##VIDEO ID:r5Wx9dSs9uM## e e e e e e e e e e e e e privacy and specifically this evening Hib formal action will not be taken and exe executive session should last about 20 minutes um can I have a motion to move to exec session moved second all in favor I I thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Avery I saw good evening hello everybody and thank you for coming to our board meeting we have a beautiful Full House tonight um the open public meeting statement the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanc notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon as required under law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided via email and or fact to the times the Lawrence Ledger the public library and has been filed with the municipal clerk this notice was provided prior to the 48 Hours required by the open public meetings act the board reserves the right to limit public discussion of personnel items and other matters as defined in the law we'll do our flag salute I to United States stand God indivisible withy andice for all thank you okay do we have student Representatives here tonight come on down up whever not yet oh sorry our high school friends hi my name is Ry Patel and um I'm a member at Lawrence High School or student at Lawrence High School um the Lawrence High School Science Olympia team competed at regionals on January 14th at the cden County at the Camden County Community College we medled in a total of five events bunge jump Dynamic Planet entomology helicopter and micro Mission overall as a team we placed at eth giving us a chance to compete at States good evening everyone my name is Isaac Park and I'm a senior here at Lawrence High School on behalf of the Lawrence High School Marching Band We would like to thank the ltef for providing us with the liar liar music on phone Grant in order to purchase new phone Liars for our musicians we have recently received the new liars and the whole band is excited to use them in our upcoming Southern California trip and future performances hi my name is Shai parara I'm going to be talking about our school STEM Academy our last seminar was about marine biology where we had our first dissection lab where we dissected our starfish and had over 50 people show up our next upcoming seminar is next Wednesday for our Pharmacy seminar and we're going to have have a chemistry based lab and we have a couple more events lined up for the next couple of months great thank you good evening my name is Nara Lim and I'm pleased to announce that International lies will be hosting their annual lunar night here at the high school cafeteria on February 7th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. we invite everyone to celebrate Lunar New Year and indulge in East Asian culture through a series of games performances and food thank you thank you okay thank you so much you guys are welcome to stay or leave whatever whatever you want is good uh recognitions and acknowledgements all right so January is Board of Education appreciation month we are so thankful for all of our dedicated board members who work tirelessly to support our schools students and Community to our Board of Education on behalf of the Lawrence Township Public Schools we want to thank you for your service your passion your dedication and for making our district a place that every student belongs and succeeds this year our lower elementary schools wanted to express their gratitude through the Arts you have already read some letters out on the table from our Dragon friends at Lees also you may have noticed the paper weights right here at the Das for each of you from our Ben Franklin friends let's give a special thanks to miss and Mr bracket's class and Miss hickey for providing this token of their appreciation they wanted you to know that ltps board of ed put in hours and hours of their own time for this District Wonder for this wonderful place they said you rock I now there they are yeah I'd now like to call up Miss Deb lingle's class of second graders from Eldridge Park they have two songs of appreciation for our Board of Education come on up friends oh I love it if parents want to come up and get a picture feel free to come up and you can watch them from this side good evening everyone I have some amazing second graders from EPS here tonight and our first selection is a song that they performed last month at their concert so here's a little bit of winter cheer for everyone through the jle jle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle bell jingle bell Jingle Bell that's the jingle bell is the Jingle Bell great job second graders you guys did awesome and we have one more song for you since it is board member appreciation month we have a special song showing our appreciation for all of you and for all that you do we are appreciate you we think you are great we appreciate you yeah you really you make us so happy with the things you say oh we app appreciate you we think you are PE we appreciate you yeah you can you make us so happy with the you say and do we appre you you we appreciate you we think you are cool we appreciate you yeah you really you make us so happy good things you say and do appreciate you we appreciate you appre you you awesome job second graders thank you so much to all of you for coming tonight and thank you so much to the board of ed for all that you do for us that was so thank you that was really wonderful you you you guys did a great job you thanks to the parents for coming on the cold than you parents yes adorable have that in your oh yeah sure thank you friends stay warm awesome well thank you for harnessing The Joy EPS that was beautiful I wanted to see if uh Miss Michaela Ames Whitfield wanted to join us at the podium to describe for the Board of Education the beautiful frames they have in front of them hi from our slackwood school hi so in front of you our third graders created a mosaic collaborative project and it's for you guys for Board of Education appreciation month and we appreciate all that you guys do so these for you guys thank you so much thank you tell the kids how much we love it all of our students agree we do have the board best board around so thank you okay okay option of the minutes um can I have a motion to adopt the executive session and regular session minutes from the 1 to 2025 meeting fil Mo with a motion and a second Tom Mr Clark here you okay Miss Evans yes Miss Kroger yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pasculli yes Miss Santos yes Mr van he yes and did I see Dr King coming in yes okay and Miss B yes motion carried um and a motion to adopt the regular session minutes from the 1211 2024 meeting so moved second with a motion and a second time and Evans yeah and Miss Evans yes Miss Kroger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pasculli yes Miss sentos yes Mr van yes Miss Bose yes motion carried thank you reports to the board uh superintendent's report so I'd like to start my report off tonight inviting Miss Bonnie Giglio up to the podium to announce our winter Grant award and then afterwards we will pause for a picture and I'll invite the board to meet me over in the well for a quick picture with the check hello good evening that is a really tough act to follow I will not be singing or Dan dancing maybe no none of that I appreciate you um my name is Bonnie Giglio I'm the executive director of the ltf I'm here tonight to present the ltps Board of Education with a check for $15,700 in support of a special winter Grant entitled Lis career exploration VR simulations this grant will provide Lis students with six transfer VR headsets and the accompanying Tools in addition ltps will have access to TS with over 100 occupation so students can explore and find their individual Pathways this grant addresses the critical need to provide Equitable access to Career exploration and college readiness opportunities for all students particularly those from under represented groups despite the district's efforts many students still face barriers to exploring diverse career Pathways due to a lack of exposure to real world applications tools and experiences this project leverages virtual reality technology to bridge that Gap fostering a sense of belonging and engagement in Student Activities by offering Hands-On immersive experiences that cater to various learning styles and interest it also creates opportunities to prepare students with special needs for life and workplace Readiness furthering the district's commitment to inclusivity and Equity creating a link between academic subjects and real world applications Fosters a why this matters mentality when students explore from a young age what excites or captivates them they develop an early understanding of how personal passions can align with professional Pursuits activities like the interest inventory help students recognize patterns in their preferences whether they enjoy building creating problem solving or helping others the ltf is funding this pilot program this grant cycle and there are plans for the district to continue this program in the following years making this a true partnership between the ltef and the district the ltef is honored to be part of this project and we can't wait to in action at the intermediate school I want to thank Dr clim and her office for applying for such an Innovative and exciting Grant and I thank the Boe for accepting the funding and for all that you do for our children thank you if I can have the board members come over for a picture thanks was money e e one other important announcement I'd like to share is that our preschool Lottery applic application process is now posted on our website and we'll