##VIDEO ID:zSodajzba7g## e e e order and welcome everyone this meeting meeting is being held in accordance with the scheduled meetings adopted at organizational meeting held on January 6 2025 adequate notice of this meeting of the Kenworth board of education has been provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and local Source on December 10th 2025 a cop isman filed with the Kenworth bur clerk posted in the board office the Kenworth bur Hall brury and Harding schools as is provided by the open public meeting s thank you Mr ganal please rise and join us in the salute to the flag IED Al to the FL flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Mr ganal can we please have roll call biner here Koli here David here Ferrara here hather here herina here madadi here panichi here Zimmerman we have Corum thank you we'll now have the receiving of the minutes and committee notes of the secretary from the regular Board of Ed meeting minutes December 9th 2024 and committee meeting notes from the Personnel committee that met on December 9th 2024 can I please have have a motion for the receiving of the minutes and receiving of the committee notes of the secretary motion second motion made by DR canoli seconded by Mr ferero all those in favor of saying I I opposed eyes have it motions carried Mr ganal do we have any monthly correspondence yes we have uh two pieces of cor actually three three pieces of Correspondence a memo from Joanne ropi uh to myself regarding the certification results of the general election on November 5th 2024 we have a holiday card from the Kaa to the board of education and we have a letter from Christine Guerrera from uh vice president of Union County School boards Association regarding uh School Board member recognition Okay thank you can I please have a motion to accept the monthly correspondence motion made by DR canoli seconded by Mr fr all those in favor of accepting the monthly correspondence please say I I oppose eyes have it motions carried we will have the superintendent's reports and presentations superintendent Davies good evening good evening everyone uh thank you and welcome um exciting night tonight we have um some honored student guests as well as an honored faculty guest Mr qua is here tonight uh to lead off the um superintendence report and the student Spotlight section uh Mr qua is a veteran teacher of brly and he is a chemistry teacher as well as teacher of a new course that we introduced this year at really called AP research search and he's going to talk a little bit about the course and he has two students here today that he's um going to introduce regarding their work so I'm excited to hear from Mr qua as well as our two students um Sasha shestak and Aiden Falon thank you thank you very much um uh presentation gives me a moment to [Laughter] practice all right good evening thank you very much to the board of education and to uh superintendent Davies for having us um I want to talk to you a little bit tonight about the uh AP research class and about the AP Capstone program more generally um we can move to the next slideing on we go okay so um AP Capstone is a program here at David Burley that we work we've been working towards for a few years and now with the final piece AP research we have the entirety of the program thank you so the AP Capstone program is a certificate and diploma program program the certificate comes from completing uh AP seminar and AP research in that order scoring a three or higher and the AP Capstone diploma comes from completing those courses along with four other AP exams with a score of three or higher and they really serve as a means of showcasing the academic achievement of students uh students can use them for resume building for applying to universities to show that they've gone through a rigorous set of coursework so I want to talk about the class that I'm teaching which is brand new this year so this is AP research uh it's focused on students conducting research within a field of their choice um AP research is not a science class it's not a math class it's not an English class it's a research class right um the key here is that students are able to select the field that they want to research in it's not provided to them um so if a student is interested in mathematics and science and Humanities and the Arts they're really free to pursue whatever they want now um College Board puts a really big emphasis on the difference between research with the lowercase R and research with the capital r so let me talk for a second about what that difference is research with the lowercase R is something that all of us do all the time you know you need to buy a new car you're going to research what are the Articles out there about cars what am I looking for I'm trying to get some ideas I'm trying to learn more about the different manufacturers the different models what do I even need do I need an SUV do I need a pickup truck and then more specifically what features are important to me what am I looking for in saf safety what are even the things to consider in Safety Research with the little r is when you're educating yourself you're trying to gain Knowledge and Skills that you didn't have beforehand right so you know my wife and I are having a baby and we're looking for a pediatrician we're not going to discover anything new about Pediatrics we're going to discover things that are new to us but not to the field research with the capital r is supposed to be we're not just gaining Knowledge and Skills that are new to us they're new to the field we're doing something novel we're doing something unique something that's never been done before we're adding research to the body of knowledge so that somebody