I'm going to call the meeting to order right here. Um, in accordance with the state sunshine law, adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing notice of meeting on January 6, 2021 and September 24th,
2021. Notice was provided to board of education members, Montgomery Township Clerk, Rocky Hill Burough Clerk, public library, township posting, school posting, PTSA officers, Courier News, Montgomery News, Princeton Packet,
Trenton Times, and the Star Ledger. The board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the board of education. Can we have a roll call, please? Miss Herman, present. Miss Harris here. Mr. Mora,
Mr. Spec here, Miss Spence Wallace present. Mr. Tari, Mr. Todd here, Dr. Eva here. Miss Bur present. It is recommended that the board of
education adopt a resolution to convene an executive session as follows. For as the open public meetings act chapter 20 231 of the laws of 1975 provides that a public body may ex exclude the public
from that portion of a meeting of which the public body discusses certain matters for which confidentiality is required as permitted in section 7b of the act. Whereas the items that are permitted to be discussed in executive session as are followed.
Um we will be discussing four, seven and eight. Four is a collective bargaining agreement and or negotiations related to it. Seven is pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations and or matters of attorney client privilege.
and eight specific pro prospective or current employees unless all PPC adversely affected request an open session. Action may be may take place on these items. The matters discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to
the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Might I have a motion to move to executive session? Second. All those in favor? Hi.
Um, we now executive session. Thank you. Start off with a roll call. Miss Herman present. Miss Harris here. Mr. Morak.
Mr. Spec here. Miss Spence Wallace. Mr. Tari here. Mr. Todd here. Dr. Ear here. Miss Burge, present. We have a quorum. Thank you. All right.
Next, um we'll salute the flag [Applause] of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
So, I guess I want to say thank you all for coming to our first meeting back at exciting to see people's faces now. Um, so we will start with um the superintendent report.
Good evening. Before I begin, I would like to introduce our board of education high school students, Ana Chararma and Joyce Wedge. Welcome, Ana. [Applause] Anya, would you like to speak for a
moment? Sure. My name is Ana. My name is Ana and I'm a senior at Montgomery High School. Um, I've joined I applied to be part of the student council and the board of education representative because I believe that the student voices often times aren't heard at the high school and especially
in a year as difficult as the last one. I want to make sure that the communication from the high school students to the board of education is clear and direct so they can be represented and their opinions can be heard. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Joyce. I'm also a senior. Um, I applied for most of the reasons Audi did. I want to give students a voice. I've been working with the PTSA. I work with something called the Youth Leadership Council. I found it so much more, you know, real life and applicable some of the debate clubs I do at school. And I fell in love with the aspect of
public service. And there's so much more we can do than just sit in a stuffy room and debate. There's things that, you know, can get done. And I feel like students have the capability to do that. Thank you. Do you have an update from the high school?
How's the first couple weeks been going? Sure. So, this first couple weeks have been honestly pretty smooth in terms of co people are wearing their masks. You know, lunch seemed difficult to a lot of people in the beginning, but I think that people are getting used to it now.
Um, the one part that I have heard a lot of feedback on, I personally do not get school lunch, but I've heard a lot of feedback back from it about how it's like not really um, satiable for a lot of students and it's not really enjoyable for them to eat it during
lunch. Yeah, just to piggy back off of that on the subject of lunch. I am someone who gets school lunch every day. Um because, you know, my mom's, you know, hard worker and I don't want her to make sandwiches at 6:00 a.m. So, um for me, the biggest part was like
differentiating what I can eat and what I can't eat. For kids with allergies, it's very hard to see what is, you know, palatable for them. And for a lot of kids with, you know, food allergies, it could be potentially harmful if there's something that's in there that they don't know about. So that's just what I
have to say about the lunch program. Um yeah, so student council in terms of that had its first meeting today. Um we're also a pretty great start coming and stuff like that. That's pretty basic, you know, more of a school club than board of education thing.
Thank you. Welcome. So I prepared a little bit of a statement. Um, many of you are here to express your dissatisfaction with food we have been providing for lunch to our students across the district.
There is no excuse to have served food that precipitated the numerous emails and complaints the district has received. I have met with central office and building administrators as well as management from our food service provider chartwells to discuss the need to make improvements to our lunches.
Improvements that include serving food that children will enjoy. I have arranged for Mr. Jim Gillespie, district manager from Chartwells to be here tonight to share the plan moving forward on how we are committed to improving our lunch options throughout the district. I would like to provide a little
background to why we have not introduced hot lunch to date as other districts have. As the safety of our students is a priority in the district, our mitigation efforts aligned with the CDC and the Montgomery Health Department guidelines have created some specific challenges in
regard to serving lunches and breakfast in our schools. As the month of September comes to a close, we are able to pause and reflect upon our successes and some of our challenges in regard to food service. Up to this point in time, we have navigated the necessary
mitigation efforts and provided cold lunch and breakfast options safely without the need to roll back on our efforts. Providing a stable foundation where we do not need to backpedal is one of our paramount concerns as we reestablish the sense of safety that is
necessary for both our students and staff as we operate under these new circumstances. As we complete the first month of school, we are now able to introduce some hot lunch options and we will offer grab-and-go hot lunch sandwiches options in addition to our cold sandwiches and
vegetarian options. At the high school, students will process through the serving area where they will grab entre first and then accompany sides and milk. Students will be masked while in service area and will move quickly through the area, grabbing their items and exiting.
Unlike previous years, there will be no long lines and wait times as students are not currently paying for lunches. The elimination of a checkout line allows for minimal student contact. Students are masked and in contact for less than 15 minutes, which does not necessitate contact tracing. This is
similar to passing time in the hallways. Another topic tonight that I know is of concern is the maskearing during the school day. We hear and understand your concerns with having your children wear masks for the most of the day. However, the school district is following the governor's executive order 251 that
mandates that wearing the face coverings by all in schools. I would now like to introduce Mr. Jim Gillespie, regional manager from Charles and also Patty. Oh, I'm so sorry. That's okay. It's okay.
Okay. Um, thank you very much for the opportunity this evening um to explain what's been happening in food service. Again, my name is Jim Gillespie. I've been with Chartwells for about 20 years and I've been affiliated with this
school district since uh I believe 2003. With me is Patty Cespie. She's your on-site food service manager. I am responsible for 14 school districts within South Jersey. So, just to give you an update on where
we're at right now and how we got to where we're at today. In June of this past year, it was decided that Montgomery School District would go onto the SSO or summer feeding program, summer seamless seamless summer
feeding program for the 2122 school year. This would provide all students in the district with a free breakfast and a free lunch. Where some schools in the state of New Jersey are only offering free lunch, the district here opted to serve breakfast and lunch. As a matter
of fact, I'm only aware of one other district within my area that has not gone on the SSO program and is not on the national school lunch program. So, as of today also, Charles is working with the building administrators to
ensure that all children are afforded their free meals, including feeding in classrooms, off of makeshift serving lines in hallways, and and makeshift tables in the cafeteria. As of this morning, uh this afternoon,
we are 12 days into meal service. Day one, we served deli sandwiches. Day three, we added vegetarian options. Day nine, salad options. And day 10, we offered protein salad options. To date, we've served over 33,000 meals
in the district. Roughly the same number of meals served in the same period in September of 2019. We did this with 20 food service employees, including Patty, your food service director, and you also have a
salaried chef on premise. In September 2019, when we served 33,000 meals, we had 40 employees and an additional two salaried managers at that time. So, essentially, we're we're serving the
same amount of food with half the manpower. As you all know, we are battling a nationwide labor shortage. Local restaurants, chains, distributors, delivery companies, manufacturing companies have all been impacted.
This morning, I heard on the news that Ford Motor Company reported they were 20% short of their nationwide workforce. So, it's being it's something that the entire uh country is experiencing. In an effort to recruit and to maintain
the staff that we already have, Chartwells is contributing $6,500 in signing bonuses and for newly hired employees and for returning employees. When we closed in June, we were planning on opening this past September with
limited hot and cold ser uh lunch service. Menus were pre-planned and food orders were placed so we'd have all the food for opening. On August 18th, a meeting was held with the administration, including all school
principles. The principles wanted to limit the menus to cold brown bag lunches. Principles were concerned and wanted to adhere to social distancing guidelines. In the third week of August, Tartwells now had to shift gears and had to source
more deli products to to be able to switch over to all cold lunches. This was becoming increasingly difficult as all orders had already been placed in June. To start service at the beginning of September, we used we started with
commodity deli meats. And just so everybody understands what commodities are, commodities is not the black and white labeled yellow cheese that was out in the 70s and the 80s. Commodity uh products are actually the USDA partners with major manufacturers
and they make food specifically for food service in schools. Along with uh the commodity product, we were able to get some purchase product all name brands such as Hormell Block and Barrel and that would give us some time to
bring in uh additional Bors Head lunch meat which was our standard deli product prior to the pandemic. Um unfortunately it took us almost eight days to receive our horse head delivery with enough product to feed the entire
district. Um, I think it mainly it's because of our purchasing power because if if anyone's been to major supermarket chains, especially those with premium delies, you'll see that the inventories are running low and and very thin on
selections. Uh, but we were able to get enough product in to feed the entire district. And we've been doing so ever since. As discussed, we suggested that the district open limited service areas to expand into hot food service. We think
that uh this will address some of the concerns over the variety that's currently being offered. We are roughly two weeks in to food service and we are already experiencing some major major supply chain issues.
We're being shorted on products. We're being shorted on deliveries. We have deliveries that are cancelling that are being postponed and some uh scheduled for a day or two after our normal deliveries. Manufacturers are right now having a
very difficult time keeping up with manufacturing levels. The food suppliers are also short on labor from the people in the warehouse who pick and load the trucks to the drivers who deliver the orders. Just today uh we were shorted on milk
and we've been cut to one milk delivery a week. This district is not set up does not have the facilities to accommodate that. However, uh we were able to move some milk around in the district and all the elementary schools were served milk product this morning and the secondary
schools were given um cheesesticks and juice to supplement the milk shortage. We have to constantly adjust menus and production to keep up with product shortages. And that's a lot of times why the posted menu may not match what's
actually being served because the truck that came in this morning didn't have the product on the truck. We have to do whatever we have to do to get food out to the students. I can tell you that the Chartwell team on the ground in Montgomery School District is doing the best that they can
do to to meet the needs of the students and the community of Montgomery. There are many daily struggles and opportunities and behind the-scenes solutions taking place to ensure our students receive nutritious meals every day. I also brought with me a couple of
photographs u that I actually went through the district and took yesterday up in the upper leftand corner um the quantity of the food that we're bringing in. That's a pallet of apples. That's just for the high school. That's about a three and a half four day supply. It's 2200 apples.
I reference the fact that we were using uh Hormell and Block and Barrel products. The other products we had when we first opened u beginning of the school year. And all the way to the right, that's our Boris head product which came in uh beginning of last week
and we actually got replenished again today. Tomorrow tomorrow, sorry. This is the commodity product that I referenced. Please take note to what I circled in red that was produced by Tyson Foods.
Okay, that is um the USDA contracts with Tyson to make specific products for schools and that was used at the beginning of the school year until we could uh replenish what we needed. Again, these are pictures right in the
freezer. I, as I said, we were stockpiled and ready to go with hot food selections from the very start of the school year. Pictures of the store room again to show that we're not buying the cheapest brown box products out there. These are just candid photographs.
Walked in the store room, snapped a few pictures. That's a picture of the school lunch. That one in particular was at the high school. We're serving the exact same lunch in all grade levels in the district. Uh as of right now,
as referenced earlier in the meeting, we're suggesting that we open up limited service areas. This is a picture of the high school. This is how it would be laid out where we'd be able to expand into hot food selections. At first, it would just most likely be a hot
sandwich. And then on the opposite side of the hot sandwich would be a cold sandwich. And then the students would exit through the center. And you can see there's plenty of room for them to to get in there and go out. Again, there are no checkout lines.
