I like it. Looks like Survivor Island over here blown out. >> Good evening. Welcome to a meeting of the Mountainside Board of Education in accordance with the state Sunshine Law and State Regulations. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing a notice of the time, date, location,
and instructions for accessing the meeting to the Union County local source and the Westfield leader. filing the same with the burough clerk, posting the notice at the main access door of Mountside Board of Education building and on the Mountside Board of Education website. These meetings are reserved for
board deliberation and for review of items contained within the agenda. The board reserves the right to vote on action items. The board welcomes the participation of interested individuals. We encourage questions about specific school practices, incidents, or events to be brought directly to school
administration. Public comment will be permitted at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement. In addition, time will be allotted at the end of the meeting for public comment on any item. Speaker
shall limit their comments to three minutes. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan >> here. >> Mr. Michael Goodwin. Dr. Dana Guided Cypro. Mr. Jordan Heyman >> here. You should have bots her name by the way. This is just just
>> here. >> Mrs. Candaceiano absent. Mrs. Lauren Wargan >> here. >> At this time, I would like a motion to go into executive session. It's 6:46. >> So moved. >> Second. Sorry.
>> Uh we will return in 45 minutes. All in favor? Opposed? See you in 45. It is 7:36. Um, surprise. Welcome everyone. Uh, please stand to salute our flag. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I please have a motion to approve our minutes from May 12th? >> So move.
>> Second. >> Any comments or questions? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jordan Heyman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vivian Pua. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Candace. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lauren Gorgon. >> Yes. >> Moving on. I do not have any
correspondents. uh public participation. If you would like to come up to the podium, state your name and address to discuss on anything that we are voting on tonight, please feel free. Seeing none, President Oh, sorry. >> Hi.
>> Hi, Michaela Whan. Um 295 New Providence Road, Mountain Side. Um here tonight in support of the soccer field behind Beachwood. Um I think a number of other people here as well showing our support. So, we hope you vote in favor. >> Thank you.
>> Thanks. >> Moving on. President's report. Just want to wish everyone a great summer. Um, thank our faculty and staff for having an outstanding year, for all the support they give to our students, to our community. I appreciate it. We all appreciate it. So, have a wonderful,
healthy, and wonderful summer. I'm moving on to our superintendence report. >> All right. Lots of great stuff. Here we go, folks. Hang on. We'll set up here. >> All right. Good evening. How we doing out there?
>> All right. Here we go. So, we have a lot of great uh accolades to give and a lot of fantastic um awards and to really celebrate a lot of different people in this room tonight. So, we're going to start off
and we're going to start with our trailblazers of the month. I know I kind of do that last sometimes, but we're going to start with them. Uh you'll have to forgive me. I don't have my notes organized, so I'm going to flip back with a couple of things. But we're going to talk about our trailblazers of the month where each month teachers and
faculty get together to recognize students that exhibit true pillars of character. They go above and beyond and they shine enough to where their principal, myself, and their teachers feel that they should be recognized here
at the board meeting. So, let's talk about our actually I don't know is Alisandra here tonight. Oh, she did. All right. Excellent. So, Alisandra missed last month. So, we're recognizing her this month. So, um in May we had our
trailblazer of the month for Beachwood and I'm going to read a little bit of something. So, Alisandra is always respectful. She is friendly, hardworking. She is the class leader, like the class leader, right? And when it comes to making good choices and
following rules, she sets the example for exactly what we expect in our Beachwood students. And again, we truly pride ourselves in making sure that we're putting out the best product we
can do here in Mountainside Public Schools, and we celebrate like that. So, we cannot be more proud to bring up Alisandra Breto as our May Trailblazer. Got to make our way there. All right.
And mom and dad wants to get a picture. Take that and turn around and we're going to take pictures. All right, >> there you go. We're going to stick at Beachwood and go to our June Trailblazers of the Month.
Here we are celebrating a nominee. Okay, she can be a little bit shy, but she does show her true character when she's in class. goes above and beyond. Incredibly kind and caring to both her peers, the adults in the classrooms. One
of the most responsible and dependable students in the class. She's a go to whatever type of student. If you need something done, we go to her in the classroom. >> You can always count on her to step up. She is also she does things without
hesitation. there's a confidence in her, a quiet confidence, but it's great to see and eventually she's going to be a superstar, outgoing and and doing great things in the future. So, with that being said, and I'm going to present a little bit to her how her teacher
nominated, so we'll take that, too, as well, which I think is nice. Um, our June Trail Boys of the Month for Beachwood is Alex Emerson. Come on, All right. You're going to hold this like
this. Turn around. Camera. Smile. That works. All right. Good job. and we're going to shift over to Deerfield and talk about our June Trailblazer of the Month for Deerfield. So, this particular student puts forth her greatest effort. Every single day,
every time she does something, she's doing it with a smile. She's happy. She's enjoying being in school, respectful. She has shown a tremendous amount of growth and effort this year. um so much so that she was nominated not
by one person but collectively by two. So it was great to see that how they paired up to really focus in on the student knowing how great she's doing and the reason why we celebrate her tonight. You know her presence simply makes Deerfield a better place and I
could tell you being in the hallways and being able to greet this individual I can truly feel that as well. So tonight we celebrate our Deerfield Trailblazer of the Month, Briana Costa. Come on up. >> There you go. Uh, Miss Berick, you might have to just
hit the forward arrow as we go along. So, we're we're recognizing some really great pillars of character, some students that are truly making a difference uh in and around their school and in their classroom. But we're also going to recognize some of the academic
excellence that we have here as well. If you don't know, we we have participation in what's called the Noetic Math Contest. Uh every year students come up and uh Miss Chris Pulley runs the noetic math contest and if you want
to say how it talked about what it involves. >> Sure. >> And then we'll recognize. >> Great. >> So in April we had 102 students in Mountainside grades 2 to 8 participate in the noetic learning math contest. It is a national mathematics contest for
elementary and middle school students. And the goal of the competition is to encourage students interest in math and develop problem solving skills and inspire them. So I'm very proud to announce that we had 102 students and
43,95 students from 853 schools across the country took part in the contest. So my first thing I always tell everyone who comes to the contest, congratulations for just coming to the contest and trying. That's first and foremost and
that's the message I send every fall and spring that I've been doing this contest. Everyone's a winner just coming to the contest. Um, but we do have a winner who von Moore who was in the top 10% of the nation. It's the national
honor roll. So I want to congratulate him. And he not only got it in the spring, he also got it in the fall. So he is our 10 the top 10%. >> I'm going to come get your picture taken.
>> By the way, didn't you beat me at chess moves? 15 moves. >> Never really. Unbelievable. Thank you very much. >> And just one more. Um we did have 38 honorable mention which is top 50% in
the nation. So congratulations to them too. >> Thank you. >> All right. We're going to congratulate Ean Pandia in fifth grade as well. Come on up Isan. Congratulations buddy. Get your picture taken. We're also going to
have Miss Okay, there we go. Ean was in the math Olympiad, right? And we have a pin here for you. All right. Um, how was it? >> Good. >> Yeah. All right. Um, I'm not going to pin this on you because I'm bad at this. So, maybe Miss Hines could help you out,
but we're going to hold that up and recognize you as well. >> All right. Congratulations, And one more. Sorry. All right. Tonight, we're also going to talk about what I would consider some unsung heroes in our community. People that enrich the lives
of both our students and our staff that you may not know of that we're going to recognize tonight. So, we're going to give accolades and applause to their efforts and what they do. So, let's talk first about the Watts Foundation. All right. Tonight we have Susan Wyans and
Mark Petro here of the Watts Foundation. Um, and we happen to be very lucky in this town to benefit from a a family that had donated a amount of money that keeps giving year after year after year.
