##VIDEO ID:0OBkZ8tGe04## oh oh shoot uh okay okay okay um so we have a few board members sick and I am also recovering from a cold so if I have to hide under the table to blow my nose I apologize in advance I might be sucking on a um cough drops too because of my cough so um welcome to the Kenan Board of Education regular meeting for January 28th 2025 the open the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the kinan board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the Suburban Trends on January 19th 2020 25 posted on the Kenan Public Library filed with the the burrow cler and bur burrow Clerk and posted on the district website Barbara could you roll call the board please Mrs loner Mr Myers Mrs Pella Mr py here Mrs pman Mr iser here Mrs Donson here no closed session is needed please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance routine matters we have approval of the minutes for the December 10th 2024 regular meeting can I have motion to approve motion second any discussion on the no okay seeing no discussion required could you uh roll call the board please Mrs Leonard yes Mrs Pella yes Mr py yes Mr isab Binger yes Mrs Donaldson yes student representative sonone hi all for anyone that doesn't know me my name is sonone and I'm here to share some accomplishments of the students from the halls of kinan public schools so starting with Kil Cisco it's been another awesome month at K Cisco school we had our family engineering design night sponsored by Kesha on January 9th our students built some pretty impressive roller coasters and rides in keeping with our Amusement Park theme next our students did an absolutely incredible job performing in her first ever musical production Disney's Frozen at KHS it was breathtaking to see the outstanding taling come to life on stage thank you Kesha for sponsoring this special program for our students also we had special guest author Jerry P visit with ke Cisco students on Monday January 13th he's a author of The Who would win series our family had a blast at our prek to 5 skate night at Floren Park Roller rank on Tuesday January 14th also we'd like to give many thanks to the PRM and KHS students who routinely visit Keel to support students during special events and activities we just had a special visit from our PRM mentors just this week and lastly from K Cisco we are very excited about the quickly approaching 100th day of school on February 6th our students will be participating in special activities throughout the day I'd like to move on to Stonybrook next firstly Happy New Year to all of our staff students and families January has been a great month so far our fifth grade students took a trip to the ber Space Center this trip allows the students to take on roles as if they were on a real life space mission also thank you to all of our K to 5 families who attended our skate night it was a wonderful evening next thank you to the curriculum Department to our staff that presented and to all staff members for their participation in our Ed Camp professional development day on January 20 20th it was a great day of learning for all also our fifth grade Business Club students took a trip to KHS where they had the opportunity to meet with students of the future Business Leaders of America our Stony Brook students were mentored by the fbaa members on business etiquette resumés and cover letters interview skills and career goals the Stony Brook students were taught on the dos and don'ts on what to wear and what to bring to an interview as well as how to conduct themselves professionally finally the students took their own turn at interviewing in small groups acting as the job applicants with the fbaa members asking questions and acting as the interviewers thank you to Mr sheekman Mrs Gilligan and the students of the fbaa for providing a wonderful experience for our students next Stonybrook school is celebrating school spirit week during the week of January 27th there will be daily activities for the students and the week will end with staff members playing the fifth grade students in a kickball game good luck to all we are also looking forward to our Kesha sponsored third dance which will be held on February 7th and our Kesha sponsored fourth grade dance which will be held on February 21st and lastly from Sony Brook our second annual Stony Brook talent show will be held on February 14th so moving on to PRM six of our students performed with the north Jersey area band on Saturday January 11th at Mount Olive high school we congratulate clarinet players Emelia reek and Michaela Galetta B Claret player Isabella hullman CH bone players Richard Cho and John fusa and percussionist colobia four of our students were accepted into the Morris area on choir and performed with other Elite students musicians on January 18th we congratulate Audrey hen sha John Wall Savannah mango and Jacqueline Waller next we held a pep rally on January 17th to show our school spirit and celebrate the student athletes on our winter sports teams such as boys and girls basketball wrestling and Robotics next the first teen canteen of the year was held on January 24th our sixth grade students enjoyed a silent disco a giant inflatable Hungry Hippos game and other games and activities we thank the PRM HSA and all of the volunteers who made this event possible the seventh and eighth grade teen canteen will be held on March 14th next the seventh and eighth grade Winter Dance will be held this Friday January 31st and last interest meetings were held today for our PRM spring sports teams and the PRM talent show registration for springing Sports is open until February 14th and lastly we have KHS Zachary Kesler is kinan high school's 2025 nominee for the prestigious New Jersey Governor's School program in engineering and Technology at Rucker University Statewide only a select group of students will be chosen as finalists so we wish Zachary the best of luck and congratulate him on representing kinan high school so proudly congratulations to percussionist Luca an anelo Florian and Michael Picolo who auditioned and were accepted into the prestigious New Jersey allate band they will perform in the all say concert at NG NJ PAC on Sunday February 23rd at 3 p.m. Luca and Michael also performed with the north Jersey region honors band and Orchestra this past weekend also the KHS student council received a top 10 project award for Powderpuff at the 99th annual njasc winter convention at the College of New Jersey next congratulations to Salone matal for winning position on the 2025 njasc state board as an executive member for State Charities