That's All right. Good evening everybody. Thank you all for coming tonight. This is one of our favorite meetings where we get to recognize all our students. So, um I know there's a lot of faces here. It's also going to be an opportunity for us to just um update some of the
initiatives that the board is taking because I know there's been a lot of rumors going out and information on Facebook that's inaccurate. So, we're going to have take a little bit of uh time during the superintendent's update to just give you the facts so you know what we're looking at um what's actually
been decided. There's not a lot that's actually been decided yet, but what we are going what we are looking at and they were actually our goals to at some of these uh initiatives and a lot of it was based on providing the most opportunities for our students and being
fiscally responsible to our taxpayers. So that's really what always drives the board is the benefit of the students and fiscal responsibility to taxpayers. Those are our two driving factors when we make decisions. Okay. So I welcome you all to the Kinnolan Board of Education's regular meeting for December
16th. 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 provision of the act, the Kennelan Board of Education has caused notice of this
meeting to be published in the suburban trends on January 19th, 2025, posted in the Kennelan Public Library, filed with the burough clerk, and posted on the district website. Miss Loy, will you call roll call the board, please? >> Yes, Mr.
Mrs. Pal, Mr. Pepe >> here, >> Mrs. Mrs. Portman here, Mr. Eisener, >> Mrs. Donaldson >> here. Uh, there is no closed session at this time needed. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Routine matters is approval of the
minutes for the November 18th regular meeting. Can I have a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion on the minutes? >> Okay. Seeing none, can you pull the board, please? >> Mr. Myers. Mrs. Pella,
>> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mrs. Portman, >> yes. >> Mr. Eisener, >> Mrs. Donaldson, >> yes. >> Okay. Jojo, student representative standing in for Lugan. >> Thank you. >> Cisco began the month by having a
holiday toy drive. Thank you to our students and their families for generously donating to those in need. Recently, students enjoyed the holiday shop sponsored by Kesha. We would like to for this fun experience for the students as well as providing the mini grant program which awarded a variety of
resources that will benefit our students. Last week, preschool kindergarten, first and second grade students had their winter concerts. Thank you to Mr. Tedesco and Miss Sullen for their hard work and dedication to the arts in the district. Everyone at Keel and Cisco would like to wish
everyone a holiday season full of joy and time spent with families and friends. Stony Brook held another assembly on kindness and respect for the month of December. Thank you again to Dr. Vulpi and Prismatic Magic for presenting an
engaging laser light show. On November 25th, six of our fourth grade students presented their essays titled What Thanksgiving Means to Me at Cedar Crest. Thank you to Miss Catalano for setting this up and to Cedar Crest for welcoming our students. On November 28th, two of
our third grade classes presented their own version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Thank you to Miss Tenant and Miss Ahead for working with their students for a wonderful parade. To all of our families that attended and to our district administrative team that attended, we would like to once again
thank Kesha for awarding a mini grant at Stonybrook and for always supporting our staff members. On December 5th, Stony Brook School hosted PE Jam. We welcomed over 30 physical education teachers from around the state of New Jersey to participate in a day of learning and
collaboration. Thank you to Mr. Pacifica and to Mr. Dan Clark of Butler Public Schools for developing this amazing day. And to our fifth grade students who participated in the lessons, the Stony Brook holiday winter concert was a huge success. Thank you to all of our
students who did such a great job. To our families who attended and to Miss Sing for putting together a wonderful performance. The fifth grade band concert will also be held this Thursday, December 18th. Lastly, Stony Brook will celebrate the countdown to winter break
with the winter break spirit week. At PRM, over 100 students in almost 70 shops participated in traps this past Tuesday at PRM. The variety and creativity of the products available were extremely impressive and a testament to the leaders of this
fantastic program. A huge thank you to Miss Sakowski for her leadership as well as the amazing chaps team, Stephanie Bose, Ashley Divers, Julie Herson Herson, and Erica Kaden. Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 17th, Miss Hendricks
and the PRM band will hold our holiday concert at KHS auditorium at 7 p.m. Each year, the state of New Jersey requests that each school in New Jersey select one teacher and one educational service professional through a program called the Governor's Educator of the Year Program. The program recognizes
educators who are dedicated, caring, inspiring, and make a positive difference in our school. A selection panel including teachers, parents, former recipients, and administrators reviewed nominees and scoring individuals based on student, parent,
and staff recommendations, skills, leadership, and dedication to their position. It is our honor to announce this year's recipients from PRM. The educational service professional award winner is our school counselor, Miss Mlan. Our teacher of the year is band
teacher, Miss Hendris. Congratulations to both Miss Mlan and Miss Hendrickx on the special recognition and accomplishment at KHS. December has been an exciting month. Our entire staff is grateful to the KHS HSA for the Thanksgiving bagel
breakfast as well as the holiday cookies that were enjoyed by all on Monday, December 8th. Thank you, KHS HSA. KHS also held their first marking period high honoral breakfast on Thursday, December 4th in recogn recognization of
our students achievements. 59 students were recognized. The second marking period high honor roll breakfast will be held on Thursday, January 15th. On Friday, December 5th, KHS held a winter pep rally. And on December 8th and the 11th, the holiday winter concerts for
our band and choir programs. The spring musical was recently announced and the department is very excited about performing Mamma Mia at KHS. Furthermore, the eighth graders will be back at KHS for the second shadow day this Friday, December 19th. Finally, on
behalf of the KHS, we wish everyone happy holidays and a happy and healthy new year in 2026. Thank you. [applause] Thanks, Jojo. Okay, Mr. Mango, superintendent's update. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome everybody. Thank you again, Jojo, for
filling in. Okay, this is the kind of party that I like. Um, I don't know how I know our capacity in here is 497, so we're not quite there, but welcome. Um, this is the best part of any of our meetings.
Uh, during for our new folks here that have never taken part of anything for student recognition before, welcome. I know some faces, and you've been here before, so you've heard me say some of this before, which is during the interview with Mrs. Donaldson and the board some three and a half years ago, we talked about student recognition. It
was something that I was accustomed to and I believe in because that's really the essence of why we're here. Um and so at our December meeting, our March meeting, our June meeting, it's always sports and then we sprinkle in all across the board all different types of
student recognition. So I welcome everybody. We're trying to streamline it a little bit where in the past we would start with Keel and then work our way up. This year, what we would like to do is give our K8 parents a viewpoint of our high school students because that's
the endgame, an opposite look. So, I just ask everyone to kind of bear with us as we go through it. And as Mrs. Donaldson shared uh earlier during the November public meeting under comments, Mrs. Donaldson asked me if I had anything else I wanted to share towards the end. And I felt, you know what, it
was a very quick meeting. I believe we were under 31 minutes or something to that nature and we were empty. Nobody was here. So, I always look at it as an opportunity to engage folks. Um, for those of you who know me, you know, I don't I don't go on social media, but if
you ever ask me a question up close and, you know, personal or an email or phone call, I answer you. Uh, and I only answer you direct. That's the only way I know. That's how I was raised. So, um, I think it's a good opportunity, as Mrs. Donaldson shared, to share with you district goals and actually explain to
you, uh, what we do, how district goals are derived. I promise it'll be quick, but I think for our parents, it should put your mind at ease and then also make you feel a little bit more comfortable about your elected officials and those of us who are responsible for our schools and policy. So, if I start,
district goals are derived from the board of education whom you elect and I too as a town uh person here, right? So as a resident, the board of education is required to give any superintendent district goals annually.
