##VIDEO ID:xUvADTvR10k## yeah all right thank you everyone we appreciate your patience at this time I entertain a motion to reconvene an open session motion been properly moved in second all those in favor say I I I all those opposed same right any extensions open session is reopened roll call Please Mr Tano certainly uh m d here M fap here M Franco Herman Miss Harris Miss danguard Nunes here Mr Jan here jigan sorry Miss Spina pres Mr TD here and have haris M Harris thank you God thank you thank you Mr talano at this time we'll rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all at this time I'd like to put forth a motion to appoint acting business administrator board secretary some second I'll read the whole motion approve the appointment of Mr Andrew Italiano as an acting business administrator board secretary for the period of November 11 20124 through December 31st 2024 the acting business administrator will serve as the district's Financial signatory as applicable by state laws and will also serve as the district's purchasing agent and custodian of reference is there a second second it's been properly moved in second roll call please Mr Tana M ding yes M felak yes M Franco Herman M Harris yes Nan yes Mr Nunes yes Mr W jigan yes Spina yes Mr Todd yes thank you motion carries all right at this time we'll have the student representative report um so at the end uh since our last meeting uh at the end of October Montgomery had our TR Retreat um so we it was Bally an opportunity for all of our school clubs to come and up the community it was a very big turnout I was there with the S Club and we ran up to Candy so uh there was a lot a lot of community participation at that event and it was organized by the M Parks and Recreation uh M High School also had theat and scores came out last week uh also we had uh started selling yearbooks as well as the beginning of um the M High School senior decision so um the college decisions of our senior class have started uh come through on our school's Instagram uh we also had the uh WS Army and 5K run to on the profit started by the family of one of our high school students um also this past weekend we had the car Wizards game which had a lot of volunteers with the high school as well as a very large community turnout uh We've also had our College visits at the high school finish up um now with schools based in New Jersey and uh from the college visits that I went to there was also a lot of students there in a very large passion about pursuing a secondary education and and um also the high school leader has uh finished and will be having their play of Summer Night stream which will be on November 22nd and November 2th all right thank you very much any questions board members very n we now move to superintendent's report and our presentations I have both tonight good evening everyone before I provide the recent happenings from our five schools I would like to give an update on the shares service agreement with the township that we have discussed in the previous meetings this agreement which in includes the community's use ofs tennis and pickle ball courts the Montgomery High School tennis courts and the Montgomery High School pool is still being discussed with the township I recently attended a meeting with Township officials and will continue to provide updates as they become available as for now it is still a work in progress at MF at MHS the students continue to be among the highest achieving students in the state our students rank among the top of their peers in sat and advanced placement test the class of 2024 me SAT score of 1317 was 267 points above the national me our AP test scores were equally impressive 53% of the 1,548 AP tests taken achieved a top score of five and 95% earned a three or higher additionally MHS had 10 finalists 12 semifinalists and 62 commended students in the 2024 National Merit program our student run future Educators Club hosted their annual appreciation get together with some of their favorite teachers this past Tuesday after school teachers shared stories of why they became teachers and students got the inside scoop on some of the most exciting lessons or flops teachers left happy tears after hearing about how they have inspired students to learn and grow this sen Asian Club had their annual Barba and Bollywood event on November 6 students and staff had a great time dancing to traditional songs and new hits another very successful fall athletic season has come to an end the winter one to start uh with many of our athletic teams making it to the speed tournament winter sports kick off next week and we're excited to welcome our athletes back inside for winter track basketball wrestling fencing cheer dance swimming and Diving I'm going to skip over you in my saveing the best tonight for L we want to extend at LMS uh our heartfelt gratitude to the LMS students who dazzled the crowd at our Town's Veterans Day celebration on November 11th their letters to our veterans were profoundly moving honoring them with sincerity and respect leaving a lasting impact on everyone present every student letter to our veterans is placed in the local veterans hospital to send cheer and gratitude to our vets during our District's week of respect four students at LMS entered a poster contest and their posters were chosen for display and now can be viewed at our Municipal Building LMS launched their first parent book club of the year the group is reading the power of showing up by Daniel seagull and Tina Payne Bryson Brian Cooper the new fifth grade counselor is facilitating the book club and leading great discussions with our community members the PTO hosted lm's first student Dance of the Year Fifth and six sixth graders had a great time as they dressed to impress and came ready to dance the night away over the past month our Village Elementary School Community engaged in a variety of enriching and exciting activities Halloween celebrations where staff members delighted students with their traditional Halloween readers theater performance the entire School participated in a schoolwide interactive read aloud and students showcase their creativity by writing and sharing Halloween hiun there was a bike safety assembly at Village where Sergeant Sean Sullivan from the Montgomery Township Police Department and Kathleen ever from the greater Mercer County transportation Association LED an informative bike safety assembly for the third grade students special guests Captain Sylvio bet and mayor Nina Singh joined one of the third grade assemblies to emphasize the importance of community safety in recognition of Native American Heritage mon the school featured special segments during Afternoon News broadcast classroom lessons explored the rich histories and cultures of indigenous people both locally in New Jersey and around the world the PTA sponsored a kickball game that staff and students enjoyed between Village and Orchard Hill staff fostering school spirit andam camaraderie these events highlight the school's dedication to safety cultural awareness and Community engagement making this past month a memorable and meaningful experience for all here at Orchard during Native American Heritage Month the orchard Cubs are learning about indigenous people and their contributions to our culture students from the K2 autism classes are working hard on having meaningful conversations with their peers and adults they have visited with staff around the building to practice conversation skills and work towards social goals something that just took place today the kindergartener celebrated the 50th day of school in style with a whole day dedicated