##VIDEO ID:1QzvER6j6Oc## e e e e e e good evening I'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome everyone this meeting is being held in accordance with the schedule of meetings adopted at the organizational meeting held on January 3 2024 adequate notice of this regular meeting of the count board of education has been provided to the home News Tribune the star leder on the local Source on January 11th 2024 a copy has been filed with the korth Burl clerk posted in the board office the bur korth burrow Hall Burly and Harding schools as is provided by the open public meetings act thank you Mr Galo please rise and join us in the salute to the flag I to of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Mr ganal can we please have roll call biner here David here Drogan here Bara hather here L here Pichi here tears here Zimmerman here we have quarm thank you at this time we will now have receiving of the minutes and committee notes of the secretary the regular Boe minutes of the secretary from October 15 2024 and committee meeting notes from October 15 2024 before we ask for a motion uh first Miss te will give us the curriculum instruction committee meeting notes uh the curriculum committee met on October 15 2024 at 6 PM the following members were present for the meeting myself Miss T the committee chairperson Board of Ed president Dr panichi and Committee Member Mr ferera superintendent Mr dav's business administrator board secretary Mr ganella were also present uh assistant principal Miss palich and the students parents who now live outside New Jersey attended the meeting virtually via Zoom Committee Member Miss simmerman was absent read the agenda too um you could just briefly go over so so uh we conducted a hi appeal hearing and uh we also received the incident and investigation details from assistant principal palich and heard information from the parents about the students in a plea to overturn the decision after their testimony Miss palich and the students parents were dismissed the committee members reviewed the information presented and made a recommendation for the full board's vote uh at its regular next board meeting on October 15th 2024 the meeting adjourned at 6:55 thank you anybody have questions Mrs Ste okay Mr hather tab committee yes the tab committee met on Thursday October 17th at 6 PM uh the following members were present for the meeting myself Mr David and Dr panichi superintendent Davies was present along with the administrators Mr pillo and Miss Carrera The KES Kea staff members present were Mr tlav Miss Batino Miss goer and Miss Laren uh the topics covered on in that meeting were brly discipline with administrative transitions professional development appreciation procedure for new stipend referendum updates uh and teacher Lounge upgrades Mr Davies began the meeting by introducing the staff members to board members various staff members spoke about the above agend the above agenda items Mr Davies responded to several questions and topics board members ask clarifying questions and the committee discuss its next meeting and date and adjourned at 6:45 p.m. thank you anyone have questions for Mr H okay at this time I'd like to ask for a motion for the receiving of the minutes and committee notes of the secretary motion made by Mr hather second second made by Mrs Drogan all those in favor of accepting the uh receiving of the minutes and committee notes please say I I oppose I Tabit motion carries before we go into monthly correspondence we'd like to take a moment of silence for the veterans in honor of Veterans Day please thank you at this time Mr ganel do we have any monthly correspondence we do not okay so we will be moving on at this time to superintendent reports and presentation superintendent Davies hi good evening everyone on behalf of the school district I'd like to publicly thank all who serve our nation and served our nation letters to thank veterans um we had building wide announcements and teachers embedded lessons on Veterans appreciation into social studies lessons uh so it was a good day and and thank you again to all of our veterans all who serve our nation um tonight I would like to introduce David burley's newly elected stud student body president senior naly Sully uh nalie will be serving for the remainder of the academic school year as the student liaison to the Board of Education you'll see naly on the agenda under resolution number nine um in in addition to her role in student government nalie is a member of the cheer team and track team she's a peer adviser and she is a founding member of the Black Culture Society um she's passionate passionate about all things David breely she bleeds blue and gold so I know that she will fulfill her role very well as the voice of the students to the board board so I would like to introduce nalie um please give your report to the [Applause] board good evening my name is NY Sy and I'm excited to come here as David berley Board of Education representative to talk about the recent upcoming events in October we kicked off the second month of school with Spirit Week to celebrate homecoming Monday was White Lies day Wednesday was dress your age day Thursday was color Wars and then Friday was twins SL group day on Thursday of the same week falw wordss had their Spirit March around the halls in the early morning to kickoff school spirit later on in the day at the pep rally which honored all athletes and honored our senior fall athlete students cheerleaders and the marching man at the pep rally