##VIDEO ID:c0Gp2gT1K_M## good evening and welcome to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education meeting this January 27th 2025 during this regular meeting two opportunities are provided for citizens to make comments in order for a citizen to make a comment they must be physically present at the meeting during the first opportunity early on the agenda comments regarding agenda items are invited the second opportunity will occur just prior to adjournment when residents May address General comments to the board persons wishing to speak upon being recognized rise and state their name and town of residence comment shall shall be limited to issues uh roll call please Mr usami Mrs fargis here miss Calderone here miss Guzman here Mrs Swang Miss Keller Mrs Martin here Mr stankus here miss stephin present Katie's not here Mr Weaver here please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Alle alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation into indivisible Li and jce adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing copies of said notice to the record filing copies of said notice with the municipal Clerks of Hillsdale Montville Rivervale and woodliff lake and Publishing said notice in the record on August 26 2024 first we'll have our monthly report by the superintendent Dr bot um I actually just want to say thank you we have a number of presentations coming up um one of them is about the successful uh Beloved Community day that we had on Monday so I want to give a big thank you to everyone who's involved in putting that on and you'll hear about that in a moment uh the other is Mr orlac and his internship team and we've got a whole crew here uh to come and talk about it um so I'm going to defer uh to their presentations and then if there's any questions afterwards I can come back to it thank you okay next we have the governance committee meeting report which I'll be giving uh we discussed three different uh topics policy 0145 and expanding that uh a little bit to make it more uh clear as far as in what a absence uh for a board member should mean um and then the next thing that we discussed during the governance meeting was the calendar and specifically the student calendar to talk about whether uh Eid or Dali should uh be days that are uh days of no school of if school should be closed during that time so we had uh discussions on that um it's not something that's finalized but we are there's more discussion about Eid as far as I know but um the idea was that even if the volley is not a day that is given off from school uh it should be a day where everyone gets to learn about the volley and so uh that day there should be presentations and and you know things happening in the schools for more awareness uh the other thing that we discussed was the uh regional meeting with the sending districts and we talked about what are um what we sort of wanted to see with it and then um what we about solidifying the date and the agenda for the regional meeting so at this point we've settled on March 20th it looks like that's when when the least amount of it seems to be the most open time for us to have that meeting so we're excited because again I don't know if I said this here but at our Retreat I had said we don't really want to be operating in silos because we are all connected so if we can connect with the boards and the superintendents of um the sending districts I think will flow a little bit better as far as eighth graders move into freshman year and that's it for the governance committee meeting uh for the PFO liaison we have uh Mrs hang yes um the meeting was on January 6th and we did have a board meeting but we didn't have the time to update it so I'm going to share about the theater and music departments since the Hills theater is under construction um the both theater both Hills and Valley have been collaborating and next year once Hills is complete then Valley Theater will begin their Renovations so the concern and the reason it was brought up is in two years will the theater and music departments go back to their own schools so they're just bringing it up and having that discussion and wanting it to make sure that because at Hills they have their theater practice in the evenings so that they can have sports immediately Sports practices after school and this is something that Valley doesn't do so we're just putting it out there and make sure that it's on the record um and there was a discussion around the sending D districts regarding how eighth graders are encouraged um those who are coming to Hills or Valley to be encouraged to continue band and choire at Hills and Valley um principal Wan did an update that the midterms were pushed back so they're tomorrow um till Friday and it's a little different system than they were last year so there's some I guess disgruntled people um uh leadership wants the the the every student to have the two classes well you guys already know so um the first semester was it will end on February 3rd but originally it was January 24th so the the joke that I have with that is the seniors were ready for January 24th to be the last day so they can start senioritis so now it's later just kidding um Hills Auditorium is on schedule to be open March 1st um ceilings floors completed this is um principal wheen updating us at um the PFA meeting seats are being reinstalled and there's upgrades to the lighting and sound system and the districts 2025 and 2026 budget um had to be adjusted because of the health care and transportation costs increasing at a rate above the 2% budget cap um and he went over the list of retirees but maybe we already did that we have it somewhere yeah I think at this point we've approved everyone who's been in or will be approving yeah um in tomorrow Hills Valley Coalition has an AI like it's on how AI like teachers can use the AI and it's um tomorrow night 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 P.M it's all on Zoom so probably registration is still open so if you want to to know how to do that you can let me know can I uh jump in so we partnered with them to do this and there's a parent square that just went out to remind you how to register so um you can check your email check the parents Square app and there's a registration link and you can register right up the time of the event tomorrow thank you thank you Sarah um um Christina Schneider updated the guidance report and every Junior has been meeting with them with their parents to discuss the unique Pathways so it's been um we've been discussing it with the guidance counselors to make sure that it's not just the college process but along with that they're discussing any career opportunities trade schools or any other path that they hope to take and each meeting is individualized um upcoming events is Fashion Show on April 24th at the Pearl River Hilton safe grad is planned senior prom is June 5th 8:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. that's the update from hills thank you can I ask you to elaborate on one thing you said there's disgruntled parents about midterms like what like what is it specifically not parents oh students students oh I see I see I didn't understand I was like why so okay got it yeah got it okay thank you Mrs Wang um next we have Andrew Varan from Pascal Hills High School for the first student report hello everyone uh so to begin my classroom items first in Miss Gamer's entrepreneurship class students have created their own mock businesses and wrote a 20page paper proposing uh proposing their idea to potential investors student have been work working on this project for a majority of the Year learning important aspects of running a success a successful business the class will be doing an entrepreneurship Fair allowing other students and staff from around the school to see their proposed businesses sometime in February additionally her financial investments class is being asked to make personalized stock portfolios for teachers at Hills um students and teachers met in the library this past week to discuss um personalized options for their stock portfolio for the future and the project will end with students giving a final presentation or pitch uh to discuss potential future investment options in Miss zabo's early childhood and education class uh this class welcomed the French National Honor Society to speak to the preschoolers and create fun activities while learning French uh each student was partnered with a preschooler where they played games and taught them French uh this event was a great success and positively impacted uh the preschoolers at Hills according to uh Jordan Lewis and Riley Alexander who were the Front Runners of this event in Miss Down's culinary class students had the opportunity to make several dishes of a from Asian cultures students learned how to cook Habachi dumplings stir fries and egg rolls uh this helped their knowledge uh in the kitchen and allowed them to be more competent cooks and set them up in the future uh to be move on to co-curricular items pasag Hills Deca competed in its annual Regional competition held at Ramapo College on January 13th at the competition over 13,000 students were competing in a wide range of C categories from business finance to automotive and Hospitality Services uh also 40 members from our chapter Advanced to the state competition held in Atlantic City in early March so that's pretty exciting um on March 6th the debate team continued their strong season and competed uh at their competition hosted at Glenrock High School uh two three student uh three students placed at the event including Justin Yu and Ben Bowa who tied for first place uh best speaker and third place went to kir zizo at the varsity debate on January 20th the pasca community hosted MLK Day of Service students and staff from both schools participated in the event uh volunteering in dozens of activities um at Hills I had the opportunity to participate in bagels and blankets for uh the Zach latii foundation and the blankets will go to kids undergoing cancer treatment to help WR in their day and this fostered collaboration and uh relationship building among students teachers staff and other community members around our school uh also on January 20th the pasca Hill's unified program hosted a sensory Carnival uh transforming the gym into a space filled with a bunch of giant different activities uh this event included bouncy houses uh slime making activities uh silent disco held in the wrestling room and arts and craft stations uh many uh community members and students were able to volunteer promoting a safe space for all kids with all different abilities at Hills uh moving on to sports the boys basketball team is off to an excellent season with a 10in one record and an undefeated uh record in the big North uh Patriot