called in conformance with the open public meetings act with adequate notice provided as follows. Excuse me, sorry. Notice sent to the Burlington County Times and the Times of Trenton on September 12th, 2025. Notice filed with the township clerks of
Chesterfield, Mansfield, North Hover, and Springfield Townships on September 12th, 2025. Notice of annual meetings is advertised in the Burlington County Times and the Times of Trenton on January 7th, 2025.
We'll now do a roll call. Mr. Figs, Mrs. Bond, present. Mrs. Applicate, Mr. Armene, present. Mr. Bucks, Mr. Norwood, here. Miss Janice,
Mr. Zimmer here. Mr. Dagley here. At this time we at this time we do not have a quorum. So the meeting is going to go into a short
recess until about 7:45. Um while we're in that recess, Dr. Zuckerman is going to present some results from the culture and climate survey and we'll resume the meeting approximately 7:45. Good evening everybody. Um for the the teachers who and the families who are
here um and even uh the the community members, we appreciate your patience. Uh we should be starting the official part of the meeting um in hopefully 10 minutes. So while we're sitting here, then I wanted to just discuss um the some of the results that were part of
the culture and climate survey that was conducted uh last spring. as part of the again once again this is an unofficial uh report since we do not have a quorum this is not part of the board meeting part of the minutes this is just a discussion that we're having in in
public um so as part of those results as part of those results sorry just waiting for the Mr. Lee, do I have to turn this on or something? Too far. All right, I'm going to get
closer. Three things. You guys are really challenging me. All right, I'm just going to do the math in my head. So, as part of the culture and climate result uh survey, we um surveyed the students, we surveyed the staff, and we also provided the the survey um to the
community as well. in the point of this survey is to get feedback for what people think about the school, where we're doing well, where we need to improve. Um, and we tried to correlate that. So the results I'm going to share with you are actually where we took
similar questions and similar themes from the student results, from the staff results, and from the from the community results and tried to put them together so we can see what the what each group thought about a similar topic with one caveat. The results, the surveys that
the middle school students took, they accidentally took the um the community survey. So those community results are a little skewed on the back end. We can kind of take that out. So the student results are only the high school. They're not including the the student
results. The point of this is that to the end of this school year, we'll provide a very similar survey. Um and then we will use that information to be able to correlate to see if we're getting better, what we're doing, and and what people think. The one thing that we did learn is that this survey
was too long. We needed to be able to provide a a shorter survey. So then people would respond to the open-ended questions and that's obviously something that we will learn from and to be able to implement for this coming school year. So the first first one and I apologize for the very small uh print up
there. Um we're talking about connectedness, how connected people feel with with the with the school. So this first one is the families and the the part of the middle school students. So the one on the left says at this school my child feels that he or she belongs.
And adding that up again this is where I have to do the the mental math. So we have uh 86% of the stu of the participants either strongly agree or agree and again it sounds great 86%. However something like this we want 100%. So there's always
room for improvement while we're certainly moving in the right direction. The question on the right for the connectedness for the families at this school the staff really cares about my child and which is great again it's 87% but again I would like that to be 100%. So we certainly are in moving in the
right direction but we can still make some improvements for the connectedness for the students at this uh all students are treated equally well and I tried to find similar questions because each group had slightly different questions so I tried to pair them as as closely as
we could and in this we have 63% of the of the students responded either strongly agree or agree and my teachers really my teachers care about me and at this one it was 91% % um of the they
either responded strongly agree or agree for the connectedness for the staff. Uh my level of involvement in decisionmaking at this this school is fine with me and that is at 71%. The the other question at this school at
this school students are given the opportunity to take part in decision-m and that is at 61%. from the school safety from the the families. My child is safe at the school and that's at 92% and the school takes effective measures
to ensure the safety of students and that is also at 92%. Again, both are great. Safety is something that I believe again another one of those things that we need to be at 100%. Part of the challenge with the results that we got is that we'd love to figure out
why they're why they did not feel safe because I I believe because of the number of questions we asked, people didn't take the time to respond to the open-ended. So that's why next year when we do this, we're going to have a shorter survey to hopefully solicit uh elicit that feedback um in the in the
written form. the school safety from a student's perspective. We had uh 86% of the students state strongly agree or agree that they feel safe at the school and if a student hears about a threat to the school or the student safety they would
report it to someone in authority and that's at 8 68% and that one's a little concerning. We want to make sure that the students feel comfortable in responding not only to an adult but whether to our stop it app or to some sort of a measure to be able to let us know what's going on.