be accepting applications as of February 3rd so please spread the news for any upcoming three-year-olds and four-year-olds for next school year you can visit our website for more information now I'll be standing at the Pres I'm going to move to the podium for two presentations uh first I'll be reviewing um the midyear goal review um for my superintendent goals to share with the Board of Education our progress followed by the ltps delegation to China and Taiwan present okay um I've been speaking a lot with um our board president Michelle Bose about one revision to the community goal that I had and I'm going to review it with the public this evening so these are the re revised goals for this evening this board would like to get into the practice of revisiting our goals at least once a year as a midyear check-in for Fidelity so just as a reminder to everyone to stay true to the Strategic plan I do want to point out that this plan now is three years old in its Inception um we have stayed the course of you know achievement and equity and diversity um this plan really is all-encompassing of wellness and everything that drives student achievement this this spring we will be embarking on a new strategic plan process with this board of education sort of a fresh dive into our data to really take a look at the the trends and the academic needs of our students so I'm really excited about that process so that'll be forthcoming so superintendent goals just to remind everyone um goal one was really student belonging through career and college readiness opportunities um we are definitely in the times of needing to embark on some some vocational training for students and making sure there's accessibility for all careers in all Fields not just the college tracks um working really deeply with this goal and the leadership team up at the high school to create a public service Academy which is going to be ready to be launched not next year but the following so we feel very proud that we're starting to create careers and Pathways for students so that they can achieve their goals and some certain certifications along the way so that they're employable while they're in high school which is really important to really dip their toe into some of these College and Career experiences Miss giggle already shared um that one of the pieces of this goal is to really start career exploration earlier so we're looking to bring that virtual reality experience to Lis so I feel very proud and she did a deep dive into that so that'll be under way the purchasing is happening and I'm working with Dr fiser at Lis and exactly how we're going to roll that out through some some of the specials classes um the idea of that particular Grant is that it really touches the lives of every student at Lis so they'll have an opportunity to do a big deep dive into career exploration before they get up to the Middle School the goal to um we want to revisit um one of the objectives um so in red you'll see you know by the end of the third quarter 2425 we had plan to organize you know 20 community events designed to Foster an open communication and build trusting relationships with stakeholders the original goal with the objective underneath really spoke to um a pre and a post assessment but what we realized as we worked through this goal the first four months of the year is that we're not getting the same constituents out to really do a clean pre- and post assessment ideally um Miss baleri does survey the public and we're just we're not able to address all of the questions it's not matching up as a good metric to measure the goal so rather than sort of this pre poost assessment on how well we're doing with the community conversation and topics what we decided to do is really capture the amount of work that we're doing in the community really designed to Foster District connections you know I'll give you an example we have spoken at you know we've opened up town halls we are at the Hispanic heritage night and talking to the new Association that was formed in Lawrence we have gone to the senior center we're really trying to make sure that we meet the needs of all of our stakeholder groups in the district and making sure that community members and families feel that they can safely you know ask questions and that we'll be transparent in response um so that's really sort of that strategic place of you know making sure that we're addressing needs um that's really the the change that I wanted to propose for the board this evening the last goal is around um you know our preschool which is you know us diving into Community Partnerships building an operational plan that includes a hybrid approach for posibility for our families what I mean by that is the Department of Ed has charged us with that state aid to Foster connections with Community providers we have a plan to open up um classrooms over at the Lawrence Day School it's over on Quakerbridge Road we're in conversation with that daycare provider to turn it into classrooms that would mirror um the same type of curriculum training assessments and design for curriculum that would happen in District so essentially it would be an outof District site and location but again that hybrid approach of if you have an infant and a three-year-old that might be an ideal location right for your child to start preschool versus some of the community schools that it might be two separate drops if you have a little guy at home um so we're really moving forward on working towards that um I just want to give a shout out to miss parto who is our new Early Childhood educator uh she's our brand new supervisor she started just under a year ago and next year we will proudly be serving almost half of our projected preschool Universe of 250 kids our full universe is 500 so a shout out to her for using Community Resources and flexibility of space with the help of Mr Eldridge as we dive through the facilities and really take a look at what we've got so that's thank you that's my midyear goal presentation next up I'm going to call my counterparts up go that I just want to see if anybody on the board had any questions or comments or feedback or or anything then we want to give our full attention to the next part of the evening I think it's it's just so exciting to see that you are looking for feedback you're sharing with us the communication is going both ways and we appreciate the time and effort that you put in to communicating with us and also listening so thank you thank you and I apologize for my back the presentation is to the board of education so that's why we're facing that okay I have my colleagues join me up front all right glasses on and off for this one all right good evening Board of Ed colleagues and community members it really was a true joy to share the highlights of our recent delegation to China and Taiwan a journey that was both inspiring and enlightening from December 10th through December 20th our team embarked on this incredible Adventure traveling over 24 hours to cross the international dat line and arrive at our first stop Beijing from there we boarded a high-speed train to Shanghai reaching speeds of 217 milph a testament to The Innovation and efficiency of China's rail system we wrapped up our travels with a flight to Taiwan where we completed this Unforgettable experience our travels were made possible by the generous support of the international Partnership of educational research Finly known as I perk and the new taipe city government which covered all Hotel expenses accommodations meals and cultural experiences their sponsorship of all of us significantly reduced the cost to the district with the Board of Education simply funding the airfare Which is far less than the cost of what we would ask for our team to travel to a National Conference so thank you our journey our journey aligns perfectly with our district goals including building Partnerships to prepare students for the global economy strengthening preschool practices and developmental Readiness and creating opportunities for connection exchanges and collaboration along the way we gained valuable insights into Innovative practices in education curriculum design design and Global collaboration that will directly benefit our students and staff this partnership has had a meaningful impact on our district from inspiring Global mindedness to creating new opportunities for equity and Innovation even including our upcoming strategic planning process tonight we will share the history of these Partnerships our lessons learned and Reflections from our leadership team we'll even wrap up with a small cultural lesson to bring a piece of the experience home and because it's New Jersey school board's recognition month we invite you to jojoy some enjoy some tea and snacks now served by our students so I'd like to invite Julia and azy to the podium to provide a token of thanks and dedication good evening everyone I am isoim and I am the sophomore class president hi I'm Julia and I'm a Soph first and foremost we want to say a big thank you to Lawrence Township for the opportunity to make connections with overseas schools not only through Zoom meetings but with inperson connections and friendships recently we as a community had the opportunity to host exchange students from nonan Shanghai through our sister school program meeting them in person was such a powerful experience all my online friends who were once just faces on a screen became a reality my fellow classmates and I were over the moon as we had opportunities like no other sharing laughter stories and creating memories that will be cherished forever this gave us the opportunity to experience new cultures outside