to the number 50 students and staff showed their Spirit by dressing as if it was 1950s a lot of poog shts and leather jackets walking around the K hallways today Nows is incredibly grateful for the amazing events our students have participated in this month which continues to elevate the learning experiences of our school Community ums is especially thankful for the amazing staff who continue to create opportunities for students to learn reflect and grow together the counseling department invited ums Alum who attended votch schools to come and meet with the eighth graders interested in pursuing trade school in high school these conversations inspired students to explore new Pathways and plan for their Futures the K12 ESL Department hosted a special evening for our multilingual language Learners and their families celebrating resilience shared stories and connections within the community as I conclude my report with the presentation I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy your family and friends now to the presentation there's a little bit of talking first for minut so earlier this month month I had the honor of attending along with Cory Delgado the director of School counseling and student wellness and also the former ums principal and Raquel estrera Rivera the principal at ums the National Blue ryen schools recognition ceremony in Washington DC to proudly accept ms's award last weeks celebrated this prestigious Honor by thanking the staff for their unwavering commitment to our community's wellbeing and academic Excellence highlights of the celebration included students forming the letters ums and a ribbon on the field as you'll see in the video beautifully captured by aerial footage provided by the MHS robotics students additionally a heartfelt video was created with the support of Mr Ryan waldis that captures the heart and soul ofs through the experiences of our staff students and administrators before I share the video with you I would like to invite Mrs Rivera and Mr Delgado to share the experiences with you thank you this is a great honor we have a policy about that's the award oh good oh thank you this is a a partnership for sure um good evening superintendent mland members of the Board of Education um and my amazing ums family thank you for taking the time to give us a moment um this board meetings to recognize montgomary upper middle school as a National Blue Ribbon School this prestigious award reflects the collective effort dedication and Excellence of our entire School Community our Blue Ribbon recognition is a celebration of the unwavering commitment of our teachers counselors supervisors administrators and staff who inspire a culture of high expectation inclusivity and collaboration they work tily to ensure that every student has the opportunity to grow academically socially and emotionally their efforts have created a learning environment where students feel supported challenged and empowered to achieve their fullest potential this also this achievement also highlights the importance of strong Partnerships we have cultivated within our community our families District leaders and board education all plan into role in ensuring that our students and staff have the resources opportunities and support they need to succeed I also want to take a moment to reflect on what this word symbolizes it is not just about test scores or programs or being one out of the 356 schools throughout the nation that was Su you know selected or one of 11 in New Jersey it is about the heart and soul of ums and and that achievement is acquired through the efforts of our teachers our staff and the shared belief in the power of Education to transform lives I'm honored to be ums principal and I'm honored to have the support of the former principal Mr Cory dado and I am incredibly proud of this recognition and deeply grateful for the support of the board the district lead leadership and most importantly my ums staff so thank you for your continued partnership and for allowing us to celebrate this Milestone together tonight aw so Mary asked me to say a couple words I'm going to be brief and not nearly as well prepared as my friend Mel is oh that's awesome so listen I like trophies and I like banners right and I've been saying for about 12 years Ms is the best school in the country and now we got a banner and a trophy yeah that is so we have evidence based now we can say that so um I'm just going to give a couple of thank yous so first to the upper administration because um especially back in the early days I had we had some really crazy ideas and you supported all of them most of them most of them the right ones who supported so thank you for that and board ofed um I got to give thanks to to um Mr Bill Robbins was my predecessor right I was his successor and uh I inherited something down there that was special already so he gave me probably the some of the best advice I ever got when it comes to personnel management he said your most important job is to hire the right people then Foster a climate of collaboration and teamwork and then put structures in place so the right people can get the good work done for your kids and so I'll always remember that from Mr Robbins um Raquel uh did a wonderful job of getting us across the finish line and now is carrying the torch and I appreciate all the grace that you have offered through this process and all the effort you made to again get us across the Finish Line while we were selected and nominated once you're selected and nominated there's an application process and so Rael guid that was a lot of work so I appreciate that Mark aardi sitting next to her is it was a phenomenal partner for me and still just a great leader in this District and there's some amazing staff members that are sitting here and um the staff have kind of an Unwritten Mantra at ums to take care of the kids take care of yourself and take care of each other and I think that that's the secret to the success so it's really really awesome I know my words are between the audience getting to watch this video I'm really excited to see the video I know uh Mark and Ryan waldis worked hard to put it together a lot of people have contributed to it so R team let check it out m a special place family resilience kindness I think that our schools really shown our core values and really community and how we're all like unified artistic expression Community collaboration the students fun friendship acceptance we're Intercultural compassionate World ready accepted wonderful students in Stand Together Brazilian Karen what makes you so special is that the teachers and the staff and the school and also the sports and extra activities that's what I really like about and also everything comes into like a soft blend and yeah I just really like the school the community and stuff like that commitment family cooperation Unity collaboration support resilience all the teamw respect empathetic family ums is a place where both students and staff can grow so my word is Joy um and uh I think that ums has it as special characteristic because you walk in the building and you talk to the students and you talk to the teachers um all you get from them is Joy Community collaboration collaboration quite appropriately we're doing that together well uh this place very nice to to the students we have and also my co-workers teachers all the staff members are great so I very happy to be here and that makes un special for me [Music] [Music] as the principal of this place that we call home that we call family um it is an incredibly special place where we learn from one another we Embrace each other here at ums we