and for the staff that I feel safe at this school and our staff responded at 80 at 90%. And the students at the school would feel comfortable reporting a bullying incident to a teacher or other staff member and that is at 76%. From a discipline standpoint, discipline
is fair according to the families and that is at 74%. And the school rules are applied equally to all students and that is at uh 73%. Sorry again with my mental math trying to just add up the add up the various
columns. And again it's the same thing I just said. While yes, it's a step in the right direction, we we can do better from a discipline standpoint. Uh for the students, discipline is fair according to the students and that is at 72% and the school rules are applied equally to
all students and that is at 65%. From the discipline from the staff, discipline is fair and that's at 48%. and uh school rules are applied equally to all students and that is at 37%. Part of the reason why I believe that these
results are a little bit lower is as a school we have to figure out a way to circle back to the to the staff. Staff submits a discipline report. oftentimes we do have the discussion about what happens but we need to make sure that they understand that while yes we want
students to be treated equally in our school but there may be different circumstances that lead to one set of consequences versus another depend on a variety of of of um aspects of that as well and from an academic standpoint the school uh promptly responds to my phone
calls um messages or emails according to the families and that is at 86% % and the school has quality programs for my child's talents, gifts or special needs. And that is at 80 that is at 93%. Which and again that one shows that we're doing the right thing that we're meeting
the needs of the the um the students. From a students perspective, the teachers give me individual attention when I need it and that is at 80 87% and the things I'm learning in school are important to me and that is at n at 79%.
academics for the staff. Once we start a new program at the school, uh we follow up to make sure that it's working and that is at 46%. And that's something that from an administrative team that we are working to address with the structure that we put in place this year for professional development, allowing
time to have the staff apply what they're learning instead of just ending one session and starting another one. So, we can start that planning process um as we're going. and the teachers at this school feel responsible to help each other do their best and that is at 77% and again that one we need to do
better at as well. The last one which is on communication and the families is the only one that responded to this because they're the recipients of the communication from the school is that the staff at the school care about about what families think and that is at 84%
and the school communicates uh school policies and procedures clearly to parents and guardians and that is at 88%. So with that being said, I now need to go back to my notes and to be a I'm just going to switch back to my chair. We'll
be back with you as well. Thank you. So for each school, I asked them to come up with an area that they really want to focus on because while all of those results are extremely important, it is impossible to truly address each one of those areas. So, I've asked each of them
to focus on um have an area of focus that they're going to specifically work on. So, then we can look at the results next year to be able to um check on those results. So, the middle school is going to focus on student input and safety and the high school is going to
focus on connectedness and providing students with more opportunities to share their thoughts. So those are the um that is the informal discussion on culture and climate. Um once again since we did not have a quorum at the time when I began that this is not an
official part of the meeting. Uh but we I now turn over to uh Miss Williams uh for roll call. The time is now 7:45. A quorum of the board of education is present. We will now reconvene the meeting of the Northern Burlington Board of Education.
Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. We usually Yeah, we usually time. Good evening everyone. I apologize for my tardiness work uh kept running on and on and on and on on today. So um has any board of education member received
schoolboard related emails andor correspondences that have not yet been shared with the superintendent? All right. Um Dr. Zuckerman, if you'd like to go through your superintendent report. Absolutely. So, this evening we have a
as a start of any school year, we have a new student representative to the board. Um, I am, uh, happy to introduce Yousef Dagley. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. All right. Rock on. Um, so, uh, to have Mr. Dagley here and I'm going to start
by start my report by allowing him to provide the student representatives report. So, Mr. Dagley. Uh good evening. Uh my name is Yousef Dagley and I will be the student representative uh to the board of education for this school year. Uh I a senior and I am involved in many clubs inside and outside of school. Uh I
participate and compete in clubs like DECA, FBA and also compete uh also uh go to health science club and MSA as well. Uh I currently have a dream of being a doctor and owning my uh own clinic in the future and after school I plan to go
to medical school as well. Uh some for the board of education report I would like to say that uh we are promoting blue and uh blue vers gray this year. Uh teams are split up by their last name. So A to L would be the blue team and then M toz is the gray team. Uh on the first day of school we
had competitions by grade level. Uh the gray team is in the lead 10 to zero unfortunately. Uh there will be more competitions throughout the year for teams to earn their uh respective points. Um moving on we have a lot of clubs and activities and sports running already. Uh we are holding an activity
fair for clubs to showcase and recruit on September 12th during the opportunity period. Uh for the marching band, the marching band has been working hard on their production of Angels and Demons. Uh they will have their first competition at the end of September. Uh for sports, the first football game
was on Thursday go August 24th. The football and the cheer team, they both did a great job as they traveled to Nottingham and came away with the win. Uh the tennis team had a decisive victory over Palmyra. Uh the field hockey team traveled in Cinnamona last Thursday and took home a
win as well. Uh the girls soccer team had a great shutout victory over Bordontown last week as well. Uh and the boys soccer team also got a win last week in a 4-0 shutout against West Windsor in Plainsboro. Uh our cross country teams has been have been
training hard and had their first meet on Friday. Uh the girls volleyball team is 2 and 0 on the season and we have seen a lot of early success for sports and I will share more about how the teams are going uh for the next meeting
next month as well. Thank you. So Yousef, I and I had this conversation with Dr. McCann. I need to go out and buy more gray clothes because I obviously have many more blue clothes, but my last name dictates that. So, I apologize if I'm not representing the the gray team on on those days, but I
will do my best. Okay. Yeah. So, I wanted to share the process that we will use to fill the Chesterfield seat on the on the open Chesterfield seat um to the board of education. I am very cognizant that uh Mr. Spence passed
away one week ago, but according to our policy, the board has 65 days to appoint someone to this position. Uh, so I wanted to make sure that we were communicating about the the process that we that we will be using. On September 9th, we will advertise the
open seat for the the open board seat for the for the Chesterfield community. Uh, this position will remain open until October 1st. And I'm happy I can give you the paper, too, when when I'm done. Um, I will share the resumes of the applicants with the board um on or
before the October 6 work session. The board will interview the candidates in executive session at the October 14th regular meeting. Once finished with the interviews, the board will exit executive session and vote on the candidate to fill the Chesterfield vacancy. The selected candidate will be
sworn in at the November meeting and will stay in the role until December 31st, 2006. Um 26, thank you. Uh until 2026. In November of 2026, the Chesterfield community will elect someone to fill a
one-year unexpired term. This elected candidate will remain in the position through the 2027 uh year and which will end Mr. Spence's term on the board.
