Roll call. Miss Kasana here. Miss Kara here. Dr. Epson Hayden here. Miss Gunderman here. Miss Morano here. Mr. Walsh is absent. Mrs. Zayn here. You have a quorum. Please join me in the flag salute.
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. This is a public meeting of the board of education of the bureau of new
providence. Adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with PL1 1975 chapter 231 in that a notice was made in conformance with section section 13 of the act. Whenever the business of the board requires it to convene to close session, the session
will begin no later than 9:30 p.m. At the conclusion of the need for close session, the board will reconvene to the public portion of the meeting. At that time, the board will complete any other business that may be before it, and the public will then be given an opportunity to be heard before the meeting is adjourned.
Good evening everyone. The beginning of the new year always brings with it a special buzz and excitement. This morning we welcomed our teachers and staff for the opening of the 2025 2026 school year. They will spend the next few days receiving professional development and holding building
meetings before welcoming our students back to the new school year on Thursday. Before we move on with the agenda, I would like to just take a moment to thank a few people who worked throughout the summer to make sure we're ready to welcome everyone back. To our custodial staff for their tireless work over the
summer to ensure our schools are clean, safe, and ready for students and staff. To our business administrator, Jim Ta for coordinating with the contractors and keeping the installation of the air conditioning on schedule and within budget. to all of our curriculum writers out there whose efforts help shape the
academic vision and progress of our students throughout the year and to the administrative team for their leadership and coordination in making sure everything runs smoothly. Thank you all for your ongoing commitment and dedication. We're looking forward to another great year. Dr. Zerley,
thank you Miss Cero, Mr. Uluro for enrollment. Thank you. Good evening at Alan W. Roberts, we currently have 584 students enrolled to start the school year. 58 of those students are
enrolled in kindergarten. At Saltbrook, we currently have 598 students enrolled to start the school year. 91 of the students are enrolled in kindergarten. At New Providence Middle School, we currently have 395 students enrolled to start the school
year. And at New Providence High School, we currently have 658 students enrolled to start the school year. This brings us to a total of 2,235 students. In addition, we have 39 students in out of district placements to start the school year for a grand
total of 2,274 students. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. U. As Miss Kakaro said this morning, we did welcome back our teachers and there is a real sense of positive energy in the air as we begin
this school year. It's been wonderful to see our faculty and staff this morning and I want to thank the board members who were able to join us. Over the next two days, as Miss Kakaro mentioned, our teachers will participate in a variety of professional development opportunities. Some that are required by
state statutes such as training in the new math and ELA standards and others that are aligned with our district and school goals, including LIE strategies for multilingual learners and the new link data system. We will also have choice workshops designed to support our
staff's um professional growth. This year, all of the administrators on our team are also stepping forward to lead, each facilitating one or more sessions on topics such as traumainformed classroom practices, refining questioning techniques, analyzing AP
data, the impact of technology on mental health, and the effective use of AI in the classroom. I'd like to thank Mr. Keany for his efforts in putting together our professional development program. It is extremely robust over the next two days. On Wednesday, we're very
excited that our entire staff will come back together here at the high school middle school for a workshop on the district strategic goals. In small groups, teachers and staff will analyze the goals asking what what each goal means for our students, staff, and schools, why it matters, and what
success will look like. They will then illustrate the goals through posters, sketches, diagrams, or metaphors that highlight the why, key themes, desired outcomes, and the impact on our student, staff, and community. Each group will present their illustration to one
another and share key takeaways and reflect on two important questions. What resonates most with you about the strategic planning goals? And what will you do in the first month of school to address one of these goals? As an administrative team this year, we are
committed to practicing gratitude and in we are excuse me I'm sorry and how we support our staff and the culture in our buildings across the schools. We are excited that on Wednesday we will host our first ever gratitude giveaway for all of our teachers and our staff
following our strategic planning workshop. And this is a small token of appreciation for the incredible work that our teachers and staff do each day. And as a way to reinforce the culture of gratitude we are building for this year. I'd also like to give a shout out and a
thank you to our PTOs, our PTAs, and our PTSAs who have donated towards gratitude giveaway and also donated our grab-and-go lunch today for all of our teachers and staff. Thursday will be the first full day for students. Friday will be a half day. Monday is Labor Day and
Tuesday we will follow a regular schedule. I wish all of our students a great first day back this Thursday. Thank you. Jim, could you give us a HVAC update? Sure. Okay. Uh we'll start with uh Alan W.
