of interest um while this policy is more in-depth than our current collective bargaining policy it doesn't cover the full panoply of potential conflicts our attorney suggested that as has been in the practice in the past if there are any questions about conflicts of interest or collective bargaining conflicts those issues should be run by the attorney um I will point out two changes that have been made in part in response to other concerns raised by Miss Kellogg first we limitated the definition of nepotism it was not used anywhere else in the policy and our attorney felt it could and should be removed and second we removed the paragraph of the policy language relating to Quorum um our Quorum policy um we've now just referred back to our quum policy now that we have access to the updates from Strauss Esme we see that struss Esme provided an update to the quum policy in June of 2022 but this update was not adopted by our board at that time for whatever reason so next month we will be placing that proposed update on the agenda for first read and the fifth point of concern was the use of a policy which does not originate with stme however the district has never hesitated to stray from the language provided by our policy vendor when it's in the best interest of the district just last year the red committee Comm under the leadership of Miss odonnell put aside straws dress code policy in favor of a policy written in house and likewise the communications committee under the leadership of Miss Kellogg chose to develop its own in-house communication policy rather than utilizing the language of our policy from stra Esme as to the focus on this particular policy we are required by law to not only have a nepotism policy but to have specific language in that policy in fact title 6 a of the administrative code chap 23A sub chapter 6.2 opens with as a condition of receiving state aid The District Board of Education shall imp Implement a nepotism policy which shall include the following ours does not include some of the following uh because our policy is missing some of the current language required we need it to focus on this our attorney assures us that this suggested policy will now bring us into full compliance with the above reference Law related to nepotism so that we do not risk our state aid some board members have noted that they could not find a single example of a district losing funding for failure to be in compliance with this law and suggest that we wait to see if our policy vendor provides an update in the future however if we lose funding the students employees and taxpayers of this district will be left holding the bag for this board's decision to wait in this situation we need not let the perfect be the enemy of the good the administration and the majority of the policy committee felt this needed to be put up for first read tonight rather than remaining out of compliance with the law given the extra scrutiny we will be under for qac uh the committee feels that there's no downside to getting in compliance now knowing that we can revisit this policy if and when the policy vendor updates it at any point in the future so with that I move item one all right thank you now to simplify you'd like to do a motion you want a second or do you want to do a motion to separate them a put the whole okay second of the motion second thank you Miss go Motion can we do a motion uh I'm going to move a motion to split the approval of these policies for first read and separate item number three as a second motion and do all the others as a first motion can I have a second to that motion okay roll call to the adjustment of the agenda motion please okay no Mr Rymer yes Miss gong yes Mrs santangelo yes Mrs odonnell yes Miss Kellogg yes Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Peterson yes and Mr Fowler yes okay then a roll call to approve items one two 4 through 11 please would you like discussion on those items so I'm sorry yes what did we just roll call we just roll calleded splitting them into two different motions sorry right and now we're going to roll call items one two and then 4 through 11 to accept them or approve them to yes to approve first read of all on the list except for number three but would anybody like a conversation about those first um so so just one thing um Rebecca I don't know if you want to just let everybody know about um what you told me with counseling or do you want Yes actually thank you um there was one I I don't have it in my notes which one it was I'd have to pull it up 22 2260 there was a section in there and Miss bfield caught it and I thank you that they removed a section about counseling um that does not um what Strauss Esme has done to decided to do was to move that to their counseling policy which they have also put in as an update um we have not focused on that counseling update yet because we have a homegrown counseling policy to so to fit in the njs I mean the uh stra Esme update into that is going to take some time and attention and we frankly have so many things to get up to date right now that we are going to you know look at that but not necessarily immediately however the change of removing that from the policy does not change our District's requirement under the law to maintain exactly what we've been doing as far as equity and counseling it doesn't change a thing it's just that Strauss has May moved it from one section to another and we just have to figure out how to fit that in given that we have this unique policy and counseling so can I can I ask a question question um I appreciate all the work that must go into this it looks extensive um just in terms of like fiscal responsibility do we know what the numbers are that we're paying Strauss asme to manage our policies and maybe H how much we're paying oisha so far to consult on them um the stuss Esme is standard every year I don't have the actual contract we could probably get that um we could actually if you would be interested I'm sure we could see if we can get an overall readout on legal spending and and get it broken down into parts and have that maybe o and can take a look at that so that we can all get a comfortable idea of what we're spending on everything legal wise um I I have a feeling looking at the I I think you might have just had a little hard attack I'm sorry to no no no I didn't looking at the legal I mean I my guess would be this was a matter of three emails so I don't know I would imagine we're not looking at a significant amount of money um I'm sure when we've done done previous inhouse policies in the past they have done more extensive legal review than what was done for this so but given the questions on it we felt it was necessary to get that review of course and is there did did someone say there was a a Strauss asme audit we are look we are actually miss celosi hay is in contact with Strauss sayme to see if there is anything from their contract or from their practices that stop us from being able to share that with the entire board because okay we don't no but when she gets a finalized um answer from them if the answer is yes we're going to share it out to the entire board because you will be able to see why we have so many policies coming forward on a very regular basis we're at a fire hose Pace right now okay all right and and maybe just something um Mr President to think about too is um just in the work since this is our I don't know that we've had a policy committee before maybe before my time we have um is it possible to meet with Strauss asme to get some you know just some more collaboration sure sure I'm sure we can reach out to them uh I'm hearing that they've offered and we can certainly discuss that at some point in time about Retreats I know we have a lot of meetings uh in the next couple of weeks so I didn't want to stress us too much with the retreat but if we're all willing I'm happy to work to schedule and we can include that in the conversation um and I will be with our Council on Wednesday so I'll see how much she tracks the topics of time that she spends in bills to us cuz I would I would be cautious that that might be a little tough to get to that level of detail but I'm don't want I don't want to speak for for her Services okay Mr Fowler and M Peterson any other conversation around 1 through 11 with the exception of three hearing seeing none Spitzer could I have a roll call please on moving 