Oh, whoops. Helps if I turn it on. The people here Check. Check. Ellen, Marian, [Music] Jessica,
Lisa, Leslie, Rebecca. No. Check. Check. Check. One, two. Check. Sue Bronlin and Aaron on. Good. Claudia and D. [Music]
Check check [Music] Think this is working. Is it working now? All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome to a meeting of the 10 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 open public meetings act and that advanced notice required therein has been provided. Meeting notice was also posted on in the boardroom of the upper school campus, sent to the courier news star ledger, express times in the Hunton County Democrat and sent to the clerks
of Delaware Township, East Amwell, Flemington Burough, Raridan Township, and Readington Township. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda. Can I get a roll call, please? Miss Miss Gong, Miss Gray here, Dr.
Halpern here, Mrs. Kellogg here, Miss Laccasta here, Mrs. Peterson here, Mrs. Rel here, and Mrs. Santangelo here. Please join us in the flag salute to the
flag of America. D you'll read the district mission statement. Hunter 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. Thank you. Next, we would like to move to approve the regular and executive
session minutes of the April 28th board meeting. Can I get a second? Second. And can I get a roll call, please? Miss Gray, here. Dr. Halpern, abstain, I was absent. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Miss
Lacasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell, yes. Mrs. Santangelo, yes. All right. The board would like to note that we received correspondence and it will be maintained on file in the office of the board
secretary. Next up will be the president's report. At a previous board meeting, great detail was given to how the committee process works. This is the way most boards operate. In fact, at the fall New Jersey School Board Association conference, there was a workshop on how
to effectively work within a committee. Every board member, regardless if you are part of that particular committee or not, has the opportunity to ask questions before the committee meeting, and the committee will consider those inquiries and capture the response accordingly in the minutes. The minutes
are released in advance of the board meeting for any additional follow-up. By incorporating the questions from outside the committee into the minutes, all other board members have the opportunity to understand the question being asked and to consider their opinion on not only that question, but the committee's
response. In addition, if there are any suggestions on an agenda topic for a committee, any of the board members can also make that request. Every member has the opportunity and responsibility to review the committee minutes and come to the table ready to vote. When a member asks a question at this table or waits
until Monday, the day of the board meeting, to ask a question, that constitutes a surprise at the table and does not allow the committee chairs or other members the opportunity to consider the issue. That behavior is contrary to the transparency this board seeks and achieves. Board members spend
a lot of time preparing for these committee meetings and we spend hours working on this. In fact, this month alone, the policy committee went for uh two hours. So, we simply do not have the time to spend at this table conducting that type of business here. As all B
board members know, we cannot discuss confidential matters at the table which includes legal personnel and deliberative issues. If a board member intentionally or negligently raises an issue that cannot be responded to at this table for those reasons, the only thing that is accomplished is that a
board member gets to share a narrative that can be misleading. Bringing up an issue at the table does not allow for members to weigh in as it is a surprise that they are not prepared for and that is not transparency. That is not following our board handbook, board norms, and the number one rule of the
New Jersey School Board Association, which is no surprises at the table. The committee process allows for all questions to be asked before, during, and after the committee minutes meetings well before we get to this table. There is no reason for surprises and the majority of this board does not condone
it. Thank you. Next up, we will have the superintendence report. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Good evening, everyone. The month of May is what we like to call testing season here. So, it feels like a very busy month. We have just completed two weeks
of AP testing and are now entering the makeup testing weeks. This week we are also administering the NJSLA, the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment. It's a series of tests for 9th graders who are testing in both math and English and 11th graders who are testing in science.
I want to take a moment to recognize our students who are preparing for their standardized assessments. We know how much effort they and our teachers have put into getting ready. We are sending them our best wishes for a successful test administration and we encourage them to stay focused, do their best, and
take pride in their hard work. With testing, we typically focus on the end result, but I think it's important to let our students know that we are proud of them now, and we're confident they will rise to the challenge. This month, I also had the honor of attending the Youth in Action Summit at Ruckers
University. This is a student summit where students present culminary youth participatory action research projects to one another. There were over 200 student participants from all over New Jersey and for the first time this year, New York. The program also includes
professional development for our teachers and they lead our students through a research project that is an area of passion or inquiry for them during the school year. Thank you to Mrs. Perez, Mrs. Ferrero, and Dr. Arerodondo for inspiring and leading our bilingual language arts students through
their projects. Our students presented on issues such as study hall and scheduling tensions, intramural sports opportunities, and a climatization of multilingual learners in English-speaking classes. I believe I told you all this previously, but it was
one of the best days of the year for me to see our students present and take such great pride in their work. Congratulations to our bilingual language arts students and our teachers. Next, I wanted to give you an important update on transportation and the ongoing conversations with the Flemington
Raritton School District for transportation services. As you know, we had drafted a proposed shared services agreement and I met with Dr. Mcan to clarify some components of that agreement and make revisions that were given to us from FRSD.
We have provided a deadline for finalizing the agreement twice and unfortunately F FRSD did not meet the deadline. Due to our time constraints, we are unable to extend that deadline again. In order to ensure we have our transportation routes ready for the
extended school year starting in July and the traditional school year starting in September, I am recommending that we not move forward with an agreement at this time. Also, we received some inquiry about a reference to rising transportation costs
in FRSD's recent recent budget presentation. I feel it is necessary to clarify that their transportation costs have been affected in recent years because of increasing enrollment, their redistricting, and the addition of preschool, which was not mentioned in
their presentation. Additionally, each year FRSD receives a reimbursement for unspent funds after we reconcile the account at the conclusion of the fiscal year, which in some years has been close to or over $1
million. As we move forward, we are working to dissolve the joint transportation agreement and committee with the board support and divide the assets accordingly. We have already sent FRSD a proposal for a division of the assets and expect to hear from them by the end of the week.
I want to sincerely thank the board for your support and willingness to explore shared service opportunities. While this particular partnership will not move forward due to circumstances outside of our control, your commitment to collaboration and innovation is greatly
appreciated. And as the last portion of my report, I wanted to take a moment to review some of the item, excuse me, some of the items for board action on the agenda tonight. You will note that we have 19 items under the organizational section of the agenda. We discussed these at our operations and
transportation meeting. Numbers 3 through 19 are standard annual items that we need board action on and approval on in order to move forward with the 2025 2026 budget and district business. The first organizational item is the approval of the district's
comprehensive equity plan. As you know, the comprehensive equity plan is mandated by code NJAC6A7, managing for equity and education. This is a three-year plan, and you will note that we are required to submit a statement of assurance to
the New Jersey Department of Education each year for compliance with the plan. The purpose of this plan is, and this is a quote, to identify and correct all discriminatory and inequitable educational policies, patterns, programs, and practices affecting our
programs, facilities, students, and staff. You will see in the attached proposed plan that the plan and compliance with this mandate is largely rooted in policy. I think this is important to note because we spent a large part of the second half of last
year ensuring that our mandated policies and the policies required for QAC were updated. We have now begun to review the policy manual section by section. As you know, the comprehensive equity plan is another example of why it's critical for us to ensure we have a strong policy
manual. I want to encourage our board members to reach out to Rebecca as policy committee chair if there are requests for polic policy review questions etc. We want to ensure our manual serves as a framework for the direction and legal guidance on
achieving our district goals. The ultimate of which is to provide our students with the best educational experience possible. The second organizational item is a motion to approve a 2024 2025 calendar revision. It is important to note that
this revision only impacts our 12-month staff members and not our 10-month staff or our students. This revision is being made as a result of our two unused emergency closing days and the move of graduation from June 24th to June 19th. The district will now be closed on June
23rd and June 30th. The last agenda item that I want to report on is the recommendation for the appointment of a new boys basketball head coach. While I typically do not report on personnel agenda items during this section of our meetings, I felt it
was important to do so as we have received correspondence from the public on this particular recommendation. First, I want to thank the folks who reached out to us and provided feedback. I really value that our community is so invested in and passionate about our programs, including
intercolastic athletics. Second, I think it's important for you all to know that we follow a very thorough hiring process for coaches, just as we would for teachers, counselors, administrators, and any other staff members. In this case, the process consisted of
multiple interviews, performance tasks, and multiple reference checks in addition to reviewing each candidates's application and experiences. We are excited to welcome Coach Gre to Hunan Central. He brings a strong commitment to student athlete development and a vision that aligns with our district's
values. I am confident in his ability to make a positive impact, and I look forward to the program's continued growth and success under his leadership. So this concludes my section of the report. Is Mr. Finn here? Oh, good. I am now going to ask Mr. Finn to come
forward and I'll ask us to move. So our district has been fortunate enough to have a very successful school foundation, an entity which is separate from our school district to generously raise money for student scholarships and teacher projects. The foundation had
lost a little steam at the start of COVID. I'm very pleased to say that we have reignited it. Mr. Jim Finn is the 10 central school foundation president as a senior vice president of Brown and Brown. Mr. Finn is going to provide you with an update on our foundation. So, if
we can move here because after we'll also have a few other presentations. So, so you're welcome for the chance to stretch. Plea, please take advantage of it. Thank you.
So, while you're getting settled, I want to thank your superintendent for her, I will call it patronage of resurrecting in full, the 10 Central School Foundation. For my day job, I'm an insurance broker. In fact, I'm your
insurance broker here at Brown and Brown. But when I'm having fun, I'm the president of the 110 Central School Foundation. And if you're not aware of us, that's okay. Co kind of knocked one leg out from under us. That being the
business of teacher classroom grants for unbudgeted programs. But the other leg survived, which is awarding each year with the assistance of your guidance department 10 scholarships of $1,000 each. In fact, you have this very brief
thing you call your awards night, which actually is a three-hour marathon of handing out, if I did my math correctly, almost $300,000 of scholarships for graduating seniors, which is fantastic. So, I'll be here for that on behalf of the foundation. Ed, how do I advance?