this is kinan high school's sixth term with the njasc since 2015 and the north Jersey Board is allowed to run every other year nextly we'd also like to congratulate Dylan castano Smith Raina fitterman Anthony mana and Michaela toia for being selected for the NJ region one Honor Choir which represents of all all of New Jersey they will perform in a concert with other students from the region on sat Saturday February 1st also we'd like to congratulate Sophia ankner and Anthony Mana for their acceptance by addition to the Morris area Honor Choir which performed on January 18th today we also had 12th grade students take the NJ seala biliteracy language assessment for Spanish French and Hindi additional students will be taking Latin and Bengali tomorrow we wish them luck on their results that's all thank you wow that's it you sure you know what more D impressive thank you Salone all right superintendent's update thank you Mrs president and welcome everybody um solone congratulations I was when you as you were going down the list I was waiting waiting waiting I thought maybe I could kind of steal it in but you did it I'm I'm so proud of you congratulations where's your mother and father are they here they're not here tonight okay all right well for our folks here tonight that are here for our little ones at Keel school for the honor um sonon in the last two years is our second student two out of three years where we've had students out of this building serve on the state board so um kind of like yes I understand the sports talk earlier but I'd be remiss we just heard all of these accomplishments K through 12 I understand sports played them myself still love them but I would love to have a conversation with anybody whoever wants to think about going somewhere else because academically and the programs that we offer and that we will be offering out into the future that aren't even offered yet those schools can't compete so if we're under the guys about a you know a D1 or a D2 position and what that might do we're not hey God bless go after it parents after parent but we're here for school first Athletics is the privilege so uh with that I'm going to ask Mrs ala to come up first because this is the best part of every meeting we have in public it's honoring our students I know our parents are here so um what we'll do when Mrs ala is done we're going to take a 10-minute recess and we have everything outside for you take pictures as many of them as you'd like and Mrs ala right now the floor is yours thank you thank you so much Mr mango thank you to our board of education for having me this evening and to our families thank you much for coming out we are so incredibly excited to be able to honor our amazing K Cisco students for all of their contributions and really just being incredible people and thank you to that thank you to all of you for that and making it possible so what we're going to do this evening is we're here to recognize our students at keil Cisco for being great citizens so these are our heel koala kindness Awards and what we did was during the school day in DEC we recognized our students for being amazing incredible people who routinely fulfill each of these qualities that I have presented up here this evening so they come to school every day present ready to learn they always are honest right forthcoming telling the truth setting goals in their own learning which again for young students at five six and seven years old that is incredible and when there's a challenge sh they let go and they move on again after setting those goals and last but not least they care for themselves and for others so again thank you to our families for making this possible for again entrusting us with your children every day we are so excited to honor them and to honor you as a result for a job well done so we're going to start with our kindergarten students who are here with us this evening oh and I would be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that this photo that we all took together in December so we'll share this out with our families so these are all of our Keel koala kindness winners with our school counselor Miss tiny and I don't mind the PJs it was pajama day um so it was a really fun one but we took a nice picture we'll share that out with families as well and then there's an opportunity for a photo op at the end as Mr mango explained a few minutes ago so we are very excited we will begin with kindergarten this evening so to our students when I call you say your name come and join Mrs o up here this is going to be our stage tonight you're going to stay with me for a few minutes and then at the very end once we're done with second grade we will take photos outside in the main entrance way where there's a nice Banner set up so when I call your name please come up kindergarten so first up we have gi alesandro gi are you here come on up congratulations and I'm passing out this evening to we have our Keel koala keychains which is special for our students who get our ke koala kindness so gaana just stay right here you'll help me out next we have up Scarlet basar come on up Scarlet [Applause] congratulations and next we have Natalia claro come on up congratulations [Applause] proud of our students next we have Thomas homman come on up [Applause] Thomas all right and next up we have Bren McGrath Bren I saw you [Music] [Applause] congratulations next we have May m come on up and we have Sophia noai come on up Sophia our amazing kindergart sop congratulations and last but not least we have Alise Peele so these are amazing kindergart Winn amazing we'll take a picture together okay you guys can take a seat amazing job guys thank you go ahead and take a seat and we'll call you back in a they're amazing truly okay and now we're up to first grade so our first grade students when I call your name same thing as kindergart and set the bar for us you're going to come up and we're going to recognize you as well so first up we have come on up congratulations and next we have Ava [Applause] Geyer and next we have Emily [Applause] Gino and Bland Ry [Applause] [Applause] and Stella and last but not least we have Nora Zaki come on up Nora knew I saw you [Applause] there and congratulations once again to our amazing first graders our winers nice right such a nice surprise so again congratulations you guys are amazing we'll take a picture together after okay all right go take a seat we'll see you guys in a few minutes congratulations [Applause] and now we're up to second grade so we have our amazing second graders who are here this evening as well we are