1 2 and 4 through 11 as first read Mr Rymer yes Miss gong yes Mrs Sant Angelo yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Peterson yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you number three would anybody like to make any comments or ask any questions about nepotism 01421 I um in reading the response from the coun it doesn't my concerns about is your button down on button down and green lights green can you hear me now okay um in reading the response from the board counsel um while she didn't object to the policy going forward she did have concerns about the policy being confusing particularly in the frankensteining of nepotism and um conflict of interest so I don't understand why we're continuing to leave the definitions associated with conflict of interest and those parts of the policy in because they're not required as part of our nepotism policy to meet the standards that's I mean that's a great question we don't we didn't have given the need to get this in compliance with the law we have not focused on doing a homegrown policy which is really what that would be entailing and and further um a much more in-depth legal support to get it written and be up to code so in order to get this really the first step is be in compliance with the law work with it from there um it does have some other things in it is actually more um substantive than our current contract negotiation policy so um collective bargaining policy so it actually does cover a little bit more than that but it doesn't cover everything I don't think any of the policies we currently have or really any policy out there really would so uh but Council basically said that that when there are questions they go to her and that's the way it's always been done so um given the Rarity with which those questions come up particularly with contract negotiations since we only do that you know on a rotating basis and that's not a huge number of people who are involved in that process um it it's not a concern at this point to get it in compliance and then we can revisit it if Strauss Esme comes out with the policy in the fall or even if they don't come out with the policy we can look to then you know ask Alicia to take a look at rewriting our um old policy if she has the time and if we have the inclination the question is just a matter of getting it getting it in line with the law before before the state comes in and starts really looking in our books okay two more questions one I rewrote the policy to be consistent with the definitions that you provided and I provided that to the committee in March so is there a reason that that option can't go forward we didn't consider actually at all a homegrown policy because again that brings into existence dealing with an entirely different legal um strategy and we didn't honestly think that this board would be accepting of a homegrown policy from policy at this point so we stuck with the policy that was written by attorneys from another policy provider and that's what we have right now it wasn't a homegrown policy it was the Strauss asme policy with the definitions updated which is what you say we need it we did not um I had one other question there are 12 different items on that required um policy list aside from nepotism are there any other policies that are out of compliance that threaten our ability to maintain our funding have you come across any yet miss I'm looking at Miss celo c ha um we haven't there's very few that are are directly tied to funding nepotism is actually a pretty unique one um the state felt pretty you know clearly that that was a really important one and it's within the funding for Education you know it's under that that area because it has to do with ual spending of money um we have policies that need to be updated did you want to share well if I could share before you share because we spent so much time on nepotism by the way thank you for all of this detail this is just amazing um but at least if you do a search there are at least three policies or two other policies that I found that start off with you know at the risk of losing State funding you need to have these or at least um um you know Implement these policies so uh there are so there probably are more than depuis them and the other two that I found well if you could send those you know put those on the list in the in the committee sandbox that would be great because we can look them up um M you were going to say so if I can just summarize what was just said for anybody who's no no who's watching online and I'm going to really summarize so my apologies for shortening your message but it's focused on qac right in the upcoming qac evaluation any other questions Miss Kell I mean just just my thoughts um and I I do appreciate all the work you you've obviously put a lot of time into um not just the nepotism all the other policies I appreciate you um taking the feedback and and trying to um include all of our suggestions and concerns um it it just seems to me that since since nepotism is not one of the ones we really need to focus on right now and knowing that Strauss ese is coming com up with an update in a couple of months it just makes sense to me to hold that one back um not go forward with the changes now it simplifies things I think um I personally am not concerned at all about losing state aid um this is my ninth year on the board I've never seen that happen we've had lots of policies that have been I mean you see it policies that are you know way out of date um I if if I didn't know about Strauss Esme coming out with an update um to me that would be a different story but knowing it's it's right there on the horizon in a couple of months I I just think let's simplify let's hold off and see what they come up with and then if you need to you know incorporate some of these other things I that that was my opinion of the best way to move forward I just I just think that number one we don't know when that update's coming and we are out of compliance with the law and there is no downside to being in compliance with the law right now and it puts us in a better position and so when the update whenever that does come through we can certainly make any changes so I I don't see a rationale for waiting if we're out of compliance with the law that we're because we're aware of it right if we weren't aware of it or there's a couple other policies that Miss gong mentioned will certainly take a look as well we don't want to be out of compliance with the law I think that's the concern I agree with mangelo I I can't I don't think it can hurt to cover our butts on on the way until Strauss asme comes up with another uh policy and if they do and it's uh at all better or we want to adopt that one that's pretty easy to do so in the meantime I think this is a good idea all right Mr Donal Miss gong any other comments about that no just that I've you know the uh we have spent an awful lot of time on nepotism and all these other policies but the um in terms of potential loss of State funding um you know we heard our previous superintendent say that in his career he's never uh heard of a district losing money um Dr Shadow actually said that at one of our policy meetings um I've checked with two people at njsba about that I think we' asked Mrs Spitzer about you know have we ever lost State funding uh because we've had an out ofd policy and you know so for five folks five sources to come back and say no you know it's um you know and there are a lot of policies that are out of date that we have that we're about to focus on and um you know the so the question I think the group is asking is you know why nepotism as opposed to any other particular policy but um again I you know in terms of the research that I've done no one has said that we've ever lost State funding okay so Donald any comments questions before he move ahead um no okay um I guess I'll I'll just throw in two cents I I understand this has been a challenging topic and um there's many different perspectives I I respect the history that no school that we're aware of has lost State funding and state aid um that to me is is Equitable to I've never been caught speeding so I can continue to speed um if if I'm going 35 and suddenly I realize I'm in a 25 Zone generally try to drop down to close to 25 um so I don't feel that it hurts us to at least attempt to get into compliance with um the guidance that's