And this foundation invests it and then invest back into the community. So when you're talking about invest back into the community, the first aid squad, the library, every year here, they're always giving to the teachers when they write up grants. Um it's a positive positive
impact every year for our students to have and we're very lucky to have this foundation want to give back to this community. So, I would want the uh president and vice president, Susan and Mark, come up and accept their
recognition tonight. >> There you go. >> I'm Sue Esmart. All right, everybody. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> I'd just like to add I was Deerfield,
class of 61. you click the uh sorry also unsung heroes, people that every day come to work and they try to do their best that they can in order to make sure our staff and students feel safe and secure in in and outside of
their buildings. Right? So, most of you don't know that they're walking around, they're traveling, they're in their cars, they're in the back during recess. um staying vigilant, making sure they're looking at cameras to make sure that we have a safe environment for our students
and staff. So, tonight we're going to recognize something called a special law enforcement officer or SLEO, okay? As they're commonly known, but we call them officers as well, just for short. So, we're going to bring up our SLEOs. Let me get to the right ones here. All
right. and recognize them for all that they do to keep our staff and students safe and secure. So, come on up. Officer Al Bandix and Officer John Pukulo. Stand on the side of me. Certificate. Definitely not a hugger.
>> Oh, I forgot this now works. Sorry. >> Also, every single day, rain, sle, snow, not hail. I haven't seen hail yet, but rain, sle, and snow. They're out there. They're protecting our students as they're walking to school. They're
making sure that they're able to get where they need to go when they need to get there. So, tonight we want to recognize those that may not get that recognition often. So, I know there two that could not make it here to the meeting. I believe there are two here uh
to accept the awards, but um if you know Miss Pad at Beachwood, she couldn't make it. She wanted to be here. Um, and we are recognizing her tonight. So, let's give Miss Pat Salvado a round of applause. The crossing guards,
uh, Betty Presser. Betty Presser, another crossing guard. It couldn't be. Janice Silicio, sorry. Silio. Janice. Is Janice here? No. Up. Janice, come on up. Don't hide, Janice. This is your
moment to shine. >> Here we go. Thank you very much for all that you do. One more picture. >> Take my shoes off. >> All right. Thank you, Jan. And for those of you coming out of
Deerfield, you see them directing traffic and getting you where you need to go and allowing you to pass when you don't know if the car is coming or not. So, Al Kennedy, I don't know if Al's here. Come on up, Al. >> All right. Good job. Thank you again. We're going to recognize the retirees
that could not be here tonight. Um, and I want to make sure that, you know, we give them the accolades publicly. They will be presented uh during the day with their actual we have a plaque that we give out and their recognition will come during the day, but they could not be
here tonight for the recognition. So, let's talk about our retirees that we have leaving the community. uh but are will always be here with us in spirit and they could come back anytime that they want to substitute. There you go.
>> So uh Joanne Dpiola or Joanne Raldi uh was a lunch aid for us and much more actually throughout the years as I'm being told. And Joanne is just a staple, a steady hand that we could rely upon
every single day. Um, keeping track, keeping the kids in line in the lunchroom and just really reliable to have somebody in the community that is able to give you that time and dedication. So Joanne is leaving us this year to go on to bigger and better
things. So Joanne, we'd like to again welcome the opportunity to recognize your efforts and just applaud you. So very Angel. He was a night custodian. Angel I believe close to 30 years at Deerfield.
So he dedicated his, you know, efforts to making sure that like quiet little elves in the night. He cleaned up so that the next day your your rooms and your hallways were clean. Uh the nicest man you will ever want to meet. The
nicest man, the kind, genuine heart that he had. I cannot tell you. And I know I only knew him for a couple of months. I can imagine what those that knew him longer can say of him. But Angel, uh, thank you for your 31 years. You will be missed. Um, he is coming during the day
to accept his plaque that we got him. So, thank you, Angel. And finally, Sharon Scalin, the language arts teacher. Sharon has been impressionable on so many young minds, uh, honing the craft of writing and
reading and that love for just creating great things. uh for the past 25 years being here and giving all giving her best to what she had to our students. So again, she will be recognized during the day, but we'd like to recognize her at
the board meeting for her uh valiant efforts and her 25 years of giving giving back to the students. So thank you Sharon. >> All right, I got to switch. You want to give a break for those that have to leave? I don't want to. >> If anybody would like to leave before
the interesting part of the meeting, you're welcome to take off. Just be safe. Have a great night. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> We'll see you in August. We don't have a meeting in July. There we go.
>> All right. So every every half a year I like to have the administration and myself come up and give what I call the state of the district address. So tonight here we are at the end of the year I'm going to have my administrators
come on behind me and then as we present we will be able to step up and talk about our pieces. Um, the first thing we're going to talk about in our state of the district address is some district-wide accomplishments. I'm sorry, I got to stand by the mic. I know
I'm bad at that. Um, our district-wide accomplishments, we've been very innovative in our education delivery, our curriculum to meet diverse student needs. And what that means when you talk about the gifted and talented program, Miss Hines, I cannot tell you the amount
of great uh progress we've made with that program and having her here. Uh she was here presenting to the board the other uh the other months. So I I really do think that we've been able to look at how we can a lot of the times you look
at one side of the student, right? But you don't look at the other side of the student. the the gifted side. So, we're really trying to con concentrate on that and making sure that we are meeting those needs of those students as well as our steam offerings. All right. Miss
Candle has come in and just truly revamped the steam offerings that we're doing grades three to eight. The amount of projects, the different techniques that they're using, uh the different tools, 3D printing, um robotics, coding,
it's all there. And I got to tell you folks, it's only going to get better. And I'm just going to keep that in my pocket. And then maybe next year I'll say, "See, I told you." So, it's only going to get better. Let's talk about the engagement, right? We have ramped up
our engagement with our sending district. And what I mean by that is we look at Berkeley Heights and we're talking about curricular alignments. We're talking about doing parent workshops, which we did in the fall, collectively trying to work together, sharing resources, departmental
meetings, making sure that we have principles going and meeting with other principles. We had something called the principal collaborative this year where we had a virtual meeting where we talked about multiple different things that the principles need to talk to their
counterparts about. Community, excuse me. All right. If you did not complete the community survey or any of the parent surveys, you missed your chance to give some feedback to us. But we did put out quite a few surveys,
whether it was climate and culture, whether it was facilities. There were definitely times where we offered the feedback to come to us so we could listen to our stakeholders. And we appreciate those that did submit responses to those surveys. Enhance
social media. If you don't follow me on Instagram, you're missing out. Uh, Mountainside SUPT Suppl or Souped. All right. Uh, as well as the new website that launched over the summer, which I think is far better than the one that we had. A lot more user
friendly. And finally, the FAQs or frequently asked questions that we've been trying to push out, whether it was special ed or tiered intervention. So, we're trying to get more information to our stakeholders to make them truly understand all that we do here, all
that's coming as well. And then let's talk about sustainability and enhancements. Part of what you realize is that we do a lot of filming here now, right? Whether it's Netflix, whether it's small projects, we have a couple coming up in the summer. We use that to sustain or
enhance programming uh or enhance our buildings in general. So, we're trying to utilize alternative revenue that offsets not using local funds to do more with less or more with more
if you look at it that way. So, one of the ways we're trying to sustain as well as enhance. So, let's talk about curricular and PD highlights. You want to come up introduce?
>> I'm Mrs. Chrisully. I am the curriculum and instructional support coordinator for the district. So I'm reporting tonight on some of the professional development that we had here in February and in April. So the first professional
development was actually given by myself and Mrs. Katie Blanco and we um taught teachers a little bit more about our AI and we it's our part two which where teachers were exploring different platforms and creating lessons from AI
and then they were presenting them to the staff and just exploring all the new platforms. Um I ran a first ed camp and if you're not familiar with what an ed camp is, it's an opportunity for teachers to teach teachers or staff to
teach staff. So I had seven staff members volunteer to run a session and teachers signed up to go to those sessions and they varied anywhere from art to steam to a wellness activity celebrating neurodeiversity, math
stations, writing and reading. So the teachers presented and the staff signed up and went to learn about a topic that they were interested in. That was very successful. I'm hoping to do that again. Um we are implementing new science programs in the fall. K to two we are
going to use mystery science and grades three to five we are going to use SAVIS experience science. So that's exciting. Um I am having a bunch of teachers help me revise the curriculum and we'll talk about that a little later this summer.
