siony Troy Hills Board of Education to order on Thursday March 28th 2024 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 17 2024 in addition the notice of the meeting was posted at the municipal building in the buildings and a copy of the notice filed with the Township Clerk and transmitted to other newspapers on March 14th 2024 The Daily Record The Star Ledger and the parcion focus tap into parcion patch and the district website this regular public board meeting is be is being video recorded as per bylaw 0168 the recordings of these Mee meetings will be available on our district website and our votg YouTube channel we ask that you please reframe from using student or staff names in your statements professionalism is expected at all times may we call the rooll call please Mrs Abraham here Mr baros here Mrs kogan here Mrs mayor here Mr Rea here Mrs Chappelle here Dr Wright here Mrs golderer here Mr choa here please stand for the pledge to the flag I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all for all okay and we're going to have our um student committee reports first we will have Emily Smith hello sorry Hi everyone um the trim mus was this the trim music Honor Society hosted a movie night on Thursday March 14th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. they watched Pitch Perfect admission was free and snacks were sold the Asian-American Club held an origami making event after school in the media center on the 20th admission was 3 at the door which all goes to help fund the sushi tea dance the drama booster club had a dine and donate with Buffalo Wild Wings for the spring Musical on March 20th the drama club performed The Adams Family on March 21st 22nd and 23rd at 700 p.m. and at 2 p.m. during the FBLA state conference we had three students qualify for Nationals and one as a top 10 finalist Andy Shaw is a top 10 finalist in advertising and the national qualifiers are tou panuganti first place for insurance risk management and Dylan Winkler and Ryan Murphy fourth place together for sports and entertainment management these three will be attending the national leadership conference in Orlando Florida in June the red box the RedBot robotics team is a state finalist for the First Tech Challenge stani Gro was recognized and honored at the 2024 njsba Morris County unsung heroes student recognition ceremony Jared Bank was recognized at the National Football Foundation scholar athlete award dinner and selected students were able to go to the women's Junior Leadership Academy at sopi thank you you have a question go ahead Mrs Chappelle go ahead yes I have a question um so I think there's a clothing Drive coming up is that right oh yeah I saw an email on that oh I haven't I haven't seen those in in our school announcements but I can I can find that out for you okay yeah if you could that'd be great um it's just a it's a great way to be able to help the schools and and clean out your closets okay all right now um Sena go ahead hi everyone um today was the last day of school before spring break and then we had a pep rally featuring games such as speed pitch Sac race and egg race and then we also had a Spirit Week leading up to it with Monday being Beach day Tuesday being Aesthetics day with freshman um as Indies sophomores as grunge Juniors as 80s metal and seniors as ytk Wednesday was rhyme without reason which was basically where you rhyme your outfit with the friends and then today was Viking Nation day and then we had a blood drive on Tuesday organized by Mrs Creole students could come throughout the day to donate blood and we had a total of 45 donors and um had the collection of 26 pints of blood the Italian five class attended Multicultural day at Mount tab on Thursday March 21st the students worked in groups and created three interactive presentations to engage students in um Italian culture we had our annual Hill Senior standout show for senior superlatives last Thursday with host making skits featuring um teachers and then also having a little trivia round um Emma Joyce was selected as the unsung hero by Morris County School Board Association for our school um our concert band and Wind Ensemble were awarded a gold rating in their competition SpongeBob the musical finally happened and it also broke attendance records um set by the music man um the French three honors and Italian five classes participated in the one school many cultures day at Ma Taber school they did a presentation on Tunisia for the elementary students teaching them about places to visit how to participate in a traditional tea ceremony Foods you will eat there as well as teaching them about traditional Tunisian music dance and pottery the senior panoramic photo was scheduled for today and was taken in the gym and then next week or the week after um while we return from spring break we will recognize National Library week um with the spirit week with Monday being bedtime story pajama day Tuesday being Cat in the Hat day wear a hat th um Wednesday being dress up like a literary character Thursday being wear magenta for books and then Friday being Viking na day thank you okay thank you um board members go ahead Mrs mayor oh yes oh okay I just wanted to say that I had the pleasure of attending SpongeBob and The Adams Family which I did twice The Adams Family um they were amazing Productions it is amazing to see our students perform like that it was like watching a Broadway show I I kudos to the to the actors the actresses the directors the stage people the hands the music was was in unbelievably on task it was an enjoyment for everybody my grandchildren loved it and I enjoyed it as well SpongeBob was you know I thought oh SpongeBob but it was really good I agree I did not expect SpongeBob to be as good as it was yeah and The Adams Family was so well done it was just unbelievable how talented this district is really okay anybody else have any comments questions okay well thank you ladies very informative as always okay at this time we're going to to suspend the uh tonight's regular agenda to allow for the presentation from uh Mrs Charlene Peterson from New Jersey school boards on public Community engagement um ohic you could use that microphone yes probably easier you you can you don't have to sit you can walk I'm good yeah that's good thank you just want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to be here for the board to take time and training and I always love hearing from the students I'm like your spirit week sounded like it was so much fun right all the stuff that they did um so you know and it's just another Testament to being part of the school Community right in the school Community trying to engage and reach out to one another and so you see that the students doing it and now you know kind of setting an example for us as to how we can continue to do that as well um so I have to say that I really appreciated you picking this topic because when I was putting this presentation together I'm like I learned something from this so so I was I'm happy to have this opportunity so essentially got a lot of great resources from um the Illinois School Board Association um so I'm just going to kind of start because it actually kicks off with a video hopefully well that thing's not even advancing right uh oh where's Jo you when you need her yeah it was working we Tred we tested it out earlier it was working just fine Deon Harish the power value of public sentiment I we few differents to the illino asso do Rel to student achievement to advance student achievement and provide meaningful learning opportunities we need to learn about our community MERS so what is Click cck is allone software everything your documents your chats your whiteboards your projects the value of this you don't have to buy five software you don't have to be ho in a we might have to listen to the video later right we might have to we can just skip it if we need to and then we can just go through the rest to the presentation can harness the power value of public sentiment better than a local school board this statement is accredited to the Illinois Association of school boards but we in Ohio agree completely further the national school boards Association recognizes Community engagement as one of the main School governance functions so what is community engagement and how does it relate to student achievement to advance now I know not to put videos in my presentation the next time I come back here to the Illinois Association of school boards but we in Ohio agree completely further the national school boards Association recognizes Community engagement as one of the main School Board governance functions so what is community engagement and how does it relate to student achievement to advance student achievement and provide meaningful learning opportunities we need to learn about our community members aspirations for our students and determine what must our school district be like in order for all children to succeed in general Community engagement is a process by which school boards actively involve diverse thinking citizens in dialogue and collaborative thinking around their common Public School interests and the importance of community engagement cannot be underestimated the board's deliberate actions to strengthen the Public's involvement promotes four important items one it shakes its schools two it builds trusts three it makes the district a part of the community and four infus Community Values with the district's educational Vision some believe that such a process occurs naturally given the numerous groups of people involved in education but that is not the case citizens are engaged when they play a meaningful role in the deliberations and decision-making process of programs or policies affecting them and whether or not a district resident has a child attending school the school district affects residents school boards must be intentional about Community engagement and ensure the process is strategic and proactive this strategic opportunity