activities included a minute to winet challenge won by High School teachers Mr pesi and Mrs Stone in the morning of the homecoming dance student participated in a tech free day this was done in effort to raise green time that later that same day the high school students had a homecoming dance from 7:00 to 10: p.m. in the ble cafeteria the Spanish Club hosted a Spanish conversation Cafe which more than 50 students attended the event the high school had a college faar which took place in the Burley main gym on October 23rd during our lunch BLX students got to talk to college Representatives about the deeper details about the program for more than 30 schools on Halloween a group of seniors participated in a senior panel in which they got to talk to the freshman students about their experiences being at Burley and gave great advice to help CH transition from middle to high school Burley also has a really busy week coming up tomorrow we will have our annual flag football game also the boys soccer team will play in the state semi-finals against cross town Rivals Rosa Park tomorrow at 2: p.m. Tuesday will also be the the dbhs 8th grade parent info night at 6:30 p.m. this is an opportunity to learn all about the essentials for your child's High School experience going into 9th grade once at 7:00 p.m. the cafeteria will host a sixth grade transition meeting parents are invited to attend to hear the latest construction information as well as the vision for the future of our new school and finally on Friday the on Friday the seven eighth graders will have their Fall Dance from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. thank you for your time and have a wonderful upcoming Thanksgiving and go Bears does anyone have any questions from NY before she leaves nely well done thank you so much um to continue on with my presentation uh Mr ganella is going to give the monthly update on referendum projects now feel free to stay feel free to go if you want but you can stay uh good evening everyone like to uh go over this month's activity um the HVAC work we continue to do the control system and the control work uh on both Harding and brly we're trying to uh get the punch list uh complete and hope to have those done pretty soon uh field upgrades we're just uh wrapping up some of the punch list items and we will hopefully get that done very soon as well regarding the addition project uh broken it down into the three areas that we or four areas actually that we have defined uh area a which is the main Edition uh the middle school middle school edition and science labber Edition uh underground utilities inspections passed uh and the slab was poured um you'll see the steel going up um uh now it's pretty exciting to watch that if you have any time go out there and take a look from behind the security fence please um irrigation installation was supposed to start today uh top soil and seaing will follow um this is a little behind schedule so we are a little concerned uh baseball and softball seasons in the spring uh hopefully Mother Nature um uh cooperates and we have a very mild winter with uh little or no snow and we're able to get that uh seed growing um early in the spring um sidewalks and curb installations are nearly complete for area a um as I said steel installation and the decking uh and the progress uh is in progress on area a and you'll soon see the the the the the floors and the roofs going up and then the block going up around that pretty rapidly uh area B and D are the auditoriums at both Harding and brle uh the auditorium lighting uh meaning the the house lighting uh has been installed uh and completed the seating is scheduled for um November 18th uh Plumbing for Harding Auditorium uh is supposed to be getting tomorrow uh that's to reroute the um um roof drains around some uh beams and things like that um Harding seaing is scheduled for um November 25th and pure Tech started their rigging uh today in uh in the on the stage for their the backdrops and the curtains and things like that uh area C which is the lobby entrance the ramp and curbs uh uh are in progress the storefront installation for the lobby is expected to start tomorrow uh Electrical uh for the lobby is in progress and the rooftop unit uh in that area has been installed that's the HVAC unit for the new Lobby so here are some pictures of the upgrades hhc upgrades is probably one of the last times you'll see anything here um because most of the stuff is is is installed and are in the punch list items as well as the field and upgrades we'll probably be moving um the field uh we'll probably be moving towards just dealing with the construction of the uh addition which you'll see on the uh lower um leftand corner and then the middle um lower is the lobby entrance and some additional um pictures for the addition and alteration you'll see there on that bottom uh well actually the top uh left hand in the middle bottom you'll see the steel deck on this uh going between the first and the second floors uh there which then will be po conrete will be poured on top of that as well here's the cost down cost breakdown um um and the payment schedule uh the field Improvement the contract with flanigans and project number one is 90 96% uh paid uh mechanical uh HVAC with unitemp is 93% the additions and alterations um is uh almost 26% um and we still have the auditorium seating the the um science labs and then the uh science room and the art room um uh work as well um change order number seven on the this evening's agenda refers to a change