May I call the meeting of the Parcipony Troy Hills Board of Education to order on September 11th, 2025 in compliance with chapter 231 public law 1975 entitled Open Public Meetings Act. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the act in the
following manner. A meeting notice was published in the newspaper and on the district website on January 8th, 2025. In addition, the notice of the meeting was posted at the municipal building in the schools and a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk and transmitted to other newspapers on
August 25th, 2025. The daily record, the star ledger, parcipony focus, tap into paripony patch, and the district website. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 168. The recordings of these meetings will be available on our
district website and our video onthe-go YouTube channel. We ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in your statement. Professionalism is expected at all times. We are going to have the salute to the flag and after the the pledge um if you'll just please
join me in a moment of silence to honor the courage of those who died and the heroism of our first responders because this is 911 and you know it's been 24 years. So, first we'll do the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. Okay. May we have the attendance roll call, please?
Mrs. Abraham here. Mr. Bario here. Mrs. Delave here. Mr. Devito here. Mrs. Mayor here. Mr. Rehea here. Dr. Wright here. Mrs. Chappelle here. Mrs. Co.
Here we are up to student committee reports and we have two new students for the start of the school new school year. Um, yay. Asha, would you like to start for the hills? Hi, my name is Ashidita Patel and I'm
the the board of education representative for Parcipany Hills High School. So, a bit about myself. I like to volunteer. I volunteer at at the Hackinac Hospital, the ESL summer camp at Paripany High School and a nursing home in Montville. So, a few things
happening at our school. So, on the first day of school, September 2nd, the marching band did perform for us on the patio. Um, an upcoming event we have is freshman fun night, which is on September 22nd. Um, that's just a night hosted at our school where fresh can
freshmen can play games, eat food, and get to know each other a little bit more. Some of the games include charades, lip-sync battle, cup stacking race, and parcipany hills trivia. Um, and this event is run by and set up by the board and staff members. As for um
athletics, we have a girls tennis uh match at Morristown today and a boy boys soccer game at Montville. Um, as for rules, our principal is trying to implement a policy, the ID policy. He wants the IDs on at all times
during the school day for staff and students for extra safety precautions. Um, as for upcoming events, we are trying to still revise them, but we have the senior sunrise and the fall pep rally. Um, we're still trying to implement new ideas and revise them
before we, you know, actually make up the new things for the event. Thank you. Thank you. This is Sarvvesh or the Hi. Hello. Um, my name is Sarvvesh and hopefully you are all doing well. Thank
you for having me here today. Um, as the PHS representative for board of education leen, I am here to share with you updates on the latest happenings at our school. Today I would like to talk about our school's club fair picture day and the guidelines presentation held for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The
club fair was an excellent experience for nearly all students in PHS. It's time when students get to join clubs they find interesting and exciting. Many freshmen and new students were eager to get involved. Overall, the student reception was great. Secondly, I would
like to talk about picture day. Picture day was great and the weight lines to take pictures moved quickly. Picture taking process was also swift. In general, everything went well. Finally, I would like to talk about the guidelines presentation. The guidelines presentation discussed students student
expectations the late policy absences and important the importance of wearing an ID. Unfortunately, the presentation wasn't very wellreceived amongst many of the students. They felt the unexcused absence policy was unjust and having the meeting take place during lunch was a
bit annoying. I feel it is important that the board knows about the news from the perspective of the students. That is that is all I want to discuss with you. Thank you for having me here. Thank you. Are there any questions for our students? No. Thank you very much.
Thank you. At this time, we are going to do a committee um committee of the whole for the transportation committee. The chair is Mrs. Abraham. Would you like to start your committee meeting?
Sure. Thank you. Um welcome everybody. So, we're having a transportation committee of the whole. Um, we do have our um our friend Tiffany here to help us out with um all the information on this agenda. So, um we'll get right to
it. And uh first we're going to talk about STA routes for this year. Okay. So, for the start of the year, we have so we have two bids with STA. Um one of them has 81 routes on it. The other one has five. We've have them. We've been
renewing them. Um we were able to take three routes back this year. We were able to combine them. So that should save us about $167,000 which is good. Um the smaller bit is for VOTE. That one we has still have five routes on, but we did take one of the
routes and it does go to CCM now which saved us the route in the morning to CCM which is good. Um we had a nice opening. We really didn't have any problems. Everything went really well. Um, STA was actually really great. So, um,
everything's smooth with them and going well. Made little changes, but nothing major. So, that's good. Thank you. Um, would you be able to talk about the Paripany routes? Okay. So, our PCI routes, all of our drivers are back. Um, morning and
afternoon, we have 16 routes for different high schools. Five because we have we have we also do Roxberry, we do Mars Hills ourselves. We took all those back a couple years ago. Um so we have 16 high school routes, five middle school routes, um 19 elementary routes,
and five pre-k routes that we tier so that we can get them all done in the morning and the afternoon. Um midday we have 19 routes, prek, votech in and out um with the shared time kids and we have eight people assigned to work programs
for the start and special ed programs. So that's throughout our day. Um, so everybody's super busy, keep them busy, and all of our routes are again worked really well this year. Seemed to be good. Um, full. Yeah.
Crowded, but good. So, that's good. If anyone has How are the prek? No problems with the prek. No, it actually works out very well. Yeah, it actually is working out well. I was a little nervous. We were going to It was new, so it took a little explaining because nobody understood why
they were going to Littleton, but it was working out really well. We only go to Littleton at midday, so that works out. Okay. No, it's all been okay. Thank God. Um, orientation for secondary schools. So, we had orientation for high school
that Wednesday before school and then Thursday for middle school. Um, we used to pay SCA to come and do the routes for us. It's about $12,000 every year. Um, one some of the routes have like two sixth graders on them and two nth graders. So we just started taking our
routes and pulling them off and just making our own little route for middle like for for orientation. So our drivers are back anyway like doing you know practicing their routes and doing things like that. So we just kind of make little routes. It makes for a little bit of issue with timing just because the kids think they have to be out you know
at their specific time and maybe we're 2 minutes early or 5 minutes later but we just put that out there and it's worked. So we've done it for I think this is the third year and it went well. Um, I had our drivers aiding for on some of them so that we could have our meeting with the aids and then the drivers came in after. So, went
smooth and that saves us money and not using them for really to have two kids on a bus for that day. Yeah, definitely. Um, do we have an update on the academy and votech enrollments? I do. Um, so Denver, we have four buses that go
there. We have 152 underassmen this year, 64 seniors. Um, we don't bus most of the We don't any of the seniors, maybe two. Um, they have to find their own transportation once their senior year. Um, two of them couldn't get to CCM. We're the only township that says
we'll take them, but if we have room on the bus, we have extra seats. As long as they go by our timeline, we let them get on. Um, so we have total 170 and um or total 152 and 64. Last year we had 170
and 60. So it's gone down a little bit. Um Mars Hills we have 75. Last year we had 80. Mars Nolles we have two. We graduated four. So we have we had six last year. Um no one knew. Roxberry does have 12 which last year was 10. Randolph
has seven um which was six and Madison has five. Went up by one it was four. Okay. So it seems like not too drastic of No mostly mostly it's gone a little bit down. Randolph opened up a little bit of a new program, so they maybe went up by two kids, but other than that, it's
either stayed the same or went down a little bit. Good to hear. Thank you. Um, I know the parents get a guide to transportation. So, would you mention about the parent guide to transportation? Say that one more time. The parents have a guide to transportation. So, we have a parent guide to transportation. It is on the website. We
update it. Joey and I go over it every year before the school year starts. It literally has everything you could need in there. Every question you need answered is in there. No one, you know, they usually call first and I don't just tell them, "Go look at the the book." I have had parents this year call and say, "I read this in your book." Sometimes it
works in my favor, sometimes it doesn't, but it's in the book. So, if it's in there, we're good. Um, everything is in there. It's all outlined. There's a table of contents in there. So, any questions they have are in there. Um, and it is online and we do update it every year, so it's always there. I'm kind of hoping that they'll come and
call you to say thank you for making this transportation book instead of cooking. You can call me and say that. I would love that. Um, but yes, that's on there. It's been there for a couple of years and we just update it, you know, every year with just make whatever updates needed and the administration and whatever and that's there.