Are there any questions for that? All right. If anybody does have any questions, obviously pe please feel free if anybody knows anybody in the Chesterfield community, uh please encourage them to apply for the position. And should anybody have any questions, they're they're obviously
welcome to contact either myself or Miss Williams. Since our last meeting, we have completed countless projects that uh we've held orientations for our new staff, for our new students, had a number of different sporting events, and oh yeah, the students started classes
also for the 202526 school year. Included in my in my September report to the board, I shared the superintendent's goals for the 202526 school year. They include developing and implementing a structure and beginning to review all of the existing board policies and
developing a district strategic plan. If any board member has any questions about this or would like to discuss these goals in any further depth, please let me know. On August 12th, 2025, it was announced that Dr. Sha Hogs was named the Burlington County Teacher of the Year.
He was selected from all the other Burlington County Teachers of the Year. And needless to say, we're extremely proud of Dr. Hogs, and Dr. Hogs will be coming before the board in one of the coming months to be recognized as the county teacher of the year.
Our very own Dr. Amy Stella was recently informed that she was named one of the 2025 outstanding women of Burlington County in the category of education. She will be honored at a reception that will take place later this month. Congratulations to Dr. Stella. We are
very proud of you and very pleased and very fortunate for what you do for our students and for our district. And that concludes my report to the board. Oh, I'm sorry. One last thing if I if I may. Um we currently have the applications open for the um Northern
Burlington Hall of Fame. uh those applica I have the link to the application in my report to the board as well as it is posted on our website and on our social media accounts as well. So if anybody knows anybody who would be a successful candidate or a worthy
candidate for one of those positions, please let me know. I definitely can. Thank you very much. So, we also have two applicants for the um military liaison position for the board of education as well. I am meeting with
them uh later this week just to let them know what it involves. If they're still interested and still willing to put their names in, then we would also um have the board interview those people and we can also do that at the same time in October. Um and then kind of then we
will the board will select which candidate they feel is is um best fit for the board. All right. Uh thank you Dr. Zuckermanman. Um I'd like to start just by saying uh what an honor and privilege it was to serve on the board with Jerry
Spence. Um he was a board member for the entire now five and a half years I've been on the board. Um he was always supportive, always helpful and always uh stayed interested. Even when he was not present at the board due to due to medical reasons, he was constantly
involved. He was constantly reading agendas, making phone calls, asking questions. So he was it was an honor and a privilege to uh learn from him as I joined the board. So um just wanted to say that. Uh did anyone have any questions or comments for Dr. Zuckerman
or anything? I do have Mr. Spence's yearbook here if anybody's interested in in seeing it. Um, as I pointed out to some of the other board members that it was um he he was part of the not only the bachelor's cooking club, but his aspirations that
he had after graduation was to be a teacher in New Jersey, which obviously he did. He spent uh served the Northern Burlington community after attending Northern Burlington for more than 56 years. He started working for the district in 1968, retired in 2007,
joined the board in 2009, and was there until the the last few the till the end. So certainly very thankful for him. He was Yeah, he was here at the August meeting. You're right. All right. Thank you, Dr. Zuckermanman.
Uh Mr. Williams, if you'd like to give your BA report, please. Um, we had a buildings, grounds, and finance committee meeting this month. So, to not duplicate the same information, I'll defer to Mr. Zimmer for the meeting for the notes. Do you want me to do that now?
