##VIDEO ID:ivhgqpfc6QY## and if you are joining us from home thank you for joining us as well please rise for the flag salute 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 okay just for the record this is um our December 10th regular meeting and I have no president's report so I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent thank you Mrs Paramus good evening everyone it's wonderful to see you we have some exciting recognitions this evening so I'm excited to get started right away I'd like to bring up her coach Mr coach Paul Looney if he's here in the audience and director Mr Todd and the principal Mrs Don kazuba to recognize ninth grader Le starky Leah please come on up and if everyone I apologize Leah you're going to have to stand here for a few minutes because this young student athlete has achieved so many different accomplishments this year I think it is important to list every single one so this season in girls cross country Leah placed first at the Battle of the classes at Ocean County Park on SE September 13th she placed first at the Borth division meet on September 18th she placed first at 6 Flags wild safari race on September 28th with a time of 8 minutes 10 seconds the fastest 5K in school history she placed second at the shore coaches Invitational on October 5th she placed first at fall classic at Thompson Park on October 11th with a time of 18 minutes 49 seconds breaking ocean School record on this course by 1 minute and 11 seconds she placed third at the mammoth County Championship meet on October 17th with a time of 18 minutes and 40 seconds breaking the school record for homel Park set by Pam Mets in 1998 she placed second at the shore Conference Championship on October 24th setting a school record time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds she placed first in the Central Jersey group two on November 2nd improving her school record on that course to 18 minutes 24 seconds she placed first in the NJ SI AA group two championship on November 9th making her the second group champion in school history she placed 10th at the meet of Champions on November 16th and she placed 12th at the Foot Locker regionals in Boston Massachusetts this young lady has had quite the season please join me in me can you please take a photo over by the H backdrop here and parents if you would like to come up and take a photo please do so gosh ninth grade just so I don't cry congratulations congratulations what an amazing accomplishment amazing okay next I would like to ask Mrs kazuba to stay up Mr Todd to stay up and for our boys soccer coaches to come on up as well we have our boy soccer team here this evening to honor them for winning the boys soccer Borth public Championship when I call your name please come forward recognizing coach treski also uh coach fron coach Ryan and Coach Tucker I'm not sure if they're all here but want to recognize them as well and make sure they get credit as well for coaching this wonderful team okay come on up Nicholas Catelli Duke araso Kevin Daniel Lu danor nor araqi Ryan Fernandez Lucas Francis Jacob Gomez Tanner gregoli Anthony Guerrera in torano Julian herado luchano iar Brandon Johnson the Wayne Johnson Matthew Mac Evan Mor Jack nettis maximilan O'Reilly Damon Powell Lucas renvo Conor Shaw Ethan silado Leon sing Zachary Sutton NE tantum and our coaches I know not everyone could be here this evening but it was important to recognize every single player for this amazing accomplishment we made our school proud congratulations to all of you one more round of applause and if we can please get a new picture in front of the step and repeat backdrop over here and parents you're welcome to come on up and take a photo in all right look over here it's all right the wall will catch you don't worry need a bigger wall we do need a bigger wall right very congratulations boys great job great job team okay and now I would like to ask I believe there's a plaque here on the table someone see a plaque is there a plaque at that in oh you know what I believe it might be on the podium you want to help oh it is it is yes the plaque is right there Paramus if you could help me with this that would be great maybe this way it's best I'd like to invite up Mr Nester Perez a custodian for our district for over 20 years didn't say he was coming now I don't see okay okay well here he is wait no no okay all right well I would I would like to recognize Mr Nester Perez who will be retiring from our district after 20 years of service we have a plaque here for him I thought he was joining us this evening but we will make sure he receives that black we want to just thank him for his 20 years of service and wish him well okay at this time that concludes oh I I'm sorry I do have one other thing in the work session I mentioned that the latest Community magazine our Intermediate School is featured for their Garden inside the fifth grade Atrium which is wonderful so I'm just repeating that but I was it was brought to my attention that also in this Magazine on page 26 our very own Mrs deyan is featured here she's our Ocean Township Elementary School main office secretary and she is featured here in the magazine as well so if you're able to pick up a copy please be sure to and I believe I believe I may see Mr Perez is that Mr Perez come on in come on in if we could yeah please come forward sir we would like to honor you please come in come all the way up we' like to present to you this plaque as a symbol of our gratitude for your years of service to Ocean Township School District thank you so much can we can we your picture really do you w to take yeah why don't you take a picture T do the Pres yeah yeah right here we're gonna take a quick photo perfect okay thank you so much congratulations question is in your retirement job F okay that concludes my report this evening thank you Miss Welden we will will now move on to the school business administrators report and I apologize we we I passed over the student Representatives report so before Mr Hastings I'm going to ask for our student representatives to to uh make their report okay so so far this month and activities our Deca chapter um all of our members took the 100 question multiple choice test today for the district conference and the inperson portion will be on January 10th at Kane University um today the gardening club made pickles and this was extended to students who were not even in the club um the Key Club is starting an ASPCA Supply Drive in January and they are wrapping gifts for The Giving Tree at OTS and their general meeting tomorrow the for the drama club auditions for the spring musical Little Shop of pors were today after school and the official class list will be released sometimes before winter break the Italian club's next general meeting is December 16th and they are having a gingerbread house competition pursu Council last week we had our annual winter blood drive and we had 31 student donations and this week we also started for our winter pepep rally and yearbook Club is finishing up the yearbook and they are adding the student picture day photos and the yearbooks went on sale a few weeks ago in sports we have dance who had their annual winter showcase shows last week and both were very successful girls basketball had their first scrimmage yesterday and played well boys basketball had their first scrimmage tonight at rbr and recently hosted their open practice and brunch event where they invited the younger players to meet the team watch practice and listen to a presentation about the program hockey had their first game tonight against Lacy and they won their second game is tomorrow at home in boys and girls bowling both teams are currently undefeated the boys with three wins and the girls with two in swimming the boys win their first meet on Friday and girls had a close meet but only lost by a few and lastly in Esports they went to Brookdale recently to see at the Esports division at the school and then they went to georgean Courts for their Super Smash Crow ultimate playoffs thank you girls so much we appreciate it sounds like there's a lot of good things going on all right with that we will move on to our school business administrator report Mr Hastings nothing additional M president all right thank you very much all right we will move on to public comment regarding agenda items the following are a series of motions to be read by the committee chairpersons all motions have been discussed at recent public work session some motions have been approved at a public work session and the minutes for the approved items are posted on the district website at this point in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comment sessions the first session will be open for public comments on on agenda items only and the second session will be at the end of the meeting and can be on any topic the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration the superintendent's contact information is on the podium and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public partic ipation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable dequorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any agenda item at this time M CH is over here my name is Joseph Haden I'm at 813 Rose ELD Avenue um I'll be brief I left my tab open at Miller um 2010 I joined this body and um I was kind of recruited to run believe it or not and uh Miss Paramus is the only one here right now who was on the board at that time and she remembers there was a lot of abrasive behavior and salty language back in the day but she cleaned up her act and we moved on everybody's laughing because they know it wasn't you we don't have to talk about who it actually was but um and I remember early on in my 10 year I remember saying Miss palus Denise you're you're too damn nice and she'll remember that I did not mean that as a compliment at the time um she was president of the board and she used the gavl less than I use my gym