That is how superintendents are evaluated annually. So it's my job as a superintendent or any superintendent in the state of New Jersey to follow through what we've done here. And you could feel free if you'd like, you could always go back to our public meetings. They're all on the website. They're all
for viewing presentations and public. Every February we present midyear progress and then in June it's the final. and then the board of education evaluates my my status annually. So they didn't just kind of come out of the closet, so to speak. So um by June 30th,
2026, the district will have a coordinated plan for implementation between PRM and KHS for the 2627 calendar year of the following adjusted start and end times of the day. collapsing and condensing transportation routes grades six through 11, sharing of
academic and elective programs for eighth grade students, multi-use of staff certification, and determine if eighth grade students and staff will be relocated to KHS. That's exploratory. That's where we are right now. It's part
of student retention. Student retention was part of the 2425 goals. And again, that's up for your viewing if you'd like to take the time and do the histrionics. What's hard for me and I found and this is my 15th year as a superintendent is that every time every couple years you
have a new audience it's difficult and challenging to go back and replay history but it's up to you if you'd like to go and go on our website or if you email me or call me I'd be happy to sit down with you over a cup of coffee and share to you the roadmap of how we came
to this point student achievement by 2026 June 30 the district will have a 26 27 calendarear plan for implementation at KHS in the following areas. Implementation of freshman academy that was on the table
in 24 and 25. Development of a junior high school community grades eight nine within KHS and research potential optional schedule changes for students in grades 8 through 12 for 26 27. And that's what we're doing. Each PRM and KHS right now have committees and in
January we are visiting two neighboring high schools that are 7 through 12 just to talk to their teams, ask questions, see things in play. I'm somebody who believes you could have a vision. You could say something, but after you actually vet it, is it the best option possible? Okay,
this one's a little bit longer and I I again I don't want to read it to you step by step. Um but again, it's for the 26 27 calendar year. One of them is Stonybrook and I think I've discussed that so many times at Nauseium. That's just a worst case scenario. Um, but it's always an option when you're talking
about finance because I will tell everybody in this room that last year, and again, if it's first time or if I confuse you and you want to follow up with me, be my guest. Um, but last year the board of education passed a resolution during our April budget to
utilize all of our um health benefit waiver, which they're able to do without a vote, without a public vote, as well as our bank cap. That was to the tune of about $767,000 and that increased the tax levy above 2%. We don't have those funds anymore.
Those funds are gone. So, um, two weeks ago, Miss Lawler and I were at a mid-year budget review over in Marstown with all the superintendents and BAS throughout the county with the county BA. And again, this is not why you're here,
but I I hope you leave here with some really good, accurate information and feel better. Um, one thing's for certain, we're not the only school district in New Jersey who feels the pressure of sustainability of finance and budget. Everybody does. But I will tell you what's the positive when we
walked out of there, that we have multiple plans. Everybody else does not. And that's typically because their folks in leadership don't have the courage to do what our board has directed me to do. and what I'm willing to do. That's my job to vet out options just in case. You
know, for those of us, everybody here is a homeowner. How did you go bankrupt? Slowly then suddenly. That's how it happens with schools, too. Just look around. Just look to Montlair. Not that far away. Look at Wayne last year. It's all around us. And it's increasingly difficult. So, um, what we were told is
that we should brace ourselves, not just Kennalon, all of us, that when the state aid numbers come out with our new governor, that we might be 30% less than where we were last year. That's a problem financially. So, I share that with you in open space
now. But the good news is again, we have options, we have plans, and we just brace and prepare, god forbid, for that rainy day. But within this um set of goals, we're looking at Stony Brook School. But again, what does it look like? That's all. Nobody's saying to do
it, but what would it mean financially and educationally? Um the second one is with our district architect and the ESIP plan, which we're doing, right? Facility upgrades. Phase two of culinary arts that is in play. That will be uh open to our high school students and hopefully
eighth grade students as an elective for next school year. uh bring closure to phase one in this very room. That project commences January 5th. The materials have been delivered. And then what's the timeline for a uh turf field project, multi-use field for us
currently in the grass practice field. That's exploratory. And then the board will have to make those decisions. But that's really where we are. The only things I could tell everybody in this room, and I hope kind of like the calendar, I'm giving you enough advanced notice. This is for certain for next
year already out of those goals. Number one, the start and end times districtwide will change. KHS will start a little bit later. PRM will start sooner. Keel and Stony Brook will also start sooner. We are working that out with transportation as we
speak. Now, the board of education in the collective bargaining agreement last year was able to strike a deal with the Kindalan Education Association to add 20 minutes to PRM's daily schedule. So, how that time is used, we are still vetting,
but the good news is that allows us to condense routes. And in the October public meeting, we actually talked about it um because we do have a draft. So, the second one there, transportation will be consolidated throughout the district. Absolutely. And what does that really mean to parents? It means
there'll be less singular stops and more group stops. So I tell you that now to anticipate that when you get your routes in August. Number three, students in grades 6 through 11 will be transported on the same buses. That is happening for
sure. And in that consolidation, what we found is a major savings. that help us balance our budget, right, for efficiency use. And at the same time, with the start and end times being the same or maybe within 5 10
minutes maximum, that's the goal. And then the last one is that currently our PRM and KHS students and staff, they their half day is not four hours. And I think our students who are here know that, especially here at the high school, you're more almost near five. So in the
middle of all this, we will streamline it to be four hours and maximum 10 minutes. So that means our half days will be much they'll look differently. It'll feel different. Unfortunately, we did try to negotiate with the KA in the collective bargaining to increase the
day for Keel and Stony Brook because at six hours it's rather short. Um but we that was not successful. But we were able to successfully negotiate 20 minutes of PRM which changes a lot for us. So those are the things that are
coming. Uh I share that now. It's not the end of the world. You'll have ample time to know. Uh but again, we're vetting those things out. All the other goals I shared with you are just being explored. So
important dates to remember and this is where I talk about histrionics. On January 9th, you can anticipate a letter from my office talking about everything because at that point, we'll have a pretty decent baseline. Uh January 27th, we have our audit presentation. I I believe we have some positive news
coming our way. Wasn't nearly as positive a few years back, but to the goodness of the board and a lot of hard work, um we're in a better place. On February 24th, I will present the midyear progress on all of the goals I
just shared. And at that time, we should know what those start end times look like and what the half day will look like. And again, it's February 24th. School doesn't start till the end of August. So, that's more than enough ample time. March 10th is our uh annual
preliminary budget presentation, which then kind of flows into our public presentation on August 28th. So, anybody who has any that wants to be involved, you're welcome to join the citizens advisory committee. That's why uh President Donaldson put it in play uh
soon uh a few months before I started here officially uh in 2022. You're welcome to join. All you have to do is send my admin assistant, Mrs. Bloommanstick, an email with your information, and you'll be on the agendas. Even if you can't come to the meetings, you'll still have the
information available. Um, you could always contact us. That's why it's there. Uh, we do have a meeting with the HSA, uh, the first the PRM HSA, I believe, the first week back from the holiday recess. So, we're going to talk a little bit more with them and any concerns they might have. And we're just
moving things forward. You have to have a plan. It's not just a cliche. You have to know where you stand or hey, because one day I may not be here, the board may not be here, but somebody will be here. And you may not have children here anymore, but you might live here. or
your parents might live here. What does that mean to you and to your community? So, you it's always best to have some plans and have options. That's all I'm telling you. So, uh hopefully that puts your mind at ease and we'll have more information readily available in February. And I'm sorry I did not want to be long-winded, but I think it's
important in this day and age and social media and how things kind of fall out from that without hearing it from me first. Not a matter of if we like it or not. I'm telling you accurate information. Um, and that's just where we are. I don't have any more
information to share. So, uh, more to come, but thank you. And at this time, I'm going to call up Mrs. Whitmer, our athletic director, and, uh, Mrs. Alawwali, our high school principal. I'm going to sit down and stop talking, and I want to enjoy the student accolades. So, come on up. The floor is yours.
[applause] >> Good evening, everyone. Uh it's so nice to see a packed house for athletics for a change so we can honor some of our awesome student athletes we have. I'm going to do a a recap first of Per Miller athletics. Um our girls soccer program finished 65 and two. Boys soccer
3 and six. And girls cross country undefeated at 5-0. Boys cross country 4- one. And both boys and girls cross country finished fifth in the counties which is a really awesome race they had. Um, yeah. [applause]
And it wouldn't be Mr. Contella without giving me some more information on cross country. So, we had some really great finishes in the grade races. Um, if you're here, please stand. Evan Lombardo placed third out of 138. Nathan [applause]
Nathan Rosenamp placed 12th out of 138. Those are two sixth grade runners. [applause] In the seventh grade, Cali Ferguson placed 20th out of 132. [applause] Joseph Deck played uh placed 21st out of
191. [applause] And our eighth grade runners, Julie Sun placed 20th out of 121. and Tomas Ma played placed second out of 160 runners. [applause]
So, Miss Chegwiden, you have some good runners coming your way next year. Okay, moving forward to some of the high school athletics. Um, we're going to honor all those athletes from our teams who got all county or all conference and we have quite a few of them and the list
gets longer and longer as we go. So, if you are here in the stands with in the crowd, which most of you are, please stand. And we have Leo Deitrichu, third team all county, first team all conference. David Loza, second team all conference and all county honorable mention.