who does research with a lowercase R would reference that would use that as a cited Source in their own presentations um how are we assessing that really comes down to two different things uh we're doing an academic paper it's 75% is going to be graded by college board um it's a four to 5,000 word paper it's meant to be a scholarly work it's meant to um uh be form formatted both in the way it's cited and the way it looks exactly the same way that a research article would be in a research publication in whatever field the student is researching so if it's in the field of architecture for example it should look like an article that you see in a re architectural research publication uh the other portion of it is 25% that's the presentation in oral defense that's meant to mimic like a doctoral like thesis or presentation so the paper is the dissertation and the presentation is like a doctoral World defense the student stands in front of a panel of a handful of people they present their uh findings and they field questions from the panel and then that's graded by myself and the panel um we have two students here tonight who want to talk to you a little bit about their research um again thank you so much for the opportunity and for letting us speak here tonight thank you right uh good evening ladies and gentlemen as Mr qua has already told you I am one of his AP research students my name is Asha chesto and today I've been given the opportunity to give um to discuss my um a brief overview of my pending research study on the topic of flavanol which are um a type of chemical compound that are exhibits um a multitude of antioxidant properties and are mainly um derived from a wide range of plant materials I am currently in the process of extracting these compounds from a variety of Slavic Brin of chocolate Paka is considered one of the most um abundant sources of the flavonol um cedin and epic cachin however there's a severe lack of comparative analysis done on both the variety and quantity of these Flavel within various brands of Slavic chocolate um I hope that by conducting a quantitive chemical analysis I would be able to broaden the body of um nutritional knowledge on the on Eastern European chocolate brands I want to thank you all again for your time and consideration um I hope you all have a good night and thank [Applause] you well hello hello everyone my name is Aiden Falcon and the research topic that I've been researching currently is about Ai and meteorology the study I'm conducting the study I'm conducting is U I'm having an interview with seven meteorologists where uh I'm asking them questions based on uh how their jobs have changed ever since the implementation of uh machine learning a forecasting models which is just AI in meteorology uh with this study I'm hoping to accomplish U I'm hoping to uh provide new researchers with more data on how AI has been affecting the field with uh its recent uh reassures well not reur but like reappearance um everywhere uh thank you for your uh time today Chris you want to closure that or thank you very much for your time and making time for us um I just have a certificate of appreciation for both Sasha and Aiden um so I'm going to deliver those shake your hands and then do a quick picture um congratulations yeah thank you so much it's it's really exciting to have this course come to David Bley um for the board and for the public to know last year brly introduced um AP seminar which was the first course that Mr qua mentioned this is the now the second year so we introduce AP research so these students are eligible for that AP Capstone diploma which is exciting for them and it would be a great feather in their caps for college admissions and whatnot so best of luck to you as you continue your research process I think it's really interesting what you're up to and it's really fascinating that you're able to pursue just some topics that are of interest to you and really delve deeply it sounds like you know what you're talking about um and you're very articulate to do so so um well done [Applause] one never mind great thank you thank you very much congratulations hi congratulations congratulations guys well done um thank you so much uh and also congratulations on um the baby yes it's exciting thank you so much congratulations thank you um next up for our presentation is nalie Sully to give the student representative to the board presentation she's wearing the brand it' be a nice brand right good evening and happy New Year I'm neli Sully and I'm excited to be here at David Bley Board of Education representative to talk about our recent upcoming events on December 19 we had our band chorus and dance class perform in the newly rated Auditorium for the Winter concert every seat was full as group the groups displayed their talents special thanks to Mrs pipa Mrs Sarah and Miss s for leading our students on stage last week our guidance counselors played a college admissions game of our sophomores students stimulated the experience of being a college admissions representative and evaluated the applications of hypothetical College Bound students this week they are meeting with the junior class to go over the college application process on January 7th and 8th almost 40 students took the New Jersey seal by literacy exam students that achieved the seal have studied and attained proficiency and at least one language addition to English our winter sports are underway students are participating in boy girls basketball wrestling and winter and competition cheerleading be nice co we of me and the students of PE advisory recently did at the r sth dropped the brand dropped on December 4th and it actually ended on December 25th all funds went to St Teresa's