put in front of us um I understand that there is a potential that our policy vendor May in the future give us rewarding and obviously it behooves us to adopt that wording at that time in the meantime I I don't see having put so much work ahead so far in the last couple of months having our Administration um not share concerns about moving this forward I don't see the harm in getting us closer to compliance and closer to perfect rather than continuing forward with something that we know that is flawed um that being said um we can certainly put it to vote and if we get majority then we move it to First reading and we receive more feedback and we continue to polish the policy into second reading and if we don't then we go back to the drawing board so with that M spit just one one last comment I um again so I I think no knowing so typically Miss butfield I'm sorry but um Robert's rules say that we make our comments we ask our questions we go around and then after that we we go to vote not to go into extensive debate as far as I know having discussions is what you're supposed to do out in public yes but there is a formality to it and we're trying not to go bounce back and forth bounceing back and forth and and point to point I think we've all made our points um and we put it to vote we let it be what it's going to be so miss Spitzer roll call please Mr Rymer yes Miss gong no Mrs santangelo yes Mrs odonnell no Mrs Kellogg no Mrs blutfield no Mrs Peterson yes and Mr Fowler yes 44 Tha motion fails thank you Mr pitcher all right on to additional business anybody else have any other committee reports or liaison reports they would like to mention um I I'll update briefly on the equity committee uh we don't have anything to move no action items we did meet um and had a good discussion about student representation to the board um and also contacting and working with the lamp to get some regular um journalistic presence here at the meeting and try to engage students a little more um we talked about inviting completely up to them some of the affinity group um members to an equity committee meeting um and we also talked about getting in touch again with um the hcea equity committee um to get some feedback from them that's about it thank you Mr Don it was a good conversation and I do look forward to uh more student engagement and especially lamp attendance and engagement to our board meetings that would be wonderful yeah anyone else have any reports I just want to make a comment on uh your committee you didn't call it the red committee the red commit Yes red committee I I know how much you don't like that name and and it's it's Equity work so I I spared you so is this Miss gong is this a board comment in general or is it to do specifically with the red committee the red committee and its minutes okay so the red committee I am just as a board member um really enthusiastic about uh the potential for having a uh a student rep on the board at some point in time it's really you know just reading through the minutes it was really excellent so thank you I I I agree with you miss gong is overdue right it's actually a state mandate and uh it would it would again behoove us to get some students involved as quickly as possible I'll give a quick update on the superintendent search we have concluded our period um of recruitment the um application date has passed and our consultant is now going through the applications and um next Monday the board will be meeting with them to go over sort of their short list and to fine-tune that further to decide who we're bringing in for uh interviews which will all take place next month thank you m butfield looking forward to all those meetings together anyone else did you want to do JTC I didn't think there was anything substantial um so miss Spitzer is asking about JTC joint Transportation committee I guess um calling it out we we'll mention it so we did meet right before o no that's fine that's fine um we continue to have debates in our uh joint Transportation committee with Flemington Ron about busing of prek kids uh next year um a proposal was put on the table by our director of transportation that is currently still I would say under review by both school districts and that's where it stands uh for the next couple of days at least all right uh if there is no other leaz reports or board business from anybody at this point in time hearing seeing none I will open up for our general public comment Forum if anybody would like to make any statements or any comments to the board I I welcome you to come to the podium we will give you 5 minutes I will put a clock of 4 minutes you'll hear a warning noise and then I'll give you one minute I would ask that you then end within that one minute uh feel free to line up at the podium write your name hopefully there's a list there um and contact information and feel free to share your commentary thank you okay um good evening Board of Education and community members my name is k swow and I'm a student at 100 Central going into my junior year this coming fall um it was brought to the attentions of the staff and students at Central including myself that uh you all the Board of Ed members have um come to some conclusions to split our unit lunch into two lunches and I would like to voice my opinion on why myself along with many of my fellow peers want unit lunch to stay um supporting and bettering our mental health is something that our school strives to accomplish and accommodate for considering how much we talk about it our mental healths might not go in the direction you would all hope to see from this switch instead of kids focusing on who will be in their classes and seeing if they have friends to walk with from class to class they will be more focused on if they have lunch with anyone they know this will stress students out incredibly especially for those who have a harder time making friends and connecting well with others another thing thing to keep in mind is some kids choose to sit on the floor rather than the benches or cafeterias I remember my freshman year I sat on the floor with all my friends because we didn't want to be fighting for spots in the cafeteria and could just hang out and talk amongst ourselves without the loud noise of the cafeteria having two lunches increases the likelihood of kids skipping classes and or overusing bathroom passes in order to see their friends if they do not have lunch with them more kids will go try and hang out with their friends causing a negative effect on their learning experience another huge impact on lunches at Central if two lunches were to become The New Normal is the limit of space to eat on campus creating two lunch times makes all outdoor eating spaces including the turf the IMC the gyms and certain hallways all off limits as places to eat there's simply in my opinion not enough room for kids to eat in all the cafeterias we have without some people sitting on the floor in the hallways I know the majority of you are already set on this two lunches idea and I've already talked about passing it through while I do not agree with or support your decision there are ways to help us all come to a compromise keeping grade levels together during lunch would certainly help get more people on board with your decision for example you could make freshmen and juniors have lunch together and sophomores and seniors that way they each have their own building to sit in and make room for um placing more picnic tables outside or spacing out the cafeteria tables differently could add more space in those cafeterias so those kids are eating on the floor adding more in the wall benches where the lockers are could also add a lot more space for students especially those who don't like the loud noises of the cafeteria I know for one that when I pass other students in the halls in comparison from this past school year to the one prior many kids sat on the benches instead of the floor thank you all for taking the time to listen to my input on the future of our lunches here at Central I hope you take all that I have said into consideration and change your minds on the idea of separating our unit lunch thank you thank you very much and can I please highlight excellent job at bringing suggestions as well as your feelings to the podium we really appreciate that because that helps us in our conversations um good evening bard of Ed uh my name is Grayson