No, you can wait till your committee report. All right. Um, Dr. Karns, if you'd like to give your middle school principal report, please. Thank you, Mr. Figs. Members of the board, um before I give my board report, I want to echo the kind words you said
about uh Mr. Spence and and obviously his passing is as is a loss. I remember um my parents getting their Christmas tree when I was like in elementary school from his property and being a teacher here and then most recently working with him here on the the board of education. So we are are certainly um
you know sorry for his passing and and wish his family the you know condolences in that in that in that realm realm. Um in terms of my report school's open we're we're back. Um the the building is not the same without our students in it and you can say what you want about uh
summer vacation. I certainly am a big fan of summer break but but the the building comes alive and and what we do is we work with kids and it's great to have them back back in the building with us. Um, we have two classes. Our seventh grade class, class of 2031. You imagine with how far in advance that seems, but
that's the our seventh grade class in 2030 are eighth graders. Both classes are about 360 students. So, we have around 720 students in the middle school as we uh as we start the school year. Um, my my board report is is included, but there are a couple highlights I just want to point out to you. One, we've
been working all summer to help our seventh graders make the adjustment to the middle school. We've opened our building up for tours every Wednesday. real simple concept, you know, as they come in, they come in with their parents or or a neighbor, you know, as long as they come with an adult, that's fine. Take them around, show them the different parts of the building, help
them become, you know, more comfortable with with it. We have it um some lockers set up for them, to try the lockers. That's a a great uh point of angst for our seventh graders, being able to open a locker on their own. So, you get to come in there with mom or dad to help them. Sometimes they're helpful, sometimes they're not, and gives them
that that exposure as they start off. So, that was one of our our highlights from the summer. Also from the summer, we had our bridge program. Um, and that is for um identified students that are coming to us from sixth grade. We reach out to the elementary schools. We ask them to say, you know, who are some students that need a little little extra
time here with us at at at the middle school to to be successful as they they begin the um their seventh grade year. We invite those students. We have a week-long program that's in um August, just just before school starts. They come in. We have some teachers that work with them. They get to see their schedules. They get, you know, walk the
building. they're doing activities about, you know, how to develop study skills in the in the middle school, how to deal with some of the the social pressures in the middle school. And it's a nice, you know, step up there for them to help them be successful. And we were very fortunate that was funded this year and we're able to hold it. One of our teachers said it's the single most
effective um program that we do for our kids. One of our our teachers that work at She says, "I see the results immediately for those students that are coming into the building." So, we're we're glad to have that. And then one other thing, just more like Chromebooks. All of our students carry Chromebooks. to a onetoone school and middle school
kids are rough on their Chromebooks to say the least. Um, this year we we did an investment of of cases. Um, so all of our students have have cases on their Chromebooks. They have a shoulder strap. Inevitably I walk down the hallway, some kid would juggle their books like lose track. Their Chromebook is what hit the
floor. They catch their notebook. They catch catch their pencil case, but the Chromebook always hit the floor, hit it hard. We're hoping that the the Chromebook cases um help reduce that, make it a little bit easier on them and and extend their their life for for our students. Um and with that, that concludes my report. Do you have any
questions for me? I just have a quick question about the tours. How well were the tours attended? Did you have people like almost every week? Yes, we we started the the W we do it every Wednesday. We started the Wednesday after the 4th of July. And you know obviously as it you know towards
the end of of August we we would we would have you know three and four tour groups that we would take but most most um Wednesdays it was about 20 25 um people that would come out. It was a nice group. I was doing most of the tours and every so often there'd be like a second group that would come and one of my assistant principles would would
pick that up. But then last like two weeks of August it was all hands on deck. We had uh several different uh groups that we were shuttling through. Yeah. and with mom or dad too. And that's what it's, you know, you see what this is like, you know, they you could hear them talking to them and giving them tips and
see where that greyhound is. This is where the the seventh grade end of the building is. And they would it it was good to to do that. And the middle school back to school night, middle school back to night is um September 11th. Um it's going to be this this coming Thursday. Certainly invite all of you. We'll have our our opening
um session at 6:30. Classroom visits begin roughly 7 o'clock. that the parents follow, you know, the the the sk their child's schedule. They visit each of the teachers, get to learn about the program, what's going to be offered in the um in the middle school for the for the coming year.