very excited to honor them we'll start with Valentina bosio come on up [Applause] Valentina Peter curing come on up Peter okay and next up we have Vinnie Nikia come on up Vinnie and jul you're welcome and Juliana see what I mean like amazing man good kid and last but not least we have Charlotte Taylor come on up Charlotte congratulations Charlotte so once again congratulations you're welcome Charlotte congratulations to our amazing second grade Keel koala kindness winners so again we are so proud of our amazing students thank you all so much for everything you do and at this time as Mr Rango said I'm not sure if you have anything else but we will go to a brief recess so if we can have our kindergarten first and second grade students join us right outside the doorway there we're going to take a nice picture together so again thank you all so much for you're welc to come back and listen to the rest of the meeting if you would like otherwise uh you can watch it online congratulations again everyone all right e e e e e e e e e e e e e um and we will start with the district audit presentation what does he want to be at the podium yeah yeah what is you yeah there okay wow good evening everyone um it's my unfortunate privilege to follow kids I was telling Barbara last week I was doing a presentation I followed the teachers of the year I'm not having I'm not having great luck this year but I'm I'm I'm here to talk about the 23 24 2324 kelan Board of Ed annual audit um I'm happy to be able to tell you that we've issued a clean opinion on the financial statements of the district for the year end of June 30th um I won't say it it was our first year here Barbara became the the the business administrator in I guess the end of January so so a lot of the portion of the year was already over it wasn't without challenges but I'm happy to say that that together we were able to work through it you've got some comments in the management report some findings um a lot of which have already been corrected a lot of which are compliance oriented uh signatures processes uh Barbara's changed a lot of things since she got here yeah uh we know each other from her previous position in West Milford my firm did the audit up there for still do the audit there um and I'm happy to say that it went well it's filed on time uploaded with the state No nasty emails from my friend Vince at the department of Ed and um one of one of the the highlights is during during 23 24 you withdrew over $3 million from your capital reserve before June 30th you were able to put back $2 million to replenish a lot of what was spent so that there is money in capital reserve to do more projects to keep the facilities up to where you need the facilities to be um with that I'd entertain any questions from the board members I'd also like to say uh Frank Pepe uh I didn't recognize him but he interned with my firm a long time ago he's a lot younger than me but it's over 20 years 20 22 or 21 years ago so it's nice to see you and giving back back on a board giving back to the community we taught you well and again any any questions from the from any board members anybody from the public Barbara did a good job explaining it to us in our committee meeting so yeah you're very lucky you have a somebody who's been in the business for a very long time who came into a Hands-On situation and was very hand hands on and she she she took care of a lot of different things that needed tweaking between when she got here and June 30th in order for the audit to go as smoothly as it did and I'm sure she will continue to do that until such time as you find uh a full-time business administrator and hopefully she can mentor that person for a period of time as to how to do the right thing in in this District thank you thank you very much yeah congratulations thank you three and a half months three and uh we have the uh Mr shus you're up hello everybody good evening everybody I hope you feel better that those that are not well and uh Mr Pepe welcome to the board I didn't get to meet you yet um I'm here tonight as the uh supervisor special projects I'm reporting on the school safety data systems which is basically some of the more major uh events I guess you can say around the district for the last six months usually these occur mostly at the high school and the middle school just because of what they entail such as substance and vandalism and and and violence so uh usually the middle school I mean the elementaries are not represented too well here which is a good thing um so what you see up there right now are our totals from July 1 through December 31st KHS had a total of seven incidents you can read across the board I tried to make this as large as possible so that you could see it from your seats because I know sometimes it's tough to see that board uh they had two violence three substance two hivs confirmed and another one that was alleged PRM had a total of two incidents which was two hibs uh confirmed they did have eight alleged but they were not founded and then you can see that uh Stony Brook had no problems whatsoever great job miss you tell and uh ke just had one little hiccup in the road uh an HIV along the way so this is a tremendous improvement from the previous report that I did um the last six months and if you look back at this slide not to confuse everybody this year's numbers or this report's numbers are on the left and the report on the right the number on the right is the from previous six months so it'd be from January 1st through June 30th so you can see the high school did go up by two um but still in the same ballpark uh for total instance they had uh a little more I got it backwards your excuse me the right number is this this uh reporting period the left incident the left number is the previous uh reporting period so we the high school went down to PRM had a drastic improvement went from 13 down to two incidents which was uh kudos to miss josephes and Mr mongan who they went into to each classroom at the beginning of the year went over what hivs were what did can and can't say individually in small group environments and then they did followup with Miss mlan as well so the kids heard it twice and it seems like it's resonating with the students as those numbers are are way way way down you can see Stony Brook still was Zero across the board and Keel had their their one so overall we're down from 23 inance down to 10 as a district which is phenomenal and um moving forward we are in contact with the prosecutor's office and have them come in present to the middle school and the high school on biased