There we go. Okay. Thank you. So, who are we? We are an independent 501c3 organization. We are not connected directly to the school district. There's many good reasons for that. But our mission is to support the school district as explained up here. Whether
it be enhancing the experience, preparing them for the higher education, i.e. scholarships and all the rest. We were given initially a very generous bequest by an alum of Central by the name of Upton. And to this day, we get
an annual bequest of anywhere from 12 to $18,000 depending on how the estate assets are performing. So that's one source of revenue. Since 2012, we've awarded $57,000 for various uneducated programs,
but none since 2019 because of this little thing called COVID kind of put us in a semi-dormant state. Since 2012, um, we've also awarded, and we've done so every year, including through COVID, except for the immediate lockdown year,
$55,000 in scholarships. And unlike other organizations of our type, which are relatively under capitalized and have to scrape and scrimp for every penny, we actually have this great treasurer. His name is Frank Barlo, and he's actually leaving the foundation
after a quarter century to focus on other things. He's actually part of the leadership of the local YMCA if you don't know Frank. So, he's been an extremely good steward of our finances to the point where we have $104,000 in Upton funds, that's that bequest I referred to, which have to go
towards scholarships, and $54,000 in general foundation funds for what we hope to be the resumption of teacher classroom grants. So, there's not a lot of organizations like ours running around with $158,000. Now, a couple of weeks ago, Jessica had
us in here to brief the staff on the reorganization of the foundation, and I gave a similar presentation. And at the end, I said, "Hey, we have $158,000, and some of it's going to teacher grants. Ready to party?" And the response was, "Woohoo!" So, that's
fun. So, in reorganizing, I was given the honor of being the president. Kim Blander, who is in the leadership team at the 100 hospital system, is our vice president. Frank Barlo, who I just mentioned, is our interim chair. We just added because she wasn't approved yet
when we put this together, Laura Rosen from Pmptonian Foods as our treasurer, and we have a candidate to be considered for secretary. Those are the four voting positions. Then we have as advisory members your principal Ed Brandt and two
very dedicated teachers Mary Woods and Greg Kitchen. I misspelled his name there my apologies. By virtue of their position exeicio showing off the Latin a little bit your superintendent is a member of the foundation. Your business administrator and your outstanding
communications officer Marcala. Now, the single asterisk are the board members who do the voting. Because a lot of folks have kids who are employees here and because a lot of folks are going to be applying for grants, we want as a foundation to make sure there's no air
of favoritism, no air of nepotism. So, nobody that actually votes and approves things on a formal basis is an employee of the district. And we think that's important. That's my presentation. So, expect to hear more from us in the
future. I also want to thank Sandra Gong, who is our board liaison. I know she's not here this evening, but she's been helping us out with ideas and support, uh, moral support over the past few months. And Jessica, thank you again, guys. Can we get a round of applause for your superintendent, please? She's really been the driving
force behind getting this back on two legs. So, with that, I will turn it back to Jessica. I don't want to take that. No, you don't. Thank you, Jim. Um, I'm going to ask you all to stay right here because we have a a few series coming up, a
series of presentations from Ed Brandt, our principal. Mr. Brandt is going to first present our climate and culture survey results. Um this year we've also asked our student reps Braumwin and Aaron to participate in the presentation as we felt it's important to provide you all with some student perspective in the
climate and culture survey and then after that Mr. Brandt will present two mandatory reports which is our SSDs report as well as the HIP self assessment. So I'll hand it over to them now. Uh thank you and thank you for your for your time here. Um again my name is Ed
Brandt. Um fortunate enough here to share information to all of you about the climate and culture surveys that we've uh distributed over the years. Um this the second slide if you would just gives you an overview of over the
last seven years the various types of surveys we had. Um and I want to point out we did have a climate survey uh for two years there in a row. That hybrid learning survey was more focused during those uh COVID years on what was working best for students and staff as far as
our model. And then coming out of COVID, um, we we linked up with, uh, the Department of Education partnered with Ruckers, uh, to produce and create a climate and culture survey for schools throughout the state. And what we did,
we took that, it's written on a K to2 level, if you would, for large districts or, you know, covers things like third grade and such. So, we we tweaked it to match 100 central as best we could. Um and each of the last four years we have
given that same survey uh to students to staff and to families. Um one piece of feedback if you would or questions that came up from previous years are um it's basically in two sections for for all
populations. There's a liyker scale type of prompts where u somebody responds whether they strongly agree or strongly disagree or somewhere in between. A number of them have five um five choices
if you would. And some of the feedback was that middle choice there kind of really is kind of in the middle. Would we ever want to have four? We I did create it, recreate it to make it four, but I thought, you know what, let's get one more year to make it comparable. Um
so we did keep the five liker scale for most of the items uh this year. One thing I'm proud to say um is the is the turnout. Uh we we doubled the number of people overall um responding. So this
past year um we provided this survey in February which we also moved up in past it was it was later in the school year and this allowed us to get the results back a little sooner. Uh if you recall I think I actually gave this presentation in the fall from from the previous year.
So this helps us also information going into the summer as a as an administration. So we had 1,285 students as compared in the brackets there as last year. So 673 last year we had over 1,200 this year. Um staff members we had
202 staff members respond last year was 138. And as far as families, parents, 224 families responded and again an improvement from last year, 134. Uh what we did with the results and again uh if any of you took it, you
recall there were the liyker scale items, but there were also open-ended items um for for all three populations. And what we did was uh we took the open-ended pieces and I actually used some of the AI work that uh we've been
playing around with this school year to condense it um to produce and generate uh reports that we could give back to folks to take a look at it and analyze. And the three groups were uh we had students and in a little bit I'm going to have Brahman and Erin share what we
did with the students. uh the parent engagement committee, the former formerly known as uh home and school association. Uh we dedicated one of the meetings to take a look at the family results and again they produced some really good ideas and proposed steps uh
to address um some of the issues if you would and celebrations. And then also the administration, we did the same thing. We took a look at the um staff results and identified priorities. And then our skip which is our school
improvement panel. That group which is has members of all the different departments throughout the school. We meet monthly but we dedicated time and taking the results from all three of those other groups if you would their their suggestions their ideas and
compiled um uh one comprehensive priority matrix I called and I'm going to share that in a minute. I'm going to first review some of the Lyker scale quantitative items. Um what I have here just give you a sample. We
broke it up into four different categories. One of them being academics. These were the prompts that focused on academics. And what I did was I put in there the the four years worth of trends. So you can see four years ago the 2122
uh percentages there and then 22 23 green if it increased pink if it didn't and you can see the amount of uh increase or decrease. This is where just to explain if it was a Lyker scale item that had
five prompts or five possibilities. I did pick the top three uh to say favorable if you would just to be blunt with it. Um and if there were four of them it was the top two. Some of
the items were kind of written in a in a negative stance if you would. So I took the compliment. Um so that the higher the percentage um the better. So proud to say here in academics u one of the two of the items I' I'd really like to
highlight if you would is that I love the fact that that second item there how much do your teachers encourage you to do your best you can see from four years ago it was favorable 79.7% and all the way up to 87.7% this past year um that I
think is is fantastic and then also the last item how great is it for the students. 84.8% of the students um to say yes, how often do the classroom assignments and activities help me learn? I mean, that that's awesome feedback from the students and that's
awesome back to the staff members and everybody working to support them um as they put together great lessons. So, they're recognizing the the encouragement and hard work and they're also feeling like they are actually they are learning and what great results
there too. By the way, four straight years you have one little de decrease in those. The next item deals with climate and safety. This is one that's been up and down some of the spots over the years, but again, the majority of them
saw an increase uh this past year. Couple of them that I want to point out. I love the fact that how much respect to other students at Central show you. That's about five items down. and that has had a steady increase from
73.3% four years ago up to 81.7. I also really um love the feedback of the next one. How often are students at Central able to work out disagreements with other students and that is part of the learning and growing here um for students to kind of work out
their quarrels with each other and I thought that was a significant jump there uh as well. um 7.1% percentage points from 65 last year to 72.3. But at the same time, I take a
look at and we were taking a look at uh towards the bottom there. You can see how comfortable are are you expressing yourself at Central that saw a little bit of a dip again. We had three really strong years and then a little bit of a dip there. And how often do students help decide what goes on at Central?
that one there to me um I think that that tells me that we have some explicit work to do that for example just even sharing this back with the students and to see some of the suggestions going into the summer based on this survey
we'll let the students know we're paying attention to it if that makes sense. Um the third category was on staff and family. This is one also where I see some really good positives. I love the fact that you can see the second, third,
and fourth item. It asks, "How often are you able to talk with your teacher one-on-one when needed?" And then the same question with counselor. Same question with vice principal. And over the four years, they've all increased considerably. A little dip there in the
with the vice principles this past year, but again, a decrease of 0.2%. Isn't that um horrible? But I love the fact that that is increasing. It does make me wonder though how that increases. And then further down you can
see that how um if you walked into a class visibly upset, how many of your teachers would be concerned and how connected do you feel with adults in your school? So I find it interesting that the the feeling that they are able to talk with the staff members one-on-one has increased
yet that saw a little dip this past year. So maybe it's and sometimes for example um I look at that item there if you walked into class visibly upset perhaps the teacher doesn't want to point that out in front of the other students right away and then later on is
making a call to the counselor. Um but maybe it is okay to be a little more explicit and say hey let me check in on you here so that they know immediately um they're getting that feedback. And then the last category was on belonging. And I have to say as
principal uh brought a tear to my eye to see all the categories increased yet again, especially that bottom one there. How overall how much do you feel like you belong at Central BC? Four years ago was a 72% and it's risen all the way up to 81.7. Um so yes, are there areas of
concern? There always is. Uh as a math teacher, you're always looking for the problems to solve, right? Um, but also there are some some uh responses there that I'm proud to to share. And of the 40 prompts, 32 of them this past year
saw an increase. I'm going to pass it over uh now to Aaron and Bronwin to share a little bit about what we did going back to when I mentioned about the um open-ended responses and how we had breakout groups. And I'll let them share a little bit about that.