pride ourselves on being a caring Community where we merge the importance of academic with the importance of social emotional growth we take great pride in recognizing that developmentally our students are in different places of growth over the past several years I've had the opportunity through the guidance of ums Administration to create a unified arts program in the end we're all artists and we're all just creating art so no matter our capabilities every student is at any level is an artist we take time throughout the school schol year to pause and host what we call pause for a cause days and we are so fortunate to have the support of our district that three times a year we halt academic instruction to have what we call couger care days where we spend time as a community taking care of the mental health of our students and our staff we have a sense of responsibility that we need to know how our students learn what our students are passionate about what they want to do and how they want to see themselves so I really like how our school uses the PLC model and the reason I like it is because it brings together the content area Specialists and like a learning or special um specialist together to think about the lesson plan for our kids we're always going back to where are the students at where were they before where do we want them to go and are we meeting their needs how it has helped staff I can tell you how it's helped me is that the math PLC has really embraced me and really cared about my opinions in the math classroom that they have wanted me to become certified in math Genet and so because of all of that and that inclusion um not only am I specializ certified but I'm also ma uh certified because of their support our PLC structure is I I honestly don't think I could live without having my team time because that time with my colleagues just has made a huge difference we did not get to a blue ribbon by accident this is a testament of teachers following their own passion in Pursuit Of Education and the impact that they know that they have not just in one moment not just in one class or in one year but over a long span of time ums is an environment where teachers feel valued and supported for reasons one I believe there is no shortage of acknowledgement or praise and celebration we have a staff that we call family that is there to support one another and to celebrate moments like these that we're so incredibly proud of the people who are on the ground boots on the ground the teachers the guidance counselors all kinds of Educators really know best in terms of what are students need what works what doesn't work I am so proud of all the work thats has done and even more proud that we are recognized Nationwide as a blue ribbon school and I cannot wait to see what our school does to us I've been doing this for a little while and I know what makes Great Schools is great teachers and great staff and ums is forward my hope is that what we have started will continue now with new Administration and new students and we continue to be just as wonderful as we have them as the superintendent I don't need more to know how amazing the staff and students are at ums however I must say it was a great honor and privilege to receive the national R Ren award fors I had the pleasure of going to Washington DC with principal Rivera and Mr Delgado it was amazing to see all the other schools from across the country earn the award with us it really brought to light how spectacular our students and staff are we can do so much and have such a great impact in the lives of our students that will stand a test of time and hopefully they can come back and see this video and celebrate who they were and who they've become as a result of being a part of Montgomery Upper midle School [Music] [Applause] congratulations again to ums staff and all the students and parents this is such a great honor well done thank you for everything that you do for our children yes well done ums we'll now move on to committee representative reports first up MTA report Mr res on that mic yeah I was just going to say I'm going to start requesting not to go after the district reports between you know the robots that robotics Springs to shoot things teacher of the year Blue Ribbon School I have to learn some magic trips before I come up here to start to do something because thank you I appreciate that it's hard to follow up but no you congratulations to ums I mean just amazing we really appreciate them they do in there amazing is absolutely thank you all right now to my as exciting report so the we the MTA sponsored the ml night as well we were able to get out there and get a table uh and visit some of our families see them get around it was awesome to see how much the community engaged with them all the different Events sports just giving them info on things that they can do in the community so that was a big thing we were a part of uh we also joined the weights Army 5K I got to see some of our board members out there running training for an Olympics I think next time you guys were blazing through it was really well done so it was great to see everyone out there as well uh since the Halloween costume exchange just wrapped up we did the truck or treat with that and did a giveaway uh that was an amazing thing we had like eight racks of costumes and people were coming exchanging it was really awesome and then tomorrow we followed up with the winter clothing exchange so we've been doing that since that ended so we're hoping we're going to have just as much success going forward and hopefully a lot of people will come out and do it so thank you very much have a good night thank you do we have any more board member delegate representative reports this evening uh Somerset County Educational Service Commission meeting took place they had a special reorganizational meeting uh just wanted to highlight that um over the last year I've participated in a lot of decisions within that space there have been a big move of elimination of busing which uh brought on new challenges as you can imagine which uh the organization has handled but the organizational realignment that just took place really focused around um abolishing assistant superintendent position and really bringing new principles uh and assistant principles into the fold um there's a an extensive uh probably is going to be an extensive growth in the students in that uh space so right now they're seeing uh more and more kids coming through their their um School structure so that's what's in anticipation of that change uh the the organization made a decision to go ahead and have more principles aligned to specific grades so that was a big um shift and it was approved during the board meeting I just want question did you talk about the move what is the um reasoning behind starting to eliminate bus or trying to eliminate bu that occurred back in June uh when they decided that they were going to use private uh organizations instead of having buses on site right because they're touching multiple school districts uh busing kids from different places it made more financial sense so that actually I I think was a big uh Plus for the growth of of the school questions all right do we have any any other board member delegate representative reports this evening hear now we'll move into board committee reports up first assessment curriculum in instruction committee board member d uh good evening we met uh both virtually and in person on uh November 6th at 9 a.m. and first thing on the agenda was um just a reporting out that there was a professional development day on November 1st um for all directors um next