Matthew Weiss, second team all conference and all county honorable mention. [applause] Michael Leco, second team all conference. and Alice Sabnowski, allconerence honorable mention. [applause]
In our girls soccer program, we had quite a few honors as well. Olivia Kreski, first team all conference, third team all county. [applause] Lauren Mortimer, New Jersey uh girls soccer coach association, all state, first team all conference, second team
all county. Taylor Mulch, second team, all conference. Honorable mention, all county. [applause] Kelly Donaldson, all county, uh, Morris County All-Star game, New Jersey coaches association, all state, second team all
conference and third team all county. [applause] Madison Gaganti, honorable mention, all conference. [applause] For our girls tennis program, we have Luna Perez, second team all conference. Karolina Rosco, second team all
conference. [applause] Lauren Dearesque, second team all conference. [applause] Manali Patel, honorable mention all conference. [applause]
Olivia Lee, honorable mention all conference. For girls volleyball, we had Hazel Claus, first team all conference. Jordan Zelachi, first team all conference. Julia Gutin, second team all conference.
Leah Albick, second team, all conference. Lilianne Baldino, honorable mention, all conference. [applause] For the next two teams, we're going to have their coaches come up because those uh teams had some really successful seasons and I'm going to let them speak
about their team. So, first we have cross country Laura Chegwin. Coach Chegs, come on up. You can bring your team up as well. >> Good evening. Uh thank you all for being here. It's always a pleasure to come and acknowledge all the athletics and all
the students honors. Um, very lucky to be able to coach these guys throughout the year. Um, give thanks to my assistant coach Mary, okay, who's about to have a baby any day, so she's not here, but I won't take up a lot of time. I was warned. Um,
again, we we had we're done. No. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, we've had a successful season. Um it's kind of become our expectation over the years and they keep rising to that. So our final division record on the girls side was 4- one in
the independence division. Our boys Liberty were went 5-0. So they were the champions for their division as well as the sportsmanship winners this year which is always a nice honor to get that as well. Um they then took first place in the entire Njack conference. So at a
19 we're the 19 teams we beat 18 teams. I think that's pretty impressive. Um um at our county meet, Kieran Fitzgerald took 16th and to place even in the top 20 in Morris County is very impressive. You get honored and to get to go up on
the podium. Um anytime we get anybody in the top in the county, Morris County is super competitive. So a great honor to have Kieran up there this year. Our give you a round um at sectionals. Unfortunately, we did have one of our top runners um get sick
this year and wasn't able to return, but the boys still pulled out, which is impressive. So, even without him on the line, they still placed fifth to get to go to the group meet. And the girls ran an excellent race. Um just to preference, most of our team is they're
all freshman girls, most of them. So, it was a big ask for me to say, "Hey, as freshman, you're all going to come up and you're gonna have to run varsity." A lot of them were like, "Oh, okay. Wasn't expecting that." And they got sixth place just by three points. So, I'm looking to the future, you know,
expecting both teams to still be continuing to qualify for states because they came so close. And now they got a little fire underneath them to continue to do that. And the boys went to states. They got 15th in the entire group one. And Kieran uh also received all state um
group sorry third team all state for group one which is a great honor as well. And as you can see I um I'll say the people that are here but we had a lot of people make all conference. Kieran received first team all conference. Henry received first team all conference. Brandon, you guys can
step forward when I say your name so they know who you are. Go ahead. Okay. Here you go around. [applause] Um, Brandon, Hunter, Ron, and Kaden all received second team. [applause]
And Jai was our one freshman to consistently run every varsity race and step up and be one of our major varsity contenders. And he received honorable mention. On our girls team, we had first team with Emily and Nicole. So, Nicole, I thank you for being a only rep. Okay.
Again, both freshman, Michaela, Maddie, Ema, Maddie, Emily, and Valentina. Out of that, sophomore and freshman, all second team. And Paulina received Honorable Lmention. So, we have two strong teams coming back next year. We're really looking forward to it. And majority of them are on our winter
track. So, we're excited for our winter track season. And okay, that'll be it for me. Thank you very much. Have a good one. >> Congratulations, guys. Okay, if I can have coach Grande and the football team come up. They had a pretty historic season, so I'm going to let him
speak on that. Um, and as he does, you can take a look at all the honors that his players um, and this is just a few of them within the conference and county and state that his players were able to accomplish this year. >> So, everyone's coming up. Um, first I
wanted to thank Sher Whitw. Um, you've been amazing. Um, to have an athletic director that been a coach and understands it and has my back all the time and helps me through, you know, situations throughout the season. I hope you never leave. >> Um, thank you to the administration for
all your support this year. You guys have been great. Um, uh, Mr. Mango and the board of ed, thank you for all the tough uh, decisions you guys have to make. Um, I watch your videos, you stream them, you're transparent with with everything you do. I appreciate that. Sometimes I feel like you're like
a football coach. You know, sometimes there's fans that don't show up to practice, but they're in the stands heckling us and they don't see everything that's going on behind the scenes. So, I appreciate everything you guys do. >> Um, we had a historic season, guys, this year. Um, we galvanized this community.
Um, anyone that was at Butler for the state sectional title saw there was close to 4,000 people at a Kinnolan football game. All right, that doesn't happen too often. I don't know if I've ever happened before. Um, amazing um amazing these guys right here. Um, they they helped build this. Um, the senior
class was my first senior class. So, four years ago, we came in with a mindset to build something special. Um, and they have done that and we plan to continue that uh for years to come. Uh some of the accolades for the teams this year, 10 wins is the most in school
history. 7-0 best start in school history. Um they had a win streak of nine and0 dating back to the two wins closing out the prior season. Um they were national blue division champs at 5-0. Uh first ever home playoff win, first ever home playoff game. That was a
win and then they doubled it up with another win. Um state sectional finalist. Um the senior class will leave here the winningest football program uh class in school history. So huge huge feat [applause]
>> the the target number for the juniors is six to tie that seven to beat it. So they they and they know that um the the senior class was also the only class in school history to win two playoff games in two different in separate seasons. um
to win and then they were the only ones to win two division titles. Um in school history, we've won three division titles. This senior class won two of them. So once again, everything that they've [applause] done has been amazing. So I want to recognize the accolades. I'm just going to read out the first
team all conference. We had 14 players. When you win, you get a lot of accolades. We had f 14 players uh make all conference team. First team, I'll read them out. If you hold your applause, we'll applause after each team. Uh, Matthew Sisiano, Saurin Prada, Braden McCormack, Wyatt Cisco, Landon
Smith, Kieran Keel, and Anthony Mana. First team all conference. [applause] Second team all conference, Kareem Abadiah, Joseph Ferrara, Jack Felson, Tyler Grande, Dylani, Kamani Hinton, and honorable mention Jean Carlo Anastasia.
>> [applause] >> all all county awards. So, this one's big. This is everybody in the county. So, it's the privates, the Publix. Um you don't get a lot of guys on the team. Uh being a group one Kennelon, the smallest school in the in the division. We got two on the team this year. Saurin
Prada and even bigger, Wyatt Cisco was the defensive player of the year in the conference. So, that's amazing. [applause] Um the big state uh sports all Mars County team Saurin Prada Wyatt Cisco and Landon Smith all made first team. And
then the one ward that sticks out is the USA Today allstate second team. So this is every school. So the Boss, the Bergens, all those big schools that we hear about. Um, Kinnalan stepped into with them and got Wyatt Cisco second team allstate defense which is huge.