membership so we would sit here and listen to people drone on about things that sometimes had nothing to do with education or Ocean Township or anything that really mattered to the folks sitting up here but she was very nice and she didn't cut anybody off which made me look like a real ogre when I became president um but I saw a lot of people come up here and and they've served on this body I've seen people either get elected or attempt to get elected who had an agenda had an axe to grind had a political statement to make or political boss to serve and serving with Denise as nice as she was um she wasn't afraid to vote against the majority which I found very refreshing because again I started off thinking she's just way too nice the people and she didn't want to stir the pot and there were a couple times where I thought I was going to be the only vote um and then she voted with me because congratulations you were right um and so I just want to say that you know for everything you do in this town Beyond this body as a resident of the town I thank you as somebody who served up here with you for 10 years uh I'm grateful for your service um and the effort and all the hard work that goes into being a board member and and there is work involved um and then also for your friendship because as it turns out you really are too damn nice um and I really do appreciate it um I will miss having you up here even though I haven't shown up for meeting since I don't know how long um again I just want to express my gratitude uh at every level and you will be missed by this this board and by every person in this town who is served by it so thanks thank you Mr H I'm going to lighten the mood by letting you know that um Mr Amato Mr bosoms and I rock paper scissor who was going to go next in the back um and they actually think I'm gonna say something really wonderful so they can say ditto but I'm smart I put it all in here um so I just want to say that on behalf of the TOA we very much appreciate your consistent and fair leadership and your service to this district and this community um I probably understand the same as uh the gentleman over there how difficult this can be how taxing it can be and how much you have sacrificed to stay up here for so very long so thank you very very much for all that you have done thank you m i there TOA president joined with Mr Bosman TOA uh vice president in education we have a term model the model you have done that for this community for so many years and we are so thankful for you just showing this town how to be a Class Act okay um it takes a very special disposition to sit on this D for as many years as you have served and we are just so grateful and we are going to miss you tremendously thank you for all that you've done for us and we wish you all the best on all your future endeavors thank you to the associat thank you all is there anyone the room that would like to make any other public comment all right uh is there anyone in the queue Miss Conway no Madame President there are no commenters all right thank you so much with that we will move on to our action items Mr McCarthy move to approve items five oh I apologize oh it's all right I'm sorry Mr McCarthy go ahead Mr uh uh my name is Rich long I live at 1308 Logan Road um and uh I have a question for you Mrs Paramus how in the world could you ever sit that close to a guy like John McCarthy well I can't answer any questions sorry Mr answer all all in good fun John knows I love him it's all in good fun I just want to uh say uh publicly I had the great honor uh and good fortune to uh serve with you on uh the Board of Ed uh I got an an appointment uh in October of U uh 2010 I had the opportunity to replace a woman who had uh conspired to murder her son-in-law so they picked me and I was able to take over for her and I must say uh I did okay considering the fact that she had what we might call a checkered career um I want to thank you for what you've done for the community I uh served uh with you for a number of years here on the board and uh you've been a beacon of life for the township of ocean for many many years I'm sure that these people that are sitting uh with you on the board of ed will definitely miss your presence and uh I hope that uh in the future you'll uh you'll Contin to serve the township of ocean thank you thank you so much Mr W very much appre we will now move on to our action items Mr McCarthy uh move to approve items 5.1 and 5.2 do I have a second second items 5.1 and 5.2 Mr dton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes yes M McCarthy yes Mr Schneider abstain 5.1 and yes 52 thank you Mrs talo yes Mr Weinstein yes M carams yes items carry thank you Mr McCarthy and since M McGovern is not here this evening would you mind doing Personnel absolutely Madame President move to approve items 6.1 through 6.13 do I have a second second six six 613 thank you this is all items 61 through 613 Mr doton yes Mrs danam yes Mrs Gilman yes to all recuse from sip appicelli thank you Mr McCarthy yes Mr Schneider yes Mr Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes and M par yes motions carry thank you Mr McCarthy financial management and Resource Services Mr Weinstein um do we want to move do we do we need to make a correction clarify your your accusal both of those things oh I'm sorry I thought we we voted on both that's right 6.7 Z appicelli and 6.12 ruse thank you thank okay um thank you thank you madam president um I'd like to move for approval 7.1 to 75 second is 71 through 7 115 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mr Schneider yes Mr T Rico yes Weinstein yes M PS yes items carry thank you Mr Weinstein instruction education and Student Activities Mrs Gilman yes madame president move to approve 8.1 through 8.7 second all items 81 through 87 Mr Belton yes M Stam yes M Gilman yes M McCarthy yes Mr Schneider yes M Tello yes Mr Weinstein um yes to all except for 8.6 I'll recuse myself for my affiliation with M University thank you and M par yes mam Carrie thank you very much Miss Gilman negotiations Mrs McGovern is not here but Mrs danam would you mind reading move to approve item 9.1 second is that of 9.1 Mr doton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman re's Mr McCarthy yes Mr Schneider yes Mr T Rico yes Mr Weinstein I recuse myself from 9.1 thank you Miss par yes motion carries thank you Mrs Dam and we will move on to public Rel Mr Weinstein um thank you madam president so I have the oh boy look at that that's all right that's all right everybody calm down um so I have the honor of reading the following resolution and afterwards I'll I'll make a comment or two on my own if that's okay so the resolution adopted by the township of ocean Board of Education Township of Ocean New Jersey for Denise Paramus whereas Miss Paramus served our school dist district with with dedication enthusiasm since 2003 and uh you got to hold on to your seats for this whereas she has held many positions of importance including president of the Board of Education from 2007 to 2008 2011 to 2012 2015 2019 and 2024 vice president for 2026 to 2027 2008 to 2009 2010 to 2011 2018 chairperson of the community lay on and Communications committee from uh 2005 to 2006 2008 to 2010 and a member from 2003 to 2016 chairperson of the operations of Maintenance and transportation committees for 2003 to 2005 chairperson of the Personnel committee for 2014 2016 to 2018 2020 to 2023 and served as a member from 2003 to 2013 chairperson of the co-curriculum Student Activities for 2013 and served as a member from 2006 to 2016 in addition she serves as the committee as the on the Committees of instruction education and Student Activities District security legislative planning and construction PTA liaison PTA liaison alliances public relations and was an instructional Council representative um where is she has been where she has been a committed leader with high standards and has earned the respect of everyone associated with the township of ocean Board of Education her value experience and guidance and now there for be resolved the township ocean Board of Education hereby expresses its sincere gratitude from Mrs pramis for her invaluable service to the board of education and wishes her to extend her good wishes for all good health and happiness as she ceases active participation as a member of the board of this of as a member of this board dated today 2024 thank you thank you very much thank you my breath while some other people say some things I just want you to know I'm the other than after Denise Amy was the longest standing person because Amy wasn't here I read it so I will never forgive Amy for not being here tonight but it was my honor to read it and and everything here was very heartfelt and I I really I really I really congratulate you so before I say something I'll let everybody else kind of talk for a little bit if I may a few words about Denise parlamis but to keep my emotions in check I wrote them down your contributions to the students and staff of Ocean Township are immeasurable Denise you helped to strengthen this district with each term that you served mentor to many my friend and fellow Yaya or grandmother I will miss you but I know your work contributing to our community hasn't ended with your term the community hope fund your work with St George's Church will continue and the most important job as Yaya will continue I will miss you but I know our paths will cross often breakfast lunch dinner whenever you're ready always time to catch up thank thank you and I will miss you thank you Miss Gilman thank you are we done absolutely not you think you're getting off that easy I'm just trying to get the courage to speak gez um Denise what a what an honor geez Jeff you like he set me off what an honor has been for me um and and for the people who don't know the way that this has come full circle uh is that you were the president of the Board of Education who spoke at my graduation ceremony when I graduated