food pantry thank you for your time and I look forward to speaking you guys again in February go Bears uh before she leaves anyone have any questions for NY about any of the happenings from a student perspective thank you Nel appreciate it uh next up is Mr ganella with our referendum projects update your mr's father was my star witness in my first 10 cases in Elizabeth W so when I heard the name Quest I looked up and I saw his dad Frank sitting it was uh it was great to see full that's correct I was considerably younger than his son when those trials took place so uh anyway thank you for that Personal Privilege good evening everyone uh this our monthly update on the referendum projects um so the field uh nothing's much has changed with regard to the fields and the HVAC projects we're basically waiting for some closeout documentation and working on the punch list item comes with the HVAC upgrades uh working on some of the programming uh challenges sometimes it's a little wiring here or there that needs to be tweaked to get the uh proper temperatures in the classrooms and the uh other areas uh the addition area area a which is the main addition um uh the second floor slab um is is scheduled to be on that's a little um it's already been installed um irrigation is pretty much complete on the baseball field it's moving over to the softball field um s installation uh is um um going pretty well um we're waiting for some warmer days some about 40 degrees they need about 440 Degree Days to do that so um they're confident that it can be done the installer is confident they can be done so I'm optimistic um steel installation is complete the mechanical electrical and plumbing is is done the elevator and stairwell uh CMU is almost uh is is basically done uh we've seen a lot of project uh process uh progress in that area the auditoriums um are complete at breely um Harding um in the seats are being installed this week um and they were being delivered today um so that project should be wrapping up hopefully by the end of the month as well the lobby um pretty much complete the ramp and this the the stairwells the railings are complete um the storefront installation is done um and we're basically waiting for um inspections to be completed there um hopefully uh by this time next uh time we meet we'll be in there the kids will be using it for several weeks hopefully um some uh additional pictures here of of the areas that are um um being renovated uh some things are moving along nicely uh especially the the lobby space if you get in there you I think you'll be very impressed with the way uh that came out uh and Harding this Auditorium is looking um pretty good for a facility that's over 100 years old so pretty pleased with that uh regarding completions um as we as I said project 1 and two were almost 100% uh project number three which is the additions at 30 it's probably about 34% now uh Auditorium seating 50% uh hopefully by the end of week we'll be closer to 100% on that and uh uh the good news is uh the science rooms we'll be able to do things like getting into the um science rooms and starting measuring for the casework and the lab equipment in there uh so they're going to uh be cruising right along with that uh hopefully that fabrication will be done and get ready to be installed in June um that's basically all I have um I don't know if uh you wanted to update on wanted me to update on the situation we had this evening that yeah that's part of my but go ahead okay so uh we ran into a little issue today towards the end of the day at brely started to have some um bathrooms backing up which isn't uncommon for really to have bathrooms packing up for various reasons uh but then it started to proceed to other areas of the building um and that tweet peaked our curiosity um so we found out uh we called the DPW to see if they could take a look at what's going on between the street and and and brly uh when they inspected it all they could see is rocks um and debris coming out and no real water going into the sore um when they jetted it out so we had to call our um plumber out uh who uh indicated that the a pipe collapsed between the school and the street um that's the main sewer to the entire building so that shut water that means that we don't have any way to use bathrooms so we immediately uh took action and um uh the remediation plan you want to go over the remediation plan since I think you were prepared for that sure yes um so we've ordered um portal portable toilets um to brly um they're being installed right now on the exterior of the building there's 28 units that have arrived uh just about an hour ago um so that we can operate school um you know we have two snow days um but it's still you know early January if you will um so I'm reluctant to utilize a snow day at this point um and we thought with the um ability to have a half day tomorrow so br will dismiss early tomorrow uh at noon this way we're minimizing the amount of bathroom usage and we also had to take into consideration the cafeteria because the cafeteria needs water uh in order to prepare food um but that water the water comes into the building but water leaving the building is the issue um so we don't want to have the cafeteria operational tomorrow so that that was the purpose for our early dismissal at brierly only uh so Harding will operate on a normal schedule brly will dismiss at 12:00 to minimize bathroom usage and because of the cafeteria concern um I'm told that this should be fixed tomorrow and then we should be back in full operation for Wednesday so I think this is just a small temporary blip uh where we um you know can take care of things tomorrow we also have lots of water bottles on hand um for any