there was a textbook recommendation for the uh Monty High School in the English Department for Pan's Labyrinth um which is a book that's going to that is going to enhance um the curriculum it is not a replacement it's an addition to and it falls in the magical realism genre and my understanding is that the illustrations of this book um will really enhance the student experience um they're supposedly spectacular and will really engage this the students in the storytelling um final stages of the autism um and bcba programming manuals um were announced and finalizing the manuals sorry the manual ual are being finalized now and the goal is to have a roll out by the end of November um of these manuals then we heard from the counseling services um as is aligned with the Strategic plan um they are looking at the College counseling process for students um and this year um we are proud to to I'm proud to announce that they've added eight new programs and presentations um as touch points for our families from last year um and this includes touch points for grades 9 through 12 um these new programs were advertised to all parents in grades 9 through 12 which is uh new as well usually these um presentations and programs were really sort of highlighting the 11th and 12th grade and now they're really announced to the entire High School um they are um looking at data um which suggests that about 40 people were in attendance at the webinars and in person there were about 150 parents and students that attended um in school programs are also being conducted during study halls for students students um and in particular there's a real emphasis even though they start this kind of programming in the freshman year um they're not so much focused on where you going to college but to really develop the individual student in terms of where you are at present um and what you need to do to sort of get to where you need to where you want to be um so there's a real sort of progression in the program starting in the freshman year and then moving all the way through um senior year um PSATs were also o uh oh I'm sorry the faasa um process is now mandatory as was discussed earlier um and the school is helping All Families uh work through that process to complete the FAFSA um submission they are hosting two events um to help parents um through this through this process at this point um they don't know how many parents are waving out of the FAA um that they will uh cross reference a couple of Genesis reports to see who waved out um so more on that forthcoming um and then lastly the PSAT was administered in October to all Juniors and sophomores who chose to take it at the school thank you board member just up update on Fast um it is the roll out is actually affected today the beta version and it is applications are being accepted great any questions or comments well I have a small question um there was some discussion about I had to I proposed uh that if we could do we could bring back or maybe not bring back to start a parent teacher conferences for higher grades uh we have here for elementary school but I was wondering if we could do that for higher grades parents also so they can also come and meet the teachers maybe once in fall and once spring so that was discussed in um another committee but then I was told that this is the committee where we need to discuss so I was wondering was there any communication to this uh your committee okay so yes the question was posed to to me as um the chair of the committee and I will certainly bring it back to the committee but we have not talked about it as a committee um I can only suggest that you know there's lots of logistical implications there and certainly you know parents are always at to reach out to parents um in the high school but I will get more detailed information for you after the discussion okay okay there was one other thing that I wanted to just say um about the November 1st PD day uh Miss Borland had uh really had gone into a great deal of detail about how impactful that was for the staff and that it was split um in grade bands where the person that they had come in uh to do the kickoff meetings for really focused on um K8 and then or K5 K4 and then k6 I'm not sure that's 612 but but did that and how how well it was received by this the staff and um and faculty and so just thank you to Administration for bringing that very thoughtful PD on board any other questions every none we'll move on to operations facilities and finance committee board member felak um the admin the operations facilities and finance committee met on Wednesday November 13th we welcomed uh Andrew Italiano uh our new MGI assistant ba welcome um the meeting covered several updates in the facilities and budget sectors mik director of facilities shared positive developments that included new doors at the bus depot repainted parking lot L Lanes at Upper Middle School a new Water Heater replacement at high school and a new slide that was installed at Orchard Hill uh a significant issue was identified at high school with a collapsed storm drain P under a school hway that repair that necess that requires a complex repair there was no immediate water damage danger presented by the collapsed pipe however the water has been slow to drain leading to the discovery of the issue the repair is expected to take 6 days and involves replacing a 5ot piece of pipe the repair may be delayed until spring break or summer depending on the uh when the equipment and personel is available the board discussed 100 um $1,060 withdrawal from the maintenance reserves for unanticipated repairs including a chiller at lower middle school replacement of the rtab um unit at high school and repairs of the snow and Loan equipment um these items are presented for the board's approval today additionally the committee discussed a shared service agreement with the township for tennis pickle ball courts and the high school pool our discussion focused on usage maintenance and oversight responsibilities our priority is to maintain our facility facilities in excellent condition for the benefit of our students it is our responsibility to ensure that all students activities and sports events can take without any delays of or interruptions when the administration finalizes discussions with the township we will share more information and the rational for the decisions made with the public as we plan future District's needs for capital projects and maintenance we discussed potential improvements um in contracts we were evaluating whether there is um what are the pros and comes of having separate contracts for the architect of record or the engineer of the record versus having just one firm serving both uh functions the committee also discuss building and uh keeping list of projects that the district funds which would help which would use uh which could be used as a quick reference guide of the projects that were approved their status estimated cost the actual cost dat of date of completion estimated useful life Etc this list will allow the board and the administration to quickly make facilities and maintenance decisions in the future it will also be a useful tool during the budget planning the budget planning work has begun our um acting business administrator is gathering inputs from our staff and administrators this month he will have preliminary discussions with the superintendent in December to be ready to present the budget uh draft uh to the board after New Year's the financial audit is also completed uh the Auditors will present the reports at the next board meeting um I have a last note about the travel reimbursement report