Good. Thank you. Um, do we have an update on any new bus students from the developments because I'm sure everybody wants to know. So, Jon made this nice little spreadsheet for us. So, um, Park has grown greatly. Now, there's
only two streets open there so far. two um Park and Willow Lane. There's like maybe 15 in there, all different trees. They haven't opened yet. Um but just right now we have 30 elementary kids at
East Lake, one uh four special ed students at different elementary schools within the district. Um one out of district special ed student, and one charter student living there, all in elementary school. um middle school there is 11 at Brooklyn
and three at the Hills and one at Votech and Denville. So that's grown it grew over the summer. Um and then 15 so 1515 Route 10 has three
buildings at only one is open. Oddly enough that's not 1515 it's 1501 which threw me off completely. Um, so right now there are um two elementary students there, three middle school students, and two high school students,
which I have on STA routes. Um, it's not as easy to get in there. We have to go all the way through campus drive to get in. It's like a whole another world back there. Um, but that's the only way in right now. There is an emergency entrance, but it's only for like fire, police.
I mean, those are the big We're not going through there. It's locked. It's locked off. We can't get in. So, we have to go all the way around. So, that is not as full yet. We're picking up right next to that building, but that's the only building open. And I don't know that everyone has moved in yet. Okay. Right. I don't think so either. Um the
other two that we have on our list is Avon, which is Campus Drive and Cherry Hill Road. They're not open yet. um the one at campus drive the architect did call us and ask you know where do you want which was very nice where do you where are you going to put a a bus stop where can we put it he gave me a drawing we picked
like a spot that was easier I said anywhere you want as long as you don't put like an overhang over it but no one's there yet so um we're waiting on that one any issues with it's the I'm assuming it's always full full size buses or the small buses too I mean depending I don't really want to
we took a Brooklyn route back that we didn't need that I was able Um, Lake Par. I don't have any big buses going to Lake Par. So, it depends on where they end up going to school. Um, and I took a Northdale bus back. I don't really want to use those and spend the money. So, if we have room on our smaller buses and I have a driver, we'll do that for now.
But, as they get bigger, like I I don't I don't want to send someone to 1510 or 1501 or whatever they call it. Um, it's going to grow quickly and then I'm going to have to change everybody's route. So, I just have the big buses going there now. We pay them. They can go in there. Um,
park it. It dep it's so big now. In the beginning, I had our bus going there. But now that there's 30 kids there, I mean, it's like being outside here in the morning. There's it's a full bus almost full of kids. So, um, right now, the bigger buses are going. I just added a stop onto the SCA route. So,
Okay. Thanks. Um, I did get a question about uh what's use of GPS on school buses. Um, and I know that we don't use GPS's, but how do brand new drivers um, know, I guess, how do they learn their
routes in a safe and easy way? Um, so our routing software gives them directions. Okay. So, it does give them directions. I do tell them to check it because every once in a while, and I don't do it, I drive it through and it gives it directions on how I told it and then every once in a while it has them go in a circle and I
didn't do that. So, we just check it and we go through it. Um, it does give them directions. Most of them know the town, so they know where they are. No one leaves with a route that they've never done before. Everybody practices them, make sure they know where they're going. Um, our spare people will go out and
look where they are and practice going forward, you know, first before they do they do them. Um, so if you mean GPS, like for directions. Um, well, do people use their own? I mean, they're not allowed. Some of them they do they have like a they have a phone part here they can't
use. They just put it on. They don't put the screen on and it'll tell them. But if that they use that if they're going on like a trip. Okay. They don't use it around town. Most of them know exactly where they're going and it's not an issue. STA, we don't allow them to use them on their bus. Yeah. Because if not, then they have AirPods and they don't have aids on their bus
and they need to be able to hear the kids, right? Um so we don't allow them to use it. So that's why I give them the routes the week before. Okay. And I tell them if you have changes, you need to do it the way I gave it to you for the first week. It may not be the way you want it and I don't have a problem changing it if it works, but I can't change it with the parents,
right? So, we do everything the first week the way that I gave it to you. Even if you tell me, hey, this is not working, we'll fix it the week after. So, Monday, we made a bunch of changes and we made some more for the 15th. Just just things that the drivers, they're the ones out there. So, if they think it works better
and it picks up the kids, you know, in a more efficient way, then we change it. But, we just have to do it the way I gave it to them the first week. But, they pretty much know where they're going. There is there any requirement of number of practices that they have to have before if they're brand new to do the route? Yeah. Like before school starts. I have them come and my drivers and like
our drivers I have them come and bring me back their route and sign off that they did it and that they knew where every place was that the children are on the right side of the road. You know, sometimes the map every once in a while it'll say the house is here and it's over here. I make sure they're on the right side of the road. Um and I make them sign off on it and I have a
route change sheet. So if it's something unsafe, we need to change it right away. Right. If it's something that you just think works better, then we change it the next week. So, I don't make them do it more than once or twice. Okay. But unless they have to, if they feel like more I have one driver who said, "I just am totally uncomfortable. I want to
know where I'm going." I said, "You can come back tomorrow." And he did it the next day. And he's been fine. Um, so whatever they're comfortable with really. Well, that's all I had as far as the agendas. Um, open it up for questions from everyone else.
Hello on park Q. Can you I got the 30 East Lake. What were the other updates? They are um so elementary like you said 30 East Lake. There are four students at different elementary schools in district
special ed students, one special ed student going out of district and one student in a charter school in Unity Charter. Okay. and um Avalon Bay, the one that's I mean looks like it's going to open any minute now,
but um we don't have anything on that, right? Nobody there yet. The first floor is open though. I thought I saw it was open. They've got a floor for the first floor only. Yeah. Okay. And no kids clearly. So that means it's coming. We've had one
call that said they're getting they were supposed to get their lease effective September 1st, but they haven't called back. Okay. And the only other thing I wanted to ask was um with the changes for
um buses for like sports and trips and whatever. Uh, I know we're at the early part of this thing, but how's that going as far as communications and what the folks need, what you guys can provide, like how's that working right now? You mean doing our own athletic trips,
how we're how we're getting them done? So, we have the way that I tiered the routes, we have like we have five or six drivers in the afternoon to do our trips. Okay. Um, P is great and found us um an old a coach at the Hills who used to coach who doesn't coach now who has a CDL. He's
now a spare driver for us. So, he'll come over if like we have a trip to Janeron, he'll come over and take the bus over. He'll do the trip in the afternoon for us, which is great. Um, we we hire in the last year and a half, we've hired one bus. We've been able to cover everything ourselves.
So, it's working out. The drivers want the work, so they want the work, we're good to go. We have sometimes um depending on the time, they're able to drop off and then a driver that did a route is able to go pick them up and wait for them. Um, it just depends. Like if the weather's bad, I don't want them leaving them there. So then we have to
kind of work it out. We don't know if it's going to start raining, but if it's nice out, they'll leave them and then somebody goes back to pick them up. It's It's been fine. It was fine all the spring. Um, it's working out okay. This we even do we've been doing sports trips for Votech. Okay. Which is great.
Right. Excellent. How about the for um trips, field trips in general, you know, especially the ones coming up in the future like October. So, I mean, it's it's the first few weeks of school, so we haven't had anything yet, but we have them they're all coming in. So, they're all booking
up for the summer and we have people during the day. So, we we have um when I do route picking, we have flex drivers, we call them, in their contract, so they don't have a specific route. They come in in the morning, they cover if people are out sick, um, and we need them, and then if nothing, they'll go home for a little while and come back to do a
midday. Um, but they stay on to do field trips during the day. So, they're they're the people that we try to try and make it the day before to tell them like, "Hey, come in a little later. We have a field trip." Um, whenever we do that, then someone calls out sick. So, I try not to make them come in too much later. Um, but they'll cover everything.