students or faculty who need um water we have separate facilities for faculty and students um we'll have extra security on staff um for you know people have to go outside to use the restroom so we'll have extra security um courtesy of the Kenn Police Department so we thought through all those things um and we're working to keep school open for tomorrow anybody have questions for superintendent for tomorrow have question and and of course the nurse will be able to get whatever yes yes absolutely um anything else okay I have a just a okay no no I'm asking if anybody has any questions for the good okay thank you uh just a couple other things too uh it was great to see our students back to school in the New Year along with our staff the hubub of the holidays is now behind us and as I walk the halls of both Harding and Bly uh these past two weeks I see students committed to a 2025 of hard work and learning uh I want to remind parents that we're working to instill not only Lear learning standards and skills but also values of proper decorum and etiquette in school since it is a new year when we all recommit ourselves to being our best selves whether we hit the gym more often or lay off the suets I similarly encourage parents to refamiliarizing handbooks um I encourage parents to re familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations of our schools and to always remind their children of how to be in school I think it's important um the best way to support our teachers is to reinforce the importance of school to reinforce the importance of respect in school and to reinforce respect for our teachers um so I wanted to note that at the beginning of our new calendar year of 2025 um I also want to let the school Community know that I took advantage of the Department of Ed's call for public hearing on school financing and specifically the equalization Aid formula uh if you recall last year um our district lost the equivalent of $1.6 million of state aid which caused significant Cuts in programming and Personnel not to mention undoing our budget that had been worked on for countless hours by teachers administrators and board members uh it was tough um we made some hard decisions um but I'm proud of what we were able to do despite the cuts in state aid um the state knows that the formula the funding formula is broken but to date there's been no fix to address that broken formula um so I thought it was important to add korth's voice to the the Litany of districts that were at this hearing um superintendents and board members from East Orange Hillsboro Jefferson middlex do Ocean Gate hybrids Delaware Valley Flemington raron L Patong Monroe parsipany Hillsdale raway Piscataway and kennworth were present at this hearing um to voice their concerns about the state and its um budget formula I addressed the 42.7 4% Aid loss that we endured and its effects on our district the absurdity of creating a budget with no concept of how much Aid we're going to receive the amount of work that has to be undone once we learn of state aid after the fact and the need for a more fair formula as well as transparency and predictability my statement mirrored everyone else's but again I thought it was important to contribute Ken R's voice to the conversation please note uh the state is still accepting statements until January 17th so anyone who would like to um add their voices is welcome to do so Mr ganel and I will be submitting a statement as well we do remain worried about the upcoming state aid figures that will be released in late February um but I'm hopeful that folks are listening and the state is listening and something will be done in the next several weeks so that we don't have to have a repeat of last year uh speaking of budgets and financing I also want to clarify a concern that was brought forth in last week's board meeting uh during public comment uh there's a concern about the impact of personnel on our budget with the creation of a new Middle School uh specific concerns have Arisen about a new principal a middle school nurse a secretary other staff members and I want to make the public know that we are very conscious of taxpayer burdens and very consciously designed the new middle school with that in mind to have a minimal impact uh on our budget uh specifically we're making room for a new Middle School principal on the leadership team by combining currently existing roles we are not increasing the size of our leadership team the district currently employs three nurses when we open the new Middle School there will be one nurse at Harding one at Bly middle school and one at brierly high school we are not increasing the size of our nursing team and the district will also be reallocating our counselors case manager and secretary roles and responsibilities we are not increasing the size of any of those positions just want the public to be aware that yes um they've supported us um very much so with our referendum and our projects but it is having minimal impact on our staffing needs um we recognize the support that kennworth has for its school system and vouch to never take advantage of it all budgetary decisions are made with an eye towards how we can best use our resources and our Personnel at all times finally uh tonight I want to recognize the nine volunteers that sit amongst me right now at this table each month who donate countless hours to committee meetings Communications decision-making community outreach and support of our educational system January marks the occasion of school board member appreciation month and so it is with profound appreciation uh that I publicly thank our board members tonight for their service to our students any Community needs people who go above