And I'm continuing my collaboration with Berkeley Heights. I just actually met with the assistant superintendent and making plans for the summer to get together and continue to collaborate. >> Thank you, Mr. Foley. Uh let's talk about staff wellness. It was a district
goal in order to provide the staff different opportunities to go ahead and not only you know recognize that this is a stressful job but how do you keep yourself mentally and physically well doing this job right so we did run five
wellness activities some mind f mind mindfulness workshops after school yoga sessions run by our in-house yoga instructors we have those uh They're teachers, but they're also yogi yoginis. Yoginis, I think they're called, right?
And we have also given them professional development on how to access, believe it or not, a wellness portal through their insurance. And those of you at home watching and here, it might be beneficial to you explore if you do have
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, they have a wellness portal for people to take advantage of. So, we wanted to make sure that the teachers had that knowledge in order to again uh be able to access that. Uh, speaking of technology, I'm going to bring up Paul
Litwa, the technology coordinator. He's going to tag team with me. So, Paul, come on up. U, Paul, you want to talk about how we try to maximize what we have when it comes to Chromebooks? >> Sure. Good evening, everyone. Uh,
tonight I'm just going to give you Thank you. a brief rundown of the tech department for the current school year uh as well as some quick plans for the summer just to give you an idea of uh how we've been running it. Um in addition to the day-to-day repairs um we
tackle immediate technical issues and we've been also focusing on sustainability. Uh for our grades K through four, we have classroom carts um with Chromebooks in them where students are able to utilize them. and we have approximately
500 Chromebooks uh between K through 4th grade. Now, we change gears for students in grade 5 and up and they are issued a Chromebook directly um which they will hold on to until promotion and it's a good test of uh responsibility because
they will have it with them. They'll bring it home. They'll charge it and um it becomes their responsibility. um to keep this large volume of devices running smoothly, we like to maximize the lifespan of the devices. So, we've been focusing heavily on doing in-house
repairs when possible. Um, and that's in a way recycling computer parts. For instance, if we have a Chromebook that has a bad system board, but the screen and keyboard is fine, we will repurpose those parts and that saves the districts from having to purchase them.
Okay. We've also been executing the district technology plan. Uh as far as you can expect, uh fixing can only go so far. Um so the plan allows us to focus on purchasing when Chromebooks or devices
get out of date or are beyond repair. Um it allowed us to make a road map for purchasing new equipment. Okay, let's look at the summer. And uh we are planning to upgrade five Wi-Fi
access points and we're also going to continue the trend of purchasing new Chromebooks for the fifth grade um so that they can have those until graduation. Okay. All right. >> Sure. Mr. King, if you want to speak.
>> Thank you. So Paul and I collectively with uh the ED personnel committee um as as the full board as well, we developed the first ever AI policy for the district um as well as AI usage
guidelines for the teachers. So part of our AI plan and the roll out is to first have the teachers really feel comfortable using AI and then following that the second phase is to implement that into the classroom with student use. But first, we needed an AI policy
as well as the usage guidelines for both staff and students. So, that was developed um you know this past year. So, that's our technology. And so, I thank Paul for coming up here and letting us know. And then we're going to move on to facilities with Mr. Marini,
our supervisor of buildings and grounds. >> Thank you, Mr. Kenny. Once again, my name is Mike Marini. I'm the facility supervisor for the district. Good evening board members. Um it's been my first one full year here uh in the district. Uh coming on board, we've done
a lot since coming on. Um there's more to come, but since we've you know I started uh we finished just finished the sewer upgrade in the girls and boys locker room. A big project that took place uh just finished up.
That was a a thorn in the district's side for a long time. Uh there's a new silver pipe that also goes into ejector pump which seamlessly now runs correctly like it's supposed to. Uh we got a new district vehicle for the first time in the district's history with a school,
you know, a truck with a plow so that we can help the town plow do some areas that needed and get our equipment back to and from Beachwood and Deerfield. Uh some heavy equipment, some of the the lift to clean the lights, change the bulbs where it was outsourced so we can
save some money in the long run. um LBT flooring in both the band and the music rooms. There was old carpeting in there. We repaired it with uh changed it with LVT flooring, which is going to save us some money. LBT flooring is a new wave. Uh we'll be doing a lot of
changing in the district for for um for years to come. You could save money without having to strip um the floors. All you have to do is just top scrub, soap, and water. It lasts longer and saves the district a lot of money. Uh speaking of that, we also got two auto
scrubbers for one for each building. Uh before that they were using just mops. Uh it was timeconuming. It was a lot of labor in the staff. Now they have each have a machine to run the hallways, do the gymnasium, do the cafeterias. Um that's it for this slide, but there'll
be a little bit more for what's to come during the summer. Thank you. >> Oh, you're up again. Okay. So, so the upcoming facility projects, um, the interior renovations, Dearf and Beachwood are both getting kitchen renovations, epoxy floor, which will
start on June 24th, right after we end. The flooring is old ceramic flooring. Well, we'll get new epoxy, slip resistant flooring. Um, that will be a lot safer for the kitchen staff. Um, easier to clean. Uh, just
aesthetically pleasing as well. Um, a lot of classroom and hallway painting is going to be done. We have a new schedule put in place. Both buildings have been neglected for a long time. Uh, either be due to staffing issues, we have a schedule to put in place to spruce up some of the areas. Also, LVT flooring,
the same LV2 flooring I talked about for the band room. Uh, room 13 will be getting done. And also, you can see down at the bottom there, new construction. Uh, the CST office is getting a a revamped remodeling LVT flooring, painting, and new furniture in there. that space is really outdated. Um, you
know, for the CST room when parents come in for their meetings with the teachers in IEP meetings, I think it needs to be spruced up a little bit and it's been neglected for a while. Um, infrastructure systems, uh, HVAC units are getting replaced. We have a really
aging units or both buildings. So, we're going to be doing some HVAC replacements through a PSC and G direct install, which helps us save some money. Um, and you know, the space is needed where sometimes they're either really cold or
really hot and the both of the principles having me moving kids around all the time. So, we need those those upgrades. Uh, some security tool enhancements. That's some more cameras in the building. We have alarms being put on both of the buildings. um some
maybe new key updated key swipes which allows us to have apps from our phone that we can open doors on our phones all administration we could see where a certain door is propped open we get alarms so that you know the safety is t tightened up for also for this the leos in the school will have that on their
phones as well uh new construction uh new new technology space is getting done we have an extra room attached to the building that um we need space for so we're going to be doing that that's going to be started new the new school year. I said the CST space and then off
the CST space is the new A ABA room where there's a classroom that's going to be created. So, it's close right to the CST room and that's about it. >> Thanks. >> Hi, I'm Suzanne Jensen. I am the principal at Deerfield School and um
those of you who get my updates know that Deerfield is always hopping. there's always something going on at Deerfield School. So, I went from the kind of January on. Um, so we have our winter and spring sports going here at Deerfield School. So, we did have great
basketball, softball, baseball, um, this winter and spring. Um, schoolwide pep rally that we have every year uh, and spirit night where a lot of people come over to Deerfield School. The school musical outstanding as always, Matilda
this year. Um, fantastic production. I do not know what they're doing next year. Do you know? No, I got to ask. Um, lots of field trips. We went everywhere. So, we went to Union County Teen Arts,
which is back at uh back at Union County over there at uh the university. And um that was nice to have it inside this year. Washington DC with the eighth grade was a huge success. Uh Broadway from se in seventh grade we saw the outsiders which was fun. Uh Camp Bernie
sixth grade. Somerset Patriots fifth. Ellis Island for our fourth graders. Sandy Hook was huge this year for the third graders. They really enjoyed going down there and getting in the water. Um and music in the parks is always a huge um trip for our fifth or eighth graders who get to go perform and then hang out
at Dorney. Um, American Revolution Day. We've been doing that for a while. Fourth grade. It's a huge, huge production and it's really, really cute. Um, but we also brought back some traditions that had kind of gone away from Deerfield and now they're back. So, Colonial Day was back in fifth grade. Um, we were excited to see that. They
were churning butter. And then, uh, the wax museum for third grade. Literally, they were melting that day. It was like a hundred degrees for the wax museum. So, sorry. But it was fun to have that back again for third grade. um fifth grade we had writing empowers day. So
they added that to kind of go along with um math beyond the classroom. So we had parents come in and community members and demonstrate how writing and math was helpful in the classroom. Um which really it's it's fantastic to have uh our parents and community involved.