from Ocean Township uh and what the people of this town are not aware of is that the reason that you're sitting up here in the in the president's seat today um is of course F first and foremost because this board elected you to that position because they trust you but um prior to that it was because I I asked you to so I could sit under you and uh learn from you and and understand what it took to lead a board of educ ation uh for a year in the hopes that this board would seem me deserving uh of stepping into your very very large shoes to fill which is a tremendous honor I'm sorry Dar would you like to read this it will help you it's you know and I appreciate Jack I appreciate it because the the the part where you got so choked up you know I think that as I was I'm also honored this is very selfish of me to say but I'm so honored that I got to sign that for you thank you I don't know why I just feel as though it it kind of bonds Us in that you know for a very long time I think there's something beautiful about that uh and I appreciate it but the the committed leader with high standards who has earned the respect of everyone associated with the township of Ocean and the board of education for her valued experience and guidance is it could not be more fitting for an individual and it is so fitting for you and and I'm so thankful that we got to honor you tonight by saying those kind words but I'm more in awe of your performance and your ability to have done what you have done for so long there's so many leaders out there who have been a flash in a pan and have done good things but your endurance is an amazing example for us all to learn from that you showed up here in in arguably not the most Glitz or glamorous position and you stayed and you supported your district and you stood by it and that's the most beautiful form of service that we can see in our people which is service for no accolades but just out of doing the right thing for your fellow man and woman that it's been an honor to to learn from you and to see that and and it's been an honor to sit next to you and I'm thankful for your counsel and I know that I can depend on it in the years to come and I'm appreciated for that jesz I'm a mess and uh I don't think I've been this nervous to speak in a long time I spoke to 300 Marine the other night I wasn't this nervous so um I just I hope that you know that and I I knew I was going to get emotional so I did write a couple of other things but I think that your moderation too is another thing that we should all be be somewhat enamored by we we live in a very polarized time period and the ability for an individual to not be attracted to either side of an argument but to just say that they're going to remain moderate and step in and make decisions where they can is extremely Comm mendable I also think that we tend to demonize our elected officials in our society currently and sometimes they're very deserving of that but your level of service has been for us the epitome of what we should hold up in high esteem as a community and I hope that the people here see it as an example that we can all honor and continue to push forward as a community and it's extremely important I think that the people that got up and spoke for you today are are a testament uh to who you are in your service I think that Mr Amato you could have said it any better it was amazing uh I think that something that maybe is goes unnoticed is that the union got up here and thanked you and I think that alone in itself speaks volumes about your service and the type of character that you had because it is not that hard for you to piss off a union who you were somewhat opposed with and you managed to keep them happy through your service enough that they got up here and gave you flowers and thanked you and I think that's an amazing thing so thank you so much I appreciate it it's uh it's not goodbyes I'll see you later I can't believe that your service is ending but I'm so grateful for all that you did for us and and I'm very grateful for all that you did for me thank you John very much you shouldn't you shouldn't be Che I deserve it I deserve it thank you so much thank you to every needed something to deal with the nervous energy Mr dton I have to say something but I did have to prepare it because I have to stick to my script so first of all it's not goodbye no it's see you around in other settings I'd like to offer my gratitude for our friendship Although our time together has been brief I truly appreciate your support and words of encouragement throughout our time serving together one of my guiding quotes in life is won by Dr Maya Angelou and it's be a rainbow in someone else's cloud when Dr Angelou speaks of this quote she references the kindness that's been extended to her many times over the years by many folks and how she carries that with her no matter what challenge she has to take on no matter what she's faced with in life she carries the memory of all those other people with her and that kindness your kindness is a fellow board member and friend to many will be a reminder to me and others for years to come we will miss you thank you for your kindness thank you and your service thank you Mr Dalton thank you you guys okay um John what a wimp man big bab I mean I thought I was a babying for a minute there you know jard thanks for bringing us back te effort so uh uh um I this is actually six years ago was my first board meeting here and Denise was president when I was uh uh pick when I was um filling the shoes for uh John stupy and I remember being interviewed by by Denise and I remember um that whole process and uh you know I just wanted first I just wanted to thank her for um for all her support and kind of bringing me on this board and and all the support that she's giv me Through The Years um I um what I think whenever I think about Denise um I I gave a a speech at Mammoth University the other day and uh they talked about I was talking about what it means to be successful and and one of the uh aspects of being successful is I always thought that caring is something that is uh is the Hallmark of being successful that if you can't care about things and you don't know how to care about things that are important to you then you're never going to excel you're never going to be successful and when I think about Denise I really think about a person um holy John I think about a person who's just uh genuinely a caring person and uh and puts herself is a selfless person and and really just cares about uh the people around her cares about doing the right thing whatever that might be and cares you know just cares and uh I think that's something that's in your DNA I don't think you can can teach I think it's uh and I think it's something that you know also becomes contagious and um and so for for all you've done for this board you know for all the listening for all the uh um level-headedness that you provided I think the number one thing that I would say is the is the amount that you have shown you're caring about every person and every situation and uh and for that I'm uh I'm very humbled by it and very grateful for it so um you know I when I when I came on this board I didn't I didn't know you know how it was going to go um you were you became a a mentor a friend um and just somebody that you know throughout the years I really enjoyed uh talking with and being challenged by and having some good conversations with it's really been um a real joy for me and uh and uh I will you're always going to be at the top of my list of of special people in my life so I just really want to thank you for all you've done here thank you Mr Weinstein I really appreciate it um you know I thought this was going to be oh I'm sorry go ahead m a lot of the words resonate I mean I'm a first year uh board member so you're caring approach and the voice of reason always to go to with uh some sometimes a chaotic world was very very helpful so Mr mod uh highlighted it nicely where he said a model to model so I hope I could uh you know following your thank you thank you m d I just want to thank you I wish I had more time with you in the one year that we had together I've learned so much I hope to follow in your footsteps and wear the same types of pets that you have and the caring that you shown just like everyone said here so I'll keep it really short but I'm really happy I at least got one year with you I appreciate that thank you so much um Miss taro I just wanted really short and sweet thank you very much for all your service through all these years it's been a very nice five years with you thank you and I wish you all the best in the future and you'll definitely be missed thank you I appreciate that very much and I thought this was going to be easy and um it's not and as my family knows I'm not a crier so I'm going to try and get through this and I just jotted a few things down here so I may stumble a few times um when I began this journey I promised to keep it short male but I when I began this journey many many years ago um I lasted one term and at the end of that term I decided that I didn't want to run again that it wasn't for me and three board members pulled me aside and and convinced me to stay and it was one of the best pieces of advice that I ever got and it was probably one of the best decisions that I ever made um being here has allowed me the opportunity to be a part of this school district who many of you who know me very well I have loved since I was a child and I've always loved being here and this just added my time here and I I didn't fully understand why it had to be 22 years but I'm really really glad that I lasted 22 years I have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my time here on the board it has been one of my greatest Journeys and accomplishments in life except for my children um it has it has added so much to my life and it has changed it changed the trajectory of of my life in many many many ways um and