actions biased language and so forth as that was the bulk of the hibs previously um we we've had a couple of problems getting them here on time um so far this year but it looks like now things are starting to open up they only present twice twice a week when they're available and then uh trying to work around holidays and whatnot it's become a little more difficult but it looks like we're going to get something for uh hopefully March if not early April does anyone have any questions on the school safety data systems report all right thank you everybody hello everybody I'm Lauren Thomas director of curriculum um I'm here to present our elective survey so we recently conducted a survey for students in our district grades 6 through 11 and this was initiated because at the end of last school year um we had a resignation in our industrial arts department so that was a good time for us to gauge interest of the students and see do we want to replace that position and continue on with that program or did we want to use those funds into other areas but we really wanted to engage the students so really wanted to include middle school students in that and as you heard Mr mango speaking during citizens advisory that is all part of our district goals and we really want to expand programs and include middle schoolers especially eighth graders leading into the high school so that that was the reason for the survey um so just giving you a little bit of background information um so I'll take you to the responses as you can see and we did try so when there was that resignation we did ATT attempt to hire somebody to replace that position it was a short time frame unfortunately we were unsuccessful um that's why this is kind of giving us um you know kind of an inclination of where we want to head to next so these were the um student responses and we got a good amount for every grade level so about 80% of the student population in every grade level little bit lower in 10th and 11th grade but still more than half of the population responded so this first question students were given choices um and that's why you see all the wording down at the bottom so the first question was just basically what are you interested in what sort of activities are you interested in and these were the responses so again they were constructed responses so you see our highest everybody is um passionate about the Arts we have a very good art program here so we currently do run a lot of electives in art they are also very interested in technology so down at the bottom if you can't see it students are interested in coding gaming web design Esports um life skills was a very big one so across the board whether they were middle school or high school students are very interested in cooking and again industrial Arts so that still was something that students really value so we will continue to look for that um in the future so overall aside from a couple of multiple choice questions we did have open-ended responses so I summarized the open-ended responses and that gave us a little more detailed information so students expressed basically overall the trends were the top four subjects that they wanted to see in the high school definitely cooking students requested Performing Arts psychology and social sciences so really expanding upon that we do offer psychology we offer sociology but they are looking to expand upon that so maybe more courses within the social sciences um and higher level courses within the social sciences and also technology related so students interested in the stem steam world are still very interested in that so those were our top four and again just summary of results overall Trends we are seeing um a big interest on Hands-On learning um we are seeing again um the cooking came up a lot budgeting anything related to Career skills and that we saw especially as we went into the high school data high school students are very interested in participating in electives that really will connect them with their career their potential career path so there's a notable demand again to align with the career skills stem education as I mentioned so engineering um science technology and math students are interested also in a variety of languages that was also a question just posing a question to the students we currently offer Spanish French and we do offer Latin at the high school are you okay with that would you like to see any of their options so students basically said they would like a lot of options and that's I'm used to that in any District I've been and students just want a lot of options a lot of students are very interested in Italian students mention were interested in ASL um so it's just it was interesting to hear their their perspectives and their interests and again the social sciences so Trends across grade levels when we were in committee meeting and I was presenting this to our Ed committee Mrs Portman posed a good question she said I was giving very general a general summary of the overall results and she said I would really be interested in seeing the breakdown of Middle School what are the middle school students interested in versus is high school so there really was a clear distinction so middle school kids a lot of Hands-On they really want cooking any Hands-On activities whether that's creative or productive so basic industrial Arts um anything like that they're very interested in that and then when you get to the high school level as I mentioned before definitely interested in anything related to a potential career path so anything that would set them up for the future and again the science and the Arts and social sciences so this aligns as again as Mr mangle mentioned I don't want to repeat everything he just mentioned in citizens advisory but this does align directly with our district goals so we are looking at student achievement so how can we promote elective areas and and course offerings for students across the board middle school and high school and we are looking at the overall student engagement student retention so we feel that if we can build upon these great programs that we already have and be able to offer more and then some then we're on the right track so this does involve a couple things so where does that take us now it involves a lot of decisions that we're all going to have to make you heard Mr mango say there's plenty of space in the high school so does that mean that eventually maybe we can house in some way the eighth graders within the high school whether that be for some of the time whether that be housed 100% of the time um we are looking