So, you know, they they know that if they sign out to be a flex driver, they don't have a set route. So, some of them don't like that. the others know they get a little bit more time on the clock because they're covering for everyone and then they're doing field trips. So, there's like a plus and minus to it. Okay. We have five of them this year, which is I mean other towns are hurting
for drivers. Our drivers are seem to be happy. Um we got a few more people asking to come in. So, we're good. Um we're good with that. So, sports is working out. Field trip should be okay. Uh I guess one one last followup and then I'll shut up. Uh the question is um
on the new process we're doing with the field trips. You know, we're we're asking for some of the finances. Um is that process in place? I mean, is everybody aware what the process is? Go ahead. We have a letter going out um next week,
next week to elementary parents. That's who it's new for. Okay. And we've updated all our forms so that all the principles and buildings are on board. Most importantly, the head secretaries who of course run the buildings, right? around the buildings. Great. Thank you. And high school and and middle school had already done it. So they know they
know we had already done it with them. Oh, okay. Good. They know they follow. It's just elementary that we're starting new with. We have a spreadsheet. We share it with the business office and it works out great. Thank you. So once again, you've done a wonderful job. We know that this is not easy. Uh
we know there's always going to be things that arise. Um but you always find a way to navigate them very smoothly. Um, I do want to highlight, um, we really appreciate your diligence and fiscal responsibility and trying to make a way to save money wherever you can. We're all working it out. It works out, thank God. So, that's good.
Yeah. Thank you so much. I have one question for you. So, you you've gone through a lot of wonderful things here and it's just amazing how smoothly it is all working out. Do you have any concerns that we need to know about? I I don't um
No, I don't. and tell us later. What? You could think about it and tell us later. No, I mean I I I we've talked about like the growing number of of kids, which is why um STA I keep those routes open in case we were to need them, they know
that if we have to jump in and say like, "Hey, these are opening up." Like I think that eventually 1515 Route 10 is going to need its own bus by itself. At this point, Park does need its own bus for elementary almost. So, um, we have them if we need them. Um,
but right now we're good. I mean, we have a great my team like our little team works really well. Everybody's they're early. They're late if we need them. So, we're good. Thanks. That's great. Good. Like Sheisel said, if you if you do anything, you you just reach out.
Thank you. So, Tiffany and I have already begun to discuss some opportunities. You know, we spend a ton of money on on transportation and we can't look at it year by year by year. We're going to need to look five years out. So, we've already started to come up with some
ideas. What can we do? What what do we want the transportation department look like in five years? And how can we save money over those five years? So, we're pulling some costs together during the the the budget window. We'll start to discuss them. A lot of them couldn't be implemented in the first year, but if we're certainly heading that direction,
we can start to shift stuff around. But there are both on maintenance and and routing our students. There's opportunities on both sides. Anybody else questions, comments? All right. Yeah. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you coming out.
Thank you. Um, you know, sitting here and telling us all this uh wonderful news and thankfully it is all good news. Very happy to hear it and knock on wood that it stays that way. Thank you. All right. So that finishes
our transportation committee meeting for committee of the whole. We are now up to the student safety data system report. Dr. Moloon. All right. Tonight's bulletin. On tonight's bulletin, you will see the
SSDS report for the 2024 25 uh report to report period 2, which references incidents from January 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2025. This report is a culmination of harassment, intimidation, and bullying bullying incidents,
substance abuse incidents, as well as incidents of violence, vandalism, and weapons in our 14 district schools. It's important to note that the board of education reviews, ask questions, and discusses incidents of HIP and suspensions at each BOE meeting so they can be proactive and provide suggestions
and helpful ideas. While we would like to see zero incidents in our schools, the reality is the district has 14 schools and almost 7,000 students. So we really do our best to um handle these in a tactical, appropriate, proficient, humane manner. I'd like to introduce
Mrs. Cor Regesa, coordinating supervisor of guidance and medical services to report on the program for determining grade self- assessment. Good evening everyone. Each year, every school is required to evaluate its implementation of the anti-bullying bill of rights act through its school safety
and school climate team. The self- assessment scores shared with you reflect our district's performance for the 24 2024 2025 school year. Please note that the maximum possible score a school can receive is 78 points. The
self- assessment tool is structured around eight core elements, each aligned with specific requirements of the anti-bullying bill of rights. Examples of these core elements include training on policies and procedures, HIP personnel, and incident reporting
procedures. Each core element contains several indicators that are rated from a scale on a scale from 0 to three, where two indicates the school has met the requirements and three indicates the school has exceeded the requirements. I'm pleased to share that all of our schools met the requirements across
every single indicator and in the huge majority of areas have exceeded these expectations throughout the year. Each school's anti-bullying specialist consistently reviews the self- assessment criteria to ensure compliance and identify opportunities for improvement. One specific example is
core element number four indicator B which states the school observed the week of respect during the week beginning with the first Monday in October recognizing the importance of character education by providing age appropriate instruction focusing on hip prevention. So even though we are only
eight days into the new school year, our anti-bullying specialists are off and running with actively planning for the upcoming week of respect. Um, some of the activities will include themed spirit days, classroom lessons, and schoolwide contests, all aimed at promoting a culture of kindness and
respect. While the self- assessment scores um before you are focused on the 2024 2025 school year, I would like to highlight an important enhancement implemented this year. Um, in the past, families signed a HIP awareness form at
registration only outlining the definition of HIPB and the investigation process. That practice continues. However, beginning this year, we did introduce a new hip communication form as part of the required forms in Genesis. The elementary version had to be acknowledged by parents and the
secondary version had to be acknowledged by both parents and students. This form provides clear examples of HIP behaviors, emphasizes the importance of communication, and reaffirms our commitment to creating safe, supportive learning environments for all students. We plan to continue using this form
annually to enhance proactive communication and build stronger awareness throughout our school communities. We're looking forward to another great school year here in Peripany. Thank you. Do we have any questions on their reports? Thank you very much,
Wendy. Oh, Wendy, sorry. Um can you uh maybe comment on um what the Hills did so successfully this year to move their score up for? So these are
very there there's a lot of specific ones. So I could have I would have to pull their report right here um to show you. So sometimes it's just like one little tiny thing that can pull you from a meeting criteria to an exceeding criteria. I have the specific examples
and I can leave that with Joanie if that would be helpful for you so that you could see the how they met um and moved up in those areas. Thank you. Anybody else? Go ahead. Hi. Sorry. Can I just ask um so centrals looks like this is like a lower than the
other middle school. Um is there and it's been the same for the last two years based on this. Is there a reason why do we know how to are they working on trying to get their score up for lack of a better Yeah, I I do want to highlight like a 73 is still a super positive solid score.
So I know it is on the lower end right of our district scores, but I do want to highlight that all of these scores are really high scores and and exceeding expectations in almost all of the indicators. Um I would say that though there was a a change in personnel, okay, in the building level in central last
year. So somebody has to transition in and kind of catch up. Okay. Thanks. Okay. And just to reiterate, the max is 78 points. Max is 78. So correct. Yes. Is there a score at which like we get flagged by the state?
We haven't been anywhere near it. If I I've never heard of one and I am sure this is nowhere near it, but I haven't heard of one. Yes. Just in case. All right. All right, I think we're good. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you.
Thank you, Corey. Is there any correspondents to come before the board? Is there any unfinished business? Mrs. Chappelle. Yes. Uh, so I wanted to say thank you very much to everybody who provided feedback for the governance document.
Um, uh, we're in the process of incorporating all of that. Uh, so we'll be able to circulate that for the next meeting so we can take a look at that again. Okay. And I also did want to report that um the um ordinance that we sent to the town I
believe in July we still don't have an update yet for. So I just want to let everybody know that. Was there any other unfinished business anybody wanted to bring? Okay. So now we're up to committee reports. Uh Mr. Barios for policy.