order with wongo which required them to store the seating uh U the chairs which were in production um that have been produced so they're in storage right now uh so that was a cost to us of 8777 and then number 12 on the agenda is a um referendum Associated project um which we are using with the uh we use to uh with the interest uh Revenue um which is the equipment in the Middle School multipurpose room um so when we redesigned that we put the storage uh in the back for the the uh cafeteria tables which we go in there when the kids are playing gym um which required us to realign the backboards and the batting cages um backboards and the batting cages were quite old so we decided to as part of this process uh re install them with new new units which is reflected in resolution number 12 are there any questions yes if the field isn't ready for the sports is there an alternate spot you might be thinking uh well baseball wasn't baseball unfortunately wasn't they weren't able to use the baseball field last year so they used a field in Union okay uh so we will look for alternative sites um hopefully it doesn't come to that but um and unfortunately this this group of um boys who are playing baseball that would be two years uh that they haven't been able to play on their home field which is unfortunate thank you okay any other questions okay thank you thank you Mr ganella thank you Mr ganella um few more things uh it is November and it's the the season of Thanksgiving I would like to express my gratitude to the community of kennworth specifically the parent Community um there's been a really strong response to a lot of the Partnerships and engagement that we're trying to do with the parent community and I appreciate that specifically uh last month we had our spooky story night uh which we talked about at our October meeting and it was really a resounding success we had over 60 families show up with their children um and the parents uh the children were read to spooky stories by our First Responders from the local Kel Community uh which was great our teachers were there parents were there and US Educators worked with parents to talk through how they can partner with us to help support their children's academic success at home it was a really fantastic night so I just want to thank the parents also um we had our um annual Halloween parade at Harding on Halloween there were so many parents at that event it was fantastic uh great to see such great pride coming out to support our schools and what we're doing in the school system so I just want to say thank you and Express gratitude towards um the parent community so thank you speaking of parents NY mentioned a little bit of it but we have a lot going on this current week uh so just reiterate some of the things tomorrow night is our eighth grade parent night uh where we go through the transition from eighth grade to 9th grade so children are become high schoolers it's a big deal lots of changes happening for our eighth graders as they move into high school so we have eth grade parent night tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. here um that's really an opportunity for parents to get to know all the great opportunities academically extracurricularly that go on at David Bry high school that maybe is a difference from their middle school experience so we want to make sure U people know all about that also we have our choice program and Scholars Academy info night on Wednesday that is at 6: PM um so any uh parents who are interested interested in choice or Scholars Academy Wednesday at 6 also Wednesday at 7 is a special meeting for fth sixth and seventh grade parents that'll be in person here at David burley's cafeteria or we'll be streaming it as well if anyone can't make it at night um but at 7 o'cl we want to talk to those specific parent groups fifth sixth and seventh grade parents um because they're the group that's going to be um enjoying the first year of our full sixth through e8th grade middle school once the addition is finished uh so we want to talk through what questions do they have what concerns do they have give them a little presentation about what we're up to the decisions that have been made but we also want to hear from parents to know what's on your minds uh so that we can make sure and help that transition uh specifically those heart who are going to be moving to a new building along with Harding sixth graders we're going to be seventh graders uh so there's a lot of transition we want to make sure that's very smooth uh so to uh Wednesday night 7 p.m. finally uh the David Bry PTO meeting is Thursday and the Harding PTO meeting is next Wednesday November 20th I bring those up because at both of those events parents who were interested in the tech free Friday initiative that we had those are going to be debrief sessions where we talk through what was going on this and I want to get to know some of the parent reactions of the parent reactions to our Tech free Friday and see how they how folks dealt with that at home um and talk about next steps so anyway lots of stuff happening to engage with parents just want to say thank you and I look forward to seeing parents uh over the next few nights um remainder of the superintendence report is simply the paperwork that you have in your packets um the Hib report is there from October there was one investigation at Bly resulting in one confirmed HIV at brly so you'll see the information on that and you can take a moment to review that additionally in your packet is the