may include developing a better understanding of the Public's needs or determining how parents businesses and other members of the public can actively support students and community community engagement is a long-term commitment and one that requires courage and integrity from the community and School District in the end however the effort will benefit your students and and your community a community is known by the schools it keeps how do you want your community to be known that really is an important question right how do we want our our district and our community to be known and recognizing that you know we have an important part to play in um how that is considered so I wanted to start out first just kind of talking about the fact that as much as we're advocates for our community we also are advocates for public education right and the importance of that and the benefit to our community the benefit to our students and we're finding that sometimes that the the whole concept of public education is being challenged right and sometimes it's thought that just because of the the requirements and the mandates that are coming down both from the state and the federal level just uh the the issu sometimes with funding um and then also too just looking at the fact that you know because these dollars are harder to come by that are you know and rightly so the community is asking or or wanting to make sure that there's value in in the tax dollars that they support for us so that's why it's great like when we get to see the students because to me they're the best way to help explain we can say all we want but like you say when you go to the play and when you see how amazing the kids are that's kind of what helps Define what that value is right for the students and just really an important way to to kind of demonstrate the effectiveness of the tax dollars but it's you know also an additional responsibility to us as the board because we you know have to be mindful of the fact of what the challenges are that public education is facing and you know there's a lot of times that I will hear boards say sometimes you know if nobody's coming to our meeting it must be a good thing right we we must be doing things right and this is kind of challenging that and saying you know what like you you can't just say like listen to us you elected us we'll take care of this is kind of essentially saying that if you effectively want to engage your community they have to be an important part of the process and in order for you to make sure that you're really doing what matches what their expectations are the only way to know that is to find out from them so as much as we get out and get about in the community and try to be visible and be involved a lot of times we need to hear the voice about issues that we're facing um so it's important then that that we take that next step and consider them to be an important part of this process so just to kind of you know the the video talked a little bit about defining Community engagement but just kind of wanted to again talk about the fact that like when it talks about diverse citizens it really is talking about people that have different viewpoints have different representations in the community and making sure then that we're not just listening to One group we're not just listening to the loudest voice we're not just listening who comes to our board meetings but really making sure that we are um understanding that we have this large community that has all kinds of bearing interests and needs and what are we doing to find out what they are what are we doing to find out what's important to those citizens and bringing their voice to the table as well as the voices that um you know come to us how can we also um find out what other voices want and then saying that it's you know also equally important to not just say are we pushing information out at them are we taking a survey to just hear one way back from them but are we engaging them in deliberation are we engaging them in discussion are we engaging them presenting Alternatives and having back and forth conversation with them and if we have a big issue that comes up bringing them to the table and saying what do you think about this this what do you think about these Alternatives we're presenting what makes sense to you about this and what doesn't so kind of really taking this to a whole different level than the level that we were used to thinking about um in terms of involving our citizens um so I thought that this was a good quote that said it's sure that school Improvement is done with the community and not to the community so think about just kind of the important distinction in that right that's sometimes it's easier to just let them know what we're doing instead of having them be part of the process um you know one of the things that this you know also made sure to make clear is that not everything is going to lend itself to to this level of engagement right that we would have to think about what are those highlevel kind of big topics that would be something that would really um benefit from this level of community um participation and engagement and then make sure that we provide the opportunities for that um and so kind of you know if we think about then what's the benefit of that so then we know then that our citizens are going to be better informed in what we do and then you know as we continue to have challenges and needs we're now going to have allies right we're now going to have people that can help speak for us out in the community and can help support the work that we're doing in the district and then it's you know you know one of the things we're also finding too is that you know this thing talks about like focusing on issues that unite US versus issues that divide us but we're seeing that there's more and more issues right that seem to be coming to the table that are dividing us that are divisive so how do we bring people in and kind of you know understand have everyone come to an understanding of what those opposing viewpoints are so that even if I don't agree with you I now have a better understanding of why you think the way you do and sometimes just that common understanding is a win right of people walking away knowing why someone's Viewpoint is different than theirs and then um hopefully that I will be more accepting of whatever the solution is because at least I was able to have a part to play you know and I had a voice and my voice was listened to um so as we talk about Community engagement they set us essentially that it has three principles or parts to it we'll go through each one of these framing the question involving the community and then also the importance of Partnerships in this work that we do right in building Partnerships um so saying in terms of framing the question that if we are going to have the community come and be part of um conversations be part of decisions that we also have to make sure that we're um giving them information that we're giving them enough background information so that they can come come to the table prepared to have an informed discussion with the group so we might not just say come on in and said this is what we're going to be talking about this is you know this is some background information these are some of the things that we're working on so that when I come here I feel really good about the fact that I now can participate in an informed conversation so just again the importance of that hearing from our community um and then you know making sure that really that we are considered to be partners um as we're considering Alternatives that we now know what's um our community is thinking so if we then involve them so it and again this goes back to saying okay instead of saying who you know who came to see us really looking at the situation from who's not at the table and who else should be here if they're not here so as we think about a situation think about who would be important Partners to be here and if they're not here what step do we take to get them here to be part of this process so saying like sometimes that we may need to reach out to groups and you know it talked about the fact that a lot of times I may tend to be more involved as somebody just called me and asked me right rather than leave it to me to just volunteer myself sometimes if someone asks you to be part of um you know a conversation a lot of times you may might be more willing to participate and then saying that importantly we should as we looked at kind of that diverse stakeholder group of diverse thinkers in our community kind of identifying who are they who are those groups and really being deliberate about mapping them out thinking about who they are identifying who they are and then thinking about how we can reach them and when it would be important to to reach out to them and for what groups um and then helping them understand the value of what's you know what's in it for them like what is the benefit of you coming here and recognizing the fact that you can really make a difference in the outcome of what you know of what is decided based on your voice so you know people need to to see that that that does make a difference um so you know as we look at that you know we too often focus on kind of the the parents who you know there are kind the audience that's around us most right the people that have children in our schools but essentially saying that that's only about a quarter of your Town's population and saying that the other 75% um if we really want to move forward that we have to consider them we have to consider them to be valuable voices in the work that we do and how do we engage with those voices how do we get them to be part of this discussion because we're going to need them to be our partners to be advocates for the work that we're doing here um so as we look at really then what makes this work um just kind of saying and this is the one thing that I felt like really kind of resonated with me when it