There are no cash registers. There's no cash being taken. And there is no cash register point of sale system being used. And um I did hear some concern about the allergies. Until we get the point of
sale system back online, it's going to be extremely difficult for us to be able to monitor allergies with students. Um, the way it worked before was if a student came through the line, they punched their ID card number into the
system, their picture popped up on the screen and it would flash whatever allergies they had would be on that screen and we'd be able to say, "Okay, that student cannot have soy or cannot have milk or or whatever." Um, without a POS system and using it system, that
that's not possible. Again, just a few more pictures of the high school. And that's where we're at today. That's how we got here. Thank you. Um, board members have any
questions? Jim and or Alicia, can you um talk about the cost of the food and how that how that works within the district for specifically for the SSO program? I don't understand the well you the subsidies and and the reimbursements
reimburseable program. Yeah. um if we fulfill the guidelines which is uh when you saw that lunch up on the screen that's what we call a reimburseable lunch and for that the USDA reimbures the school district I believe it's $425
cents for a lunch and that has to cover uh the food cost the labor to produce it the packaging and everything that goes with it so the district is reimbursed by the USDA for all meals served Shalls in turn purchase the food and then builds
the direct district exactly what we spend on the food. Thank you. So a food service should be self operation. So you should never have to dip into your operating budget to sustain your food service. That's actually that's correct. And it's a New Jersey regulation that all school food
services must be completely self- sustained and cannot be supported by the general fund or by taxpayers. Yes. Um, I heard you said that it's difficult to moni monitor allergies until the flight system comes back with the lunch
codes. Then in that meantime, would you think it was wise if students took the initiative to put the ingredients and everything on pieces of paper and take them with one of the bags? Do you think that would be a a useful way until it definitely sounds like a a
viable solution? I just logistically uh given the manpower we have right now and and getting those labels out, I can't guarantee that that would happen overnight. We can can try and work towards that. Sounds like a very good idea. Um given the limited menu selections we have, it's definitely
possible. At the very least, we could be able to post those things. Thank you for the suggestion. Jim and Alicia, thank you for coming. There was an instance when there was a bad supply of milk. There was one
particular batch. Um do you want to share more on that? Sure. Um we got a report that there was some milk that was out of code. So immediately Pat uh had her staff checked the entire inventory district
wide. And out of the uh hundreds of cases of milk, which contained about 50 cartons each, we found four cartons in one case that were out of coke. The rest of it still had uh 10 to 14 days left on.
So we filed a complaint with the dairy, of course, and the district has reimburseed the cost to that. Why asking the question? Because there is a strong likelihood of that happening again and you're short on staff. Is there any way
we can help you so that you can do better quality control? Well, I can you look there's no way for us to find four cartons out of a thousand cartons of milk and I don't know what resources it would take to do that. I
can tell you that we're very careful when deliveries come in. Just the other day when I was here and I reported to you, Alicia, we received a a bread delivery and as I walked through the door, Pat is having a meltdown, said the least, because the bread that literally
just came in the door was moldy. And that was for tomorrow's sandwiches. So immediately she was on the phone with the entire district, all the kitchens together. That food that food was put aside. We filed a complaint. We called the bakery. we had the bread was
replaced so we could stay on track. So can tell you that we're doing everything we can right now given the resources we have and 99.9% of the time I think we're going to find it. It's when something obscure like a few cartons of milk are going to slip by. We don't have a very
expansive menu right now. We don't have a lot of products out there. So it's a lot easier for us to monitor what's happening with the the limited products we have. Sure. I just opened up to I appreciate the opportunity here. I I appreciate the
uh the well wishes. Yes, ma'am. Oh, thank you Wallace. Thank you so much, Mr. Gillespie and Patty. It's really nice to meet you. Thank you for joining us this evening. So, I have several questions. Um you stated that back in
June um is when um through conversing um with Felicia that the order for at least September um was placed with all of your vendors or co-ops. Do you participate? Did you participate in
co-op? No. No. Okay. Just vendors. Okay. Vendors. Um so you did you submit the board's head order at that time and it's just has been a delay that hasn't been arrived until recently. We placed an
order, but it was not for the amount of product we would need to feed the entire district. We bought that as a menu item to be offered along with the rest of the menu. When it became the sole product on the menu, we didn't have enough. And at that point,
it was so late. Uh, Borshead was experiencing shortages and it was very difficult to get that inventory back up till we had enough to feed the entire district. So I mean and on average how many
staffing you know does Chartwells currently have at the schools or is there a central kitchen location? Could you explain that to me because I'm not sure. Right now we have 20 uh employees districtwide. Okay. Uh in five schools.
So we we normally have 40. 40 total. 40 total plus two managers and at two years ago we actually had four managers here. So we're operating with half. Okay. I'm almost done. Could you provide
specificity um on the hot sandwich or food options for the students in the various schools and when will that actually begin? Well, I believe we just agreed um to offer those products. Uh, and I did ask
the district to give me a few days to get organized and get um the side products to go in with those items. Um, so Thursday, next Monday starting at the high school, I would say uh today is uh Tuesday. We
could do Thursday at the high school and we would have to start at the high school. You're going to start at the high school and then Okay. I' I'd like to reach out to the principles and, you know, to see because I know there's some issues with where the children are seated at Village Elementary and Orchard
Hill because their desks being 3 ft apart are buted right up against my serving line doors. My outdoor serving line is actually inside my kitchen right now. So, they don't even have the ability to walk into the kitchen. And what are some of those options going
to be so the families can Well, to start off, um the the number one product at the high school and the uh middle schools is uh chicken patties, chicken tenders, spicy chicken patties. They're the number one selling.
Um and uh pizza. Okay. It's chicken then pizza. Um, but I I will uh caution espec we have some high school students here. In the past uh we were not on the national school lunch program. We're not on SSO. So when we
cooked chicken tenders and French fries and all those things they were cooked in um fryilators and now those all all those things have to be cooked in the oven because SSO has very very strict guidelines. So when you
bite into that sandwich, it's not going to be the same exact sandwich you had when we left. I can tell you that right now. It's the same product. It's just healthier. Thank you. I think Dr. Thank you so much. Ju just a quick clarification that
one. Yeah. Um c can you you said that you have 14 14 school district under your supervision. Yes. How is the staff shortage distributed across these different teams? Because you know you you made reference to national shortage and then you essentially saying you had
50% workforce. Okay. Now how is it distributed in your district right around the corner? I'm responsible for South School District. We're operating with about half staff there. They typically have 80. We have 38 employees
there. So we're running about half. In most districts, it could vary anywhere from half staffed to missing 25% of the staff. There is no place that I I'm responsible for in New Jersey that is completely staffed.
I'm sorry. Thank you. So then there are multiple um food service contractors available to school districts throughout the state of New Jersey. Are you finding that, and you stated that you oversee about 20 or
so districts in South Jersey, are you finding that your company, Chartwells, is experiencing this delay? Because I know I work in a public school district in Union County, and our food service contractor, and I
won't state who they are, is not experiencing those types of delays. So can you kind of share with us is this a a new pattern as a result of the the pandemic where inventories you know have
been compromised you know across various commodities or what have you or is this um unique to chart wells right now like could you talk to us a little bit about that? Sure. Um, it is definitely all related
to the pandemic and I can't speak to other companies specifically, but I can tell you and I do know this for a fact because I've worked for the other companies as well. We're all buying from the same manufacturers. We're all buying Tyson chicken or Purdue chicken and
they're all having the same problems. We're buying from the same dairies. There's only so many dairies in the state of New Jersey. We're all having the same shortage issues. So, um, again, I can't speak specifically to what's happening in Union, but I can tell you
that it's not just a Chartwell's issue. Union County, in Union County, I'm sorry. But I can tell you that we're we as an industry are experiencing shortages, not not just in New Jersey, but across the country.
Um, before we keep going, I guess I want to make sure Can everyone hear because I always have that problem in the back so you can hear Can I make sure every board member talks? Sorry. I heard you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gillespie. Thank you so much.
Hi, thanks Jim and Patty for coming tonight. So, I have question about procurement guidelines. I'm not familiar obviously with how you procure your food. I'm just curious, are you allowed to purchase say apples? Like I saw the
pallet of apples from local farms. The reason I asked uh we got an email today from a parent uh talking about uh the apple was very bruised short of being rotten. So I can imagine why that could be in a
large pallet like that buried in the bottom of those boxes. Are we are are you allowed to purchase from local farms? All food that's served in schools has to be USDA inspected. It has to go through a USDA inspected process and plant. I
can tell you and I can provide a a list to the district that the people that we're buying from our distributors are buying from local farmers in the state of New Jersey when product is in season. So just because we're not buying from
the farm down the street doesn't mean we're not getting their apples. We could be getting their apples after they've been processed and sent to a inspection plant and then sent to distributor and then sent to us. So they made a 100 mile trek to go a mile down the road. Thank
you. One of the concerns I've heard is uh maybe particularly at the high school sizes of portions is reduced or different and is there anything you can explain about that? That's absolutely true. The portions are slightly smaller
than what we've served in the past. And that's because the SSO guidelines, very strict guidelines on portion sizes, the amount of total calories, um the weight of the meat on a sandwich is all regulated by SSO guidelines, which we
have to follow to ensure that the district gets their reimbursements because we are audited by the state. All right. I have a few questions. Um I guess uh I know you said you can't really deal with a lot of your you know
the Olympic stuff right now but if somebody is allergic um to something can they approach um you all and ask for something else like absolutely right so if you are allergic to milk which I am I would be able to find something else absolutely but it can't be water that's
correct right okay um so Um, can I just clarify that because that's a very very common question. A lot of people will ask us, "I don't like milk. I'm allergic to milk. Can I just have a water? It probably cost you less. Just give me the
water." The USDA consider considers water a food of zero nutritional value and cannot be considered part of a reimburseable meal program. So, as a technicality, you're correct. We cannot serve for all for
um now I was told I know that they're smaller amounts but we do give different amounts based on school right the younger kids get a lesser amount and you know high school kids get more a larger
amount of food right than there there is a slight difference and the main difference is in the um vegetable and fruit portioning. Now what we package is the minimum requirement for fruits and vegetables. But at the high school and
the middle schools, we put out additional vegetables and fruit. So if a student wants to take an additional apple or additional vegetable, which lately has been carrot sticks or celery sticks, they're entitled to take that and it's out there for the taking. So
why I guess I'm wondering, can we do that for the other schools too? Because if they're, you know, younger kids that maybe can't eat some of the stuff, maybe, you know, if they can get two vegetables or two fruits, um, can we put
that out to them as well? We can offer it if you'd like to, but that's not an entitlement in the SSO program. Um, my understanding is you can get two fruits for one, right? You can get two vegetables for one. That's correct. And
you're not you're not giving all of that, are you? And your minimum bag. In the elementary schools, they're getting the full the full required amount, which I'm not sure exactly what is. I believe it's a it's a cup. A cup is three of vegetables, right? So, it is two types
of vegetables and two types of it can be two different types as long as the total weight is the same or one vegetable as the weight is the same. So, yes, the elementary schools, if you'd like us to offer more, we can. It's not required by SSO, but we can do
it. Um, can I jump in real quick? Sure. Um, the elementary schools are a little tougher to do that. We can do it at S and we can do it at the high school. The elementary schools, breakfast is fed in the classroom. We actually take the meals that are prepared, which is a
complete reimburseable. they go into a bin when the teachers come in in the morning or the aids at lower middle, they pick up that bin and deliver to the classroom. So, I don't know how I would incorporate adding extra because, you know, some product comes back to us, some doesn't. Um, the same with lunch.
Um, we're putting them in the bins for orchard and village lower middle school, they're being placed on a table. We could put it out there as well. Um, you know, I I don't know who's picking up. So, the the elementary schools, that would be a little tough.