Bryce I live in Ron Township and I'm a rising Junior at hunon Central um I'm also here to talk about the unit lunch decision and how it will affect our students so I recently created a petition to keep unit lunch atun Central and it surpassed 1,000 signatures in around 8 hours uh with the majority of signatures being from the student body and to be frank I haven't I haven't been seeing the positives to this decision and maybe I would be more understanding if I actually knew what was going on however nothing was said to the students I heard about it from teachers as they filled out a Google form so the teachers only found out at the faculty meeting after the decision was made um and were given the survey after the fact the staff and especially students were not consulted about a change that would greatly affect them on many levels um first off clubs and activities uh this year I didn't participate in any clubs that took place during tutorial time since I needed that time for extra help and M many clubs run during lunchtime and that gives students time to be a part of an extracurricular activity while also having time for tutorial after school uh by having a split lunch not all students will be able to participate in clubs and this would pretty much guarantee that no clubs would run during lunch time the majority of music groups also run during lunch and this includes what is not limited to uh the Jazz groups all strings attached and coral groups uh countless students involved in these ensembles would no long be would no longer be able to participate without unit lunch uh 1 hour after school each week is not nearly enough um and especially since so many students are involved in sports or need to go to tutorial uh second of all uh having a split lunch will will cause um much more chaos and confusion in general classes will be disrupted if lunch is in session at the same time um I've heard from parents of upper classmen who had experienced split lunch during covid and uh several several teachers uh felt like it was very disruptive to their classes when they were trying to teach as lunch was going on and what about the library if there's a split lunch students won't be able to access the library during that crucial time my friends and I eat in the maker space every day we are con we are constantly creating a cool project with the 3D printers the glow Forge and other materials uh and most importantly students want to spend time with their friends school is stressful enough as it is and unit lunch might be the only time some students get to see their friends um for me it's a much needed break in the middle of the day and my mood immediately brightens when I see my friends so many of our so many of our students are part of a sports team have a job or have tons of homework so I barely see my friends outside of school and lunch is the one opportunity opportunity to catch up with everyone even though split lunch is supposed to provide people with more places to sit the majority of students would much rather sit on the floor with their friends than at a table with people they barely know for me and my friends when the IMC is closed um we sit outside by the Bell or in the art room or in the hallway it doesn't really matter if we're sitting at a hall in a hallway or at a table since we're with our friends and taking taking into account the students that would rather not sit on the floor we can Implement better Solutions than split lunch taking away unit lunch which in my opinion is one of the best parts of central is a short-term solution to long-term problem turning lockers into benches was a great idea and provided students with more spaces to sit and yeah that that's pretty much all I got so I'm hoping that what I shared today will add a new perspective to this issue um I also printed out some comments from the petitions uh from students um sorry if the formatting is weird I had to like print a website I don't know how to do that so um should I like leave them with you guys okay thank you [Applause] and if I could just give a quick clarification I don't believe a decision has been made yet right so I just just want to make sure that you're aware of that and congratulations on a thousand petition signatures I can't even get that many likes to my social media posts so good job good evening I did not plan on speaking here today in fact I didn't even plan on coming but I thought I would share my opinion I just graduated so I actually did experience what it was like to the split lunches and to be frank it was terrible when we were in class when lunch was happening we couldn't focus at all there would be kids running by the classrooms everyone was talking we never had a quiet learning environment during those blocks it also was not fun because as a sophomore in high school we our first year was fully virtual learning so we didn't get the opportunity to make friends at our school and I didn't have a place to eat all the time and with the whole eating on the floor situation I ate on the floor this past year for most of my senior year and I had a great time it really doesn't matter where we eat lunch as long as we are able to do it together one of my favorite quotes that I read from one of the comments on the petition was the word unit means all together and that's what we want with lunch we want to be all together meaning we want to be able to sit with who we want those 50 minutes of lunch are crucial because we have two chunks in the morning where we just have to like learn and grind out knowledge and stuff like that and then we get a break and that break is so needed and it's stressful when we can't see the people that make school less stressful it also does affect the music groups like I was in all strings detached and we wouldn't be able to meet if we didn't have unit lunch because our teacher has stuff after school and he can't do tutorial such as the jazz bands they couldn't do tutorial either and music groups such as Corral magal noteworthy and a lot of other clubs meet during lunch too so it would be really hard for these groups to meet at all and there's not much we could really do about that in two split lunches so thank you can ask your name I'm sorry can I just get your name one more time thank you congratulations on your graduation good evening uh my name is Heather maio I'm a parent in the school district and also an employee in the 910 cafeteria um since November of 2019 so um I hadn't planed on speaking tonight either so I probably won't be as eloquent as these kids who I'd love to commend for coming out on their first week of summer vacation to speak about something they feel so strongly about um when I started in uh November of 2019 there was um and I can only speak to the upper campus situation but there was a location in one of the gyms um where there was no table seating at all um we had very limited time to pull out all of our equipment and set it up in one of the gyms sometimes during gym class while they were on the other side and um and there were a huge group of students that voluntarily chose to go there as opposed to the tables that they had the option of going to in the in the cafeteras they chose to go there and they would bring gaming devices and they I don't know how they work but they would link up together and they'd play games together and they they voluntarily chose to sit on the floor um again the 20 21 school year was half days no lunches and then back to 2122 when we returned we did try two two lunch periods um in an effort to space out kids more uh it was limited per table how many students could sit at a table and just from what I witnessed the kids hated the two lunches and when we returned to the one block lunch in the 2022 23 school year they were all released D and and so happy to be with their friends again and I could hear them coming up at the beginning of the school year in September saying oh we're so glad to to just have the one lunch and be back together again um I I feel like we've already invested so much time and financial um backing to removing the lockers and creating these additional spaces um the kids love using the gym during lunchtime I know several of them go play basketball or um play Outdoors on the football field and use that time to be together and and blow off some energy and and and just get out and move around um there are several seating options that they could choose we