Very good. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. K. Dr. McCann, would you like to give your high school principal report, please? Good evening. um you guys got to tour the facilities before the meeting. And I think that one of the biggest highlights
for us here at the high school is just how much we're already able to use those improvements. Um and so you I'm sure saw the patio. We already have students out there eating lunch. We had the bleachers that have allowed us to have students use the gym space as an additional place to have food. And then once they're done
and they thrown it away, they can go play the activities and games that we have there. Kids have been really excited for that. Um, we added that kiosk where then they can get food and snacks when they're right near the gym, which we've already seen students um, realizing it's there and getting more excited to get their food there so they don't have as far to go. Um, we have the
beautiful windows that were put in to help with some supervision in that patio area. Um, and we're excited that the the field is coming soon, but I think we've already been able to realize some of the changes and so we're grateful um, for the investment that's been made to help our facilities continue to improve. Um, one of our biggest initiatives this year
that we're really excited for is that inclusivity and that school spirit. You heard from Yousef a little bit that on day one we were playing blue verse gray. Um, and we're really making a concerted effort to make sure that students can feel like they belong here, that they're part of a team, and that they're excited to come to school. Um, and I think that that is everything from the bulletin
boards have greyhounds on them and we're greyhounds to we gave every freshman a gray shirt knowing that in eighth grade they got a blue shirt. So now there's no excuse not to be blue or gray um for any one of those days. Um but we saw kids already wearing them and being excited. Um we also on the first day in the past
have traditionally just spent time doing a grade level meeting and then students were kind of in home rooms for the rest of the time and it led to a little bit of downtime and we said how can we use this time better. Um and so what we did is we had four rotations. One was still let's do things in home room. Let's make sure you know how opportunity period works. One was still having that grade
level meeting about expectations. But the two things we added were the blue verse gray competition and a buildingwide scavenger hunt. Um, and so the very first time the seniors bust into the counseling office, they weren't very excited. Um, but once they've realized that the students were on this scavenger hunt and that they were part of it, um, it became a really exciting
experience that I think students were excited for. Um, so we are doing that with staff also. We're we're lobbying for them to wear blue and gray and we're really trying to make sure that there's school spirit here in the building um, as a way to to increase that inclusivity. Um, we have a number of
things that are coming soon in addition to back to school night like you heard from Dr. Karns. Ours is on the 18th. Um we also are opening our wellness center. Um so we've revamped a space that used to be used for nursing previously. Um right now it's uh not fully furnished, but we have carpet down. We have
counselors that are ready to man that space so that students need a break and an opportunity to reset. They have the ability to do that and that'll open for a kind of soft opening on the 15th so that they can get a chance to to use that space. Um and then we also have another a number of other upcoming events. We have a an NHS blood drive
coming in October as well as PSAT and pep rally and all things that go with homecoming that you'll hear about a little bit more as we get closer to the end of October. Does anybody have any questions? All right, great. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. McCann.
Right. Uh item 2.05 is consent agenda item for the approval of the superintendence reports. Um at this time, let's see. And then we have the there was another committee report we have we were waiting on per personel Paul were you going to give the
personnel committee up I mean there's not much I know there's not covered a lot so yeah the um personal committee meeting we met on August 11th um we just went over discussed the uh new assistant business administrator and and how he was doing uh we discussed the um inim
athletic director who's been um hired um our athletic director and new athletic director in starting till October 3rd. So, um we have an intram in there for to get through fall sports. Um we also heard about the our new assistant
principal at the high school. Um we um were talking about open positions. Um there are two mathematics um one in the middle school and one in the high school, but they're not going to be filled this year. They're not currently needed. So, we have two FTEEs available.
Um, same thing with special education and when we get that all together, we'll need to to finalize the enrollment uh and the um personnel needed there. Excuse me. We uh also discussed the hiring of a our immigration attorney um
as uh on a retainer and that's for when we have a uh teacher who's from outside the United States that needs help getting immigrated immigration papers and visas and everything that they will help us get through the process. Um and that's pretty much covers what we were
doing about um or talked about in personnel. Thank you, Mr. Norwood. Any have any other questions for personnel? All right. Uh, Mr. Zimmer, if you'd like to give the buildings grounds, transportation finance committee meets. Thank you. Uh, first, I want to thank
Dr. Stella for taking the notes. I was in the meeting, but I didn't take good notes and Dr. Stella did. So, I have them here. Second, I was all set for uh, Ms. Williams BA report just to start marking things off because a lot of it, if you want more detail, is actually in
her BA report. Um, but I'll give the highlights here. Actually, Dr. Mcan already gave a lot of the highlights. But, um, anyway, we did the tour today and the tour actually put a lot of color into the, uh, the items that we went
through. And, uh, the one is there's a rooftop unit in the uh, middle school for the HVAC that's getting worked on that was that's expected to be delivered by the middle of this month. Uh the auditorium got off to a slow start, but uh we were looking today and there's
also uh substantive progress that's already been made now up to this point. Uh the courtyard that Dr. Man was talking about, it's the patio and it's this it's for the seniors specifically right now. Um and there's picnic tables
out there and it's a place for them to go eat lunch and it's uh it's currently reserved just for them. And actually we were talking out there that um we just need to utilize it more so that it can alleviate some of the other areas in the building that we're trying to you know
free up so that other people can use it. The uh bleachers and the gymnasium that project is completed and there's a dividing curtain now instead of the pull wall. Uh the wall as Mr. McGee was saying um the um
the wall could have been a hazard. He had worked at other places and knew where you know somebody had lost a finger or something like that. But anyway, the the bleacher project and and that remediation is done. Um we went out to the turf field.
Uh turf field looks awesome. We don't have a co on it yet, so we can't open it up for everybody to use it, but it really does look awesome. They did a test last week or the week before uh where it was one of those relatively hot days and one of the issues with a turf
field is that it can be very hot. We had paid a significant dollar amount um to put what they call cool play in the surface. And apparently the tests that they did that day um the the turf field
was no hotter than one of the other fields that they were uh using um you know the baseball field or something like that. I'm not exactly sure which one it was. Um so that was the turf field that's done.
Um we we talked about an assistant AD for an interim while we're waiting for um the permanent AD to come on board. Uh we have a budget for that, a daily stipen to cover events when the AD is not available.