Um, let's see. I go back to my list of questions. Um, um, one of our board members, I think it is Rich, was kind enough to, uh, share with us an article from the New York Times, is that right? um today which
talked about the fact that um the department of agriculture has um uh I guess lessened their rules or um to allow more things to be done rather than what is traditionally done in um or
purchased in uh you know under the federal guidelines. Right. So, I guess I'm asking if you would be willing uh to make some creative decisions if that helps us to uh find the right products
that you need. I know that now that you're expanding to hot foods, you may not need this as much, but um are you willing to um make some of those creative decisions if we ask to um either, you know, the examples that were
in the New York Times was, you know, some places are going to Costco, they don't have enough of like the bread or whatever that is needed for feeding all the kids that day. Would you um consider something like that?
Of course we would. And and the situation you just described is something we've actually done. I mean, where we're shorted product and we've Patty Patty has a a credit card issued by the company and she has to go to shop
and buy food to make it through a lunch. So, we're doing those type of things. It's not ideal because it doesn't go through the proper channels, proper supply chain. You can't guarantee that. So, it's it's a rare thing that we do, but we do do it. Um, I'm not familiar
with the exact guidelines that were handed down. I did hear that they came down today and it'll probably take um a week to 10 days for it to be interpreted by uh Chartwell's corporate and the New Jersey uh state workers which they will
definitely inform us and mandate what we do next. Um Mr. So also they I'm sorry M they did send out the flexibility of those waivers and congregate setting no serving. So those are available for you.
I know I think it was about seven to 10 days ago there was an update to the flexibility in the waivers at the federal level and they issued that to all the states and as of right now the district is up to date with uh the waivers that are currently available.
All right. Also there is a chance to be flexible about workers too. I know that we had parents that had offered to volunteer and I did check with the state and they said that we could um uh do
things like that as well to help you all. Um would you be willing to allow um you know different types of u workers so that we could supplement you know the people that you have? Absolutely. um if
the district is going to to supply us with volunteers, we have had other districts uh with a limited number of volunteers that helped package lunches for us. Um so yes, absolutely. We we would welcome any help we can get because right now this the staff is
pushed to their absolute limits. Um let's see. Um, so we've gotten some letters that have said, you know, South Brunswick is better than us, um, in terms of what they're supplying. So I'm assuming it's because they're getting
hot food and we aren't. Is that correct? I spent um, uh, six or seven days in South Brunswick making pizza. So yes, uh, they started uh, with a much more diverse menu than we're
offering here. um they may not be following the exact protocols for distancing. Um they do offer five or six hot items every day for lunch plus cold selections. So yes,
they have a very diverse menu there. Okay. Um I is this is really for the board. I was thinking, I know this is out of the box, that maybe we might consider um donating water, you know, to the different
schools so that kids could just pick up water rather than um you know, not have it available. So, I'm hoping you all consider that in the future, we can talk about it later. Um I also asked the state because I guess I'm a little pushy
um um that um if we could also if If need be, we could um use restaurants if we needed to to help provide food. Um they're going to check on that, you know, but would that be something to
consider if if we were able to get that to happen? That is a very slippery slope. That opens up serious liability issues. Um when we can't guarantee the source of the food or how it was produced or if it meets nutritional guidelines.
Um, if that's something the district wants to pursue, we could look into it, but I can tell you that I strongly recommend we don't do that. Okay. Um, thank you. And I guess my last question is I wasn't sure I heard how long it will take to get hot food at
like Orchard Hill. I can't answer that because we have to meet with the principles. We have to I mean, this decision was just made to put the hot food in the high school in the last 24 hours. So we have to meet with the principles to see what can be done to
open up service areas to facilitate that. So it's going to mean may we can get the the hot food. We have enough to get started. It's just I need to know how we're going to facilitate that. So, I I've learned that some schools are
actually letting kids make their orders for what they're going to have at lunch. And those foods are actually put on the table where they sit so that you don't have to go through the lines and you don't have like that three-foot um
problem. Is that something you'd consider if we could figure out how to do it? We have some schools that do pre-orders like that, but they also have a large staff of lunches and teachers are involved and they're distributing those meals. I do not have the staff for
that. Uh I don't foresee having the staff for that anytime in the near future giving our recruiting efforts. Um, pre-orders are definitely a possibility, but putting them on students tables and things like that would take a considerable amount of
manpower and it very feasible in smaller schools, in neighborhood schools. I don't know that it would work here. We we could explore it. All right. A constant question we have gotten or comment we've gotten in our letters is
that the quality of the food is not at the level that the parents want or the students right they are willing to eat it and I think I asked you this question before if we um desire
and we want you to take to purchase a higher level I know you consider the level that you purchase right now to be quality But if we requested that you select a higher level of food, would you be willing to do that for us? Um, in our
process, you know, for the food, if you're looking for a higher level of food from wars, deli meats, Tyson chicken, Purdue chicken, things like that, we can definitely go that route. It'll be additional cost to the district. Again,
so everyone's familiar the district pays chartwell. It's available, Jen. Right. It's absolutely available. It's absolutely available. Okay. Um and we can provide it, but it will be the
district has Chartwells as a liaison to purchase the food for you. So, we'll purchase anything you want. You're only going to get the same reimbursement from the government. So the money you generate, the profits that you generate are the districts, not tribals. We work
for a fee. So whatever you want us to do as far from a quality standpoint, we can do it. If you want me to serve filetmenan and shrimp cocktail, I can do that. I can do that. Okay. So it would just lessen our profit is what you're
saying. If we got a higher quality, exactly. I can do whatever you ask us to do from a food standpoint. Thank you. So, are there any other questions from the board? Just just one related to that. I guess I'm wondering, you know, we've seen and pictures that parents
have taken or kids have taken and and discussion about that. Now, some of that's anecdotal. Some of it may have been from a week ago. And as you said, you're making changes along the way. But I'm wondering how, to Phyllis's question, how much of issues that you
think might be happening still are from a product perspective or is it more of a process? You were talking about how meals have to be reheated once you get the heating. Is there anything that you think it's just because of the district's
required COVID spacing and just the difficulty you have getting product in and turning it around and getting things set up? I'm just trying to understand the balance between product issue versus process issue. Does that make sense? Are are you referring to the the quality of
the food or the quantity of food? I I'm talking about I guess the the end product. If if people are saying that they're getting things that are cold, well, I guess everything is cold now, but like it's it's frozen or, you know, it's not thought out type of thing or other types of things. It seems like you
think that that is I don't know that we're experiencing very many of those issues. And when those issues are brought to our attention, like the out ofd milk, that was something we immediately took care of. Okay. So, we need to be made aware of those things. As long as someone brings it to the
supervisor's attention in the school building, it only takes minutes before Patty's on top of that. Great. Um, I realized I had one more question. Um, I know you I can't remember what you call it, Patty, but you try to take
advantage of using everything again if it's possible. Shelf stable, right? I'm sorry, what? Shelf stable. Shelf stable, right? So, you try that, but there are times other things that you can't do. And I think I think Phyllis is referring to the recovery plan. I'm sorry.
Recovery program, right? If there's if there's something that's not used and we bring it back, we will reuse it. Um, minus the milk because I have an issue with the temperature that it's been out because if a teacher's late picking that up and then it doesn't get distributed in the classroom in a timely manner, that makes me really nervous. So, I will
not reuse that. So, I know there are co issues, but would you be willing to work with um uh what is Ellen's last name? Robins from from um the pantry to see if we can set up um
bins and situations where kids can donate stuff. Would you be willing to work with our um if if we found ways of um using the food that you aren't um going to be able to reuse yourself? We can do that as long as the district
assumes responsibility because we have no control over what happens to the product when it leaves our control. Okay. So that would be uh a district liability issue and whatever you do with product once it leaves our care is entirely up to the district. Thank you.
All right. So, I'm going to ask people in the audience um if they'd like to ask questions, but we're kind of I was trying to figure out what to do with the microphones. What? I can't pull them off. Can we actually add a step back in the
Okay. Or or either we can take one of the microphones if you can take that microphone and then ask your question. Uh thank you for for all the information. I really appreciate this. uh my first meeting my name sorry I have two student here one
is a senior and my daughter she's in adorment school as we had uh his children representative you heard exactly that's the basically the viewpoint from all student including my two so just a couple of thing uh uh
point is this do you have a quality control for example like as you say all parents concerned everyone's concerned does anybody test the food I know you said all the brand name that's one thing. Does anybody quality check the test to food before being s served? That
doesn't have to be every day but time to time because my complaint that I'm missing from my children and my neighbors around the same thing it's just uh you know Phil just said the quality is not as a result you know what is happening my daughter told me I mean she's saying that kids are throwing
foods away they're taking the bag throwing away and I asked her what is going on said either same thing being served and as you said rotten you know apples things are not checked. Second, I
I saw my daughter saying nutritional fact of the food. She goes there, she say either we get sugar loaded stuff or grease loaded stuff. For example, today I think in the normal school they offer muffin loaded with
greasy greasy and other day she had a catalog you know breakfast bar all sugar item. Is there a way you guys assess the quality nutritional values of the food just like as my as I concerned about children as you concerned about children I'm sure you I really appreciate all
your service is there way you guys have some sort of quality maintain a process or some some way you can validate that check the food check the nutritional contents from from the child perspective as we have a concern
the portion for high school and middle Third one is the uh the you know the turning the food around not serving like even as adult we can't have same food every day. So just everything I just point to you guys. Thank you. As far as the nutritional
value of the food is concerned. Everything that's served and is menu in this district meets strict USDA guidelines. The muffin you're referring to is a low-fat muffin. Um we're not allowed to serve regular muffins. The cereals that we serve are the limited
amount of cereals we serve are all low sugar cereals. The protein bars meet nutritional guidelines. That's what's available to us. Um, as far as quality control, uh, we are making the sandwiches fresh every day. Uh, we
barely have enough staff to to get the lunch ready on time. And yes, they're monitoring that product. um that our staff normally eats lunch in our schools as well. So yes, they are monitoring the product and as I pointed out to you
before when we do see an issue like with a with delivery of faulty product something we address immediately. Yes, uh we have people checking the quality of the food on a regular basis. Now as far as the uh the variety in the menu,
uh I have to agree. I don't think that deli sandwiches and the salad and the very limited cold items that we've been offering are um the variety I'd like to offer, but it's what we can do to get a lunch prepared in front of the students
in a very limited amount of time. Um some of the schools only have 15-minute lunch periods. So, we're very limited on what we can do in a very short period of time. So, as we expand and we can open up some of the service areas, we hope to
to definitely address that. Thank you. Can the next person come up to the mic? Can you probably have you on the queue so that we know who's you're raising your hand? Yeah. Okay. Can I get you to say your name? I forgot. So, uh, I'm
Tina G. I have three kids in the district. Um, I want to say thank you for your time today and for all the complaints. I do appreciate, you know, what you guys are trying to do despite all the constraints. So, um, I don't know if some of the parents agree. We do, you know, appreciate what you have
been doing. I know there's a lot of improvement that can be made. Just a suggestion, and I'm sure there's still a lot of questions and concerns, especially from parents, that we're not going to have time to. I don't know if you guys want to consider developing a focus group or committee for the rest of the school year to address any other
issues that might come about. Um, might be a little bit more effective. and you know um just you know worth our time um because I'm sure we can't get to all the questions at the board meetings. But again, thank you. Thank you.
Oh, please come on up. Whoever is uh my name is Lily. Uh I have two kids attending orchard and village and this is actually my first board meeting. So certainly food is our priority. So first I want to again thank the board
to take action to holding this meeting so quick so we can actually address some concerns and I appreciate you come here to to answer and also explain the food shortage some restriction regarding the safety. However I do have two question.
