Good to see you. What's your to see the right. >> How are you? Hey ladies. >> A did you guys >> I was going to SAY
>> HOW WAS IT? HOW WAS IT? >> It's really really >> It's not over. >> Is it still going? >> Afterwards, actually. >> That's some dedication. >> I will get you in and out then. No question. >> It smells nice.
>> Okay. Um >> I just put a mint in my mat. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to move the the students in presentation before confidential. >> Is Mark coming? >> No. >> No, he's at Powder Puff.
>> All right. I think we have two or six. We're good. Everybody good? >> There you go. >> I will call us to order. We all rise for the flag salute. >> The end of the game here, bud. >> I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And can we all remain standing for a moment of reflection for all those in harm's way and all of our military at
home and abroad. Thank you. You may be seated. Statement of advanced notice. The notice requirements of the open public meetings act of the state of New Jersey have been satisfied by the inclusion of the date, time, and place of this meeting in the notice of regular meetings adopted by
this board on January 6, 2025. Such schedule and notice of meeting is posted at the municipal building, the Mount Olive Library, the board of education offices in the six schools was submitted to the daily record for publication on January 7th, 2025. It was
filed with the clerk of Mount Ola Township in January 8th, 2025. I direct that this announcement be entered into the meeting minutes of this meeting. And we'll take a roll call, please. Mrs. Aquino >> here. >> Mrs. Fenton here. Mrs. Faggera >> here. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald
>> here. Dr. Gordeno >> here. >> Mrs. Melendez. Mrs. Narcissis >> here. >> Mrs. O'Neal. Mr. Rosillo. >> Okay. And just for public information, I'm going to move our confidential session to after our student uh leaison
reports and our superintendent reports. And with that, I'll take a motion for the approval of the minutes 2.1 and two um 2.2. >> Second. >> I'll make that motion. Second. >> Do we have any comments or questions from the board?
>> Nope. Seeing none, we'll take a roll call on that. Mrs. Fen, >> yes. >> Dr. Gardeno, >> yes. >> Mrs. Aquino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Faggera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Mrs. Narcissis, >> yes. >> And I'm moving confidential session to after our reports and discussions. And
with that, do we have any communications and petitions um for the superintendent or board members? Anyone? No. Okay. And with that, we will take our student liaison. Thank you for coming. >> Hi everyone. It's really nice to see you
all again. So for past events, we had the National English Honor Society induction on October 29th. It was a really beautiful ceremony and we had a lot of new members. We had the math honor society induction on November 18th, which is short but very sweet. And from the guidance department, we had
resounding success at the trade fair on November 12th. We had 35 vendors and companies to present to 300 students, the Morris, Warren, and Sussex County, and 55 Mount Olive seniors who were interested in skilled trade and apprenticeships attended. Every senior
with the high school has had at least one meeting with a guidance counselor to discuss post high school goals. And as of now, 168 students have submitted 2,900 college applications. >> Wow, awesome. >> Yeah. In regards to AP exams, as of now,
938 AP exams are being ordered for 391 students. So, it's a lot. >> We had five students who were commended for the National Merit Scholarship Program. They were Angela Davis, Oliver Hune, Cassandra Vzina, Jace Ona, and Sydney Price. And we're all really proud of them. Snowland tickets were also sold
from November 10th through the 13th. And the dance is coming up on the 6th. So, we're all very, very excited. We're planning. And Mean Girls went spectacularly. I don't know if you went, but I went and it was absolutely amazing. They did an amazing job. And the amount of Robotics team hosted the first Lego League qualifier on November
22nd and the kids all had a really great time. We had teams from all over New Jersey. It was great. And we're hosting the state championships on December 15th. And the Air Force Junior ROTC drill team performed in West Orange on November 22nd in the drill competition.