[applause] And we have a couple others. Uh, New Jersey.com allstate team comes out here this week and they also do a group one team and I expect a few more of these guys to be recognized during that. So all in all, you know, a great season, a great bunch of guys. I love these guys. They know that. And uh couldn't be more
proud of the football team here at Kolan. [applause] >> Guys, before you leave, I know um most of you probably know, but your coach was honored as coach of the year in the division. So, you were unable to make the meeting, so I accepted the award in
your honor. But, uh a great team doesn't make it that far without a great coach. So, congratulations, Coach Grande. Coach of the year in the blue division. [applause] If all my athletes would meet just out in the hallway, we'll get some pictures in front of one of the uh one of the things out there. This way we can get them up on the website. Okay. Thank you
guys. I'm going to pass it on Miss Olaw. [applause] Think that's it for say come on up. >> I'll go left just so I can see over. [laughter] All right. Ready. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Thank
you so much. So, we want to keep that momentum going because again, there are really amazing things happening at KHS. And so, Mr. Aoyo and I are here this evening to really share and and highlight some of the amazing things that are going on. So, first and foremost, as you heard mentioned um by
our student representative this evening, we held our first high honor roll breakfast um just recently for marking period one. And really what's important to showcase here is our students are high achieving here at the high school. So, for example, our high honor roll acknowledgement, we had 59 students be
acknowledged as high honor role recipients during marking period 1, as well as 202 of our KHS students being recognized with honor roles. So, pretty incredible that such a large number of students at KHS, especially in our a
community our size, 482 students. This is an incredible accomplishment and just something really important for our community to be aware that our students are amazing and it's a reflection of our staff. [applause] >> All right. And Mr. Oo is going to take
the next one. >> And not only do we have successful sports teams at KHS, we also perform very admirably in our extracurriculars and in our elective programs. So, I'm proud to announce that we had several students who performed admirably and
received awards with the Garden State Scholastic Press Association. And here is an image of our students who attended the fall student press day down at Ruckers on October 27, 2025. So just like our first team athletes, second team athletes and all county
athletes in sports, we also have several students who did very, you know, well in journalism and, you know, with our school newspaper. So overall, we were second place in our print overall excellence. We were honorable mention online for overall excellence for our
cult chronicle. And we have quite a few students that we'll just, you know, miss O and I will just share who uh received some accolades. So for first place multimedia features division B, we had Carly Noaka. [applause]
>> All right. And some of our students are here this evening. Not all could make it, but if you are here, please come on up and join us. Again, this is for the Colt Chronicle and the amazing work they're doing and the fact that they were recognized and honored recently with these nine awards. So again, we've
mentioned Carly. Now we're going to our second place on the spot writing contest. again awarded during this program. Ava Gutkin. Ava, come on up. [applause] We also had an alumni who was recognized for second place multimedia features
division B and second place multimedia news division B, Arouchi Kumar, class of 2025. [applause] Okay. And then our next honore, we have Montana Brush as second place for infographics and her work on Cult
Chronicle. Come on up, Montana. [applause] Amazing. And then in third place again, okay, specifically for news writing, we have Ava Guten. So she's up here already with us. For first place for multimedia sports,
we had Carara Rosenfeld. [applause] And then Montana earning third place in multimedia sports as well. So congratulations Montana. [applause] And then last but not least, our multimedia package sports goes to Laura
Solarino. Second place, amazing job. Thank you all so much. You are amazing. We're going to take pictures outside afterwards. Okay. Excellent. Okay. And next, we're gonna go ahead and pass it off to Senora Sapio, who's going to announce our next award recipient.
>> Thank you, Mrs. O. Um, so tonight I'm going to be speaking on behalf of Mr. Dewal who is our multimedia teacher. It is with great praise that Kennel High School, Mr. DeWal and the digital communications and film program extended massive congratulations to our senior
student Alex Roslin for earning first place in the mini film festival. Alex dedication, creative effort, and special exceptional work ethic ethic has been evident during all four years. while enrolled in the courses. We are incredibly proud of your achievement.
Alex and KHS peers continue to act positivity and set a high bar for the success of the program and literally just before he was the technical director for the basketball game uh at the uh KHS new gym and in real time in
the moment evidently nod to Alex continued desire to lead and assist with his classmates. High school is a vital time to explore many outlets and as we have seen Alex is a state champion hockey player. this team. Uh he is a team captain, he's a creative spirit spot champion, [snorts] and of course an
astounding m man leader and of course he has committed to High Point University. While we know Alex's ultimate focus is pursuing the world of medical science and sports um orthopedics, Mr. Dewal and the media arts program are awfully glad Alex has decided to operate a camera and
editing software before you start operating on knees. Seriously, we look forward to seeing the great things you accomplish and no matter the field. And you'll also notice that Alex for the past two years was also the editor and filmmaker for the clapout for the entire
uh class of 2025 and class of 2024. So, he has done amazing work. He does amazing reels and if you ever need to hire him, he is your guy. Um, so congratulations. Give it up to Mr. Alex Roslin for winning the mini film
festival first place and keep up the fantastic work. Come on down. Thank you. Give it up for Alex. Thank you. And again, his uh really his imprint is all over the building. So, it's amazing. Okay. And next up,
we are going to pass things on to Mr. Mongan at Keel Cisco. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. We have so much to celebrate and for Keel, we are very proud to announce our winners of Kenny's Keel Koala Kindness or our 4K award.
These are students who stand out for being kind also by living the full values uh every day and students who act as role models in our building. So what we're going to do is uh I will call up our kindergarteners first and Mrs. Utell is going to help out and hand out their
certificates. Um after that send kindergarten back to your parents first. first grade will come down and then second grade and then once we call second grade uh ask I ask all of the students who would like to and parents we'll take a picture in the banner right outside the room uh in front of the
banner out there. Okay. So with that said let us now uh award the first 4K awards for our kindergarten students. Uh Giana Beakqua please come down. Leila Branado, Maya Brinska,
Daniela Goran, Nathan Hoffman, Reese Howard, Fitz William Hustage, Adeline Jordan, >> Brooke Maloney, [applause] and Liliana Rasaniti.
[applause] Congratulations to our kindergarten 4K award winners. >> [applause and cheering] [applause] >> And now, please join me in congratulating our first grade 4K award
winners, Natalyia Claro. [screaming] Romy Fast, Thomas Holman, and Griffin Simpner. And now, please join me in congratulating our second grade 4K award winners. James Bassini,
Sawyer Collins, Ansley Jordan, Ava Pastori, Seange Patil, Boris Petreski, Dominic Siciliano and Arya Simone. [applause] Thank you so much everyone. Once again,
congratulations to all our Kinesis Kil Koala kindness award winners. Thank you. [applause] Okay. And now I'd like to turn the program over to Mrs. Utel and Stony Brook.
And I'm gonna help Mrs. Utel hand out her certificates and then we'll take pictures right out back for 4K awards. Thank you very much. >> Good evening everyone and thank you for taking the time out to join us this evening to celebrate our Stony Brook Student Council uh students. I'm first going to ask Mrs. West to come on down
to join us. [applause] Mrs. West is the adviser of our student council program and has been for many many years and is completely dedicated to improving this program each and every year. So for our student council, if you don't know our student council students,
we start in third grade and they run so many programs. They meet every Monday morning. They talk about leadership and how to take on leadership roles. So this year alone they have done a food drive, a sock drive for Soctober, a toy drive which ends tomorrow. They learn about
donating things and adding to our community. They work with Mr. Freda and they visit the DPW and other aspects of our community. And they really learn from Mr. Mrs. West what it means to be a true leader, not only in our school community, but in our Canalon community. So, at this time, if any of our third
grade students are here, I'm going to ask that you please come down. Um, and I just want to say give a round of applause to Mrs. West for the hard work that she does. [applause] So to our third grade students, we have Saraphina Sodto.
Pierce Rosenberger, Quinn O'Brien, Max Perez, Liam Moser, [applause] Edward Hodis,
Luca Pasalqua, Eugene Clooney, Austin Pepe, Quinn Zagman, Michael Deck, and Ethan Rabinowitz. Congratulations to our third grade Stony
Brook Student Council members. >> [applause] >> And now to our fourth grade students. Harper Reed, Raphael Yam, Camila Schler, Anna Mariano, Julian Deoreé, Isabelle Mchugh,
Nicholas Sodto, Samantha Hussich, Mia Deello, Taylor Ellia, we'll get it, >> Kyle Brock. and Chloe Kadonis. Please give a round of applause for our
fourth grade, fourth grade students. [applause] Good job. >> [applause] >> And last but not least, our fifth grade students who we truly hope continue on the path of school student leadership as they enter next year into PRM. So if you
are here, we ask that you please come down. Miranda PZ, Logan Papendic, Ella Wallawick, Sienna Leid, Liliana Pilacqua, Jack Curran,
John Bassini, Aubrey Udder, Grant Rosenberger, Jacob Levit [applause] and Owen Gallas. And I just want to mention if you
noticed, we have three family members where the siblings are both on student council. So it is lovely to see that they come out, they give speeches, they create their own speeches, they present to their class and on a weekly basis
they talk to their classes about what is going on in student council and they really represent their whole class, not just our school but their classes individuals to build a true classroom school community at Stony Brook School. So again parents, thank you for all of your cooperation in working with Mrs.
West. She does an amazing job. But more importantly, congratulations to all of our students. [applause] Thank you everybody and I'm passing it on to Mr. Suda and Mrs. Yosephites for PRM.
>> Good evening. As principal of PRM, it's my honor along with Mrs. Yites, our assistant principal to recognize our the following students for our pillars of character as selected by our staff. The positive behaviors and actions of the
following students have earned them this award. The first pillar is the pillar of trustworthiness. It is awarded to students who are honest, loyal, and they can be relied upon in any situation. and their integrity shines through in their
actions and interactions each day. The following students received the pillar of trustworthiness for our first marking period. First, Maddie Elliot, come on down. And Gabriella Guawaki, if you could
please come down. Students will be receiving a commemorative pillar with a ribbon from our school. >> [applause] >> Okay, I will be reading the pillar of respect. The pillar of respect is awarded to students who are consider
considerate of others feelings, are courteous to others, are accepting of differences, and treat others how they would like to be treated. They let those around them know through their words and actions that they are valued. The following students received the pillar of respect in the first marking period.