Uh my first question is both for Chatwell and the board is about the expired food. It's not just about the food, the milk that's out of the date. I also see the carrots that has a package that has been out of the date. And my biggest concern is because I have uh
young kids. My younger kids actually doesn't know how to sort the expiration dates. So they have to uh you know depend on the adult to tell them if the food has been expired. If a side looks fine, let me just consume it. So I want
to know what kind of additional procedures will be taken from chat grill maybe as a help from the teacher to help the younger kids to avoid consuming expired foods because my my kids
actually had the expired meal last week. He had it until someone else told him that it's expired. So my second question is I really liked the idea of the folks group because I believe there is a big percentage of the parents are thinking
about re-evaluating our service company. So I think the the fox group may be considered to further work on to maybe uh accommodate the parents opinion and see if there's a need to really evaluate what's the food service company would
like to use. So that's my two question and I really appreciate opportunity to ask those questions. Thank you. Uh just I want to address that a couple of the uh the dating issues were brought to our attention and we do have our
staff uh paying attention to dates. There have been things very close to date. We did find some milk product and some of the products we use have used by dates, expiration dates and manufactured dates. So, we're making sure that our
employees understand the difference in those dates and the products that go out. We have addressed that. As far as the need for a focus group, um, every district is required to have a food service committee. Uh, and the food service company or
department is supposed to be invited to that meeting to participate. So, uh, I can work with the district in trying to help you organize that meeting. Um, whether we do it by school or by grade level or or districtwide, that's
entirely up to the district, but it's actually a US requirement. Jim, I just want to add prior to COVID, I had had several meetings in different schools. Um I would ask for a faculty member, a parent, um students who are buyers,
students who are not buyers. Um just to get their, you know, their I what they're thinking is happening right now, what they like, what they don't like, their opinion of what what we're doing. And we were doing that through I want to say February of 2019 2019 2019. It was
March we shut down 2020. I I don't I don't know what day it is. I'm sorry. Sure. I I guess my uh followup comment is really about the expiration date because my kids are very easy to feed.
So they can consuming the same code for quite a while. But this expiration date is really make my I'm very concerned about that. So I hope there can be some additional transparency about what kind of procedures or maybe the additional
cautious has been uh implemented especially to help the young kids who doesn't know how to identify the experiment. Thank you. Thank you. I have a quick question. Um of course new expirations as I we all agree is
unacceptable. Well, I know you guys are working so hard and committed to making sure that's resolved, but in the meantime, you know, being a parent as well. Um, can we are teachers helping with meal time, looking at packaging? You know, it's easier for a teacher with maybe the 15 20 kids to look at meals.
So, as she's passing them out, can we guarantee that they're helping looking at the food items as well and helping the little ones making sure everything looks, you know, like quality appropriate food to be consumed. I will speak to the principal about the
procedure. Next question. Good evening. My name is M John and I have one child in Otra Hill. I have two questions for you Jim. Thank you so much for taking the time to come here with
Cat Ali to to face us. You can be a tough lord. Uh so my my first question is that um I think you mentioned that the school is reimbursed $4.25 for a bag of carrots, a carton of milk,
uh a sandwich, and an apple. Uh and then the school pays truck bills for uh the meal that they provide. And I think you were about to mention how much it is that the school district is paying per meal, but I I I I don't know what
happened to that point. So, could you possibly please let us know how much uh Chartwells gets paid per meal from We work for a flat fee. Say that again. We work for a flat fee. Okay. The district incurs all profits and all losses from
the food service program. It's our job to try to make the food service department solvent and operate in the black. Okay. And is are you in a position to kind of share with us what kind of a flat fee that might be? Is it percentage of the sales?
Is it per meal or uh so you said it's a it's a it's a monthly rate. We charge a district a monthly flat rate. Management fee. A management fee. A management fee. Well, thank you. And then um my second question is that um in your in your
speech um in your introductory speech where you provided a lot of information, very useful information, uh you mentioned that in June you were prepared to provide the school district with hot and cold meals. And then in August it
was the principles that decided against hot meals. So there were only two or 3 weeks to turn around the menu to bring it to a full cold meal service. Was the school district informed that a decision at that point in time could cause
uh a significant impact on the quality of food, the quantity of food, the type of food that is being provided to the children. We did have discussions uh during that meeting and after the meeting when we focused on the fact that we were going
in a totally different direction and it was going to take some time to retool and adjust to meet the the new needs of the district and and of course we understood the the principal's concern with social distancing. Um but because of supply chain issues, what would
normally take a couple of days is now taking weeks for us to to make changes. So yeah, the district was made aware of it. But at that point, I don't know what else could have been done at that point and we immediately started placing orders and started
calling manufacturers and suppliers. uh we have national contracts with suppliers like Tyson and and uh companies like that. So, you know, we reached out soon as we knew we were going to have an issue. Great. Well, thank thank you, Jim. If I could follow
that up with a question for the for the board. Uh if the school district was informed, made aware that there could be concerns, would it have been possibly a better decision to offer food
to the students that actually rely uh I I I want to just for the sake of discussion bucket students into two portions. one uh bucket being students that rely on the school's uh meal program for their daily nutrition and
then other bucket of students where it is convenient for a parent to utilize the free lunch and breakfast program that is provided by the school. So if there was uh a concern that
the right kind of nutrition nutritious meals or the right kind of quantity uh or variety might not be made available to the entire school district. Could we have possibly offered food to the children who actually needed
it? uh better food uh different variety of food and more to children who actually needed it than offer it to the whole school district with 5,000 children. Is that something that was uh even like is was that a consideration or
how how how would we have gone through that process? You want to talk? Yeah, I think I understand the question. I think you're referring to the our cream and reduced student population versus our regular students. Yes, I I guess so. Over the summer, we
actually did provide um the seamless summer option to to all families in in in the district. So, we were servicing both of those buckets. This school year, we continue to service both of those buckets because every student under the SSI program gets a free breakfast and a
free lunch. So, both buckets are being taken care of simultaneously. If I understand the question, if I could expand on that, we couldn't just focus on the people who rely or depended on those meals. They're free and reduced.
It's against policy with the SSO program. You either sign on for the program or you don't have the program. When you sign on to the program, it's all or nothing. Everybody eats for free. You can't single out individuals. Okay. Now I sort of think you're meaning that
could we have gotten better food for these people. Is that what you're saying? For the children who actually need it, right? You want better quality food, right? And that's that's a a problem that we all are struggling. We want better quality food and we've got to figure out how to do that. Yeah. At
least for the children who rely on on the meal programs that are offered by the school. I um I'll be honest, I signed up for the convenience aspect of it, right? When my child came home day two and she said that it's the same food, I can't eat this. Said, "Okay, I'm going to switch
to providing you home food, right? So, I'm giving sending her home food, homecooked food." And uh a few days into the program, she said, "Well, I tried to get something. I don't know what it was." And she was like, I was not allowed to because I can either
take the whole lunch, but if I bring anything from home, I can't take anything else that is being offered. I said, okay, that's a school policy. You're not going to fight it. Whatever I send you from home, let's continue with that. But I I was more concerned about the children who actually rely on the meal program for nutritious food, for
good quality food. And when their parents if they cannot send in food just because their child came home complaining that for three days in a row I got the same meal. And I completely understand the issue that charts might be facing labor concerns. It's it's all over it's all over the nation. So it's
it's not unique to any one particular segment of industry or or or life. But if we are saying the SSO program is an all of all or nothing. So we can't really focus on children who need the meals. Correct. Uh then it's just a
pity. I don't think there is anything more. That is the issue. That is the issue. So that the distribution of those meals must be non-discriminatory. So that is the issue. Um in order for us to receive those monies, we could not discriminate based on free and reduced
eligible students and those who are now eligible for free meals based on this program. understand. Now, I want to go back because my assumption is that every student is, you know, can't take these free meals, right? That's the
possibility. So, why would any kid even if they bring a sandwich themselves, not be able to take the free meal? I think what she's referring to, yes, they can take the free meal, they can't pick and choose what portions of that meal they want to take. They have to take the
entire complete meal. Now, that is unique to us because I know other schools allow you to sit and cheat. No, that is not true. I'm sorry. If you take re a reimburseable meal, a five component meal, which is your bread, your protein, your vegetable,
your dairy product has to meet the nutritional guidelines by supplying all five of those products. If a child takes an orange or an apple and says, "That's all I want. Technically, they should pay for it because it's not part of the SSO
program. They have to take the entire meal for the district to get the reimbursement. There's no such thing as a partial reimbursement. But wait a second. You only need three parts of that meal to get a reimbursement. That would that's when we're offering offer versus served. But when we're packaging
meals, that's served meals. And there's a huge difference between offered versus served and served. So when I'm serving a meal, I have to serve all five components. All right. So, her I'm sorry. Your child could have
taken the bag and decided to donate it or shared the rest of that bag with somebody else, right? And then you could have donated it to the food bank, but she could. Is it she? She. But she could not just get the orange. She could have gotten the bag with everything. Okay. So, that's something that we didn't know
about. So, now I can tell her I said you can pick up the bag and give her grab the bag. All right. Grab the bag. All right. Thank you. the whole thing. Thank you. Yep. Go to the trash. That goes to the trash. Everybody's trashing. That's
what I Nobody is saying all that. I just want to show what kids eat lunch every day. 12 days just like this. I'm sorry. Can I get your name?
Thanks. The first week even don't have treats every day just like this. One cheese, two meat,
all the same. Can you eat for 12 days? Please tell me. 12 days. Every day. It's terrible. We offered every parent. We offered him.
We offered you kids eat this 12 days. No. Is that No, it's unacceptable. I don't know why. What happened to us? Acceptable to serve our children that type of sandwich every single day for
lunch. Every day. Shall we say that? No, I I agree with you too. We are offering sandwich. We're we're offering the sandwich along with the other products that go with it. That sandwich is supposed to have 2
ounces of meat or meat alternate on a roll that meets a nutritional guidelines. I don't know what I can say. I'm just very angry because will you that your kids eat this every day
next to tomorrow, next week, next month. As I said, after a few days, we we did offer the vegetarian and we started offering salads and protein salads. So, they are being offered in the district. I guess I want to say I'm sorry. You
know we we are not happy with the situation because I listen another school they have free meals they got different things every day don't I can't believe it
every day I ask my daughter she say the same she say I can't eat what grade is your daughter two two uh second grade. She's in second grade. All right. So, now we're also talking maybe weeks
before the second grader gets hot meal. So, to me, that's a real concern that if you can do this for the high school, right, and we have that food in your supply, you know, you you have all of the hot meals that you ordered in
August, right, before um um the school changed to require you to do cold meals. there has got to be a way that we can expedite or you know speed it up so that those other schools are getting hot much sooner. Can we work with you on that? As
I said earlier, I would reach out to the school principles and coordinate that with them. So yes, as soon as the school principles are able to uh facilitate it, then we can offer.
Thank you. Thank you for please let us know and you know please update us as well so that we all know what's going on. Hi good evening. I'm Vy and this is my first meeting and thanks to all of you
for doing this. Uh my son is a middle schooler and even he tried the first day food and he was not ready to try any any flask to that. All my point was you said that the other school districts they are uh having very diversified food. So what
is stopping in our school district to try that is that the cold and hot meal difference or is that some other food uh acredation program? If something is stopping that kind of uh diversified
food uh you know proportion can we reconsider it? Can we take some suggestion on that? We're willing to work with the school district and as I showed you, we proposed serving scenarios in the in the service areas.