have the two main cafeterias up there as well as the smaller one across the hall during the winter well year round there is seating in Cafe 001 downstairs and during the winter there is Food Service there as well um I did the food service in the Breezeway and 001 so spring and fall we were out in the Breezeway and in the winter we moved the F food service inside but the seating was always available there's the seating here in the IMC as well as out on the bleachers and kids utilized all of those options and there were several times out in the Breezeway where there would be empty tables and kids would still be sitting on the ground and I as a parent that baffled me but that was their choice and and they willingly did that even when there were seating options available so I really I know there's been a vocal opposition to the sitting on the floor but I mean splitting the lunches I don't feel is going to change that if that's what they want to do that's what they're going to do so I think it's better as far as their time together uh as as Mel mentioned the clubs and and musical groups that practice during lunch need that time together that they will lose with the two lunch blocks and uh I think we've heard overwhelmingly from the students who are the ones who are actually living it that this is what they want so I know your decision is not made yet but I I really feel you should take their their feelings into account thank [Applause] you thank you um hi I'm Tean Williams and I'm going into my sophomore year um the calway an instructional model that centers student voice and choice and advances a road map for Innovation professional sharing and articulation with partner K to8 districts that is what is written on the Hun Central Board of Education website if student voice and choice are values these administrators then why is it that this decision was made without consulting the school body hello and thank you in advance for listening to our efforts to keep unit lunch in the 2024 to 2025 school year and the years to follow during freshman orientation we sat in the auditorium listened to all the great things hun Central had to offer one of these points being unit lunch we heard about how unique it was and how our students and staff are lucky to have this in our school day when word first got around about the change to our schedule teachers and students are feel with questions and concerns I write and present this argument today to prove that the system will take time away from clubs lessen our socializing time and open doors for additional problems first of all split lunch will take time away from clubs and groups that meet during lunch some of these are morning announcements jazz club all strings attached women and stem and site club additionally students have come together to create their own basketball and soccer games and leagues which will ultimately be diminished with split lunch one student shares without unit lunch there'll be no jazz clubs Plus other music programs baring morning announcements most of them recorded then and probably no seating in IMC no unit lunch result in scheduling conflicts to all these programs or for them to be canceled completely the main concern amongst the students is not being able to see their friends at all throughout the day in some cases students don't have classes with their closest friends and can only see them during lunch now if they don't have the same lunch time as their friends they can't see them at all we don't want our friend groups to be split up along with unit lunch students coming from smaller schools are already overwhelmed by the large number of people compared to their middle scho school with split lunch there's a chance they won't have the comfort of close friends or siblings during the one time they could although from A administrative perspective it may seem like people want this change so they can eat at tables one student who ate in the hallway this past year writes my friend group and I choose to sit on the ground we know we can find somewhere else to sip we would rather stay where we are it's clear that no one wants this change so what about the people who do want a table in the year that just ended there was a whole Open Table in the Freshman cafeteria 172 that could easily fit two or three front groups and about three tables in the o1 cafeteria furthermore after 15 to 20 minutes the tables start to clear out as some students walk around or play sports from a student perspective we can confidently say that our peers can work something out with each other to make sure everyone has a place to sit comfortably the problems that will come out of this simply outweigh the possible benefits with chaos the classroom students will be more likely to skip class to see their classmates test takers will also be distracted during these blocks this will also mess up the bathroom system central currently has in place will only one bathroom in each building be open still or multiple bathrooms be open everyone scans ID even when they're in lunch would't that mean that dras need to be on bathroom Duty instead of lunch and Hall Duty although a simple solution could be that students are limited to the cafeteria that completely limits our freedom and students won't get to do the additional activities they enjoy doing during lunch unit lunch is one of the many things that students look forward to each school day why take that away from us we get to see our friends and be social some of us go and play sports so we don't play outside of school we can study for tests and finish homework all this be change for the worst if we Implement a split lunch into our next school year we're told to see both sides of the story but when an administrator was asked to share the the reasons for the new system he simply stated because I said so what's the point in taking this from your students why aren't our questions being answered What problems will completely solve and lastly why aren't our voices being heard thank you good evening board uh my name is Jason Singh I'm also an upcoming uh sophomore and during my freshman year I've sat in two primary locations during lunch right here in IMC and in the 600s I would sit in the 600 with my freshman friends one day and then B days I would head down there and sit with sop uh sophomores and juniors and that has provided me with a bond with these older students that I would have gotten otherwise and things alongside the other other students I've mentioned were noteworthy which is a music program that meets I've created a bond with seniors that graduated this year that I consider role models in my life and I think I'll look up to them for the rest of this uh my time at Central uh leagues like lbl which is the lunch basketball league and La Lio which is the soccer league we host have created uh friendships among students who have barriers in other locations like uh I have a quote right here uh student Brian grub declares I have created a bond with kids that I don't speak the same language with because of uh La Liga which is our soccer league kids that don't have other places to be lunch is where that bond is created and I think getting rid of that is not really a solution to our problem of sitting on the floor which I think students do go out of their way to sit on the floor I think that is necessary when uh you don't want the loudness of a cafeteria you don't want the environment of all that stuff people want their own groups to sit in and if sitting on the lunch sitting on the floor is that solution during lunch buch I think we let them stay on the floor we have creative efforts to take out benches uh lockers for benches those efforts are heard but you don't really get that same circular thing at a bench so sitting on the floor I think it is a way smaller issue than it is appearing and splitting up lunches will create way more problems than it does a solution for that one thing the morning announcements which have brought kids laughter in the morning when it's the hardest to make kids laugh kids walk into the first block lay zombies but I've seen kids laugh because of the morning announcements those are filmed during lunch and I don't I'm in the morning announcements I film them sometimes I don't see another opportunity where we can get that this is the first year where we're really taking morning announcements to that level and that's going to be really hard to