division the boys have uh been honorable with two noticeable wins first beating Indian Hills 72 to 55 and then beating pic 60 to 36 uh senior Jake pulsky leads the team in points with 248 on the season playing a big role uh in the boy success and the team currently holds first place in the big North Patriot Division and hopes to remain undefeated as a season continues uh next in winter track uh the boys team won the big North Patriot division championship for the first time in school history uh and the boys scored over 131 points at that meet and received over 31 medals senior Joe petrunti broke the school record for the 55 meter dash running 6.8 seconds which is pretty fast and the girls team have also um dominated greatly with sophomore Kira hickey running a 525 mile and a 223800 placing third at both events and additionally two more school records were broken first with the girl Sprint medley relay uh placing first overall the me and qualifying for the new balance and niky national uh championships later on in the season as well as the boys varsity 4x200 who also qualified for New Balance and Nike Nationals lastly The pasc Hills bowling team has uh been doing a uh great job with performing and has a current record of seven and three overall uh two standouts from the team uh have been continually being a big impact on the boys team with Alex McKay and Ryan cin Alex leads the team uh with over 5,000 pins knocked down and a high game of 255 which is pretty impressive while is second overall on the team with 3,900 pins knocked down in a high game of 211 uh the team is heading to counties this weekend and they hope to stay strong and revive their four game win streak after their recent loss to Westwood uh to conclude my presentation uh congratulations to Bob co uh Bob Pacino on his induction to the New Jersey Scholastic coaches association Hall of Fame uh Mr bino was an incredible coach and greatly impacted pasek Hills cross country and track and field programs uh in past decades and he personally has helped me and many other students on the pasak Hills cross country team and track team so he is definitely deserving of this honor and to conclude for my joke of the day how do snowman uh how do you know snowman are best at parties because they always bring a Cool vibe thank you and this uh concludes my report for January 2025 thank you Andrew next we have Ella goley from pas Valley high school and her student report okay hi um so I'm going to begin with Valley's co-curricular items uh so to start off oh thank you the PV Network and pause Club had their annual visit from the tand sanctuary Farm the day before our holiday break um and overall along with donations as well as funds funds raised from selling pet bandanas and baked goods the club ra raised over $750 for the rest of animals living on the farm uh secondly the PV Network and interact clubs held their annual toy drive for the children residing at the shelter at Center for Hope and safety um and they also collected items for the women residing there and so all in all they donated close to 200 toys to the shelter uh Valley's Health occupation students of America Club attended the Northern Regional Conference at pic Tech um on Jan 18th and the four officers of the club competed in various health related testing against other schools throughout the region uh and then in the afternoon they attended various networking and community building events prior to the culminating award ceremony um additionally 20 members of pv's National Honor Society gathered on MLK day to make noo fleece blankets that will be donated to Valley Hospital for Pediatric patients um and Valley's NHS has once again again been running midterm dropin tutoring during all periods and lunch uh which started on uh the 21st and we in through uh today this drop in tutoring will also be available in the morning on the exam days this week um next at this year's speech and theater Association of New Jersey competition at Monclair State pasag Theater students won two state titles um in two different categories Max Soo from Valley won fifth place in dramatic monologues um and Riley Alexander and Michael Dugan from hills won sixth place in comedic pairs um in addition to this pasak theater director Thomas Loper was the recipient of the 2025 NJ Governor's awards for Arts education for outstanding NJ teacher of theater um and the New Jersey Governor's Awards and arts education have been recognizing outstanding artistic achievements of students and Educators since 1980 um so congrats to all of the recipients moving on to Valley's athletic items so this past Sunday on the 19th um the Pas gak Valley girls basketball team and the Zack lary Foundation hosted our annual benefit games at Valley Um Zack lary was a freshman at Pas gak Valley when he lost his Valiant fight with cancer um and Zach had made an incredible impact on his classmates and just throughout the whole school with his positive attitude throughout his life um and so after his passing his mom Sharon ler created the Zach ler Foundation to honor his memory and his belief in paying it forward so every year the foundation raises funds to provide sackpack Comfort items for children fighting cancer at hackin saac um and support for families in need within our communities um and so in December 2018 Jasper offered that the benefit games would be played for the foundation and that relationship has continued to this day so what began as 10 teams playing just five games has grown this year to 24 teams playing 12 um and despite the snowstorm that day the teams work diligently with Jasper and the girls basketball team to make sure that the game still took place today's event included a performance by the PV dance team as well um it's not just about the benefit games Jasper Works diligently with uh Zack lary Foundation board member Karen Kosh who's a former PV teacher and together they train zlf student ambassadors as they make presentations throughout our school prior to the games to generate student support so overall it's a massive undertaking supported by Jasper his basketball team the foundation and their adult and student volunteers and also supporting the effort were athletic director Bill van kerson our site manager JJ Moran Lois Jasper and Ken sarajian um and actually northjerseysports.com wrote a story about the games that illustrates how two rival teams can come together um for a great our effort and Inspire others and also how working together can pay it forward in so many ways as Zach's Legacy lives on um zlf and the girls basketball team encourage all board members School administrators and just everybody throughout our community to read this article for our second athletic item congrats to the pasac regional girls swim team on earning second team albergen County for both the medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay this is the first time in program history to have two real earn All County honors and also congrats to pv's Amanda Bramley for being the Bergen County 100 backstroke Champion Amanda had a remarkable race to earn the title um and for our last last athletic item for the second time in three months valle's assistant principal Tom gallon has been recognized by countywide organization so at the Bergen County coaches association 64th annual George jois wrestling tournament Mr Gallon was honored with the William po service to wrestling award um it's given annually and this prestigious award recognizes an individual's commitment to Scholastic wrestling gallon began his career um in education at Valley as a PE and health teacher in 2005 and he was immediately named the head wrestling coach and overall he's the winningest coach in PV High School history um and while he led the program to League District and sectional champ championships this award recognizes him for his service to the entire wrestling Community he has served as a member of the bcca tournament seating committee as well as being the ngsa wrestling District Tournament director on four different occasions his support of and involvement in youth wrestling is well known um and this award is a reflection of the high regard the Bergen County coaches association and wrestling Community overall has for Mr gallion he is a fourth pasak Valley coach to receive this award and one of the youngest recipients ever he and his father who was a former Westwood wretling coach um who also received this word previously are the only Father and Son Duo to have been honored um for my fun facts uh the pasak valley annual blood drive is coming up in March um and we're thrilled to announce that the event helps our entire Community every year um Valley's blood drive is the largest High School Drive in our region in New Jersey and we're really proud and very excited to host the drive um for my joke it's winter themed what is the best way to get to school in January by icicle this concludes my report to the board thank you Ella H and good luck to uh to the both of you on midterms as we start tomorrow tomorrow it starts for both schools right yeah got it I see Mr whe nodding yes there okay so next we we have uh the minutes for the December 16th regular and executive um session and January 6 reorganization and regular meeting uh can I get a motion please so move second any discussion no Mr roll call please Mr Yami Miss Cerone yes Miss Guzman I'm saying Mrs Swang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stephin yes Mr Weaver abstained executive yes to both regular and reorganization Mrs VES yes next we have our presentations the first we'll have by Dr Russo uh on the MLK Day of Service recap Mr Russo or Dr Russo sorry thank you so much for having me uh thank you to the Board of Education uh thank you for Dr B body um thank you to a couple of board members wearing their Beloved Community sweatshirts uh you can see the the logo up here designed by our own Miss D Quinto um so wonderful thank you so much uh on Monday January 20th the district hosted its third annual Martin Luther King Jr Beloved Community Day of Service this day was inspired by Dr King's vision for a Beloved Community and our goal was to honor and work towards Dr King's Vision by learning about ourselves our community in our world fostering collaboration and relationship building among faculty staff students and members of the community and engaging in service this year despite the snow and cold weather we had faculty and students volunteer at 25 sites located at Hills Valley and throughout the larger pasak Valley area in an incredible point of Pride despite being an off day for students we had 185 students sign up to volunteer which is more than double our number from last year uh to highlight just a few of the volunteer opportunities held at pasak Valley clockwise from the top left uh we have sandwich making with the goal of