Arav Godawat and Adeline Galuchio. >> [applause] >> Next, the pillar of responsibility is awarded to the students who consistently try their best, persevere when they face challenges, demonstrate self-discipline, and are accountable for
their words and actions. They set a positive example for everyone with whom they interact. The following students received the pillar of responsibility in the first marking period. Lily Picarillo, [applause] Jake Pepe,
[applause] Amy Redzio, McKenzie Ziggmmont, [applause] William Hullman, >> [applause] >> and Taya Chahon. [applause] >> [applause] >> The pillar of caring is awarded to students who are kind and compassionate
in their interactions with others. The way in which they carry themselves makes PRM a warm and welcoming place to be. The following student received the pillar of caring in the first marking period. Eva Mankovage [applause]
[cheering] The pillar of citizenship is awarded to students who make choices that protect the rights and safeties of safety of others, demonstrate the qualities of being a good community member, and cooperate well with others. Simply stated, their actions make our school
and community better. The following students received the pillar of citizenship for the first marking period. Sarah Koka, Sarah, Jacob Klitskov, Chris Broncado,
[applause] Evan Moser, and Kaden Benner. If any parents and students would like to take pictures in the back, Mrs. Joseph and I will go back there and we could take some more pictures if you'd like. Thank you to all of our recipients.
[applause] >> Okay, we're going to take about a five minute recess. So, anybody who wants to leave can leave now. Or if you want to stay for the rest of the meeting, which is going to be really exciting, you're more than welcome to stay. Have a good evening, everybody. Happy holidays.
Um, we're up to committee. Uh, actually, sorry, we have the 202425 Hib self assessment. Mr. Shivas. >> Good evening, everybody. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. I'm Vinnie Shivvis and I serve as the district's supervisor of special projects which includes my role
as the anti-bullying coordinator. This evening I'm presenting on the district's anti-bullying bill of rights self assessment report which we're required to do annually. Purpose of the assessment is to evaluate each school and the district's implementation of the anti-bullying bill of rights during last
school year 2425. Um each school is assessed across eight core elements for a maximum possible score of 78 points. A passing score is 54 points. The eight elements are as follows. HIV programs, approaches, and other initiatives. There's five
different indicators there for three points each for a total of 15 points in that category. And you can see core element one across the board there. Uh core two is training on the board of education's approved HIV policies and procedures. There's three indicators
there for a total of nine points. Core three is additional staff instruction and training programs with five indicators for 15 points. Again, core four is curriculum and instruction on HIV and related information and skills. There's only two indicators in that category with a totaling six points. Um,
core five is HIV personnel with three indicators totaling nine points. Core six is school level HIV incident reporting procedures two indicators for six points. HIV investigation procedures is core se core element seven with four
indicators totaling 12 points. And the last core element is HI reporting with two indicators totaling six points. The district score is calculated by averaging the individual school scores for the 2425 school year. School scores
range from 72 to 78 as you can see resulting in a district average of 75.75 which is tremendous. It's actually improvement over last year and we scored very very well last year as well. This report allows us to identify areas of continued growth while also recognizing
the district's strengths moving forward. for the anti-bullying bill of rights self- assessment will continue to guide our professional development efforts and training initiatives both staff and students ensuring ongoing compliance and continued commitment to maintain safe and supportive learning environment.
Does anybody have any questions? I think the uh the numbers pretty much speak for themselves. There's everything's pretty solid up there. Okay, this report will be posted on the website for anybody to view in the future. Thank you for your time. Happy holidays, everybody, and have a safe uh
new year. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you, Mr. Shus. >> All right, committee reports, finance, facilities, and security. Carl, [clears throat] >> yes, we did meet on the 4th. Just a few quick items we discussed. Um, one was a
camera quote uh for camera replacement um at Stonybrook. Um we're reviewing that. Uh it's under review. We're going to revisit that in January. Um there's a point up for approval which is the school shutter door maintenance at Stonybrook. That's so that's up for
approval today. Uh we also discussed the 2425 audit report. Um so we reviewed a number of the findings and recommendations, reviewed all 13 recommendations uh within there. Most of them are pretty minor. Uh many of them have been already fixed uh such as the
petty cache, stuff like that. Um there is a corrective action plan up for approval during the January meeting. So that's going to be coming up. Um the we also discussed briefly the energy audit. Um the date will be scheduled in in uh January. So uh Caitlin will let us know
more details on that coming in the future. Um up for approval is the minimum wage uh memo effective January 1st. Um, another one up for approval is uh KHS auditorium which will be the um
accessible acceptable use policy. Um, and we also reviewed uh the auditorium um acoustics work. So 75% of the materials have been delivered. Uh work will begin after the holiday break. So pretty efficient. >> Thanks Carl. Yeah, it was pretty
straightforward meeting. Awesome. personnel negotiations. >> Hi, we met that same week um in December and notes had been distributed. Um just wanted to highlight a couple things that were on the agenda for um the board's
review and action potentially tonight. Um one is just up for discussion. The KA had a request to form a sick leave bank. Um this was obviously after the contract had been negotiated and settled. Um it's
we're we were generally favorable towards it but just wanted to put it on you know for your awareness and if you had any issues or questions about that. Um it's towards the back actually might be the back of the packet here. Um also discuss some leaves and leave
replacements in various locations. Um and the job descriptions for co-curricular class advisors, they're also in the agenda packet. Um just for discussion and um you know just making sure that everybody knows what is in
those those job descriptions um to make sure that at the back end um folks are fulfilling their obligations um and also the stipens attached. So >> okay, thanks Jonathan. Yep.
>> Education, student activities. Kelly, >> yes, we had a meeting on December 4th. Um, and we talked about the KHS shadow days. Um, that's when the eighth graders come up to the high school and it was so successful that there's actually going to be two this year. There was one on November 21st and there's going to be another one on December 19th. And it's
really a great way for the students to like walk through the day and see all the amazing things that we're showcasing. Um, Mr. Pazika uh hosted the Stony Brook PE jam which is an annual event where multiple schools come to learn and share new ideas um for PE
classes at multiple chronological and developmental ages which is wonderful. We're so glad that he does that. It's been going on for a couple years now. That just happened on December 5th. Um we like the other committees talked about the co-curricular club descriptions. Um we know that those are up for approval tonight um to be voted
on. We also talked about the PRM and KHS draft schedules which I know the other committees talked about as well. Um we also talked about math enrichment at Keel School. I know that this had started a couple years ago when Mrs. Thomas had um reached out to try to get
the Title 4 grant funds to help our students that were struggling a little bit in math kind of mitigate that by going before school. And Mrs. Trumpetta and Mrs. Thomas were actually so excited to get this started that the first year they taught it themselves. Um, but I'm really happy to say that they found um a
permanent math teacher from KE, Melanie Lefredo, who's going to be uh teaching that this year. And we're so grateful that we have those those uh funds so that we can continue that. Um that's up in the agenda tonight as well. Um we're also looking into option two for
students at KHS. Um Mrs. Thomas just does such a wonderful job for advocating for our students if they come to her and are looking for things. So, if we have a varsity student um like a varsity athlete that's really competitive and competing at a high level and every
single day uh working out and training for that team should that child not be able to go to gym or somehow have those credits used. So, we're looking into that. We're trying to see if we can do that. And again, thank you Mrs. Thomas for always meeting our students needs. Um we again, Mrs. Thomas, you're just on
fire tonight. Thank you for all the work that you do. Um, we have had such a wonderful collaboration with Cedar Crest. Um, we just had our very first coffee clatch, which was it the official title. Um, and that was on December 9th for a retired educators group up at
Cedar Crest to come down and meet with the students that are in our future uh, teachers program. Um, and it was so wonderful to see there was more than a dozen people there and the students got to meet with these retired teachers and find out why they went into education, what education was like for them, how
they think education has changed through um, you know, the decades as they've been teaching. Um, and actually it was such a wonderful collaboration and it opened us up to more potential collaboration. So, we're actually going to be having quite a few professional groups from Cedarrest work with our
students. Um, there's a literary group that's going to be helping with our advanced creative writing class at the high school. There's also a theater group that's going to be supporting with our spring musical, which is Mamma Mia, that we're getting really excited about. Um, that's just an all-time favorite,
right? The the hits from that are fantastic. So, that should definitely be everybody should come out for that. Um, we also talked about how to kind of capture data for homeschooled students that are athletes within our middle school and high school programs. Um, we
know that the coaches have their contact information, but we want their contact information just in case anything happens or just to know. So, we did find out that there is a uh a way to capture that information in real time, which we are going to start doing. And it's actually really fortuitous and it's a good time to do that because starting
next September we're going to be using real time to register parents will be able to use real time to register their students for uh um sports and athletes and it's just an amazing opportunity to really streamline this process and have every single thing through real time and
then they people can pay parents can pay through pay school which um if your kids get hot lunch you're already using. So um that's going to be fantastic. Those are all great things coming. Um, we also found out that there's an app for platforms for sports communications. So,
we're going to streamline the um, communication with um, coaches at PRM and KHS reaching out to the team so that we can kind of just keep an eye on what communications are going out, how that's going out. And it's a really wonderful
platform. it's free to us and we can roll it out for all the teams uh to kind of create that continuity. Um I'm sure everybody who has a high schooler is familiar with Naviance. Uh usually we roll that out junior year, but we actually are already paying uh for it
for our students as soon as they begin nth grade. So we're going to be rolling that out starting now in ninth grade. Um and if you have students that are coming up to the college application process time, Naviance is integral. So the sooner that you can get on that, start familiarizing yourself with it, your
student can start familiarizing themselves with it, um I think it'll be really helpful. So I think it's going to be really beneficial to our parents to have access to that starting in ninth grade. So that was it. Busy meeting. >> Sounds like it. Okay. Thanks for all
that. Um is the the band app is that free or do we have to pay for it? I thought we had to pay for it. >> Yeah. Okay. I think it's because it's on for approval tonight, right? Yeah. That's what I thought. Okay. Um, policy, Jen.