Uh the the big concern the district and the principles had was social distancing. Now, I can't speak for other districts. I can tell you what I've seen, and it's not so much a concern in other districts. Um and
it it's a priority here. So we we are accommodating the school the best we can. They do we do not have mobile hot boxes or mobile hot serving lines. Everything we have is stationary. So we don't have the facilities or the
equipment to do those things. And the other districts have some of that equipment. And as I referenced South Brunswick um their social distancing guidelines must be somewhat different than here. So I think that to our board
members that we could this second grader taking 12 days the means definitely even we cannot accept it. So something we can think about it and work on it to give a different kind of food that would be very helpful. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Hi, my name is Nadine Fukare. I have two kids in the school district and thank you Jim for coming here. Um I have a couple of questions. So the first one is you mentioned that you know you're meeting the nutritional value but uh who
decides the menu uh you know what's being served? Patty works on the menu. Um and again that menu depends on what's available. As I said, we we got horse head deli meat in. But unfortunately to go districtwide, the only thing we were
able to get so far was turkey, ham, and I believe one of the chicken products. That's all we're to get so far. So, we are waiting for more variety to come in, but it's just not currently available. So, I'll be honest with you. What I've
heard so far is Tyson Furdue and apparently Moors have right but I don't hear any you know um any um real menu options being discussed is is
as if like we are we are limited to these options is that so because I mean there are foods around I mean outside of Tyson Purdue and and Borz I'm just wondering why we are so fixated on on certain menu options Well, right now because this lady what he what
she just showed us that is totally unacceptable right now. The district has asked for a cold brown bag lunch. That's what's being offered. In that lunch, we're offering a variety of sandwiches,
salads, protein salads, and vegetarian options. That's the brown bag lunch. And we're also doing a brown bag. Now when we expand into hot foods, we can take the menu totally different
direction. We can offer chicken products. Um the most acceptable product for students, chicken and pizza obviously, but we can expand into into other products, but we have a very limited hot service base and obviously we're going to go for the the the most
acceptable products up front. So yes, we'll develop uh the menu as we move along. So, so to follow up on that, I actually did try the pizza and my kids complain about the pizza and that's the only thing they can eat because there's not many um you know, vegetarian options.
Excuse me. When did you try the pizza? Uh when they have this, you know, come to school and try, you know, you sit down with your kid and have lunch. That was two years ago. Uh we changed we we got some concerns about the pizza two years ago. We make
changes districtwide, especially in the elementary schools, and changed the pizza product that we were offering, and did a taste test with the students. We invited board members and the administration to tour the schools with us, and everyone at that time found it acceptable. So, I'm not sure um if
you're referring to something happened a couple of years ago because we haven't served pizza since uh March of 2020. So I I take your word for it for now. But uh what I meant was like I'm sorry as far as taking my word.
We didn't have the ability. School was not open. We have not served pizza since March of 2020. No, I know that. But what I'm saying is that when you did serve that, it wasn't up to what you would expect. My kids never liked it. But
that's the only thing they could eat. So you know whenever they didn't get food from home they had to eat the pizza because there was no not many vegetarian options being offered. That's what I meant. So okay and in two years ago when that concern was brought to Chartwells
we did meet with the administration and we did meet with the board and we did expand on the vegetarian options and we did change the pizza product. So as far as the information you're bringing today, it might be slightly outdated. Maybe you weren't informed that we did
make those changes and upgrades to this to uh the program, but those issues were addressed two years ago. What are those vegetarian options that you offer that you offered afterwards? I'm sorry. I don't have the menu with
me. Um but I'm sure I can dig up menus from two years ago. I mean, I would love to see that. What the options were there that might be because if those menus were all posted online for the general public to see on our website. I do believe he does now. What
vegetarian option do you have now? Yeah, pizza from before. No, I know he was talking about before, but I I do believe you want to know. Am I correct? Yeah, I mean I also vegetarian option right now. Yeah, but I think Jim said that you know right now they're only offering cold and
you know in that maybe the options with vegetarian are limited. So I understand that but I would like to have more vegetarian options in the future right so that my kids can eat cuz whenever they don't get lunch from home you know they can take we completely understand the need for vegetarian that was brought
to our attention two years ago and we understand the demographics of this district have changed dramatically in the last two to three years. So, we've been ramping up the vegetarian options and making them more readily available. And to your point, as we expand into hot food in the upcoming weeks, days, and
weeks, we will be expanding on the vegetarian options as well. Okay, that's good. And one other last question. Uh so my my son actually you know we made a selection the night before and you know the next day when he went to school he
didn't have that selection and so he actually went hungry because you know he couldn't he he he couldn't eat the other food that was there. So what can we do to make sure that you know before the before um I mean I don't know why that
happened. Maybe because you ran out of you know the most popular item. I'm not sure. But but is there a way to circumvent that and to have enough food for for kids? Uh you know, because this was the tuna sandwich actually and when when he went to ask for it, they said
that it's over and you know, that's it. That's that's how it is. As I explained, we're having serious supply chain issues. And when we get product shortages, um we don't have more than sometimes more than a day's notice to make those changes. Like today, for example, when
we didn't have enough milk to go districtwide, Patty was in the process of gathering milk and delivering it to the schools to go in elementary lunches at that time, given the resources we had, she couldn't go on the computer and change the menu online to say milk was
not available. So, there are times when we can do that. we can address menu ch last minute menu changes and other times because of delivery schedules and and resources that we have not I apologize in advance it's it's not always possible
to do that given the the current circumstances we're in so I I mean I appreciate all that you guys are doing and I know you're very you know um obviously overburdened but one suggestion I could make is that you don't put something on the menu unless
and till you can ensure that you have enough for the next day. Can we do that? Those menus are posted the beginning of the month. 3 minutes comments. Technically, yes, but we haven't been enforcing it this
evening. So, if if if you could be respectful of everybody's time and complete your comments, we would appreciate that. Okay, that's that's all I have. Okay. I'm sorry. What was the first question? Did Did you have your last question answered?
No, I think he was in the middle of us. Okay. Did you if you just want to finish up I'm sorry. You were talking about how the menu we post the menus a month in advance and the the changes that we make um would have to be made the day of or
the day before. And when we've got time to do that, we're we're trying to do that depending on deliveries and when they come in. It's It's been very difficult to keep up with that. We're doing what we can at this time. Okay.
Thank you. I was just that something we communicate to the district or the community just sharing that menus are subject to change so they can prepare students. Um just and explaining everything you said that we're at a shortage prepare a child that this may not unfortunately, you know, be what is
stated, you know, on the menu, but just so kids are aware as well. um because we know that you're working with one of the but can I get your name? Sure. Uh my name is Greg Brown. I live on Route 206. I have a daughter at uh Village who has uh had
the same sandwich for every day this week or the school year so far. Jim, I I appreciate you coming. Um you didn't have to, so I appreciate you coming. Phyllis, I feel like you're somebody who could run my cafeteria any day. So, I appreciate you guys, but I I have more
questions for sort sort of this side of the of the room. Um, having to go with Jim is the analogy I would make is our contract is with you to if if we hired you guys to build us a house and I got the wrong fixtures in my
bathroom, you're not going to tell me to go talk to my plumbing supplier. My contract is with is with the board. So, what was very telling about Jim's uh appearance today is that that somehow we had a plan that was aborted on August
18th by the principles that decided that we couldn't go with the plan that I'm assuming was in place for a long time. We've been in the pandemic for 18 months. Yeah. So, the principles changed the goal line
on Chartwells on August 18th. and that throws any everything into chaos. Is that is that true or false? I can answer that. So, you are absolutely correct and that's why I started out by saying that we understand that people
are frustrated with the quality, the options, and the only cold choices. So, a couple of things happened. If you remember, masks kind of went away, right? And then delta variant came back and we got the mandate that masks are
back and social distancing is three feet and you have to adhere to that. The delta variant was told to us uh very clearly that was going to be on the high rise up until the mid October and then start to diminish. The department of
health and the CDC as as well as the summer county department of health advised school districts to maintain 3 ft at any cost. So the cost for us was going to be to not be able to serve hot
food until the numbers reduce and we don't have to contact trace. We have had to contact trace in one of our buildings at lunchtime. The exposure is highest at breakfast and lunch or anytime the masks are down and
children are close together. As Jim and Pat said, yes, it was a very difficult decision. We want to offer the same food that we had prior to the pandemic. If you've ever been to the high school, it's better than any food service you've ever seen anywhere. I'm and I'm not joking. Um, so we all want that. So,
yes, we put Charwells in a predicament, but it was because we put safety paramount. We we said, you know what, if it just means that we have to hold off serving pizza and chicken nuggets for now, we will do that. because it is paramount to us to have the children be
3 ft apart to stop the spread of the co virus and to have the district not have to shut schools down. Last week I saw on the news 26 schools are shut down and full remote because of spread in New Jersey. Thus far in New Jersey thus far we have not
had to shut down. We have had to quarantine children which we do not want to do. So, at any cost, we are going to stay 3 ft apart with masks on because we do not want our children to be home virtual. We want them to be in school
full day in person. And for right now, that meant that we we assessed the first month and we said, you know what, at the high school, we think we can do it and we're going to start implementing that on Thursday. So, you are absolutely right, sir. And I'm glad that you pointed that out because I was going to
finish with that by saying that I really appreciate Jim and Pat coming tonight and um thank you for addressing some of the issues that we cannot answer like here and there with the food um purchasing. So was it so were the
principles themselves empowered to make that decision? No, I was in that meeting as well. So it was so I will take full responsibility, right? The principles themselves know their buildings, right? And so they walked through with their uh team and they said, "Okay, how can we do
this?" Right? At the high school, they had unit lunch. So 1,600 kids eat lunch at the same time. How can they do 3 ft apart? That's why we had that hybrid model last year because we couldn't serve food because masks would have to be off to eat. Right. Sure. But the the buildings have been the same the whole
time, right? So if if what you're telling me, like I I don't necessarily subscribe that it's an eitheror proposition, right? we can only do one or the other, right? Because we've had 18 months in the pandemic. So that would that would pose the argument that we
went into this that Delta variant threw us a curveball that we were unprepared for. So that would tell me that we were preparing for this school year to be the best case scenario that there was no variant that was going to come up that there was no wild card that was going to come up. What you know what co's behind
us smooth sail? No. Like but but because now like two weeks before this happens now we're on tilt and and uh we say that the the queue up line is where seats are like we are not a district that lacks
means and so the lack of creativity or problem solving Jim said he said he said he'll do whatever we want him to do but but we're a month into school and we're all sitting now asking questions And to your point, it's going to be
another month before my third grader has another option before a a soggy turkey sandwich. No disrespect, but but the the lack of initiative or creativity of of how we're going to solve things. Put another temporary building outside.