said while public relations and public participation are important Community engagement is much more because I think sometimes we think about those terms being synonymous like if if people if we're just sending out information or if people are participating in something then do we call that Community engagement do we say okay we did a good job versus really thinking about it from that bigger picture and saying like are we really making sure that their voices are at the table and part of discussions and part of providing input and that's really looking at this a little bit differently then um and so saying that it has to be like an ongoing process and then talked about and I'll explain this in the next slide a little bit more but connect with them as owners and not customers customers so kind of saying they're the ones whose tax dollars you know it's their schools they're the owners of the work that we're doing our customers are the the students and the people that benefit from the work but the owners are our community so what are we doing to engage the owners in make sure that they're finding value in what we're doing um and that we are bringing different voices so that we can come to that consensus um so in terms of this again kind of explaining the difference of owners and customers so saying owners would be long-term issues looking at our values our beliefs our mission our vision our goals our core values what we do who we do it for what we stand for um and engaging the community in these important conversations versus then looking at customer concerns of disat dissatisfaction with school related issues um day-to-day issues and things that are you know usually just addressed by the administration and so kind of separating those two um there's even another kind of training that I do on policy by governance where it even talks about the board saying that the board should think about themselves instead of being like essentially One Step Above the superintendent they should think about themselves as being one step below the owners um and think about your work from that Viewpoint um so in terms of you know thinking about okay if we want to engage our community and keep them informed um you know making sure that as we're sending out Communications are we thinking about the customer are we you know are we thinking about who the owners are and are we looking through that lens of making sure we're not using too much educational jargon are we making sure that we're communicating in a way that is Meaningful to our community in a way that they can understand um and you know making it be kind of a deliberate attempt to bring them to the table and bring them to be part of this process so kind of saying okay if we look at then what is our promise to the public what will we do and saying that we'll make sure that that when we bring them here it's for a specific purpose and that we're going to use their input because a lot of times people get frustrated if you say okay you know you asked me you asked for my input and then you didn't use it you didn't do anything with it so saying we need to make a commitment to you that if we're going to bring you in if we're going to engage you recognize that we care about what you have to say we're going to listen to what you have to say and it's going to help shape the work that we're doing you know we we still are responsible for making the decision but know that your voice and your input is a valuable part of that um and then again like making sure that we understand their asp ations that we're keeping them well informed and listening to all voices again not just the most vocal voices um and then in return what we should expect Hope from the community then um would them sharing with us what their aspirations are for our students what they expect from us and what they want us to accomplish what does student achievement mean to your community because it's different for every Community what what does your community want and expect from you and how are we doing in regard to that um you know making sure then that they are um recognizing at the end of the day that it is the board's responsibility to make the decisions knowing that you're doing it and what's in the best interests of the community um and that you know we always say that um from the board's perspective that we have to look at situations through a different lens that the community can come to us with concerns about a particular situation a particular grade but from the board's perspective when you look at that situation you have to look at it through the lens of how does this impact every single student in the school district because that's who I'm responsible for so when I make decisions that's the lens that I'm making the decision through and so that has to be kind of you know hopefully understood or respected and then again recognizing that um kind of the same as us you know that we have to support decisions that um that once they're made you know I always say like you always get our say but we don't always get our way so it's kind of this same concept would kind of apply of you know we want everyone to feel heard but recognize when a decision was made it was made for the greater good um so in terms of then looking at you know what we you know how we can kind of get started in this or what are some important things again recognizing that it has to be a long-term plan that you know like I said it's impracticable impr practical to to do this for any particular you know for just anything um or we really have to look at this from those bigger issues but essentially what this is saying is if I have engaged the community in other things when it comes time for me to make a smaller decision I can now make that smaller decision a little more informed because I've already heard from the community on the bigger issues so I already have a better sense of what they're thinking and what they're feeling and how this might you know better um align with what the the community's values are um and you know I'm kind of saying that we can't always expect them to come to our board meetings that if we're looking to engage them that we sometimes will have to meet them where they are right and figure out ways how to come to them how to communicate with them in a way that's important to them and recognize that just not one way is going to work that we'll have to continue to try different ways and um you know figure out what the best way is to engage our community so that this next slide is a lot but it gives different examples of ways that you can engage with the community and takes it and really separates it by kind of saying are you just trying to inform them are you trying to consult with them are you trying to involve them are you trying to collaborate with them so depending on what the outcome is or depending on what you're trying to do um would deter determine which one of these strategies that you might want to use um so then and the next slide really kind of takes it and kind of shows you kind of taking you through the spectrum of saying that you know there's going to be situations kind of looking at that informed of saying okay there's just going to be times when we just need to let you know what's going on we're you know and saying that that essentially is kind of one-way communication right that we're just telling you what's going on then in terms of Consulting than saying that we want to hear your feedback but again it's kind of one-way communication and this time it's the community telling us um so as we want to continue to move through the Continuum of saying then okay then the next level would be to involve them saying that we're going to work directly with them and kind of you know make sure that that we're hearing and we're listening to them and we're kind of two-way communication but then kind of the the Final Phase is where we're true collect collaborators and true Partners um really working through issues and really working through situations together um so then the next slide it gave us a lot of examples of people that we might want to think about you know who we would want to bring to the table who we might want to engage who we might you know want to join in with us on in this work because sometimes like I say we need to expand our thinking between be Beyond just you know the the either the people that come to us or um or parents you know we we know that it's important to engage with our parents but also I guess the importance like I said of that other 75% so then saying okay if we you know we start this process if we you know begin Community engagement so what does it look like so saying that it's an ongoing process recognizing it's a long-term process knowing that we have to use a lot of strategies that it involves listening to and then importantly deliberating with and that's kind of the the distinction or the difference of when you're truly um involved in community engagement and then saying that we're just seeking to find Common Ground we may never all leave the with the you know agreeing on the same thing but if we've all Come Away with this common understanding saying that it's should involve that the the big decisions not the day-to-day things ideally on ISS that unite us rather than divide us and then saying it requires inviting others to the table and investing in building Community relationships so again just that importance of those Partners having partners in the work that we do um and then this was just an example again and you know I just thought it was a you know a lot of times we say like we should be doing those things but we don't always have like the tools to tell us how to do it so in that bigger document that I'm just going to hold this up for a second so in this document it like it has everything like it could tells you how to invite them it tells you like how to run the meeting like what time how you should set it all up so I just thought it was you know great that this was showing an invitation to