of our own we were able to exchange gifts like this one it now represents our friendships and bonds that will never be broken my partner's name was Alvin Alvin is a 16-year-old boy who was when I first met him shy and timid as he was in a new school and new environment and he was way from his classmates as he had to Shadow me and follow me to all my classes but as he became more comfortable with not only the school environment but with me he slowly became to crack out of his shell and express and showcase him and his culture though his strip was shortlived it gave not only me and Alvin but other students the opportunity to continue our friendship outside of just a sister school as he left on his journey to different schools I wondered if I would be able to experience the same joy that my partner Alvin has got experien a new world outside of his own my student was named Ron he was incredibly kind and helpful I noticed that some of the students looked up to him as he was 17 years old and one of the oldest in the group he was also the most fluent in English and many of his peers looked up to him for that I want to be like Ron I want to be someone who's dependable and someone who my classmates can rely he was in he has inspired me ever since that day this experience has stayed with me and will forever it has made many of my classmates dream of taking the Next Step traveling abroad ourselves we've been imagining what it could be like to visit Taiwan to immerse ourselves in the culture build even stronger connections and see Shang uh see the world through new eyes the way that the students from Nang Shang haai did at Lawrence High School I truly believe this could be a life-changing opportunity for us to be able to experience the things we've only been able to read about and see on TV this could truly bring our learning to life in a whole different way than we ever anticipated so we're here today to ask your for for your support to make this dream a reality not just for me but for all of us who hope to grow through this through these connections making our Zoom meetings come to life thank you very much Che I'm going to be the filler um so one thing that was really unique about our experience was the amazing Hospitality that we felt while we were um in all of the cities that we visited and at every meeting that we had and every signing of a memorandum of agreement or debriefing that we had with school Administration we were welcomed with these beautiful name tags and so we wanted to replicate them for you um we always had our name in English and then also our name um in Chinese and it was just such a really beautiful experience they took the time to really make everything so aesthetically pleasing and serice wonderful snacks for us to experience that are different from our own culture and I think we all found that to be incredibly um welcoming and really just kind of allowed us to come in and feel very special in in their home so enjoy from us if you don't have time to eat it we have little bags for you to take them home thank you thank you Miss I believe tea is being served so uh pretty exciting um hi everyone um my name is G muzi very first I want to reiterate what Dr glim said um thanking the board so much for the support of this trip it really was an amazing experience my job on our presentation is to give you all like a quick history of our Chinese and Taiwan on Partnerships some of you may not know how far they go back other ones do know how far it um goes back uh we really have enjoyed uh a lot of our um you know colleagues traveling abroad and also as our students from the high school just explained having visitors join us here um this is over the course of many years and the district has benefited tremendously from these interactions um we've really grown as a district and our students have grown also um ltps 15 years of a global partnership goes all the way back to you know 2010 Ben Franklin and gianan Elementary in Taiwan were the first sister schools that we entered into and that program continued to grow for more than nine years um in the following year in 2011 taiwan's minister of education and the chairman of the environmental Administration actually visited ltps they toured our schools it was a really big deal the commissioner of Education came from Trenton to be with us so really was impressive that this big event happened uh in 2013 Dr Allison fiser and miss Lynn visited China as part of a 300 member educator Chinese Bridge delegation that was supported by college board they traveled with a large group went to a lot of schools were able to bring back a lot of things that they learned uh in 2014 I actually went as part of a Eco schools initiative that was sponsored by the United States EPA and it was focused on eco literacy a lot of the things that I brought back on that trip really became the backbone of some of our data collection on this dreamkeeper project which is a project that Still Remains at Ben Franklin in 2015 um Mr Tom Eldridge and miss Lynn visited China part of a team dedicated to Innovation problem solving they were looking closely at schools that delegation was part of Rutter's University in 2016 Dr Mary pan Co was a member of the confucious rant program which focused on expanding World languages and Global literacy Dr Mindy milowski and miss Lynn traveled to China as members of The confucious Institute of ruter University their team focused on collaborative projects health and wellness from 2010 to 2019 ltbs students were engaged in a variety of projects uh video conferencing website collaboration Tech projects letter writing led by a many teachers Mrs Schmidt Mrs smoots uh Miss Cy uh Miss vvus like all over different grades we had project projects going in 2023 Dr David Adam traveled to Taiwan with Miss Lyn and shared many of the ideas and strategies about cre critical thinking and creativity that are a part now of LHS and his team brought back new ideas about expanding that critical thinking between 22 and 24 you see many of the exchanges we had deepened these Partnerships as the girls explained that you know back in September their their friends who they had been only communicating through video actually came to the high school um in 2022 the um fujian across mountains and seas Ceno us cultural exchange event came to LHS which was again another big deal and really put some wonderful Spotlight on our district and these Global Partnerships but I just want to reiterate that all of these experiences have really benefited our students as they got to have a chance to meet other students to have those Global Connections our kids really experienced um opportunities for public speaking um for growth in technology and just found out that the world is a lot bigger than just Lawrence Township Public Schools so um as we were all traveling this quote always spoke to me the real Voyage of Discovery consists not in seeking new Landscapes but in having new eyes that's really what we bring back now new eyes with new perspectives um when we were leaving the national museum in Taiwan um Mrs Amit and I stopped and there was this big beautiful painting but the symbols connected in all directions and that's what really as a district we are aspiring to do at all times connect everything so it all fits together and that's our that's our walk-on photo um and I'm GNA hand it over to Dr Barry X good evening everybody Damen Barry EXA here and I would like to join the chorus of thanks for this opportunity this was an amazing uh career and life definining uh period of time that is uh not something I will ever forget so my my uh true heartfelt appreciation goes out to each and every one of you for the opportunity to uh be a part of this so the picture you see behind you is uh was taken in one of the many steam class CL rooms we visited you can if you want to play where's Waldo we're in there somewhere we're uh you can you can spot us uh spread throughout the the picture there but we're in there with um with the students of the school also with some exchange students from uh Australia I believe and uh maybe one or two exchange teachers as well who were visiting from Australia and teaching uh teaching in Taiwan uh a lot of the a lot of the schools we visited uh especially in Taiwan there was a strong emphasis on that integration of math design and the Arts in classes literally called steam classes um we we know that conceptually is steam here but these courses are actually called steam classes all those skills come together in a class like this one in which students design and create items with both Form and Function uh often from donated and recycled or upcycled materials the hallway outside this classroom was littered in the best possible way with old bicycles and uh you know just it almost looked like a doc Brown's Workshop from back the future there was so many many bits and pieces and parts but I have a feeling it was organized chaos the teacher knew where everything was and uh it was all safe I promise um so we had so many pictures from this work from these workspaces it was really hard to narrow down the few that we uh included but if you can it's hard might be hard to see but if you can see some of the students are holding up they look like snowballs they're these uh light uh colored ball-shaped items that you see the kids holding up there those are actually working lights uh they were constructed with heavy paper and cardboard um and we there there's a working LED light inside them and there's a um we took another picture with the lights out with the overhead lights out and those lights on but it didn't come out as quite as good as this one so we didn't include it all right the next uh the