And they won first place for Arms Flight Regulation, second place for color guard, and third place for athletic challenge. so a lot. We're very very proud of them. And we had one senior, Jayce Ona, who won best armed dual commander with a perfect score of 50. And it's his second time receiving this award. So, we're all very, very
impressed. And the literacy registration just finished. Hello everyone. I'm Isabella, the student council treasurer. So, for athletics, Mr. Grizzwalks won the NJSIA community coach of the season. boys
soccer team made it to the state seal sectional finals on November 14th and we are so very proud of them. Kendall Pizzeruso raced in the meet of champs at Homeell on November 15th. Some winter sports have started but majority of them
will start after um Thanksgiving break. Competition cheer qualified for the 2025 UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Coming up, we have Powderpuff, which is happening tonight.
It's the juniors versus the seniors. Ro Kappa induction is on December 4th. SAT and ACT registration is happening currently for juniors and the deadline is January 30th. SAT registration is is it on?
>> No, the actual SAT. >> Okay. SAT is on March 18th and the ACT is on March 11th. and winter band and coral concert is on December 10th and the winter orchestra concert is on December 17th.
>> Do you have any questions for us? >> That's great. >> Who's winning? Who's winning the powderpuff game right now? >> I think seniors, but the juniors are making some really good plays. >> We're doing good. We're doing good. >> Who's your coaches? >> Um, we have, as far as I know, Justin Bullock, we have some of the football players that are
>> good stuff. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Happy Thanksgiving. back to the game. >> I hope you have a really great Thanksgiving break and spend some time with your families. >> Thank you so much so much for all you do. >> Thank you. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> And with that, we'll move to the
superintendent report. At this time, I would like to invite Miss Jackie Bellow, who's our director of student support services, and programming. She'll be doing our annual report on her student safety data system known as SSDS to report all incidences of violence, vandalism, weapons, substance abuse, and
hib incidents. Miss Fellow, >> good evening everyone. Thank you for having me. This is a report that I deliver twice per year. So the reporting period I will deliver on tonight is from January 2025 through June 2025. So the
second half of last year and I do this every time. Oh, as Dr. Banjo mentioned, um there are several pieces of information that are reported. So this is a state requirement for all public schools in the state of
New Jersey that we must report any serious acts of violence, vandalism, weapons, substance abuse. That's one part of the SSDS system. And then the other part is collecting data on harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
So it's investigations, trainings, and programs. So both the response and the proactive side. Okay. So the first part will be the SSDS system, violence, vandalism, weapons, substance abuse. So these are our numbers and I'll
explain a little bit as you look from each of the different schools. It gives a breakdown. So the first column you see is incident total. It's a little deceptive that SSDs collects it this way because it not only includes the other columns, the violence, the vandalism,
substances, and weapons and but it also includes any founded incidents of HIV. So if we do an investigation and it doesn't meet the definition of HIB, that's not what counts towards this incident total, just the founded incidents. And then the other incidents
leading to removal are separate. So what that means is students incidents of students being suspended for something that was not violence, vandalism, substances or weapons. So things that count for violence are things like
assault, fight. The SSDS guidance system gives specific guidance that a fight is not just a back and forth shoving match that occurs kind of quickly and stops right away. It's it's a real physical altercation. It gives some guidance on that. And then of course some more awful
offenses um including simple threat and criminal threat. Um and then also vandalism. You can see what that encompasses. arson, computer trespass, damage to property, false public alarm, theft, trespass. So these are, you know, some serious
incidents. Um there are some cases where things are repeated. So for example, it could be um one incident that covers a variety of topics at once. Doesn't happen very
often, but once in a while. And then our harassment, intimidation, bullying numbers. So these are all of our incidents that we investigated for that second half of the year, January through June. So that's the alleged number and then the
confirmed number. So again, a large number of HIV investigations being conducted. We're looking into a whole lot and we're finding that a lot of it is common conflict, but sometimes serious conflict
nonetheless. These numbers, last year's numbers in total were slightly lower than the HIB numbers the year before. And then for programs, we have such a variety of programs in all the different schools. So this is something that's
occurring ongoing throughout the school year every day in different um formats. So we might have different clubs and groups of students who are working on different programs. We might have whole classroom lessons either being done by
school counselors or by the teachers. We might have schoolwide assembly programs, schoolwide character ed programs. So you might look up there and see certain names that belong to certain elementary schools and not for others. So examples are like Shields of Honor. That's a
Sansore character ed program. They're going to call it something different. you know, at Mountain View or CMS. So, I didn't list everything from every school because I'm trying to give um kind of a cross-section, but we do work on um things like kindness ambassadors at all