someone saying you know what the board is committed to getting ideas getting information from you we're having a meeting about this you know we really want to hear what you have to say here's some resources we've attached for you to look at um for you to consider when you come to this meeting so it kind of takes all of these Concepts and really lays it out for us so you can see like I would feel comfortable if I was a member of the the community and someone sent me this inviting me to come and be part of something this really makes it clear to me like what you expect from me and what I'm going to do and um so I just thought it was just kind of a great way to kind of help demonstrate the house of like how to get this started um so as we again as we look at them kind of wrapping it up and looking about Community engagement things we should consider again asking that question like who's not at the table um said rather than Gathering The Usual Suspects right um making that we have various we might need various settings and various methods to make the stakeholders feel comfortable um even thinking about obstacles like what are reasons people might not come and saying we might not to we might need to consider that as well um and then making sure that again that we're providing them information so that they can feel engaged and feel comfortable so then from the board's perspective we know you know sometimes it's a challenge because a lot of this work is really the work of the administration right that some of it we're not getting involved directly in this so what is our work then so from the board's perspective making sure that Community engagement is a priority so obviously if I ify that here by even just having this um as a presentation that the board would like to hear about like as we're setting goals as we're setting our priorities you know making it clear that that this is a priority and then um the next one I thought was really important saying that we need to be models for collaboration you know we always say that the way that the board conducts itself the way that the board runs its meeting is usually the community's first lens into how the district is being run so we need to hold ourselves to that standard and kind of saying collaboration begins with us so we have to demonstrate that in order for people to trust that if we're asking them to come to a meeting to collaborate with us that we need to show them and model them what that looks like at our board meeting um making sure from the board's perspective that our public is receiving meaningful opportunities to um to participate and then we can also be helpful resources in identifying who should be at the table right who are those Partners who are those people in our community that it would be helpful um I identifying who are those voices that aren't at the table a lot of times from the board's perspective you could be good um ambassadors to help identify who that is and then um the last slide here it's was just a handout I figured if we ever like you know had a board retreat again or whatever in terms of the board kind of looking through and saying um you know how are we doing in some of these things and you know kind of evaluating um the work that we're doing here and then the last piece kind of just as a summary is just essentially saying that you know we need to kind of be the the facilitators of this process that if we kind of are you know saying that best you know that the best defense is a good offense right that rather than waiting to respond to communication and reacting to conversations that we're not part of we should be the ones that are initiating those conversations and having other people respond to what we're saying versus US responding to conversations that that we're not even part of so kind of just the value of that and then these are just uh giving credit to all of these resources um and that was all that I had and you know left you with some other some other hand outs as well with different kind of um different ways as well to you know continue this work of connecting with the community so just wanted to thank the board for this opportunity see if the board had any questions thank you Charlene uh do any board members have any questions with respect to to the presentation okay can I just ask yes please have you seen any other districts use this for a specific topic that we might be able to go like look and see how another District actually did this or um yeah so There Was You Know A District that um at the time kind of did it in a really big way um when it they were talking about like different um things related to race and brought like members of the community together and had kind of like a round t like table discussions um there have been you know districts went that went through like the the issue with the with the books and kind of conversations about that and brought people into the table to have conversations so you have to think about it as being kind of really big kind of highlevel type things that um okay anybody else have any questions especially because we are going to go through our board self- evaluation and uh one of the things that has been a constant is that the board in general doesn't feel that we do enough public engagement and you know and a c I do have a couple of questions and uh related to this and and one would be is how do if we compare ourselves to other uh Town leadership let's say uh Town um the Town Council uh fire you know the Fire Marshals you know name it you know give it a title we are held to different standards because of you know the ethics rulings and and so that we are not as individuals Al um able to let's say go and speak to a group of of of um the community and and say any anything um substantive if you will of what's happening in the school per se because as board members we're not speaking for the full board when we're not we're not in a board meeting such as this so I'm not sure how you know it's how it would be seen it you know like go to you know senior citizens buildings you know because in uh just recently someone said you know well you know I don't even have children in the school district and I pay the taxes well I don't have children in the school district and I pay taxes as well but to me is but they will eventually be paying my retirement you know uh when when I retire and they pay in you know the Social Security and you know it's it's sort of like a a life cycle you know type of thing and so that we want to educate them well so that they can make more money and that they you know they could be okay when they have to pay for us to retire that kind of thing but anyway but it's about not just not just going out to the public when when um we have large topics to discuss whether when we did the Strategic you know planning for the district when you know you're talking about a budget or you know we might need a referendum or you know ex additional expenses and all that but just an engagement in you know maybe being involved in in science fairs so you know that are going on in the school but then we're seen as the oh there's the board members or there's the superintendent and all of a sudden we're you know we just put a different vibe to the to the event and not on purpose because because we you know we we want to we are one of the community so have you had any experience with any any other districts that that I guess find it easier to to go out there so like I said it would be more the work of the administration to put these things together and to go out there together so it's not really the board going out there as individuals the board would be the one creating or making sure that those opportunities exist you may be part of it if the superintendent has acknowledged that they would like to have some board members be part of it but you know you we have to make sure that we're like I said that that we're bringing the the community into the picture in a way that um allows them to be part of this process so I mean when you think back of the days when we used to have to um have our budgets passed right think about all of those engagement strategies that we used then and you did find yourself going out to different places right so we almost have to think about almost those kind of same scenarios again and thinking you know when is it appropriate for us to do that type of thing um and even as budgets get tighter you know you could see the benefit perhaps of you know talking having some kind of the community perhaps providing some input into things that are important to them that we do so that we we make sure when we put our budgets together that it is um meeting what are you know the the most important things that our community is asking from us okay all right so no one else well thank you so much you you thank [Applause] you so let's continue with the um with the board meeting and uh is there any correspondents to come before the board no um as a matter of fact we do but it's in our packet um but it's I everyone has the the letter okay it was um from a um from m Mr James kifi and it just says um registering for the Mount Olive School District's reun reunification drill at Roxbury High School on April 9th 2024 and um so they will be testing that and they will have it at that facility and if we would like to observe we have been invited to attend um the the event I gave you the um I madean sure Joie gave you guys all the information there is an actual link so that you can um so that you can go in there and I will have her send us the email because it was on the email an actual link so that you could register yourself there's no cost for it of course and um you know I I think it's important to see how other school districts handle um it's it's part of their their drills in case of an emergency or such so it it would it's I wanted to make sure I presented it to you guys that it was sent it was sent to us okay thank you all right and um okay is there any unfinished business to come before the