Spring concerts, those are exciting with a little little uh problem. We had to re we had to move it, but we did it. We worked it out. We worked it out. We always pivot here at Derfield School. Um, and the art show, if you didn't see the art show that Miss Tisha puts on,
it's absolutely amazing. Um, absolutely amazing. And then, of course, how could I not mention a whole month of testing of NJSLA of ELA, math, and science. So, that takes a whole month to get that done here at Deerfield School. And, um, we
shall see. We haven't heard much about it, but we'll see if they actually score it and get those results back to us in the fall. So, and and we're starting commencement. So, right now we're doing a promotion and we've been practicing for our eighth graders. Um that'll be tomorrow morning. So,
Beachwood. >> Hello everybody. I am Jessica Versiering, the proud principal of Beachwood School. And you know in in order to prepare for this evening I was really thinking about what made this year special and the theme is really
bringing in the community and enhancing some of the traditions so that they're reaching more people and and more meaningful for the students involved. Um we're really focusing on at all times on
the social emotional wellness as well as the academic learning. Um to highlight that we had 411 at least because I knew there are a lot of people missing from the spreadsheet of our Beachwood Bears who were awarded caring cub
certificates. This is exemplifying our the acronym of cares, cooperation, appreciation, responsibility, expressing emotions, and self-control. And when students are exemplifying that, they earn these Caring Cubs awards. They're
so proud. They get to share with their with the group uh what they did to earn their award. And academics are going strong as well. We honored our Noetic Learning Math contest participants. Just our second grade is the only um
Beachwood age students. We had 27 second graders in the fall and 24 in the spring who participated. We're so proud of that and like Miss Chrisully shared earlier today, um she really truly does celebrate every child just for showing
up and and giving it a a try. Um, we honored our student who earned the national honor role recognition and there were 13 second graders who earned that honorable mention. Um some traditions we celebrate read
across America each year and we have expanded that offering uh to be not just our in-house staff sharing their love of reading but we have invited active seniors u members of the mountainside police department as well as the
mountainside fire department and as special readers and that is a delightful delightful experience for all involved. Um we have joined with the Mountainside Club Horicultural Group. They are
actually at Beachwood this evening helping us to learn where how we can make some of our our planting beds really thrive. Um and that is something that is going to be taken on by some Eagle Scouts in the community to bring
that to fruition. uh in our ark which is uh that stands for acts of restorative kindness. That is an entire area in the back of our yard that has been rewed according to a worldwide movement we learned about through PTO member Anissa
uh Peters and we purchased field cameras. So, if you've ever heard of like an eagle cam, you know, any kind of movement that's out there, we can appreciate some of the habitat that is taking ownership of the space and
visiting it from time to time and very exciting for the students and our PTO garden committee, which is spearheaded by uh three amazing women, Michaela Whan, who is here, Lauren Delzadi, and
Emily Gonzalez, have taken what has always been uh an exciting aspect of our school uh in terms of added value for the students and transformed it to something that is just a year-long from
learning about composting in the fall to our first ever family funday and farm stand just this past Sunday. it is just alive and well and and open to ideas that are going to make everybody happy
to to participate and be there. So, those are just a few of our our highlights that I'm proud to share this year. Thank you. >> I will Hi everybody. I'm Amy Jachio. I'm the supervisor of special services. I I
transitioned into district in February. Um some of our highlights from from my starting in district to now is obviously we are opening up an ABA program. So what that looks like is an is an autism program for students who require a more
restrictive setting in district. Um with that being said, we are hiring a full-time district behaviorist and that will not only support the program but will also support the entire district. Um, we also filed for extraordinary aid
this school year. For reference, last year we put in about 312,000. This year our estimated reimbursement claim was 471. So with just looking at what we could
claim, we could claim a lot more and we were able to seek additional reimbursement. We're also welcoming three out of district students back home. Um, so two will be returning to Deerfield and one will be returning to Berkeley Heights. So that's an extraordinary feat to
overcome to return back to district. So they worked super hard to get back here. Um, we also implemented a Q&A and that was shared out with the community regarding like special ed um, procedures. Some of the initiatives moving forward
is the ABA program. Um, we've also established a space um, which they'll the students will have access to like a calming room right next to their classroom. Um, next year we're going to transition away from Care Plus, which is um, a
mental health clinician that the district contracts out for through an agency. Um, we're going to be hiring our own district clinician. So, we'll be saving about $40,000 there. Um, another thing that I worked with Miss Chrissa and our our reading
specialists with was implementing a tier three multiensory reading literacy program in our pull out and LR in our pull out resource and our LLD program. So, right now we're operating with a tier 1 and a tier 2 reading intervention, structured literacy
program. We also have Orton Gillingham certified instructors, but we don't have a structured literacy program um for a tier three reading intervention. So, we are going to be implementing that for September. Um and then we're just going to work on some professional development for our
staff. So, um getting our staff to really understand and um be able to become independent in like procedural safeguards and special ed knowledge. Um, I think that that's a whole district-wide initiative for both our
CST, our special ed teachers, and our gened teachers. So, that's something that I plan to work on myself this summer. >> So, as Mr. Chris Fully was talking about earlier about curriculum revisions. One of the big pushes for us is we need to make sure that our curriculum lines up
with the new standards as well as some of the old standards that may have changed not in the actual wording, but believe it or not, the um particular coding of the standard. And what I mean by that is something like uh reading in first grade might have a curricular
standard that's R.1.2, but now it's RA.3.4. So it might have shifted a little bit. We need to make sure our curriculum aligns with what the state wants. So some of the lifts that we're doing this summer is we are redesigning our art
curriculum. So uh we have individuals coming on board to do that this summer as well as K to8 ELA including cursive writing in grades three to five. That's right. It's coming back. All right. Get ready. Get ready.
Start practicing because your kids are going to be coming home. Hey, how do I write a Z again? Right. K to8 math will be revising as well. And as Miss Crystal mentioned, we have new science resources and programs that we're going to be
putting into our K to8 science as well as those nextgen standards that need to be placed in as we will be evaluated by the county next year in our CUSAC evaluation. A lot of the concentration is on meeting those curricular
expectations. So, that's a bit of our summercurricular initiatives. Let's talk about coming this fall. Okay. And we're going to skip down to a part where people want to hear, but I'm going to bring up some individuals as well. Okay. The Beachwood soccer field. So, we
worked hard on this, right? between the board as well as the council and particular individuals that I'm going to bring up to talk a little bit about, you know, what they did in order to prepare and what they're going to do in order to make sure that what we have is going to stay and be done the right
way. So, we're going to call police chief Januzi and uh town engineer uh Mr. Disco to come on up. You want to say a couple things in regards to some of the planning that went into it. All right. You like to go first, Joe, or?