five all four elementary schools. That's something with the fifth graders. It's a special leadership program to help them um spread some anti-bullying messages, some community building activities. There's of course things like caught being good and recognition for um
character traits each month. November is always gratitude for Thanksgiving. Um and then there's things like one book, one school initiatives that really work on common themes of um some anti-bullying mixed in with whatever the
context is of the story. That's always a great program because it gets all the students talking about the thing the same thing. We have lead program done by the Mount Olive Police Department still. Um so just a variety. We do weekly wellness meetings to look at um you know
any students that might be struggling with attendance or friendships or you know being wrapped up in some hib investigations. We do those meetings with counselors and administrators to help support those students but to also analyze what we're doing as we're doing
it. And then we have some examples of secondary programs. So this is middle school and high school combined. So um one of the biggest a couple of the biggest ones I tried to list on top. We do have a teen mental health first aid
program at the high school that we're pretty proud of. We just found out that um two teachers have been recognized to speak uh at a national conference. So they're very excited. They really lead the charge with teen mental health first aid. They were just very passionate about it. taught it last year, Miss
Belair. That's a huge honor. So, two of our staff members at the high school submitted um a proposal to present at the National Council for Mental Well-being in Denver, Colorado. And we just found out today that their proposals were chosen and that was based upon the work that they're doing at the high school. Yeah, that's Melissa
Grossenstein and Travis Hubert. They're just champions for this program. They got train, they did a lot of training and then they opted to do some extra training. Um, so they're a great support for that program, but that's for 10th graders. We do run it every year and they're excited about to get it started
um for this year as well. Last year we also had our David Nash parent series. For those who know, David Nash is an attorney for the state of New Jersey. He does a lot of consulting work with um HIP prevention and response. And then we're also, well, this is last year,
Rugers Positive Behavior Supports in Schools. We were doing it at the high school. We're now doing it at the middle school as well. So that's research, evidence-based um positive behavior support programs to uh promote anti-bullying.
We have constant HIP refresher meetings with admin team. We talk about case law. We talk about um PD that we've been to. Um so there's all types of different activities too. Again, with students when they get older, a lot of it is their voice has to be at the forefront.
So, a lot of the clubs that they're involved in are the ones leading the charge with some of these programs. Um, but then things like the lip dub that we know Mr. Stansbury was so excited about and it really was a great um video, but there's a lot of team building behind
the scenes that goes into that. So, it's not just about making a promo video. It's really about the team building and the students representing um the different groups. And then the high school too likes to send out a cares calendar. So, there's there's a few a few things and this is only a few. I
really couldn't um name everything. We'd be here for a very long time. And then lastly, this is some of the district-wide um HIP prevention um programs and trainings that we did last year as well. So, we have no place for hate in all of the K to8 schools. Um
again, the the Ruckers BOG Center with the positive behavior supports. We always do trainings for staff with HIP policy and procedure. Every year we had a group called Joy Roots come in to do some great traumainformed practices for teachers and staff to do some PD on
that. Of course, um superintendent spotlight, we had a social media use um night where we gave some information to parents based on some recent research from um a few novels uh that have been
out, few research books um and some David Nash training. That for me was the highlight of last year because he was really able to dig in with us and look at our programs and procedures and either give the stamp of approval or say did you think about trying it this way? So he had some really good feedback for us that we appreciated
>> and I certainly want to add here that you know this data was from previous spring. However, Miss Bellow and the rest of the staff has done remarkable job even this school year. you know, um she led the super spotlight last week in which we talked about, you know, bullying, HIV, and um helping parents
navigate conflict with their child. So, we had a nice turnout last week. So, thank you for all the families who came out because certainly it's those small conversations that allow people to have dialogue and ask the questions if they want clarity and also in some cases get affirmation that you know what their child is going through is also the
experience of others and how we can help support that community. So, thank you for all that programming that continues to happen this school year. >> Thank you. And we did talk about code of conduct, too, because even when something is not a founded incident of HIV, that doesn't mean that nothing is done. We do go through the code of
conduct, and that's a variety of things from discipline infractions through um restorative practice and counseling to help remediate that behavior so it doesn't continue to occur. >> Any questions? Any other questions or comments from the board? Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Miss Bellow.