board okay so we will move on to committee reports we will start with Mr rehea uh which one community uh Communications or the whichever one you feel comfortable with okay um the communications committee met um I was the since this is the start of the baseball season I was the pin  for Mrs Abraham uh for that meeting and uh it was attended by Dr Wright Mr Chao Mr baros and myself um the committee met to respond on we met on two items and and I listened to Charlene's comments and I thought they they were very applicable to the the work that we did because uh the first was to uh come up with a response to the mayor's uh memo on the I think it was the 17th or so 16th so um Mr baros and I we we compiled some comments and we created a draft response which the four of us then took and we spent a couple of hours crafting and editing and and aligning with the goal of providing the public with needed information to correct uh the memo that was put out which contained some that created some expectations that were not realistic let's say um the uh the mayor's memo created unrealistic expectations the increase in state funding it basically it amounted to 1% of our entire budget so to say that that rejoicing and it sounded like we were going to be on the roof of blowing a you know trumpet but uh it wasn't to that effect so we so I think we created a memo and we got it out in a timely manner and we all worked very well together and and uh so I thank everyone for for the help and I and I thank uh Dr Suter and and and Robin um for for your help in getting this through and providing us with with the clar especially on the second memo which was the um uh the P the key facts on the pilot flyer that we put out and we reviewed it tonight uh one of the things we wanted to do is um you know make it applicable to people that want to just look at something like a summary uh prevent present financial information in a in a concise manner but then have the drill down where we have links where you can go and get additional information and again I thank thank you we had a nice back and forth on on information and how they could be how information could be presented in a different way so we we came to a good a good end point so thank you for all your help uh you know last week on that and uh also on the uh so I met with the palal they had a board meeting and I had missed the last several months as they kept uh booking their board meetings the same night that we had board meetings so um we met on the 21st uh and uh uh among the highlights of the meeting is uh Deborah go she presented an overview of the financial report um they they are financially been I've been I was with them last year as a liaison and they've always been uh uh very conscientious and uh financially Frugal and they're uh they're very they're good that way they manage their their funds very well uh they are entering into a six-month branding agreement with a local marketing firm a young marketing firm it's a I believe it's a startup called A3 DM and that's going to proceed and um they are they are in the search for an executive director and by now they may have extended an offer to that person uh they're going to be doing a renovation on the on the old boxing room which if you walk into the building is on the left side of the building and it's a nice room when it's done it's going to be much nicer it was I guess it was built in the it goes back to the 80s so um the the renovations will will update it uh and then there is a uh uh the wrestling and competition cheer programs are becoming year round so uh you know due to a lot of interest in it and and uh they or to be run inside the building and then there is a $155,000 mentoring Grant available there's some requirements to to qualify for that Grant uh which I've listed there so you've got to have they've got to have enough interest 21 mentees and three mentors so uh that is something that you know they have their eye on um any questions on either committee I I do um I just want to clarify on the on item two of community Communications yeah okay when is that going to is is that going to be put up on our website tomorrow right I just wanted to conf it wasn't so it's going to be found on our website so anybody anybody listening can go and and look at what it is that you were talking about yes okay and might not be tomorrow right it'll be yeah next week right correct next week spring break but we're here okay all right so next week all right next we have Mrs Mayer do you have anything Mrs mayor or I'm what I'm not committee no no unsung heroes oh I could report on that yeah thank you was the committee but okay yeah we did have the unsung heroes program was I guess was last week already time flies and it was an incredible program I know that you were there Dr Suter was there I think Mrs Abraham was there Mr ch um it was just oh Mr Mr Chao um to hear the students stories and and things that they've overcome and at some points it was almost you were almost in tears listening to some of their stories um I was very proud of our two Nomine our young lady from the hills and our young lady from The High um an interesting story the young lady from the hills is in a wheelchair and um before the before we got started we decided to give her her little guy bag and um the sheriff's award at her seat because she would have to maneuver to the other side of the stage to get you know well we were sitting we were on the other side so I went up to her and I congratulated her and I gave it to her and um I said and we'll see you later when we hand out the others so a little bit later um her person who was with her came up to me and said she just the student just wanted to be sure that she was going to be recognized like the other students and we said of course so you know she really you know they all were just like on the moon with it but I think it really really benefited her because you know she came out she was in her wheelchair she got the recognition that all the other students got and she really wanted to make sure she was treated like the other students so it was just a wonderful night we had we raised way more money than we did last year and we had more students received it was just I can't say enough and we'll be doing it again next year so if you didn't get a chance to go it is a very long evening um you know paron is like at the end but I wouldn't have missed the other stuff because to hear the other stories was very emotionally it it made me feel good to be a part of something so valuable to students just to their overwhel beinging so it was a great night it was thank you yes I I mentioned to um Mrs Abraham after a lot of them spoke I said boy do I feel like a slacker you know because they do so much I mean one gentleman was I mean senior year uh excellent grades helps in his uh parents restaurant full-time you know and goes to school full-time and he opened up yeah he's the chef and he opened up his own marketing company and he's going to college and I was like oh boy I I'm like I don't do anything compared to that so monary the monetary will be awarded yes I was going to ask you that uh that's in Roxberry right um is that April is it May May 2nd May 2nd will be at Roxberry so and and and I guess different board members will also I'm not sure if anyone here um will be receiving any any recognitions for um um certified member yeah we will okay so yes some of some will so that'll be good this um buildings and grounds met tonight so I don't have a full report but we discussed the Littleton construction project we went through the all the overall District projects update we got a status of the capacity report that is still you know with the Architects and not in yet and then we also went over the Architects report um from the you know the potential new building information that we were given last week so that's what buildings and grounds went through tonight okay thank you okay and we have um Mrs Chapel oh Mr Dr wght do you have any I don't have any reports thank you thank you didn't want to miss it thank you uh so on March 26 the human resources and Labor Relations committee met uh present were myself Mrs golderer Mrs mayor Mr Ricker and Dr Suter um there were seven things on the agenda they cover really four main topics um the salary rates for the non-affiliated and miscellaneous employees were what reviewed um they were are budgeted for a 3.1% increase which is right in line with what Mrs Tesco had previous mentioned so that was made perfect sense um second topic was the uh we reviewed the abstracts of the teach teaching staff that were not being renewed as well as those that were gaining tenure uh it was a fantastic opportunity to see how that information was gathered and considered um a lot of time and effort goes into drafting those abstracts so I want to make sure make sure that we thank all of the personnel and the leadership who were involved in drafting all that so that we had a good view of why these people were in you know earning what they were getting what they were getting delivered uh third uh we looked at the transfers and the changes in assignments um and uh doc I mean Mr Ricker had took us through um some of the information all made perfect sense uh so there's no challenges for what was being proposed uh lastly uh we looked at the kindergarten enrollment and Staffing um just commenting on how things were falling out this year compared to last year um so uh it was a good conversation um I want to just make sure that we take a moment to thank everybody who was involved with all of that because this is a very important exercise that we go through there's a lot of analysis that goes into this a lot of time and consideration so thank you Mrs Tesco for your team again on the budget um thank you to again all the leaders who were involved in drafting the information that was being considered and uh U overall um most of the Thanks goes to Mr Ricker and his team um because being able to evaluate all this information and come to