delivering sandwiches for the Hoboken shelter and Center for food action uh top right noo blankets which Ella mentioned earlier where the pasc valley NHS came to make blankets for patients at Valley Hospital uh bottom right we have the veterans breakfast which is a PV Rea sponsored event to share breakfast and conversation with local veterans and then uh bottom left to embarrass my colleague and good friend Joe orlac uh Mr orlac and Mr Jasper received an award from the veterans in recognition of their service to the country and to our students to highlight a few of the volunteer opportunities held at pasak Hills again clockwise from the top left we have lasagna love uh with the goal of preparing baking and delivering lasagnas to families in need top right is Becca's Closet where students facilitated an MLK Day popup shop uh bottom right we have operation gratitude with the goal of knitting and crocheting warm hats and scars for our troops and just to editorialize for a moment I stopped by operation gratitude and the talent from The Faculty members and students was remarkable I had no idea what they were doing uh and then finally bottom left uh we have Tac which Andrew mentioned and participated in um blankets and bagels which is a PVA sponsored event where t collaborated with the Zach ler Foundation to donate fleece blankets to be included in Zack packs which are given to kids and teens who are receiving uh cancer treatment uh and Andrew already covered this but I just wanted to highlight our largest event so this was the sensory carnival at pasak Hills with over 75 students and faculty signed up and more members of our community coming to participate so here are some of the images uh you can see the silent disco in thep top right to highlight a few of our volunteer opportunities in the greater pasag Valley area clockwise from the top left we have the Sapienza Garden site so despite the snow participants cleared branches and down trees in Sapienza Gardens and the path that makes a mile Loop in the woods behind PV then we have uh moving around the clock there Juniper Assisted Living uh South Orange Rescue Squad the wholesome food pantry uh and then in the middle we have family promise where faculty and students baked cookies to support Family Promise and the families they support uh just to provide a sample we so we asked students and faculty for some feedback after the event just to provide a sample of student responses one student shared I chose Becca's Closet because I like to help the community I like the idea of providing dresses for girls my age that aren't able to get dresses themselves uh another said I decided to participate in the sensory Carnival because I love giving back to the community and this is a great opportunity to help out I had a lot of fun volunteering and this day is an opportunity that everyone should take advantage of when asked about the collaboration between students and faculty one student said I think that working alongside faculty member showed a sense of community and they really made the experience better it was a great chance to bond with teachers and create new and better connections with teachers another said the adults and other faculty members who participated alongside us helped clarify instructions and expedite the blanket making process seeing adults participate alongside me helped motivate motivate me to work even harder so in summary I would be remiss if I didn't provide maybe more than a few thank yous uh so to the board of education and Dr bot for your ongoing support for this amazing work uh to Dr bachenheimer and Miss McGlone for their work and expertise leading to up to and on MLK Day itself of course our faculty and administration our sightly leaders and those individuals who took the lead in coming up with the idea for a site by themselves of course our students who came in on a snowy day off to volunteer and just a couple shout outs uh to Kira bashel who volunteered at the sensory Carnival and was prepared to speak to faculty and students before uh during our kickoff meeting um but it was canceled due to snow um to Riley Alexander who served as a site leader and facilitated the Care Bear service opportunity in this room where she helped facilitate the sewing of simple Bears to bring a moment of joy and comfort to children in crisis and finally to a young man named Peter who participated um last year and was going to be our keynote speaker um but because of cancellation he was unable to so hopefully he'd be willing to come back and speak for us next year two final thank yous uh a special thank you to miss Lauren Bean who put in hours and hours and hours of work managing purchases permission slips sweatshirts and man managing me um but she always did it with a smile uh and an eagerness to serve and then finally uh a very special thank you to Miss Erica franches without whom this day would not exist her vision her incredible skill her tireless efforts have been the driving force in making this day of reality now for the third year running and I'm so grateful to her for all of her efforts so thank you all so much this was a beautiful day and thank you so much for your support thank you very much Dr Russo that was really interesting and I hope it just keeps going every year getting bigger thank you next we have Mr orlac uh who will give us a presentation about internships and career Readiness so so first off thank you to Dr Russo before he leaves um the MLK Beloved Community day is always a fantastic experience for staff and now even more students so so thank you Dr Russo um I'm Joe orlac I am the supervisor of social studies business and internships for our district um I want to thank the board of education for inviting us here tonight to speak about this this very important program um I was stalking you two meetings ago and watching you when you talked about this so I can answer some of those questions at the very end that did come up but but first I want to introduce um members of of my team um and they'll be introducing a a mentor and a parent um as well as two interns who will speak to about the process so first off um Laura mpir she's our internship coordinator uh Miss Jen arity who is our community facilitator uh Miss Christine Hower who is our internship administrator Miss Hanigan Betty an Hanan who is blending in over there I can need new glasses um she's our one of our site mentors and Maria Matthews his of our site mentors as well so I'm going to speak a little bit about the program and some of the key benefits and I'm going to pass it off to to some of the members of um the team so our internship program is designed to provide students with real world work experience that align with their academic interests and career aspirations by offering opportunities for exploration skill development and mentorship the program set students on a path through college career Readiness and personal growth and we have five key areas five benefits for our students first off is career exploration students have the opportunity to explore a variety of Industries and professions from stem Fields business to healthare education the Arts and the trades skill development students Foster essential professional skills what many would know as soft skills like effective communication critical thinking teamwork and Leadership students also learn technical skills in their specific jobs so these hard skills based on the placement in which they have undertaken students are also provided the opportunity to network and we found that this is a great benefit for students as they complete their college career and come back into the world of work so students connect with professionals and mentors in their chosen Fields this relationship truly opens doors for other opportunities as they move Beyond college or beyond their career or into their career fourth is career Readiness and this is an important one I believe for parents especially um internship allows students to test drive a possible career we we call it Successful Failure within within the internship Community within our community we want our students to get an the opportunity to go into a field that they may think they like but it turns out they don't we just save tens of thousands of dollars for your welcome right I mean you save tens of thousands of dollars to to parents and and and themselves as they as they go through college and then finally professional growth the internship program helps student become more adaptable and resilient as they overcome challenges with guidance from their mentors so how does this work and I'm going to ask Miss mpar to come up and talk about the process as we identify students in the program thank you Mr orlac thank you everybody for having us here tonight um this program is very near and dear to my heart I love this internship program so thank you very much much for having us so the process actually starts now with our Juniors going into next year their senior year and they start off and they either meet with myself or Mrs ER and our team up at Hills or Valley we send out um a um application that they fill out for us we have them do an application a resume a cover letter so right from the very beginning we're getting them ready for those going into business and going into looking at a career like we're teaching you the steps to get this so even though we say like it's not a given but like we will provide you with your internship we're still walking you through the process of what it means to get where you need to go so these are skills that we're teaching them right from the GetGo um and then from there after they fill out the application and then we get their resume they sit down with the whole team the five of us and we go over what it is that they're looking for and I have to say that misseri is like we call her the Matchmaker because she always has it in mind just because there's to single like you might have an internship placement and a student and you want to put them together but just because you're single doesn't mean you should get married right so we we really try to make sure that and we have over 250 businesses that we currently work with and every year it increases and increases and increases because the word's out there and it's an extremely Mutual beneficial program not only for our mentors but our students and most of our students when they're placed somewhere it's awesome because they retain that position wherever we place them because our mentors see their value and instead of hiring an intern from college they just keep our students on and they go out throughout the whole summer and they continue and they come back from vacation and Christmas breaks and they're still working whether it's the trades they're in whether they're working in a doctor's office we have engineering firms that