next Slide the driving force behind the uh Taiwan steam curriculum is usually rooted in problem solving all right how can we take materials and tools to which we have already have access and solve everyday problems this approach isn't new to us in Lawrence Township as this has been part of our technology curriculum for years but it was affirming to us to see our counterparts on the other side of the world placing as much value on creativity and Innovation as we do in the picture on the right hand side the teacher is demonstrating a gadget that one of the students designed and built to hold their cell phone in a certain way that wouldn't the the charger wouldn't fall or the charging cord wouldn't fall out and it would be held at just the right angle to allow them to view it it just something along those lines it was very important to uh to the person who created it and that's really what what what matters um on the left hand side you can see me working on a puzzle that was actually built um and created by designed and built by a team of students and as you can tell by the look on their faces I was taking way too long to figure it out still still working on it the P like really all right right um aside from the steam context there is also a strong emphasis on the Visual and Performing Arts in isolation in the primary and early secondary grades as well the schools we visited all supported the Arts in different ways but generally speaking all had very impressive facilities such as full dance studios with accompanists uh performing playing on the piano as a students danced uh students study both traditional as you can see there and contemporary forms of Dance um you saw the workshops for maker spaces already uh and there are also Studios for studying and creating music and art much like the ones we have in our schools uh many of the schools we visited even had TV studio facilities uh you often used for morning announcement type of programming but the one school we visited also used theirs for film making we were treated to student scripted and student animated stop motion animation films based on traditional folktales that was really really interesting to see just a little bit more on the visual arts just like dance uh students also study local traditional as well as Western forms of Art in all varieties of media in in these SL or in these pictures on this slide we visited a class in which students were practicing calligraphy how many were in that class on the right there how many students a lot um that there were on in the schools we visited there were anywhere between 25 and 45 students to a class yeah there were some big classes this was a very um spread out uh Workshop a work Studio style of classroom but there were also class those those numbers also translated to more traditional seat and desk style classrooms as well this there was a little more room to spread out but as you can see it was very crowded in that in that and Studio yes the number of teachers in the room in that room I believe there was just the one and I I don't oh that the uh the lady on the right she is the principal of the school so she was taking us on the FL the little girl on the left she stopped me and wanted to give me that that picture so we had to take a selfie together there was just non-negotiable at that point all right um of course it was great to spend as much time as we did spend in the classrooms but um as we sometimes find at professional conferences too we also learned a lot from the informal conversations we had with our Chinese and our Taiwanese col colleagues walking to and from classes and over meals um as far as the Arts are concerned I learned that uh Avenues For You know despite the emphasis on the Arts the primary and early secondary grades uh a lot of times avenues for further studying the Arts are greatly diminished after grade nine uh unless one chooses to pursue postsecondary study in those fields uh and even those options are limited at least in China so I'm going to use this opportunity to thank once again the board the Lawrence Board of Ed for their commitment to the Arts across the K12 grade span and uh of course we look forward to maintaining and growing that commitment uh in the coming years um we talked a little bit uh some of the other things we talked about are how uh schools are funded the differences between how schools are funded here versus how they are funded there um some of the facilities we saw were unbelievable we saw a planetarian at one school we saw a a a giant model of an eye kind of like the the heart at the Franklin Institute at another school we saw a VR space shuttle at another school um where does the money for all these things come from these schools are funded primarily through the federal government um so that so there's uh the schools get a lot of leeway in how they Implement those funds but this but that's the source of the primary source of the funding as opposed to local uh local funding um on the flip side of that we talked also about uh special needs there's no federal obligation uh to provide students uh to provide services for students with disabilities uh when I asked how these schools do serve students with disabilities um the answer I got was you know we can we can accommodate to some degree or sometimes parents come in to help or the they go to a special school so inclusion is not valued or legally required uh as much in the school in the areas we visited as it is here sorry um the middle picture is a sample daily schedule at fu junr high school and it again hard to see I apologize but there's a course there that students take uh in grades seven through nine called a scout course which I thought was interesting and the Scout course when we heard a little more about it the skills taught there line up with a lot of what I learned during my years as a Boy Scout um specifically skills like outdoorsmanship and first aid and more generally skills like teamwork and Leadership so I thought that was an interesting course for folks in uh students in their middle years to take a Middle grades years um talking with some of our teacher one of our teacher translators at lunch one day he was surprised to hear that each US state had their own curriculum standards since China and Taiwan have uh St National a National Standard curriculum that all schools teach and the last point I was going to make was about the uh the class size um being 20 on average 25 to 45 mostly on the higher end of that so Dr bar they differentiate or everybody gets the same lesson I mean 45 kids that would be hard to yeah the what we saw was a lot of whole class instruction um I can't say it never happens I don't know but most of what we saw was was whole group instruction and the kids were well behaved we did not see any discipline problems while we were there they were being good for the visitors I suppose that so I'm G thank you very much for your your patience with me I appreci I know I can be long-winded I'm going to turn over to Miss Hayes to uh thank you thank you you serious they're probably that's very excellent yeah the this science engineering all the steam rooms were so amazing to see over there um I'm repeating but I can't Again Begin without thanking the board of ed for their support of this life-changing experience through our school visits and cultural excursions we were submerged in the history and culture of China China and Taiwan what was the best part the kids interacting with students of all ages filled my bucket and reminded me that kids are the same all around the world their Joy their excitement their passion and even their nervousness at practicing their English with us it was fun in some of the buildings the students um the these are middle schoolers high schoolers were in charge of showing us around we'd have a partner who would be our person for the for the tour and they'd be like I'm really nervous um just practicing their English but such a joy to be with them you know we able to interact with uh preschoolers up through high schoolers so we got to see them all um one of our fun takeaways was when we visited the preschool right before na time so I'm sure they love that we R them up they were so excited and they're jumping up and down and when we had to say goodbye they were like no bye no bye but um as the buildings are set up there it's it's almost like an apartment it's so it's all there's big Court r in the middle and then all the classrooms enter from the outside around and there's several stories up and they were brushing their teeth outside of the classroom before they went in to take nap back munch it was just it was the sweetest thing um one of the things that we got to do is we got the opportunity to visit the national museum of China which is an art and History Museum located on the Eastern side of tanaman square in Beijing um the national museum of China has a collection of more than 1.4 million items dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods and going all the way to the Ming and um Zing dynasties of the early 20th century so our sixth grade students as you know they study ancient civilizations and they'll be moving into learning about ancient China within the next couple of weeks also um in connection with the Lunar New Year um I'm looking forward to sharing my takeaways I am trying to bring the museum to them this is just a sample of the pictures and things that I that I um collected for them that I'll be going in to share um aside from that though I'll also be sharing the culture that we experience so I have videos of the schools I have a whole page of selfies with kids and just I'm just looking looking forward to sharing that experience with the