Roberts. Uh that's the easiest one. Uh the HVAC system is operational. Uh the storage container that's in the back is going to be removed before school starts and the plan is to create a punch list um in the next week or two and all the punch list items will be addressed
second shift during September for Saltbrook. The electrical upgrade was completed on Tuesday the 19th. Um all the um additional electrical work was completed. We actually started up the startup process that we have to go
through with carrier um last Thursday. They're continuing it as we speak and um so far so good, knock on wood. Um and the plan is to have it uh running on the first day of school. Um so we are on track there. Again, punch list will be
uh done in September. And the punch list is anything that we find that needs to be addressed by the contractors once the construction is done. just in case anyone was wondering. Um we plan to develop that in September. Um and we how we develop that is actually the
engineers, the architect and uh district representatives go through the building and uh create a list that we give to the contractors. Um and that will also occur during second shift at the high school middle school. Uh condensers are all in placed on the roof. Auditorium units are
all in place on the roof. Uh right now what's going on is that the electrical controls and the uh piping the plumbing are being connected to all the units on the roof. Uh the right now at the starter school the HMV will be operational. That's heating and
ventilation. Uh the plan is to have the whole system operational by midepptember. So what that means is that all the condensers will be hooked up on the roof. They'll start running their pre-checks as we're doing in the other schools now and we'll have the startup process happen in September. Uh the
auditorium will be closed for the first couple weeks of September. Uh they've been working al actually on the weekends now to try to get that up and running. Um so as soon as we can get it um at least safe for the students to be in there, uh we will do that. Uh but it right now it's projected to be
midepptember for the auditorium. um any work during um any work for anywhere other than the auditorium because since the auditorium will not be um used during the day, they will be working a double shift day and night in the auditorium. The other areas will be
all done second shift. Um like I said, the whole school we hope to have operational by midepptember. Um there may be a question there's three, four or five units that are in the back of the building. Uh what they are, they're units that are direct replacement of current HVAC
units. So the current spaces do have air right now. Uh those units will be replacing the older units. Uh we plan to do that on one of the first breaks that we have either uh November or October. I have to see what's going to work for HNS, but they will be replaced during
the school year. Uh punch list, we're planning to do late September. Uh so my gut is that the punch list will be completed in October and that will all be done second shift. Um then my next meeting with the contractors is September 24th. Um so
we'll continue to meet probably every two or three weeks uh throughout the year um so we can push to get these projects totally completed and closed out. Uh any questions? U one other side note. Um right now if you remember the board approved plans to
since we were have some remaining funds left over. Um so those plans are being developed right now. Next week I'm going to have a meeting with um Eli Leader, myself and the architects and the engineer to go over the plans preliminarily. Then I'm going to set up a committee with the uh facilities
committee uh with Lauren and then we'll review them. Then I like to send them out to the schools, make sure everyone's on the same page and then we hope to go out to bid for the second round. So, just to keep the board up to date, that's it. Uh, what's that?
Um, we we want to get it out in the winter. I don't I don't know if it'll be November, but we definitely want to be out so we can award early spring so we could have it done next next summer. Uh, so the earlier the better. Um, I'm hoping for November.
Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Surley. Anything else? No. Now is an opportunity for the public to be heard on any specific agenda item. Seeing none, I declare the public portion of the meeting closed. I need
approval of the minutes for the business meeting and close session on July 24th. Motion second. Roll call. Hi. Miss Gara. Hi. Dr. Hayden. Hi. Miss Gunderman.
Hi. Miss Morano. Hi. Mr. Walsh. Hi. Mrs. Yes, Mr. Walsh. Finance action items. I would like to move items 1 through 13 as listed on the agenda.
Uh, no comments. Bernardet, I think I Thank you. Roll call. Mrs. Castalano. Hi, Miss Garao. Hi, Dr. Epson Hayden. Hi, Miss Gunderman. Hi, Ms. Morano. Hi, Mr. Walsh. Hi, Mrs. Zayn. Yes. Education action items. Mrs. uh Dr.
Epson Hayden. We have quite a few. I'd like to move to approve items 1 through 15 as listed below. Second. Um the biggest few to highlight is we have 14 curriculum uh that we are
pushing to approve tonight and big thank you to Donna and Laura for their help in reviewing them this summer. Um in your packets that went home, you also have the approval for the annual professional development plan for the year. Um and
the annual mentoring program, the provisional teacher mentoring program also for this school year. Thank you. Roll call. Miss Castalano. Hi. Miss Kara. Hi. Dr. Ebson Hayden. Hi. Miss Gunderman. Hi. Miss Morirana. Hi.
Mr. Walsh. Hi. Mrs. A. Yes. Mrs. Gunderman. Personnel. I'd like to move to approve items 1 through seven as listed. So, a lot of um general things including uh
substitute teachers and you know versus physicians. I don't know if you have any other roll call. Miss Kasalana. Hi. Miss Carol. Hi. Dr. Eson Hayden. Hi. Miss Gunderman. Hi. Miss Morano. Hi. Mr. Walsh. Hi.
Mrs. Zay. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Board policy. policy. Sorry, I was ripping my pages. I'd like to move items one and two as listed on the agenda. Second. Uh the only comment on the nutrition
school nutrition policy is just to update the regulation aligned with uh aligned with the standard mandates. Roll call. Miss Galana. Miss Kara. Hi. Dr. Hayden. Hi. Miss Gunderman. Hi Mr. Moreno. Hi
Mr. Walsh. Hi Mrs. Zay. Yes. Many reports curriculum instruction technology. We are still being very busy. Bees continuing to go over more curriculum and we'll have more for the September meeting.
Thank you. Finance personnel. We had met after the last meeting, right? Say after. There was two of this one. Just to review Dr. Overly uh goals for for the year ahead. Great. Thank you. Um anyone have any old
business that we haven't addressed? New business that you would like to address? No. Now's an opportunity for the public to be heard on any subject matter. Anyone? Seeing no one, I declare the public
portion of the meeting closed and I need a motion to recess to close session for personnel and litigation. Thank you.