themselves and give of themselves for the good of others each of these members up here volunteer themselves their time their energy they spend time away from their families uh board members do that um several times a month uh and Beyond they don't get paid uh they don't get many accolades not many perks um but they do this for the good of our community so I take the opportunity to thank them for their dedication to kennworth Public Schools its Educators and its students thank you each and every one of you in particular I want to recognize two board members tonight for their longevity at this table Mr Anthony Lai has served us for 15 years uh Mr Loui thank you for your dedication to the board and to kennworth students thank you for you thank you very much sure and also um Miss Zimmerman could not be here with us tonight but she has served for 25 years on the board of education for kennworth uh Miss simmerman thank you as well for your dedication to the board and to kennworth [Applause] students uh finally to conclude the superintendence report there is one hi new hi to um investigate or to look into excuse me uh there was one investigation in the month of December December resulting in one confirmed HIV at brierly that is in your um your meeting notes uh also a reminder that you'll be voting later on in the meeting on the November there are two incidences and you're voting on the November uh so those are different than the new one um so one confirmed Hib at breely in your notes also in your um packet is the December discipline report followed by the monthly enrollment report followed by the monthly residency report so I'll give you a minute to take a look at the Hib the discipline the enrollment The Residency and if you have any questions before we move on I welcome them if there are no questions that concludes the superintendent's report for January thank you very much no questions at this time okay good thank you superintendent Davies we will now move on to report of committees review of resolution and board discussion up first is finance facilities and negotiations Mr latti okay so the um I'll start with the Min the atum um audit reports have been submitted to the Department of um education within the statutory limits the um order will be presented to us in February at the regular meeting um both of those relate to the budget um the administration have submitted their budgets to the superintendent and to the business administrator for administrator for review um the finance committee will start those reviews or our review of the budget in early February um again Mr Davies spoke about his um his testimony at the public hearing and I know I I know I want to thank you for that because it would make our life a lot easier on the finance committee but thanks for doing that um also um we had another issue in the school um we had a a water heater leak um so we had to install a new 200 gallon hot water heater at brely in the locker room just you know again just kudos to our maintenance department and you know with Mr gella's guidance um our maintenance staff put that in their themselves and we save $10,000 um than than farming the project out so um you know our maintenance team does that a lot during the school year of saving us money by doing those projects so it really comes in handy um we spoke about the the sore main break um the one thing Mr ganella failed you're going to we're going to try to to apply for insurance correct claim to the insurance care for the cost yes so that's on there hot water heater too and the hot water heater so we're right on top of all those issues um resolutions I'll move to resolutions you know the first three are the normal monthly Fair they includeed finances and bills payments checks um I perused them all all seem to be in order there's no outliers that I could find line item transfers there was just one line item transfers that were over a $55,000 cap um and request has for the transfer has been submitted to the county superintendent um to cover the cost of our new snow plow and that cost is about $8,800 it went from TR it's in the same line of business but it's transportation to equipment um so that's all set there um resolution five is the workshops and travel um number six is payment to the contractors for the work performed again I reviewed all the work performed and um what we've paid is for the work that was completed so we're right on target there seven is the board of um Board of Education Month that's number seven um eight was a donation 4,000 donation to The robotics team um nine and 10 are um tuition reimbursements they're all under the Ruckers rate um and um 11 is the bil bilingual waiver State data submission so basically that's all I have unless anybody has any questions for myself and if they're hard I'll let Mr ganella answer them on the finance side but the fin finances are all in shape do we get the final audit from that audit yeah finalized we'll take a look at it next week so next mon any questions for Mr L on tonight's items okay okay negotiations um they're continuing and I'll give you more detailed on our position during closed session okay that's it that's all I have thank you we'll now move on to personnel and management Mr hav thank you real quick the uh Personnel committee met on December 9th um at 6: PM uh president was myself as well as Dr panichi Mr David and Mrs Drogan uh also president Mr ganel and Mr Davies sorry uh we did Cover matters that were confidential and cannot be shared publicly so that's that um eight resolutions tonight uh resolution 12 is a resignation uh resolution 13 is a 2425 a.m lunch lunchroom AIDS and power professional AIDS resolution 14 is the approval of the interim assistant principal