Um what else we have? We um uh there was an issue with payments for food. Apparently, when people use checks, a lot of them bounce. So, we're talking about not allowing I
guess it was a mail-in check. I think that's what it was. That checks only online. Yeah. Checks online and and that's what we will disallow. Mhm. Um, apparently when people bring a check, it doesn't bounce, but when they use it online, it does. I don't understand that, but uh, there's a
vending machine, but the vending machine is on a timer, so the kids can't just go and just use it at will. What else do we have? Oh, Miss Ms. Williams uh changed the um the
office the the way that the secretary in her office is located. So it's more more logical so that it's a gatekeeper coming in than being all the way out in front of her office. and instead they
moved payroll in front of her office because if people have sensitive things to talk about, it's more appropriate that it's not right out front where everybody can be walking by. Uh, Miss Williams is also a qualified purchasing agent, so she's able to do the different
things uh affiliated with bid threshold. Um, the audit is in progress. Uh, Nico is the assistant BA. He started, he's up and running. um talked about the power school breach and us joining the lawsuit whether we
should or not and since GIF which is the uh um insurance fund that were a member of since they shared the information with us we believe that it would be prudent for us to uh join that class action as well. Uh we talked briefly
about social media litigation and we had a short discussion of cell phone use in the building and Dr. Zuckerman updated the committee on the new process in the high school not to allow it during uh instruction. Personally, at the end of this meeting, you know, when we ask for
good of the club, I might suggest that we bounce something to the personnel committee uh policy committee as far as putting something out there. Obviously, not us making a decision on our own. This could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing, but to take a pool of the
teachers, the students, the administrators and whatnot and see what if anything our cell phone policy is, if we should restrict it further. Um, I uh I follow a lot of things. There's this author, Gene Twangi, and she writes several books on um
the harms that cell phones have caused children. And I just think that um that we're not necessarily being proactive, we're not necessarily being reactive, but I'd rather us just not be inactive and at least talk about it to a certain
uh extent. Um so now I don't have to do it at the end of the meeting. Uh we have a Chromebook policy where we're allowed insurance. I think somebody talked about it at the last meeting. Uh it's $40 and um you know it's a self insurance but
people can pay for that in case something happens to the Chromebook it would be covered and that's it. Does anyone have any uh questions or comments regarding the buildings grounds finance transportation? No.
Yeah. Talking a little bit louder. So, I do um want to piggy back on your comments regarding the um there we go um cell phone policy. I think it would be a great discussion for the board to have and you know work with Dr. Zuckermanman on and his leadership team.
All right. Uh thank you, Mr. Zimmer. Uh moving on, uh Mr. Armanenti, I believe you guys have a Burlington County meeting in like 10 days or something like that, right? So, I'm not sure if you have any updates at this No updates until we Okay. It's not next week, the week after.
Yep. All right. Thank you. Um for legislative side of things, there was one uh bill signed in by the governor uh regarding the school counselor certifications. Um it has some additional language and details regarding professional development uh required services
required certifications. um as well as the appointment of a uh state school counselor leaison by the uh commissioner of education. So just further details about what schools are required to have for mental health services and school counselors. Um
that's really the only update on the legislative side at this point here. I believe um I'm not sure who's doing the new teacher introduction. That's Dr. Karns and Dr. McCann. Dr. Karns if you're ready.
the new introduction now. All right. Um, so first up we have Aaron Andres. Want to tell us a little bit about you? I'm Aaron. I graduated from State. Awesome. Anthony Buchanan
uh I just uh get the 12th grade curriculum but um graduation portfolio program Uh, next is Bruno Ferrer. He joined us at the end of last year, but he hasn't had his first official year. So, here he
is. started here last year. Very grateful. I started working here. I was helping bring my knowledge to Next we have Katherine Zaki, right? So I gotta get that.
Um I'm a graduate of Northern I graduated in 2013. I'm so happy to be back teaching design legend. She's my teacher. She's the reason that I am where I am today. Um I was very involved in Xay while I was here. It
sent me the director of the university in New Brunswick. My background in biology, graduated plant biology major which I absolutely love. Um so I've been teaching for the last six years doing the same thing but at Burlington special services. So uh I
miss Mr. Hamilton but I'm happy to be here. Next we have Eileen Kresky. Hi Um, I graduated from 23 years.
and Rebecca Webb. Hi, I'm also a fellow graduate. I graduated and that is Rucker. We also have two folks on the list who couldn't make it tonight, but Colin Willard and Nick Troki um are new staff to the high school as well. And I think
you just heard they're well spoken. They're excited to be here and we're really grateful to have them. It's my pleasure to introduce our the two new members of the middle school faculty. One, not quite brand new. She started with us last spring, but this is her first official full year here at
Northern Burlington, and that's Miss Anamwood. Good. Thank you. And the other uh new teacher to introduce here tonight is Miss Ashley Tarsawitz. We're excited to have them. So, thank you very much all for coming out tonight and letting us introduce you to the
board. Those are all our new teachers for the uh for the coming school year. Thank you and welcome everyone to Northern. Uh hope you all love it here. Um at this time we're going to take a short fivem minute recess. Um just for
break you want a picture no picture that's students. Um yeah and then after that we'll conduct the normal meeting. No one is obligated new teachers are not obligated to stay and listen to the whole thing. Um with that can I get a motion for short recess? Motion. Second. All those in favor?