October discipline report the October enrollment report the October residency report and then there's a summary of the policy updates that are part of tonight's board agenda so I'll give you a minute to just take a look look at specifically the hi and anything else that you have um happy to answer questions everybody okay with the HIV or you need another minute good everyone okay thank you very much thank you superintendent Davies we will now move on to report of committees review of resolutions and board discussion up first is finance and facilities and negotiations Mr L okay hi um good evening everyone finance committee met early this evening to review the 2025 2026 budget timelines and goals again there's a lot of meetings that come up to get this budget so um was ever was ever continuing on that committee we're going to have a lot of fun um but the real issues are that we have really no Bank cap it's a strong possibility of additional State um Aid loss deleted Surplus multiple demands on the district you know increasing prices for everything so it's going to be a very challenging um budget year um so um I know there's going to be a lot of work for the committee um we also discussed the status of the referendum Pro projects much of which Mr ganella outlined in his pre presentation this evening we also had a presentation from Mr O'Brien who's with Legacy construction um just to go over some change orders and the change order process with the with the committee um projects of work but not funded by the bond with Bond proceeds is being gathered for the inclusion into the um 26 budget as previous as previously with the fundings will um be thoroughly um be thoroughly reviewed by the committee as part of the 2025 2026 budget development um I'm sorry I don't have the you know we just met you know we could our meeting ended like five 5 to 7 so I didn't have a chance to write up the committee report but I'll get that to you guys either next week or during um the next meeting so there are 13 resolutions tonight um for your consideration the first four are the standard monthly resolution which include the superintendent boort report you just heard the billing and finance reports um and the um transfers so um I looked over all the financials found and and the billing reports I found no outliers um and there were there were no items line item transfers greater than equal to our cap so that moves us to five and six which are field trips and workshops again I took a look at all those items I didn't find anything to be in question I have a question of where we were going or what they were about out um seven are payments to the contractor contractors for the referendum work um as always I reviewed the payments they do correspond to the work completed eight is a Grant application so we could get $105,000 to offset some of our cost for you know items like the 14 Street sidewalk and fence uh classroom um ventilators at Burly and Harding some fire um rated um stairwell doors at rarely and um repair of the collapse pipe at har nine was the student representa of the new student representative to the board I think she did a great job tonight 10 is our qac approval and submission um I think the results are in your pack the results are in your package um the next one is 11 is The Clinical Psychology evaluation agreement with Short Hills associate Associates to provide the um psychiatric EV um evaluations 12 is gymnasium equipment andif and the last one is transportation cost um as you can see those are rising also if you read if you reviewed your packet um as for negotiations I missed the last negotiations thank you Ryan for working with that apparently we did not get it concluded so I think we have another meeting scheduled for the end of November I believe I don't know if that has been confirmed or not so we throwing that date out it hasn't been confirmed yet so I don't know if you want to give a little I don't know what happened at the meeting Ryan so I don't know if you can discuss it now in Open Session we're good okay then I am done any questions on finances are a facility any questions for Mr R on any motions thank you guys no okay seeing no questions we'll move on to personnel and management Mr H thank you there are eight resolutions tonight uh resolution 14 is the approval of clinical um child study team social worker resolution 15 is an amended Services agreement uh resolution 16 is the approval of am lunchroom Aid and power professional AIDS uh resolution 17 is amendment of a maternity leave request resolution 18 is the esa after school enrichment program staff approvals resolution 19 is the approval of Academy testing um uh resolution 20 is the 24 25 school year athletic stipend positions and then skipping to resolution 24 it is uh the approval of a library media specialist consultant that is it anyone have questions from Mr hather on Personnel or management items okay thank you very much well we'll now move on to curriculum instruction Mrs tears there's two resolutions tonight resolution 21 is the approval of the student um parent handbook and resolution 22 is the approval of the hip report from September go on policies yes there are a few uh policy updates with curriculum and instruction tonight P&R 2431 point4 that's the prevention and treatment of sports related concussions and head injuries is the Revis for us um language has been added to ensure that any organization that utilizes our fields or facilities is aware of our policy on the prevention and treatment of concussions