that we have for approval today uh that report includes charges for seven uh employees that will attend virtual course uh I would like to ask the um business administrator to add additional information to make this report complete and include all required information so we can proceed with the approval that concludes my report any questions any questions for Bo member Fel like here n thank you for that report next moving on to policy Communications committee board member Lea Jernigan um so the first part of our meeting was focused on having Kim Gaddy on the call who is the njsba policy uh leader over the last year we've talked about uh potentially taking a look at njsba what they can offer to this school district from a policy perspective uh versus the services that we have today um they've performed as you guys know the wellness check we received some of the results I think um we reviewed all of those results with Kim she gave us some guidelines some of the highlights that she's shared with us is some of the policies still need to be updated with the latest um uh there's a lot of legal Law changes that occur very fast and because all of our policies reference some of the legal uh legislator's changes those need to be updated regularly sometimes our policies are mislocated we have regulations we have policies so those need to be cleaned up we still have table of content but nothing link to the table of content um she gave us some policies that were missing FAA being one of them so I heard you guys discuss that um so I think overall we we scored um decently from that perspective but uh what we also discussed is a potential shift to njsba uh today and jsba utilizes a different um uh tool it's called board dots but it's very user friendly so one of the things that I think I see as a big differentiator for us is that the most significant I guess distinction that I see is that njsba policies are drafted in the way to ensure that they can be understood by a majority of the community I myself sometimes have a hard time uh seeing which policy I should be reflecting um and there's a lot of legal uh components in it so the way njsba writes their policies and all of you have access to njsba can actually take a look at their language I know I've shared some of the verbage in the past um but they are intended to be compliant with the law but not written in the very legal matter right so as a parent who has specific questions about uh policies that are associated with the school district is much you know much more family friendly I would call it um written from that perspective so what I'd like to do perhaps at our next meeting have a discussion uh around our decision whether we want to go and pursue njsba going forward as our policy uh option there is a 9-month transition period so this will not happen overnight believe it or not over the last year they've had quite a few school districts transitioning to njsba part of it is due to a lot of different policies that have been implemented in the school districts based on law there was a lot of questioning around mandates non- mandates so um I think what we're seeing is a shift also njsba is hiring quite a few resources they just hired another resource to manage the policy so they're growing um the actual um CEO of the organization really is trying to put a lot of effort and energy into build building a strong policy um organization that will support school districts from True school policy perspective we've had this conversation before where our policies are filled with a lot of laws the laws are laws so sometimes we don't have to reinstate it in our policies our policies should really be focused on what our schools uh need to do right and not just uh what laws are associated with it so I will ask you to think about this uh I've sent you the report take a read uh take a look at the njsba and what policies they have to offer and let's make a decision as a board at the next meeting uh to see if that's a path that we want to take so that was um that was uh just kind of to give you a a summary of what um Kim discussed with us now as far as the policies are concerned I just want to have a discussion with the board because um the policies that are being addressed this board meeting are physical examination policies uh policy 3160 and 4160 and there are a few minor revisions in the option section h of Regulation guide of 3160 and 4160 regarding pre-employment drug testing uh as a result of the recreational use of marijuana and Canabis being legalized in New Jersey marijuana is no longer control dangerous substance under New Jersey Law so pre-employment testing for control dangerous substances uh as defined in the Statue would not include testing for the presence of THC so as a district uh we have we can have a requirement and we have our attorney here with us as well but we can have specific indication for preemployment screening that would be required for a school district uh right now the recommendation from Strauss smme is that we have that discussion and we as a board decide whether we want to follow just what the law is and this is no longer required for anybody who's going to be hired into a school district or you know we want to put some claws into our policies that state that no we will still require those those tests so uh prior to approving this policy to go forward I would recommend that we have some discussion can I ask a question so the the law right now basically removes uh marijuana as a controlled substance so when let's say we would have someone who is uh operating a bus or you know like U performs uh duties that would potentially uh put our students uh safety at risk I think that's a serious consideration uh to to make uh I think that we definitely need to refer to our attorney to guide us through this process so we know what we can what we cannot do and whether or not there would be a test that would be done only at the beginning of the employment or would that be bandom testing or like what it what exactly would be the the guideline right so maybe the legal question is this particular law talks about regulating pre-employment testing if if we would put a clause in place that would specifically say the pre-employment testing needs to be done for a school district would that also apply to random testing uh throughout the year no not necessarily that would be separate that would be separate so there could be a potential um another policy within the district that we would have to impa for random testing or suspicion based testing for that would be different okay I have one more question about um services that uh the power services policy services that nsba um offers so what's the comparison in terms of cost between just trust and njsba yeah so I think the longer we wait the more expensive it gets so I know we've had this conversation over a year ago and it was very compelling financially uh now because they're shifting into board do um it's about um initial $9,000 plus $2,000 a year for the board dots now I I don't know if you guys uh see but there's a lot of board uh um uh boards shifting to board dots right it's a much it's a newer uh form of capturing all of the documentation easy searches all of those things almost like an inhanced service if we would go ahead and transition our school into board dots out of the current system that $2,000 a year would go away right so the the because we would have to have that as part of the policy uh portal right that that charge will still be there so I would say from a comparison perspective it's not as much cheaper as it was a few years ago but it's still a little bit less but comparable I