Excellent presentation. Real quick, I know we still use hipster. Um, and I know within that program, I'd be interested in and I'm sure you looked at this and everyone's looked at it where those founded HIVs are happening or taking place because I know that system can break that down and say through the hallways or our unstructured times. And
then it would be look to us as a board to say where do we need to support that more from a budgetary standpoint, especially at the middle school. Although, you know, the middle school's numbers have drastically come down over the past year or two. It's a testament to you and Miss Wilky, but where else can we, you know, put that money to get the best bang for our buck at? So, if I
know I don't people realize that we can break that down to see where the most of the allegations are happening and if it if it really is. So, so I just you want to speak on that a little bit. >> Yeah, it's a great point. It's called a hotspot locator. That's the report that we run in Hibster. And in our school climate and safety team meetings that we
do quarterly, the anti-bullying specialists review that information with the teachers and the parents who are on that committee as well as the administrators. And we do take action right away when we can. Um, and I know Mrs. Wilky, you know, this was big for her. She um moved staff to the hall, the
stairways and passing time because we were finding that things were being reported um on the stairways. And then we also have stands um you know for hallway monitors in the middle school, which is really nice. One of our security staff built them himself and they look beautiful, but they're also,
you know, nice stations for everyone. So that that's a great point. That's exactly the kind of work that we're doing, you know, throughout the year to make sure because it's not always about whether or not it's a founded HIP. It's about our kids getting upset with each other over something and how do we help and I think also it's typically the
unstructured areas sometimes that often are the culprits when you know disagreements arise and certainly both at the middle school and high school we introduce smart pass and which also allows us to see who's in the hallway and also prevent potential interactions because we know some students are having
beef with one another. I just aged myself. I know. I don't know what the proper terminology now, but I say >> conflict. >> Conflict, right? And so with that, you know, we in some cases we probably prevented things from taking place because they're not allowed to be interacting with one another. And I know
from the middle school perspective, the volume in the hallways, you know, in between classes, the number of kids in the bathroom has dramatically, you know, decreased. I know the custodial staff are quite happy that there's not much going on in the restrooms because we know who's there and how long they're there. And certainly that's something
that you know we I've had many conversations with students and certainly we have a lot of leeway with that program but it comes down to maintaining the safety of our students and knowing where they are and you know who they're interacting with is really critical but to your point it's that unstructured time that we're trying to
really address especially at the middle school and high school time. Elementary is a little different. You know, there's really not much unstructured time um because >> So, and I think too, it's a testament to the administration, teachers, especially at the middle school and high school, you're dealing with a sheer number, a volume of students, right? You
know, you put that many people together, you put that many adults together, you put 10 adults together, they're going to act worse than those kids. I know the rumors in our town, I know we as board members, I'm not going to speak for everyone, I know myself and some other board members hear the same thing over again, that that behavior at the schools, at the middle school and high school are out of control, the kids are out of control, and that's furthest
thing from the truth. I mean, you have that many kids together and that in a confined space, there's going to be arguments. There's going to be conflict. There's going to be and it's our job as well as, you know, educating students, which is the primary job of school districts, but as well as trying to help them navigate those conflicts. So, I just think it's a testament to everybody
in the district for what they do. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? I just wanted to add to that a little bit that one of the pieces especially at the elementary where we saw some numbers Miss Bella you've really hit hit home and emphasized several times that it's
not just about oh I got you or you're in trouble. It's about giving the students the tools to understand that conflict or the use of some of the language and other you know incidents that are occurring and that we have to we as a board for those in the public do review
all of the HIP reports that come through those and then the decisions that are made and we support our administration in those decisions and there are some that are founded and parents do have that opportunity to appeal it and then from there there other legal opportunities for them. Correct.