keep our kids going and going so it's it's it's not just the 10 months that they're at pasak Valley and pasak hills and in our district it continues on beyond that so we sit with them all five of us and we decide all right this one's going to go here this one's going to go there and then we actually take them for an interview when they meet with us first we ask them to dress professionally because that's what you need to do and if they're not then you know we don't you know you know give them an old hey you know we just we're teaching them the whole process to make them successful in no matter what field that they're going into we provide morning and afternoon um opportunities which is phenomenal the mornings are really really growing and not just in the trades but also for like our medical Fields our veterinary medicine there's certain businesses that open a little earlier culinary that we can provide for our students as well and it's really great for those students who have after school activities so they go to their internship in the morning they come they have their lunch and then they're here they don't have to worry about getting here and running you know driving their car real fast which as a mom you know you always worry about um and not that they do that but you just always worry I have four kids of my own three have gone through the program successfully um I have one coming up the pike that he's going to be working on the pro doing the program as well um and it's it's just I don't know it's I don't know what else to say about it but I'm very uh as you can see I'm very passionate about our program and helping our students and I always say I'm giving we we are giving them a hand up not a hand out um and we help students of every academic ability you know we have um the Milestones program who piggybacks off us we work with them and whatever placement that we have we try and get them in there as well whatever it is that we're doing and then we find something for them so we're helping the lld program it's all encompassing we're really trying to get all our students out there and I will share one story one story I promise it'll be short but we called it a failed success so for years we had this one student caller Sue and she wanted to do nursing since she was a freshman nursing nursing nursing I want to do nursing awesome we put her in this amazing placement urgent care you're going to see Pediatrics geriatrics strep throat stitches second day in she comes start office and she's hysterically crying and we're like oh my God like what she's like there was blood and we're like oh my God yeah like do you not watch gry's Anatomy or like I don't know YouTube videos and she's like my life is ruined and we're like no it's not ruined we we'll we'll figure something out what do you like to do in your free time long story short she likes calling out she lik to bake she lik to cook for her family so we put her in park Steakhouse for one half of the year and the other half we put her over at little cake bakery she went to Johnson and Wales for culinary she is now a chef down in Del Beach Florida so we call that is Joe said a failed succcess like she found out two days in her senior year thankfully that nursing was not her thing if she had gone to college then she would have been her sophomore junior year perhaps going into an ER or seeing what she saw two days into her senior year so we fixed that for her and uh she's that's one of the many stories that I just wanted to share with you folks and thank you for having us we'll answer questions after and I'm going to have uh Jen ER come up and speak as well so thank you so much I stole a lot of my line so I I'm have much more I don't I know we don't want to keep you guys too long but um just I'll talk more about the networking part of it um that's kind of why I came here as an aid but I kind of moved into this position because I my this is a second career for me I was in the business world I a lot of Phil I do a lot of philanthropic work and I have a lot of connections so um As We Grew From 20 kids to now closer to 200 um we needed more placements and what I find so interesting is that a lot of the board members have hosted students or have had their own students go through the program in all four high schools that we work in um and you'll never find any one of us all the whole team is great at just having a conversation with somebody at a party and like oh wait what do you do oh I needed that or we keep them in our pocket we keep a little list we have mentors that get so upset when they don't get another intern they're like wait it's I don't get but it like Miss MP said if we we don't have the right we don't have a culinary kid that year we can't we don't we can't send you anybody we don't we don't have we're not just going to put somebody there because because you want to colon a um to expand also just a little bit on what you were saying about um about the failed success I kind of look it as a different my own daughter went through the program she was thinking more cosmetology and um I my whole whole thing is trust the process keep your eyes open there's always something going on especially with the medical kids I'm sure they're seeing it now um where like there's not just doctors in the hospital there's not just nurses there are so many facets to what's going on there that maybe you don't like the blood but you really like the technical side of it or there something there's there's so much out there my own daughter wound up going on the business side of beauty initially and then because of her internship in high school and they didn't um we didn't mention this yet but a lot of when you have an internship in high school and we're one of the only schools in the area providing a program of this size and of this caliber with college level internships it's easier to get an internship in college so my own daughter had was had four different internships in college and her one junior year going into her senior year she was hired two weeks after being in at her internship because she had so much Real World experience and it's really important and it amazes me sometimes when kids come out of college with no internship experience our kids are going in with an internship and they're calling their mentors back when they get home and saying if they're not working for them they're saying hey you know what I don't really like the law side but I really want to get into this do you know somebody because they've built this relationship with these people for a year and these mentors the the our best mentors are the ones that say like I wish our high school had this I wish I had some like this because they want to teach them we have mentors I believe one of them was a board member she's had five kids for the last 10 years she's had over 50 kids in her program and they beg to be in her program and now we give them the opportunity to choose which interns they want to have with them so I personally obviously have the same passion as Miss spirit and you know I I absolutely can't say more nothing about it I'm G introduce Miss Tyler or want G introduce Irene hello everyone um I would just like to introduce one of our mentors um Irene mat she is the owner of GL um Ace Global and she's been a mentor of ours for six years we were just trying to figure out how long she's also a PV parent and a and has a PV graduate so um this is Irene ma hi guys thank you for having me um so as Christine said my name is Irene Ma and I am a mentor in The Internship program um I'm also a parent in the district so as she said this is my sixth year being a mentor and I really find the program invaluable um I've been in my industry for 25 years I started my own company six years ago um and at the time they had reached out to me did I need help with anything I was really looking to do more social media and marketing and it was just me at the time and I said you know I'm really not great at social media marketing and I could use the young you know someone young to help me out with that so that would be great and at my old job we used to get College interns so I was very used to that um I said sure let's try it I'm all for it um so it was wonderful and I loved the the teaching the kids and you know I do corporate services so I form companies I advise attorneys on how to do tricky corporate transactions so it's a very Niche industry we're deal dealing with attorneys and accountants and secretaries of state and and we do it in the US and internationally so it's very interesting and it's a it's a unique business a part of the business world that a lot of people don't get to see so I love explaining it to the interns and saying like hey have you ever seen an actual LLC be formed come I'll show you because most of them are like I know what an LLC is but not really you know they don't they can't grasp that um so I love teaching them about that and also just letting them know that you can like your job you don't have to hate your job you don't have to have this fear when you get out of college that there's this big bad world out there and you have to have a boss that's mean that you hate like in my world people are forming their own companies they're excited about their jobs they like their work and I try to instill that in them that you can like your job you can actually enjoy it it can be a nice place it doesn't have to be a bad thing um um but so the internship program to me is a wonderful thing it lets the kids get out there in the real world most of the time they are not on LinkedIn at all which as we know in the professional World LinkedIn is so important so I have them download LinkedIn connect with my team which again I know they mentioned it's a great networking for the the students um and just to see the transformation in the kids from when they come in when like the end of junior year they're usually so shy to when they graduate when they're 18 years old young adults now they're so they're ready to go to college they know what they're doing they're confident they're interacting with these adults um it's just such a change to see them grow um you know and at my company I give them responsibilities I let them run with things you know sometimes they're really creative and great sometimes I'm like great idea we're gonna put that one away and not do that um but I let them you know I let them do their thing because they're growing you know um so it's you know I love the program um and just last year my daughter was lucky enough to be in the program herself she was an intern at Willie Wilson theater production company um and she loved it she's currently at scad Living her dream she loved that so much she went and did it herself um but so as a parent and an intern I'm able to see the program unfold and again it's invaluable I wish I