bringing like where is the food focus group that was in place before co there are a lot of creative people in this in this community that if we draw upon those resources instead of waiting till a month after school to start figuring it out that's the frustration it's the
the turkey sandwich is a byproduct of it like that's that's neither here nor I don't care if he serves that every day it's our failure not his so how do we fix it from here. Where is the focus group that was recommended? How can we
account for these resources? Blow through the budget. If you had to answer to these people next month, next year that you blew through the school budget by a4 million dollars so that you could feed the kids, I'll stand up here and I'll yell right back at anybody that
objects to that. Right? Like, come on. We're talking about feeding the kids. We're talking about health of our children as being paramount. Being 3 ft apart isn't the only part, guys. I'm here for you. Thank you. And we have started the
discussion over a week ago. Thank you. Yeah. The only thing I Sorry, I didn't mean to walk away. That's right. I I I'm really addressing everybody. Um, I I think that the comment that the district is not trying to do anything and that we're either
uncaring, inept, or not being creative, I think is just false. I understand the frustrations and I cannot, you know, so and I've been in meetings. I know that there are things happening. I know that
there have been meetings with our business administrator and Chartwells to look at things. I know the principles are looking at things and so, you know, I'm I'm not trying to make an excuse. I'm trying to provide a reason that things are being done, things are
getting better and we have certain constraints to work with, but we're going to continue to address things as expeditiously as possible. I believe I really appreciate that. And candidly, I think this forum for this sort of thing is a terrible idea, right? because
there's focus groups or committees where that information can be made public so everybody can consume it because I don't see that. Nobody sees it, right? It's it's we we get together once a month and and we talk about what has or hasn't been. But there's a lot of things moving
on the ground that we can't help with or we can't see or otherwise appreciate that that initiative. So the idea that everybody gets up here and gets to opine for three straight minutes, it's not an active dialogue. Accountability isn't about airing people out. I agree with you. Accountability is how the hell do
we fix it going forward? Right. Yeah. And and I think that I think that that's one of the reasons why I think that's one of the reasons why the superintendent set out and he last I think it's the reason why the
superintendent sent out last email to exactly say that we're addressing things and Charos will be here as a way of informing the community. This is being taped. It will be available. I'd ask you to let your neighbors know if they have
concerns about it. I'd also ask you, as was said, if there's a particular event where something was frozen, expired, let the local staff know and we are following up on things. So, you know,
that's all I can say on that. Thank you. I just wanted to make a comment just one comment. I understand we are in a difficult position and I believe district is doing everything they could. They're still trying to find creative solutions but if
it is a failure it's a collective failure. We failed as a district we failed as a board and we all should be held accountable for it. Raj one thing you mentioned today that you work for the management fee. So I'm making this
recommendation on behalf of the board by taking a permission that if it is possible can you come back with a proposal where you're perhaps charging more or somewhat closer to the reimbured amount but the quality of the food is
highly superior. I can come back to you with menu suggestions. Has no impact on our management fee. That's strictly district's cost profitability. But yes, um if you're asking for much
higher quality, we'll source those things out and I'll bring some back to the board. Sure. Perfect. And on behalf of Do we have a solution to hospitalism? I'm sorry. on behalf of the board. Can we ask for that proposal? Can we ask for
that proposal? Yes, please. I I think I mentioned this before and I know it was at this point, you know, precoid we did do a survey and we did find out that the majority of parents were willing to pay a dollar more per meal um if we could get better quality. So, um we may have
to redo that just so that we're up to date um and and confirm that. Um, and maybe we also have to determine how much money we're willing to make if we can sacrifice some of our income for that as well. Uh, I had wanted this was part of
my president's report, but one of the committees I um am working on starting and we've talked about this is an ad hoc committee on food, right? So we will be asking for parents, we will be asking for students as well as board members to
participate and have these dialogues because we need to take care of this and um so that will be coming up soon. So please um when you see it, you know, please volunteer so we can um have
people uh participate. Is there anyone else who has wants to ask a question? Yes, I just wanted to finish. Okay. So, Jim, from you also, we can have before I can develop a menu, I need to check our sources. I I can't sit here
and promise menu and I don't know what's on the market. We two weeks, two weeks. Two weeks. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Good evening. Uh my name is Joanna and I wanted to thank everyone
for your comments and sorry for taking so much heat but it's very important to us to to feed our kids with the highest quality food. U but as I was listening and I was trying to figure out what exactly the problem is. I can hear
different um reasons and I was trying to figure like what exactly is in our control. One of the problems that I notice is that our district is putting a lot of restrictions on even food distribution which other districts do not. So I was just wondering it's like
can we just revisit the rules of how restrictive our um district is in terms of what we can what we cannot do and maybe benchmark ourselves against our districts just to see what's working what's not working because maybe we are
too restrictive you know and this is why we have those issues that right now we are discussing just consider that because you know what's the reason that that's actually a superintendent decision. So let them talk about
to reflect on that. You don't have to be, you know, put on the spot right now with the right about relaxing that at this time. We will constantly look at that when we look at the numbers and we are constantly in contact with the
department of health and our restrictions are much higher than the actually you know restrictions put out by CDC government we are taking you know an extra step in restrictions so maybe
we should re-evaluate that because it seems like it's impacting many areas of the school experience in our district thank you okay last year a lot of the budget got taken away from Could you say your name? This is Jean Siri. I have two kids in
high school. But I just want to say before you take the budget, like evaluate the budget, make sure you're not taking the budget from the programs because last year was we've lost budget on the music programs and the art program because of different reasons and I don't
want that to happen again this year. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Any other comments? I want to go back for a second. Um, we will um put the contract
uh for Chartwell on the website so everyone can see that. And I wanted to give you I know for me it's always frustrating when you you just get um someone giving you a vague number rather than the real number. So, I wanted you
to know that um we pay $112,000 annually to um Chartwells and that comes out to being 11,200 monthly. So, I someone had asked for the contract
amount of our damage. Um, I guess I I want to say Francine, you have no question. I don't want to talk about food service. I want to talk about something else. Oh, okay. All right. So, here we go. We'll now go to um
to um the first uh Oh, I'm sorry. What am I doing? I apologize. Thank you so much for coming. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about? No, thank you for the opportunity. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very
[Applause] Thank you. All right. So, we're now going to the first public um comment. Members of the public are allotted one opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum of three
minutes per speaker. All comments or questions must be directed to the board president. The board of education welcomes and encourages input from the public. There are two times during board meetings that the public is invited to speak. One time is now when members of
the public are invited to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum three minutes per speaker. Later in the meeting, there will be a second opportunity to address the board regarding action agenda. Before you make your comment, please state your name,
address, and subject matter, being mindful of privacy bites regarding students and board employees and to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker. The board discourages references to specific individuals. While directing your comments or
question to the board president, please understand that the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather are offered as opportunities for you to share your thoughts with the board. The board president may need to refer an issue to
the superintendent if the particular issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command with the school district before coming to the board for a response. Responses may be provided at the end of the session. However, there are times when comments and questions will require additional
information gathered before a response is decided. Are there any please come up to the the podium? Uh my name is Francis Lobo. This is my first I guess meeting for the board. U
Mr. Gosh, my my question is specifically to you regarding I guess the the swimming pool at the high school. I've sent you two emails already. Uh it seems like it's not open for recreated purposes. Every time I call up or rather my wife and I call up uh you know the
rec for the Marlins program, they're directed to contacting the board of education. So other towns have opened up like Princeton for example, you know, has their program which is open right now. The YMCA is open and what have you. Is there a specific reason why I guess
the high school is not open for rec programs? Just trying to get your take on it. We haven't actually received an official request to use by rec department. Well, if you look at their website, it says they're waiting for a decision from you
guys to see if they can we've approved the rec department for any fac any facility use they've requested us to use. We we've approved it. Our buildings are open to our local rec department. Well, maybe. So, Karen Zimmerman just has to email me and giving her the dates and time she wishes to use the pool.
Okay. Assuming they're not in conflict with our swimming team or any type of gym class. And we have a we have a shared service agreement with our recreation department. So, technically the Mollins program could be in session. Yeah, they use our pool. We haven't received an official request yet from the department. So, whom should we write
to? Because we call them up like generally they say write a board, contact the board. We don't know much. Okay. take care of. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Destler. I live on Terry Hill Road, Princeton, New Jersey. I'm here just to
speak about outdoor policy in general. And the first topic is u masks outside for our student population. Um currently, to my knowledge, the CDC guideline, I know our superintendent cited why we had asked indoors. were following the governor executive order.
So, I'm not here to talk about that, but I'd like to better understand what policy is driving mandates outside for after school activities, let's say outdoor gym class or track and field or any other sports that we have on campus.
Um, is does the board is the board aware of the policy that's driving this mandate for our schools currently outdoors specifically? The Department of Health has told us to have children wear masks during recess unless it fit under the uh requirement
of the executive order, which is why we are adhering to that rule. The Department of Health of New Jersey, I presume is what you're saying. And the reason why of Montgomery the reason why I'm bring I bring this up is there was a petition that was started last week and within less than a week we had 178
parent signatures some of whom I know are health care professionals including physicians and nurses that signed um and so I think we would just like some transparency as to what's driving that policy especially outside for our children especially if they're outdoors and they're physically exerting
themselves and um if we can get a bit more clarity than just the department Montgomery Health, what's driving their decision? That would be very helpful. Absolutely. Thank you. Um the second question I have, and I was actually hoping our senior was was still here to
answer my question. One of my children is um a um freshman in high school, and I have not that much experience with high school and how much outdoor time they get. Again, this is on the outdoor topic. Um but my understanding is it's extremely limited. So, children aren't
allowed to be outside, let's say, as portion of their lunch period or it it's a lot more restrictive this year is my understanding. I just want to understand if there are new restrictions around CO as to why we're limiting the entire high school body from being outside at any given point when they're normally per
permitted, of course. Is anybody aware of that? I am not. I will look into that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, good evening. I'm Jennifer Wolf and I'm an elementary school parent here in the district and I also am a member of the steering committee of Montgomery
CPAG, the special education parent advisory group. Um, I understand the district is well aware of the role of the CPA but for the benefit of the parents and guests. I would just explain that CPAC is a statemandated body um of parents and community members who are
supposed to gather to provide system level district-wide advice and counsel when invited to the board of education and administration regarding issues related to special education. Um I was very heartened this evening to
see the passion of the parents regarding issues related to food service and how quickly the board was um enthusiastic about inviting a focus group of those parents and really finding solutions to food related issues. We on the CPAG are equally passionate about special
education issues in our district. Not only for our children, but for all of us who are touched by special education and we also would hope that a door would be open for all of us to meet on a regular basis to discuss issues pertaining to special education and we look forward to working with you this year harmoniously
and productively and we look forward to your ideas for how we could do that in a more systemic way. Thanks. I guess I just wanted to say my second announcement before the president's report was that we also want to create another ad hoc committee on special ed.