to realign the times so that way we can also share staff we have staff that's very willing to create more intro level courses for our eighth graders at the middle school that way when they get to the high school they can just continue progressing on in those areas um so we feel that we do have a a lot of great opportunity here and again it's a lot of decisions that we're going to have to continue to make but that's where we're headed towards the future so like I said Creative Solutions for the eighth graders and being able to build comprehensive programs in all of our areas I already have I was just talking with Mrs jeo before we already have our art Department we had some shifts in personnel with our art department and with the new Personnel in place they're already taking a look at current curriculum and taking a look at individual skills that some of our new staff brought in and how we can revise our curriculum add on new courses and really structured in a way that will benefit the students so that's exciting um we need to maximize our current PCR so that's our position control roster um which means that's every position listed in our district and a lot of our teachers hold more than one certification so if they are interested in something and we're very interested in running certain programs and they have that certification to match it then why not utilize that staff member to their abilities and let them teach something that they're very passionate about teaching so we are looking at that and we'll have those conversations with those staff members um and again industrial Arts culinary arts is something that we want to research potential drama theater these are all things that we would really like to bring in um our architect came last week is coming again tomorrow to take a look at some classrooms to just research the potential um of building a a cooking class at the high school so that does take a lot of time that's not something that's going to happen next in this upcoming school year but potentially for the following school year if we're able to again working with the board and taking a look at our budget and seeing if that's feasible or not but again it is that was a big request by the students so if we can somehow make that happen that would be great um industrial Arts revising the curriculum so we really would since students are craving that hands-on experience going back to that true woodworking experience so making an intal level Woodworking and then woodworking one two three and four so students can really get into projects get into bigger projects as they go along apply it to real life applications so that's where we envision that program going and it is a strong possibility to bring in a a Drama teacher that does require a special certification but we're excited to do that Mrs trombetta and I are going to attend a couple job fairs coming up um starting in February and they run all throughout the winter and the spring so we are signing up to attend a few Where Mrs trombetta has had great success in the past in in her previous District but we're going to go out there and really try to recruit so our job postings anticipated job postings will go out we'll be able to meet with teachers those three areas at the bottom are probably the most difficult areas to find certified teachers in but we really want to put in the work get the message out there attend these job fairs I think that's really getting ahead of it um so hopefully we'll be successful and that way we can continue to build these great programs here and I think that was all I had any questions comments thanks M Thomas thank you okay we're we have committee reports next um since Carl's not here I will report on the finance facilities and security meeting we did we did meet on January 21st um we discussed the gym floor in kenalan high school um it's an ongoing issue with water underneath the gym floor and um what we're going to have to do is pay for engineering to do some core samples because we suspect based on what we've been able to determine so far it might just be um uh water table levels and humidity that's just coming underneath the wood floor so um the next step is is to we've worked already discussed with the architecture architect and they're going to find an engineer to determine if they can figure out over the summer where the water's coming from so it's an ongoing issue um we're hoping that an environmental engineering firm can help us with a solution but we can't replace a gym floor until we figure out why there's water underneath it um because it's already been replaced in 2017 and it's already War it's warping again we do know it's saf to play on that we know but um at some point it's going to have to be fixed so it's an ongoing issue stand by for more uh there was some a room in KHS that needed to be repaired and um it's being repaired by our uh facility staff which is great um in on the agenda you will see that we're uh recommending um the approval of a a lease agreement for a new bus uh we reviewed the assessment of busing for KHS and PRM and the having to add buses or Vans to possibly be able to bus both schools at the same time um and the availability of dress of drivers and buses but um we are recommending a lease agreement which allows us to uh extend the payment of the bus over five years is a fiveyear agreement three three year agreement okay um on the agenda you'll see we reviewed the preschool tuition and enrollment we're looking to add two seats because we had a wait list um and we're going to increase the um tuition to $1,200 per month uh which is still less than um other preschools in the area and that's on the the agenda for approval and the committee is recommending um that was pretty the rest of the stuff we talked about was just um the stuff you've already heard the cell phone Reser the cell phone survey results uh stuff that's Ed going to be briefed in education and that was it for finance Personnel negotiations John hi so this is a new committee for me um and it's it's off the ground already um we had our first meeting January 22nd and in addition to a lot of the things that we've already heard and talked about um especially with the um surveys with you know electives and then needing to find positions on the roster to you know potentially cover those or plan for the future um we also discussed the uh Recruitment and uh attendant and that's a great idea to go out and and hit the job fairs um and you know just put it out there that hey you know we're we're looking for some good folks um also discussed um the prek and some of the