additionally those organizations have to sign a statement of compliance with our policy thus they cannot hold us liable for concussion related injury the impact that it has on us is we are updating our use of facilities application and with our attorney have drafted a statement of compliance with this policy that organizations who use our Fields or facilities must sign then we have PNR 5111 which is the eligibility of Resident non-resident students so revised uh due to a change in Administrative Code the board must charge a uniform tuition rate when allowing a non-resident student to enroll in our district and that tuition rate must be approved by the executive County superintendent the impact does not apply to our choice students or our Windfield students and finally we have P 5350 which is student suicide prevention which is revised language has been updating suicide training of any individual in the district who has direct contact with students also language has been added about reporting attempted or completed suicide to the principal who reports to the superintendent who reports the incident to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families additionally language has been added that when a special education student is sent by the school for a suicide risk assessment the district shall not require the parent to incur the cost of the clearance the impact on that is we already train our staff on suicide training and will be updating that training and ensuring that any and all individuals comply with the new training requirements regarding ing the financial aspect for special education students sent for a risk assessment we are creating a protocol for families to follow a family's Insurance should be utilized first to cover the cost of a risk assessment anyone have questions for Mrs T I have a question well on the um handbook to on the handbook for the middle school and high school it has opening exercises and it does mention about the Pledge of Allegiance being in there however that is not in the Harding Elementary School and I wonder was that an oversight or I don't know but doesn't mention that so maybe it should I don't know yeah we can we can update that I'm sure it's just a they do it every day so I'm sure I just thought the other two was very good sense also I really have to say something about this handbook is this is how the rules of regulations of the school and I know that you've got so many other things to handle however the dress code is not being enforced and maybe it's a small thing but it really should be or take it out wear whatever you want but if you have it in the handbook they should be dressed appropriately for school students and teachers so um I believe it's the vice principal used to be in charge of this is something that we should really fix that's all I have to say okay not that it'll be the last thing I anyone else questions comments okay we'll now move on to all I you one more thing report I know maybe I just wanted to avoid it but I forgot to add that all our snow removal equipment and plans are all in place um I just wanted to make sure I know Vincent in the crew does a great job of getting everything ready and um making sure that we're all set that they're we're not blindsided by anything so sorry just subconsciously trying trying to avoid either knew glasses I couldn't see thank you Mr L at this time we'll now move on to Old business does anyone have any old business we'd like to remind everyone to please read the Friday folder and to check the updates that are sent out weekly there's a ton of information on our website about taxes referendum school closings information it's all available and if you have any concerns or cannot access it please email the superintendent or his office those things we bring bring up and remind everyone at the meetings we also have social media pages that have information as well we're now going to move on to new business new business okay um we have a few things under new business Mr Gala and I had the opportunity to attend a legislative panel regarding State funding for New Jersey schools and other relevant topics at the New Jersey school board's annual Workshop during the session it was sponsored by the Garden State Coalition of schools the legislators included Senator go palal Senator Ruiz Senator bramac assemblywoman lampit and assemblyman Simonson they openly stated and they are aware of the flaws in the current funding formula that determines our level of state aid and they are based on real estate calculations and lack predictability when determining the amount of money that school districts receive and plan for prior to submitting our final budgets the legislators acknowledge that they're working on the funding formula so that they can ensure that school districts do not go without funding and that there's better predictability within the budgeting process in addition in addition there was something significant to note they talked about possible conversations regarding the state assuming the responsibility of the cost of special ed and transportation which are two very costly programs in our local budget so the fact that that information was shared publicly we thought we would mention it to everybody so that they're kind of aware of what is happening at the state level in January we'll be going into the budgeting process so we V it with significance to share also this is not a committee but I attend the Union County Educational Services Commission every month um November meeting was a regular meeting