So um and we want to you know uh make it available so a lot of people can come not only just organizations but individuals parents as well. If I can speak for CG they are spectacular. Yeah we'll definitely as well. Thank you. All
right. Good evening. My name is Anna Jernigan. I live on Karen's place in Belmeid. And this evening, I would like to follow up on the September 1st Zoom call that took place with the superintendent and Montgomery Township Health Officer where
we were notified of the plan to return to school safely. Post the call. I reached out to both parties. Unfortunately, have not heard back yet, but there are a few areas that I'd like to discuss. One is the quarantine policy as well as uh data gathering or
information gathering of COVID for our district. Uh masks were already addressed and I think it's critical for us to take a look at why our kids are not allowed to um be mask free when they're outdoors, when they're supposed to get their exercise. So, a couple of
comments I wanted to make. You know, I've requested some studies from uh the health department and I like I said, I have not yet received it. So, I've done some homework myself and a recent study of about 40,000 children with COVID showed that there was no significant
threat from the virus. And I mean significant threat meaning death. Um an annual death among children in US per 100 ages 5 to 14. I'll share some statistics with you. 2.1 out of 100 have a chance of dying from cancer. 1.9 out
of 100 have a vehicle accident. 1.5 from suicide 7 homicide 6 cardiovascular disease.5 drowning.3 flu which we never masked our kids up for a flu and point two for COVID. So I'm here today because
there's a couple points about quarantine policy in particular that concerns me. um you're differentiating um well first of all I feel the policy you have set for unvaccinated children is discriminatory in nature and I don't think it is a sound science considering
emerging data on breakthrough cases for vaccinated individuals you know as of 9:15 vaccinated students are at risk to both transmit the virus and get co yet they're not required to quarantine per your policy so going back to the comments earlier I think we really need
to revisit the policies that you have put in place from social distancing, food services, quarantine, all of those things need to be revisited and discussed collaboratively uh among many individuals. Uh I'm also happy to share with you that a study by
Dr. Robera Debasi on Delta variants showed that both cases and hospitalizations are at the same percentage 12 to 15% of cases and 3 to 4% hospitalizations for children even during the delta variant. So my final
point is around data gathering and communication. We get the email that there's 25 cases and 30 cases and things are spreading. I think as parents we really need to better understand uh the age groups that are impacted by COVID as well if there are any hospitalizations
or serious illness caused by the disease. We would like to see less of the language that was emailed to me last week of culture of compliance. Um, I'm a free thinker. I'm like to teach my children to be freeth thinkers. So, I
would like for us to change that language a little bit because I can assure you that our kids leave school. Uh, they do not wear masks. They have activities. They go to football games. They have sports indoors and outdoors. They have friends visits. They have sleepovers. We go to restaurants. And we
try to live as normal life as possible. So when they come to school and they are forced to mask up and comply and socially distance with friends and separated at lunch tables and constantly policed by teachers and led to believe
that there's something profoundly wrong. My question to you is that I'm asking you what is so different about being in school? Um, as per our health department uh, representative, kids are going home to 96% of vaccinated adults. I don't
think that should be a concern for us. So, I'm asking you to revisit those policies. I ask that you stop using fear and show strength and resilience to our student body. You're putting unjust burden on our kids and on our families. So, I will leave you with the same
thoughts that you've shared with us in your videos for back to school night. Be kind to our kids, please. Thank you very much. [Applause] Hi, good evening. I'm Francine Feffer. Uh, I live in Skilman and I am also
talking about masking, but I have the other perspective. So, first of all, thank you, Miss Mclofflin and the board. I really appreciate that my son has been in school full-time all day. His learning is so much better. He is so much happier. Teachers last year did the best they could, but learning was
different when they were learning through a screen. So, do students need to mask outdoors? Here's what the CDC CDC says. I took it right off their website in the part about education. In general, people do not need to wear masks when outdoors. CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated wear
a mask in crowded outdoor settings or during activities that involve sustained close contact with other people. Fully vaccinated people might choose to wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings if they or someone in their household is immuno compromised. My sixth grader tells me
that there is not a lot of social distancing going on at recess and he likes the fact that he wears his mask. There may be children in our schools who are who are imuninompromised or have underlying medical conditions themselves or who have family members who are. There may be staff who are in that same
situation. So instead of complaining that our children shouldn't be wearing masks outdoors and talking about relaxing our safety measures, let's think about everybody else who wants to send their children to school without risk of severe illness to themselves or their family members. Your child wearing
a mask outdoors is a very small price to pay to help everybody else. Um, unlike going to a museum, a Broadway play, or a professional sporting event, school is required, and the under2 set doesn't yet have the option of being vaccinated. I don't know the medical
history of the children in school with my child, or that of their families. From everything I'm hearing, I am a public education advocate. I work in public education. Maskearing doesn't really bother children. It bothers us, the adults, and we are bothered on their behalf. It's very disappointing to me
that some parents are ignoring the health and safety of others. I don't see the difference between helping your neighbor clean out their basement after Ida or having your child wear a mask at schools. Both are helping your neighbor. It seems that we're not only fighting a medical pandemic, but we're fighting a
pandemic of self selfishness. So to the board of education when you're making these decisions and Miss Mclofflin please think about children and staff who have underlying conditions or are imuno compromised or who have family members who are or their staff or the staff in your schools who are and please
keep the outdoor mask requirement especially at schools for the under 12 set. Perhaps we should even require adult mask adults to wear masks at sporting events. You have that power. You don't let people smoke and you would never let them show up naked to a game would you? Um, so you know, I understand asking for
vaccination status would be difficult, but requiring them to wear masks would not be. And that would allow everybody to feel safe. If I were a child whose brother was playing a football game and I had a medical condition, if everyone around me were wearing masks, it would make my ability to attend that sporting
game much safer. And that's your job as the board of education, isn't it? To protect the children and staff in our schools. So I close with this. If it were your child who was imuno compromised or who had an underlying condition, wouldn't you want other children to wear masks outdoors to ensure your child's safety in schools? A
child's right to go to school safely is more important than the small convenience that this is puts on us outdoors. Even vaccinated adults who are exposed to CO can get it. My assistant at work just did. She had a breakthrough case. Unfortunately, we were both wore masks and I didn't get it from her. So,
let's make schools as safe as we can for everyone. Please. Thank you. [Applause] Paul Vio 6 Matthews front road building New Jersey and uh my question is around the outdoor mask policy as well. Oh sure
around the outdoor mask policy. So, if I understand the the comments earlier, it's the Montgomery Board of Health that gave us the recommendation to wear a mask outdoors. Correct. The state of New Jersey Murphy did not mandate outdoor masks. Correct. Well, the CDC or the
CDC, right? No, no, the CDC. But no, Governor Murphy said we have to wear indoors but not outdoors. Correct. In the executive order. The executive order. So, why are we relying on Montgomery Board of Health, which is really one person, who wanted us to wear masks in Montgomery Park when CO was at
an all-time low and still wear masks outside? Like, why not follow the governor on the playground? So, I was just read out loud, the CDC guard in crowded places. Their playgrounds aren't that crowded. I get a different story from my son recess.
Yeah. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. You could choose to wear a mask, but why make everyone wear it if the state's not mandating it? I mean, why? We have one board of health person who
wants you to wear a mask. I mean, why do why not revisit that policy? And we're constantly reinvigorating the policy. But if Governor Murphy says you don't have to wear a mask outside, why are we doing it? We have one board of health person saying you have to do.
We're going to the extreme like we did with the lunches. Gave the principles the power to change the whole menu. All right. Thank you. Anyone else? Um, I think a lot of these things were
already answered. Um, you elaborate on um the special education group that you meant to talk about later. Oh, okay. Basically, um it'll be an ad hoc committee. Um but we're just starting
it. Our our goal and is to talk about it and develop it. We definitely want to work with you on it. Um and also uh you know work with other people as well if they have this concern. Um I don't know, we hadn't talked about students but you
know maybe that is a possibility as well. Um, so we're going to want to get everyone's advice on that um to to develop it. So I would expect that we're going to start I I believe I did ask um
Zelda if she would head this. Am I correct? I'm sorry. Well, let me wait. Let me go. The the the board has to make a um a decision. But um what we will um we will probably have more information
in a week, you know, to really tell you where we're going to go with this. But this is definitely been something in the works for a while and um we want to start it as soon as possible. Um let's see.
I didn't I don't know where the cultural compliance had missed that. um that um letter uh let's see um I guess the real question is will we
revisit the policies for outdoor um masking? Um and I guess I want to know um who are the people who have to make
that decision. That's um always worked in consultation with the school physician and the department of health. Okay. So um is it something that we can look at again? I know you I think you do on a
weekly basis. Right. So, let's um work on that. Um I guess I want to ask is there anything I should say this is Steve Fogerty, our attorney. Um is um are there any legal concerns we
need to um think about about outdoor masking? [Music] Executive Order 251 and as modified by Executive Order 253, which were the governor's executive orders, uh, dealt with the face covering requirement for
indoorable spaces. The executive order says, however, that nothing in that executive order um should be interpreted to mean that based on uh a local determination that the uh that that you cannot impose uh greater restrictions on
the executive order. So, you have the discretion to take a look at what is happening in Montgomery, and whether or not you need to impose a greater restriction based on the size of the school, the size of the playground area, the number of students who are using
that venue at any given time to determine whether you are going to follow CDC guidelines or the local Department of Health guidelines and impose more strict requirements uh for that school or any of your schools uh in the district. So, I think that these
policies are revisited by the superintendent um in consultation with the school nurses at each of the schools and our school physician and uh are subject to change um as as conditions um as
conditions continue to change and hopefully we will move to uh we will move to a place uh in the district where those restrictions uh can be reduced. But ultimately that is the superintendent's decision uh based on the information that she receives from
each of her schools and uh after consultation with the school position at the department of health. Thank you. You're welcome. Um I think I've answered any everything or we've addressed everything. Um
so I'm going to move on now to committee representative reports. Uh we've already had the student representative report. Uh so next we will have the NTA report by um Kim D. Good evening board of education members
and community members. Um it's nice to be back in this space rather than our little cramped uh room that we're in for the summer, but it certainly makes sense. So, Jim Dolan, president of the Montgomery County Education Association for those of you who may not know me.
Um, I had the pleasure of visiting all the school buildings on the first days of school. Uh, it was there's there's nothing like the excitement of the first day of school. Um, it was really good to see. We couldn't see as many smiles for the mask, but we knew they were there.
Um, from the high school, it started with staff clapping students as they walked in all the way to Orchard Hill where staff were were greeting students and finding their way through the building uh with backpacks that I think
outside the their own bodies. So, uh, it was it was fun to see. Um, and it was fun to be a part of. It didn't take long for me to get put to work as well at Upper Middle School to help students with doing the combination
locks. Apparently, that's a skill you never lose as it came back to me like riding a bike. I was sweating it there for a little while, but it I was able to help a few students. That was that was great. Um, I also want to thank Superintendent
McGlaughlin for dealing with the storm of Ida, having the foresight and the planning of what could happen in a storm where some of us thought, you know, hey, a little bit of rain. Um, obviously turned out to be a lot more. It was devastating to a lot of our community
members, to a lot of our staff members that work here, and certainly tore up our our community. we were able to get back sooner than we ever expected, sooner than we ever hoped. So, you know, I really it's a tribute to the planning and collaboration that happens here in
our district. And I do think uh Superintendent Mlan's leadership to make sure that we got back as soon as possible missing the least amount of days of staff development, the least amount of days of students um to not have to amend the calendar further than
we did. Um, from an equity point of view, our association has finished our book club over the summer called Unconified and had a closing session on August 31st and we had meaningful conversations
around the topics of, you know, what did you learn? What what stood out to you? What did you learn that you can apply within your own life? What did you learn that you can apply in your role your role as an educator within the school district? So, that was really great. Our
equity chair, Mr. Rodriguez, um also met with all of the building equity reps that we're proud to have this year um as paid positions through our MTA. So, we met with those to try to map out a plan that we'll be doing for
the school year for the future. Um as a DT, we met on September 22nd. We discussed important topics like exciting changes to our wellness program here in the district. Uh we collaborated on our mission and vision statement that we'll
be working on. As we were hiring an hiring and equity committee, an equity person for our district, it became quite evident that we really need to revisit that and add equity and make that a piece of our mission and vision. So that was some real important work that got started. Still need to do some work
there. Um, we discussed revisions to our calendar which will be actually approved tonight to make accommodations for IDA and also the observance of Junth as part of our calendar that we're going to be celebrating. And our next DT is scheduled for October 20th.
So IDA was devastating to many of the residents that we had and many of our staff members and maybe people standing right in front of us, our neighbors, our board members. So, our schools fared pretty well, believe it or not. Part of the reason
for that was our members at the high school, our custodians and at the upper middle school were kind of stuck. They weren't able to go home. Um, so they stayed the night and they mopped up whatever rain they could. They
mitigated whatever they needed to do and they spent the night probably a little bit uncomfortably found probably a nice little nook somewhere in the building and they cleaned up whatever they could and saved music equipment damage to certain things and it worked out really well. Um, so for their sacrifice,
they're the only people I know that can do this with a smile. So I did print out a little picture. Uh, so this is them spending the night. So, I know a lot of our board members have heard this story already from some of our subcommittee meetings, but I wanted to make sure the whole board was
able to see that. I really wanted to celebrate their dedication as all of our staff members do to our our wonderful school district. Um, so with that being said, that's my report for tonight. Trying to keep it nice and light and positive. So, thank you all. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. All right. Next are um more delegate and representative reports. Does anyone have anything just briefly if this is allowable?
So yesterday, Monday, September 27th, um from 6:30 to 8 o'clock, um I had the privile privilege of attending the MCA meeting, the first for the 21 um 22
fiscal year. Um and just with brevity, um the president opened it up with greetings. Um the s principal, Mr. [Music] um was president present as well as the director of special services Kristen Taylor
um both of them um greeted everyone and um um provided a report uh to the committee. So for example, um Miss Taylor was delighted to share with the group that there are over 50 new um students in the district
receiving special services. um she reminded everyone about her monthly um newsletter and um also that um and if you can please share this with members of the
community everyone that uh we're looking for jobs to identify um work study you know opportunities um for our students and I think the critical part she mentioned at the open meeting was that the employers you know must be open to
her methodical process which includes a willingness obviously to partner um with us, review all of the work task and fill in the necessary um data sheets. Um Mr. Delgado just reminded everyone um
there were some questions around Camp Mason and he indicated that's been pushed back, you know, although apprehensively on his behalf um that it might be safer and more appropriate um in the springtime of 2022, but continue
to serve the same purpose of, you know, camaraderie and team building and um getting those eighth graders in that um pathology of thinking around being advising uh ninth graders. Um and then finally um they reviewed and
adopted their budget and um I think that's it. Oh, one more note. I apologize um madam president. One more note is that um is looking for
um parent leaison to attend PTO and PTA meetings. So if anyone is interested, please reach out to them. Um and they're also looking teacher leaison, teacher members um to join the organization. Thank you.