Good evening everyone. Again, our names are Brahman and Aaron. We are your student representatives and we are going to be sharing a little bit about our student lunches that we have done to kind of discuss um some areas of growth and also areas where we really
appreciate the school. So, one aspect of our role is ensuring that every student's voice is heard, which is a goal shared by our survey respondents as well, students, parents, and staff. Um, in our anonymous survey we send out to students in our monthly board report
emails, we learned that many students did indeed really have ideas and suggestions for the school and the board, but they might not have felt comfortable sharing these things directly. Um, and so this is where this kind of survey and really our role as student board representatives comes in.
So this school year, we wanted to provide students with more opportunities to share these ideas in a more comfortable and non-judgmental environment. And so Mr. Brandt, Miss Kangalosi, Hade, Erin, and I started our monthly student lunches. One of our goals in these
student lunches is to hear from a variety of students. So to achieve this, we've met with a with multiple diverse groups. We started off by meeting with students who had leadership positions like class counsel or student council officers. We also met with students from each grade level and representatives chosen by vice principles. Last month,
we met with a group of students who were open to being further interviewed about this survey. Together, we reviewed the results and came up with possible solutions to the issues raised. We then sorted those ideas into what can be done this school year, over the summer, and in the future. One area we talked about
was mental health resources and we found that the main issue wasn't just the availability of support but making sure that students were aware of what is available to them. One possible solution we came up we came up with is having students regular meet with their SAC counselors so that they can build a relationship and feel more comfortable
reaching out if they need help. Regardless of the ideas, suggestions or stories shared by students at these meetings, one thing was consistent across the board that they want to be heard and when given the means to do so, whether through this survey or through the student lunches,
they can contribute to making their school a better place. So Erin and I hope to bring the power of representation and student voice into the next school year and beyond and ensure that students who may not feel a part of that school community or feel that their ideas are not being heard are
given the space to share and given the space to make a meaningful difference at the school. Thank you. So working off that um and thank you very much again. Um these last two slides are are basically the result of
as I mentioned earlier three different u populations of staff, students, families giving feedback um after analyzing the results of the survey and then that going back to the skip um committee who then created this
document and um basically it's spread out over what are some things we can do immediately like as in right now and what are things that we can work on this summer and what are some things that might take a little bit of time to develop and plan out and whether it was really uh focused student focused as the
as the leader and the point with it or staff members or in this next um panel you can see families and community and what I did was I I pulled it all together and some of them are overlaps but what I did was I highlighted based on uh where those results came from. So,
for example, um the the same student group that we met at lunch was talking about, wouldn't it be neat if we had like big brother big sister type of uh matches where you had a ninth grader match with an 11th grader or 10th with a 12th grader. Um so that every student
had an upper class match if you would or mentor. So that was something we were taking a look at there based on their feedback and and we have we have the capability of doing it. uh we can if you imagine taking our alpha home room that we use the first day of school even and
then pairing a ninth grade class with an 11th grade class and then you got you got the pair there to work um throughout the year. So that was just one of the pieces of feedback. Another one that we actually put in play just a couple weeks ago in the eighth grade open house um was on the left there in the pink you
can see it says develop parent survey signups for incoming freshmen to be enrolled in clubs the way that it's done with sports. So, usually we have, you know, um, an activity fair, if you would, in the fall right away for students to sign up. But what we did this past time with the eighth grade
open house is have the ability right even now to indicate that they're interested in something so that come the fall when they show up and they come to school the first time at September, that adviser already knows that that incoming ninth grader is interested in that club and maybe send an invite to that first
meeting, a little more personal touch to it. So, that was one of those pieces of feedback. again that the students uh provided another one and going off of what Aaron was just talking about about we do have tremendous resources in our
counseling department for example however you have a lot of layers and sometimes if you're not accessing them often you don't know what each of the acronyms stand for what the roles are so um and one of the ideas was and Miss
Angelosi Hay working off of uh so Miss Kangalloi hay back in the fall. We have a lot of um office staff in our business and HR department, but it's hard to really know who does what, whether it's pensions or
whether it's benefits or so put together a scorecard or a cheat sheet of who is aligned with what and we thought, you know what, let's use and the idea resonated with administration. they thought let's do that same type of card for counseling for example or other
areas of our school to share back with the families and other staff members and the students. So that's one of them there. Um one of the ones I wanted to point out here was in the purple and anything that was combined I I I made
purple was communication. Um this isn't knocking our communications. It's actually there's sometimes where the communications is is timely and excellent in reverse meaning not what's coming from school out to our populations but how can we get an access
to communication more often back to administration as part of feedback. So you know more often than one climate culture survey a year for example. So every year after the NJGPA testing um a survey goes out to staff you know what
worked what didn't. So some of our big initiatives, let's do that more often. Let's get the feedback right away rather than later on with the climate and culture survey. So this document, I'm not going to go through any more of it, but you have it to review as well, but this document's go, you know, the
administration's using it going into this summer to identify what things we can do um based on all the feedback. And that's that. Um I know I covered a lot of material there and we did. Thank you again both of you.
Appreciate it. Any questions at this time or Sure. It's a Yes. The question was what do we attribute the increase in the um in the uh participation in it uh for the staff
and the parents? I'm not sure um quite honestly except maybe timeliness that it was the same week that we had the students do it and last year we had a a dip because uh we didn't offer the same amount of time for one of the classes and I want to say it was 10th grade I
don't know why it's jumping on um so or maybe 11th grade so three of the four classes had a fairly strong outcome or results but the the one class was really low so we made sure that all four and it showed all four it was pretty even the
distribution of grades. So I think the combination of that and also all three populations at once so that the students the parents and the staff had access and it was something they could talk about and be like you know what yeah let's do that offering it also you know to have it open for the staff so they can
respond at the same time the students are and the students can go home and say yeah I filled out a survey and the parents have it too. I think that helped. That's a good question. Yes. That's a great question. I I think
um one thing simple going kind of pushing out to your constituents is that we really pay attention to this. So, you know, um I'm not knocking the parent outcome, but we do have close to 2,300 students. So, maybe
I don't want to knock it. I mean, it's a good problem that we don't have as many parents responding that I would love to see in here. But at the same time, uh we are paying attention to it and we are making changes and hopefully improvements or things that are working well. Let's keep it keep it going. Um
so, I'd say push it back that we are paying attention to it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. this one. All right, I'm going to shift gears a little bit to um the twice a
year, as you may recall, I didn't want that. Um twice a year, uh I report out to you, the board, about from our student safety data systems. This is um information that gets reported to the state twice a year,
and I report to you then twice a year and realize that we're staggered a little bit. So, uh, this report out now is from the s first six months of this school year. So, it's from the I put in July because things happen in July and August and, um, you know, we have many
students here and that counts as that school year if you would leading up to the end of December. Uh, what gets reported, this used to be called a violence and vandalism report. Um, so they shifted it to SSDs and any type of violence,
vandalism, weapons offenses, substance offenses, uh, get reported as well as all of our work with HIP, whether it's any of our trainings and programs that we have, but also, um, any reports and and investigations and
outcomes. So, they get reported as well. So uh you know you as a board approve disapprove if you would of HIV findings we also then have to submit to to the state and this is the comprehensive list
basically anything that leads to a student being removed from the classroom um behaviorally um whether it's out of school or in school suspension. So I want to point that out too. So, um, we put in inschool
suspension in place two years ago to try to fill that gap. We just felt that there were there was kind of a a missing space there. Um, we don't want students home. Uh, we want them here learning and in school suspension is not I bring that
up because it's not just a a long all day detention. there's teachers in there that uh they reach out to the teachers of the students to say, "Hey, you know, Eddie Brandt's going to be in in school suspension today. What are some of the things that we can work with him um
during the day?" So, I'm trying to continue the learning uh some of the the actual data though to share back with you under the umbrella of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. In those first six months, we
had 16 total reports come to the principal's desk. Of those, um I did use uh the principal's preliminary determination three times. That's used if um it's very clear that whatever the
infraction or incident was doesn't fall under the opaces of HIB. It might still be a code of conduct violation and we still definitely will handle it that way and address it, but it's just not under the umbrella of HIV. But we did out of those 16 reports investigated 13 of
them. Of those 13, seven of them were confirmed HIPS. And there's a breakdown of the um distinguishing characteristic of the target um whether it's perceived or real. And those numbers don't add up
to seven because they are a little bit more because there were a couple incidences where there was more than one either more than one target or more than one uh distinguishing characteristic of that student. Um which was the reason
for it. Um so that that's of those seven confirmed. The other part that we do once a year is uh the anti-bullying coordinator with what is called and it sometimes it gets confusing. They use the same terms. It's a climate and
culture. Um it's a climate safety team and it's a panel of our anti-bullying coordinator, our anti-bullying specialists who conducted the investigations. Um a teacher and a parent and a counselor on that. And what
they do is they meet throughout the year to see a are we following the correct processes in our investigations. They're taking a look to see if there are any patterns and what are some of the specific trainings we might want to do based on what we see. Um and then that
group also has it's a self-indicator. They they score um out of eight core elements different indicators on the scale from zero one two and three. And I believe you actually uh approved that report a couple meetings ago. We had to um submit