I have to say that um I have I have met some of the most incredible people here and um I have never taken this position for granted for I know that it's not a given and so to the to the people out there that voted for me the community at large thank you for giving me this opportunity time and time again um it is greatly appreciated and I've appreciated you supporting me um all these years it has meant the world to my family who has supported me all these years they gave up a lot for me to be here and um many times when I you know they needed something on a Tuesday night sorry guys I have a board meeting and they just figured it out and now I have no more excuses my Tuesday nights are now open so thank you to my poor husband who hasn't had me on a Tuesday night really had me at home on a Tuesday night for a very long time so thank you all for your support to my board uh colleagues past and present I have learned something from each and every one of you there isn't one board member that I that comes to mind that I can honestly say didn't teach me something of value and it has meant the world to me your friendship your your support the camaraderie that we've had we've disagreed disagreed with many board members but at the end these meetings I have appreciated the conversation I have appreciated um you you know giving your opinions and whatever whatever they were we we went on we went on with our daily lives um and and I truly truly love all of you and um I have made some amazing friends because of it um on the current board pass boards many many pass boards and um I will never forget that and take that for granted so thank you thank you so very much to um I'm almost done to the administration I am amazed by all the work that you do and it was one of the first things that I noticed when I came onto this board and to every administrator that I've sat on this dayis with um I I am amazed at the work that you do and to the principes and teachers and support staff that's out there um you work hard you work really really hard each and every day and I've seen it seen it with my own eyes and the most important thing as Mr Weinstein said is you care you care about every single child and the time that you spend with every single child with with the issues and and everything that goes on in dist in the district is amazing to me and I look up to all you I've I have looked up to all of you and I will continue to do just that so I will miss you all but I promise you all one thing and that is that on Tuesday nights I will not be watching the Housewives with Mr Jano I promise you that but I will miss you all very much and I and I know that this that this district will go far and we will continue to grow and do amazing things so thank you I will miss each and every one of you it has been my honor and my privilege to serve you thank [Laughter] Youk this is the epitome of a Spartan Legacy thank you so much thank you all right is there any other old business from the board is there any new business from the board okay we will now move on to public comment on any item uh just a reminder that public participation shall be governed by by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others wish to speak on that topic have been heard and the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time still me I know how special you are because I remember other board members who left and nobody cried and they didn't get flowers so I congratulate you on how very special you are and how beloved You Are by fellow board members some of who who never call never text never see again no just kidding uh again congratulations I wish you all the best of luck without Mrs palus uh to be that you know rock that she's been for the last 21 years but Mr long and I have to beat our path back to where we came from um thank you all very much for your hard work and I think you got like 20 years to you know catch that record so thank you thank you so much is there anyone else that would like to make any public comment okay Miss Conway is there anyone in the queue um I just want to say thank you Madame President for serving this school district with Grace and dedication for many many years and there are no further commenters thank you Miss Conway may I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting motion may I please have a second second meeting is adjourned please have a wonderful holiday and all the best in 2025 thank you so much you're --------- ##VIDEO ID:5qHaTe8J5Yg## Welcome to our December 10th Workshop meeting thank you for joining us um I have no presence report this evening so I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent great thank you good evening everyone I have a few announcements this evening um just want to bring everyone's attention to some upcoming events we began today with our early dismissal for elementary conferences so elementary schools are are operating on an early dismissal schedule today through Friday while uh teachers are meeting with parents and families to go over um student progress this school year so keep that in mind that we're running on an early dismissal schedule uh also coming up December 16th we have the Tois fifth grade chorus concert on December 18th we have the OTS Winter band concert at 7 both of those events are at 7 pm on December 19th we have the Tois band and choir Winter concert at 700 p.m. and on December 20th next Friday the entire district is operating on an early dismissal schedule so I just put that out there as a reminder to families this is also in my monthly uh newsletter that went out last beginning of last week all of these upcoming events for the month of December are listed there for your reference schools will be closed from December 23rd through January 1st and we return to school on January 2 second when we return we have an event a districtwide event at being ho hosted at Tois on January 8th this is for all families all par I'm sorry all parents in the district and this will be a presentation by the mom County Department of Human Services highlighting all of the services they offer and how our families can access them that event begins at 7:30 p.m. at Tois that evening on January 8th also hot off the press Mr Amano just handed me this month's Community magazine where our Intermediate School Lounge here Mr am does it have an official name uh that's it's just it's going to be the garden that's right by our Atrium in the fifth grade wi interior um Garden in our fifth grade wi so if you have a chance pick up the community magazine and read a little bit more about this initiative that's excellent great job okay that I that's it for event I would like to now present to the board some information about chronic absenteeism um Mrs Conway if you could please present The Chronic absenteeism attachment so I can share some information with the board in the public um the state of New Jersey Department of Education is looking more closely at student attendance since we've returned from remote learning and and the pandemic the school Statewide school closed due to the pandemic um you know the state is noticing a change in student attendance in in the wrong direction um and so they're asking districts to look more closely at their own attendance and be able to work towards improving student attendance and when a district is found to have more than 10 10% or more of students considered chronically absent then the schools are asked to put in place action plans um and we have been working this year to put in place action plans for Wayside Elementary School the intermediate school and the high school um so what you have before you is a plan for improving attendance that we the state requires that we complete this document and that we share it with you um but it is part of a bigger picture of things that we've been working on here in this District uh far before this evening and far before the the month of December where all of our principles presented this summer at Dr Morgan's professional development for administrators on the state of attendance in their schools and the initiatives they were going to be putting in place this school year to make a difference in that area so um just to paint a picture around what we're doing we're going to go through this presentation okay so Mrs Conway if you could please advance okay so just to look at our numbers we are looking at the 2223 school year data Wayside School had a 10% chronic absenteeism rate right there as I said the barometer for for doing these plans is 10% or more the high school 16% and Tois 10.8% we will soon be looking at the 2324 data as well but it is embargoed right now and cannot be shared publicly when we look at the 2223 data in addition to the schoolwide rates we also look at subgroups that may need specific attention um because they have a an elevated rate of absenteeism so you see here for Wayside School it's the Asian native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander subgroup for Tois it's two or more races and for OTS it is Hispanic two or more races students with disabilities economically disadvantaged and grade 12 okay um um so if you could please go to the next page Mrs Conway okay so what we look at districtwide and this is some of the work that we did this summer was to group students based on a watch list a warning list or at risk chronic absenteeism is when a student for for a student is when they are absent more than 10% of the school year so roughly if a student is enrolled in our district for 180 days which the majority of students are once they hit 18 days absent which is just less than twice a month they they are considered chronically absent and they go on a list for a school as chronically absent when a school reaches 10% of their student body on that list they are then as a district as a school considered they have a chonic absenteeism rate of 10% or more and that's how it's calculated so we have been monitoring students and providing them with different interventions