[Music] I I did attend a GTO meeting last September 20 and I think just the one thing that I heard from the parents who were there asking if we would think about or reconsider
um having again a either a Zoom link or a live you know um Facebook live of the board meetings at the same time that we're having it. um even if it's not for interaction, but they want to be able to listen to the discussions live. So, I
said I'd bring that back to the board. That was just one thing that they brought up if we would think about it yet. Thank you. Um All right. I'm going to move on then to
uh assessment curriculum and instruction committee ACI. Oh, that's me again. Okay. So, good evening everyone again. So, um as typical, I'm always humbled to
um serve on your behalf as the co-chair of the ACI committee and it's a board responsibility I share with our assistant superintendent Daniel and Papa sitting there um to my right and your left. So, we met on Wednesday, September 15th. The meeting was attended by the
MTA and APSMT presidents as well as other board of education members, the superintendent and administrative personnel too. So during the meeting, Mr. Pava expressed his gratification in working with the transportation supervisor, Mr. Washington. And while we
apologize for the worry parents may have felt during the delayed return home of their children in those first few days of school, um please know that Mr. Washington worked diligently um to remedy the matter with poise and
compassion. We encourage you to check out the homepage of our website to see us recognize Hispanic Heritage Month September 15th to October 15th. The new equity data and accountability director Stacy Young is revising our DEI
diversity, equity, and inclusion tab on our website. So stay tuned for further developments. Dr. Daniels conducted conducted training workshops to the staff in the beginning of the school year after obtaining their feedback. The curriculum and instruction
department talked about the G&T the gift and talented initiative. Letters have gone out to families with the cog cognitive abilities testing schedule for this fall. And it's important that you know the district chose COA because it
can be administered by a classroom teacher. That's one of the reasons that it was selected. And the district's gift and talented program is not necessarily an academic acceleration program, but more is along the lines of fostering skills, creative
thinking, and um acknowledging um passion and interest within students, particularly those that may experience an aversion, right, to school. Then Daka High School vice principal Heather Pino Bey facilitated a presentation on
LGBTQIA plus rights update. Um um she indicated that um there's representation of this community um throughout um various content areas with high school courses. The culture of
acceptance starts, she stated, when a student walks in the door by asking how they identify themselves and having them tell us how to refer to them in class with their parents and privately. She also referenced their curriculum changes due to modifications to various state
standards, whether in social studies, physical education, um, or health. and in speaking on behalf of Corey Gaylord, the director of our counseling um department, that counseling services continue to be robust and the star
program is servicing students. The special services department stated that we have a number of families as I indicated that are that were unfortunately displaced because of the storm. So, the district has been working in coordination to provide support to those families. Um, and they're all
eligible under our Mckini Vento law, providing different supplies and other resources to help them get back on their feet. So, the counseling department has been diligent in providing parents, students, and the community education workshops
with the most recent one that was held last week titled How to Support Students as They head back to school. And that was facilitated by Lisa De Moore. So there were over 100 families including myself that logged on for this muchneeded conversation. So a big shout
out to Corey Gay Lord and Lisa. We ran out of time at this ACI meeting, but next month one of the items we will discuss is the new state guidelines for NJTSS, New Jersey's tiered system of supports. And this initiative actually
builds upon the currently mandated INR rest which is intervention and referral services. And finally, um it's truly a privilege to provide these ACI updates to you and I look forward to doing so for the remainder of the school year.
Next, the anti-racism reform committee, ARC. Thank you. Our ARRC meeting met on September 15th and we began our meeting with updates.
Um Mary shared that Dr. Daniels provided professional development trainings for our staff. Master Rodriguez shared who is excuse me um part of the MTA's equity committee provided updates about a book that was read by staff. Our student
representatives had little to report being the first week into school. and we welcomed one of our newest members of our committee, Stacy Young, who is our director of equity, data, and accountability. And she welcomed everyone and acknowledged our Jewish holiday and the first day of Hispanic
Heritage Month. We spent some time discussing January restructure um the restructuring that will will occur and take place in our committee. and we spent a great deal of our meeting discussing a letter that
we'd like to create for the community. Um the meeting focused on reviewing a letter that was created to introduce ARC to the community and to share its vision, mission, objectives, and more. The letter led to meaningful discussions which included what is AR ARRC's
ultimate goal, its purpose, and how can we include and educate our community. um things like that. Um and our next meeting will be October 20th. Uh thank you
to um policy and communications committee. So the committee met on September 17th. Um we reviewed uh the policies that are on agenda item 1.2 for first reading tonight. Uh so board members have an
opportunity to look through those and let the policy committee know if there are any other items that you uh would like us to consider at the next policy meeting before we adopt it at the next board meeting. Um we reviewed the statemandated changes through uh
policies and we also looked at the policies almost from scratch and looked at the unchanged sections as well and there's a fair amount of discussion around there and some uh relatively minor uh updates were made and they're reflected in tonight's uh items.
Um, one of the policies that we did discuss that's not on tonight's reading is uh the robotics club has uh acquired a drone and the district did not have any policy dealing with how drones are used and their restrictions and how are
they supervised and so uh there was some comments in policy that then went to the uh off committee and the operations facilities and finance committee. um and then we have subsequently sent that back to policy. So we're going to be um
making one more pass on that and then I expect that that will come for first reading at the next board meeting. Um because of all the discussion on the policies themselves uh we did not get to a chance to talk about communications in the past. We've talked um we obviously
want to engage the community. I mean it was great having people out here. Uh it's unfortunate that we had a have a crisis of food service to cause that to happen. And you know just like we have um we have added uh by the way
communications as one of the four district goals and enhancing our communication and so I believe that the policy committee will be further looking at that. I would um I thought the idea of having focus groups in the context of
the food service might also be a positive way of trying to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the community from a communications and community information perspective and so we'll be re reviewing that. Um the other thing I
noticed Baron noted is that the uh diversity, equity, and inclusion audit that we did, one of the things that we all discussed that we thought was worthwhile was the survey instruments that were used to understand people's, you know, thoughts and where things
stood. And that's another idea that I believe the committee should be looking at. Uh if there are other board members who have comments, please pass them on so we can discuss it at our next meeting. Thank you. And I apologize I skipped over um the I'm always ready to
skip over the operations facility finance money. Money maker. All right. Thank you. It's no problem. Uh we have met on Friday 24th along with
the committee members. We were joined by a representative from MTA and APSMT and we also had chartwell join in. Both Jim and Pat were there. So the bulk of the conversation was focused
on food services. I know it's 10:00 so I'm not going to rehash two hours of our conversation. I'm going to skip it to spare everyone. Couple of other things we talked about was PCA reporting. So
for tax provisions for all of our employees who have that PCA facility, we are looking at hiring a contractor to help us with that uh prime point. The other topic we talked about was
looking at custodian services. So specifically in lower middle school, we are looking at uh changing that and having a full-time custodian on the district side so that we can manage it more effectively.
In addition to that uh we talked about uh transportation. There were few minor issues uh raised and reported. those were discussed. And lastly, drone policy uh was reviewed and which has already
covered that. And lastly, there were some regular financial reports to be reviewed and approved. So we discussed all of that. So those are quick updates from Thank you. HRC human.
Yes. So, um, human resources met on September 14th. And as usual, we talked about personnel issues, but I also wanted to just share quickly two things that we discussed there that um, Kelly Mattis, who's the assistant superintendent for human resources,
mentioned things that HR does to look at um, grants or opportunities that were being offered by the state that we can take advantage of. An example that she gave was the New Jersey State Police and the Office of Emergency Management offered free masks. We took advantage of
that. We took the maximum number of masks that we were allowed to get and using um ESER funds to help support um COVID related um staffing issues. So there are ways that um HR uses you know resources out there to help the
district. So just wanted to share that. Thank you. Um, next is the president's report. I've already told you about the Anthoc committees. I do want to agree with um with Jim Dolan that um we'd like to thank
for her um proactive um actions with Ida and we were I think the only district that actually addressed these things properly um and were prepared for uh
for um you know all the um uh consequences of the um of the score. I'm not going to discuss uh the other stuff I have right now
until later. I'll do it at the um at the president's comments at the end um because we're at a bit of a time crunch. So, I'm going to try to quickly go through everything else. We need to go to another executive session, so I'm
trying to get everything else done as quickly as possible. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes? August 24th, executive and business, and September 23rd, executive and um
second and special meeting. Sorry. A second. All those in favor? Opposed? All right. Abstensions. All right. Um want to acknowledge the um
the letters that we got um to the board and I probably also announced I mean acknowledge I think there were about 25 or 30 that we got today on food. So thank you for all of that. Uh now we'll move on to our second public comments.
Members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda for up to a maximum of three minutes during this period of the meeting. All comments or questions must be directed to the board president. The board president may need to refer an issue to the superintendent
if the particular issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command within the school district before coming to the board for response. All responses will be provided at the end of this session. Any comments?
Can you mask please? I'm sorry. You will mask. Yes, that's a requirement. I need to tell you and explain that uh a few boards recently have been fined or um
received few respect. No, would have refused um um sanctions because we have not, you know, required everybody to to mask. So, we're trying We don't want to get anybody in trouble. Um
what I wanted to ask is u why at LMS my child was not permitted? I mean I understood right now when there was lunch and that we want to ensure the contact tracing. So we want kids to sit
at the same tables. But what I was trying what I'm trying to understand why at LMS my child on the first day when they came to the cafeteria was not allowed to pick friends to sit at the table with. Basically the they all came
in and the seats were assigned. So knowing that they have such limited opportunities to socialize and they have very uh restricted access to one to each other lunch even it's very important to
them to socialize or catch up with friends that they care for. So when they arrive at the cafeteria, the school designated seats and they have no choice whatsoever of selecting who they want to sit next to. Not that they don't like
the other friends, but it's important for them to sit next to friends that they want to catch up with. So I would like to understand why LMS of all schools had such restriction on choice of the lunch bodies. It seems silly,
right? Unfortunately, I can't answer that. I'm not sure um Mary can answer. I believe that is is decided by the the principles. So, I'm not sure. That's what I do not know because basically at LMS No. So, you need to contact the
principal of your school. um when I ask any questions from from the principal office that they tell me that they really don't make those decisions that those decisions are made for them. So, excuse me. I mean, so this is why I
figured maybe I should ask about that. All right. So, yeah, I don't know. Now, these those are decisions that are made um you know, within each school. So um it may have been made by I can make I can make the simple answer. So because
of contact tracing and we have to know where everybody is. When children are in in school in their classrooms the teacher has assigned seats. So if somebody um has to quarantine, we know who's been within the area of that
child. So the same holds for lunch. I understand it. On the first day when there is really no assigned sitting, you would hope that they can actually select their table and friends to sit with. And then once that's selected for contact
tracing, you basically fixed to your seat similar what we have at um high school, right? Where they have you know they have to always sit at the same place and you know you verify whether you sit at the same place. I understand that. But on the first day, they had no
choice of selecting who they can sit with. And that really is strange to me. That's all. Well, I can't speak for the high school. There's cameras in there and the children know who they're sitting with and they can report that back. Younger children sometimes forget who they sat with and it's not as
reliable uh without cameras to verify who was sitting at the table at that time. That's why there were assigned seats. Thank you. I'm sorry we can't give you a better answer. So, any other um comments?
Doesn't look like it. I'm going to move on then to the action agenda. Can I get a motion to approve action um items 1.0 to 4.2? We should move. Second. All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. We need a
roll call. Roll call. M. Yes. Miss Harris, yes. M. Um, Mr. Spec, yes. Miss Spence Wallace, Mr. Tari, yes. Mr. Todd, yes. Dr. Ear,
yes. Miss Bur, yes. So, I need to let you know. Um, we are going to go into executive session afterwards. Uh we will have we won't have any more
action but we will be discussing um suggestions for district goals and uh discuss also the board's self-evaluation. So um there's nothing
that uh um you should feel that you have to come back to. All of these things are um something works in progress. So we'll still be discussing them later um as
well. But if um hopefully we won't be longer than I'm hoping 40 minutes, but you know, I don't want you to feel like you have to 20. So, can I get a motion to go?
All right. Second. Got a second from Patrick.