>> Uh, sure. Uh, my name is Joe Guzi. I'm the chief of police here in Mountainside. Um, myself and, uh, burough administrator Glenn Mortimer along with the mayor have been involved in um, addressing what may be some parking issues with the, uh,
construction of the new fields. Um, our intent is to uh install seasonal no parking signs very similar to what you have out here on the sawmill ball field that would um start around April 1st and go to possibly the end of November um
would prohibit parking along Barton Drive um Beachwood Court and any area that might be impacted by people um parking to get on the field. Um, there's also a suggestion to put a fence along Beachwood Court that would prevent
people from parking there and uh entering the field that way. We want to make everybody come through the uh the Beachwood uh parking lot and uh park there off the street and uh have access to the field that way. Um we are open to anything else anybody might suggest or
or feel is necessary. Um, but right now that's our plan for uh parking and to uh kind of push everybody into the uh the Beachwood lot. >> Thank you. And I'm Mike Disco. I'm the the burrow engineer and um I'm the engineer in three municipalities and I
serve on four planning boards and boards of adjustment. And I just want to compliment the way this meeting has been run and the enthusiasm I see in the crowd. I see a lot of people with soccer shirts and that's a great thing. I'm a I'm a soccer fan. I'm I'm killing it now
with the DVR and every World Cup game and I'm a soccer referee. I've been a travel coach my whole life. So, uh, soccer's in my blood. But I brought some plans for the board members because we've been basically this and I see Sue Wyans. Is Sue still here? Sue was the
recreation director in Mountainside uh, for many, many years. And back in the '9s, we did a feasibility study of every single ball field in the burrow. And we looked at what was potentially possible, what could be done. And that was in the
'9s. Around 2010, 2012, there was a focus on Beachwood. So, it comes in waves and it depends on the people that are behind it. But we looked in particular at how we could enhance Beachwood from a multi-purpose field, from a infield
perspective, and most recently from a soccer field. So, um, about six weeks ago or or two months ago, I got the call from administrator Mortimer that after 30 years, Beachwood was happening. And so, we immediately, Keith Disco from my
office and I went out, started doing some fieldwork. We interacted with Mr. Martini and Mr. Superintendent and we're putting together what is a plan to create a uh what I'll say a regulation soccer field at Beachwood. If you're
familiar with the field, you know it's it's got some topographical challenges, which means if you were playing soccer in any way and you were running with your head up, you'd fall off a cliff. So, that's not conducive to good uh playability. But anyway, um we were
tasked with um creating a soccer field. And by the way, it's not a World Cup size soccer field, which are 120 to 130 yards long, 70 75 yards wide, but it is a soccer field that would be uh perfect for high school and middle school
students and um boys and girls. And it would be a field that would be a much better grading than what you have out there now. And that's going to require some walls. So you're going to have walls along Beachwood Court and the back end of the field in order to have a more playable level surface. Still going to
be pitch and all of that. So in terms of the fence uh and Beachwood Court, there's going to be a wall there which is going to have a fence on it. So we don't want any athlete running off wall unknowingly. So I think the control of um access is very easily achieved
because most of the wall that we have there is going to have a fence. Uh the field's going to be 110 yards wide by 65 yards uh excuse me 110 yards long by 65 yards wide. You can do multiple things with that size. You can reduce the size, move the goals, rotate the goals so the
goal areas don't get worn. You can have smaller field sizes crossing that field. I think there's arrangements in place for maintenance of the field through a partnership with the burrow and with the board of ed and some private clubs. And I think you're going to have a wonderful
thing. Um it does take time to design it. We have to get soil erosion to be on board with it. We have to go to bid. We have to build a field and and it and you know it takes time and I wish you know I could start doing what I started doing in April or May. I wish I could have
done that last fall but again the word came in in April May. You're going to have a field there soon. I don't want to make promises on any date because there is a process we have to go through and um I think it'll be a a terrific facility, one that everybody can be proud of. And if there's any questions
um Joe, Chief Joe and I are here and uh we look forward to having a great soccer field. >> Any board member questions? Let's talk about >> Did you have a >> was there a question? >> Well, a comment really just to be honest with you. So, I have the luxury of
sitting on this board and the Berkeley Heights board and I just went through something similar what they call lower Colombia. Uh that wasn't as easy. So, I just wanted to thank the board of ed, the town, all the government entities, the DPW. Um, you know, I think it was it
was well said that from April to today, we made this all happen very quickly and there was no bickering. It was all what's the goal? The goal is to find a suitable uh playing surface for our student athletes, right? And we made it happen immediately. Right. So, I just I
want to thank the town and and all the officials that were part of this. You're just making it a no-brainer on both sides to get us to where we are today. >> Most definitely. Thank you. I HAVE A QUESTION. I HAVE to move my seat because I'm in the way of the screen. But my name is Lauren Morgan and
I had a question about the shed. Mr. Disco, if the the sheds on all these pictures, I was under the impression that that was going to be demolished. >> That I think that's a district call. If that shed I I did I think when I met with Mr. Martini that that was planned
that that was going to be removed. I don't know the timing of that. Okay. So again, uh I'm certainly flexible in in how when that leaves and how we can incorporate that space into the project sooner rather than better for me to know is is is good.
>> Got it. Any other questions? All right, moving on. Uh I'm going to jump around this slide a little bit. Parent University. So, you're going to be probably sick of me emailing you next year because one of the things that I want to do is make sure people have information and they
have it at their disposal to view. And what I mean by that is there's never a good time to get all the parents together, even half the parents or a quarter of the parents or an eighth of the parents together than when I want to or the individuals behind me or the
board want to relay information that we feel parents need to have. So, next year, what you're going to see is several different school messengers, about 70,000 coming to you via email. You might actually email me back. Mr. Kenny, please take me off the list. um
to get you what I'm going to call parent university vignettes. Little short videos of information that at your leisure, whether it's at night after the kids go to bed in the morning while you're drinking coffee, you could watch the five minute video of information
that that we feel as a district parents need to hear about. So really there should be no excuse when some things are either a put into place information that should be in your mind about something going forward.
If we're emailing you these little snippets of information and we're not only emailing you once, we're not only emailing you twice about it, maybe three or four times. Okay? So be prepared. It's coming. Okay? Parent University
vignettes. the Berkeley Heights collaboration next year looking at principal visits going back and forth between the buildings to see how Berkeley Heights does stuff at Columbia Middle School or at Mckenley.
All right, or Thomas B. Hughes and then vice versa them coming over here and saying, "Hey, we love that idea. We're going to bring that back." So that collaboration is going to happen as well as administrative and staff articulation. And what I mean by that is we're going to do our first ever summer
administrative retreat together and make sure that administratively, you know, we're on the same page doing things similar. Maybe not all alike because we have a different set of students and we have a different set of parameters that we have to deal with here in Mountainside than they do in Berkeley
Heights, but there could be very a very good exchange of ideas and initiatives that could start from the summer administrative retreat. And finally, referendum outreach. Okay, the Rword. So, we're going to have community
sessions on the potential referendum coming forward next year. That referendum is important because there are things that have been identified here in both Deerfield and as well as Beachwood. And I'm going to go into a
little bit of what that entails. So, you have aging HVAC units. When I talk about aging, we're talking about $80,000 just this year in trying to repair them. Moving a preschool classroom because it's too hot or too cold in the room
because the HVAC unit went down, right? There's a lot on the top of these roofs that had been aging for a while. If we don't do something about it, that 80,000 is going to turn into 800,000 and we can't afford that. So, we need to
think bigger and out of the box. So, HVAC unit replacements in a referendum. Part of which expansion, how are we going to meet the needs of all learners? So, one of the things that we did, and if you didn't participate, we put out a community survey about facilities. We
put out a parent survey as well as a staff survey about the facilities and what they thought we needed and we heard that and we heard about the Beachwood soccer field and we're doing something about it. And you know what? We heard about Deerfield gym. It's great. It
looks great. I love the flying buttress ceilings. It's great. Antiquated but great. We need to renovate it. It's old. The bleachers are old. The space is old. the floor, the basketball court has a strip of wood going the opposite way
because it was repaired. You know, the the lighting and the sound in the gym is horrendous. You know, we have Mike Marini trying to connect two wires together with his teeth so that it
works. I'm joking, but I'm not. Okay? So when I talk about the needed added benefits of what we need to do, I want to make mountain side shine. I want people to come in here and say, "Wow, you know, this is mountain side." Not,
"Oh, this is mountainside." Because I have to tell you right now, that's what it's like. Okay, so Deerfield renovations to the gym. How about a Beachwood gym? A full-size Beachwood gym.