um Power professionals that would be needed for that and also just the existing population um nothing real exciting uh we had planned to have our first negotiations and that was yesterday we and we ended up not so that's uh and I don't have the actual date on there but we'll be advised so okay thanks Jonathan um education Kelly sure so the education and Student Activities Committee met on Wednesday January 22nd um we talked about uh starting conversations to have a partnership with the gym in bloom to kind of support the Town recreation programs the middle school the high school um for girls basketball and girls soccer just doing offseason clinics um and some training and conditioning um I think that's a great idea so we also talked about setting up some lacrosse netting currently there's like a little bit of a hole and we were trying to figure out how to kind of best meet that need because we want to be able to use the track and the turf at the same time so we were able to find some netting that we believe we can um purchase four of them and set it up in the spring pop it down in the winter and it's really going to meet the needs and make the students as safe as possible uh we just finalized a two-year contract for the co-op for the softball program um we're going to be having a KHS home game this year which is great and there'll be two coaches uh the head coach will be from Lakeland Regional High School and then we will have a volunteer here um and also we have a team room room proposal right now at kelan high school we have a team room but it's really just being utilized by the boys football boys lacrosse um so we had the opportunity to create a second room that'll be more for the girls um which they were able to just repurpose a space um and they were even thinking about getting the Arts students to make a wall mural and just making it really great for the girls to have their own space before um in the middle of and after games um we also talked about the preschool um um and how we had allocated spots for the special ed students allocated spots for the general education students wanting to make it the least restrictive environment for our special ed students um and this year we just filled up all our general general education spots not all our special education spots so we're going to kind of flip that a little bit next year um and then hopefully we'll be able to maximize the space and maximize The Profit which will fund the program and kind of give a little bit more um robustness to it so PRM is going to be having a new special ed program which is wonderful we have um three students uh within multiple grades but in one Grade B kind of moving up so we're preparing for that um we also talked about how there are some job fairs coming up some virtual some in person we really want to make sure that we're getting ahead of finding the teachers that we need um and so we're going to be doing it through um New Jersey school jobs we're also going to be doing it through TCNJ so we're going to be there right after their graduation to try to get all their um their great graduates um we talked about the cell phone survey results um we submitted an application for a computer science grant so we're keeping our fingers crossed we're going to hear more about that in the spring um we currently have a problem at the high school with a lot of the overhead projectors um different parts to them are breaking and it's really hard to find the parts if we're able to find the parts it takes a long time to get them they're expensive um so we are going to be triing a program where we get new hardware um and then we have to pay for the software and it it the software comes up in a subscription um and it's you know run through the hardware so we're going to be doing that for the next two months seeing if we like it so that's a program called Vivy um but we're also going to be looking at Air Team too um there was a mind in body class that was offered to students at the high school in in terms of an elective uh this fall and it was re the kids really really liked it so we're going to be offering it again in the spring but we talked about next year maybe in gym class giving the kids um different areas where they could kind of check in um and making it more of like an every single day during gym class possibility um because the kids really did like it um we talked about the elective survey results and just the possibility of um moving some parent teachers conferences in the future depending on um what teacher feedback we get um we also talked about having a delayed opening when we have testing in the high school so the grades that have to test will come in on time and then the grades that don't have to test will have a two-hour delay everybody will get transportation to school um and then this way it will just provide the most efficient way for the students to cycle through the day um we also talked about the aligning the potential of the aligning of the um 8th grade you know the PRM to KHS schedule um and that was it busy meeting yeah sounds like you guys did a lot we did okay policy okay I'll I'll take policy um all right I'm good so before I begin I just want to welcome and congratulate once again Mr Pepe for S this is like the first Real the true meeting outside of the reor so welcome um and in policy as you'll see under the dsection tonight um we discussed a few items uh number three um was basically more or less second and final reading from policies that were up for revision and first reading approval in December and I wanted to thank uh Mrs davidman for the classroom observation one he did a really nice job in putting that together in on a short time frame in November for board approval in December and now final approval here tonight if you move down to section four or number four for a um all of those policies were just revisions in align with law enforcement under the uh memorandum of agreement and understanding so that standard for B was to um align the community Relations Committee in policy 9151 and then as you move further down we had two uh Pol policies specific I'm sorry 9151 and policy 0164 9151 was community relations um and culture and what the committee what we found was that that policy was created by the then superintendent business administrator and board in 2010 so typically board policies are generated from a firm called Strauss Esme which we use and before Strauss Esme was in Vogue it was New Jersey school boards so my office contacted both neither one of them created the policy but it was pretty well written and we determined in in the