had it when I was in high school um I see so many kids struggling to get these internships and I know they mentioned I have so many people call me and want the internships back you know again and again um I've already hired my current intern that I have now she's a senior in Parkridge I hired her last summer I'm hiring her this summer I love her I don't want her to leave um and I actually I might develop a scholarship for her I love her so much I want to see her succeed she's amazing I saw someone do it last year here at PV and I loved that so much I was here watching my daughter get an award and I was like well that's great and I love mine so much I'm giving her one this year so it's just it's something that like they're doing such great things for us and I know it's part of their school day and but as the business owners and the mentors they're giving us so much and teaching us we're teaching them and they're teaching us and keeping us up to date on all that fun stuff um but it really is wonderful um I think I would cover everything else they all did um are there any questions you guys have from the mentor perspective just a thank you for doing that they're very lucky to have you oh thank you thank you all right yes so is it like they skip the classes and then it you take the credit like how does that was thank you um so next we're GNA introduce one of our student um interns his name is Nick nerian and he is a senior here at pasak Valley and he is with Dr Goldstein hello all so my name is Nick um as said I was I have a medical internship with Dr Goldstein I would say it probably changed my life um totally reaffirmed what I'm going to do I'm going to be a nursing major next year I originally wanted to be in a hospital setting interning with a nurse unfortunately that wasn't really an option because it just clearly doesn't exist um so the internship uh team reached out to me was like we have this intership here it's amazing we think it'll work and I was like let's do it so I interviewed with him I thought it went great he thought it went great clearly because I'm with him now um and I started this year and without a hitch in the road we went right to it I have done a lot with him in the five months that we've been together um I've missed school for surgeries um excuse school um I think I saw three surgeries in one day just by being in internship with him um is truly amazing and I also have met the CEO of the Pas Valley Hospital two diff two separate times so another thing I was going to talk about is the networking as they've mentioned before in the communication and all that stuff meeting the CEO of a hospital as an 18-year-old senior at Pas Valley is going to help me no matter what I do um I will always know this person I could always reach out to two different people and be like hey can I get this guy number reach out to him he can probably help me with anything I need I've met the CEO as I said I've met the CFO the cnno and I think the human resources manager too um all at the same exact time just by going to the hospital to have lunch so another thing I got to say is the hospital is amazing uh fic Valley they were handing us a Thanksgiving lunch they sered lunch so don't got to go into that I just want to say that intership is amazing um I get free food um and if any of you have any questions for a student perspective that would be a great time anyone so what made you want to do the internship program like how did you hear about it so I heard about it through former students like kids grades above me um I kind of already knew Mrs Hower I knew of Mier everyone talks about them all the time how they're amazing and everything they know what they're doing um I knew I wanted to be a nursing student for the past probably two years now now and kind of reaffirmed that through many other different ways in life that I've gone um I think it kind of I just knew I wanted to do this I don't like class that much I I didn't want to be stuck in school for a full day I mean I love having three classes a day now um so that was very enticing and I think the opportunity to learn as an 18-year-old senior learn what I'm going to do in the future was just like something I couldn't take pass up with without a chance that's great thank you you're welcome anyone else all right thank you guys so I just wanted to say one thing about Dr Goldstein he's been with our program for probably almost the entire time I've been here um he's actually my neighbor that's how I found him um but he's also had both all three of his children go through the school go through our program not only one as an engineer one that did more on the trade side he was actually in construction he's in construction management now the engineer is in engineering and his daughter was in our teacher Cadet program which is a whole another section of our of our um program and uh there and she's also in uh she's actually in uh school at Ramapo right now so um there I just Dr gold has been so amazing to our program like I wish we gave an award to a mentor because not only does he take his student in every year he's like okay this is it I'm not taking another one and we're like you are and then I just bring them in and he takes them but he takes every single one of the students that's at hackensac Medical Center um hackensac maridian now they just Chang your name um and he takes them and he gives them each two weeks and he and he brings them into surgery with them into the surgery center and he madees sure that they get a lesson he actually started his own College internship program a few years ago because he was so excited about he believes in the program so much and I just want to thank him Eli's actually starting with him on Wednesday morning so Eli has chosen to do one of our morning internships um so you can see a perspective of that um and he's doing really fabulous so I just wanted to say how it kind of so uh my name is Eli I'm a senior at Hills and yeah I spend every morning at pasc Valley Medical Center and um initially I was a little upset that I had to go into the hospital every morning just like there's a commute like all that stuff but um it's actually been great um I've had time to go get a job after school I have like time to play sports and everything and in terms of the program it actually like not to deal with Nick was saying but has been life-changing um initially what I want to do was just stting in the medical field like a very vague answer um and thankfully like I'm even more confused now I've I've spoken to doctors nurses Pas pts basically everyone that comes to my floor I talk to them figure out what they're doing what I could do um additionally like in terms of the um benefits like I'm uh shadowing Dr Goldstein and I've already seen a lot of like gross stuff but it's cool and like that kind of helps me like figure out what I want to do um it has been great and also in terms of on your resume it looks incredible it is such a unique and special experience and I do attribute a lot of the success I've had towards like college specific like pre-health programs I do attribute it to um the program just simply how much like how unique it is and how much it stands out on someone's resume um it is it's been amazing and I'm excited to continue for the rest of the year thank you [Applause] so so thanks team um it really is a Launchpad for success and on so many levels um and so to answer some questions that are always out there like how do the kids know about it right so this team um in both schools meet with every Junior we have an assembly um last week we met with the guidance Department I met with the guidance Department in a in a larger setting um and explained to them the importance of this program so that students are aware Juniors going into senior year that this is an opportunity for them um that we make available for them based on their passion based on their idea what they want to do with their lives um we we give them that choice and and that's so important and and thank you for supporting this for for so long um initially and and lur had mentioned this before but miss mpir has was at the very beginning of this when it was just for special education students and and we had some parents address a previous Board of Education years and years and years ago um saying why not for other students why not make it available for everyone and we did that and and we give this opportunity for students so we do have an AM internship program as well as at PM students take their core courses which at senior year is English and physical education for those students who are in a PM internship we do offer a zero period physical education which starts around 7:10 to 8:00 so that does not interfere with the other academic classes that they have um and the PM internship program those um sorry the am internship program many of them are in the trades some are not because they're on job sites before school begins and they get more opportunity because if you're going to go down to Hack and Sack and work in some type of HVAC capacity they're on site already they can't wait till 11:30 when you're coming down there for lunch so so we offer flexibility for students as well the two meetings ago a couple questions came up from the board about courses what courses could we possibly offer and I would argue that we should offer none and the reason why I argue that is because the number one thing of our Comprehensive High School experience offering poetry to programming Constitution to culinary it gives the students a great overview of possibilities that they could engage in for their senior year as an intern or Beyond I think we would play catchup if we we tried to offer a course whatever course that is a previous board or maybe two previous boards ago had had me and and the team look at Supply Chain management as a possibility for students but we'd be hemmed in and we don't want that and one of the one of the one of the site mentors one of the mentors um when we talked about this and he's a mechanic and he owns um in Allendale um this person we asked him you know what what skills do they need he goes I don't want to unte anything I want the student to learn by my side so when I was in high school a million and a half years ago when like like The Flintstones with the old C we used to have an auto shop where we would change teachers oils and and take change the oil and rotate tires and do we know that mechanics today are not simply doing that they're attaching to a computer that we cannot afford as a district for an individual car so we want our students if they want to become mechanics or if they want to go into some other trade we're not going to be able to offer that as a class but we do give them opportunity to go out and learn it in the real world and that's something that is so valuable