so that we're not competing for Deerfield gym space because I have to tell you between signing off on the facilities usages, it's always a well, who put in first and who put in second and how many days they need and Mike, I got to talk to you
because we need custodial coverage for this and that. It's difficult. So to look at that and say, you know what, Beachwood, I mean, I love the little small gym. It's quaint. It's nice. it suited about 12 kids back in the day. Um, we we need to think bigger. We need
to think better. So, therefore, that's in the referendum to build a gym off of the back of Beachwood, adding in preschool classrooms. I cannot tell you the importance um of getting young learners in our buildings under our fold and making sure
that we're educating them from the earliest possible age that we can and identifying the early intervention that we can give to them so that they get that solid foundation that everybody here equally can get as opposed to they
get this over at that daycare or that preschool. school and they get that which is different over at that preschool and then they come to us collectively in kindergarten with all different experiences. So the idea of having several different full day full
day preschool classrooms here is attractive in so many different ways particularly as educators and knowing that we can get three and four year olds in the building and now have control over how we're guiding their education is truly important. Um along those
lines, some ADA compliance issues. Uh one of the things that were identified through the facilities study that we had done by solutions architect was there were certain areas that need to be ADA compliant and we can't ignore them. If we're going through this process and
it's identified, we kind of have to fix those. All right. Um boilers. You might not think boilers, it's an issue. Okay. It's an issue uh just simply because of the necessity of
having hot water for certain things. And what I mean by that is when you go in the bathroom, kids are washing their hands with cold water because they're not waiting for it to warm up because they're washing 5 seconds and not the whole alphabet. They're not singing the whole alphabet. Um but the kitchen, right? Kitchen uses hot water. Have to
make sure that the boilers are up to code. And when I say up to code, up to code. not getting fined $500 a day potentially. We haven't been fined yet, but it's coming. It's another thing. The electrical units, when I talk about
electrical units, panels, those of you in your homes know you have a panel. Well, we have several maybe 50 or so in the district. They are 60 years old, right? Those panels. part of that. Again, let's think about
safety, which we'll be upgrading some safety components as well. Talk about the Beachwood vestibule. Those of you that walk in, okay, you walk in the front door. Well, guess what you don't do? You don't get stopped. The vestibule needs to be updated. Much
like Deerfield, Beachwood needs to be that way. That's a safety safety concern of mine that needs to be done. the electricity, the electric panels, talking about cost savings, right? When you upgrade those, you're getting some
cost savings. Cost savings that eventually can be given back to the district, to the teachers. We want to be able to sustain and hold our teachers. We need to look at ways in this referendum, whether it's saving on
HVAC repairs, saving on electricity. How about the LED lighting that you see here? There's no LED lighting in Beachwood. There are 13 different bulbs that we have to hold in Beachwood because they're all old bulbs. The lighting has
never been upgraded. Then again, electricity savings with LED lighting. The key word there being savings, giving, being able to save money so that potentially giving more to the teachers and whole making teachers
whole, making them feel valued. Right? This is what this referendum is all about. making sure Mountainside is the pinnacle of excellence that we all know it should be, as well as making other stakeholders, staff, and students feel
comfortable, safe, and valued. So, you'll see that in tonight's agenda as an add-on for us to submit a plan. And what happens next is after that, we have architects working on devising sketches and what it's going to look like. And in
the fall, we'll be doing tours of the buildings. Oh, I forgot to mention uh the technology here in the classrooms. So, if you go and if you took one of my tours, and by all means, come and take it in the fall, you'll notice that in
the classrooms, there are whiteboards and projectors. You know when they installed those whiteboards and projectors? 20 years ago. That's how antiquated the technology is that the teachers are
using in these classrooms. Again, this is mountainside or this is mountainside. We don't want to be there anymore. So therefore, we need to make strides and one of the ways to do that is through a
referendum process. So, more to come on that, but those are some of the several projects that you'll see listed um in the referendum approval of what we're doing tonight. This is simply just to send to the state so that the state could say, "Okay, we agree." And by the
way, the state helps out. Say it cost x amount of dollars. The state comes in and gives what's called debt service aid and covers partial costs of the projects. So, it's not the taxpayers fitting the whole bill, right? Um, one
of the things you'll you you'll notice is that a couple of years ago, the board did go ahead and think about doing a referendum, but it wasn't the right time because of the circumstances, right? And the projects just wasn't on the
forefront of needing to be done at that moment in time. So, therefore, here we are several years later. Now's the time. these projects need to get done. So, more to come on that. Stay tuned for the fall.
And that concludes our state of the district. Thank you all. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you, Mr. Kenny. I thought that was very informative. It was a lot of information to process and I think we're going in the right direction. Um, I would love to see Mountain Side, not
only just Mountain Side, but this is Mountain Side. So, u moving on our business administrators report. >> Yes, I would like to just thank the board for my time here at Mountainside School District. It has been a pleasure
to get to know the district and I see positive goals for the school's future. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Berkeley Heights leazison report. >> Sure. I'll try to keep it brief. I know we're running a little bit behind. Um,
first I'd like to start off, uh, you know, Governor Livingston will be wrapping up its school year tomorrow. Uh, tomorrow, June 17th, is the GL graduation. Um, lots of exciting things happening up on the hill. Um, since the last time we met, they had their
scholarships and awards ceremony. Um, I wanted to give a shout out to the Watts Foundation. It's the third year in a row where a different Berkeley Heights resident has come up to me and said, "Wow, I wish we had a Watts in our district." So, it's amazing what they do. Um, you know, it it amazes me every
year the amount of money that they're allowed to contribute and or they can contribute um to the uh the graduating seniors and and the award ceremony. Uh lots of championships uh at the sports level, baseball, softball, lots of track and field athletes. I'm sure I'm missing
a few, but very successful sports spring season this year. Um we had three meetings since the last time we all met here. Uh the first one was on May 28th. That one unfortunately was cut short in the middle due to quorum issues, right?
So uh I excuse myself an hour in and that left them with not enough board members. Uh so they had to end quickly. We came back on June 1st. We finished our business. Um a couple things I'll call out from that meeting. Um we're beginning to look into gender equality
especially when it comes into extracurricular resources right so um what locker rooms are available how much money are we spending do we have the same amount of sports teams um so there's been an assessment that's ongoing u for anybody who's interested probably in the August time frame the
August sport of ed meeting um our business administrator and athletic director is going to do a full study to share out what they found and what opportunities are ahead u if any anybody's up there. Uh you would know that the the locker rooms are a bit disconnected. You know, the girls have a
few more. They're newer, but they're smaller. Um some of the the bigger the sports like football who has much more equipments have unique rooms. So, it's just making sure that everything is fair and equitable across the uh the genders. Um we spent a lot of time on uh security
on laptops. So, specifically on uh a software called Gaggle, right? So, I'd be interested potentially at a future meeting to determine how we do this. But up in Berkeley Heights, they've um they've approved a software called Gaggle, uh which will be an active listening uh software, right? So,
basically all of the students and employees laptops uh will have something monitoring what they're looking at, what they're writing, um with the complete in the in the realm of safety for the student. So, if you're looking up
something that could be potential or may trigger thoughts of suicide, right, somebody will get an alert, right, and be made right aware right away that this type of behavior is going on. Now, there's some privacy issues that come along with that and that's a lot of the debate. So, if you're you're you're curious about this or if you have a
student up at Governor Leon and you're hearing about Kaggle, I'll just direct to the 61 meeting. Um, it's it's recorded out on YouTube. You'll learn a lot. come prepared and and I think um we're just at the at the start of it, but it's it's something that may be a little bit controversial moving forward.