Thank you Madam President. policy did not meet but I wanted to address a couple of issues not issues but one one's a minor change to the policy
sorry on policy 5339.01 01 the student sun protection. It's a new policy. Um there was a word change that we made in it. Um it was passed by
the administration. Uh Dr. Mori was fine with it. And let me pull the policy up. I can tell you exactly where it is. Um it didn't change the context of the
document. Um, I think it was more of a made it an easier read. Sorry, Miss Benos. Do you uh have it there handy? Because I can speak to it. I think it was two consecutive sentences. One one stated that um parents would need to
have for written permission for their children to carry sunscreen, right? And then the next sentence kind of um was in kind of vague about that responsibility and we made it stronger to say students who have permission are required to etc etc. So we just cleaned up that language that those two
sentences spoke to each other. There's a good catch. So yeah, so it looked like everybody uh it was uh it appears that everybody was in agreement with it. Again, it's a word change, so really it's it's fine for the
second read to go forward unless anybody has an objection to that. Um, so there is one that I'm going to need some input from the board on. Um, so we have uh bylaw 0143 board member election and
appointment. So, um, Miss Abraham sent an email. Um, well, in the last meeting we had, Miss Abraham raised a few concerns about the actual bylaw and some of the
wording. Uh, email was received midweek. Um, following up on that. So it was reviewed by madam attorney and um so after Miss Abraham raised her concern
um it was sent back to um madam attorney for another review. Um she got back to us. I communicated with the board president and and the rest of the members of the policy committee. And so
I wanted to make sure that a m give Miss Abraham an opportunity to address her concerns and then ask the board as a whole. We have two options. We can pull 0143 and bring it back to policy
uh for a re essentially a rewrite or an update of the bylaw or we could just vote on it as is. So, uh, Miss Abraham, I'd like to have take the opportunity to, um, speak to your concern. Thank you very much. Um, and thank you
for looking at the emails that I sent, uh, very thoroughly and responding very quickly. I'm sorry that my second response was rather late. Uh, and initially in my email, in my second response, what I was trying to say was
that I didn't have an issue with the body of the verbiage. I had wanted to know if we could update the citations on the bottom. And so that's basically the gist of it. And then I did put a number of bullets underneath giving more
clarity. But I am okay with either direction you want to go. I just wanted to clarify that I was not trying to change the substance of the entire bylaw at all. It was just a matter of which citations are appropriate and which
citations can go and which ones are inappropriate. And I listed the ones that I thought were appropriate based on the previous conversations I had with our field service rep. And she had spoken to the lawyer of the day back then. And I just reiterated all that in
my emails once more. And um basically I just wanted to know you know can we add these citations and um there was a question about one bylaw that I had discussed with our our attorney and I just wanted clarity about you were asking me why I put that particular
bylaw in as a cross reference and it was because there was a statute in there that was only listed in bylaw 151 and that was brought up to me by our field service rep Charlene and That's why I included 151 because there is no other
place that that statute 10-3 exists and that's why I included 151. I know 151 is organizational, but I just wanted to tell you and I clarified that in the email as well that the reason I mentioned 151 in our conversations were because that's the only place that 10-3
existed. So if that's you know it's not a problem if that one is not in there but I was going on Charlene's um you know advice and um that you know rather than make it more confusing just add the citations and move it along. But um so
I'm okay if you I mean if you felt that you wanted to pull it because you wanted to look into it further or take more time I'm perfectly okay with that. Um, but if it's just a matter of adding citations and that doesn't require a motion to pull it and send it back to
policy, then we can vote on it. So, just as a quick update to that, in a quick 10-second conversation before our meeting got started, uh I spoke to our attorney and uh we did say that adding
those citations to the current or the updated 0143 uh does not change the the bylaw and that we can make that and still go forward with a vote for the second read
and then just add the citations um as a post uh event. But I wanted to make sure that the board was aware and if anybody had objections and wanted us to pull it. I also spoke with um Madame President
and it really is not going nothing is happening that if we pulled it to make these type changes before we do another round of first and seconds uh we could do that too. I mean, right now we're we're not looking at a reorg and
hopefully not where we're not looking to fill an opening anytime soon. So, um I'll leave that up to Oh, sorry, M. No, no, I got it. Um, so, Miss Abraham, the the bylaws, I think you sent your
email late this this afternoon. Um, and it's the bylaws that you put on the bottom of that email that you wanted include. Those were those were the statutes that I linked. Yes. Um, in the body of the email, you can there was a question in there about um
145, which I thought needed to be corrected to 140. I'm sorry, 151, but 151 doesn't have to be there. But I thought 145 didn't belong there because it was about resignations. That's correct. And because I do believe
that that's actually an appropriate cross reference because you're talking about your terms, right? That that was what the concern was and then the term that term results from the the resignation. So that's why I I did include that.
Um just with respect to your 40 citations, um the 18A 12-9 is a type one district. That's not us. This is not part. That's the only one I would say is probably not appropriate to include, but all the others were okay.
Uh, I'm just looking at 1311. I think everything 1311 I think was already on um the original version of 0143. Yeah, but that one's for a regional. That's correct.
Yeah, that's a that's the regional school district, which you guys are not. So, I wouldn't include that either. Regional. Okay. Because we're parity is not a regional. No, of course. Yeah. Um um does indicate that it does indicate regional on the current
one, but I think for clarity it would be better if it just wasn't there. So what I would say is just when these come out of Strauss Esme, they put in everything that could possibly pertain to any district that happens to utilize them so they can select um you know
between the the languages. And a lot of times what happens are boards just kind of adopt that wholesale um and don't actually go to look into what those statute citations are. Um so when you do if they're not applicable right we took
out all the language pertaining to regionals. So we should take out the citation. Um can I just ask a question about 13-11 because I have it. Um I'm trying to see where it actually says regional. It just says type two districts. Correct. It's
so 13-11 is under the section dealing with the regional school districts. Oh, from the previous um Correct. If you if you go back, But are you sure when they put regional district that it wasn't referring to 135
or 1310 because it's not clear when you look at the the original version of 143. They just put at the end regional district, but it's not indicating that it's directly pointing to 1311. It could be that entire line which includes 135 and 1310,
too. That's why it's confusing because they just put regional, but it's not saying, oh, 1311 is the regional one. They're just saying 135, 1310, 1311, and then putting regional in the parenthesis in the original. So 13-11
specifically speaks to vacancies in a regional board of education. So the based on the I this is the one I updated the one I printed from Y the reason one okay speaks to specifically regional boards of education.
You see how it's confusing because the way they write it it's because of the way it's listed. That's what which is what we're trying to clear up by just taking out the the references that relate to regional.
Okay. So, I mean, I haven't looked at 135 or 1310, so I have no idea if those say regional, but I didn't see that 1311 regional. Oh, that's the old. Yeah, I would not I would not again, this is the board's document.