>> That's right. Yeah. So, they can appeal it to the board of ed and then they can go beyond that as well if they don't agree with the decision. >> And then the commissioner also then makes the ultimate decision after the OA. Right. >> That's right. >> I also just like to thank the board you know certainly we invited David Nash um
last summer and the board had you know many training with him to get more you know information about the HIT process. We are inviting Mr. Nash again this coming summer. So we're looking at to ensure that continuity because it's also really critical everyone on the team right has a knowledge base of you know
what the ins and outs of the hip law is so that we can engage in you know productive conversations. So thank you for that. >> Anyone else? >> Okay with that I say thank you so much >> and since we're still in reports and discussions do we have any board
subcommittee andor parent association liaison reports? >> Can I chime in one thing? I just wanted to mention that we had our first long range planning committee um last Monday. Thank you for all the um community members who attended. We had a nice group of people um from all parts of the
community, whether it be parents, just community members um the mayor, town council, you know, we had people, staff members um engaged in conversation. It was a first step to really looking at the needs of the district. And so we engaged in really fruitful conversation as to what they their baseline. you
know, we kind of did the teaching model of like establishing their understanding. So, they really shared their perspectives about infrastructure and their thought process on the buildings. So, we're going to our next steps are going to be visiting all the buildings, getting a firsthand knowledge of to see what's going on and really
coming together to see what the direction the districts want to take. Um, I you know, Miss Benton was in um in person, so thank you for that as well as Dr. Gordano. So, I hope you found the meeting to be um rewarding. >> And Genie, right? No Beth. Beth, that's right. Sorry, I apologize.
>> Yeah, went very well. >> Yes, >> you know, it went very well. >> Yeah, >> it was a very collaborative uh nice discussion to see the first steps on what we need to do, what we think we need to do, >> and we're going to move from there.
>> And do we have any with that anything else, Dr. Bandria? >> I'm good. Sorry. >> No. >> Do we have any board subcommittee or parent teacher association reports? Nope. Anyone in the public? >> No. >> No. Okay.
>> Uh, presidents to report. I have nothing to report. So, with that, before we go to um public comment, we're actually going to go into confidential session. So, I'll take a motion for recess into confidential session. >> Move. Second. >> Second. And roll call. All those in favor?
>> I I Any opposed? All right. be reserved that the board meet in confidential session for the purpose of discussing negotiations personnel matters of attorney client privilege pending or anticipated litigation confidential pupil matters real estate matters be it further resolved that the matters
discussed in confidential session be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exist we are in close session We're back and we'll take a roll call. Miss Shaen. >> Mrs. Aquino >> here. >> Mrs. Fenton >> here. >> Mrs. Faggera >> here.
>> Mrs. Fitzgerald >> here. >> Dr. Gerardano >> present. >> Present. >> Mrs. Narcissis >> here. >> Mrs. O'Neal >> here. >> All right. And with that, we are back. Public comments on action items. We will open up for public comments. Members of
the community may comment on any action item prior to board discussion. Please state your name and address for the record. All comments must be respectfully presented. Abusive or obstain comments will not be tolerated. And please state your name and address
for the record. So the three criteria >> name and address >> name and address Mr. >> I'm sorry uh Tim Capone Highfield Road. >> Uh the three criteria for a HIB um my my question in related to uh the affirming
or the acknowledgement of receipts is we just saw a presentation on that. Are the hip lowers are the HI numbers lower when you choose not to investigate a reported HIP? Is is that going to appear on this or or not?
Um so that's that's my first question. And the second question would be what happens to HIPS that you choose not to investigate when they're reported? Thank you.
Anyone else? I see Amy. >> Second comment. >> Yep. >> Amy, we'll have you come up at this at the end. Anyone else for public comment? All right. Seeing none, we will close out public comment on action items.