>> Okay. We had a good policy meeting. We discussed uh developing a parental bill of rights. Uh, we're just in the discussion stage. We um were in support of the idea of creating something that um kind of lists how parents and should
can be should be involved in the education of their children. Um I sent around some um edit suggestions to the policy committee uh for future and this will get continue to you know will
continue to be worked on. Uh at the time of the meeting there were no hip first readings. We met on December 4th. Since then just one report came out if everybody was able to view that. So the first reading for HIP number 10 is on the agenda
tonight. And then the Freedom to Read Act is legislation that New Jersey passed earlier in the year. It um I believe aims to um support resources in the library, support
librarians in their ability to provide those resources, and be sure that there's a very detailed method to challenge any of those resources. So, Strausses S may put out a um
policy alert for us to look at some policies that should be revised and some that are mandated, new mandated. Uh so, we have a current policy in regulation 2530 and policy 9130. So, we reviewed
those recommendations from Strauss Esme and um made those recommendations and changes and that will be on the agenda tonight. And then we also looked at policy 2535,
which is a new one. And uh we had a lot of discussion on how best to follow the law on honor the intent of the law while still uh giving our kinolon community the ability to really have a say in in
resources and and things like that. So um we uh went ahead with that policy. We checked uh or Dave really checked on our behalf with the attorney to be sure that we're following the law and that policyy's on for tonight uh for first
reading as well. And then the last thing was the Kennelon High School Auditorium accept acceptable use policy and that's very straightforward and the committee's in favor of approving that. That's it. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Um All right. So, um, I do have some questions, but I'm going to go ahead. We'll go forward with the delegates. New Jersey School Boards Association, do you have anything, Jen, for NJSBA? No. Morris
County School Boards, anything? No. Uh, legislative rep. John, >> um, our meeting our meeting fell apart because of the holidays. >> Morris County Exe did you guys meet December? Was there a December meeting? I can't January. That's till January.
Community relations is that uh sorry KA liaison will be doing that in January. >> January 13th. >> January 13th. Okay. Um and then the other ones Kares has there been any N. And KF I still need to get with you
Carl. You and I and the two other people that were once involved and I just keep forgetting about it. So yeah, it's uh in limbo right now. Okay. Okay. Petitions and hearings of citizens for agenda items. Is there anybody here who wants
to say anything for agenda items? >> Good evening. My name is Julia Gutkin and I am the student council executive board vice president and a senior here at KHS. I'm here to address proposed changes for the upcoming school year and to share concerns on behalf of the high
school student body. While we understand that change is sometimes necessary to address district-wide challenges, it is critical to consider how these proposals may directly impact high school students, many of whom feel their needs have not been fully considered. The first
proposal involves sharing busing between PRM and KHS, resulting in identical start and end times. While this might appear efficient, it overlooks the unique academic and extracurricular demands of high school students. Many rely on staggered schedules to balance
athletics, jobs, volunteering, advanced coursework, college applications, and mental health. Aligning schedules may reduce costs, but it removes the flexibility that high school students depend on. The second proposal involves bringing eighth graders and potentially seventh
graders into KHS. Whether through half-day electives or full day attendance, this raises serious concerns. KHS is already crowded and adding middle school level students would increase hallway congestion, strain cafeteria space, limit access to
electives and senior privileges, and raise safety concerns with frequent student movement. High school students should not lose access to resources or space due to overcrowding elsewhere. The third proposal continues or expands staff sharing between PRM and KHS. While
we recognize staffing shortages, shared staff reduces consistency and weakens student teacher relationships. High school students benefit most from teachers who are fully present and invested in their courses. Finally, eliminating the drop schedule and replacing it with nine short periods
undermines high school learning. High school classes, especially AP and dual enrollment, require long periods for labs, discussion, and deeper understanding. Shortened classes do not reflect college level expectations or student learning needs. In closing, we urge the board to slow down, seek
student input, and reconsider how these changes impact high school students education and their well-being. Thank you for your time and listening. >> Thank you, Julia. Good. Good evening. My name is Beni Patel and I'm a junior at Kennalan High School. I'm captain of the girls tennis
team, a member of the executive board, and administrative assistant for NJC, and I hold four leadership positions at our school. I'm here to speak about concerns regarding adding eighth graders to the high school and eliminating our block schedule. As a student currently taking AP courses, I know firsthand how
essential block scheduling is. Fewer classes per day allows students to manage regular classwork, complete homework thoroughly, and prepare for exams. At KHS, students often have at least two exams per week, and stay up late until the next day to keep up. More classes a day will push students towards
AI shortcuts, which diminishes the purpose of homework just to maintain a grade. Requiring students to attend every class daily would make completing assignments, studying, and participating in extracurricular activities almost impossible. Just this week, I have six exams and without a drop schedule, I'd
be unable to adequately prepare for each exam and come here today. Having shorter class periods also reduces instructional quality as teachers will get a little little prep time and as a result, research also shows that shorter periods limit learning efficiency and attention.