I. All opposed. Abstensions. Again, we'll take a short fivem minute recess and return to the meeting. Thank you. Mr. If you could return for us. Thank you. It's always one. Good example for you.
Make a motion to resume the meeting. Right. Second. Right. All those in favor? I. All opposed. Abstensions. All right. Uh meeting resumes. See, Mr. Lee, if you could please check public comment. All right. Thank you.
Right. Um, items on the consent agenda are believed to be items of routine nature, requiring no discussion, and which are to be voted upon a single roll call vote to the board. Any single member of the board may have any of the items on the consent agenda removed and placed on the other part of the agenda
for discussion merely by so indicating prior to the vote to be taken on the consent agenda. Items removed from the consent agenda are identified by an asterisk and will be subject to discussion by the full board. 5.02 is approval of the work session
meetings of August 4th, 2025. 5.03 03 is approval of the regular meeting minutes of August 11th, 2025. 5.04 is approval of the financial report of the board secretary for the month of June 2025. 5.05 is approval of the treasures report
for the month of June 2025. 5.06 is approval of budget transfers for the month of June 2025. And 5.07 is resolution of the board regarding the budgetary major account fund status. Are there any questions or comments on
section 5? Section 6 6.01 is approval of the bill list for September 8th, 2025. Are there any questions or comments for section 6? All right. Section 7 uh 7.02 is approval
of board and staff travel. 7.03 is increasing the bid threshold and appointment of qualified ping purchasing agent. 7.04 4 is acceptance of the 2026 ESEA subgrant allocation and the submission of the grant application.
7.05 is approval of professional services. 7.06 7.07 are approval of professional service agreements. 7.08 is approval of contract and 7.09 is the revision of approval date of the 2026
Carl D. Perkins secondary consolidated grant application. Are there any questions or comments for section 7? All right. Section 8. 8.02 is approval of homeless non-resident tuition. 8.03 is approval of option two for the 2526
school year. 8.04 is approval of Burlington County Institute of Technology student placements for the 2526 school year. 8.05 through 8.07 are approval of out of district placements. Are there any questions or comments for section 8?
I just have a quick one for 802, the homeless non-resident tuition. How does that student get here get to school? I mean, that's just none of our concern. It is do you want me to? It depends where their um last place of
residence was. If it is if it is somewhere else, uh the other district may be responsible to transport them. However, if we're getting money from the state, then we're required to transport and we may we may get some sort of reimbursement because when I read it here, it said
that he was living in Hamilton still. I guess my question is if he's still living in Hamilton, why isn't he going to Hamilton? Because if he is identifi if he or she is is identified as homeless then then if we were the last known residence for the family then we
are responsible to be able to not only educate them but transport them and then we theoretically could pay tuition to Hamilton but then it's probably a little bit less expensive for us just to transport them and have them come here. Right on the agenda it said that Hamilton is paying his tuition. So
displaced students have the option to either return back to their home district or attend the school that of the district that they're currently residing in. Um so this student I don't know the student's name but this student must have decided to um uh attend here
which then for the year if they're here the Hamilton is responsible. If they stay here over a year then we become the district district of residents and they become our responsibility. And again, I'm not trying to judge or anything like that, but we have no say in that. No.
If the student wants to stay here, that student can still stay here. Correct. With Hamilton paying tuition for that initial year and even after the year, then the student stays here and then it's up to us. Once they're here for a year, they're considered a resident. They're doiciled in our district
unless there is a change of um display. If they are displaced within that year, then the timeline resets. meaning if and again I'm theoretically making this up. They're staying um in a home with with a with another family then the other family doesn't want them
there anymore or they need to change housing and go somewhere else. Whenever they change um uh place of of residency, temporary residency, then the timeline starts all over again because I I mean I'm just trying to game it out, but like we always have people
that want to stay going to Northern, correct? and they not allowed because they're no longer in the jurisdiction. What's to just prevent them from being homeless? It's under the Mckin Vinto Act. Then there are very specific parameters that we have to look at and if they meet those parameters and they're eligible,
but if they don't meet those parameters. So, for example, if they go and somebody buys a home in, I don't know, Morstown, name whatever town you want, you want ins um, right? Then they then if they the family buys or rents a home, then
they are not eligible for the um for the under the Mckin VO act because then they have a a permanent place of residence. So, there's certain parameters that that we use as guidelines for that, right? Uh any other questions or comments for section 8?