do without our unit lunch time to film those uh yeah and again I've it's created a I've created bonds through unit lunch with elder students that I think are future role models for me through noteworthy through Corral through all these clubs I'm uh on the Freshman lacrosse team but I'm also a music kid I've created bonds through my lacrosse my lacrosse teammates and my music students all throughout unit lunch and I think splitting that up is just separating that Bond and it's going to be really hard to do to get that Bond back with just classes cuz I don't we have a big school and I think splitting the lunch up into the two things is going to create divide and friendships that are formed because of unit lunch unit lunch was used to draw in students during my fresh orientation they were declaring hey we have unit lunch North and bores don't so that's a plus we have they wore it like a badge and they wore it hey we have this and they don't and it makes our community so much better so so I think stripping that away doesn't really provide help to issues that uh attack our student body thank you [Applause] Bor thank you and there's hundreds of reasons why we're better than North I don't know girl I'm not going to change I'm not going to be around good evening my name is Jim mer my wife and I reside at 8 Coventry Circle in Ryon Township I say proudly that I was a teacher counselor and a coach here at Hunton Central for 30 years 10 years before that at the Readington school so I didn't have as many graduations to attend Dr Shadow but I came pretty close and I'm delighted that the graduation this year was so good my daughter is a 2001 graduate it was the worst graduation in the history of Hunton Central I can say that because it was not held at Hunton Central it was held in Trenton at a sports complex so myself and a man by the name of Steve barck appeared at the board and said never should that occur this is Hallowed Ground here at Hunton Central and I appreciate everything that you have done to make it even more special I take great pride in being at Hunton Central when we won or where we were awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence when I ride by on Route 31 and I see that it gives me goosebumps I came here to speak about unit lunch my wife and I were I believe valuable participants in the passage of the referendum that built the commons and the buildings down in the lower campus we finally got that passed on the third attempt it revolutionized the school it was the beginning of the golden age of Hunton Central there was a vision unit lunch was a part of that so I was informed I retired in 2016 from Hunton Central I do currently serve as a volunteer football coach here at Central proudly I say that I can't speak more persuasively than the students have but I was there at the time when they chose unit lunch and why the rationale the vision and I must also tell you that I came here in 1986 and the headline from a board member that was published in the Courier News was Hunton Central pigy and it was because just prior to that the board terminated all of our custodians and went to service master they didn't have any pride in the institution anyone before 1986 and the arrival of John Stana could not believe that students would eat on the floors of Hunton Central it was a pigar and John stanner who was the head of buildings and grounds for a long time revolutionize the school to the point where people can eat off the floors in Hutton Central that is how sparkling this place is now I've coached and taught at a lot of different high schools in the 20 years of my Odyssey before I came back to Central West wisor both North and South Princeton boundbrook I'd been at vor's and North hunterton there is not a school that can compete with the cleanliness of this entire campus eating off the floors at Hunt Central you can eat off the floors at Hunton Central but that's not not really why I came I came here to praise three members of your teaching staff recently we had a tribute to Jerry Keller Jerry Keller was a longtime physical education instructor here at Central and the head football coach he came from burnard's high school he passed away in January the only complaint I have about 100 centrals we don't do a very good job of honoring our past so we wanted to honor Jerry Keller who brought distinction to the 100 Central football program national state Acclaim and prepared many young people for a successful life so we invited his former players his former coaches and Ed Brandt principal agreed immediately I will be there on a Sunday afternoon at the elk Flemington along with our athletic director Jesse Spencer tremendous people if you could have seen the feeling of those former players it was awesome it was a little bit of Heaven on that Sunday afternoon and I appreciate those men for giving you to wrap it up please I'll finish in a moment thank you the final one is Mr Mr Mallo and the marching band of Hunton Central that appear every Memorial Day at the Flemington parade and I can't tell you how many positive comments are made about the band and their willingness to appear on Memorial Day it's great I appreciate everything you do this is a great school and you have made it so and I'll do whatever I can to help you make it even better thank you thank you Mr Mayor good evening Sandra D'Or Ron Township Mr fer since you never sent me an email um your were your comments at the May Board of Ed meeting in um addressing the Noel advisory opinion and the NJ PE that I had emailed you back a few months ago and does that finalize your response do you have anything else to your comment I'll answer when you're done oh no that was that was the only comment I do have a few other things after please feel free to finish all your thoughts and then I'll address it well um because I wondered to know because there is an anonymous newsletter going around regarding um boed um Board of Ed meetings and I think it's important to keep the facts straight and the community deserves to know the truth not someone's version of the truth so that's why I just wanted to for you to confirm that this was in regards to that email that I had sent to you a few months ago and then I'd also like to mention that I've come to several board meetings over the last probably three four years and I've noticed recently the scrutiny of that is taking place towards the policy committee and I just want to let you know that it is pathetic from some of these other board members and I've never seen people be so pedantic about this and the hypocrisy really from Mrs Kellogg Mrs butel and Mrs odonnell when back on May 16th of 2022 Dr Moore broke policy 5520 and these three women were active board members they said not one word they sat in silence but now they're so concerned about enforcing the policy and why why didn't you fire him why was no there was no disciplinary action taken and his Reckless Behavior ended in a student being physically assaulted which is leading to a lawsuit against the school thank you my apologies if you didn't receive that letter if you didn't it's probably sitting in my drafts you will definitely have it before the week's out um but it will be essentially the exact same as what I stated at two meetings ago good evening board uh my name is Nikki Bryce I'm a resident of raron Township um I'm also Grayson's mom and uh very proud of his comments tonight um I come to a lot of these board meetings just as a parent in the the school and a long-term Community member and um I have a younger child that's going to be coming up through Central in a couple years so we have a a lot of years here um and I just like to stay aware of what's going on with my kids education and um I listen and I observe and I'm terrified of this microphone um and I've never been up to the podium before until I saw my own son come up tonight and figured if he can do it as a a just finished sophomore year Rising Junior I can do it too um I just want to bring it back to the unit lunch I I really can't say it any better or any more eloquently than any of these Brave students that got up here to speak tonight um the petition that gray started it's got just shy of 1,500 signatures now um all in favor of keeping the unit lunch and just a few thoughts that came to me as I was listening tonight um it seems from what I'm hearing in the past we had unit lunch there was a time it was moved to a