sixth graders as they dive into that um um yes I'm giving them a peak into children their age in another part of the world of course I was excited to visit the beautiful media centers in every school uh I had did share already a lot of pictures and takeaways with the Librarians as soon as I got home I just put all the pictures in a slideshow and shared it with them um their libraries as you can see look very similar to ours um some of them do have historical cultural displays um some artifacts in libraries but all in all beautiful libraries very welcoming engaging for kids um and then can you spy in the bottom right there there's um the Chinese version of diary w't be kid which I thought the kids would get a big kick out of um one of the things we did notice though where while we did go to that one calligraphy class that was taking place in the library we didn't really see a lot of kids in the libraries while we were there so the steam and again they obviously the tour was set up for them to see what we what they really wanted to Showcase their Innovation and their steam rooms and and all steam classes so we saw a lot of that but when we and I was the one if they didn't take us to the library I'd be like can we go in the library always have to see the libraries um but not a lot of kids in the library so I do hope and from talking to the teachers that that is a bigger part of their day but it's didn't seem to be something that was as valued maybe as much as some of the science and engineering pieces um also looking at the facilities beautiful facilities uh a lot of these were schools there were there um in cities there was an indoor pool in one of the buildings that was in the in one of the third through eighth grade buildings um I again I have some videos to show the sixth graders of the kids doing having to too War contest outside but really nice facilities one of the one of the buildings we visited they were actually in the process of putting down um a new track but the picture in the very middle is one I I actually sent this to the uh data6 health and vised staff while I was there because I was so intrigued the kids at this Middle School had a 10-minute break between classes and Dr Barry X and I were walking we we can see we're up several several um stories we looked out over and there were kids all over this open court with you know they're doing pickle ball and they're throwing balls and running around and playing and just like getting energy out you know again they're middle schoolers music started to play that it was time to transition to the next class and within 30 seconds there was not a child there was not a piece of equipment anywhere and the one thing that we were looking for was where are the supervising adults there were none so kids take that 10 minutes it's their time to do what they want but it was really fun to see kids taking that time to go run around interact get some wiggles out and then be able to focus because it was about 10 o'clock in the morning so it would have been like a midm morning break for them um also on the top left one night I did have the opportunity to have dinner with those um to their teachers and directors of the health and physical education department in um new Tai City and just talking to them about and actually the girl on the left um was formerly part of their national basketball team so talking to them about their curriculum how things were set up and it's very very similar to what we do here they do they do teach skills through units and through Sports um kids have class 5 days a week 50 minutes that's we found a lot of similarities in the health and fad World um and then also while visiting New taipe City we were able to learn about and see in action their bilingual 2030 initiative Taiwan Taiwan adopted a policy to become a bilingual English Mandarin Chinese Nation by 2030 with a particular focus on K12 students and its Civil Service while English is the dominant foreign language in Taiwan taught from elementary school and onwards oral proficiency needs Improvement relative to reading and writing the government has increased the budget to the public sector schools and libraries to improve the Public's English proficiency so they were very proud about that and excited about sharing progress with us and then there's one of my favorite self pictures with uh the preschoolers okay I'm going to turn it over to miss aan hello um so I have to tell you that this journey was absolutely incredible and I am still processing the trip um as I look at pictures and debrief with my friends and tell stories to to many people um I continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to visit China and Taiwan um the team was absolutely amazing and as you can see we all came with different lenses um to the experience when I first received the text from Robin instead of resounding yes I would love to go I chose to commit to a culture of saying yes on the trip when we were presented with different opportunities or different foods to try or different things to do we all just said yes we're doing it we're trying it which was super awesome so thank you to everyone here tonight who made this possible not only for the team but for us to be able to bring back our knowledge to the district as I prepared for the journey I thought long and hard about my role as a school principal and what I would want to take away from the opportunity I wanted to be sure I was able to Capture Moments and learn things that would be relevant for not only my growth as a leader and educator but for the students staff and the district's growth so I went right to the best source which was the students I shared the itinerary with them at an all school meeting and I asked them what they wanted to learn from my travels we went over the plan I itinerary with photos and facts and I sent them off to their classrooms and homes to discuss their wonders about the journey well they came back with about 70 plus questions for me to explore I won't go over all 70 I knew that I had my work cut out for me and so I called on a very special friend to help me this is Flat Stanley and Flat Stanley is a character from Jeff Brown's children's book about a boy named Stanley who gets squashed flat by a bulletin board instead of feeling blue about being Flat Stanley begins to use this to his Advantage he realizes that since he's now flat he can go anywhere one of our first grade teachers has a tradition with Flat Stanley in her classroom and the students mail him around the world for Many Adventures and the recipients send him back with documents of the adventures he had well I figured he was just the guy to take with me and capture the adventures for all of the students so Flat Stanley went everywhere to the schools if you can see on the Great Wall of China down there um he is hooked to my back he was hooked to my back everywhere we went and we brought him out for special occasions he even got recognized by some of the people who knew who Flat Stanley was and they were excited to have those conversations um he went into the space shuttle with uh Dr clim and Miss muy for a VR experience he got to do the stop uh animation videos with the three girls up top he uh tracked our travel for us and if you see on the bottom left uh um that was at one of our schools who was showing us their school mascot so Flat Stanley was hanging out with the school mascot um next slide we also took him to uh the Forbidden City and he rode on the highspeed train with us and went to the Oriental Coral Tower and on the right there we saw we had dumplings on our last day in Taiwan and we got to see the people in the back Mak the dumplings lives that was pretty exciting so what did Flat Stanley learn with the student questions in mind so he found out that the classes there are about 45 to 50 minutes each they have a structured recess period from what we could see we didn't see too much unstructured except at the middle school that we went to when they had that short break the school day runs from about 8 to 4: some grade levels stay until 6:00 p.m. and each school had some sort of version of good character or character Pillars or a mantra that they lived by to ensure that they were teaching their students to be good citizens just as we do here in Lawrence Township um all one of the big differences was the lunch all students are served a beautiful hot lunch and they eat it in their classrooms they're delivered right outside their doors much like kind of we do with our prek here but it's for everybody in the schools and it's absolutely amazing soups rice vegetables Meats I mean it really is just just what we ate in the faculty room cafeterias was incredibly impressive um class sizes as you heard they were anywhere from 25 to 45 students in a classroom and it was crowded um in China some of the schools were grades 1 through nine and in Taiwan we saw prek all the way up through High School the kids were really uh interested in the school culture um they do have mascots like bears and in that picture the mascot was called Purple Girl um they do have colors for their schools like blue and gold they do speak their native language and English in some of their classes and they do wear uniform coats we saw a lot of uniform coats and sometimes their sweatsuits would be blue and pink um blue in China and um so they did have a uniformity to them and every single student were sneakers I thought that that was very interesting the curriculum there was a heavy Focus as you've heard on maker spaces creating building art math science in each in each building and Taiwan still has a wood shop which was so amazing to see they actually use the saws and the laths and