Not only will learning be affected, but labs will be rushed and broken into segments, reducing hands-on learning and meaningful analysis. The College Board emphasizes that AP students require sustained focused time to to grasp concepts and with shortened blocks, this
is just not possible. Additionally, moving eighth graders to KHS will raise concerns for KHS students right now. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that students aged 12 to 13 are more vulnerable to anxiety and social stress, and studies show increased emotional
safety concerns when younger students are placed in high school environments. Middle schools are specifically designed to support this transitional stage, not a high school. Additionally, adding a full grade will strain physical space. The National Center of Education Statistics notes that overcrowding
increases stress and behavioral issues. Our cafeterias are already overcrowded and our hallways are packed, especially with the new locker mandate. Adding more students will just worsen the congestion and create issues, not solve any. Thank you for listening and I understand how complex these choices are and I truly
appreciate your effort to balance the logistics and resources and determine what's truly best for KHS students. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Julia and Salony for speaking. I know it's not always easy. So thank you for coming up and representing your
um your school. There's just one um thing I would like to >> Yes, please. Please come on. >> Good evening. uh John Marshall 111 Facing Lakes Road. First of all, that was really impressive. I those two students extremely well spoken and I
think they probably stole half of what I was going to say actually. But uh for those who don't know me, I'm actually a 1997 graduate of KHS. I sat here on for two years as a student representative. Also taught at and coached at the high school from 01 to07. And I totally understand you guys are
having a lot of challenging decisions to make. I've been a member of a public charter school board for 14 years. Sorry. So, I get it and I appreciate uh your service here. Um the the one issue that I really came up to to address was the uh the change in the high school schedule. I know things are still kind
of in flux and in discussion. I would really urge you to uh to keep the the drop schedule, the uh the rotating block. It is the gold standard uh for what high school scheduling should be. I actually have the unique position. I was
here on this board when we made the decision to go from what at that time was called the straight eight to the rotating block in 1995. Uh so I did my first two years of high school under the straight eight. My second two years under the rotating block it was
dramatically better for the students and then as I came back as a faculty member it was dramatically better on the faculty side as well. Um the you know when you think about a 40-minute period that you lose a couple minutes at the beginning, you lose a couple minutes at
the end, you're down to 33 to 35 minutes of actual instructional time. The result is you get much more direct instruction. You have very uh um many fewer opportunities for good discussion when when you have opportunities to do
activities to move desks around. You just don't have the time in the shortened block. Uh I've been an administrator in schools um that have used that that have then switched to a rotating block and you see the improvement. In fact uh as one of the
young ladies pointed out research actually shows that uh teacher practice scores improve when you go from a 40 minute to a 60-minute period at the high school. Um part of my dissertation was about how do you allocate time on uh on
task in schools? how you spend your time is where you place your value. And I really think that the the rotation and as a teacher there's I could give you a whole list of ways like not seeing the kids at the same time every day, being able to uh uh plan your lessons in such
a way that you have uh extended periods for first direct instruction, then some independent practice, bring things together for uh collaboration. That's really where uh good instructors can shine. Um and by shortening the
periods for older students, it um and especially in AP classes, it really is a would I think really impact in a negative way the quality of instruction. So I would just urge you as you kind of think through these things um
try to try to preserve the rotating block schedule. it is uh the way the best option I think out there on the uh on the market of ideas right now. So thank you thank you all for coming up. Uh
just to um address the crowding in the schools. This school is built to handle almost 800 students. 784 is that the capacity I forget. 774 >> 774 um and we're down to under 500. So I
there was additional wings built and more space put in. So I I don't see how crowding would be an issue should we decide to move um create a middle school within this building. Um the premise for
adding the seventh and eighth grade or eighth grade is to save jobs actually because as our enrollment declines, it'll be hard to financially justify the number of electives we have and the number of teachers we have. Um our goal
is to keep them because there is a little bit of a saddle in population right now moving into the high school and the numbers behind in the lower grades do increase. So we have lower
enrollment right now between um rising nth graders into the high school and the numbers in the high school continue to decline. We don't want to lose the initiatives of the electives we have. So, we're trying to be creative in a way that we can keep that keep those those
opportunities available for our students without cutting staff based on the number of kids we don't we don't have anymore. Um, that said, we're also looking at exposing our eighth graders to the awesome electives that we have here in the high school because we feel
that um from a developmental stage, they're ready for some of those classes. Um it's a very challenging situation we're trying to deal with. I would agree that the ad drop um schedule is is a is a good one. Um but we're looking at all
options to try to match this up as best we can to provide the best experience for our students. They're ongoing discussions and we will be engaging the community and the students as we go through and look at all the facts. And the first step is to go to schools that
are 712 right now. similar size districts. Some are even larger than us and they have they have gone to a 712 uh building with a middle school like a junior high and a high school in one uh facility. And that also dubtales with
our freshman academy where we're looking to create a separate academy for ninth graders to introduce them into the high school where we build in executive functioning skills and time management and study habits on top of just the
other uh courses that are required in the state. And that might be something we do with eth and nth graders like Mr. U Mango briefed with like a junior high kind of idea. These are all ideas. There are suggestions. We're we're looking at data. We're going to be engaging the
community. For parents and community members, we welcome you to come to the CI citizen advisory committee meetings. We meet at 6:30 before every board meeting. Um please reach out to Mr. Mango to be added to that and he will connect you. Um and if they if we get
even more people involved, we might even separate that into a separate subcommittee to address uh bringing in um changing, you know, changing the schedule and changing how we even organize the seventh and eighth grade with the high school. But these are all exploratory things in ways to save jobs,
to use the most effective way to keep our amazing courses available to all our students, and to introduce our eighth graders who we think are really developmentally ready for maybe a cooking class or an industrial arts class or a ceramics class that is not
currently offered at PRM and even maybe some more advanced music and language. So, those are things that we want to offer our eighth graders, but it's really hard to do that when the schedules are completely different. Um, and it's a challenge. So, I know we have
an awesome central office staff. They're doing the [snorts] research and we're going to be engaging the community to get feedback from them, from from parents and from students. So, this is a great opportunity for you to come up and speak and share your concerns with us. Um, I share them as well. there there
are a lot of the things that you mentioned that the board is agrees with. Uh everything's a trade-off though. So, we're going to be considering all those factors and we'll continue engaging the community as we go through our decision-m process. You >> want anything?
>> I could just add to that. Um the transportation, I could understand how maybe upper classmen aren't happy about mixing on buses, but I will tell you that's a foregone conclusion that's happening. that saves the district on our draft hundreds of thousands of dollars in the upcoming budget
development. And quite honestly, um, buses are empty and we can't treat the district as if it's Burger King and everybody has it their own way. I want to take the bus today, I don't want to take it tomorrow. We're paying and our taxpayers are actually paying, all of us that live in town as residents,
a lot of money on those buses. And that's also why we're looking at courtesy busing as well. Um because anybody outside the two and a half anybody inside the two and a half mile radius for a high school and any any elementary to K any K8 student um within
a two mile rad a two-mile radius K8 2 and a half mile for the high school that's a gift. So if we're not using them the capacity and they're not filled then why are we paying for them? Why are we managing them? As far as sharing staff, that's optimal. That's a that's a
financial business decision that several districts operate under and that's what I'm accustomed to and that's the marching order to see how we can share. As far as the schedule's concerned, I think Mr. Suda and his team have come up with some good alternatives for eighth
graders if the eighth graders um are not infused into our building with staff full-time. But at the same time, Mrs. Trombetta and her scheduling brilliance that she has um came up with a rotation also for eighth grade to stay. So the rotation stays. Now I will
say as a former high school teacher of a traditional nine blockb day and a former assistant principal of a traditional eight block nineb block day and principal of high school nineblock and superintendent. It's much easier to manage. It's more
financially savvy. may not be popular but for the same reasons that was shared more or less I don't have to have that class every day at the same time and for teachers it's the same deal I don't see that class at the same time because I know because I had those classes those challenges after lunch as a former high
school teacher first period's asleep ninth period nobody wants to hear anything I understand I get it but schedules do not dictate the budget the budget dictates our schedules and what we can actually and that's just where we
are. Um, that doesn't mean we're going to do it. Just means it's our job to explore it as a possibility. Um, but like I said, if eighth grade did come over, there is an opportunity to just keep the rotation and eighth grade would be part
of it. Um, that's really where we are and that's that's all I know at this point to share. We'll know more by the end of January when we do our site visits, we meet with the PRMH HSA. Um, and then that leads into February and our options to lead into the preliminary
budget and going forward. And you know, kind of like when we brought up a referendum in the district goals last year, but we decided to move that down the line. Doesn't mean even if we are agreeable, it means if we could still maintain and want to wait another year to see where we are financially, where
the state is, then maybe you hold off for a year. Um, but at least you have a plan in place in case you need it because the fact remains that our building does have the capacity to hold 774 students and we haven't been there in almost a decade and actually over a
decade and um that's why I I contacted Bootin two years ago high school uh elementary K to come here and not go to Mount Lynx. So that was me and where um where we're going PRM could
hold up to 540 students. They're not close. They're 3 377. Like we have space and we have buildings that are in need and dire need of upgrades. So that so unfortunately for young folks, for our students, it's a great finance business lesson, but for
us up here, it's it these are challenges for us to to manage. Uh and no different than in life when you own your own home. So um but that's where we are. I I appreciate our students coming up and you Mr. Marshall sharing your input. Um, and it's kind of like one of those just
stay tuned. It's all but we will not one thing I can promise you as much as I'll give you the information whether you like it or not or you appreciate it or not, nobody makes a knee-jerk reaction. And that includes Stonyie Brook. So I'm going to say that one more time to please share it. Just because I will present something doesn't mean it's
going to happen. Just means it's good to know it can if you had to. That's all. So um that's That's all I have. >> Yeah, they're plans that we have. If they we [snorts] need to execute them because budgetary requirements require
them, then we have them and we'll be engaging the community if we go down that road. But right now, the only thing that is for sure for sure is we are consolidating the busing routes. We're pushing the high school start time back 15 minutes to give the high school kids more time in the morning. Um the buses
are empty. We took it, we've been taking attendance for over a year. The most kids on a bus I think is 26 out of a 54 capacity bus. I know the high school bus that goes in Smoke R is empty. It goes by my my And what will it also do is
there'll actually be more buses now. So instead of Smoke R having one bus, there'll be more buses and Smoke R. It will stop in more consolidated areas, but there'll be more buses. So, you'll spend less time on the bus, which will be nice because I know some of the bus
routes you're on the bus for a long time and that will go away. Um, and at the high school, most of the kids drive or get driven. Um, that's that's why we just have so few people on the bus. But the busing will still be available for you to go just like it is right now.