Yeah. But my opinion is that it could be confusing to someone who is going to pick that up if that's you. Your vacancy provisions are already out in 12 12-15. I think that that's what you should
should leave in your policy because then somebody's going to pick up when they post these as 2024. I know they do have a disclaimer in here that says it could be not the most recent version, but um yeah, I mean I was trying to explain why I would think that it's 1311 would have
been because it said vacancies and membership of board and filling. So that's why but yeah, that's okay, you know. Yeah, it it really is applicable to Okay, so 12-15 and then that was the original one that was already in there.
um uh 12-11 and 12-15 were the ones that we added and your ad of 18A 10-3 and 18A 12-11.1 cuz the original 11 was just a couple of
sentences and 12- 11-1 was more there. Sorry. Okay. So 11.1 deals with new districts when you are creating a new district. Yes. Um so again if that's what that's fine
but that's that it deals with the creation of a new district. Okie do. We don't want that. And the statutes then. Yeah those are the Yeah, those are fine. I ask a question. Go ahead. So I guess it's back from madam
attorney. So to create new districts, who's to say in a district of our size, someone says we need to realign the district into into multiple districts for some reason. I'm I'm just hypothetical, of course. I'm just but
hypothetically if you were to regionalize or if you were to um assume another district underneath you or you were going to split this district into two, there's actually a process to do that. Um and
then you organize as a new board. So you would adopt the policies at the organization meeting of those new boards. Um, and you guys do that at your organization meeting every year. Um, but that's what you that's what would
happen. You'd have to have a new body, right? A new governing body and they would adopt that. So, just for confirmation, then the cross cross reference for the bylaw will be 141, I think. 141
and 145 and 145 are appropriate. And then the other statutes with the exception of 13-11 and 12-9. Well, 12- 11.1 is deals with new districts. So that's I don't Oh, no. I was saying you were you taking
out the only thing I would add to the proposed Okay. would be the 18A 10-3. 10-3. Okay. and that you can absolutely on second reading adopt it with that particular change if that's what the board wants to do.
So we don't have to send it for you don't have to send it back for just that addition. I'm okay with that. Well, that's a question I was going to ask. You can have a motion to amend this policy to include it as 18A
or when you as amended, right? Your motion would be policy 143 on second reading is adopted with the addition of 18A colon 10-3. Okay. Then I
Madam President I believe that Miss uh Abraham would then need to make the motion have a seconded and then roll call. Do we do that right then? You would do you would do that. Okay. after the superintendent gives their their his report.
Getting too excited. You can add and then when there's a discussion, right? You get your motion. There's a motion to approve. Just let me know. I'll get there myself. We'll go like this.
Just let me know. But thank you so much for indulging me in all of this. I appreciate it. And that's all I have. Oh, Jack. I hesit hesitate to ask. wanted to have a turn too. Okay. I was going to ask. No, it's um on on bylaw 0173, duties of
a public school accountant. Just the first line, I'm just two suggested changes. The board of education shall instead of cause an audit, require an audit. And then at the end of the same sentence, an audit of the annual
financial statements to be conducted as opposed to to be made. I just think it would read better. It's more more in line. I mean, I I I have a copy here if you want the changes. Tim, you said 1570, Mr.
No, it's um I'm sorry. It's 0173 bylaw duties of a public school accountant. We We don't cause an audit. Sounds like we caused an accident or something. I think is that like I think that sounds like a legal term and yours is more
it's it's yeah I just think it's just from doing a lot of audits I think it would be we require an audit to be done not we cause an audit to be conducted not to be made we don't make an audit we conduct an audit actually we don't even conduct it it's
conducted by the outside accountants well then that probably should get pulled because that's changing the content content of the bylaw of the uh bylaw. Yeah. Would the wording be require or maybe
allow for instead of cause and the first one? The board of education shall require an audit and Jeff I'm sorry where's the second one? And the second one in the same sentence. Yep. an audit of the annual financial statements to be conducted pursuant to
NJSA. The word made becomes conducted instead of to be made. Yes. So, Mr. Barios, I would for the same reasons that we just spoke to make a motion that uh Okay.
And it would not require magic. I'll second yours. You second mine. No, I think those I think the suggestion suggestive language does not change the meaning. Right. Yeah. I don't think it does either. It's okay.
So So I don't have to make a motion. You do? Do I'm writing. Even though we're not changing the meaning. I'm going to Ironically, we're the ones that are If we were changing the meeting, then we wouldn't have to make a motion. Well, you would to pull it. No, I Yeah, I'm okay. That's good news. You're not getting out of it either way.
Sorry. And we thought that we could get away scott free with not pulling anything today. I'll have to bite the bullet and make the motion. We almost got away with not pulling anything today. We're not pulling. We're not pulling anything. Oh, the one. Oh, he's not going to pull his either. I'm just going to make
Are we now done with the policy theoretic committee meeting? Okay. Um, it was never uh I have a gun report. Uh we still have one more committee report and then I'll ask the Mrs. uh mayor for
human resources to this. You're up next. Hold on. Don't go away. This was so interesting. I lost my train of thought. Okay. Um human resources met on September 9th. Present were myself,
Dr. Wright, Mr. Devito, President Kogan, Mr. Ricker, and Mrs. Benos. Um, we were given retirements and recogn resignations that were submitted in recent weeks. Um, there were more in the summer than was expected, but they most
of the those positions have been filled with long-term subs. Uh, new hires, open positions, principles and supervisors have been interviewing over the summer. There are um two postings but they have that are still open but we have qualified
substitutes in both positions. Par transfers um as students move in or leave the district paras are moved around that meets the needs of in the students and the requirements of the IEPs. Um sometimes the paras it's
necessary to transfer them. It just depends on who's who's got the need at the time. um teacher transfers. Um this is kind of late. The school's already started where we start transferring. But because of
the over crowding at some of the schools, there was some wiggle room, I guess I can say, where Dr. Mr. Ripper was able to kind of move things around where le where people were not decisions were light and so they were able to kind
of juggle things around and with that uh they were able to open up a new second grade at East Lake I believe. Yes. So it kind of pulls out a little bit of all that crowding. Um let's see. The discussion was had
about teaching waiverss in order to cover a sixth period class due the average due to the leave of absence or an overage in assignments and salary upgrades for horizontal movement. Um they have teachers that have till October 1st and there was a
lot of discussion about these graduate credits the programs that teachers are using and um it was Dr. Mr. Stop making you a doctor. Was the the committee was kind of talking about how some of them they're
not really accredited. You know, you kind of it's not really professional. So, you know, they were watching to see where teachers got their credits and really examining to make sure that it wasn't just a chop shop kind of thing.
And I think that's it. Any questions for Mrs. Mayor? Okay. So, liazison reports. Mrs. Chappelle, do you want to start us off? Uh, so last night I attended the Educational Services Commission of Mars County. U, it's the first one of the new
school year. Uh, they've been very busy uh, updating their transportation plans to help accommodate the needs across the county. Um, almost there, still finalizing some routes, but getting much better. Um, and then the other news to share is that they are in the process of uh updating their building, doing
construction there to help to accommodate the offices and move from other location so they can centralize into one building. Um, they're actually um uh sectioning off an aspect of the building specifically for the administration so that there's no pass
through uh into the school itself. So, they're in the process of that major construction project, but everything else looks good. Is there any other liazison reports anybody wants to give? Mr. Vison before it uh but this morning I was able to attend town hall at their 911
remembrance. Uh Mrs. Kogan was in there and so was Dr. Mol Rooney. Uh it was very well it was very well very well done. Thank you. Thank you. Um and on Tuesday the education foundation had their meeting and they were discussing the fundraisers
for the year and that the grant applications for the teachers have gone out. So all the teachers should be applying hopefully for their grants for the education foundation. Are there any other leazison reports? I have a question. Sure. PEF met on Tuesday.
On Tuesday. Yes. Um we have liaison for that and I was not made aware of that one. Uh that's PEF always meets the second Tuesday of the month, but I will ask them if they will make sure to update the emails. Oh, Alison, I didn't get the email for
that either. I don't know. Yeah, I I don't send the emails. I am not in charge, but I will ask them to make sure that Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to report that Mrs. Delave and I attended the uh central back to
school night. It was very well attended. It was really standing room only and it was packed. So, I think uh it was just good to see everybody out there really interested in what was going on in the school and I look forward to the high school's um back to school night.