they create they also have a baking class the primary school curriculum consists of Chinese mathematics PE music drawing and Elementary instruction in nature history and geography combined with practical work experiences around the school compound that was one difference that we saw um often we see our custodians sweeping up around the school there were students assigned to those jobs every student had a job in the school to ensure that the school was running properly and then some fun facts that the kids wanted to know about the flight to get to China was a total of 20 hours and 55 minutes in the air um the Forbidden City has over 98 buildings and is over half a mile long the Great Wall of China is 13,171 miles long and surprisingly has a lot of cats that live there the highspeed train to Shanghai is the first commercial maglev train which it uses magneet magnetic force to travel above the rails and it can reach speeds of 268 miles hour and it showed us traveling around 214 miles hour as we rode the train so of course the journey didn't end when we got back here to New to New York and traveled back to the board office um I was excited to continue the journey through sharing my experiences and forming partners ship that will benefit all stakeholders last Friday I had an all school meeting where I was able to share uh the journey with the staff and the students and it was so exciting to see when I was saying words like niow and wani I had many students who I have a family who is from Taiwan and they have three children in our school and we have other students who speak Mandarin getting up and smiling and so excited because they had this connection um that they could share with me and they many of the pictures from Taiwan um the one student was just very connected with they enjoyed getting to find out the answers to their questions as well as seeing the many gifts that I brought back to share with our school in addition I shared the presentation with our families next Wednesday for the Lunar New Year miss Lynn will be bringing her AP Mandarin class to EPs and they will be sharing the history of the Lunar New Year holiday and participating in some cultural activities to celebrate the year of the snake we hope to continue this partnership with Miss L's class for more events and learning opportunities and while we were in Taiwan we also connected with the the Hoda Elementary School in Taiwan and we are hoping for our students to be able to connect through letters video chatting and common experiences that they can have together much like Ben Franklin did in the past again I want to express my gratitude for this awesome opportunity which will only continue to enhance our students Global experiences and connections I invite you to join us at EP as we partner with our new friends moving forward and I would really be remiss if I didn't give a huge thank you to miss Lynn who has traveled not just with our team but so many teams and has hosted um her expertise and really made it to be a wonderful Journey so thank you miss Lynn for being our guide thank you for listening it was a lot to put into a presentation yes I observe that all four women presenters are wearing scarves yes yes we did visit some we had the opportunity to visit some of the markets which are very different than our shopping experiences here in New Jersey um they many markets with beautiful things um whether it would be silk whether it would be things like the ornaments that you have here um and everything was negotiable so we learned that quickly and again miss Lynn was a wonderful guide in helping us navigate that and so we really um love our scarves that we've brought back with us thank you thank you team thank you so much oh sorry did we have a last slide ah yes so this was a sign that was outside of the school in Shanghai I believe um and we saw the they not only have it on their logo but they have it actually cemented on their school for better schools better life and as soon as we all saw it we just looked at each other and we thought this is it right better school Better Life That's The Way of the world and it was an amazing and incredible opportunity that I will never forget for the rest of my life and will continue to process with my team and with all of you so thank you thank you thank you so much for that phom Al overview and everybody's participation and of course thank you to Mrs Lynn and appreciate all your work my son was the first class in 2010 with Mrs muy and Tyler vanheist was in that class where we Skyped with Taiwan and we would wake up at like 4 o' in the morning to go to the school and and my younger child would also go because I had nobody to watch them at the time and um it was something that stayed with me forever and knowing the impact that this has had on our community on our staff on our students um it's just amazing and I thank you for sharing that with us and we look forward to hopefully many more opportunities for our community to embrace crosscultural experiences um thank you Dr clim for doing all the work for us and um I'm always Blown Away by all the incredible things our Educators do for our students and our community so thank you okay board secretary report so on the agenda for you this evening is the uh acceptance of the audit um we call it the annual comprehensive financial report and uh a synopsis is before you this evening as required the audit will be posted online and you will find uh more than likely I think there's 20 years of audits online at www.ltps.org within the uh the audit um there's the management discussion and Analysis report there's the auditor report there were no findings and so there is no corrective action to bring forward to the board of education but we will post the audit as we always do for uh anyone's review from the public in addition uh tomorrow I'll be posting some more information up on the web or asking Jen to do it with respect to the referendum and anytime someone has a question I like to put that information up so that anyone who ask the question will get their answer but anyone else who may be interested will see um not the question from the person but they'll see the information so Steve shri's put together for us um quite a bit a laundry list of things that I had asked for um some time ago and knew they were coming and so it's it's rather impressive to see what's contained in this referendum um in terms of the number of classes net number number of classes as opposed to just new constructed classes because we will be um renovating some classes what what was once an art room may become a science lab and so we asked for the net classes and of course we have all this um it's in the drawings but I asked him to reduce it to a different different type of tabular format and I also asked them to recategorize it in different ways than we already have it so he did all of that um and it's here um and leeon uh we promised you you would have this we've had some other interest from other folks in the community as well and so I'll be putting that up uh very soon some things that we emphasized at the community conversation that we had here uh which is uh the week before last was it or was the week before last last week but it seems a little further back than that um we're stressing the number of uh uh maintenance initiatives and so it's incredible um I know we discussed it in the well uh but we're doing more than just putting in new spaces and appropriate learning spaces we're replacing the entire roof on the building and that's part of you'll find that inside of things that are already posted online on our website that information is there um but uh somehow it's it's not resonating so I figured I would say it again um so we have uh other information that's uh here in terms of renovations to our Auditorium the point being it's not just appropriate learning spaces but we're taking this opportunity to do Capital maintenance um within that um the referendum um some other information is there um that you might be interested in of course I don't know what you're going to be interested in some people are interested in what is the lighting that's going to be used in the auditorium someone will ask me that next um I have no idea but I'll get that information for you when I can because to someone that's very important someone will ask me what the acoustical finishes are for the music room we probably haven't chosen them yet um but I can find out for you um someone else will ask me are they automatic flush valves for the lavatories or are they manual flush valves we haven't chosen those yet and there's a reason why we haven't done a lot of this work is because the referendum hasn't passed yet and so right now for the Board of Education what we're relegated by go ahead you're it's okay you can do that while I'm talking it's okay there'll be more for everyone else because I won't be able to eat so the idea is what we're constrained by at this point in time is the question that we put on the the referendum ballot that is what we're constrained by it is not um a draft floor plan um although we don't think we're going to have a material change from that but we may have eight bathrooms instead of seven on the plan things may change but what won't change is what's on the referendum question so I'll have that for you soon and uh I'll put it up there and I'll probably do what I did last time if someone asks I'll email them directly but also post it on the website and then I'll just email you as well okay so um finally the in the well we talked about pea and there was some interesting feedback on pea I want to make it clear that the $500,000 that the board contributes to pea that is for our kids with