based on whether they have 5 to 10 absences 10 to 15 absences or more than 15 absences right and the idea is if they're enrolled here for 180 days we want them to be less than 18 days abs and if they're enrolled here for only 60 days then their number is less right so we have to keep that in mind because that does happen too when we we are counted for students who are enrolled here for shorter portions of the Year their days of absence are also less before they hit that chronically absent trigger okay um if you could please go to the next page Mrs Conway okay so we we part of what the state looks likes districts to do is to get some information about the perception of parents around attendance so we did ask we put out a parent survey to these three School communities and these were the results we got back parents perceptions regarding the reasons why students are chronically absent illness was the highest response from all three schools you can see the percentage is there school is not engaging for students very very small percentage there you can see it's even it's less than 1% the high school and and no responses to that answer at the other two schools students do not feel safe there were no answers to that uh no indication of that from the respondents students just feel like staying home again no responses to that at Wayside at T and 1.3% at the high school students have other more important commitments 1.3% at Wayside 6% at Tois and 7% at OTS and then the next after illness the next highest category was other other was a myriad of things most of which was vacation so it was family vacations there were doctor's appointments some people put sick which you know if I de dig down a little deeper I could count with illness and that might change these results a little bit but I didn't want to play with the results I wanted to take them as they came in purely um some of the others were um you know mostly vacation oh um I'm sorry colge uh religious observance which is an excuse absence um that was the majority but the principles will H will have these results and they will look at their respondents and they will drill down a little bit deeper as to what those reasons were and they will be reaching out to families if they feel like someone provided their name and there's some confusion which also came across like my child should be excused for college visits well they're actually is a pathway to be excused for three College visits at the high school level if you're in grade 11 and 12 so what what we found from the survey was that there is a degree of not knowing of not knowing our the attendance policy of not knowing how to report your student absent so that excused absences get recorded as excused absences and unexcused absences are hopefully minimized okay this comway can you go to the next page please all right so we have to list out things we are already doing the state provides a number of strategies and we have to indicate the ones we are already doing so we are already ensuring resources and funding are sufficient to ensure all students receive a quality education and SAR opportunities to thrive and achieve in school career and college we welcome each Family and Child at the beginning of the year at drop off points throughout the year providing a friendly greeting to each family and to each student at the classroom door and we've only gotten better at that over the last few years with the way we communicate with families and try and meet families where they are with L with language translation services and more staff able to communicate better with our F we offer before and after care and Early Education please go to the next page Miss Conway we provide a safe and clean environment we provide breakfast to students we provide clubs activities extracurriculars that promote attendance and we promote culturally responsive teaching and social and emotional learning please go to the next slide okay so now we have to put in place after we've reviewed all of the things we already do where we stand with attendance based on the feedback from parents as well what do we think we need to work on so what we think we need to work on is commuting is better communicating student attendance to parents making sure that parents are aware of their child's attendance also improving the perception around attendance providing clear information about excused and unexcused absis I as I had just said and meeting regularly as building teams to assess our attendance and intervene earlier than waiting till the end of the year and just taking a look at our attendance rates right so that is something that we have already put in place we've already had data cycle meetings somewhat align aligned with the marking periods to monitor student attendance and intervene call families talk to students and make sure that they understand also as a district-wide initiative I did send a letter to fa to the entire District about attendance and about the following the appropriate steps to report your attendance we talked about there's an entire list of religious observances that are excused but when you call your child out you have to say my child is out because we are observing this religion today and so then therefore the office can recorded correctly if you are going to a college visit students in grades 11 and 12 are allowed three per year if you are attending take your child to work day that is an excused absence for all students if you part participate in Veterans Day activities if you participate in Election Day activities for Board elections all of those can be excused absences which we believe we need to do a better job of communicating to our families um and making sure that not only informing our families so that they have the knowledge but also making sure that people in our schools receiving those calls ask specific questions in order to make sure that we're coding the absence the right way so all of those initiatives are are underway here um the the bottom line is an illness is it is not an excused absence and that is the majority of the reason why students are absent and we want them to stay home and much day we don't think that they should come to school when they're not feeling well they need to be at their best and and that's just a reality of life so hopefully we are able to reduce these numbers um but we are certainly not encouraging ing families to send their child to school when they are not well so we want to be careful about that message okay um Miss Conway can you advance the next page okay so then we have to talk about different strategies that we're going to use in order to meet those three areas where I mentioned we feel like we need to put more attention um we are making attendance and item for all future events talking to parents at parent conferences about attendance and making sure they're aware of this information that I have sent out we are meeting as teams to regularly review attendance and address it and pro provide intervention as necessary as you saw in a few slides back we're going to seek resources for more intensive strategies like mentoring programs and counseling and if you could go to the next page this Conway also utilizing our inrs team and our tiered intervention teams to look at atten with everything else Behavior academics so that we are assessing the whole child and putting in place learning and behavioral interventions necessary for that child to meet with success okay so those are the strategies we're going to use if you could please go on to the next slide and then we are going to as as a districtwide team evaluate how we're doing on implementing those strategies probably about halfway through you know if we're if we're uh formalizing this plan now probably around February or March and then again if you go to the next slide we will formal formalize our results and reflect on our Effectiveness when we when we have completed this school okay so that those slides are to be filled out as we go through the school and we just want to share that information with you and let you know that this is something that we are working on as a dig Mrs Gilman has question okay one of the issues at hand few back was the fact that parents were not calling in I remember we used to when maybe not calling in and explaining the reason explaining the reason I don't want to necessarily say they're not calling in okay parents are not calling the school with consistency to confirm a student's absence we used to have a call back from high school to the parent but now they're right now phone number but that doesn't help us because that is the parent telling us the reason okay so we're we're upping our communication to them live communication so we can make sure that we know the reason the reason thank you anyone else any questions SC that the par of perception survey how did that align with the actual reported explain a littleit more well you were making it the parents perception was that most kids are out because of illness because of illness and in reality they were they were under reported in illness or actually reported high on illness so yes I would say that what we found is that Pann are not reporting the other reasons with any consistency was the highest report they were just really reporting an absence mostly Illness but not many other reasons call at the high school level College visits um but not being specific have a question about Genesis is there a way on Genesis where parents could submit themselves like their child's absent the reason maybe even download you know doctor form or whatever just write into Genesis so that there aren't so many phone calls andus we don't have an upload option for parents in in Genesis uh on a daily basis we reported there parents can see that their child is absent um I'd have to look a little bit further into it whether or not we would accept but you know sometimes parents give their students their login and the students log in through the parent portal