Great. Anyone else? Yes. Oh, this is Dr. Wright. I would just want to echo that. I attended Littleton's back to school night last night and I really want to, you know, with the new prek is a significantly expanded pool school population. Um and it was very well
organized. Um, and it was great to see the community out. Perfect, Mrs. Abraham. Yeah, thanks. Um, I just also wanted to mention about the uh, back to school nights. Um, myself and Miss Mayor, we both attended the back to school night at Brooklon. Um, as usual, like she
said, it was absolutely packed. Uh, standing room only. Miss Stout, of course, um, explained all the new rules and expectations for the students and parents. Um, as usual, introducing her staff, encouraging questions, discussing the PTA and other topics. Um, I know for
me last year with a sixth grader, I was it was very overwhelming because it's a lot of information, but this time it was much more appreciated for me because of his consistency. Um, and you all know I like to take notes and discuss my notes. And um, I did take a few just for myself
and got teased for it. Uh, but that's okay. And uh then we all went off to our classrooms, got lost as we usually do. And uh all in all, another great back to school night at Brooklyn. And um you know, the staff and teachers are always very happy to see us and extremely helpful and we're always grateful for
that. And I also attended Littleton last night as a parent and again also packed. Um we immediately went into our children's classrooms, enjoyed the discussions with the teachers, saw their work, asked questions, you know, saw old friends and um old teachers and
everybody in the administration's, you know, always helpful running around making sure everybody's okay, answering questions, offering guidance. um got a quick look at the new wing in between the sessions and I'm hoping to see it more closely at another time and also
connected with the PTA staff and um you know I just wanted to say thank you for all of them for you know making it so easy for us um they go out of their way to make sure it's always very welcoming happy to see us um you know guiding us where we need to go and um I think that's across the board for all of the
back to school nights that are always extremely well attended and um just very well done. So, thank you. Oh, and I had one more thing. Sorry. Um, also wanted to mention that there was a festival called Ornum that was celebrated on August 26 to September
5th. Um, and uh, it was a 10-day harvest festival. By the way, this is from India. and a significant cultural celebration in the state of Carerala honoring the homecoming of a king called Mahabali commemorating the annual return of the benevolent king. A myth
mythological ruler who who whose reign Carerala experienced a golden age of prosperity and quality and his annual homecoming is celebrated by its people with immense joy and enthusiasm and it is a harvest festival. So um people also giving thanks for their bountiful yield
and um certain celebrations that they do is they make floral carpets called pukulums. Um they enjoy a grand feast called an onadya. They do traditional dances and family gatherings and they have boat races made out of um snake boat races called walgullies. And I just
wanted to uh mention that for any of the south Indian families here that celebrate that as well. So thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to mention, I don't know if anybody has seen uh Brooklyn um made a video on it was hysterical. I don't
know if you all got to see it. The whole staff did it. Um if you have a chance, I I guess it's I don't know where is it on It's on their Instagram. Yeah, it was it was absolutely outrageous. It was so good. So, if you have a chance, you really
should look at it. And I think the principal over there did a I agree. She did a phenomenal job. She just knew what she needed to say. It was very appropriate. Everything that she told the parents, I I was very impressed with how thorough she was. But if you haven't shared, you've got to watch that video.
It's very short, but it's hysterical. I just want to add one thing about Central's back to school night. I don't know how Brooklyn's been, but um the periods were very fast. Yes. Um we barely sat and I went last I have middle I've had middle schoolers now for a bunch of years. I don't know what it
was, but we were right. His poor teachers were very prepared and they had maybe three or four minutes. So, I don't know. I It was This year was super fast. Like they would be cut off before they were even finished and they spoke very quickly. So, I don't know if you had that experience at Brook. No, we were sweating trying to get
through to all the classes. The passing period seemed okay. It was physically in the room. So, I kudos to our staff. They did a great job. But it was a lot. We were Yeah. exercising a lot. And I think it also goes to for our parents to have full
houses at each of those back to school nights really shows what standing room only. Right. Right. What an involved community we have. So we are thankful for our parents who are who want to meet their teachers because that's always very important. So I'm glad to have the high schools
next week. High schools are next week, right? And um yeah, I did have some thoughts on back to school, but I wasn't sure if that was part of Sure. We just talked about it. Okay. All right. So just transitioning into some thoughts I had about uh back
to school night. Um I just wanted you know we all know that in the last couple of years um in the elementaryaries the group meeting at the beginning of the night was eliminated and parents just end up going to the classrooms to meet with their teachers immediately. Um,
while this is fine, we were also, we as board members were still allowed to attend as board members. And, um, in the past it was, you know, you're certainly welcome to still attend and walk around. It's up to you. Um, over the last two years, I would say that about seven to eight board members were still attending
all the elementary back to school nights, even without children in those schools. And you know, basically we were given the list of the 14 school schedule so we can decide where we want to go and let you know where we're going. And last year also we were given the full list
and I would say about eight um or so of the board members were able to attend. um this year, you know, we were just given the list for middle school and high school and I was, you know, kind of wondering about that because I know we don't have the group meetings anymore,
but in the last couple of years since we were able to still attend, um I kind of was wondering, you know, I don't know what the welcome situation is or if that's an invitation process because in my head I just kind of figured it was, you know, we share the
list of dates in schools. um we tell Joanie or the board president where we're planning to go. Um and the principal at those schools is made aware that certain board members are planning to attend the back to school nights. Um so I don't think that it was that we're
not able to go or welcome to go. I think it was just that the group setting is not there anymore. But I just wanted to know you know you know what there was some confusion about it. Um because in my mind I think that having
board members attend give us an opportunity to connect with the parents and staff. Um I personally have never gone into any classrooms on my own. I never felt our presence was a hindrance. Um I know that there was talk about it
being not constructive, but I don't know if there was any examples of it not being constructive or detracting from the purpose. Um, and I don't think that we're looking for long or extended interactions with parents or staff or
trying to get in the way of anything. Um, so I was just looking for some clarity as to why, you know, if there was any negative feedback that came back about it in the last couple of years. Like I would have been curious to know what that was so we can adjust. Um,
and just wanted to know if there, you know, is there an opportunity to make sure that this is communicated better so that we can moving forward, you know, we know why we're not going to go or dates are not being circulated. Um, and
I also brought it up to the communications chair because I felt that it was part of the board goals. Um, where we are supposed to be, you know, as as far as I'm concerned, if we're not communicating and interacting within the mean within our means to the community,
then you know, could we be doing more? I certainly did not see it as an issue till now for a communications committee to discuss because up until now we were going to all the back to school nights. Um I wasn't sure if this was supposed to
be an invite only and like I said like you know is it I don't know what the invite invitation process is like. Um, also, you know, going back to the board goal, it also says identify and pursue opportunities for school, community, and municipal engagement wherein each board
member will attend or contribute to at least five events. Um, it does not say specifically invited. It also says promote transparency and two-way dialogue with families and community members. Um, I would just like to know how do we propose to do all that starting off the year on the right foot
if we can't engage. Um, and I do believe that, you know, I could have I would have enjoyed a little bit more of information as to why because I do believe that there are board members that believe that elementary schools do not even do back to school nights anymore at all. So, I would encourage
that communication to be clearer. Um, and I spoke about consistency earlier and so I do believe that there should be con some consistency so that if things are changing, it doesn't kind of just, you know, come up. Um, and I know, you
know, we don't really go around to the schools at all without something going on there or and obviously the board president and everybody here and the administration would be very well aware where we're going. So, it's not like we're trying to go places without
communication or inserting ourselves where we don't belong. I'm just saying that um I think that the communication could have been uh better. I wish we had an opportunity to discuss it. Um and as far as I know, um I don't know about the
rest of you, but the feedback that I've heard so far is that the staff and parents are happy to see us there. And frankly, many of them have no idea who we are and because they don't see us enough. And I know we have tons of other opportunities throughout the year. I was just making a mention of it because
we're at the beginning of the year. Um we always say, you know, we want more families and parents to come to the board meetings and we constantly talk about that. And when we have an opportunity to say, "Hey, come to our meetings or catch it on YouTube." You know, these are opportunities. Um I just want them to know that we're here to
help them. I want them to know who we are. I want to know who they are. Um, and I just felt that this was an opportunity maybe that was missed. And, you know, I want to be able to bring back questions to the board or even just guidance on where to send their emails.