resolution 15 is a leave replacement uh resolution 16 is a maternity leave of absence request the approval of uh resolution 17 is a leave of absence request resolution 18 are is an approval for SOA power professional staff in the 2425 school year and resolution 19 is the approval of athletic stien positions and that's it any questions for Mr hather on any of the resolutions positions no okay thank you we'll now move on to curriculum insurance Mr Vera res is a program of studies resolution 21 is curricul adoption 22 resolution is H report from [Applause] November resolution 23 is uh policy review it's p p535 Health Services mandated revised uh in summary the state updated njac 6 alpha1 16-23 which outlines the roles and responsibilities of school position and school the revisions to policy 5305 include language from NJ ac6 al16 d2.3 addressing requirements for the school phys license status required appointment contract and incorporate AC of New Jersey uh Alpha Charlie 6 Alpha 1623 into the policy uh there's no h just and that's all for thank you anyone have questions for Mr fr on the new policy or curriculum instruction resolutions no okay thank you Mr Pera okay we will now go on to Old business any old business I would like to add to Old business um as we usually do every week just reminding everybody the Friday folder does go home contains a lot of information for parents the public um and that receive it and supports different school events and information on the website including the referendum updates and there's Communications that go out from the leadership teams throughout the week so those um are part of our old business every week new business uh few things you already mentioned the budget updates one like to thank our col colleagues for um board recognition month is very important the be nice students uh requested that we share with everyone at the meeting as our student representative said they're on their seventh drop of clothing they actually design the clothes it's an industrial arts program and they sell them and there's a website there's a social media so please share if you're interested to support them and purchase their um apparel and there was some new business um about New Jersey requirements some of the teaching requirements or for the test were public this week so if people have questions about those they can visit the NJ dooe website about that those new testing requirements are getting a lot of Buzz online you can visit the NJ dooe State website if you're interested in understanding what those testing requirements are for teachers and last but not least we had the opportunity a few of us to attend the December concert which included the dance program we have here choir and band it was a phenomenal event and the auditorium was packed in December um the students it was evident that they practiced and the advisers did a wonderful job and we talked about you know continuing those opportunities looking for Grants and opportunities for the Arts and creating that pipeline for the students it really was a great performance and you could tell they had been they had purpose and they had been practicing for a really long time so it's just something we wanted to highlight we haven't had an opportunity to meet since that concert but it was a great opportunity and the students did great so anyone else for a new business else share no okay so we'll now um open up the meeting to the public is there a motion to open up the meeting to the public second okay motion made by Mr ferera seconded by Dr Koli all those in favor of opening the meeting the public please say I I oppose I have it motion carried Mr ganella public comment will now be accepted the Board of Education sets a limit for the public to speak at the board meeting to 5 minutes per person unless prior permission has been granted by the board to extend uh time student to Board of Education bylaw 0167 for the record when you approach the podium please indicate your name and address prior to making your comments okay any public like to make any comments at this time no okay um seeing no comments we'll now make a motion to close the meeting to the public can I have a motion please some okay second second motion made by Mr David seconded by Mr hather all those in favor of closing the meeting to the public please I all oppos eyes have it motions carried the meeting is now closed to the public for comment Mr ganal are we prepare to vote on roll call of resolutions please yes we are thank you there are uh 24 resolutions on this actually 23 on the public uh prior to going in the close Session 1 through 23 so this is 1 through 23 on the agenda uh do any of those need to be voted on separately no okay so this is for Resolutions 1 through 23 on the agenda biner yes Koli yes David yes Ferrara yes hather yes herina yes madadi yes panichi yes motions carry unanimously excellent thank you do we have a need to go into close executive session yes we do ose ex second session second okay motion made by Mr David seconded by Mr hather all those in favor of going into close session please say I I oppose okay eyes have it motion carry Mr ganella may be resolved by Board of Education private Board of educ me private from which the public should be excluded to to discuss the topics of negotiations specifically Kaa secretaries uh negotiations and student Personnel Discipline matters uh which private discussions being held pursuant to section 7B and 8 of the public meetings act the matters under discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as final decisions are made and voted upon okay thank you we appreciate everyone coming out that now conclud this portion of the meeting thank you see you in February stay warm