split lunch and then for several reasons it was moved back to unit lunch so why if a unit lunch seems to be preferable and ideal and it works in many ways why would we go back to a split lunch which seems it it didn't work um I'm glad to hear it's still up for discussion for consideration um my couple of years in the school so far I have tremendous uh respect for Mr Brandt I think he does a fine job running this school um I was glad to hear that he surveyed the teachers the staff um and I think Mr Fowler you mentioned earlier tonight he will be surveying the students in some capacity as well um I think that's probably most important these are the kids that are here day in day out for four years you've heard them talk about the social aspect the mental Wellness aspect I think it's really important to get their input and Survey those students too um unit lunch is something I've never thought about until gray came home what last Wednesday the Wednesday before and said hey they're thinking about doing away with unit lunch I started this petition in block three and look it has almost a thousand signatures and I was like oh my gosh what are you talking about what is this all about never thought about it we' never had this discussion until um we need to so I'm just I I guess I would urge that uh the survey of the students is something that happens um and I think that was all my thoughts for tonight thank you and thank you to the board I know this is a a difficult thankless volunteer job and I know it's a lot of work so thank you all thank you hello board um my name is Nick Gallow I am a resident of ran Township and a graduate of this school in 2021 before I make my comments I just like to say when I found out about the unit lunch thing I was like what the hell is going on I had two and a half years of unit lunch before Co happened and then I had no more lunch for the rest of my time here and I will say some of my Fondest Memories were sitting on the floor eating lunch with my friends uh some of the things that stand out the most during my time at the school were from that time so I would say that unit lunch as a singular unit is probably the best thing that the school had to offer especially to me at the time um I'd like to address the board about something I recently learned that is about an organization named the NJ project that organization designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for its visceral hatred of lgbtq students has endorsed four members of this board very recently this organization posted on Facebook of all places about how awful it is that the state of New Jersey is providing free lunch to students during the summer now I'd like to ask rhetorically do we think this ideology should be governing our schools one that hates lgbtq students one that thinks that free lunches during the summer is a Bad Thing should this be governing our school I believe it should not and as a former graduate of this school I think it is very important that we should be creating well-rounded students that reject hatred in all forms that are exposed to the realities of the world in all of its forms so they could create well-rounded worldly World Views and ideologies um not blocking them from doing so because of a selfish hateful ideology that is all I have to say and again thank you to these very eloquent students talking about unit lunch I believe that is a very important issue um and with that thank you thank you um my name is Mariela artega I'm a parent of uh one graduating a a graduate of hun Central and I'm going to have three um students in central next year um I'm here to talk about the lunch program um in speaking to my children uh they're very fond of the lunch program again my daughter will be an incoming freshman so she just hears what her brothers have to say about the program um in speaking to my children children they but did mention that the um the the students decide where they sit no one tells them where to sit and it's on them where they want to sit so the issue of them sitting on the floor sitting near the bathroom s sitting on a a bench sitting on the bleachers it's up to them and where they decide to choose it's not something and again coach coach Mir made a great point this is really the cleanest School I've ever been to um I've been visited many schools and I've really really have um it's a very clean school I do agree you can sit on the floor and comfortably eat and not be grossed out um I do appreciate that students that did show up today to speak um I did um sign your petition and I did share it with a lot of people um it's a very important petition I I hope you take a look at the petition there is over almost five uh 1500 votes on the petition itself and in doing a survey as you're planning on doing I hope you look at that petition already and say that your is there already that's what the the at the students want um so I thank you tonight to letting me speak and I appreciate all your decisions and you that you help make for the school it's a great school to be a part of and I'm grateful my kids go to this program um at the at this high school and I thank you for your time thank you [Music] uh my name is is uh Joseph balos my son is uh he's a sophomore he's going to be a a junior next year and uh I'd like to add he also agrees that they should not get rid of uh lunch as it is now uh he agrees with all the other students that it's a big part of um his day to see his friends uh it gives him a lot of support for some of the issues he's going through right now uh the last time I was here we spoke an executive session I don't know if you remember that I don't know how many exe executive sessions you have uh it was very important to me uh your decision validated a lot of the issues my son was going through and um we thought that was the end of it uh unfortunately it was not um a month after the board made its decision uh I want to get the term correct you rejected the administration's decision and determined that my son was indeed the target of a hip now since then the hipping has continued but not so not so much but what did happen is my son got rote up for a Hib uh I was shocked I was shocked when I received this letter that my son was written up for bullying another child and then I learned all the details all the details are in those manila envelopes I've spoken at length with Dr Shadow I've very much respect his opinion we agree to disagree uh I've spoken even more with Mr Brandt where do we go when I don't agree with the decisions uh made by the the interim superintendent a man of great experience uh and um Mr Brandt who I have a very good relationship with where do I go from there I think I can come here I asked to speak an executive session Dr Shadow thought it was inappropriate for what I wanted to talk about uh so I put everything on paper I can imagine you get a lot of emails uh all I asked ask is that you look at what I provided all right that's all I'm asking um there's some confusion in my mind what a permanent record is at this school uh there's Aspen correct that's the electronic permanent record I'm assuming it has grades uh there's the disciplinary record for when things do something inappropriate and appropriate discipline is applied I've learned their Sports record there's lots of permanent records there's also a record a separate record of all the Hib allegations uh I'm told that those are paper records separate from the other records and they are permanent although I've been told over and over it's not a permanent record it's a record that is permanent so right now my son has a form in an office that has to be kept no nobody can tell me for how long when he graduates will it be destroyed at the end of the school year St state says no they have to keep it forever so there's a record of my son saying something um using an acronym innocently not really understanding what it meant and you have the entire 10-page text message with the uh his girlfriend that he used that one small acronym to judge whether or not that acronym actually Rose to the level of a Hib and I'd like to add that this was looked into by the Vice President of his grade okay he looked into it he interviewed my son and his girlfriend and was and told me that there was there was no maliciousness involved he said he would not write my son up and then he wrote my son up and the only way we knew about it is when school