the other issue that came up um at that board meeting was stigma and a stigma against the trades and this is something that really gets my goat because I know year before covid hit I had 20 people over my house for Thanksgiving and the toilet was backing up and when the plumber did finally show up it was a mortgage payment to get this thing fixed the average age for plumber in the state of New Jersey is 59 yet we ignore this so I have a challenge to the board I know I'm going to overstep here a little bit you're all leaders in your own communities we know that there's opportunity here for students who may not want to go to a four-year School but want to go into the trades help us and we'll help you remove that stigma when it comes to the Old Blue Collar jobs they're there they're needed they're AI proof so we want to make sure that our students are given those opportunity so help us remove that headwind and help the community understand the value of those types of programs we have so many either former students who own their own businesses who now take on students or are hired after the fact after 3:00 to work with those companies so there's opportunity and that's all we're really asking for any questions about process about the program we could we're g to start with Mike and we'll go around I think that's probably the best way to do you have a breakdown in a percentage of students who are participating in in an internship that's college readiness and a percentage of students who are participating in in trade so we we could get that we can get that too I don't have the number off hand and and a big part of it Mike is that you know the that stigma that I just spoke of kids are afraid to go out you know and to go into that because they're hearing from their friends that well I'm going to college right and how do we break that how do we as parents break that idea that it's okay but I'll get that to the board when it comes to it it's it's not as much as it should be I I can tell you that and that's just anecdotal follow-up question is and I know it's a conversation we've had around the table regarding curriculum is um is with regard to scheduling so you had had referenced what can the board do to support and help and so I know when the schedule was was revamped and changed a few years ago a goal of the schedule was to enhance uh elective offerings so I think we' we'd all be curious to know how has how has the schedule been grown uh in terms of elective offerings specific to the trades and and then what can the board do to further support that um and then the third question is related to scheduling and you had referenced the the fizet in the English I know that there are some districts that do it I don't know all that's involved in um making it happen I I wonder if we as a district have we ever considered um awarding credit to students who participate in extracurricular activity um after the school day so so in place of the fiz head and health and then that would allow them to take an additional elective course so those are my three questions I don't expect an answer to them now I can give you the last one as the former PE supervisor yes we looked into option two as part of that and and the board of education at the time when when I was supervisor said no so that's something that you know I'm not telling you you know this is something that could be entertained obviously um but again meeting the standards for those students and we do have students who engage an option too um but they're few when it comes to physical education these are performing at a much higher level and we do have a practice not a policy when it comes to students but the athletic directors can speak more intelligently about about that than I can being so far away from at this point and the reason why I asked that question is just because it could open up another potential elective opportunity for for a student or students if if it's offered to freshman sophomores in juniors as well so you time and I appreciate the presentation absolutely and and to answer the second question and it's more noal here but we look at the opportunities that we offer students when it comes to those professional skills those soft skills that's been integrated across all content areas and that was a multi-year program so learning how to think critically regardless of your profession is something that we focus on and it's it's we've been doing this before but now we've identified them so as part of our group um the center for advanced professional studies and we've talked about that before this is out in Overland Park Kansas which we are part of um they have 15 specific professional skills that we've integrated across all content areas so it's not a class but there's integration when it comes to those yeah I mean I I live that today when I drove uh one of my cars to the auto body shop my senior who um needs a refresher in uh driver's education uh but I mean to walk in and and not only is he working on the car but he's negotiating with the insurance company he's managing Communications with the rental car company um so just to your point of what are those other skills it's it's not just fixing the car y it's being able to then call up the paramis Chevy and and get quotes and and understand uh pricing so that he can then go back to you know the insurance company and have those conversations so um again thanks for the presentation and interested to learn more on on how we can support absolutely growing appreciate it growing the program so I I have a question did you oh are we going around yeah I I decided that sorry it's okay I defer to you so I don't have any questions per se but I'm just so thankful that you guys came tonight we've been waiting for quite some time to kind of hear your presentation so um it's it's invaluable um and I hope a lot of kids take advantage of this program thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you everybody I really love this program I'm really excited about it I have been and I loved hearing from all of you um especially the students so thank you um so I would um just I know we talked about and I know you mentioned the classes and no classes but I think what I was thinking and I want to just in law school I had an internship invaluable to this day I tell everybody even paralal you need to get an internship get an internship because I had a judge he was a mentor and and I didn't know anything nothing and and but I also had a judge who was an Adjunct professor who we met with so all the interns would come in once a week for an hour and we would just go over a couple of things and it was a good way to hear about other kids and and other other kid students um their experiences and maybe we to talking points just just something um and maybe I don't know I'm just throwing it out there that could be something to consider maybe for the morning session students and then for the afternoon session students um just and I think it would be invaluable feedback to your whole team um so just a suggestion I don't know if that works and de we we do that's one of the things we do have our we have our department meetings with the students to find out what are the things that and they all of a it becomes organic where they're talking to each other right like like our our two interns here tonight you know they they have a they started a conversation right and that's organ it's organic and it's beautiful but we do give the opportunity so it's we do have these meetings it's not a class but it is a meeting opportunity that is fantastic the other question oh sorry you no and and they're students you know they're 18 years old so they're going to make mistakes and but that's the whole process that that we we work you know we are working with the students and we are so unique and and our program is so different because it's 9 and 1/2 months a half day where it's 15 credits where the students are getting real opportunity some districts do have internship programs once a week half a year maybe six six weeks not like us and it is it is a Real Testament to the board to support this and it's it's incredible the experien that they have the students have outside of school we've conditioned students to do well to do school we want them to do more yeah I love it um so my followup is how does this program because I just don't know impact your GPA I don't have I don't know if this is it okay yeah and that's a national program which we participate okay playing absolutely and and honestly I don't I don't want internship to be honors I don't I want it to be real you know and and and no disrespect to it I just I just I want the students to get something out of it that we can't offer during the school day and and for so many students I think I think this is something that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives you know uh and I'm a social studies guy by trade and look I would love everybody to take every social studies class we offer but I also know the world needs hvhc PE people and plumbers and electricians and and accountants and actuaries and lawyers and you know so let's let's give opportunity and and you know I'm really happy that we support this so much thank you so much sure can I I'm so I'm sorry so I'm getting I'm getting text messages that people can't hear people if their microphones are off so do you mind yes sorry thank you I'm I'm sorry could you repeat your question so for students who are in an internship program do they receive midterm grades and final grades semester so their grade is it is the semester grade but like as you know like if you students in school it's it's forever you know it starts in September and goes all the way through June so our students are their base they get Mentor ratings from their mentors so that's three times a year so that's like our quarterly grades they're they're uh graded on communication they're graded on their time sheets and you know we all go and we check on their job sites and it's you know we meet with their mentors and see how they're doing as well so it appears as a grade on their absolutely first semester yes and they're tangible I mean this is like we sit with them and say your Mentor says you need to work on and it's we call it a growth not like what do they need to work you know it's just like what are some growth experiences that you could give you know your your Mentor your intern and they'll say oh they need to work more on like there's a phone on the wall yeah you have to pick it up and say hello this is like so Burton engineering you know like those are like as Joe was saying those are soft skills that our kids don't know you know there's like little things like that but um so I hope that answered your question yes no you got to come up to that um also to the point of St and what colleges