us with the proposals that were presented um was greatly appreciated we know it took a lot of time and effort to do so thank thank you um so that was the um HR um I was also going to report on um on the liaison for the Educational Services Commission of Mars County um that meeting happened on Wednesday the 13th um it was a fantastic experience it's the first one I got to go to um so those who are not aware um uh that's the that they support the statutory and financial responsibility needs of the district um so basically filling in some of the gaps that we can't do or we can't deliver so it's certainly an important service that they provide to us in our district um they primarily focus on special education and transportation services um the majority of it being Transportation on the call we looked at the budget for the 2024 2025 budget um uh we reviewed it and unanimously approved it uh the budget is about $50 million which is actually down $3 million from the previous year um and that is a result of a decrease in busing of 1.7 million and special education services of8 million um the other topic that was discussed that we spent some time on was something that I thought was very valuable for us to be considering um and that was the introduction and use of alternative schools um so they raised the the point that um many schools across our County are finding them in a situation where there's students that just don't fit in right they just have one reason or another that they are chronically absent disruptive to others or just generally tuned out and the standard School environment is not something that works for them um and so many people were coming forward saying that they were in need of alternative arrangements or alternative schools um so I mentioned that to Dr Sutter and Mr toffo and I will follow up to see this they did say that this is going to be an ongoing discussion because it seems to be a growing need so so as I gather information um I will provide that if there are specific topics or situations that you want me to mention um as you for their consideration and feedback please let me know and that's it go ahead was ESC saying that they are considering becoming an alternative school or they would help locate I alternative schools they left it a very open conversation um I think because there are so many schools coming forward it sounded to me like it's something that they're starting to consider to provide go ahead M if I remember from when I sat on that that their role their enrollment has gone down to the point where they might have to make other arrangements was that discussed that the enrollment was so low again yes that's right and that's part of the reason for the decreases in the budget overall that's right just a general comment about that the alternative schools I read somewhere and I I'm sure I could find it on my phone somewhere but um that one of the reasons that children don't feel part of the school is that they don't feel like they're missed if they're absent like they're absent but they don't feel like they're missed when they're when they're gone and that's probably I don't know it's uh something it just made me think but uh it was just an observation that I read from from that article that you know kids and I'm sure a lot of it comes from you know everything that's happened with Co over the last few years but I'm sure a greater sense of belonging would might be one one thing to address I I'm sure I'm sure it's a factor for many and amongst many other things but you know like I said you know Dr Suter if there's certain things that we should be raising to them for consideration and feedback let me know yeah we'll discuss that with Mr Courtright as well because Mr cour would be involved in it beautiful thank you okay um Mrs Abraham thank you I have the update for the teaching and learning committee uh teaching and learning met on March 18th and present were myself Dr Wright and Dr uh we discussed a few books the following books that were reviewed was uh cers by meline Miller for mythology 12th grade semester English stone blind for Natalie by Natalie Haynes for mythology 12th grade semester English none of this is true by Lisa juel which is mystery True Crime for 12th grade semester English and Between the Lines by jod pult which is fantasy and fairy tales 12th grade semester English in addition to that uh Dr M gave an update on the Strings program and as Dr Mal explained the when we began the Strings program about six years ago we wanted to make sure that it would catch hold and find success in our elementary schools as a result we made the decision to start strings in third grade A year earlier than band and chorus now that strings has established itself firmly as a strong and valuable part of the elementary music program we are making the decision to initiate both instrumental music options in fourth grade beginning in the 2024 to 25 school year instrumental music which is strings and band will be offered to fourth and fifth grade students primarily uh third grade students will continue to receive instruction on the flutophone where they will develop skills and M music literacy coordination Ensemble playing and breath control these students will also have the opportunity to join their wonderful performance ensembles in the fourth grade Dr also gave us an update on the scheduling process the 6 to 12 grade students and parents have inputed their course requests and administrators have evaluated them to determine how many sections of each course will be running at the sections meeting uh we finalized these sections so that we can compare our current teaching staff to the anticipated courses that will be running next year at the Staffing meeting we shared and discussed each teacher's case load based on these courses and looked at transfers and openings and other staff St in issues at this point each secondary building will build will begin building their master schedule with the goal of finishing in the spring uh there was one more bullet point that it was on my other um update uh Dr M Ro had mentioned that eventually the hope is to treat it like one big campus where all the student any any high school student can take classes at either School uh one more item that was not on this update was that I was privileged enough to attend the parent literacy night that was held on March 18th and March 26th at uh phhs and PHS respectively and parents were able to attend different sessions and watch presentations on other topics and they have the QR codes provided on a flyer uh so that if you missed any sessions were not able to attend them um you can catch all the presentations via the QR codes it was uh really fun really engaging I learned a lot I we only attended two sessions but even that was very engaging and very informative and I had actually asked for several of the those flyers cuz they were really beautiful flyers and they took a lot of time to put them together and I asked for many copies of them and then I promptly left them at home so so I would like to bring them in anyway because uh for the next meeting because like I said they were very beautifully made and uh we should appreciate that and the QR codes are on there and I will ask Joanie to also um scan them in and send them to everyone and that's my minutes thank you any questions no okay Mr baros thank you Madame vice president uh policy uh we had nothing on our agenda so we uh we canceled our scheduled meeting um I'm sure we'll be meeting up in the next uh right after the uh spring recess couple of the aison reports uh I attended uh the March 19th meeting of the Town Council um couple of things of note um uh a friend of ours here at the board Mr B Venia um had raised a issue to the council and to the mayor about um putting a resolution together to decline in the future uh all uh residential Pilots uh to the town uh as it's going to have the negative impact to to tax base and then also did the school system um it was um it was also uh expressed by Mr councilman Mella that he would be a support on the ban but uh he thought that that might be a better way to do this instead of spanning them all together just doing it more of a committee uh mayor Barbaro said that he did not think that was doable because of the state regulations and and the fact of the issues of the new housing um law that just went into effect I guess it was if we met on the if they met on the Tuesday it was done that Monday which would have been the 18th that was signed into uh that the governor signed so basically that was a no-o um mayor barberio's report he spoke uh the police department um and the fact you know what they're you know uh you know that you know the town was very grateful to you know keeping us safe um he also mentioned that there was a successful collective bargaining agreement with the Police bevans Association supervised Officers Association and blue collar supervisors so these moas were all signed and um they were going was being voted on I believe it was pass without problem mayor spoke on financial the financial Outlook um he reported that um that numbers that he received that the uh town was in a positive Financial Outlook the budget was showing promise the township fund balance is back on track the Surplus was very good thank to prent fiscal management and hard work from over the years uh there was discussion about the uh what you call the farmers market uh and there's also a they are starting the process of preparing for a cannabis presentation they are discussing it uh I guess the council and Zoning uh to talk on about the regulations and uh so this is all in the works and I know that they'll probably make some sort of announcement as to when do that presentation uh at the council and um there was a couple of other items but uh that's pretty much the highlights for the board uh my other liaison report is in relations to I attended uh a couple of um PTA meetings this past 10 days the first meeting was at no Wood Elementary um I was there