it to the state, but I didn't report it out like this. So um we did I'm proud to say all the indicators last year. there was an indicator where we didn't have all three points. That was uh quite honestly we had a staff member who was
also a parent um serve in that dual role and we decided that you know what it's best if we have a parent also who's not a staff member. So we added added that member uh this past year which rose us to to hit all the
marks. Um so the other piece was the non-hib items. um or maybe in conjunction again those first six months. Here's a breakdown of the data of all the reasons why a student either had out of school or in school
suspension. Um I highlighted a couple of them just to say comparatively. So for example um there were four instances not four fights but four instances of students suspended due to fighting in that first six months. That was a
considerable decrease from a year ago. I was happy to see that. Um, but where we did see an increase was in weapons. So, we had five in situations of weapons. Um, I will say this, all all five were found through searches because
of the substance offenses. Uh, it wasn't like a a weapon was brandished in the hallway, for example. Um, so I'm not minimizing it, but I just thought it'd be I'd be wondering talk to me more about that. Um, and then on the bottom
there are two of them I highlighted. One was cell phone violations. We had 12 instances back in the fall of cell phone violations that led to a suspension. This wasn't because there was a one-time use of a phone. It was either repeated times and then
refusing to follow the direction with it. Again, that was rare, but more likely was because somebody took a picture in school of something either that was um you know, an intimate situation, a fight, uh something like that and posted
it. And then we've we've been that's an area that we've really cracked down because two reasons. Number one, obviously it's it it is a violation of somebody's personal space here and privacy at school. But as you can imagine, it also perpetuates an issue
that maybe we solved and worked on um at the root of it really quickly, but then all of a sudden that that picture is popping up again in social media two weeks later and then here we go again. So um we've we've been pretty strong with that. And then on the bottom there you see harassment. Understand that some
of these aren't 16 instances of harassment separate from the HIV. There are some that overlap and you can also have you can also harass somebody and it not be under that opice
of HIV. Um HIV requires that there is a characteristic about that student that was the motivation of the HIV harassment. Um you can still harass somebody without that motivation and that's where that
falls. some of the prevention items that we have and resources. Our 10th grade health curriculum focuses uh both on HIV but also um many areas of dealing with uh conflict. Our 10th grade
teen mental health units also that's where and um Erin and Bramman talked about our Sachs. That's where our Sachs go into the health classes and teach those units um and counselors with the students. So hopefully that increases that level of comfort um where they
understand who who those individuals are and where they can get help. Um the our activities and sports are excellent but it's also an excellent way for students to increase that sense of belonging. Um and we look to continue that and that's an area too. Miss Kellogg, you asked how
can you help supporting those those areas as well. Uh our clubs um can use your support all the time and you do. Um and then also uh the inschool suspension I mentioned down there. This is our second year using that. Um we've
seen our out of school suspensions decrease partially because we're using that but also hopefully because um that's helping students kind of reflect and and make better choices moving forward. And also recommendations coming out of the vice principal team. I
mentioned that safety team um or the climate team, but we also have a district safety team. Uh these are some of the recommendations that we review. Uh that reset of the cell phone regulations, as you recall back in September, that was something districtwide and really nationally, uh
we really focused on that. Um also the security personnel. Um, I think in tonight's board agenda, uh, we're looking at adding that position, shifting one of the security personnel away from, um, a role that was already in place to a security coordinator,
which helps tremendously. If you imagine the vice principles, for example, needing to work on something, you need somebody also coordinating the rest of the security, you know, just in live action. Um, so those are some I'm not going to read all them to you, but these are some of the resources and
recommendations that we continue to look to improve and that is it. Any questions, concerns there? All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Yep. Thank you, Ed, and thank you,
Brwin and Erin. I wanted to just add something. I forgot when I was talking about comprehensive equity plan. I skipped a line. I really wanted to thank our um team, not only our team who led this, but also our affirmative action team. But a special thank you to the the leaders of the plan which was Danielle
Zurwiki, Claudia Caneli, and Andrew Estrada. You can see the tremendous amount of work that went into the plan. So I would be remiss if I didn't thank them. So thank you to them for that that amount of work. So um on the agenda, you also see our HIP and suspension report. Um this includes the Hib discussed at
last month's executive session, and I will have a HIP case to review and executive session tonight. And then last but not least, I will hand it over to Brahman and Aaron for their student representative report. Thank you. Good evening again. To start,
both theund central jazz concert and the Thespian competition showcase early this month went extremely well and featured the talents of our instrumental coral and theater students. This past Friday and Saturday, freshman and sophomore actors and actresses performed the 910
play Lost Girl, and cast crew and directors were all commended for their talents and hard work this past few months to make the shows the best they could be. For those looking for more opportunities to witness these students in action, we encourage you all to attend the spring coral concert tomorrow night, the instrumental concert later
this month, which will be our longtime band director, Mr. Kenny's last full concert before he retires at the end of the year and the Trian Music Honors Society summer showcase, the Thespian End of Year Showcase, and the Art Showcase at the end of May and the beginning of June. Students who have
participated in and showed a passion for acting, stage crew, and volunteering at theater performances will also be inducted into the Thespian Honor Society on June 11th. We are excited to share some exciting accomplishments from our spring athletes. Girls lacrosse as well as boys
golf won their county tournaments and the softball and baseball teams play in their championships today, both placing second in their tournaments. Our teams have worked hard to maintain their winning records throughout the season and we wish them luck with the sectional and state tournaments in the coming weeks. Central students are also
participating in numerous events as the school year begins to come to a close. At the beginning of May, juniors were able to attend their junior prom with Mr. Brandt himself saying that our class had the best and most energetic dancers he's ever seen. To keep seniors motivated to survive our exam season,
their prom will be on June 13th in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. And to congratulate these upperassmen for their hard work, senior award night will take place in June 4th. Serviceoriented students were given various opportunities to help their school by guiding families around at the eighth
grade open house, being inducted into the National Honor Society, and donating blood at the Red Cross Club's blood drive last Monday. As the school year comes to a close, we will be hosting elections for a new student board representative as Aaron will be graduating this year and I will be
continuing my role as representative as a senior and we'll be mentoring an incoming junior as we continue to make Central the best it can be for our students. Thank you all for your continued support and attention to our report tonight. This is sadly going to be my last meeting, so I want to give a
big thank you to Miss Candly Hay, Mr. Brent and the board for this opportunity. It's really been a great experience to work with you all and I'm looking forward to ending this year strong. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Ronwin and Aaron. And
Bronwin, congratulations to you. I know you're director of the school play. You were too humble to mention it. And Erin, thank you so much. It has well for both of you. It's been a joy to be on this journey with you and kind of feel out the landscape and how we would organize this. And both of your leadership has
been incredible. We're really going to miss you, Erin. So, thank you for all that you've done and congratulations on a great year in this role. I'm going to clap. And that concludes my report this evening. And I'll hand it back over to you, Lisa. All right. Thank you. Thank you, girls. And thank you to all the
presenters as well. So before I open up to the first um residence forum, I just wanted to share a reminder that the public will adhere to the five minutes and conduct themselves according to the guidelines outlined on the agenda. This is also a time for the public to provide
their input for the board's consideration. However, per Robert's rules, which is the parliamentary procedures that the board follows, specifically states that the board is not to exchange with the public in a debate. We are here to listen to you and take into consideration your feedback.
In fact, there were some uh comments and questions and inquiries about some of the policies that were discussed last month. So, we have our board council here to address those before I open up the public forum. Yes. Hi. Thank you. Um so particularly there
were some questions last time about the uh the um first reading of the repeal of the domestic uh partnerships um uh policy and question about what impact that would potentially have. So I took a look at at what was in place in terms of the domestic partnership policy and and
frankly that that policy dates back to October of 2005 and I think as Miss Peterson had had addressed uh at the last meeting it's frankly outdated. Uh in 2006 the state passed the civil union act which um addressed many similar issues in the civil union context about
domestic partnerships and then in 2015 uh the U United States Supreme Court passed Oberfell versus Hajj which addressed um certain rights with respect to same-sex couples. So most school boards and frankly I couldn't find any others uh just on my very brief review
have the type of domestic partnership policy that has been in place uh here since 2005. But the repeal of that policy will not have any substantive impact on uh employees or um potential discrimination claims etc. Uh, in fact,
I would highlight that although the the domestic partnership specific policy is being repealed, assuming the board approves that tonight, uh, domestic partnership is still addressed in in several other board policies on specific topics. For example, policy 1530, equal
employment opportunities, continues to address domestic partnerships. Uh, policy 1550, equal employment, anti-discrimination policies. Uh, policy 1581, domestic violence, and policy 15 5600 pupil discipline. all continue to
address um domestic partnerships. Uh so this isn't a repeal of any any rights. It's just an elimination of a relatively narrow board policy that that fails to address subsequent changes in the law. Um so uh from from my perspective, I know there were some questions about
increased concerns about liability. the board will will continue to be obligated to follow the law and as a result of that there would be no concern about increased um you know risk of lawsuits uh particularly because the more specific policies continue to address the domestic partnerships in various
ways. Thank you. Thank you Kyle. All right so with that we will open up the public residence forum. Please state your name. Good evening. I'm Ted Hoff from Maritton Township. Uh, I'd like to talk about policy
2240, controversial issues. I have a lot of questions and concerns, so please bear with me. Uh, first, I'm wondering why we have a policy at all. Uh, I'm wondering why that didn't end up being one of the policies that you simply abolished like so many others. And I'm
wondering what was having said that I'm also wondering what was wrong with the existing policy uh and why it's being revised and how do the revisions being proposed make the policy a better one. Um in general in the preamble to
your new proposal I would have thought that learning how to weigh and evaluate evidence is part of discussing any issue let alone controversial ones. And why was the following language removed?