and that would I would want to look into a little B further um two questions one is if um does a does a student kind of tap out on the number of days that they're absent before it stops counting against the school if somebody's abs in 35 days we that just continue to keep walking the maps andos against so if a student is absent for 10 days in a row or family is taking a vacation that's going to last two weeks we do often suggest that they uh sign out and reenroll when they return because they don't allow for you to take it to vacation in the middle but if someone is out absent one day here one day there two days here three days there and It ultimately ends up adding to 35 we really don't have any recourse to drop them from our roles and just the reason we're talking about this is because there this somebody has determined that over a certain number of days absent starts making them an atress student that that's what that's the state is requiring school districts to look more closely at to to address atress students because of attendance to address chronically absent students chronically absente okay I just want to play out that so what are what are our like this is important I appreciate this being reported to us but what are our consequences here like what is we have to present this to you and we have to continue to have a cap in any school that we cannot bring below 10% cap stands for corrective action corrective action progr so we have to keep working on these interventions but I guess more like from a perspective of somebody who has more experience than I do with education what are the con consequences of chronic absenteeism is it are there juvenile issu you know disciplinary issues in students that are chronically absent or or there education issues you know do we find that this leads to lower test scores and all those kinds of things yeah I would think that that you would make the connection that's someone not coming to school is not engaged in school and not on a path to success doesn't it's not a hard and fast rule but the only reason the only reason ask that is because one of the things was vacation right um it doesn't sounds like that's a different thing you know family goes wants to go away to Disney for extra three or four days it sounds like it's in a different category Than People a vacation is an unexcused absence of which as you could see the other which was primarily vacation results was you know 25% in one school I think 17 in another yeah if you Rec categor them correctly like if I move out all the SI have you kind of thought you recategorize them correctly do you think we would do you think we'd be a lot lower on those other no no no I think there was a a a Sprinkle of my child was sick instead of someone selecting illness tellement there were some like that how to attend Services how to travel to attend Services those were some of the responses just have a question about um the consequences for the students so attendance probation you just give a little overview of what would happen to the students once they reach a certain amount and then what attendance probation is well it's different at every school okay so um well the two schools I guess that are having the biggest issue right so the high school well there's so this is different we're not talking about D this is daily attendance to school I believe you're speaking but please correct me if I'm wrong is when a student is in danger of losing credit for a course which is only at High School level right where credit counts towards graduation and that's different than these numbers this is not what we're being rated on this is not what the state is looking at at all that's just an attendance practice at the high school when a student is missing a certain number of days they go on probation and then when they hit another level of days they lose credit for the class and they can feel that decision okay so that has nothing to do with the that has nothing to do with this because that is course byour attendance a student could be on attendance probation in Period one only and have perfect attendance in Period two three that's and are are there detentions for that or no no thank welcome okay good okay all right and then our uh the last part of my report we have the high school team here this evening to present uh on the last leg of their tour of presenting this their proposal for a a high school schedule read design like to introduce Mrs kazuba and if Mrs Hagerman and Mr Jackson are joining you or you know what the Flor for sure I'm gonna stay a little closer to the screen this time just because there are some things that I want to point out but I do want you to know this is an a whim it's something that has taken quite a considerable amount of time and reflection and movement um Mrs Conway if you could please forward the sign first of all let me thank you again for uh having me here tonight I'm going to try not to take up so much of your time but I'm sure you'll have some questions at the end so you can read this uh slide for yourself but it just kind of covers the scope of time and the different stakeholders that we've involved in the process throughout um including Administration our staff students and parents uh we've had a lot of interaction and a lot of different types of feedback along the way Miss kway if you could progress the slide so as we went into it we really wanted to take a look at what were the strengths of our current schedule what what were the reasons that it was created what did we hope to gain from it and did we gain those things from it and there were several strengths it certainly increased opportunities for exploration prior to the semester block that we have now we had um I believe kid students were able to take seven classes with the move to block they were able to take eight expand the period to allow for more in-depth lessons so we went from I think it was 42 minutes to 82 minutes per class increased instructional time um I don't remember the number for how many additional minutes per year but it did accomplish that goal and in addition it offered opportunities for senior options for release internships and other networking opportunities so we were pretty committed to maintaining as much as we could of those if we were going to make a change having addressed the strengths we also got feedback about what were the challenges of our current schedule Mrs um Conway if you could progress the slide so we had several these came from students they came from teachers primarily classes are too long we were seeing some inconsistent use of the last 20 minutes approximately of time in the class continuity of instruction and testing Equity I want to save for the end marking periods are too short we have about 22 to 20 four days in every marketing period it's a very short span of time to actually visibly see student growth and that presented a challenge and then also matching classes for APS so we're actually running two different schedules we're running an AB schedule which is a full year schedule and we're running a semester schedule at the same time so you can't match a full year course to a semester course of course that runs half year so you're kind of forced into matches now sometimes you can get a Fed sometimes there might be something in the other block that appeals to you but if there isn't something in that matching block you're faced with a choice of take an AP that you didn't hope for so that you can get this AP that you really want hope that you get a Fed or worse yet not Tak an AP at all in terms of continuity instruction this was huge for our staff you know when people look at it they look specifically at math and World languages that is very difficult to have Algebra 1 in September of your freshman year and not have geometry until the January the end of January of your sophomore year it's difficult in terms of continuity of math instruction something which builds upon each other time after time the same is true for World languages right that can happen um but it's also true as an English teacher it's also true in the writing process it's also true in ful year reading so we see that lack of continuity really impacting how much our kids read how much our kids write and in terms of Tex testing Equity we're we're having njsla testing right now fresh for freshmen freshmen have been in school since September there are a lot of days off from September until this week in December in ter you know we had rash sh we had Yer we have um mostly a delay for PSAT we also have Thanksgiving and teachers convention so a lot of missing days in that time the kids still have five more weeks of instruction in math or Ela and they're taking the test now when they take the spring njsla they take it in the last week of May when there're only two more weeks of instruction so in terms of the amount of instruction that happens for our kids in the fall versus those in the spring is vastly different in addition to that the maturity level of the students is different so student taking that assessment in early December is very different I know it doesn't sound like so much time but very different maturity wise especially in transitioning to the high school in April when the njs njsla is given if you only have one test so that's testing Equity if we can move to the next slide oh wait go back I'm sorry go back I didn't want you to see that yet okay so as I said our goal was to find a a schedule that would address the challenges while maintaining the strengths of our Uh current schedule okay now we can progress but before you look at the schedule I want to say that I forgot what I wanted to say so I'll just to the schedule so we um did a lot of research we looked at a lot of different schedules there is no perfect schedule there's no research that indicates this schedule is better than that schedule so so what we determined was that we were going to find one that worked best with our situation with our kids with our