All right. Uh section 9 personnel appointments. 9.02 is approval of non-certificated appointment. 9.03 is approval of recision of substitute for the 2526 year. 9.04 is approval of high school extracurricular advisors for
2526. 9.05 is approval of coaches for 2526. 9.06 is approval of additional class assignments. 9.07 07 is approval of additional work assignments. 9.08 is approval of additional class coverage.
And 9.09 is approval of change in degree status. Are there any questions or comments for section 9? Okay, we have no items in section 10 this evening. Section 11.02 is approval of leave of absence. Any
comments or questions for section 11? Right. Uh section 12.02 02 is acceptance of retirement and 12.03 is approval of amended resignation. Any questions or comments for section 12?
Right. Uh section 13 13.02 is approval of amendment to negotiated agreement with teachers association. 13.03 is approval of a black seal stipen. 13.04 is approval of athletic event rates. And 13.05 is approval of job description.
Are there any questions or comments for section 13? All right. Section 14, uh 14.02 is approval of the New Jersey quality single accountability continuum and 14.03 is approval of the 2526 statement of assurance for the local professional
development and mentoring plans. Are there any questions or comments on section 14? Uh 15, we have 15.02, which is regulations for adoption. Any questions or comments for section 15? Section 16. Uh 16.02 is approval of the
joint transportation agreement. 16.03 is approval of the transportation agreement. 16.04 is approval of parent transportation contract. And 16.05 is approval of parent transportation contract. Are there any questions or comments for section 16?
All right. Uh 17 17.02 2 is approval of use of facilities for the Northern Burlington Soccer Club. Any questions or comments section 17. All right. Can I get a motion for the consent agenda? Make a motion to accept the consent
agenda. Second. Miss do roll call, please. Mr. Pigs. Yay. Mrs. Bond. Yes. Mr. Amente. Yes. Mr. Norwood. Yes. Mr. Zimmer.
Yes. Right. Thank you everyone. Uh Mr. Lee, if you could please check the sheet of public comment. Thank you. That was No, I'm not going to check. Yeah.
Um All right. for upcoming uh dates. Uh October 6th is a curriculum committee meeting um prior to the work session. Uh October 14th is a community relations committee meeting uh prior to the board of the regular Yeah, prior to
the regular meeting. Um October did we bump the policy committee? No, that was that's not correct. That's not the correct date, right? September 30th. September 30th. Okay. There's a policy committee meeting on September 30th. Um not not the
October 16th that's noted in the agenda for everyone who's on policy. Um and then with that, is there any old business that anyone would like to refer back to a committee or request an update from Dr. Suckerman or Mrs. Williams?
I have a question. Um and I was told to ask about this, so I'm doing my due diligence of reflecting what the public asked. Um, a question around the calendar. So, we have a full day off on the 4th,
a full day on on the 5th, and then the 6th and 7th off. Then the following week on the 11th, we have a full day off. Is there What month? November. November. Yeah, November. Was there ever any discussion around why wouldn't we just
have the 4th through 7th off and then make the 11th be a full day? 11th is Veterans Day. Yeah. Yeah. So, um within the past couple years, I I forget what year it was. Um Veterans Day had
not been fallen during the week for some time. So then when in one of the conversations I had with not only the base command with with several piece people connected with the base um it would be disrespectful for us to be in session um during Veterans Day. So that
is so the 11th is Veterans Day. Um in on one side I would think that okay we can use that day to educate people about like obviously some things. However obviously the last thing we want to do is be disrespectful to the military community. What? So the
couple other things with that is currently for election day we have um we have a full day of conferences in let in in lie of the several early dismissal days trying to think that that would provide more continuity of instruction. I, as I just talked about with um with
my team uh within the past couple meetings that we've had, it does the exact opposite and it kind of has too much inconsistencies with with the schedule. We're in a day, off a day, in a day, off a day. So, we're looking at doing things a little bit different or we're looking at reflecting on the
schedule for uh the calendar, proposed calendar for next year a little bit differently. Um and that even means looking at the orientation day. They're certainly beneficial, but then could we do that differently and start another day earlier? And then so if so, we're trying to to see what we can do. I think
the intent of having the conferences on election day, many of our families that are connected, whether with the military or with with some state offices are off. So we'd hope to get more participation in the conferences. But again, that with teachers convention on the Thursday,
Friday, we don't have any control of that. Then that kind of breaks that up. So there's there's purpose for what we're doing, but I also recognize that it does provide some inconsistencies. Thank you. Is there any uh new business that anyone
would like to refer to a committee for discussion other than what Mr. Zimmer brought up earlier? Do I need to do it again? No, we've got it noted. Thank you. All right. Um, at this time the board is going to go into executive session. Um,
we will not be conducting any official business upon the return of executive session. So, with that, can I please get a motion to go into executive session? Make a motion go in executive session. I'll second that motion. All those in favor? I. All opposed?
Abstensions. Right. Thank you. Can I get a motion to return from executive session? Motion to return from executive session. Second. All those in favor? I. I. All opposed. Abstensions. Motion for adjournment. Motion for adjournment. Second. All those in favor?
I. All opposed. Abstensions. Have a great night everyone. Thank you.