and stuff they're going to um we have had salutatorians valorian we have kids going to Cornell we have every the last years we have kids going to West Point like it's not a ma the the level of college that they're getting into is not changing because of this if anything it's giving them they're looking uncommon on the Common App so and they're utilizing that when they're having their interviews at these schools and saying and then people are that's all they want to talk about it's really interesting we also have one of our our students yesterday got our 2,000 points in uh in basketball Park Ridge so that's also one of our students so just you still have do all great J and and for the board we do service Parkridge and Emerson as part of this as well and and we're always looking for other opportunities because again we are so unique from that side Jenny's turn my turn uh so just to piggy back off of Mr Reaver uh what he had said um as a board so pretty much everyone except Mr stankis uh we're new uh since Co um so and you've been around um for for just a little bit that's a very nice way to put it go shave tonight what what was the reasoning behind that whole they didn't want to do the gym uh or the PE class like as like like what Mike's suggestion so this is four superintendent ago it was Dr tantillo when the last time this was addressed wow um yes so it's it's a long time ago we're talking 2007 2008 so the question has now again we do have it yeah for certain students there are in past years there's been competitive Irish dancers who have taken part in the option two program because they are engaged we've had students who are participating in Junior Olympics when it comes to ice hockey and they have taken part of the option twopiece okay um we really looked at it Dr tantilla was a former physical educator as well as a social studies person so you know he looked at this as it may not benefit all students and and there are many districts that have option to you know and we we have it but it's not widespread and that's again this is outside of my area now um the board would have to have that discussion I think with the ads and and PE supervisors so I don't want to overstep no I I appreciate I appreciate that because I think um so when I first was on here on the board four years ago there was a postc uh postsecondary education committee but it just you know there was a lot going on during that year and so we did an end up meeting uh this year we've reintroduced the postsecondary education committee so because this is important like uh you're saying you know uh we should be partnering in uh definitely promoting the trades I love your statement that it's AI proof you know there's so many jobs out there right now that we're talking about that just are not are going to be obsolete because of AI but definitely not one of these trades so uh the postsecondary education committee uh would love to work with Elizabeth is the chairperson for that committee and we really are very interested in whatever it is that you would need from us so I think that is something that that we potentially can uh revisit I don't know that the answer is going to be different because I don't know all the reasons why it was before but I think looking at it again is the uh correct way to go about it every so often things change right so maybe now is the time for that to happen so uh we I I cannot tell you how much I appreciate uh what you all do I think this is amazing it sets us apart from uh from other districts but I think the biggest thing that really stands out to me is your enthusiasm because you could have uh really unenthusiastic people and it's maybe not as as successful and uh I think that having you all who are so enthusiastic about this is just it's it's contagious your uh Your Enthusiasm um but I have one question does every student who wants to do uh one of the internships uh is it like you you get in you don't get it like how is that so we we we haven't had any um I guess marine biologists because we don't have a site so if a student has interest and their schedule allows for it meaning that if they didn't pass English and they have to take two English you know some something along those lines we we open it to everyone who is interested and it is not exclusionary the one area where we would again need help on is transportation because you must have your own transportation and that limits certain students so that's something that is an ongoing conversation that I think we need to continue to have and giving opportunity for students who don't have their own car they could definitely benefit so we don't we don't have a workaround for that it's it's a cost and and that's like drives anything right in education there's there's always the cost and what's the benefit here and and our our role as Educators is is really to provide the best opportunity for all the students and and that's something that we'll continue to talk about how can we get students from hills or Valley to their site and back if they can't provide their own transportation so this is something that we're going to need help on from that side um so you have our committee yes exactly so we bring it to the committee we really want to work with you guys thank you so much terrific I agree on the enthusiasm and um I do also see the parking issue even with a car if you do an internship at Valley you may not get a spot so you know I think that that's like an added level of because my daughter was considering doing it and you know it's just one of those problems we have in this District that there's just so many amazing opportunities that it was like am I going to take anatomy and these college courses so I can get a little bit of a head start or am I going to do the internship and it was she wanted both so badly and I think if we can take a look at the PE because she did do competitive cheer and maybe that could have been an out and given her those extra opportunities over the four years to get those requirements and then also have had the opportunity to do this amazing internship because I feel that um it's something that every kid should should have a chance to do because I just am so impressed by the program and I was impressed by the students who spoke about it and 200 kids I do remember when you were you know 50 or so children and it's growing exponentially and again that's due to the hard work that you're putting in trying to find the correct fit because it doesn't just work you can't just say you know uh I want to go into education okay here's you know here's an internship at the hospital have fun you know that doesn't work so you're really working hard to make sure they're finding something that they are passionate about and also giving that flexibility if it doesn't work like like we don't want anybody passing out either so um being flexible for our students so I appreciate all you're doing thank you and and and a big part of it is to there's three Educators on this board right and and you know what's coming there's a shortage right so we're looking to continue to build our teacher Cadet program it's it's highest number ever um with with Mr gliff we have students who went through the program are now teaching and are sending districts who are now accepting students as their their interns you know from the teacher Cadet program so there's we're looking to have a home spun relationship you know and to build up that piece from the education side besides all the other stuff right and so that that's an important piece you got to come up in um just about taking classes um I we find it very funny where like we'll have a bunch of students say they want forensics or they want and like obviously always Medical but um psychology and I'm like who is your teacher this year because like 10 of them will come in and I'll be like one of these teachers in here was doing such a fabulous job and they're making that these people want to Career so now this we always have a ton of psychology a ton of forensics a ton of things that are like on the more difficult side one year we had like a lot of physics I was like who's the physics teacher this year what is going on in here why does everybody want to do physics this year so I just to to the point of the teachers they're doing a fabulous job because they're they're creating these ideas for the for these kids of what they want to do for a job so very and it's helpful like when they get into school for these kids that are going to go to college to have six or nine credits to give you that buffer it's helpful so it's it's great that we offer all these things and I do think that sometimes those honor credits to your GPA Point these kids are sometimes way too driven by that um that they're worried about getting the extra GPA yeah AP class whatever um at all what a what a great problem to have I know right right opportunity for for all students I mean it's it's not a bad thing so fortunate we're so fortunate to have all of you and all the other teachers in our district that make learning so much fun for our students so thank you Joe I want to thank you and the team I mean it is a great program um just so you know that Transportation situation I think New Jersey is allowing School Vans as an option rather than buses so that might open up uh opportunities so I'll leave that with the board to discuss i' I've made my opinion clear to leadership but that's that's something the Board of Education can discuss obviously I do have uh just just an overview how many students have gone through the program and how many years has it been I know it's been around since I've been around so so this is our so it's 15th year of the internship program and I I don't have hard numbers right because we ke I will say this though we kept it alive during covid where many districts pulled in we had those students who could work remotely for their sites did and attest them to the board and into leadership because we allowed our students to engage remotely with their companies so I I don't have hard numbers Jim it it is it has gone up like you know it's again it's anecdotal but it's we see that it started out with Laura and then we had another SLE coordinator and then we hired Jen and then from Jen it went to Christine and then from Christine to Betty or bettyanne and then Christine and then and then Maria so and we could use more help so I mean it is are are we have to check on the students every 10 days and then that's by by Statute right so we have to we have to do that that's the wrong word but we by by policy we have to do this so we we are in need of constantly going out and checking on the kids I have two Mentor I took over social media as you know so that I have two students interns myself who I meet with every day and all the post things from the Valley site the the main District