with the board president chafo myself U hey hey Tim that was Rockaway Meadow Rock Rockway Meadow they say know it again I'll get it right one day Rock Away Rock so anyways um it uh both both uh visits that I was able to go to um you know it's it's amazing it's um it's a very structured organized uh series of meetings um at the Rockway Meadow uh uh Mr Cruz gave his principal report of the PTA president uh she had a full agenda she spoke very clearly about the budget that was presented here at the uh the board meeting um you know for the elementary side they're they're you know I mean again you're into that uh spring events uh slate where they're they're doing their fundraising they're getting ready for the uh fifth grade moving up um a lot of excitement in the room um there was a presentation done uh by by our a member of our district uh to the PTA so it was a lot of good information it was a very it was it was very entertaining to to to be uh very entertained to be there it was it was I enjoyed it tremendously and there was something that I I wish I had done uh a lot sooner and then this past Monday I attended uh PT meeting at Central Middle School um and again although at a different level they're they're going through the same uh series of events where they're planning for the um 8th grade moving up ceremony um they're they're doing their fundraising I think unlike the the elementary schools the fundraisings are a little bit tough right now um but but they're leaving no stone ont um so again all you know it was all very very well done um and and I just sat and took notes and listened and it was uh it was a pleasant evening so before the next board meeting I'm hoping to at least attend three more meetings and I'm looking to hit the uh west side of town for those meetings so that's on my list that's my liaz report thank you thank you um Mrs mayor do you want to say something about that no as a matter of fact I was going to turn to you and say wait didn't you have well I thought Mr Chapo was going to mention that um uh last week I guess it was um Mr chafo and I attended the PTA council meeting where all the PTA presidents come and the U principles come and it was the first one we've had in a very long time um with covid and then there was it was just not something that was on the books for a while um and it was very good meeting they discussed some of their concerns um how hard it is to get parents to come out and help with the events um you know they can get It's usually the same parents who do those events and it's really getting hard for them to man them um the book fair uh and I forget what other ones but then um Mr chafo said that he would speak to well they concern because parents weren't in the buildings that much in the elementary that was something that was kind of put on hold for a while and you know now parents are coming back into the building more and Mr chafo is going to talk to Dr Sutter to make sure that it's done in a safe way you know where we can have parents come back into our buildings um you know the only thing I know we really want our parents to come to these these events and to help with them but the only suggestion is you know if they're so short-handed and they can't get parents to come I know that you know the kids in the high school can get service credits for coming to help at these different events like Book Fairs and whatever else so maybe they can and I know that the principles at the high schools would be very happy to cooperate with that I mean it doesn't solve the parent problem but it does help get the support that they need um if anybody has any ideas how to get parents to come to these things and to help with the project it would be a real help to the PTA because like they said it's the same parents every time that do it so you know it was a good meeting everybody was happy to get together um M Liz Kaden is still the president um and you know everybody spoke openly doc Mr Chapo said that he's going to try to to come to all of those meetings just to kind of keep a hand on what's going on and you know they can always talk to us and any concerns that they had to address the board for example they want want to have parents be able to come into the building more so you know that was going to be something that Mr Chao addressed but it was a good meeting it felt good to see everybody back all right Mr a question for Mr baros uh is there a town council meeting that's coming Tuesday uh I do not hang on I got on my calendar but we're on spring break that they no so Tuesday after so it's not this Tuesday comments following all right may just a quick comment on the PTA meetings yes um it looks like board members may be showing more of an interest in attending those which is a which is great to be um in the schools I talked to Dr Suter earlier this week just in terms of a process so if you'd like to attend a PTA meeting in any of our schools just email Dr Suter Mrs BOS and s and let us know which school and what date just so that we can give uh the principal and the P president a heads up that a board member may be attending that meeting well anytime we anytime we go into a school building we're supposed to let Joanie know right well I I definitely uh we I reached out personally to uh to Mr Cruz and to Mr Green um Mr Gray so uh and the PTA president I I announced that I would like to come and made sure the invitation was good and they were more than happy to to invite me to their their meeting so it was great or or you could be like me I'm a member of the Northville PTA Central PTA pity High School PTA and then you don't have to get invited you just go to the meetings but and and that's an idea you know they can ask grandparents to come in and help at the schools you know so tonight Mrs kogan you wanted to say I just wanted to um add to Mr Beer's Town Council report that they're supposed to be meeting I guess it would have been this last Monday the finance committee to go over the budget and I know they were waiting on that before they meet any you know further Outreach to us so hopefully that will be coming soon and Mr McGrath mentioned a transparency committee that also would have met earlier this week um which she said they were just presenting unbiased information on Township happenings including Pilots so are th are those meetings open to the public or it's just their meetings believe they are yes they are open to the public and at the at this uh past Chamber of Commerce meeting um as I was walking out the door I was asked to ask the board to send a representative no no I'm talking about the yeah that's this is the uh this transparency oh for the transparency one okay it was suggested that the board senate representative an official representative from the board I see not just Tim so who's going to go okay so I I guess Mr chafa will will make this I I guess you spoke to Mr chaa about no no no I I had not I was going to speak to him tonight did not realize he was going to be ill how dare you Mr chaa you can hear that and and then we could talk about it thank you for not getting us all thank you oh my God okay so yes he he's not feeling well no um okay so I I am also giving a um a committee report for critical issues uh we met on March 26 it was myself um Mr baros Mr rehea Dr Sutter and what we just discussed was the upcoming evaluations we are going to be doing uh the board self- evaluation first um it will be um April 8th through April 30th I would have said April 25th so that you know the laggers like me will will get it done before then but anyway so um May 9th uh the the evaluation will be closed and then um um on June June 6 we will report out the um to the entire board as to the um we will have the evaluation complete it's a bit easier because as everyone knows except for Dr Wright is that those um just we get the report right from every what we input into it we get we get um back so that um then we'll look over the evaluations we'll discuss um one of the as I said one of the things that we have said in previously in the evaluation is about um engaging the community more and hence the reason for the presentation tonight not only is it for board education but also in topics that would move us towards our goals um then we will begin the superintendent evaluation on May 1st through um May 10th what will happen is that um Dr Suter will be in the meantime Dr Sutter will be contacted um I believe they go through Mrs tadesco do you get that letter no okay it's Mrs benos probably okay and um it goes to the superintendent and um he completes his part of the evaluation once it is done submitted then we all get an email saying that we can begin our part of the evaluation once um you know we will critical issues gets together and that one is different what we do is we try and com we what we do is we combine everything that was say we try and summarize what was said by everyone in you know a a a shorter format for the superintendent and we will of course the entire board will um evaluate what was written and we can make changes and once everyone is um is okay with it it'll go to the superintendent after that then we then all of us uh except for conflict conflicted board members will be um in the conference room discussing the board self eval I mean the board um the superintendent evaluation excuse me and everything needs to um you know be done before I believe it's June 30th um the last date it's not on here but we have to we have to make sure we get it done in time so we will you do have the timeline in the back of the of the notes and we will send out reminders to everyone um as I mentioned to Dr Wright either myself um Mr rehea or Mr beros will schedule a time to sit down with you and go over that with you and and make sure that you're comfortable being it's the first time does anyone have any questions I don't have a question but um Dr Wright there is me there is information on the um New Jersey school board's website um don't get excited now that um you can kind of look at