special needs it is not an elective contribution we will pay that whether or not we uh pea exists or not so that is a federal mandate and we're required to provide preschool education to students with special needs so unfortunately it's represented as if it's an Enterprise of the Board of Education no that's a mandate um so whether or not we had undertaken paa or not we were going to spend those funds and we will into the future regardless of whatever happens with pea any questions on on that at all no okay so if I can help send your questions my way um if you think you have something of interest that we should post some factoid that we haven't covered we'll do that Jen gets things up instantly um I don't know how she does that but she does and um I see that our our tax calculator is up there I put up the amortization schedule which seems to have cleared up some uh mathematical uh computational concerns um and so um if you see anything else that helps bring information to people we never know what people are going to need to make up their minds um we could not have foreseen the questions that came up from the lovely lady who was in the well uh just last week who expressed to us I want to hear what you have to say um I want to hear it directly so that I can make up my mind and with total respect fact for that our request was if we don't answer your questions here please ask us so that we can respond um I think she was pleasantly surprised um that she got her questions answered and so kudos to those folks who do ask the questions so that they can be informed and so thank you thank you thank you so much Tom board president's report um first I wanted to thank everybody for the wonderful presentation as well as the gifts and the students from Eldridge Park and their performance it really means a lot to the board um when our students come here and perform so I just wanted to thank eldrich bark and everybody for what they've done this evening um I just wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have been raised in our community regarding the upcoming referendum vote on March 11th first and foremost I want to assure everyone that the board is fully committed to making financially responsible decisions while prioritizing and upholding student achievement since returning from the pandemic our community has expressed loud and clear the importance of addressing academic losses and improving educational success to meet the needs of all Learners this board hired Dr clim to lead our schools and Advance our strategic plan for academic Excellence after a thorough and careful examination of the academic financial and operational needs of the district Dr clim in collaboration with our Educators determined that the proposed changes outlined in the referendum are essential for achieving the goals in our strategic plan we the board and the district have worked diligently to communicate the details of the referendum what it entails and how it will benefit both our students and our community I'd like to take the opportunity to thank our Communications manager Jen biseri for her exceptional work in handling all of the commun iations regarding the referendum as a proud Lawrence graduate and proud and parent of three Lawrence Township Public School students Jen has gone above and beyond to ensure the accurate and clear information reaches every member of our community contrary to some misconceptions we did not hire an outside agency to assist with the process all marketing and Outreach has been conducted by our staff our board members and central office team led by Jen finally I wanted to remind everyone that on February 4th we will be hosting a community Town Hall at the middle school this will be a wonderful opportunity to answer questions and share further information about the upcoming referendum vote we encourage everyone in the community to attend and engage in the discussion and learn how the proposed changes can shape the future of our district I appreciate everybody's attention and reaching out when you have questions because we really want to educate the public on what the referendum is going to mean for us for us and one last note the preschool application process will be opening on February 3rd so we want to get that out there so everybody is aware of that um thank you from this board to our community and thank you to Jen and Tom and Robin for all of the hard work you've done thus far we have a little more to do and I'm really proud of everything that this board has done together getting to this point um thank you okay we do not have any community relations in legislative affairs report um liaison reports student board member report for medicine all right good evening everyone over the last month I've been working with my advisers to refine excuse me to refine the student representative position and shift how I collect date each month we've decided to focus on reporting Board of Education initiatives and information to the LHS student body Gathering their opinions about these initiatives and any additional questions they may have and then sharing their thoughts back with the board to gather this feedback we're holding discussions within student council meetings and encouraging broader participation to ensure a more accurate representation of the entire student body this month I shared information about the 2025 referendum its initiatives and the upcoming Bond vote with my peers student council members particularly recognize the potential benefits of transitioning sixth grade to the Middle School appreciating this Progressive change additionally some students expressed interest in attending the referendum town hall meeting on February 4th which I also look forward to uh there were no further there are no further questions or feedback from the student body this month uh thank you for your time and attention I look forward to continuing to share updates and insights from the student body as we refine this role further this concludes my report thank you so much Edison we look forward to seeing you at our town hall as well New Jersey School Board Association okay I first have to say thank you Edison he already took care of a question that I had before he even knew I was going to ask it he already had a solution thank you okay New Jersey school boards first of all had the pleasure of tuning in to Robin and Tom's webinar actually was a podcast hosted by Ray penny at New Jersey school board's headquarters on the 16th the title was building your District budget as a team it was filled with information on how relationships Cooperative planning helps to ensure a successful budget in a district their warmth and dedication was shining through every minute of the program and I thank you both for your expertise and sharing that with everyone you can um log on link on click on the link at New Jersey school boards if you would like to view it highly recommend it on January 23d that's tomorrow Thursday night 6:45 a virtual meeting will begin topic for our Mercer County Schoolboard meeting is an introduction to artificial intelligence AI um in an educational environment the Pres presenter will be Derek tranchina who is an experienced educator and administrator with over 50 15 years experience please consider attending but sure would be nice to see your lovely faces in the little squares on my computer um as a side note you may have noticed that uh this month's New Jersey school board's leadership uh magazine has an article about artificial intelligence um also inside there's an article about our student representative um on school boards encourage us all to take a glance at those two articles I'm sure there are lots more but those were the two that Peak my interest um we'll have a nominating committee update for New Jersey school boards the county Mercer counties to call for officers a description of upcoming meetings for the 20th at West Windsor Plainsboro High School um we did this our first time last year it was a mercer County's unsung hero award ceremony begins six o'clock um it's it's an experience that sometimes we we miss students and and this really shines a light on the kids who normally aren't spotlighted these are kids who may have um had some adversity they shine brightly and they show how they've worked through difficult times they they truly deserve to be celebrated so that's a next one County meeting after tomorrow night um second annual New Jersey school board's women's leadership conference will be held Friday March 21st at Mercer County Community College program last year was outstanding I'm looking forward to another uplifting conference and um it'll be amazing because last year's was awesome too um ltef both Robin and I attended the meeting um I don't know if did you want to say anything you want me to just a quick we talked about this the grand cycle that we had tonight um exciting to see the work how they work together with Robin with this cycle um it was interesting they sh shared that they had such great communication with Robin and she enlighted them enlightened them on facets that that they had missed before it just shows that cooperation and Leadership qualities bonding together is is really appreciated with all um and then Project Graduation they are in desperate need of support um right now it looks like it may not happen the funding is so incredibly low so if you take a look at some of the things that are coming up casino night is coming to help support that um you'll remember that this is a an experience for our graduating seniors it's alcohol drug free it's really the last time they're all going to get together to celebrate their graduation and relationships so take a look at at possibly