Um the next meeting was uh June 11th um at which point we approved the amounts of our tuition here uh from Mountainside to Berkeley Heights. So I did compare that the numbers are all the same. The only thing I would say to you guys is on today's agenda, our numbers
that we're approving that we're paying Berkeley Heights for total tuition and for the res or the the resource room include credits, right? So, we have essentially overpaid them the last few years. We've prepaid for services that we haven't used. So, there's a credit.
So, the actual amount the bill let's say uh if we had not prepaid would be a little bit higher. Um, so if you were to compare both agendas, the numbers are a little bit different, but the attachments are exactly the same. Um, it just looks a little bit different unless you dig into the detail. Um, a lot of
discussion around the need for a second vice principal. So ultimately, Governor Livingston approved um the appointment of an interim vice principal. That's their second vice principal. Nothing changes at Governor Livingston. This is the same uh vice principal that came in
mid year and took over half the year at Governor Livingston. Essentially, we've extended this uh person another year. Um but with declining enrollment at Governor Livingston, um the question remains and and the conversation that you hear if you look at the meeting
would be do you need the same amount of administrative staff while you know that enrollment is continues to drop and it continues to drop on the Berkeley Heights side and it continues to drop on the mountain side of the house. People going more people going to private school, more people going using the uni county vote, um so on and so forth,
right? Um we approved fall coaches. I know that's always um a topic of interest for everyone around here, only the fall coaches. Um they hired a media specialist, they hired a physics teacher um and not necessarily related to us, but they have a new CMS principal. And the reason why I bring this up is
sometimes we're we forget how lucky we are here when we in our meetings at uh Berkeley Heights, we have student representatives that come join us. So, there was a junior that was sitting there and he was explaining to the board of ed that since he started middle school, uh, Columbia Middle School
through his third year in high school, he is yet to have the same principle two years in a row, right? Whereas we have people that have been here, institutions, right, where we're continue to to pass on knowledge and and build a rapport with our students, right? It's that's not the same case
everywhere. So, we got sometimes we just got to feel lucky about what we have here and recognize it. And I thought that was an opportunity when I was sitting there as a mountainside resident saying, "Damn, imagine that 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11, you had a different principal every time and you only switch schools once." I'm like, "We got it good here." Um,
and I think that's it for my report. Oh, I would be remiss if I didn't have an audience to remind everybody. I love that we just went through an entire presentation. It said Berkeley Heights Collab. Berkeley Heights collab. Um, our contract with Berkeley Heights ends a year from today, right? So, the reality
is, uh, while I love to see the passion for, uh, fields and continuing our athletics opportunities, um, I'd love to see the same passion around where are we going to high school next. Our current seventh graders, that is in question, right? Our current seventh graders do not have a signed contract with Berkeley
Heights for them to go up there. So, I can't put together a Berkeley Heights leazison report without bringing that up. And I'm sure more will come when we talk about our negotiations later on in the meeting. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Uh, moving on. Can I please have a motion to
approve under administrations items 1 through 7? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan, >> yes. >> Mr. Gordon Heyman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vivian Poopa.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Candaceiano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lauren Morgan. >> Yes. May I please have a motion to approve under budget and finance items 1 through 31. 31 being the addendum. >> So moved.
>> Can I get a second, please? >> Second. >> Okay. Any comments or questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. >> Yes. >> Number 25 has an anonymous donation. >> Um, am I in the right section? Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay.
Maybe not for today, but potentially we want to look into We want to Yes, we're there. Yeah. Maybe potentially look into um not allowing anonymous donations. I get a little bit concerned about us not being transparent with the public where money is coming from that we are using.
Um not that $400 is a big amount, but if there was a $10,000 amount that was coming through and somebody was donating it, um I think we we should we should drive for more transparency. Um, so maybe potentially at at a future policy session uh that we work through um we put we put better parameters around um
something like this. If you want to donate, you should be able to put your name to it, whether it's an organization, an individual, something along those lines. >> Is there a policy saying that we can't say the name unless it's like x amount of money or no? There's nothing. Okay. >> I just encourage us to look into it. It
caught my eye. It's $400. It's not a big deal, but if it was 4,000 40,000, I think we'd we'd have to question it. >> Okay. Any other comments or questions? >> I had a couple. Go ahead. >> You could go. You could go. >> Uh, okay. Just quick. Um, >> well, one, I mean, obviously to restate,
I mean, 11, you've heard it all tonight. I I I do think uh it's exciting on a lot of levels from from a soccer perspective. I I I think the public deserves a lot of credit for also coming here in the past and being vocal about this. It's probably long overdue. I'm
glad we're doing it. Uh I I I want to reiterate what Bill said, too. There's a lot of other items in here tonight that that hopefully will will draw the same sort of enthusiasm especially in the coming year. Uh question on um tennis club quickly. Uh is that what was the impetus behind that Chris? Is that um I
love that we're doing it. Is that Have we had one before? I don't think so. Right. >> No, this is the first. >> Okay. And was that is that teacher led or is that like what's the >> uh it is a teacher that has a company that's doing it for >> Got it. Okay. We've approved G2
>> tier six based upon field facilities use. >> Got it. >> We've seen G2 before on our agenda items, right? There's other sports camps. Yeah. >> Okay. And then for uh meals for 24 lunch, snacks, are rates as same every
year. Are rates the same year over year? Do we know if that's up at all or fixed? >> All all flat. Okay. And then uh 31 which is you know we you covered beautifully Chris. I I Mike's still here but uh he definitely deserves a lot of credit as
well in getting us to this point. Um and I and I I think just reiterating what you said and we could say again in committee but um you know this is the start of the process. So what's here tonight is we're not approving any actual work but it is the the the start
of a list of a lot a lot of work that um does need to be done. And I I want to say too that while we've um from from a from a process perspective, it Chris noted that we we've sort of delayed things a bit, I feel like we're also running at a at a rapid pace because a
lot of the things that have been our eyes have been open to as a board need to be addressed very quickly. So I don't want to lose sight that like we've punted on things at all because that's actually not the case. Um there's work on this list. Some of these things are not all that sexy. HBAC, Windows security, but the work's got to be done.
Um, so there there's some things that are that are important that are beautiful that we're all going to see when it's done uh from from a from a gym perspective or a pre-K perspective, but I think it's really important to note there's a lot of things in here that are probably a bit overdue and and we're running at a pace that we hope we can hit and and more to come on that in
terms of of the comms in the fall. Um, but we're trying to get this into a vote that we would we would bring to the public as soon as March of next year if we can get there TBD. So, um, again, a lot more on the on the communications front. so that everyone is is in involved and knows what's going on, but
really want the public to be aware that we're we're pushing to get this done because a lot of the work needs to be done be beyond just the things that we really want to happen. >> Sorry, Ken. >> Yeah, no problem. I'd like to make comment about number 11 as well with the soccer field. Um, I just think that it's
great that the board of ed, the town, and the, um, community have come together to come to I know this has been a long-standing conversation about adding a a soccer field. We've gone back and forth with turf, non-turf. Um, and I just think that just adding a soccer
field to our town um, really is a great thing. Um, I also a personal level of appreciation for the Mountainside um FC um because my daughter plays on it and I'll tell you Michaela what you have done for that program to expand it in the town is really um really impressive.
Um so I just want to say you know that it's really something that you know benefits those that like and soccer is not my daughter's first sport. She does gymnastics. So she's so 13 you going to the finals. Well, the most exciting game that I've ever been to. We're going to
the finals on Sunday in Rawway. But I do want to commend you on everything you've done because you've pushed for this and you deserve to see what you've worked for. >> Any other questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan, >> yes. >> Mr. Jordan,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Vivian Poopa, >> yes. >> Mrs. Candaceiano, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lauren Wargan, >> yes. I think we should clap, right? YES, >> they got the shed. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Move on. Can I please have a
motion to approve under uh personnel items 1 through 13? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> I'll just say I know they're they're not here tonight. Uh, and usually we have a plaque or something a little more symbolic and a chance to give them, but
I several of the names that are retiring are are obviously have been important parts of the district for a long time. Um, and teachers of some of my kids, so it's it's always sad when we see it happen. Uh, and and we owe them a lot. So hopefully we'll get a chance to see him in person, maybe at graduation or something.