autogenerated a letter as the parent to tell us that something had happened and in the letter which I have right there right here now it didn't even say what he was WR written up for so right now my son is very concerned that that permanent record will one day somehow influence the school he goes to the career he might have the industry he might work in it does not seem to be of great concern to the school but it's of great concern to us as the family apparently there is no process to expunge that letter that form uh what I would like the school to consider is a process um following state law that when a staff member not a family or a student makes a Hib allegation with no target listed I cannot understand why a staff member would file a Hib allegation with no target but it was I'll ask you to wrap up your comments please that's all I have to say um can I give these to you or should I wait till the end and I would S suggest you hold off on to those for now um there are different I guess to answer your original question um there's different methods of escalating concerns right depending on the type of concern it's um its scope and between Dr Shadow and I we can work with you to give you the guidance on the best way to do that I don't know uh given the contents of this situation that bringing it to our attention is going to be the most productive for your situation but if you would like feel free to email me we can engage directly and um between us and Dr Shadow we can certainly get you on the right path to ensure your your questions are answered is there a reason why I can't hand these out um because I don't feel that it's appropriate members like to have this I don't feel it's appropriate to share to the board at this juncture given the path the various Paths of escalation I'm also not going to conduct a debate with you so we'll end your comments at this point in time again you're more than welcome to reach out to me via email I'll work with you to get you the answer to the questions that Sir Sir Mr bamos I've given you your time thank you is there anyone else seeing none we will close our public comment I'll open it to final board comments from anybody on the board um before I open it to everybody I'd like to first address um cutting a conversation short earlier today um no disrespect to anybody on this board or to anything that they would like to share I'm just trying to facilitate all of our conversations our discussions to get to the votes that we need to at this table um I felt that the appropriate um commentary had been shared given the situation and uh that's why I I tried to to curtail extraneous debate um but it does not uh reduce anybody's input anybody's opinion or anybody's weight uh at this table so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear was m p purely done out of an um an approach to facilitate our meeting um as appropriately and quickly as possible and efficiently as possible anyone else commentary I would just like to say thank you all to the students especially I know it's your first day of your first full week of summer vacation I was actually curious to see if you guys would kind of forget about it given you weren't in lunch today talking to your friends so I'm really impressed with the um the comments we've heard from all of you tonight I love to see the advocacy the self- advocacy that's an amazing skill at your age especially and um you know I think sometimes as Dr Shadow said sometimes we there is a desire you know to hear of a problem and want to knee-jerk fix it and I think it what's really important is always to really figure out dig down and find out what exactly in detail the problems are and and there might be other ways of you know there were actually some great ideas um provided by the students themselves so um this has been really beneficial uh to me personally I really thank you all for coming out tonight and sharing your thoughts with us I I'd also like to thank you all for coming out I I had three of my own kids who went through this school and so I I do understand the importance of unit lunch I think they would probably be here as well um so thank you and I you know I do realize though that yes um you know sometimes um the administration might be seeing something that that they're trying to fix but they're definitely not trying to shut out the opinion of the students so thank you for coming and um definitely fill out the survey when you get it and if I might say one one one final thing I'm here a very short period of time the last thing that I want to do is to come in and change something or be a part of changing something that so many kids love because I'm going to be gone and you're going to be here and that has not been lost on me so I think your parents and your teachers that the very very good job in in preparing you for moments like this tremendous so thank you anyone else I was going to say I do just want to add my thanks my son graduated last year and my daughter's going to be a sophomore and you know unit lunch is one of the things that she looks most forward to being part of central um so again thank you thanks everybody for coming out for voicing your opinions for sharing your ideas and it is always impactful for the board to hear from the students and we would love to hear more from you so please anytime that have an opinion feel free to share an email um and come out I guess the other thing I wanted to share was to close the loop on the nepotism policy to be very clear that I am not opposed to updating the nepotism policy specifically to come into compliance with the definitions that we need to change I am opposed to expanding the policy and making it more confusing and if the policy committee is willing to work toward coming into compliance specifically I would be happy to work with them thank you and as Express through email if you'd like to attend next month's committee on policy to talk about that point I'm happy to step back if it it helps that conversation just let me know anybody else hearing nothing I I have to Echo my fellow board members great job coming out and advocating um class of 95 here my mom's class of 67 I think um so yeah Red Devils Run Deep in our family um and I can say I'm here for the students and and for the institution and I have absolutely no doubt that everybody else at this table and in our administrative staff and teaching staff is in the exact same mindset and the exact same position I'll I'll take the risk of of stepping out and speaking on their behalf and saying um our world sort of gravitates around the students and their best interests their best health and and their ability to succeed so again as others have said please continue to come out share what works share what doesn't work that is the best way for us to hear and adjust the future of this institution for you all and and for future students so thank you all we are going to convene now into uh executive session to talk about a number of things um we are going to be coming back out for a vote at the end end of that session so with that uh if I could make a motion to move to Executive session okay all in favor all opposed any extensions thank you all have a good evening okay oh well Mom she's okay I got I got try to meet the okay I'll be right back don't I 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 am they ch some for okay officer thank you than e e e e for e e e e e for e there e for yeah e e e I e e e e e e e and e e e e e e e e e for e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for I e didn't so you know exactly you got the thing you got it C down you see terrible sport terrible sport yeah could it takes your guts out as a parent I couldn't imagine the uh shedding and everything the weight shedding weight cutting yeah yes we have to uh motion to reconvene yeah okay all right i' like to make a motion to reconvene into Open Session tonight okay all in favor any oppositions any extensions okay I'd like to make a motion to accept the superintendent evaluation for Dr Shadow roll call please yes sir Mrs blutfield yes Mrs gong or Miss gong yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Peterson yes Mr Rymer Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries and I'd like to make a motion to re adjourn our meeting tonight any conversation all in favor I any opposition any exstension have a good night all thank you very much I'm good thank you