>> We're going to we're going to respond at the end of the second comment section. You can respond now. >> All right. I I just didn't know. Um just I think and and Miss Bella would know more. I don't think we're in the practice or we're still practicing that if a parent gives us a form or or staff
member or student stating they feel like they are harassed intimidating bullying. We investigate that. Correct. I know for effect. Okay. And then um and then whether it's founded as an HIV or not, >> there's still consequence. If it's a code of conflict, there's there's consequences. If it's founded and depending on the age population, it's
it's age appropriate. um you know there's some counseling involved about you know pe better peer relationships espec especially with elementary school kids. I just want to make that clear. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'd like to just make a comment. I I want to say that I commend Mr. Capone
for coming up and actually speaking to us um about this. However, I also have to commend Mrs. Bellow because of the amount of work that she has done to make sure this exact thing does not happen. um she's been very open about it. So,
there may be a reason that something didn't go exactly the way you wanted uh legally. However, I can I can attest that we have been very thorough in this. I I do really appreciate public speaking
because at least it's not an anonymous Facebook post that we can't do anything about. >> Um so, I do want to appreciate that from you. Um, but I totally disagree. I just M Miss Bellow, you've been amazing
during this whole process since you've been here and I just had to had to say my piece. >> All right. Any other comments or questions from the board? All right. Seeing none, we will move on to the
approval of item seven through 11.1. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Dr. Gardaniano makes the motion. We have Miss Fenton made a second. >> Do we have comments or questions from the board with relation to items 7.1 all
the way to 11.1? Nope. Okay. Seeing none, we will take a roll call. Miss Shoning. >> Dr. Giardo? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fenton? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Aquino? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faggera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Narcissis? >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Neal.
>> I abstain from anything for Christian Humphrey and special education. Yes. To everything else. >> Okay. We're good. All right. With that, we will move to public comments. Students, parents,
employees, and community members may comment on any item of interest pertaining to the Mount Olive School District. Please state your name and address for the record. All comments must be respectfully presented. Abusive or obscene comments will not be tolerated. And Hammy, I know we you
missed uh earlier for our report, so come on up. >> She's a snitch. Hello everybody. Um sorry that I missed. I real I was listening on YouTube. I'm like I miss my time. So I'm Amy Marini. Um so I'll be
reporting on my subcommittee. Uh so for the special education parent advisory group. Sorry I haven't been here for a couple of weeks. Um but I do want to I did want to report on September on October and November. So um I'll try to make it as short as possible. So, um, so
for October CPAG meeting, I couldn't remember if we spoke before after that, but I wanted to just share we did have Mike Marada come to speak, um, from the, uh, assist of technology advocacy center. He reviewed a ton of tools, um, as well as,
you know, federal laws and New Jersey laws and just all of these different um, things that that were just ridiculously uh, important for families to hear. um talked about transition tool. He shared about the free resources that are
through the ATIA learning center. Um he talked about the lending center for assist of technology apps and devices that anyone in the state can um request a a um the device or application to be shared for 3 weeks. And um then we
talked about the ATCT program in New Jersey with the at4nj.com. It was just so much so much. Um, one of the things that I was like a my own like takeaway from a CPAC perspective. Um and I was like kind of frustrated that for
ourselves this was a parent only meeting and there st there so there was no um staff there but we did discuss the models of assist of technology delivery and the one that really strikes out is the capacity model with who in the school is the expert and then who in
related services is either finds it as a niche or like it you know or something um to become the expert as well as that how that person or that group of folks books helps to turn key as the children move through the district so that it's not like oh only this school knows how
to use that app and this teacher and then when they move to the middle school well who knows or into the high school or whatever and so it was really um interesting to hear him speak about that and and it was just I know that we use recorders but he was phenomenal like
phenomenal and so um then SAK was like two days later and um they talked about bunch of preschool inclusive practices um they discussed the survey that was sent out to parents and educators um and staff about the revision of the special education code. Um I did update the
links for the October. So that Excel document that I sent out to you guys is updated for October's there's a lot more links. Um November it seems as though they have changed their way that they share those things and the code the links are not available to the public