>> I agree with you. Congratulations to all our retirees. >> Okay, move. Oh, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jordan Heyman. Yes. >> Mrs. Vivian Poop. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Candace Giano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lauren Wharton. >> Yes.
>> Moving on. Can >> Can I make one comment? I know it's after. I do want to commend though Alex Adonado for sitting through the entire board meeting as he got board approved for his summer position because I know I can only imagine that a guy in college really wants to do this. So, I commend
you, Alex. I won't go. >> You can leave, but might as well just stay. We're almost done. Okay, moving on. Uh motion to approve under policy items one and two. >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> I just had one Chris 1643 which is the first read. Uh it's family leave. Is there a reason that that um there's the language we're take we're going from 12 months to three and a th000 hours to
250. Is that a state? Like what's the state? Okay. >> State mandate. >> Got it. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bill Dylan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jordan Heyman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vivian Poop. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Candace Shiano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lauren Wargan. >> Yes. >> Old business. Do we have any old business to discuss? >> New business. >> I have one. Just quickly, I think this is our last meeting until very close to
the start of the school year, right? August and August. Where are we at with cell phones and how we're going to comply next year if at all? Right. Banning cell phones in schools. >> Well, we have a no cell phone policy as it stands now. >> Yep. >> So, bell to bell, they're in their
lockers. They don't get them until the end of the day when they walk out. >> Okay. Well, do we know if that'll include field trips and and so on so forth? Bell to bell. as long as as soon as they get here and they're in our care. >> Okay, >> moving forward. >> Can I ask a question? I think as we go
under new business, um do we have any policies with um how long it should take um teachers and staff members to input grades into grade book? >> Is that something that we can start exploring?
>> It's a dayto-day operation, right? >> Right. So would it be a board policy to do that? >> Okay. >> I mean, you know, you could just say communicate to the parents, right? Obviously, we want them to do that, >> but not a specific job duty that will
relate to a day-to-day operation. >> So, it's just basically a managerial prerogative, correct? Type of a Do we have any Do we have anything within the buildings that it's stated to the teachers that within a certain time frame? >> Uh, yes. I can tell you I've seen several emails regarding that. >> Okay. >> Already.
>> Okay. just make sure that's done at any time. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Again, I'd say it's our prerogative if we wanted to to create a policy. Um I know this is a topic that we've are in the middle of at Berkeley Heights.
>> Oh, I didn't even realize. >> Yes. So, I can get you the language. We're working through it. Um and the reason why we haven't gotten there yet is because it's in coordination with the Brookley Heights BHEA, right? So, the language and and you know, there was some conversation back and forth about
it being more work than they were used to, right? And you know, it was eye opening to me. It was like, hey, you we just want consistency. You have to enter grades. Not like if you're in the same version of the same seventh grade science, and there's two versions of it. Well, it should be pretty close to the
same amount of tests, quizzes, homework assignments, so that the waiting is close to being the same, but then also the entering of the uh grades into the system, Genesis, Power School, whatever you're using is on a timely matter, right? So, we are beginning to leverage that. So, I I think there's some
massaging that we can do. Um and and if you want, we can explore I can do a little bit more digging. I can send you some links to what we're doing in Berkeley Heights. Um and see if it's something we wanted to move forward with. Um >> I I do think that that's something because I mean I'm not
>> I think some teachers are you know right on board and I think others it really affects >> when you're get when your child is there aren't the last grades that are inputed are the end of May and we're in the month of end of June and then all the
grades get inputed and then you realize >> you got a D right or >> a problem. Yeah. um >> or a >> but you know um so I just think that that's um a concern and or with certain students it has kept them off of sports
playing sports >> because of the lack of entering the next >> lack of entering grades and they haven't met a certain threshold. >> So my intent wasn't to contradict what Kenny said because I'm sure he's more versed in it than me. But let me let me do a little bit more investigation on how we kicked off the conversation and where we got some around some of those barriers.
>> Okay. Thanks. >> Appreciate it. uh committee reports. >> I can go if you want. Um the talked about the referendum committee uh myself, Lauren, and Mike who's not here tonight. Uh we've met I would say weekly
now. Well, I mean weekly since I want to say April when when again we sort of decided to turn on the the engines a bit here. So at least three times since our last meeting, we've we've taken a lot of time to go through the project list with solutions architect. Uh so again I we
we've heard tonight a lot of what's coming. Um worth being said that we we did take a lot of time to think about the the big ticket items. Lauren in particular looked through some things and said maybe our numbers are wrong here. So we we we really we've really been um you know try tried to be I think
conservative. Definitely have not said yes to every project. There's probably more that are not on the current wish list than that are. Uh, and I don't know. I I this is the first time that I've been this close to this sort of process. I really feel like the the committee's worked closely with solutions, with Chris, with Mike to to
get to this point. And again, we're it's the start of what needs to happen now much more publicly and and and we want that feedback. But um we're we're basically at the start of of uh being able to really get into this. And one other thing I'll say is is um when when we're ready to talk more in detail with
the public, we we also are going to push to have uh not just the the dollars and cents of course, but what work would happen when because there's there's a large list here. It's not all going to happen in 2027, 2028. There's there this is going to be a structured roll out. It's important for us to communicate that because it impacts lots of things,
maybe even what's going on around the soccer field, etc. because there's work to the building. So, um so that's all coming and that's the referendum front. Uh send receive, I can hit that, too. um haven't met quite as frequently, although we probably would have would have liked to. Um but we did we did meet I want to say twice since our last
meeting. Um I I think the update and Mr. Kenny hit hit on some of this. Uh we've been in I want to say active conversation, active negotiation with Berkeley Heights since at least January, probably if you want to go back even into like uh September, October where we
were meeting on a on a somewhat regular basis. So, you know, prior seating of the board, um, we haven't made a lot of progress. Uh, we we we we've certainly tried. I don't think it's for lack of effort. I don't think it's for lack of imagination. Um, but we're to to Mr. Dylan's point, we're not we're not close
to a deal for sure. Uh, and and that's important to note, and no one's given up on that. Uh, but I I think, you know, our next steps, we've got a couple in front of us. Um but you know, one of the natural courses of action is is to take it to a county level because you know, we we were committee to committee. Um
we've gone kind of superintendent to superintendent and then attorney to attorney. Uh and I think we've gone about as far as we can go until we sort of need a third party to help us out here. Um and it needs to be said too, which we've said publicly before. I mean, there are other options for sure. No one's looking to take us anywhere
else, but at the same time, there are viable other options, affordable other options. And as a board, we've got to make the best decision certainly for our kids, but also for our taxpayers. Um, we talked about the the referendum part of this. And that that's a that's a big number for sure at the end of the day,
however it breaks down. This is this is another big number. Obviously, it's a big part of our budget right now. And it will be continuing going forward, and we've got to make sure we get it right because this is this is not a one-year deal. This is not a, you know, a project. This is a relationship. It's it's it's at least 10 years hopefully.
uh and it's been it's been you know 20 already. So we we you know we want to preserve this. We want to get it right but not recklessly. So I I think this will accelerate. We we're all aware that we're in the last year of or entering last year of this contract. So um you know we've been the one pushing that's
for sure as a board. Uh and I think we're going to continue to do so. >> Thank you. Any other committee reports? >> Bill, you good? >> Not for me. Okay. All right. Uh, at this time I would like to open up the floor.
Anyone want wants to come up to this p uh podium, state your name, address, feel free to discuss any topic that you want to. Seeing none, we're moving on. Um, I don't believe we have a second exec. And that's it. Can I please have a
motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Thank you everyone for attending. We truly appreciate it. Um, have a wonderful, safe, and healthy summer. See you in August.