Quote, "Nothing in this policy shall be construed to contradict the board's strong belief that racism, prejudice, and bias are unacceptable in our school and community." Why would you choose to remove that
language? What message does this deletion necessarily send uh to the students and the community? What is the board of education trying to tell it students at the high school by eliminating this language from the
policy? What is a controversial issue anyway? Well, there are manufactured controversies and there are real ones. The new language refers to views expressed by quote responsible and thoughtful persons. Who are these
people? Who's responsible? Who's thoughtful? How do we know? Who knows? Who's going to determine that? The superintendent and her design? Um who are who determines who's responsible? What does being responsible
even mean? Being responsible for the particular issue area like an historian of the Holocaust. That would be a responsible commentator. Or being responsible as a personal character trait and thoughtfulness.
Measured as what? And how? How do you measure whether a commentator, potential commentator is thoughtful? I mean, in my mind, perhaps a body of peer-reviewed academic work on the subject of controversy would show that the person was both responsible and thoughtful. I
mean, I would hope so. Otherwise, how do we determine thoughtfulness? I mean surely bloggers, influencers, podcasters, paid advocates, lobbyists can't be considered thoughtful participants in any controversial
issue. Why shouldn't discussion result in quote a particular conclusion or point of view? I was surprised that that was something forbidden in the new policy that that a particular conclusion or point of view actually be the end point of a
discussion. Um, and by the way, don't we think we need to remove the porative word drive home here as if students are being coerced to believe something as opposed to being convinced?
Um, isn't that what exploration, weighing, and evaluating of evidence may lead to a particular conclusion or point of view? I mean, obviously not always, but no policy should forbid it from occurring. So, there's a controversy
over slavery in the Civil War. Some say the Civil War wasn't about slavery because that wasn't what the South was fighting for. Instead, it was fighting for a way of life. Virtually every scholar of the
Civil War, however, argues the exact opposite. In fact, the South was fighting to protect slavery from the Union. What's the evidence? Well, every single Confederate state in its declaration of secession from the
Union and in the preamble to the Confederate States of America Constitution and each individual constitution of each individual Confederate state has language declaring the preservation of slavery as a paramount reason for
secession. QED, right? Don't we want our students to come away from that manufactured controversy believing that the Civil War was indeed about slavery? The new language forbids this
outcome because you can't come away with a particular point of view or a definite conclusion. A particular conclusion is not permitted in the new language. The new language forbids this outcome. I wonder what other particular
views are forbidden. The Holocaust happened. Is that forbidden to Columbbo? One minute. Okay. I I'll continue my remarks later. Hi, my name is Christina. I'm a resident of Raritton Township and like part of
Flemington. Um I have one student that graduated from Central and two students that are currently in Central. Um I would like to address the board tonight regarding concerns with the proposed policy updates in policy 2110, the philosophy of in Central Regional High
School. The proposed update removes several student experience goals in the school's mission and the entire section entitled philosophy of the school. Even though the policy is literally titled the philosophy of Hunter Central Regional High School, it removes the important values. It removes important value statements such as free public
education for all children is a cornerstone of a democratic society that values the worth and dignity of each student and all students develop their passions and have choices in their education program. and the board accountabil and board accountability statements such as the board will endeavor to employ a high-c caliber
well-prepared staff of adequate number and wide ranging abilities. Moreover, the board will provide pupils and staff as needed uh and needs as needs dictate and permit with adequate educational supplies, equipment and facilities. The revision is now reduced to the opening paragraph and the basic statement that
students are expected to meet state learning standards. The purpose of the school's philosophy and mission is how the school and board plans to make that happen and what are the values driving the decisions made to meet those goals. Since there were no notes provided in the revision, does the board no longer value the worth and dignity of each
individual student as a matter of policy? And to the board's specific philosophies being removed, does the board feel they should not be accountable to confir by confirmed policy to provide the staff and students with adequate supplies and facilities? If that's not the case, then why remove
it? For the proposed policy revision to policy 2270, religion in schools, a section was removed that stated the board recognizes that religious traditions may vary in their perceptions and doctrines regarding the natural world and its processes and pupils should re receive unbiased instruction
in the school so that they may privately accept or reject the knowledge so gained in accordance with their own religious tenants. Again, the revision does not provide notes on why unbiased science education would no longer be enforced by school policy if this revision passes. The proposed revision also removes the
statement that the board believes that an understanding of religions and contributions that religion has made in advancement of civilization is essential to the thorough education of young people and to their appreciation of a pluralistic society. To that end, the curriculum may be developed to include as appropriate various um ages and
attainment of the pupils instructions on the religions of the world. If this policy revision passes, does this mean that education on world religions would not be taught? Does the board no longer value graduating students with a greater understanding of their neighbors and community members? If not, then why remove that language? Additionally, the
proposed religious freedom language from the US Department of Education was only released a few days ago. Is that enough time to consider how to best implement this guidance into our policies? Again, there were no notes or comments about what was insufficient in the current policy or out of alignment versus the
proposed edit uh for the proposed changes to 24 2240 controversial issues. I'm concerned with the erasure eraser particularly of specific values and ideological statements being put in place that inhibits honest factual discussion on critical topics of
importance. The inclusion of the statement that the discussion of controversial issues must not tend to drive students in a particular conclusion or persuade them to a particular point of view is concerning considering the elimination of the wording further down that nothing of this policy shall be construed to contradict the board's strong belief
that racism, prejudice, and bias are unacceptable in our school and community and that students are appropriately instructed to oppose racism and hatred wherever that happens. This revision also adds the requirement that the board will permit the instructional use only of issues that have been approved in advance by the superintendent or
designate. Taken together, this policy update would greatly inhibit teachers ability to guide students through difficult issues and address issues in the moment as concerns are expressed by the students. There should be no question that racism, anti-semitism, misogyny, and discrimination based on sexual um sexuality um harm the common
good and have perpetuated continuing obstacles in our community members and students. Why the board no longer wants that codified in policy is very much concerning and to make policy more ambiguous forcing teachers to not be able to use that conclusion as a foundation for guiding those types of discussions is a disservice to the
students. In conclusion, these revisions seem to remove important values of our school culture and educational goals instead leaving ambiguity and eraser. Policies should should answer more questions than they create. These policies directly translate into
classroom culture and our students deserve a board that articulates and supports their value, development and unique needs transparently o and overtly in their policies. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Hello. My name is El Bishoff. I'm a resident of Ritan Township and I'm
currently a senior here. Um I'd also like to speak on many of the same policies that have been discussed um before this um in section K. Um in my opinion, the proposed changes to both these policies seem to me to directly contradict what should be universally understood as the purpose of school,
which is to prepare students for the real world. Yet the suggested changes to our school's philosophy removes this statement directly. Um the previous statement being that quote the primary goal of the board of education shall be to offer all students in this district the educational opportunity that will enable them to function politically,
economically and socially in our democratic society. also removed our statements like 100 Essential strives to be a school in which all students take care of themselves and each other and in which all students develop their passions and have choices in our education programs which I believe are both intuitive and productive standards
of a school and I don't necessarily understand why they would be actively emitted from our school's overarching philosophy. Moreover, the proposed policy 2240 seeks to alter the handling of controversial issues, excuse me, in classrooms. Um whereas the previous system made it so that teachers had the
discretion to allow students to explore controversial issues provided that it be done in an appropriate, respectful and productive manner that is relevant to the course, the new policy would require approval of topics by the district superintendent or other designate as others have said, which I fear might add unnecessary limitations in the ability
of classrooms to run as they have been. Also admitted um in the updated proposal is the board's previous clarification on the subject which has also been noted by other people. Um, quote, "Nothing in this policy shall be construed to constrict the board's strong belief that racism, prejudice, and bias are unacceptable in our school and
community. To say the least, I think that implementing greater limitations here while actively removing clarification here is extremely questionable. Um, as a student here for four years, I can testify that I've taken many classes that have involves lessons tackling controversial issues. Um, and in these any of these
discussions have been enriching and have challenged me to understand the real world. And I would be surprised to hear any of my peers say otherwise. Um, we have truly amazing teachers here at Central and it's my strong belief that the proposed policies here neither fully appreciate the ability of these teachers to facilitate difficult topics with care
and professionalism. Uh, nor does I trust the capability of students to take on these topics with maturity. Uh, rather than limiting our exposure to controversies or feeling that there's a need to police our exposure, I think it's all the more important that we're taught to be confident in pulling apart in understanding these issues. um it's
how we become engaged in intelligent systems and this is a primary function of all schools um and the current system has captured that quite well. Understanding this and out of respect for both the teachers and the students here, I strongly ask that the board sustain the existing policies. Thank
you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ron Levy. Uh I'm a resident of um Stocktonboro in Delaware Township. I've been an educator for more than 40 years. uh I was a member of the chemistry department faculty at Ruters University New
Brunswick for more than 30 years where I taught undergraduates, graduate students and post-doal fellows. I've been following the board of education meetings on YouTube for several months now um since January and I've written to you
recently. I would like to comment on the ongoing process that you have taken undertaken to revise the board's policy manual. I'm going to tonight focus on two policy revisions um that uh you're considering
um this evening. Um the f the first is district policy 1555, the domestic partnership act and you're proposing to eliminate that policy. I wrote to you about your preliminary decision to eliminate the
policy. Um I believe this policy was last um revised by the board in 2005 and at that time it confirmed the board's support for the domestic partnership act. Um confirming support for the act now instead of eliminate eliminating it
um has both potentially real and certainly symbolic implications. Now my next sentence says the following that I've in that I prepared. I have heard the board claims eliminating this policy will have no
impact on current employees or retirees, but in the preliminary remarks by the board attorney, he I if I'm recalling correctly, he said it will have no substantial impact. I'm not sure the difference between substantial impact and no impact. But in any case, I also
consulted with an attorney and with due respect to the board attorney, he had a different opinion. Um, according to the attorney I consulted with, eliminating this policy could potentially create liabilities for the school system under