they conducted board business Personnel payment of bills mandated policies and Hib in addition the commission is discussing purchasing another property to combine the schools together and we subsidized some of our services out to that commission so I thought it was relevant to give an update on that um we'd also like to mention Mr davies's already brought up happy Veterans Day he already wished everybody well for Thanksgiving and we wanted to make it a point to note which he discussed also the spooky story night it was a great event parents had really great feedback about the event and we're hoping to attend more and we also wanted to thank the PTO at both schools for all the activities there have been so many things that the teachers the class advisers and PTO have partnered and done a lot of fall events um for the past two months since school started and the feedback from the students parents and everyone are that those um activities are really significant so we wanted to thank them for all their help and support it's integral part of what we do every year so that's all I have for new business does anyone else have anything for it's a lot for new business more than usual I have a lot I just want to thank those who vot it for me um I was humbled and great ful for the support I received um my sincere congratulations to the new board members and I hope they will work together with the dedicated hardworking board that we have I would also like to give special thank you to the board secretary Vince ganella for his dedication this school in this school district keeping this school running effectively and as efficiently as possible and do to our and our to our superintendent past and present who give all who gave all that they have and give all they have despite the many obstacles that they went into um it's been a long hard struggle and I'm sure superintendent Davies will take us over to get a get the job done um thank you all it has been an honor and privilege to uh be with you God bless us God bless our veterans God Bless America thank you I know but I might not be I could get sick or something any anybody else anything for new business okay at this time we'd like to open up the meeting to public for comment is there a motion to open up the meeting to the public so move second okay motion made by Mr David seconded by Mrs Drogan all those in favor of opening the meeting to the public please say I I opposed eyes have it motion carries Mr ganal yes uh public comment will now be accepted the Board of Education sets a limit for the public to speak at the board of meeting to 5 minutes per person unless prior permission has been granted by the board of education for extended time pursuant to kboe bylaw 0167 for the record when you approach the podium please indicate your name and address prior to making your comments any public like to comment at this time hi everyone I'm Tony jirano pno 241 Fu Avenue uh first I want to thank Paulette and Allison Allison we've never met pullet I happen to know for 28 years as my neighbor um but aside from that all the countless hours of the various organizations you volunteer on and I know uh the amount of hours it takes when people put their personal responsibilities aside to be on the school board or counsel or coach or PTO there's so many different organizations that help a burrow flourish and this is an intrical part because you're directly involved with the families and the children and the outcome of um how they grow and Foster in our burrow so I thank you very much um thank you for your time and your service it's very much appreciated and I know we have so many new things coming on um between the renovations and our new um superintendent and our principal so I wish you all well I I hope you're back in another form but um I wanted to take the moment to say thank you and also happy upcoming Thanksgiving I won't be at the December 9th uh meeting I'm taking a girls trip with all my sisters so I wanted to make sure that I um said Thank you to both of you you for being here and I've learned a lot being your Council liaison and hearing all the different things that the staff are doing the uh Board of Ed um uh the board members and your time and dedication and being able to bring that back to the council and be your spokesperson on the council level um so I encourage everybody during my meetings to come to these to learn more about what's going on in our schools and how uh best we could support you more but I wanted to take a moment say thank you and thank you both again thank you anybody else want to make a comment at this point no a motion to close Okay motion made by Mr David seconded by Mrs teers all those in favor of closing the meeting to the public please ask I I opposed I sa motion carried the meeting is now closed to the public for comment Mr Gala can we please have a roll call of resolutions yes there are 24 resolutions on the agenda this evening uh do any of those need to be voted on separately no no okay this is for Resolutions numbers 1 through 24 on the agenda biner yes David yes Drogan yes hather yes L yes tear yes Zimmerman yes Pichi yes motion is carry manly okay thank you Mr Gala do we have a need to go into Clos executive session we do not okay so at this time I would like to ask for a motion to adjourn please move second okay motion made by Mr David seconded by Mrs Drogan all those in favor of adjourning please say I I opposed eyes have it motions carried the meeting is now adjourned thank you Happy Thanksgiving everyone back e