site is is my students now working with uh Miss gamord at pasc Hills for the marketing merchandizing class and their posting and Miss Leah Dr Leah Jerome at pasek Valley with students down here post posting information I mean it is it's incredible how it's just growing but I have two students who want to go into want to go into Marketing in media who working with me right who knows nothing but I'm you know and they're teaching me I'm kidding but but like they have been so valuable and and working with Dr bot and we met last week and just just bouncing ideas off each other to really go out and and celebrate and brand the great things that we're doing here so so that's just a little piece so so Jim I don't I don't have hard numbers but I I I know that it's growing and it's to their credit I I cannot credit them enough because they are Zealot when it comes to this they Laura mentioned a little bit before but there'll be at line in some food store somewhere and they'll turn around and be like what do you do and here's my card and and there is the story and I'm not going to say it's true or not but a couple the may or may not have climbed up a loading dock to get into a building if they were denied if they were denied access in the front to get somebody in there and we wind up getting sites from that so I'm not answer your question because I don't have the answer but I could just I can go on all night about this and I know you guys don't want to but it's you know it's really a a program that has value to so many students and could have value to more terrific thank you so much thanks Jim any other questions Jay welcome thank you so much I cannot tell how much we really we really really appreciate you all thank you and we'll follow up with Elizabeth absolutely please thank you next we have comments from the public citizens are invited to make comments regarding agenda items and are limited to three minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise in Rise sign in and state their name town of residence and which agenda item they are referencing Mr Wheeland I promise to be brief Tim weand I'm a river Val resident I'm also the principal pasc Hills I just want to real quick I realized as you were going around someone mentioned how many new faces are on the board in the last five six years I think it was six years ago at a larger supervisor admin meeting we were talking about PD days and how to how they could be effective and Mark Russo said you know what I Envision on MLK day if we could have a day that we give back to the community and also build our own community at Valley and at Hills and it seemed overwhelming and there were some naysayers that how could we do that and he's like and then we could get students involved to do it and then he found a partner in Erica franceski Co happened coming out of Co he was able to with Erica's help with his passion and work put that together and I realized when Mark was up here talking he's not getting that credit that he really deserves and I've said it privately but now publicly I can say thanks Mark Dr Russ so we appreciate you thank you so much for that okay next we have policy for which there are two consent agenda items can I get a motion please I'll move second second uh any discussion uh I do have one comment so the first item is the schedule of the board meetings for 2025 to 2026 um there are a couple of Wednesdays in there so just please make note of that uh otherwise it's mostly Mondays but we we this is far enough in advance where you know everyone has enough notice um and then we were Dr bot and I were talking about where the meetings are going to be we traditionally switch every year from hills to Valley so we're in Valley right now so uh July we will go a little bit early to Hills this coming summer just because Valley is going to have construction did I say that right yeah and I think my understanding and this is church tradtion it's not like a rule so just so that you know we kind of understand my understanding is at the tradition that is that we switch every year between the schools which makes sense right we're we're serving to disparate Community different communities and we're we've got board members coming from different locations it's more fair for our parents our students everybody um to kind of be flip-flopping back and forth we would love to have it be July through June one school July through June the next school it doesn't always work out so cleanly because we do sometimes have construction and we do sometimes have conflicts so sometimes we might have you know the auditorium may be being used by the play or something which makes us have to switch every now and then but what Miss varges just said is is our vision of uh you know starting in um July we would switch back to Hills we um likely will have um some construction happening at Valley starting in July regardless so it's a good it's a good time to um switch um anyway and that would be the typical cycle would be to go July through June and switch back and forth and sometimes we've made changes to those like even a few weeks in advance because we don't realize that something is being fixed that something is you know being updated or that something is in use so we do appreciate everyone's flexibility with that but the vision is year to year okay any further discussion that was just the thing I had brought up I had emailed because I had thought next year our um I guess it's September meeting would still be here would be at Valley because we did at Hills last year for the retreat so we're going to do the The Retreat two years in a row at Hills is that the plan then yeah and the reason we uh we talked about this earlier trying to like reconstruct the events of that the reason that the retreat was at Hills this year is um there were certain technical requirements that the facilitator had asked for and the only space that we had available that met those requirements was that conference room at Hills so um we certainly if we had it at Hills last year when we wanted to think about switching it to Valley we could see if there's a technical if there's any technical issues but generally speaking we would now switch it back so the fact that it was at Hills last year was one of the anomalies because it was scheduled the the flow of things is it should have been at Valley but it it wasn't because we couldn't hold it here um so we had to switch it to does that make sense yeah I feel like and maybe I'm wrong since we went till September at Hills I thought we were going to go till September at Valley and then switch back at the school year again I I think that traditionally we've switched in July and so I think that's what we're trying to figure out and I think that there's been yeah because I think there's been um I think there have been like extenuating circumstances every year since Co basically that made that get messed up yeah as long as we been on here I feel like September was the change when the school year started so and that would have made sense because Hills was the retreat last year then Valley would have been the retreat this year and then go back and forth yeah yeah okay okay roll call please Mr usami Miss calone yes is goose yes Mrs Wang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes one abstain two Mrs Vargis yes next we have education for which we have three consent agenda items can I get a motion please I'll move second second any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Ms Guzman yes Mrs Wong yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have human resources for which we have 18 uh consent agenda items can I get a motion please so move second any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderon yes Ms Guzman yes Mrs Swang yes Mrs Martin yes Miss Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes Miss Mrs varges yes next we have Finance for which we have 21 consent agenda items can I get a motion please still moved second discussion I believe it's on dis uh on under finance that we have the grant is it under Finance yeah so I would like to uh thank Dr bachenheimer and his team for putting in for I'm just looking for the 15 15 got it and Mr orlac was involved in that as well and Mr orlac also uh so we would really like to uh thank you for uh putting everything together for us to get that education grant it's the artificial intelligence Innovation and education grant from the state of New Jersey Department of Education and it's for $75,000 which will be split between the two schools so thank you so much that's such a valuable um grant for us thank you any further discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Miss Guzman yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver abstain six yes to everything else Mrs varges yes next we have old business anyone have anything to say about old business no next we have new business anyone have anything to say about new business no okay next we have comments from the public citizens are invited to make comments and are limited to three minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name and town of residence thank you thank you um hello my name is Zar Islam I'm a student at Hills and I'm also the co-president and co-founder of the Muslim Student Association there on my club's behalf I would like to express our concern for great inclusivity in the school calendar I'd like to request that and two significant religious holidays for Muslims be recognized as days off in the 2025 2026 and Beyond hopefully school calendar um this year eal fither falls on March 30 and eal ala falls on June 7 we request that these dates um be designated as off for all students and in addition to these calendar changes we hope that students that do observe the holidays so you know Muslims um they are granted excused absences throughout the entirety of the celebrations these celebrations typically last 3 to4 days um students will notify their schools in advance of their planned absences for these religious obligations um I think this is important because for example last year I did miss uh three I think days for eedle fither and it was really difficult to catch up on school and like the day I came back I had a math test and it was just very stressful so I think um having this it would be very like relieving for students and um I think it would be just generally very insightful to provide students and teachers with resources in order to educate the community on Islamic traditions inclusivity in our school calendar is like essential I think to Foster um like a healthy environment for all students so um thank you for considering my request thank you Zahara have a good evening thank you you too next can I get a motion to enter into executive session please motion second second we will now go into executive session e e e e e e