the New Jersey Administrative Procedures Act and potentially also violations of transparency laws. Um, my question for the board is, have you solicited any input from the teachers union concerning their view as to whether eliminating
this policy has now or could in the future have any adverse impact on their membership? Uh, it's my understanding that a failure to consult with employees who may potentially be adversely affected violates the code of ethics uh
that board members take. Policy 1555 was originally enacted um by the board to broaden the scope of coverage of the state domestic partnership act. And at the time that was a forward-looking decision at a time when some members of
our community are being ridiculed for the domestic partnership choices they are making. In my view, it is all the more important that the board reaffirm its support for all school employees. Let me say a a word about district
policy 2110 and agree with the previous speakers. That's the philosophy of Hunter and Central Regional High School and you're proposing to uh eliminate it. I I take the strongest possible exception to the proposal to remove the following wording and this was mentioned
by a previous speaker. Free public education for all children is a cornerstone of a dem democratic society that values the worth and dignity of each individual. We are living in a country today at a time when public
education and public schools are under attack all the time every day. And it is imperative that our community reaffirm reaffirm our support for public education in the strongest possible terms. Revising the mission and
philosophy statement of the board in the way you're proposing to do has the opposite effect, raising questions about the board's commitment to the critical role of public education that it plays in our society today. And if I may conclude my remarks by commenting in a
more general way by stripping the policy man manual down to its minimum, including statemandated policies effectively only. The board fails to articulate its own set of policies that are responsive to its students, employees, and community. How else does
a board of education express its educational philosophy and its vision than by setting its own policies and voting on them in order to make the board's priorities clear and to acknowledge its accountability to the public? I hope you will rethink this approach you are taking to revise the
board's policy and proceed in a more thoughtful way. Thank you. Thank you. Reverend Vernon Williams, Raritan Township, in response to the board attorney in speaking on
1555. Would you say that if a burell and the state mandate are struck down, would our our teachers and faculty be covered? The policy committee has been busy reviewing the language in certain do policy
documents among abolishing uh among abolishing vital documents that protect each and every student, faculty, staff, and community interest. Uh we are also told that you are cleaning up the language in many of the documents. But you're not just cleaning up the
language, you're literally rewriting the documents. You're bringing forth documents to abolish and to rewrite uh that perhaps don't agree, it appears that don't agree with your ide uh ideology. For example, as has been stated
previously in policy 2240, controversial issues you struck, as has been uh repeated, nothing in this policy shall be constru construct the board's strong belief that racism, prejudice, and bias are
unacceptable in our school and community. and that students are appropriately instructed to oppose racism and hatred wherever and and and whenever it happens. But for many families of color,
LGBTQ families and uh all those who find themselves on the margins, it means a lot to us. It may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to us to lose that protection. As a person of faith, a concerned taxpayer, and a
compassionate human being, I'm highly skeptical of your rewrite of policy 2270, religion in schools. Nothing in this policy rewrite extends the rights of students, faculty, staff, or outside entities to practice
their religion or recite prayer per constitutional rights as enumerated in the US DOE guidance. However, your rewrite appears to provide ambiguous language that could impinge upon the establishment clause of the
First Amendment because it uh is simply vague, confusing, and ambiguous enough to possibly be construed as coercing and favoring a religion and a prayer in school directed by this current board of education. The language you seek to
strike uh makes it clear that as a board acting as a government offici a a agency, you are not to provide the appearance of advocating a religion or prayer. You you you've taken out school officials will be neutral in their
treatment of religion in the school district showing no neither favoritism toward nor hostility against religious expressions. Accordingly, devotional exercises will be permitted in this district. The following exercises will be permitted in this the following
activities will be permitted in the school district provided the activity is consistent with current US Supreme Court decisions regarding the relationship between government and religion. Prayer and uh during instructional time,
organized prayer, group and activities, religious expressions and prayer in classroom assignments, student assemblies and extracurricular activities, prayer at graduation, balorate service, devotional exercises and other prayer andor religion uh
related activities. The original language speaks to religious activities and prayer in school. The new language dwells a great deal on prayer in schools which could possibly lead one to con to to the conclusion that you are attempting to
coersse or ideulate uh a particular position as it regards to prayer in school. Let's be clear, the current policy is clear and protects the rights of student and faculty in regards to their ability to pray in school and it comports with the constitution and each
and every student's first amendment right to pray and and assemble as per the US DOE guidance. Your rewrite potentially exposes the district to a lawsuit in violation of the establishment clause. I urge you to take
a serious and hard take a step back and seriously uh look at the policies that you are abolishing as well as attempting to rewrite. And I certainly hope that you vote no on these abolishments and rewrites. Thank you.
Good evening. Scott Cohen, Raron Township. Uh I'd like to just start with a general comment about the policies that the board's reviewing. Policies are the only tools for the board to provide guidance to the school and
administration. While policies may be written in broad language, the importance of clarity of that language is significant in order to avoid the way in which the policy is carried out.
Without more substantive language, the execution of the policy can easily lead to inconsistent interpretation, lead to a lack of accountability between the board and the community, and frankly, a lack of
understanding of how it is to be interpreted between the board and the superintendent. There are a lot of policies up for discussion tonight that have been addressed already by numerous people that I concur with, but there's one that I would like to particularly focus on
this evening. I'd like to start with policy 2110, the philosophy of Hunan Central Regional High School. The proposed changes in this policy in essence eliminate the policy as it only
leaves the mission statement which in of itself is not a philosophy. In fact, policy is the only thing that leads to a successful mission statement.
It is the expectation of this school district that all pupils achieve the New Jersey student learning standards at all grade levels is the only content left from the original philosophy statement. The policy is about philosophy not mission. A statement or
policy of philosophy should define the values and beliefs of Hunton Central and the practices regarding teaching and learning. The mission statement alone did not get us at Hunton Central to become the
second best comprehensive high school in New Jersey according to US News and World Report last year. That alone wouldn't have brought the school to that ranking. Rather, it was aided in the depth of the policy, policy 2110, that
exposed in detail the aspirations that Central wishes to achieve and the approach on how the school works towards that end. As currently worded, it provides a broad framework for the school, the board, and the community to
understand central's principles and identity. This in turn helps to define how decisions are made and what impacts central's very culture. Something that was reviewed in depth this evening by
the principal and two students regarding some of our climate and culture survey results. A philosophy statement policy should set the foundation of Central's identity and values while the mission statement
translates those values into actionable purpose. The mission is often derived from the philosophy, not the other way around. Based on the proposed revisions, policy 2110 is no longer a philosophy
policy, but a mission policy. You only effectively made this policy basically not relevant. It provides no guidance to the community on how the district is to deliver what it states it supposed to do in the mission statement which in turn
leaves the board with no accountability to any specific approach or priorities. I'm asking the board to vote down the first read of policy 2110. I would like the board to review the policy once again and take input from
the public, which you've heard quite a bit from tonight, to give this policy reconsideration and to stand as currently stated. Once again, I ask you, as I always do, to let your voices be heard
when it comes up for vote and let your vote become your record on this very issue. Thank you. Thank you. All right. At this time, we will close public comment. Um I will say that
we will have our policy committee readout and a lot of these things will be discussed or read out at that time as well. Um and we will certainly confer and get back to you with some of your uh questions. So, thank you. Um with that,
we will move on to our organizational items. Um those items were covered with uh the superintendent report and also an so with that I would like to move items 1 through 19. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. Can I get a roll
call? Mrs. Dugen? Yes. Mrs. Ms. Gray? Yes. Miss Halpern or Dr. Halpern? Abstain. Mrs. Kellogg. Yes.
Mrs. Laccasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, Mrs. Rothell, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo, yes. I'll pass. Motion carried. All right. Next, we will begin our committee uh readouts starting with student life and
program committee. Leslie, thank you. So, the SLP committee met on Thursday, May 8th from 6 to 6:30. at this meeting were myself and we did receive questions from board
members prior to the meeting. We shared them during the committee session and they were answered in detail minutes. So I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you for those who took the time to share these valable questions ahead of the session. The agenda this month overall was very light. We discussed
updates about foreign exchange student coming from Spain and an update about the two student tuition and transportation approvals. So with that, I would like to move items one through two on the agenda. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you.
Um any board comments on the action items? Okay, seeing none, can I get a roll call, please? M Gray. Yes. Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Miss Laccasta, yes. Mrs.
Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rodell, yes. Mrs. Santangelo, yes. And Mrs. Dugen, yes. All right. Thank you. So, with that, we will move to our operations and transportation committee. Jessica
Rothel. The operations and transportation committee met on Tuesday, May 13th with Ellen Halporn, Sandra Gone, Lisa Santangelo, Jessica Kangelosi, Hayade, Heather Spitzer, and me in attendance. As of 12:00 p.m. today, I have not
received any questions or comments regarding the agenda items. Items 1 through 18 are standard organizational items that are approved annually or monthly in order to conduct the day-to-day business of the district. We are graciously accepting two donations
as listed in the agenda. So, a special thanks to Jennifer Oorc and BKA for their generosity. Capital reserve funds will will be withdrawn to complete projects previously budgeted and approved. We are adding the IMC skylight and the counseling office carpets to the list as
they have recently been targeted as a need and given that two other projects have come significantly under the budgeted amount and the contractors can manage the additional work on these days they are being added. As a chair of the committee, I just wanted to take to um
comment quickly about the increase in legal bills that are directly associated with OPRA's ethic charges and increased legal activity from previous litigations that are unresolved. I know there was a statement made about the increased time spent by the board president with our legal
councils. And while that may be statistically true, it is also fair to point out that this increase has much to do with the fact that we have several non-academic or general district businesses legal issues going on. It may be the right time to remind all district
committee members that while OPRAS can sometimes have value, I caution you to consider carefully be before requesting them. Each incident costs several hundreds in taxpayer dollars and often are not approved and ethics fees can be several
thousands. In an effort to be more transparent, we have made all the information that we can legally make available in our newly created monthly newsletters. This yields very similar results to an OPRA and does not cost hundreds in taxpayer dollars. With that,
I would like to move items one through 24. Can I get a second? Second. Any board comments on the action items? Okay, seeing none. Roll call, please.