committee we were going to move a few sentences at the back end about you know penal codes if somebody's uncivil or we ask somebody to leave there's no need for that but uh we wanted to keep it on the book so that's up for revision and then the other policy po uh 160 0164 that was the there was part of there for remote meetings so obviously we're down two members tonight could have been more we had concern about aqu quarum because of all the sickness that's going around and I hate to use the term covid but not everything was as negative and so I had shared with the board that I'd like to walk it on tonight which it is on for first reading revision that board members would be able to participate in public meetings if they were remote um so we could avoid having to cancel possibly cancel meetings and allow people to have that opportunity so those are both up two policies that were up for revision one's new and one uh not new and I I touched that on in CAC that we didn't discuss that's not on the agenda is the uh use of cell phones and devices we're going to hold off on that until we have a better idea where we're steering with the cell phone uh information and survey and trending forward and then the other one it's a new one no surprise to anybody AI so the state department has created a draft proposal for AI and um that's a little bit more in depth I think it it's certainly involves our administrative team because kind of like Hib in 2011 now they're recom districts have an AI coordinator and uh you know a series of steps and things and it's just another you know it's another thing that school districts will be responsible for of course not funded by the state so we want to take our time with that on how we you know maneuver and uh in part of policy even though it's not part of our committee this is youel I I have to say something because you were like a perfect 100% again not that that I'm knocking everybody else because I didn't get to the middle school just yet but I I have to say I have to say that's a four again a four you and your staff so the security drill and this I have to give you the four I don't know how you and your staff did that especially when parents make phone calls and request Hib but you did it that's am amazing I'm I'm floored I'm floored sitting here tonight absolutely amazing so thank you you and your staff fantastic job um and Mr manga and Mrs josephes congratulations on I know we did a lot with code of conduct I know not all of it's popular um I know that it's not easy to bring on a new AP and I know coming in from another District Mrs josephi is it's certainly not easy to be the person who delivers the the message to parents and to students um but we heard our staff we partnered with our staff and all I'll tell the two of you is now a you have to keep doing what you're doing and B don't ever second guess yourself you just do what you do you cut out any kind of noise whether it's in an email whether it's in a phone call or in the shadows of the corners of the school outside you just do your job okay good job thank you and that concludes my report in Li of Mr Myers Mrs president all right okay uh delegates since it's the first meeting of the year we're going to bypass this because not only has everybody been sick but most of the delegates haven't even uh associations haven't met um all right community relations uh we just had a meeting so that's kind of not really something I think we need to report out and the same with K cares and KH KF okay so we have uh petitions and hearings of citizens for agenda items does anybody have any anything they want to ask on the agenda yeah come on you come on up so we can hear you that's Ai and devices well we would want to have them handled appropriately by the end of this school year yeah there's no actual requirement anywhere I mean I don't know about the AI is their actual date yet they didn't say that just yet but you know we I think all districts need a little bit of time to process that and really I mean the sooner we can get it worked out you know and be ahead of it and then we're not under any kind of time pressure and think through it for the AI portion the cell phone is is board driven so it's when we're ready it's yeah so uh we would like it's a goal to have it established by the next school year so we'd like to meet our goals so yeah thanks for the question yeah that's okay I just want to say thank you for having Mr Souls as the advisor thank you Mrs Fredy oh and and just before we kind of go off um we discussed in central office today because we realized it was a hit so as Mrs Thomas was talking about the surveys we're going to do another Tri Forum which will happen in May it'll be Mrs davidman Mrs trombetta Mrs Thomas myself and I'm sure some of the building principles this time and um some of our department chairs will also be part of it so after all the Smoke Clears with our budget and facilities and where we're going then it'll be about all those programs clearly explained and defined to our parents it a standalone meeting not a board meeting not a community relations or citizens advisory just Standalone Tri Forum again and we'll live stream that like we did last year so that'll be in May for sure okay now we're up to agenda items and I would like a motion for a roll call on a block vote for agenda items a b c and d can I have a motion motion second second okay okay so discussion on agenda items a b c and d and please take your take your time to review and we'll discuss anything any questions Barbara could you uh just kind of for uh public edification and board edification just discuss the outdated checks and kind of what those mean AC so these checks wer cashed and they just stay not yeah and we've reconciled them as yeah right right okay wow some of them for a lot of money so they're considered s checks y okay thank you anybody else have any other questions on the agenda for ABC or D no the me of Champions no that's that's to participate we talked about it but we didn't extend if you'd like us to we could put that on okay any other questions okay all right seeing none uh Barbara will you pull the board please Mrs Leonard yes Mrs Corell Mr pey yes MRIs manger yes Mrs Donald yes okay Committee of the hall we have none does anybody have any unfinished business no new business no correspondence what's that speak closer okay all right make sure you talk into the mic okay uh petition and hearings of citizens for non-agenda items does anybody have anything that you just want to come up and tell us like how awesome we are and know just kidding no okay um had to throw