would say s I'm just been correctly right now we are using the school uh School board.net correct so if we evaluate that this new platform for T and I gu one that the Ison be associated with that which would be compartible to what we have with this school board.net so if we transition through school uh through board tax that means that the policy policy service through nsba would be at no additional cost right we would streamline the two uh platforms right we would go down to a single platform so yes that's correct so in and and so technically we could have two services without additional cost that's correct I would say so Mary would be happy because I know she likes tress so I have a question um in charge of my age if I don't remember um have has the committee met with Strauss SM or plan to meet with strous estimate to find out what updates they've done what they're willing to do yes so I did meet with stra SME did spend time with them uh one of the questions that we had in the previous board meetings is how do we track the changes to uh the policies uh they gave me access to additional um features within their tool Unfortunately they don't track that right so it's updates but not necessarily any uh tracking of specific language year of year of what we tweaked so we would have to go through our board notes and take a look at what actually changed so you know person Al and and obviously I am a single individual that went through it I found it a little bit cumbersome now I don't use it every day so I don't expect it to be easy for me but I didn't see um anything extraordinary to say wow you know Strauss smme is really um compelling right it's also a legal a legal side of things right and we've all talked about how important it is for us to have language in policies that parents can relate to and understand and read and quickly find and and analyze so um we did meet I did review it uh the things that we were looking for were not there so that was part of the reason why we decided to do the wellness check and see what else njsba can offer us thank you on um any how what is the percentage of school districts who are moving towards njsba yeah so um I think I don't remember exactly how many Kim said but she said about 20 other 20 school districts over last year I think moved over I didn't hear that so there's about 623 school districts in New Jersey and she said from the Inception of time at New Jersey school boards they had approximately 200 but she can't guarantee that any how many are still with them yes so for example like I worked in other districts and we had New Jersey school boards and we switched over to assessment while I was there so they would be counted in that 200 but they're not there anymore yeah so I think the big shift is the investment from nsba into the policy uh bringing resources on board legal resources on board and other thing that Kim said she said we obviously follow all the laws and we provide all the updates to any legislative changes that take place but they don't do it as often right we have new policies that kind of come up every uh every month because of terminology change we don't use student we use pupil right we do we do all of those changes and shifts this would go away right so we would have true changes into the legislature that would be highlighted they would rewrite it they also write our policies they would sit with us and write our policies for us if there was a policy that we wanted so let's talk about I know Christina is very interested in cell phone discussion about cell phone policies AI right those are all top of mind uh that we've been talking about over the last few months they would sit down with us and help us draft a policy that would be uh beneficial I have to say that um while I was in Atlantic City I participated uh in the cell phone uh policy discussion with the groups of a group of attorneys that talked about all of the findings which you know it's great but one thing that really impressed on me was the fact that when we write a policy for the school what's important is that we understand what the teachers need what the parents expect and what the students need so a lot of recommendations that came out of those sessions um and I think I shared with all of you the the PowerPoint presentation with all the data supporting the changes I think what's important is that we sit down with our community and really understand what's important to our parents when it comes to students and and devices as well as important to teachers as they teach and they have those distractions so uh recommendation was around town halls having you know open discussions with the community really grasping some of the areas that we want to pursue uh to continue the success of the school district so I was impressed to hear that without just following certain you know studies right okay there's a ton of studies but uh what's best for our school district could be very different right we could have very disciplin kids in our school that could just put their phones away right so we have to be openminded to a lot of those discussions so um njsba would be there side by side with us helping us draft a policy that would work for us I have a couple of questions um you answered one of them I think with the uh discussion of the the funding and and that is increasing now um um do you have any idea what the the differential is it's still cheaper I believe that's 15,000 for stous estimate this would be 9 + two right so in the past we were looking at five right so that's when we started talking about it but now obviously there's more interest uh they're using different uh platforms so that's a little bit more cost and as far as have you had a chance to look at I have not the board docs versus School board.net and what do you think about the yeah yeah I actually like it a lot um quite a few school districts use board dos Hillsboro uses board dos um Playfield us Princeton uses board dos so all through Strauss Esme not just for the school no no no no I mean but they're using Strauss ese in conjunction with board do and not school oh I see you're asking about the policy separate right um I'm not sure which which policy Services they use I can find that out I'm really curious to talk with uh a district that is currently using not the 200 that may have used them in the past but we're currently using sure um that would I can arrange that no problem um that's one thing and then the other oh um can we just clarify that this the physical examination is the two policies are for teaching staff and support staff support staff should does not include bus drivers right this is that would be a separate their their testing requirements would be separate so the random drug testing for bus drivers is to lead with the state outside of just being staff member here right they hold that license okay that's what you had asked Joey and I just wanted to make sure that that has that is not changed seate that is yeah any other questions yeah so the the question is for us right to decide yeah whether you know we want to go ahead with the policy whether we want to take some time with our legal attorneys and and redraft questions that could you know be a little bit more strict when it comes to uh hire and testing I think in addition to Maria's inquiry of of schools who are using um schools that have made the transition from stra sesme to I think that's really critical because obviously they're trying to sell us a product so they're going to you know make it very attractive but I think the the actuality of making that transition um is something so I've actually spoken to about three maybe even four school