Miss Gray, yes. Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Miss Laccasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Abstain from And I lost the check numbers. There's two
uh shank price uh billings in there that I will abstain from. Mrs. Rothell, yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes. Mrs. Santangelo, yes. All yes. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Next up
is the personnel committee. We met on May 13th. In attendance were Jessica Kangalloi, Hay, Heather Spitzer, Maryann Stokes, and myself. The action items include retirements, resignations, contractual and hourly
hourly appointments, substitutes, bus driver subs, summer security, curriculum writing, professional development courses. Um, most of these are standard and appear on the agenda every month. I will also note that we had several inquiries regarding the coach
appointment which Mrs. uh Kangalloi Hay had already addressed. However, we also had some internal board inquiries as well, both from a committee member and non-committee member. These inquiries were brought to the committee, discussed at great length. They were reflected in the minutes where the members had the
opportunity to review them. And I received a confirmation that all questions were answered satisfactorily. So, with that, I would like to move items 1 through 20. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. Any board comments on the action items?
Yes, I I would just like to make a comment on the coach appointment, which is item 17. Um, you know, this is my fifth year on the board and I've never seen such a high level of parental engagement in in a coach appointment. And so, I really do appreciate um all of
the input that we got from all of the parents and the passion and um you know, the engagement that that shows. I appreciate all of the um engagement that we had with the committee, how responsive Miss Santangelo and Miss Kangalosi Hade were to all of the
questions that I had um and the willingness to work through that process with the committee. So again, I I thank everyone very much. I think the com in this case, the committee process worked extremely well. All right. Thank you. Any other
comments? All right, seeing none, can we get a roll call, please? Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Miss Laccasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell,
yes. Uh, Mrs. Dugen, yes. Miss Gray, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo, yes. All yes. Motion cares. All right. And finally, the much anticipated policy committee, Rebecca. I've never had so much um interest in
policy before. It's very exciting. Um I usually am told I'm talking too much about policy, but tonight I was asked to uh share out a lot of information. So, if you tend to zone out at any point, just be aware that everything that I'm going to be saying tonight is going to be included in the newsletter, which
should be going out tomorrow at some point. So, keep an eye out for that. Um first, we've had some questions about how the committee goes about reviewing the policy manual. Um, first let me just say the policy. Um, we use a policy vendor. Most schools, I don't actually
think any school boards don't use a policy vendor because there is such a wide um um there's so many laws, so many things we need for QAC, so many things we need for regulations to keep up with. Um, so most people use one of really
there's two in the state policy vendors. Um, so at some point, uh, we want to really make this manual more usable by cross- referencing items and, uh, you know, making it a little bit more user
friendly and understandable, but we can't really get to individualizing it in that way until this manual is a little bit more up to-date. So, uh, in support of our ongoing commitment to transparency, we're happy to share our process. Um, and in general, the
purpose of a board policy is to guide the administration or the board regarding the operation of the school district. The board does not need to and cannot adopt every law related to schools into the policy manual because the manual would immediately become so voluminous that it would be unusable and
unmanageable. Um, our policies exist as a bridge between what the state requires and what the district needs. But there are also many uh policies that are required by the state that we have to have manuals um referencing uh policies
referencing. So the materials we utilize when we have started undertaking this uh full policy review process is the most recent policy manual audit from our policy vendor Strauss Esme and that was from last year. Um, we also had the NJSBA, New Jersey School Boards
Association, um, policy group do a wellness check for us of our manual. We use our existing policy manual and we look to the New Jersey and federal laws, regulations, and guidance from the state and federal departments of education. Um, items one and two on that list are
available and searchable to all board members and items three and four are available and searchable to all people um, who have access to the internet. Um the process we engage in um we when we look to a section our
approach is determined by the source of a policy. uh whether it is from our policy vendor and marked as mandated or required for CQEC, whether it is from our policy vendor and not marked as mandated but is rather suggested or
recommended or whether it is not from our policy vendor which is where a lot of the questions you've had about tonight come from is a lot of those policies are not from our policy vendor. So this process I'll just note has been made a lot easier by the work of uh Mrs.
Paula Graham who is the executive assistant to the superintendent. She's been tracking a lot of this information for years which makes our job a lot easier. So for the policies once we get into a section and we divide them out the policies that are listed as mandated
or QAC policies from our vendor these represent the bulk of our policies. Uh these the committee simply ensures that the board has adopted the most recent updates from our vendor and that we haven't missed any. The way the board used to do policy is the policies would
get sent to individual committees to be reviewed but at that you kind of lose the um you lose a forest for the trees. You you uh you kind of lose lose track of what is going on in the whole. So you might have sections that have conflicting information, what have you.
Uh then we have the policies that are suggested or recommended from our vendor. Um and so some of these um are quite useful. some of these um are less, you know, they just don't have much impact and could really be
done away with. Um first, we check to see if the board has adopted um the most up-to-date version, even if it is recommended or suggested. And then if it's particularly old or out ofd or has not been updated by the vendor since its adoption for which for us is mostly 1998
then we discuss it in committee um getting feedback mostly from the administration about whether it should remain in the manual. Um so the impact from superintendent Kasloi Hay in this is particularly useful because she
informs the committee what the boots on the ground view is of what's going on. Um, a perfect example of this is uh the use of uh policy 2338 homework policy. It is from 1998. It looks very basic. You might wonder, does this really need
to be in there? Well, it turns out that this is actually a frequently utilized policy and in fact it is something that is revisited um often by the staff um and something that they work toward. And actually, I noticed um when Mr. Brent
was doing the readout about the the assignments and things being particularly um useful and productive in helping the students learn. Um I I imagine that's all part of that whole process. So um since that policy is still utilized obviously we're not going
to recommend abolishing it. It's generally if a policy is one that most people didn't know we had um that that they will get recommended to be abolished. Um, also the associated regulation for homework was um, updated in 2019, which means it's still relevant
and of use to the district. So, we do not recommend editing or abolishing that. And then our third bucket of policies is the policies of unknown origin. And these are all placed on the committee agenda for discussion. Um, since these policies are not from our
policy vendor, they are not updated by our policy vendor. So we really scrutinize these policies to determine if the legal references are still relevant and to ensure that the policy still aligns with district practice. If the policy is outdated but the topic is
important, we will look to our policy vendor Strauss as may to see if they have a top in a policy on that topic that we can adopt. Um most policies in this category tend to be abolished because a lot of them are badly out ofd.
If you ever see NJAC 6 colon on one of our policies, um that's the administrative code. The title six was entirely repealed. Everything is 6A. So if you ever pop around there, you'll notice we do have
some very outofdate policies. So the short version is um you know we are working through this as transparently as possible and um really right now just trying to as we said get it to a manageable size where everyone
understands what is there and what is not there so that we can in the future cross reference make it more usable. We did receive quite a few questions from the board and the public this month. Um we received a handful of questions about the first read items
from April. Um we brought all those questions were brought to the committee um and discussed by the committee and then read out into the minutes. One of the questions was why is the date edited different from the revised date on some of these policies? And the short answer is there's a difference between the
dates on our policies by our policy vendor and then the dates we put there. And if you look onto the newsletter tomorrow, you'll see some examples. I put an example in there of where that is different. But at the top of a policy, you'll usually see section date created and date edited. Those are dates from
our policy vendor. We can't control those dates. We can't change them. And so if you went in and let's say you meant to bold the title and you forgot to bold the title, so you went in and added that bolding to it, that changes the date edited. that is not the date that the district or the board changed
the policy. The key date for that um is the revised date. Usually at the bottom or the top you'll see adopted dates and revised dates. And um the revised dates represent when the board voted on two readings as we are required to do to
update a policy. So um there's a couple examples on uh in the readout tomorrow that you'll be able to see in the newsletter. So, um, we have had some previous examples of this before. Um, policy 2201 was adopted in 1998 and it has a year-
edited date of 2009. We don't know what happened in 2009, what was gone in to change as far as how the layout looked, but um that's just not it. That can be very confusing. So, we are going to try to work with the policy vendor and hopefully get that squared away. Although, I don't know if some that's
something that they will look at. Um, so that was the first question. Second question was about policy 1210, the board superintendent relations that it seems like it's a nice policy, a nice statement. Um, why abolish it? And we
agree that it's a nice general statement about the working relationship between the board and the superintendent, but it doesn't really give that kind of specific guidance that um, you would generally look for in a policy. And most of this is covered mo everything in that
is covered in the superintendent's contract. So it doesn't necessarily need to be included in the policy manual. Um Kyle partly went over mostly went over 50 55. Um domestic partnership. I'll also note that domestic partnership was
only only applied to individuals 62 and older as of 2007. Um so um it's as we've said it's very it's very limited but both civil union and domestic partnership are protected categories
under employment in the New Jersey law against discrimination which is the strongest anti-discrimination law in the country. So um there there's there's ample protection um in the law. Um, and also there was a question about if
Oberfell was overturned. New Jersey actually finally did um put into statute in 2022. Um, same-sex marriage took a little while, but they got there in 2022. So, there's that as well. Um, all
right. On to the May manual review. First thing I will note is that there is nothing here that is a rewrite by the board. the the committee did not rewrite anything. Um we have conducted our ongoing review of the policy manual with
the 2000s which contains 65 policies. Um we recommend abolishing seven most of which are not from our policy vendor and amending three of them to align with the language from our policy vendor. Um so for 2100 the philosophy of HCRS
this policy is not a stress ESME as it is right now is it is not written as a stress EMA policy there is a requirement under Strauss Esme to have this policy as it's linked apparently to CQAC that we're not even sure um that that is