needs and that led us to the rotate and drop schedule so many districts in mammed County are using rotate and drops some more recent than others um we had the benefit of seeing several of those schools visiting several of those schools but the basic premise is this students will have eight classes there are morning sessions and there are afternoon sessions and each one of those sessions will drop one class a day so even though they have eight classes and they're responsible for eight classes they'll only take six in a given day the original model of this schedule um as many of the schools currently use it it goes one two three 234 341 412 a student in one of the schools that we spoke with actually made the recommendation saying doesn't it make more sense to start with the class that you didn't have the day before because it feels like a more natural progression so we tweaked it and it goes one two 3 4 One Two 3 4 One Two 3 4 which is a huge benefit in terms of remembering where it is that you need to be but in addition to that it eliminated some logistical challenges we were facing with that original schedule so we presented that tweak to our staff um in October and in multitudes they preferred the move one two 34 so that was great um people ask why are we doing a well I'll talk about the unit lunch in a minute but why is it morning and afternoon why aren't we just rotating blocks one through eight six periods in a day and maybe sometimes eight being here and that's to accom for vocational students you have to structure it morning and afternoon to allow for our students to leave for am voke and those to return from PN voke and still have a full course uh course load it's a regular 4day cycle so we would have a through D days and every class meets three out of those four days and as the note at the bottom says it does provide for all of the must haves now I'm pretty sure and I'll show you that in a second I'm pretty sure your question is how are you going to like how are you going to do it unit lunch what does a unit lunch mean um Mrs Conway if you could please please forward the slide so unit lunch is basically the vast majority of your school having lunch at the same time so yes that means feeding 926 this year students at the same time all of the schools we visited use unit lunch there are a lot of benefits to it we've already investigated what that would look like at the high school we would use multiple locations the cafeteria the gym the library both of our outdoor areas one of which is limited right now because classes happen during lunch and limited quiet classrooms quiet spaces and classrooms all students would eat together and most staff would eat at the same time I say most staff because we would want our counselors our CST our sac and our admin all to be on during lunchtime so that if they needed to have group sessions or wanted to have lunch Bunch they would have opportunities for that it also opens some other possibilities for collaboration between students it opens opportunities for uh teachers who already are having students come to their classes for extra help to come all students have lunch at the same time teachers have lunch at the same time it would allow for that and if there were say homecoming dance coming up and student council really needed to meet that week they could have a working lunch with permission from us so a lot of different opportunities open up with unit lunch as I said we've already met um Mr Hastings and I met with sedexo did a walkth through of the locations and areas and and talked about ways that we can facilitate that so we're excited about the unit lunch okay if you could progress the slide so how did we do well we certainly have continued to allow for the increasing of opportunities we're not going back to seven blocks of responsibility it'll be eight expanding the period to allow for more depth in lessons now along the way we determined that about 60 Minutes was The Sweet Spot I don't know if you noticed in the schedule but we we got pretty close we got 56 minutes per class which was a nice um compromise increased instructional time this one is supposed to say check plus not that one the reason this one says should be a check plus is because that is in direct relation to our current schedule so our current schedule already increased instructional time from the previous schedule this schedule increases instructional time in the course by three hours per year so a huge addition of instructional time which is C something I'm certain we can all appreciate and we still are able to maintain senior options for early release internships and networking and we also managed to address the challenges the shorter block obviously a reduced Gap in classes instructions spread over a longer period of time which allows for better retention and building of those skills a smaller number of AP comp uh conflicts and I say smaller because we offer 22 to 24 AP classes in a given year and only have eight blocks there's going to be overlap but it's not going to be that same um you have these five to change choose from testing Equity clearly because we'll be doing the test at one point in the year and of course the unit lunch which brings so many people together if we could Advance the slide so there are other benefits I'll talk about those and also some considerations I want you to know that we don't have Perfection yet but we're working toward it and we'll be working with our staff tour better it's we considered a benefit for each day to start n differently you know there are certain classes that kids like to avoid maybe that's why they're out first block and then they decide not to come for the rest of the day because it was nice to stay home this with this schedule your block changes every day first thing in the morning common lunch allows students to have lunch with all f with friends maybe not all friends but with your friends um I have been assured by the guidance Department that most of the calls they get over the summer other than I don't like this elective is but I but if I have that class I won't have lunch with Betty and I really want to have lunch with Betty got to change my schedule um engage with material over a longer period of time I already spoke about that increased attention because our kids have lost some of that attention span over the course of covid and various um we talk about it with cell phones and social media their attention spans have gotten shorter it will hopefully allow for increased attention and then trips athletic competitions Etc have less impact on a single class so for example our swim team just thinking of them because this is the time of year for swim often has have to leave early so if they're leaving early today it's block four tomorrow next week in January it will be block four but with a new schedule that rotates it would be a different class in many cases each time as I said there are considerations student and teacher responsibility at one time increases so right now my staff teaches two or three courses at a time of about 50 40 to 70 students they would move to teaching five to six classes at one time with their whole roster of students for the year our kids will be moving many of them most of them from four classes of responsibility at a time to eight classes of responsibility at a time that brings up some real concerns about homework and class assessments because even though teachers are ultimately going to have more time to work with their kids and students are going to have more time to build those skills and retain that information initially it's going to feel like less right because they're going from 82 to 56 and how are they going to get that homework how are they going to get that work done we don't want the feeling to be that it's more homework um and another is remember remembering the schedule in time management I'm not really worried about this one there's an app out there that kids can use kids will be the first to understand it it's those of us that have to that are going to have the more difficult time the adults but these two are real and I will tell you in the conversations that I had with students when they came down to the lunchroom I'm running out of time okay I ran out of time um anyway so we we are going to be talking about those if we could progress the slide if you grant us permission to have these delayed openings coming up in February March April and May there are 2hour delays it would be students only and that will give us the opportunity to find answers to some of those questions to do better planning yes staff only did I say students only I meant students only delay staff only gets to be there staff gets to be there the full day um we use the two hours at the start of the day to do professional development with our staff and the stud will come on a delayed that's the proposal thank you exactly and that you're going to be voting on later okay I think we can go to the next slide questions yes on the uh unit lunch is it first come first serve or the kids get assign those locations so they get to pick their locations we have planned right now for three separate locations they can pick those locations yeah and so the plan is that they're allowed to roam for about the first 20 minutes very much we're modeling it after the schools that we saw because they did such a great job with it we actually witnessed two of those full lunches both schools where we saw the full lunch um were much larger than us and they had the one school was melan high school they had 1,50 students with their food within five minutes um it was it was very impressive that's that's so we're modeling our plan after theirs and yes they get to choose where they go the first 20 minutes at the 20 minute Point wherever they are they have to remain and that allows for better cleanup for management of the kids and then we release them to go back to their classes Al together thank you for the question Gilman Miss Gilman I am just