which is a big bummer. Um but they in um October SEAK um they also talked about the self- assessment for the NJTSS tool. Um and then they just talked a lot about the um INRS like how to refer,
what the steps are, all that stuff. Um November CPAC meeting. Um we had 15 attend. Um we had a really great update from um special services as well as introduction of the two new supervisors as well as some other staff um within the buildings. Um we had a lot of really
great conversation about all the things that are being offered um within the district. Um and then we had a really great um presentation um about um from Arturo Rodriguez and um discussing the universal literacy screeners and the
process in Mount Olive for monitoring um ch children that are at risk for really any but how they catch kids um to make sure that there are no literacy um or whatever. I'm I'm totally botching it
right now, but And just let Mr. Rodriguez is our supervisor of intervention gifted and um world language just to let you know. >> Yeah. And he was really great like very like as a mom from a like cuz my daughter's um at a district place in Mount Olive and so I have an 8-year-old
that's actually like kind of going through this stuff. So it was really helpful for me. Um then I attended Seak where my brain went to mush and um so November's seak like I said before um the links they don't share the same way. So that was really disappointing but I
did try to share what I could. Um they did talk about um the main topic was disproportionality which um was very um mind twisting for me. Maybe Miss O'Neal can kind of pipe in how that um speaks.
But um they also did talk about the um the post uh school success in adult programs um and talked about how DVRs can be so the division for vocation vocational and rehabilitation services should be um involved starting at 14
years old at IEP meeting discussions um that you know actually I'm going to see if they can come and speak at a CPAG because I think it would be really helpful um because there's just a whole lot of transition that starts to happened starting around 14. Um, and so really getting that the the vocational
stuff involved and everybody, but it was really interesting to hear that there is a counselor assigned to every single high school in the state of New Jersey um that will work with the staff and the parents and the students on their transition plan. So that's it questions.
>> Thank you. >> Any questions from the board? >> No. Thank you. Anyone else? >> I debated. >> Come on up.
>> Thank you. >> I knew you needed your exercise. >> There you go. >> Good evening, Madame President. Members of the board, esteemed guests and the Mount Olive community. My name is Gita Vogle and I live at 48 June Grassway,
Panther Valley, Alamucci, New Jersey. I am the certified field rep from PSA and representing Moesa. Thank you for being here. Another little factoid you can learn about me. David Nash is my boss.
really. >> So, I am taking a moment to wish you all a grateful and safe Thanksgiving. I am going out on sick leave until January, but will return after hip replacement.
I thank the current board for supporting the students and staff of the Mount Olive School District. It's always a pleasure to see the various groups of students honored before you on the many occasions this
past year. The recognition is rewarding to them and validating to the staff who supervised their many activities that brought them here.
Likewise, I appreciate the courtesy and support you have always demonstrated for me and the organization I represent. Though names and faces change in service
to the Mount Olive community from within the board of education, the collective mission is the same, no matter as a Mount Olive resident. Clearly, it is a mission and
responsibility to which you are all committed, regardless of official titles. At this moment, I wish Kevin Stanbury continued positivity
and I wanted to say be safe and thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Huge speedy recovery. >> Thank you recovery. Oh man. Tim Capone, Highfield Road.
So, one of the responses I got to my questions from the last time was that at least five of you as board members decided to use taxpayer money to appeal a HIP decision to try and ensure that one of our students was found guilty of
a HIP after you were overturned by the administrative law judge. At least five of you. Okay? That it wasn't her decision. It's not the board attorney, but that according to her, at least five of you made that decision. Um, so
th this is something that uh, you know, well, you can sit here and say that this is your practice. Um, I'm going to continue to come up and we're going to have to, you know, again, I I could resend the email that shows that you
don't open HIPS when you're in when you're told that they occur because I have it in writing. Okay. So that that that's going to continue to be a concern as this happens over and over again. Um
but the newest one was so so we'll open with this question. If I requested budget information, would I be denied budget information because I'm a parent? Okay. Does Furpa apply to me as a parent asking for budget
information? Because apparently that's the reasoning that Summit is giving for why I can't have a teacher schedule, right? Is that parents are allowed to have information of student records and apparently nothing else.