supporting that that's my report great thank you Joe uh reconfiguration at hoc Diana excuse me student services did not not meet but Arendell will make sorry AR will report student services will meet next month me out sorry just so so I'm going to uh report out on our reconfiguration ad hoc I think just because this is a new structure it's important to remind folks that um we're really embracing the ad hoc nature so we just keep meeting when we need to meet and we're involving as many board members in a cycle um to make sure that we as board members can be as responsive to what we're hearing from the communities as possible and to the district who have been working just tirelessly to as you've heard throughout the evening really communicate engage with community members so at our first meeting last Friday evening at 4:30 uh we met uh Olga Martinez myself Michelle Bose and Dr clim met to just start debriefing on the community events that the staff had already um engaged in uh and then we also uh touch B about the some of the um pres presentations that would be at the community meeting so now I can relate to Kevin because Tom stole our Thunder about talking about I supposed to talk about the community meeting but Tom did um and so but we did truly as a as a liaison group and as a board we did want to thank the community members who came out um both in person and the community members who continue to reach out and explain explain um what they're hearing ask questions as as mentioned you know seek out answers out of curiosity but also give us feedback about how uh the different messages and information is is resonating and landing and so it's been incredibly helpful and I think what was really uh exciting to see at the community meeting was to hear from Dr clim and the leadership team how uh and just really they painted a a beautiful picture and connecting all the dots that we know with a lot of information out there sometimes is Miss so it became very clear in different sections of the evening how this Vision that's focused on the Strategic plan and the needs and and how this board and Leadership over many years has been focused on supporting our students needs and getting them what they need and deserve um we've been developing this plan and our plan has evolved and it it really grew with our preschool and we were able to build Partnerships as mentioned before and work with our Community Partnership to continue to expand Lawrence and meet the needs of our students and through a lot of back and forth and facility planning through the great work in long-term strategic planning we've been this plan evolved and and working with Educators we realized that this was a great time to shift to a six to8 model and so I think it was just really helpful for me to hear those things and it sounded like the community members appreciated it but again none of that information would have um could have really come to light with without the questions of our community and feedback so um it's been uh wonderful and I encourage the board to continue to give us feedback on this ad hoc because group because um we've been getting emails from all of you and trying to shift through is and meet as frequently as possible um but it's been really we know the board's working really hard to get continue to give that this group feedback so thank you and we're excited for the next month thank you uh review of commity ations seeing none our first opportunity for public input um please state your name write your address and limit your comments to three minutes thank you uh hi uh Mark Elliot 43 lur wood um just want to wish you guys a very merry uh um schol board member appreciation month um I did want to this is something that's really important you guys know you know we got an executive order from the White House uh about and by the way sorry about being such a Debbie Downer you guys have been all so positive today it's been great seeing the presentation and and the whole thing but this is serious stuff I mean we've got an executive order that's saying that we can have immigration Agents come into our schools and you know take kids basically you know that's scary that that bothers me a lot and I think it bothers a lot of the people in this community we have a lot of immigrants in this community and so I know you guys probably haven't this is is just happened this week we knew it was on coming down the road but it's something that that I know you guys will be talking about a lot but I I really hope that you guys get out there to the community and let them know that the school is there for them we're not going to have some Agents come into the school and I realize that um you know this is all going to be depend upon what the state does and there's several States right now suing and saying it's it's unconstitutional Etc but but we really need some kind of word getting out there to this community uh because it's really really disturbing I mean school is supposed to be a place that a kid comes to to learn feels safe feels good about learning and can help become you know evolve as a human being as a good citizen right and um so I'm just not going to keep going on about it but you know this is something that that I hope is my personal hope the school just put their foot down say no no agents in this school unless of course a warrant but I mean um but we need something going out there and I know I'm hitting you before you probably even thought of doing it or probably you've already in the works but that's what I'd like to say but uh thank you for the time thank you over you guys keep okay any other public input okay seeing non board discussion and work session we have nothing this evening um board discussion and action items uh Personnel committee report and Personnel action items okay we have not met yet but we will um and tonight's agenda you'll see approvals for resignation retire retirement Wendy offy a librarian media specialist who's worked 16 years at Ben Franklin Elementary School we thank her for her many hours and of dedication to all of our student staff and parents please know we appreciate your years of dedication we wish you a happy healthy retirement that will begin the end of this school year you'll also see um of uh payment for unused six days unpaid leaves mentors sub teers and leave Replacements an amendment for a salary adjustment for a start date for a leave replacement account numbers appointments for several edps Eagle staff substitute secretaries non-certificated staff confirmation appointments due to clearances and correction for hours and item number numbers under new business okay um and also with that I'd like to move P1 through P20 please second Tom with a motion in a second Miss Evans yes Miss Kroger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pesi yes Miss Santos yes Mr van heis yes Miss Bose yes your motion carried thank you uh CD and student services CD did not meet yet uh but on your agenda you will see professional development field trips ltef Grant and uh Special Ed I would like to move ois 1 through three and O SS 1 through three up pull out ois1 second o ois so you don't want to move ois one to three you want to move o two and three two and three and then OS all of OSS yes okay there a second second Tom second the s yes M groger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pasculli yes Miss Santos yes Mr vanis yes M Bose yes motion carried now I'd like to move ois1 right got second Motion in a second okay Miss Evans yes Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes that yes yes thank you Miss pasculli yes Miss Santos yes Mr van heis stain Miss Bose yes motion carried thank you uh finance committee report and school business management action you don't I actually do not we have not met uh our first meeting is scheduled for February 7th and as usual that will be uh I'm sure a busy jam-packed fun morning um so with that I will move spbm 1 through uh 14 second Tom a motion and a second by okayer Miss Evans yes Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pascoli yes Miss Santos yes Mr van he yes Mose yes motion carried thank you uh it's our next opportunity for public input okay seeing none Michelle just before we go on new business I did want to uh let board members know uh February 11th the day before our next board meeting uh Mercer County votch General advisory committee is meeting uh board members are invited it is from starts at 12:30 to 1:30 um I'm sorry what was that date merer County votch General advisory committee meets 12:30 to 1:30 okay uh as you can see from OSS 2 we do have a fair number of students that are attending certainly through the part-time program and perhaps through the full-time program as well uh so for those board members that would like to get a glimpse of what happens at VTE uh predominantly the culinary Arts is on display because it is a luncheon served by them uh but you will hear much more about um it's at the CC Center cipc Center and the general advisory council is made up of um other school board members um uh Mercer County Community College uh staff um and business partners do you have RSVP to that or just show up I mean if you tell me I'll I'll add it in but um they're usually ready to handle extras great thank you okay uh no public uh input so new business oh that's me yes that's you Sev uh I would like to move nb1 through nb2 second the motion and a second time m Miss Evans yes Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pascoli yes Miss Santos yes Mr van he yes M Bose yes motion carried thank you and I may I have a motion to adjourn so moved all in favor thank you very much have a great evening everyone e e e e e e e e e e e e e