Um, this is just the first chance we get in a school year to be visible and friendly. And, uh, I just wanted to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to promote communication and our visibility. And, um, that's basically it. I just wanted to know. Thank you.
Oh, okay. I I think the board members want to speak, but as a former elementary principal, I'll wait till you guys talk and then I'll give you some I can give you some feedback from like the trenches. Okay, Mrs. Mayor, um I I hear what you're saying, but back to school night is not for the board members. It's for parents to get to know
the teachers and to hear what's available in the building. Now, when they used to have a general meeting before, we used to go and and sit in and then they would introduce the teachers. They'd see us there. we be introduced when the teachers go back to their
classrooms. They're dealing with parents, you know, a board member really doesn't have any connection there. I hear what you're saying, visibility. When we go to football games or if we go to concerts, if we go to, I don't know, any school function that's really open
to everybody. Back to school night is for the parents, the teachers, and that's really it. a board member. Maybe, you know, you might go into a classroom and a a teacher might be intimidated because you're a board member. You know, you never know.
Some people have that kind of thing. I just think we don't belong in that setting. That is not a board bit board activity. That is the school's activity for the parents. And that's just my my thinking. But I I really do appreciate
your thoughts and your you know your opinion, but I just think it it doesn't really add to the evening if we're there. You know, we shouldn't be engaging them. The parents should be engaging with the teachers, not us.
Anybody misses? Oh, Mr. Devito. So, back in June, um I seem to recall we each of us when we could tried to attend uh each of the moving up ceremonies at each of the elementary schools and
we're not really engaging that much at all depending on the principal what they wanted us to do. So, we don't hand out certificates. That's usually just the principal doing which is fine. Some of them to allow us to do it, some don't. That's fine. So, that's another example of what you're saying, Mrs. mayor of of
engaging with with with parents and that's just the fifth grade parents. What Mrs. Abraham's point to to Mrs. Abraham's point this is one of the few opportunities we get to not only engage but at least be seen by members of the public who have children that are in
kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade. We're not going to see any any of these parents for the most part until their kids are up in maybe the middle school and in this one of the organized sports and and then in the high school. So I don't see this as a as a bad thing to do. I remember doing it
back in 2023 at Rockaway Meadow. Same thing. They came in. I went met them at the door, waved hi, how you doing? Nice to see you. Let them all go to the rooms. I didn't do nothing else and then I left. So it wasn't like it was a long a long thing to do. So I don't see it as a problem myself. That's just my
opinion. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Shabelle. So, I do appreciate your point. So, thank you for raising it. And I think the most important thing that I'm taking from you is communication, right? Making sure we have the opportunity to talk about it as a group
and agree the approach. So, I hear what you're saying, right? So, I think that's the most important thing to me. Um, with regards to the actual point though, um, I and I hear what you're saying, Mr. Devito about um you know being there making sure they know that we are
present and that we you know attend these events. Um I unfortunately had the experience of being at an event at one of the one of the back to school nights last year and I was there with Dr. Sutter and uh we were definitely a
distraction. We were definitely uh a stopping point where we were delaying people getting into the school. We were distracting the principal where he needed to be in a different place and he was talking to us and we had people focusing on helping us know where to be
as opposed to managing the event. So I unfortunately had the experience of being a distraction and it made me feel terrible because to your point Mrs. Mayor, you know, I know this is about the parents connecting with the teachers so the teachers can share with the
parents what's going to happen in the classroom, what they can expect and, you know, make sure that any questions they have are addressed. So, I just wanted to share my experience because I did have a negative experience and it was really bothering to me.
Is there anybody else? All right. The only other thing I was going to add is I completely agree with the communication which is why we sent out another communication and obviously you know that could have been done earlier. We did send one out last week mentioning the elementary back to school night. So
this was not the first time that it was mentioned and nobody is saying that it would be a bad thing for board members to attend. You said yourself there was no indication that anybody was forbidden to go. So, you know, I just want to make sure that that was clear that nobody I
would not think it's a bad thing. I do agree with Miss Chappelle last year. I was a distraction for sure. Um, so the intent was not to prevent anybody from going into a school. Um, and the point about communication is absolutely,
you know, well taken. Dr. did you want to as a school principal just briefly? I don't I don't um I don't deny the fact that Matt is is a nice opportunity for you to connect with a handful of people, but I would say that the vast majority of the people there
are just so hyperfocused on talking to their kids teachers and you might connect with one or two. And I think and I don't think that's time poorly spent. But as a principal with um parents of six 500 parents coming in,
it's one more thing to worry about is having a board member there and making sure you have a spot, making sure you were there and I said that that I say hi and and as much as you'll say go, I know you guys go. It's not that simple. You know what I and they're still going to worry about you and and a teachers are going to they're going to be
concerned. And I think when there's a large assembly meeting, I think it's much more appropriate there because people are gathering and they're mailing around. You get to talk to people then and and you see people you haven't seen in forever and get introduced to to the crowd who cares about that, but get introduced to people like in a real
human context. That's nice. But on those nights, um, I think it's best to let the parents come in to there's a reason why we get rid of that general meeting, too, so we can get the parents in the room with the kids with the teachers to talk about what's happening in that classroom. So, um, that's that's just my
perspective. I I I see your your points, but from the other side, as much as as gracious as you guys will be, I mean, they're always going to they're always going to be worried about you and and wanting to make sure you're you're taken care of and, you know, and things like that. So, can I just ask a followup question? Um,
I don't think that we had clarity on why I mean I I know Dr. Maloney just touched upon it, but um why the group meetings were stopped two years ago? Um was it just because of timing or space constraints or A lot of times it's parent feedback to
be honest with you. In my time there, you'd have the big meeting. You think it was so important and parent so many parents would skip that meeting and I and I know as a parent when my kids are in elementary school, I I I came after the meeting because you hear it once you very much primary students
um and a lot of things that be could be communicated in other ways. So, um it just got it got more time in the classroom and and it was a lot of parent feedback and just being observant. Thank you. And um you know, I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I have
never gone out of my way to go into anyone's classroom when I'm not supposed to do that. So, I just wanted to clarify that that that is absolutely not happening. And I have full confidence that nobody is doing that um or trying to go out of their way to make anybody nervous or upset or
there are support groups of people who crash at back to school nights. I can if anyone needs I can hit the number nowhere. Of course, you understand. I just love him so much. All right. I did a little bit feel like I was crashing the music room. Um, you
know, the specials teachers are there, but they don't usually there's no they don't have specific program, but my daughter had a particular funny interaction with her music teacher in the first week. Um, and there was like my, you know, she's seven, so she was very confused about a few things. It was
very cute. Um, but so I went to just check in and had a delightful conversation with an empty room and two music teachers. So they were, I think, appreciative that I was there. You hit the jackpot, right? Yeah. Can I just say one last thing? I'm so sorry. Um, I just want to say thank you
for everyone for giving me this time to uh say what I wanted to say and um also giving me your feedback and your experiences. Um, definitely eye opening. Um I would you know Miss Chappelle, Miss Mayor, um everybody, M Dr. Maroon, uh
Mr. Dvito as well. And um you know, I just the way the way Mr. Dvito was saying it too, like graduations are also for parents and their kids. Um unless you really do want to hand out diplomas, you really I'm talking about mainly
fifth grade, but um you know, so to me it was not uh a big distraction, but I just wanted to say thank you for everybody's feedback and um you know appreciate clarifying a lot of these things. Thank you.
Thanks. Okay, we'll move on with our meeting to the approval of minutes for the regular and executive minutes of August 21st, 2025. Can I have a motion for those minutes, Mr. Devito? And a second,
Dr. Wright. Uh roll call. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Did she do her thing? We have two motions. Not now. We will tell you. Not now. This is for the minutes. Mrs. Regular and executive minutes of
August 21st. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Abraham. Yes. Mr. Barios. Yes. Mrs. Delave. Yes. Mr. Devito. Yes. Mrs. Mayor. Yes. Mr. Rhea. Yes. Dr. Wright. Yes. Mrs. Chappelle. Yes. Mrs. Coven. Yes.