districts that have transitioned right now Flemington for example is in the process of transitioning um quite a few school districts already transitioned started the wellness process that's how I kind of learned about it because you know we've all known we have it but I didn't realize it was free until I started talking to other school districts and they said it's free you just you know it's part of your service so that's why we did it so I would say we're kind of late in the game because there's quite a few so what I'll do is I'll contact them ask them if if I can give your names and then you guys can have a a sidebar discussion with them and you can hear their feedback but from what I've seen and what I've heard uh it's positive a lot of it has to do with the Simplicity uh and the true you know kind of policy driven for that school district right School District policy driven versus legislature and law driven policies right so that's the big selling point I would say just to clarify board docs is a platform for like board agendas and meetings it just what happens that New Jersey school board is using that because she mentioned Princeton Princeton is stra Esme and has board dos and Bo do right okay yeah they already transitioned to board house right so when they went if they would go to njsba they wouldn't have that extra $2,000 fee right because they're already in that platform so essentially you keep the $2,000 fee if you keep school board.net with correct yeah just uh one more policy around volunteer athletic uh coaches and co-curricular activities policy 9181 is also for us here to be approved and this also has an update around the tuberculosis so you saw some of the updates there I think that's just across the board that testing is not required as often as it has been so that's a state change TB that's all thank you Patrick I don't know hold on let me look yeah I see I see that here thank you very much um oh wait I have one more thing is was there not a um notes from it updated so Valerie was because that okay that's I know I can't I apologize for that so that that's part of the reason otherwise you would have seen it probably been more prepared so it's my fault sorry about that not your fault but we we'll make sure those get added thank you all right HRC met on November 12th uh the only item that we discussed that was not uh confidential nature was the item that board member nargon brought up about parent teacher conferences um being implemented Beyond Elementary um that was kicked over to ACI to be discussed at a later date ACI met before a correct the parentage oh sorry yes got it at this time obtain a motion to accept the October 15 2024 executive session meeting and the October 15 2024 business meeting second it's been properly moved and second it roll call please Mr taliana Sten yes M filac yes frankco Herman M Harris yes M dgon yes Nunes yes SL Jernigan yes Spa yes Mr top yes thank you motions Carri thank you this time the board recognizes the correspondence to the board action gem items public comment the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allowed at one opportunity to address the board regarding action agenda items only for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this session again this is for Action agenda items only when you step up to the mic please refer to the action agenda item number that you're commenting on uh hello good evening everyone I wanted to bring up the issue of the uh public access to the tennis Sports once again and you know sort of from is is this an act agenda item uh it is not okay so that will be a public comment oh okay I apologize thank see no comments on action gender items public portion public comment portion of this is closed so I'm sorry I'm I allowed to speak to the Blue Ribbon award for ums an AC agenda item I have no idea it it will be public it will be public comment thank you all right okay uh I am going to make an amendment to our agenda before we uh vote on it um for action item 3.3 our bills list um there's going to be one payment that is going to be withheld and paid in December and that is a payment to uh board president Todd for his reimbursement um to the school board uh conference uh that is going to be uh the only change to the action items everything else will stand one yeah there is one correction um we we will have to go into executive session for a brief uh period of time to discuss some Personnel matters so at this uh time I'll entertain a motion to reconvene an executive session so moov second we properly mov in second all those State I I all oppos same right any extension we're now exective session we will try to get out into the executive session as quickly as [Music] possible all right ladies and gentlemen thank you for your patience at this time I entertain a motion to reconvene in Open session so moved second can promply move and seconded to reconvene in Open session all those in favor say I I all those opposed same right extensions all right Mr talana okay so I okay all right now that we're back uh to our agenda before we uh uh take action on the agenda items on page three I'm to make a note that for item 3.3 for our bills list um we're going to withhold one payment to uh president Todd for his reimbursement for the school board's convention um so he could vote on uh this section of the agenda item and uh that payment will be part of our December meeting so that is an amendment to the agenda items being voted on and that is the only change thank you thank you so at this time I'll entertain a motion to accept agenda items 1.0 through 4.6 so Mo it's been properly moved to accept agenda items 1.0 through 4.6 Mr Talan roll call please m d yes m f um yes on most items except for 3.3 I abstain from that and I vote now on 3.4 noted thank you Miss Franco Herman Miss Harris yesan 314 I'm up noted thank you Mr Nunes yes m w Jenkin I would like to abstain from 3.3 and 3 3.4 please 3.3 3.4 noted Spina Yes except Iain from 3.3 noted Mr Todd yes thank you motion motions Carri thank you thank you we now move to new business from the public Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allotted one opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not not structured as question and answer session the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent that the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this session public comment session is now open hello I'm Karen korian I'm a lifelong Montgomery resident I'm one of three generations of teachers in this District and I teach 8th grade language arts and I've served as the MTA vice president for 11 years ending just this past June and tonight I'm here to there were more before but tonight I want to honor my colleagues and administrators that I worked with during the five years that the Blue Ribbon panel looked at our school's performance and ultimately decided to give us the award beginning years earlier our principal Cory Cory Delgado and our Building Association leaders believe that identifying problems and setting goals together would yield stronger results for our students we attended training sessions together on how to collaborate effectively we established a school leadership team composed of our principal and vice principal two supervisors our union leaders and various other staff members we identified important projects to work on together including climate and culture trauma informed or Compassionate Care de project unified instructional strategies and solutions our vice principal Mark Mardi connected our committees with a Common Thread that all were focused on making students feel wanted and welcomed confident