Okay. So, and then we've had other administrators, they're all claiming that a teacher schedule is confidential personnel information. Okay. Do your teacher schedules have social
security numbers on it, home addresses, health benefit information? I I don't think that they do. So a denial to a parent
quoting Furpa, okay, is a deflect. There's no connection between those two things. And from a a a staff schedule standpoint, what would possibly be on a staff
schedule other than their name, the classes they teach, the period they teach it, and which part of that would be confidential personnel information. Now, we also had an issue, okay, in
regards to how you calculate GPA. So, if a student drops down a level from honors to CP and they've done honors level work in the marking period,
how do you credit that on their for their GPA? you credit it as if it's college prep. You don't give them and award them the credit and the GPA that it is that they've earned for the work that they've completed.
So, there's a question of fairness and ethics associated with that. Now, this goes into I made an Oprah request. Okay, your Oprah custodian won't identify
themselves. So my other question is is who is your Oprah custodian? Who are we paying to fill Oprah's? Okay, cuz you remember the last time uh I guess it was about a year ago, I
requested HIP information and you told me I could have that. Okay. After things were redacted, the lowest level employee that you said would redact it or was capable of redacting it was Jackie Bellowos. And I believe the total was somewhere in the neighbor of $47,000
is what you said that I would have to pay in order to be able to access that information. So transparency is something some of you ran on. It certainly was an issue the last time around with some of the the
board actions and it appears to continue to be an issue. >> Mr. Capone, can I ask why you want the >> This is not a back and forth conversation. Mr. Capone can make his comments and then we'll respond where needed at the end. >> Okay.
So, I don't know if you've published this yet, but um what is the date of the auditor's presentation for this year? Okay. And will the auditor be answering questions from the public or just from the board?
>> Thank you. Can I make a a statement Dr. Banana and Mr. Kurifi? I have a security concern for the uh our staff as to what the purpose of knowing our staff schedule and whereabouts are at all times. So, I'd like to make that on record that
we are to keep our staff safe at all times. Any other comments from the public? Mr. Capone, this is not a conversation. You can make a new field new comments if you'd like. >> I'm going to make new comments. >> Name name and address for the record. It's a new
>> stateone Highfield Road. Okay. If you're saying that you don't release that information, okay, that's not true because it's in real time. So you can't peacemeal it and say it's available to every parent, okay, from that to know each one of those schedules because then
it's released. It's public record. Everybody has access to that. >> All right, we'll keep on moving then. Anyone else from the public? Thank you. We'll move to old business. Members of the board may comment on any
item or topic that was previously discussed by the board. Anyone? All right. None. We'll move to new business. New business. Members of the board may introduce any new item or topic of discussion for the board to consider. Anyone?
Nope. All right. Board comments. Members of the board may comment on any item of interest pertaining to the Mount Olive School District. We start at the end. Dr. Cheer Dana. >> Thank you, Madam President. And I just like to thank Miss Bellow uh once again for her presentation and the efforts put forward by our uh staff when it comes to
our violence and ventilism report, HIV report, and keeping our students as safe as they we possibly can in today's day and age. I'd also like a shout out to uh to Mr. Bosch and the cast and crew of Mean Girls is an excellent play. Um although not my cup of tea per se, you
know, but uh it was a very good play and and our students are very very very very talented. Miss Rich. >> Yep. I'll ditto all of that. And then also happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Have a lovely break. Welldeserved teachers and staff and we'll see you
guys next month. >> And Miss Aquina. >> No com. >> Miss Fenton. >> Just ditto what they said. And happy Thanksgiving everyone. >> And happy Thanksgiving everyone. Please enjoy your time off. Miss Figer. >> Ditto. All of the above.
>> Happy Thanksgiving. Have a great break. and Dr. Happy Thanksgiving. >> All right, with that I'll take a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> All those in favor?