thrilled with this oh good when the lck was introduced the 82 minutes my biggest concern was the continuity of instruction for me on Lang reading and writing and I always felt it was kind of inequitable that the AP would have a full year and the students that needed it most would have a half a year and I'm concerned that it may have affected our test scores in the long run so and the other concept was that well reading and writing will be taught in all the other classes whether it's science or whatever and that just wasn't happening and it's just a different kind of analysis a different way of reading right it was it was it's not the you know this essay needs to be you know refined or whatever so I I'm I'm very happy to see that we're moving to more Equitable uh continuity of instruction for all of our students and I think that your point about the 60 Minute sweet spot is absolutely right um I think after that it becomes well take out your homework and you can start on that now and that wasn't what the block was meant to do and although students had the opportunity to perhaps take more more more courses I think you've retained that in your new schedule as well so congratulations to you and your high school staff what I think is going to be very successful going forward um and I apologize to the public um I did mention at the beginning of the presentation that if you have questions um you will be able to ask kassuba um so if you are not ready and uh to ask her any questions now you can definitely ask them during the public comment session so I will ask uh Miss Conway is there anyone right now that has any questions from Miss kassuba in regards to the schedule no Madame President there are no uh commenters at this point thank you very much is that it for the board good okay that concludes my report thank you wonderful thank you we will now move on to administrator's report Mr hting thanks Madam president um just two items to note uh on tonight's agenda is the award of our phase two boiler project at the T um this will complete the replacement of six boilers at that building uh so we'll have all new boilers which is great news for the heat um for those of us who have to be there in the winter um second item uh you may have seen the email that we had a waterline leak in front of the high school entrance this week um the contractor came out dug up the pipe it was a faulty collar on one of the pipes that was replaced quickly U but I wanted to uh commend our new director of facilities for uh being on top of that situation and getting the contractor out getting the uh repair done quickly uh so that most people uh didn't notice any interruption in service so uh my thanks to him as well great thank you Mr Hastings all right with that we will move on to action items Mr McCarthy like to present items 6.1 and 6.2 for discussion any questions comments or concerns on our reading minutes no okay Personnel will be voted on downstairs was discussed in executive session we will now move on to financial management and Resource Services Mr wi thank you madam president um so up discussion is .1 [Music] to 811 anybody want anything discuss I would just note that we have renewals of our cafeteria 125 plan providers that's a uh benefit for our staff to set aside money for co-pays and for some elder care options and uh also for accidental personal accident insurance as well and those are both on there because they run January to December for their contract want to have any other questions all right we will now move on to instruction education and Student Activities Mr Gilman thank you madam president for discussion we have 9.1 through 9.6 um any comments about the delayed opening we just saw the uh presentation of that questions comments we have our usual sorry go ahead so the just so I understand specifics and you know it doesn't matter this is all some stuff but what what does the staff need to do now they need are they actually going to like exercise this or they're going to discuss it or what what happens with these delayed openings just so we have some insight should I asked this when you're staying it's okay so so part of it is addressing those concerns we still have like how are we going to handle but ensuring that we don't give too much homework and so we're going to be looking at our curriculum mapping how do we move from an 82 minute and spr that material over 56 minutes for the course of the year so much of it will be that um we're really going to base it on what the staff says they need so we're going to be surveying the staff to say hey these are some we've already told them these are some options that we think are important what do you think is important in terms of what we do on those days um it could be having staff come in from some of those other schools we saw to talk about their transition for the different departments so it really they're not all fully planned yet because we want that feedback from our staff to know what it is that they really need and I neglected to mention but it did say it on the slide we won't only be using the delete openings for that we'll be using faculty meetings RPD day and um some department meeting time for that as well did did I answer your question what happens if like this never goes this way but like what happens if it all goes well and you guys knock it out of the park and you're done in two sessions not going to happen I don't no it's gonna be planned out for four sessions exactly there'll be they'll be some different topic it's eight hours of time correct I it feels like four days it's eight hours thank you okay thank you wel then the rest are the the usual items professional development internships just that last one there beign delay open negotiations was discussed in executive session and we will vote on that downstairs so at this time I will ask the board is there any old business is there any new business all right um we will move on to public comment on any item education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration superintendent's contact information is on the podium downstairs and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 5 minutes duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and lastly the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time is there anyone in the room no on M Conway is there anyone at the podium or downstairs no Madam president there's no virtual comment [Music] okay and is there anyone downstairs Mike is there anyone downstairs yes we have one comment I'm sorry I didn't hear that I'm here can you guys hear me Alex hi Miss okay I can go um thank you Miss pamus for um talking about how the public can ask questions at the two presentations I didn't hear that though when you said it and unfortunately I don't think still that folks know that if there's ever going to be a presentation at these meetings that that is now like the one and only time we can actually ask questions and have our questions answered um so regarding the presentation they will be answered tonight regarding the presentation yeah that's probably news to a lot of people um regarding the correct corrective action plan I'm just wondering where the treny officers come into to play um and this might be a little bit of what um John McCarthy mentioned some of the legal requirements of parents like where some of that is in um some of the wording or some of the presentation that um Miss Welden gave I think that piece might be missing um yes Communications can be better about you know what absentees are allowed and what are not and what are excused but I don't think everyone knows like the treny um rules so that was an observation um for example or not for example also um Miss Welden mentioned um students can take off for election but in that letter it's very confusing for when you said uh you can take off our election day that's the first I heard of that in what six years of coming to Schoolboard meetings and in the letter it says if students participate in District bard ofed membership activities on 11524 so it's a kind of vague way of saying you can volunteer or take the day off or do some kind of Civic service on Election Day so perhaps if it was worded differently people might actually know they can utilize that um I think there needs to be a much greater communication effort about the doctor's notes policies I think it raises a huge Equity problem in our district um I've been told from various schools that a doctor's note will help but it might not if your child is absent for a sickness and I think there is a parity and an equity issue with those families that are able to just run over to Urgent Care real quick pay the $40 get a doctor's note and then many families don't have the access or frankly even Insurance to do that um I love the idea of Genesis of being able to possibly post um doctor's notes or why the parent is calling in for the teacher be or the student being absent um I have some comments on the new high school um moving to the 55 or so minutes that's awesome I will Reserve that for the next discussion I did want to ask two other questions where do we stand on the building and request for information from the public um how many proposals did we get how many in requests for information did we get um where also do we stand on the new attorney for the school board um and I'm going to ask again if us getting rid of our previous Schoolboard attorney has anything to do with the two lawsuits facing the district one of the lawsuits being from the estate of a teacher who died during covid and then one also being a wrongful termination lawsuit against the district by a senior former administrator so I'm wondering if the um superintendent can address the need for a new attorney the lawsuits and the request for information on 163 Monmouth roow I think that's it for now thanks thank you Miss Hayes is there anyone else there's not okay thank you all right may I please have a motion to work thank you see you all downstairs