You'll have a bus pick you up and bus take you home just like it's available right now. it just will also go to to PRM to pick up PRM. >> And what we're trying also where I'll I'll need the help of the student councils is the idling in the morning.
So, um if our students are getting picked up, let's just say at 6 6:15 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. they come to the high school and you're sitting outside on a bus for 20 minutes before you're coming in the building. Maybe we could adjust even that even further to make it a
little bit more feasible for our young people that are getting up and I know you have a lot of late nights once you hit the high school or even the eighth grade um between practices and commitments and everything else. So um just you know come January in student council we're going to have a lot of
conversations about that stuff. So, uh, that input will be valuable to us in making those decisions for transportation next year because we don't want our students sitting on buses extra long in the morning. It's ridiculous. Or being out any earlier than they have to be. So,
good points tonight. >> Okay. Thank you for bringing those up to us. Okay. Agenda items. Uh, what I'd like to do is make a motion for a block vote, a roll call on the block vote for agenda items A, B, C, D, and E as
amended on the agenda. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion on the agenda items ABC, CCD, and D. >> Have a good night everybody. Sorry it was a little bit later.
>> Okay. I did have a question on the policy 2535. You said this was completely new, Jen. That one. Okay. So, that's the is that the one
which is the one the process is that the process to have it removed where the committee's formed >> or is that resource materials? No, the the regulation 2535, the really new one, that's that one whole process, right, where you have to have a
committee. >> That was the one we revised as well with Jen was extremely helpful in policy and then through um we worked with Jeff Molino as well. So what we need to do then I'm going to suggest that uh when we do reorg that
liaison becomes that committee because liaison the leaison committee only meets like once a quarter >> and we have to have a committee then for this. Oh, that's fine. >> Then we'll just create the le on whatever committee that that will be the
committee that fulfills that need because it has to meet and do a report at the end of the year. So, and the the the new library material that requires so if someone wants to have library material removed, you have to have a committee of
three board members, three KA. >> Yeah. That's only if it if they ask. That's if they ask. >> Isn't there a report to at the end of the year though? >> No, that's that's only if somebody requests something, >> right? >> By the terms of the policy.
>> Oh, it's just one board member >> and it's selected by um superintendent or delegate of the superintendent. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. >> But we'll definitely go over this CAC in general as well. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Well, it's just the first reading, so we can discuss it
again. Okay. Um, anybody have any other questions or anything on any of the agenda items? >> No, >> I do have uh Lauren and I and um Amanda and Kaitlin have a meeting with KA are our typical once a month on Thursday.
>> So, I will bring them the um >> the draft for the sick day bank and >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Let them take it back to the to their folks and we'll stay tuned if we >> Okay. on the on the sick day bank that's not administered by us that's administered
by >> the KA and we just have to approve and allow them to do it. >> Yes, that work that works through them. >> Yeah. It's completely voluntary and the board has to say yes or say no. >> Like if I guess what would be our responsibility as a board if that
existed? What? >> Yeah, there's a committee there but that's on them. We just say yes or no. They come to us if they have a certain circumstance and they >> Yeah. And they bring it to us >> to say what we're looking for. >> There's three board members. Is this I
got them mixed up. Okay. >> So it's just >> So this should be less. Yeah. That would just be leazison then. Okay. Okay. Great. Um anybody have any other questions discussion? No. Okay. Could you pull the board please?
>> Mr. Myers. Mrs. Pella. Mr. Pepe. >> Uh, yes, except D1 number 10 because I just didn't get a chance to read it. >> Abstain of D1. >> D110 will be an abstain. >> Okay. Yep. Yep. No problem. U Mrs.
Portman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Eisener. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Donaldson. >> Yes. Okay. [snorts] Um, all right. Committee of the whole. Nothing. Unfinished business. Does anybody have any unfinished business? No. New business is the sick day bank
proposal. Um, anybody have any discussion on that? I think we've all talked about it. Okay. Anything on that? All right. Correspondents. Do we have any correspondence, emails? Anything digitally? Nothing. Okay. Petitions and hearing citizens for non-aggenda items.
Does anybody have non-aggenda items or anything they want to know come up and tell us what a great job? No, just kidding. Okay. Okay. I don't know if this is a little premature, but I just want to thank Jen Portman because tonight is your last
board meeting. So, I just want to thank you personally working with you through the committee meetings. It's been meaningful to work with you, especially on the ed committee this year, but um you anything that's presented to you, you very carefully consider all of the
information. So, for me, I don't want to put words in Dave's mouth, but I know it makes our job a lot easier and a lot smoother when there's that extra fine eye that we know we're going to get from Jen Portman. So, I do thank you for your dedication, your service. I really
enjoyed working with you. So, thank you. >> Okay. Well, I was going to save that for board member comments. [laughter] Oh, okay. I was also gonna say thank you again obviously thank you so much for your service great to have you as a friend. Uh and
also I would just like to say another nice piece sitting here tonight I had my my account and I could have missed a few 11 former students who were here tonight as parents getting recognized for their kids. So it's a kind of it's a great community and it's a you know I thank
you guys for the work you put in to keep it that way. >> Appreciate you coming tonight. Okay, >> where we are if you need anything. >> Jen, thank you for all the for being on the board, for saying yes to doing it, and we are going to miss you.
[applause] you know, I I'm filled with gratitude. Um, and I leave with a big smile because it has been really fantastic work that we've done and we've done it together. Um, this is truly an all-star team and I
I say that with complete sincerity. I don't think that happens very often. So, I am very grateful that my time here was spent with each one of you. Um, from Dave as a superintendent, Lauren, an
excellent curriculum advisor, Gan a great president, and then each one of you, excuse me, Caitlyn too. Um, each one of you uh just bring something different. I was saying that to Dave or we were saying that uh earlier
to the table. Um, and there's no dead weight, which I think is rare. Um, and there's not really personal agendas, which is also rare. And I think that is um, what has made this so enjoyable for
me. It is hard work. Um, but it's good work. And I've enjoyed every minute of it. Uh, I have to thank my husband because he has kind of kept things together um, in order for me to do this. So, I really appreciate that. Uh I
appreciate the staff for taking they're very talented and they take the initiatives and the directives that we come up with sometimes because of budget constraints. Sometimes it's because we think this is
what's best for education. Um and they uh do an excellent job at creating taking that initiative and putting it into action and creating a an amazing educational environment that our kids really thrive in. I know my boys are now
in college and they are doing great. They were wellprepared and um I owe a very big thank you to the staff. Um, and uh, I want to thank the students and families of the community as well
because Kennelon really is special. Just like you were saying, John, um, not too many places have what we have and that was one of the big reasons I wanted to be on the board was I wanted
that to stay. And sometimes you can really see the craziness of the world lurking and um I didn't want that special quality of Kennelon for our students especially to
be compromised. And so uh that was kind of my why. And so I appreciate all the families. I want to say good luck to Melissa. Um thank you for stepping up. She's going to do a great job. I'm excited to see um all that you uh
accomplish as well. And that's it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Jen. Okay. Does you have anything, Frank? Carl, Kelly, >> John,
>> just don't be a stranger. >> Dave. >> Yeah. Well, [clears throat] I know I'm somebody who believes in expiration dates, and I really do about everything in life and chapters closing, and I know it's time. I just wish we had a little bit more time. And I want to um
personally thank you for all the times that I know I disrupt everybody's life here at the table with those texts and with those calls and those messages Saturday, Sunday, during the week, at night, late. I know it's a disruption to your homes. And I know what we've gone through in the last
three years. And I also want to thank you personally for uh treating me as a superintendent with respect and dignity and uh never taking any cheap shots. Nobody on our board ever does that. Um but you didn't do it. And even sometimes when I might have been wrong, you had
the decency to pull me to the side and talk to me like a human being. And uh that goes a long way. So thank you. You'll be missed, but you know where I am. All right, Melissa, we got you. You're gonna be great. >> Okay, Melissa. >> Yeah, we'll miss you though, Jen. All
right, I wish everybody a happy and healthy holiday and we will see you in the new year. We now have to go into executive. So, may I have a motion to go into Ze? Go ahead, Jen. Motion.
>> Second. Okay, that concludes the public meeting. We're going to go into executive session. >> Oh, sorry. New.