that out there board member comments all right let's not make frankco first so Kelly I just wanted to say congrats to all our keil koala kindness winners tonight I think it just builds everybody up when we see those cute little faces and uh the pride that they have um and it just makes them feel really connected to the community so I love that um I just wanted to thank everybody for uh taking the time to read their email and fill out um the data that we've been asking for tonight we had a lot of data to process and share with you and that's because we captured a lot so I want to thank the parents for filling out the cell phone survey we had over 630 families that's amazing I also want to thank the students at PRM and KHS um because I know they're inundated with emails but they took the time to fill out the elective emails um and thank you for that and the immediate reward for that positive behavior is that there's immediate Administration response on that like tonight we not only relayed back to you what we found out but you know we have people going to to um job fairs to try to get teachers in specific areas we have electives being brought in we're talking to people about construction at the high school to change things so this data really guides our process and kind of helps us figure out what the community and the stakeholders want so I just wanted to thank you so much for giving us that data so that we can represent you as best as possible in the schools so everybody stay healthy and have a good night bye bye Dana I'm gonna show Frank how it's done short and sweet but no I I I just I really do send out my best wishes for everybody in your families because there's uh everybody's been taken out by whatever is going around so just I'm going to keep it short and sweet and be respectful of everybody's time and and just also just to um reiterate all of the wonderful things salani when she read through all the accomplishments of the different schools and it's really I think it's really great so um happy New Year and everybody rest up Frank do you want to say anything you don't have to if you don't want to I'll give it a shot John John was egging me on before um just kind of three things from my end I want to Echo what um both Dave uh and Dana said um everything that salani presented was absolutely amazing I think that's a testament to the diversity of programs that we offer in kinan and the diversity of programs that our kids are engaging with so spectacular work therein um two I'd like to give a a uh compliment to Mr shivas as well as all the School principles um as much as I don't know about uh being on the board of ed yet I do understand kind of numbers and Trends if you're tracking anything and you're going from 23 to 10 you're looking at a 70% reduction um in a lot of those instances that also reduces administrative burden cost and drives operational efficiency so continue to be proactive in in everything that you're doing therein um and last you know Barber great work on the audit um it was nice to get a shout out there for Finance and Accounting John yeah as as a CPA I was uh happy that we got an unmodified opinion and um and some things to work on but that's you know hey I'd rather know what to do than to be shooting in the dark so keep it up um and thank you for the staff too that helps with all that because it's more than any one person could ever do um also didn't want to let the the Frozen production go un unmentioned um lot of fun lot of energy lot of talented little kids including an Olaf um and uh you know and to put that up on the list of you know things for the future you know to to develop a program because you know we we need one um and uh that's exciting so everybody drink some uh honey and lemon before bed okay so I know a lot of people heard me when I was talking at the end of the citizen advisory committee about Athletics but we have been very successful AC Ross the board in so many sports it es and flows but for a small group one school and we are a small group one school we've been very successful and then you add the changes we've done with our Administration our realignment of staff and the opportunities that we just keep creating it's just it just is getting better and better and we're just doing more for our kids in so many different ways I don't know why you wouldn't want your kids to graduate from kelon because it's just got so many amazing opportunities and if there's something you want there's a citizen advisory committee there's emails if there's something you want to communicate with us you we are our information is on the public website please reach out we're all about ideas we do surveys to Kelly's point Thank you for participating because it informs our decision-making because we represent you and again as I always say the administration and the board I thank you all for all your work because there's a lot of work as Dave says all the time that goes on behind the scenes and it's not and again it's informed by our community so come speak up email we're here we're here to listen Dave I'm just real happy that we haven't used as my my mic working right am I good okay I'm just really happy we haven't used an emergency day yet yeah and so um I'm very happy about everything that everybody said here at the table you've heard me talk I don't want to beat a dead horse I agree with what everybody's talking about and I would love to have more conversations on anybody with any parent anywhere um if they second guess our high school and our programs I would just venture to say give it a little bit of time and see what more we can do um but as far as the emergency days the school calendar for next year Mrs suin who's still here thank you for staying um we're working with the Association hopefully we'll have a proposed draft for approval for next month for next school year um and we just have a lot of good stuff coming out so a lot of energy a lot of discussion a lot of meetings a lot of work but that's why you elect board members and that's why their job is to hire a super and my job to hire the most qualified people uh to steer the district so all those mechanisms whether it's surveys meetings emails conversations hard conversations they have to happen because they're a mechanism and a vehicle to steer and um I'm just really excited so I hope everybody is well I know we have a board retreat Saturday hopefully everybody stays healthy enough that we're not you know a little coughing on each other in the morning and uh have a good night everyone okay can I have a motion to adjourn motion all right all in favor all right