ahead of time okay great um and the thing that when the critical issues comes together I I know you said they make a composite they have all the comments that every single person has made on every single point and how they've rated Dr Sutter and then they give an overall okay majority the average is whatever number and then they take the comments and it's Anonymous okay and then they just kind of give the general feel of the comments just to kind of but there's no name attached but we can all pretty much know who wrote what but again go on New Jersey school boards and get a look at that because that might give you a head start right great thank you both yes but but one of us will sit down with you and and go over it and you know like I said the first time you do it you don't know if you're going to touch a button and it's going to you know I don't know blow up the computer or something can I just also remind everybody that when you're making those choices that you put something in the comments yes about why you're making those selections because it's very hard as a critical issues committee person if you see a ranking of two right two but no comment as to why you gave that number that it's very hard to so just a reminder that if you are well even on the board evaluation not just on the super but even on the board believe it let I think you have to put something in there you don't have to put you should because when the when the critical issues has to come and look at it and they say oh get he got a four on this by this person but I don't know why they gave him a four so really it's important to put the reason for the score or a five and remember our HIV pres no bullying okay um as we move on we have the approval okay are there any more reports no more reports okay everybody's been busy this week so um we are going we're at the approval of minutes executive session and regular minutes of March 12th 2024 may I have a motion please Mrs Chappelle Mrs mayor roll call Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mrs kogan yes Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr Wright yes Mrs golderer yes yes Mr chaa yes okay um so we're up to the superintendent's bulletin number 16 uh Dr Sutter um bulletin number 15 thank you vice president Golder Mr Chao hope you're feeling better but we do have a lot more Elbow Room up here I can be honest like I don't feel as as crowded so but we're hope you're doing well we wish you a good weekend uh on March 2 March 20th 2024 Mr Mayor or Mrs mayor Mrs Mr Chao Miss Golder and Mr AB Mrs Abraham and I attended the Morris County School boards Association unsung hero awards at the County College of Morris as was mentioned earlier the parcion Troy Hills Township School District had two winners Stefani grao from Paran high school and Emma Joyce from parsipany Hills High School it was a fantastic night as was said and it was great to see the pride and the joy in the faces of our unsung heroes and all the winners uh these individuals were very welld deserving of the award um I want to thank Mrs Tumi and the mount Taber teachers students and families for inviting me to their Multicultural day on March 21st the event was also terrific students took their passports and toured classrooms and were decorated to represent different countries from around the world students truly enjoyed the event and there was about 17 classrooms with parents um that were represented from countries I want to thank the brook law students who participated in the anti VAP Public Service Announcement video which can be found on the brook law Middle School website uh I would also like to thank Brian satch for from video on the go for helping brookl students bring this project to completion thanks Brian and did a great job finally congratulations to the parcion Hills High School student David tuso David came in third place in pomptonian fifth annual healthy school lunch challenge David submission earned him a place in pomptonian cooking competition David prepared Beef Wellington with balsamic glazed carrots and Homestyle mashed potatoes wow pomptonian stated that our judges were blown away by his creativity cooking skills and charm it was a one it was wonderful to watch him create and serve his dish we are so proud of David David enjoyed competing in The Culinary challenge at Driscoll Foods David has won the following a banner celebrating his success he won the winning meal will be featured on the school menu anyone $200 that's what I said uh tonight for your approval we have superintendent bulletin items 1 through 35 with addendum and readin items 36 through 55 are there any questions for the super on the superintendent's bulletin none okay um and now the secretary's report Mrs tadesco hi everyone on tonight's secretary's report we have our regular business motions including the approval of the GR Grant agreement for the precip hills hva C project does anybody have any questions none thank you okay thank you and uh anyone have new business that's not on the agenda okay so we are at the part of the hearing of the public at this time if there's anyone who would like to address the board please come up and sign your name and address in the book at the L turn and state your name for the record and please address the chair each person will have 3 minutes to speak to the board it would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign in the book so that you are ready 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 do not provide your home address but rather give only the name of the municipality in which you live if you 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 recorded according alternate alternatively excuse me 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 by law 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings thank you uh Matt deito parip uh first I wanted to bring up a little one thing that the the students uh the student committee reports maybe not have were aware of or anything uh so my wife uh last night attended a uh I unfortunately was conflicted and I couldn't even go to it myself uh for my daughter um all four of our Coral groups from both CMS BMS Hills and the high uh were at the hills last night um they were uh invited to a trip or basically a class trip where they all went to the hills and were uh able to from a grant from the precipi Education Foundation have the uh New York City Coral group back backtrack vocals um teach them a bunch of new songs and then they performed them that night I was able to see some of the video clips my my wife took and it was very very very very good it was very well attended obviously you could fitting all four core groups on one stage was was a challenge obviously but uh they did a really great job I think that and it was a lot of fun my daughter really enjoyed it so um what I also wanted to bring up was um the uh I wanted to thank I heard in the buildings and grounds uh report there was uh the architect's going to do a update on the school capacities CU I see in the bulletin tonight there's an update of the um the enrollment so I'm curious to see what those new capacities are I'm looking forward to hear from that about that to see if we are indeed overcrowding some of our schools or not um also a little bit in the news that may you may had to be aware of um several several districts I know with our budget thank goodness it seems like it's going to be very pretty well balanced as best it can be done um uh the Lincoln Park Board had their meeting last week and they had a significant budget shortfall they couldn't even come up with a number of how short their budget is and they got Cuts pending um and also the uh talking about state aid that's been brought up in the news lately around here um the Cherry Hill Board had their state aid cut by over $7 million so we should be very lucky that the the state was willing to uh give least maintain our state funding there um lastly as far as uh speaking about uh well I'll say housing and developments so apparently uh the recent ranking by realtor.com of the top hottest Market 150 top us markets by town for February listed 32 towns from New Jersey as as uh as in that that thing andman was rated number 70 so we're still very in demand for people wanting to move in and that's before all our developments are finished being constructed so thought you may be want to be aware of that so they're going to be coming thank you very much have a good night than thank you anyone else okay yes um I did did you Dr Moone um I wanted to say something language know the that fact track vocals who who came through and they tour the US it's like a they're like pretty renowned U one of their performers is a PHS Alum and they so great to see her she's I'd want to be a singer forever and here she is you and really awesome it was thank you and um we're we're closing the uh hearing of the public and yes it it was I had um it was in it it was in I read it somewhere on the internet whether it was in one of our face one of our Pages or so but yes I mean the kids were really really happy and excited about it so it it was and we have haven't we've done that before they they did they they did it before right and it was different groups right and okay so and the Education Foundation was the one that helped out with that so that's great okay so um we are uh roll call vote on superintendence bulletin 16 items one through 55 55 okay that's what I I didn't think it was right one through 55 with readings yes one through 55 with readings okay um motion Miss Mrs Abraham Mrs mayor okay roll call Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mrs kogan uh no to number two yes to everything else Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr Wright yes Mrs Golder yes Mr chaa yes okay okay and um okay so it's time to adjourn the meeting okay Miss um Mrs Hogan I'm sorry about that M Mrs kogan and Mrs mayor okay in favor everybody anybody against or everybody for the uh vote for a journey okay anybody against a journey