and competent we learned that authentically inviting staff's voices inspired our newer members to become involved and our and it re-energized our veteran staff our building epitomized the cliche that the sum is greater than its parts Cory and Mark led the way together with our mtaa members to Foster environment where we were unified supportive team actually we were a f family my colleagues are phenomenal they're talented intelligent diligent and committed and they're kind they'll extend themselves without a thought to a student or or an adult in need and because of how we work together our students benefited academically socially and emotionally they achieved impressively but more importantly they engaged in the MS experience exploring and developing so many aspects of themselves through what we offer to them I thank my new principal and my entire family for making me proud to come to school every single day and I want to continue to improve my own practice so that I can meet their levels of Excellence so congratulations to you Ms on the blue ribon hi good evening my name is Caitlyn Manion and I am an eighth grade language arts teacher at ums and the current mtea vice president for the building I just wanted to celebrate and highlight the work of our members faculty staff and administrators who bring their best selves their love of students and their passion for their content and to work with them every day the Blue Ribbon award is a reminder of the dedication of our staff and yet it could never truly capture the heart and innovation in academics co-curriculars and social connections that are constant presence in our school I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition in my capacity as a teacher as well as a school leader and partner ship with the other leaders in our building who facilitate this work I'm encouraged by the Excellence by which I am surrounded and I know that the High Caliber of Education that we collectively offer will only continue as we move forward together thank [Applause] you my second hi everyone uh I'd be remiss if I did not congratulate the upper middle school team thank you so much my son is going to be a seventh grader next year so I'm excited for him to be a part of the ums team uh on a last FES of not I wanted to bring up your attention to the situation with the tennis courts and I do appreciate all the attention that the board has been given to the is I realize it's by far not the most important issue in this community but it is important for some of the uh people of the stship sh and for you know kids and adults alike um as you may have seen uh in a recent issue of the Montgomery news uh the discussions between the Board of Education and the township have stalled and I find it a little it might be a little out of sync now since uh it was mentioned before that the discussions are still ongoing uh but if the discussions have sort of stalled or you know have been put on hold I find it a little ironic in a way because on paper both the Board of Education and the township Advocate access to uh sports facilities and to Recreation for the members the citizens of this Township so I would appreciate if there was some transparency uh you know honestly as a citizen of this time would like to understand why the discussion has been taken so long I mean it's it's been over 4 months and as a reminder it took roughly 100 days to draft the US Constitution so you know this process has been taking much longer than that I I know that previously vandalism was cited as a main concern for keeping the courts closed and I realize it's an important issue but also as a reminder uh Mona Lisa was vandalized six times and yet it is still on display at L so you know let's not use it as a let's let's not use the single data point as a reason to you know keep the bo close to the members of this community uh again thank you once again for all the work that you do I realize that there's a lot that happens behind the scenes I would appreciate a little more information if possible thank you once again appreciate an opportunity to be here congrats once again thank you sir can you just take your name for the record please oh for sure I apologize your pause again thank you hi hello uh I would first like to congratulate the board and the ums for the uh R award can you just state your name again I know you signed in before uh my name is Steve hunt I'm a resident of 44 Rosewood I'm here to speak about the High School tennis courts the course has been closed to the public since August we have recent issue of the Boe meetings and the township meetings uh since that there has been stories in the Montgomery news cover this issue in the story The High School cites vandalism as the main reason for locking courts so I would like to talk about the vandalism uh first of all there's very little Rand on a tennis court there Nas and and posts uh the high school claims a post is damaged due to vandalism the posts are actually made out of matter and there's some cranks on it to keep the mess in in in tension if somebody used a racket to hit the post you would destroy your expensive racket before you would cause any damage to the Post the post obviously can subject to failure due to wear and tear the school claimed the vandalism damaging post I think that claim is very dubious and the fact that the school didn't file a police report it just shows us it's it's just speculation on schools part second of all I think an effective way to manage vandalism is to install uh surveillance cameras to covered cours as a matter of fact indoor and outdoor cameras are already used in Montgomery High School for safety reasons this is according to a story reported in montgomary news of March 10th 2022 the surveillance can be extended to the tennis cour or maybe they already covered the tennis cour if this is done next time some damages has happened and then there will be evidence and the police can get involved and catch the real coet and certainly I don't think locking at the courts can really prevent vandalism if someone is really determined to Vandal the quartz you can easily cut through the wires and and blot the of the locks based on the updates from the super sir that's time sorry sorry thank you any other public comics hearing none um heard the superintendent U the tennis courts are a very serious issue in HRC we have talked about that and we will continue to talk about that about ways to possibly Grant access uh superer mlad I was as I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting we are still in talks with the township with the shared service agreement I don't know why it said it was stalled that was actually news to us that there was stalled so I don't know where that came from right but we didn't ever think it was at so that was how we learned about it in the paper any items from the board Clos discussion every n at this time I'll entertain a motion to go back into executive session with a note that no action will be taken after executive session so it's been properly moving second any discussion on the motion about one of the items on the financial report I should have actually been asked you motion we have a motion on the floor so I got to address Mo yeah all those in favor stay I all those opposed same right extensions we are now back in exec [Music] session motion to reconvene an open session so move second proper move in second all those in favor say I I iOS same right extion thank you at this time I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second all those in favorite stay I I I same extensions oppose same right thank you good night good night good night everyone