fully up to date. We've been checking with them, but um the other language, we don't know the origin of that language. Um I'm sure if Superintendent Canelosi Hay wants to I I know we are going to be doing a strategic planning at some point
coming up and there will be an opportunity to have the community get together and put together a philosophy of 100 central, but we don't know where this philosophy originated, who was a part of putting it together. And so the
recommendation of the committee was to go back to the stressesme version and uh just have that on the books. The same thing is for controversial issues. This is not the stresses version of the policy. Um so the committee recommends
um adopting the strame version. Now a question was asked what kind of message does it send to remove the language about um discrimination? And I was when I first read this policy, I was actually quite appalled at what kind of language
it had to send to say to our teachers that you have to say that that you would have to put that out there. Um, we have absolute faith in our teachers that they are able to conduct their classrooms in a that it's not going to become some sort of free-for-all of hate if they
aren't said explicitly in a policy. That just to me seemed like a really kind of a demeaning um statement to them. So, uh, I'm happy to, uh, recommend going back to the straw seesme version. And then as far as religion in
schools, this is a strame policy update. Um, the committee, the board missed two previous updates. There was an update in 2020 and another update in 2023. Um, so this is all direct language from our policy vendor which includes
the new updates from the New Jersey Department of Education guidance. So it looks like it has a lot in it. It's because it's two full updates that have changed. We don't write these particular policies in any way. We take this guidance from the um policy vendor because that's what we pay them for is
to make sure that we are um really covering these topics efficiently. And then we will be recommending abolishing a few um policies that are not most of them are not stress as policies. Again 2100 uh 2130 is not a stress as policy. Um, we I
did have a question from a a non-committee member about whether we have our educational goals listed anywhere else. Um, and we do and this is partly where we've discussed about wanting to cross reference some of these policies in the future. We have um
policies such as 2415, 2422, 2428.1 that all address our curriculum goals here in the district. We have policy 34, 3240 which addresses professional development goals. We have policies 5519, 5530, 5615, 5533, and
5541 which address school safety and substance abuse among other things. So, we have a host of policies that really cover um these goals and and uh once we can get this manual paired down, we can really start seeing how those policies interact with each other and seeing what
gaps there are that that the board can address if need be. Um there are a few others that we are abolishing, a couple that have, as I said, those those laws that have since been repealed. Um but they weren't from our these policies weren't from our policy vendors. So,
they were never sent off to us to repeal. They've just been kind of sitting there. Um, so that is all. We did not receive any other questions from any non-committee members following the release of the committee minutes. And, um, I, as I said, if I lost you halfway
there, it's going to be in writing tomorrow. With that, I'll move items one through four. Okay. Losing track where I am. Okay, thank you for that. Um, are there any board comments on the
action items? I'll second. Sorry. Thank you. I knew I forgot something. Can I get a second? A second. All right. Thank you. Uh, any board comments on the action items? Um, I actually have a question for Mr. Trent. Um, what
is what is the board's ethical obligation as far as um seeking input from the community? like what what does the school ethics commission believe constitutes um public like making our decisions you
know with input from others? Yes. So I I'll address that in executive if you have a question seeking legal advice. Oh, I I guess so my question is more related to the public comments because I
I guess gi given the the changes that we are making or the changes that are proposed um I don't believe that there has been public interaction or I don't believe that we've sought um any any
outside um input for any of these. Is am I am I correct on on that? Well, again, I'll address any questions, but I'll note that whole public portion what we had today is is how you get public input, but if you have specific questions, I'm happy to address them during executive.
Okay. So, so public input in this forum constitutes public input. They don't have to have input on the crafting of policies to be compliant. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Any other comments?
Yeah, I I guess I I I know I did not send any questions. I just have a few comments to make. Um I guess I have concerns over um the the policies that are being abolished. Obviously, the
language that we are taking out. I think it it certainly um sends a message that this board does not value um public education. And it sends a message that we are not concerned about
um protecting protected classes and I am very uncomfortable with that especially when we are abolishing our strategic planning uh policy which talks about um the public input that we're going to
have in that strategic planning process. So yeah I it's not a question. I just wanted to to share that. Right. I actually Hey, can I just address that really quickly? Um, as far as I was going to mention strategic planning um
because that is coming up and I didn't have it in my notes. So, I would like to really quickly if you you don't mind address it. Um, that policy is uh is not a strame policy again. uh but it is also very prescriptive in how the
superintendent has to go about strategic planning and there's a lot of different ways to go about strategic planning and that is something that this district is going to be engaging in probably within the next year I think Jessica we're going to be getting that ball rolling so um this policy is extremely prescriptive
and really limits what Jessica can do and this is um her administration and her opportunity to do this the way that is best for her and her staff and her teachers and the community. And so we didn't want to have that kind of um too
many guard rails on that. She should be able to, you know, engage in that opportunity in the way that works best. I I would think that if we're doing this over the next year that um rewriting that strategic planning policy and making that a public process and being
transparent about what that strategic planning process would look like and engaging the community in what that will look like. um would be a great opportunity to be more transparent about this and would also that strategic
planning process would be a great time to rethink what our district goals and our philosophy and and a lot of these other um policies that we are we're currently changing and again engage the
community in those discussions. Um, okay. So, D, just again, right, it would be helpful if you sent an email to the committee so that we can incorporate your comments, concerns during the conversation just for future just like you did in personnel. That's always
helpful, right? I I would certainly be happy to summarize my comments here, but a lot of this is in response to the input that we've gotten from the public and I I apologize that I did not think through a lot of the comments that were
made prior to this meeting to put them in writing. Um, and I think that as a board we need to be able to take other opinions and perspectives and and discuss them, right? And we do. So, thank you. All right. All right. With
that, any other comments? All right. Can we get a roll call? Mrs. Kell. Uh, yes, Mrs. Kellogg. So I am voting no on item
K1 through three. I am voting yes on um item 2 one and two. I am voting no on item three, one, two, three, four, five, and seven, but
yes on 36. And I am voting no on item four, 1 through 3, five, and nine. And yes on
four, six, seven, 10, and 11. Okay. Um, Miss Laccasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell,
yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes. Mrs. Gray, yes. Dr. Halpern, on K1, I'm voting no. Yes, I'm voting. Yes,
I'm no one through four. That's not the right one. Yes. No. On number one. Yes. Five. No.
Yes. No. No. And Mrs. Santangelo. Yes. Majority is yes. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. Moving on to additional business. We have a liaison report by Rebecca for the New Jersey
School Board delegate. Yes. Thank you. Uh, Saturday the 10th, somewhere around there, uh, whatever that Saturday was, was the New Jersey School Board Association Delegate Assembly. Um, that's held at the Mercer County Community College. Usually runs
from for about 3 hours in the morning. Uh, this year was actually a little short. They didn't have many resolutions on the docket. Um but the key resolutions that came up there was one about um and I know this is very exciting for everyone um to hear about these because nothing really impacts
immediately when we pass these resolutions at the delegate assembly. It just kind of gives guidance for the New Jersey School Board Association's lobbying um goals. But one policy was uh resolution was passed to support lettering for esports. Um, another
policy was passed to increase uh find different ways to increase the number of nursing uh candidates who can work in the schools. And the third one related to
um recommending excused absences for career and technical opportunities uh for students who want to go into career and tech technical um after after high school rather than having to take days off unexcused. Right now we have those for certain things. Um I I believe you
know military service uh if you want to go into the the armed forces and things like that but there aren't any excused absences for doing that toward sort of post um secondary work. So uh that was really all that it was and it was a pretty short day. So thanks. All right.
Thank you Rebecca. Um any additional board business that anyone would like to see on the committees next month? Um, just one one thing. If you could review regulation, I think it's 0155, the committee definitions. I remember we
talked about this last year, but in the current policy manual, we still have the racism, equity, and diversity, um, and the communications committee, and there's actually no definition for the policy committee. So, thank you. Okay.
Thank you. All right. With that, we will move into our final residence forum. If anyone is interested, please come up to the podium. Or are they only reviewing what bests? Us has has done because I mean as I
heard these are abolishments recommended uh rewrites recommended by Straw. So if that is the case then what is the policy committee review? What is the policy committee doing? Um also if uh we
are appalled at some of the uh strikeouts from the policy uh policies that are being as the publicity uh group but give us more information on who they are because we have because of
what we are seeing and what they're striking out appears to be along ideological lines and so we are very concerned with what they are doing if you are giving them full control and as a board who are not pushing back at all
but only accepting what they provide to you. And so please help us to understand what is your role as a policy committee to review these policies if Esther Strauss is the one who is actually doing the abolishing and the rewrites. Thank
you. Thank you. Anyone else? All right, with that we will close the final residence forum. Uh we will be convening into executive session where we will be discussing HIPS and litigation and we
will be coming back out to take action. Can I get a second and a roll call? Um Miss Laccasta, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell, yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes.
Ms. Gray, yes. Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo, yes. And I would just also like to mention that we will probably be in executive session for appro approximately 45 minutes. Thank you everyone. Okay. So, how am I reading
this? Are we ready, guys? Sue is not ready. Oh my goodness. Sue, we're gonna be ripping it off. [Laughter] Oh boy. You ready? Okay.
So, I would like to motion to reconvene into open session. Can I get a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We would like to move to authorize the board president to execute the following
agreement on behalf of the board which is for the parent settlement agreement. Can I get a second? Second. Can I get a roll call, please? Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell, yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes. Ms. Gray, yes. Dr.
Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Mrs. L. Ms. Lacasta. Yes. And Mrs. Santangelo. Yes. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. And can I get a final motion to adjourn meeting? Good.
All those in favor? I I Thank you.