Now we're up to the superintendent's bulletin number three. Dr. Moruni. We might prepare. Yes. Okay. Okay, everyone. So, as as I told you earlier, school's underway. It's um after uh a lot of summer
meetings, it's great to see the teachers and students back. Fall sports are um have commenced. Games have started last week and we're excited for all the great things our students will accomplish. Um as far as interesting news or news of note, August 21st we had our um annual
STEM pathways kickoff for incoming ninth graders. Event was held at Persian High School uh in the media center and there were multiple STEM activities led by Ruckers University. We had 119 students from both high schools who opted to attend. Um, students engaged in hands-on inquiry based activities that encouraged
divergent thinking, including small groupoup collaborative challenges that culminated in created product lines and presenting them in a Shark Tank style format. Our STEM pathways advisors were in attendance as well, and it's a a great start to the year. This is year five, I believe, is some pathways. Our two new pathways, visual, performing
arts, humanities, are beginning this year uh with smaller cohorts of students, but we're excited for the opportunities that will afford our kids and uh the paths that will lead them down. Tonight for your approval, we have superintendent's bulletin items
1 through 39 and addendum items 40 to 65. And we got some readings. Are there any questions on the superintendence bulletin? Mr. Devito? No, it's just a comment. Um, you mentioned about the STEM pathways and
119 of those kids attended. One was my son and he really had a had a great time. Um, and just out of out of that, how how of the overall number of kids in the STEM pathways, how what was percentage? Ballpark if you know. I'm curious. No, it's I can get ballpark. It's it's massive. We we do um applications in the
winter and we do a lottery system. So, um we're looking at about 100 120 uh each for each year. So, you know, close to 500 students K 9 to 12. Um, and we since we've added the new pathways as well, students will be able to do dual
pathways, but only VPA with either humanities or VPA with STEM just because the stress it puts on their schedule. But it's a massive program. And no, I was I guess I didn't clarify my question. I'm sorry. Um, of the number
nth graders coming in that are going into 10 pathways, what was the percentage? Probably about half of them. Close to half% about 200 or so total this year. Okay, that's what I thought. which is good for August 21st program vacations and stuff. It was good. Thank you. Y can I just clarify that the the programs
the pathways that are starting you start in 9th grade like you're not starting it's just fresh 500 kids at once. You're starting the nth graders and growing them. Yep. Okay. That was my understanding. Does anybody else have any questions or comments on the superintendence bulletin?
Okay. Secretar's report. Dr. McHugh. Well, if you look at the bulletin, that's the business section. You'll notice that the business administrator report, secretary report, and treasur's report is not there. We're going to have that at the next meeting. We're in the process closing last year to get the
ending balances so we can roll over the the beginning balances. But one item I did want to point out is item number 39. That's our ESA grants or commonly referred to as the titles. This was the one we were sweating. We we weren't sure what the state was going to do, if it was going to come out at all, and if we
were going to get our money. And in fact, we wound up with just under $900,000, which was a an increase. So, we we were very happy since we spent a lot of that money already. So, all right. Do we have any questions on the secretar's report?
All right. I don't believe there's any new business. I believe we've discussed everything except Dr. Wright is raising her hand. Uh, I just wanted to make a reminder um that the uh Morse County Regional uh NJBSA meeting is coming up um on October 7th. Just want to put
everyone that's always a great meeting. Put it on radar. And the legislative committee meets next weekend and I will be going to that one in case anybody wants me to listen for something specific at that legislative meeting. Um okay. So now we're up to
hearing of the public. At this time, if there is anyone who would like to address the board, please come up, sign your name and address in the book at the lectern and state your name for the record and please address the chair. Each person will have three minutes to speak to the board. It would be helpful if you would like to address the board,
please come up now and sign in so you are ready for when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you are a student who wishes to speak, we ask that you not provide your home address, but rather give only the name of the municipality in which you live. If
you're a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting, you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording. Alternatively, please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting. Speakers should refrain from using
specific student or staff names in their comments and are referred to bylaw 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings. Welcome. Hello, Adam Marks. Um, two things. One, my daughter is on the volleyball team at
the high and I brought this up I think last year as well. The ventilation in that gym is horrendous. It is very hot. Um, I know they put fans in, but the fans are not allowed to be on during the games. There's no air. You can also attest this, your daughter
is there, too. It is really bad. So, I was just wondering. I know I think at the Hills we were just there. They had fans. There's cages on the fans that so they were able to be running during the game. Just wondering if there's anything that could possibly be done. Uh, because that gym it kind of gets unbearable, especially in the summer. Um, the second
thing was just around the buses. Somebody mentioned it on the earlier part about like GPS using I guess for driving around. It would also be interesting if there's an opportunity to get GPS tracking for parents. Like I know my son went to camp and the buses all had GPS. We could track them on the phone. They use a whatnot app. I mean
there's lots of different ones that can be used. Um but they have the technology might be great especially in the morning. Um our bus stop you can't always see the bus from our house. So just knowing has the bus come? Has it left? Is it being delayed? Um, this might be a good option to have if especially if they already have phones
and they have apps that do it. I wonder if that can be incorporated in there. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the public? Okay. So, I will close the public session and
we will be up to the roll call vote on superintendent bulletin number three, items 1 through 20, 1-39 with addendum items 40 to 65 and readins. I think we need the motion to accept the uh to vote on the superintendent's bulletin and
then the motions to alter it. Need a motion and a second. Motion and a second. Mr. DeVito and Dr. Wright. Discussion. Now we do the discussion. I have a motion. I have a motion to amend or on second
reading the policy 0143 to include the legal statute citation 188 col 10-3. She you need a second. Second. Thank you so much. Mayor, is there any discussion on that? I
believe we've had discussion on that, but let's make sure. Okay, you need to let's vote that motion first. Okay, can we have a roll call vote on Mrs. Abraham's motion? Mrs. Abraham? Yes. Mr. Barios?
Yes. Mrs. Delave? Yes. Mr. Devito? Yes. Mrs. Mayor? Yes. Mr. Rehea? Yes. Dr. Wright? Yes. Mrs. Chappelle? Yes. Mrs. Kogan? Yes. Okay. And I believe Mr. Rea, you would also like to make a motion.
Yes, I'd like to make a motion to amend bylaw 0173. Just a couple of edits in the first sentence, which do not change the meaning of it does not change the meaning. It it just tightens it up. Okay. Is there a second for Mr. Reya's motion?
Second, Mrs. Chappelle. And I believe we've had the our everybody's comfortable with the discussion we've already had on that one. Okay. Can we have the roll call vote? Mrs. Abraham. Yes. Mr. Barios. Yes. M Mrs. Delfe. Yes.
Mr. Dvito. Yes. Mrs. Mayor. Yes. Mr. Rehea. Yes. Dr. Wright. Yes. Mrs. Chappelle. Yes. Mr. Kogan. Yes. Okay. Now we need a roll call vote on the bulletins as amended by the two
motions. We Yes. Can we We do have the motion in the second. So, we can just do the roll call. Okay. Item numbers on the actual bulletin with revisions. You got it. Okay. Mrs. Abraham. Yes.
Mr. Barios. Recuse on number 47. Yes to everything else. Mrs. Delofave. Abstain from reading uh page three, number four. And then yes for everything else. Mr. Devidito recuse on number five. Yes
to everything else. Mrs. Mayor recuse on number 28. Yes. On everything else. Mr. Rehea. Yes. Dr. Wright. Yes. Mrs. Chappelle. Yes. Mrs. Kogan. Yes.
All right. There being no further business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mrs. Abraham. Is there a second? Mrs. Delade. All in favor? I I Meeting is adjourned. See you in two weeks, guys.
Apple that I Yes.