##VIDEO ID:YCx7ASoJs0s## in compliance with the open public meeting ACT public law 1975 chapter 231 notice of this meeting has been properly advertised in the Daily Record and Suburban Trends its agenda has been posted to the appropriate locations and a copy has been filed with the banic Township Clerk thank you please call the rooll Mr Bloomer here Mr cesi here miss dempy here mpo is absent Mr gon here Mr Mi is absent Mr Pompeo here Mr siic here and Miss CH here we have a quum thank you will everyone please stand for flag salute flag United States all right good evening everyone Welcome to our November 4th meeting tonight we have two recognitions planned the first is to honor our PV girls cross country team for once again winning the Moors County Championship the board congratulates you all on this amazing achievement again we hope to see you back here next year next the board will honor Miss Valerie Monroe for being selected as the njsba unsung hero in education for 2024 mro was Miss Monroe was honored at a ceremony in Atlantic City during the njsba workshop alongside other unsung superheroes from a range of categories covering the entire educational landscape a few members of the board along with Dr poris were able to attend the ceremony on Tuesday morning and it was a very proud moment for our district here we are with people asking us how do we say Panic how to pronounce quic and uh at the very same time one of our teachers is being honored as one of the state's very very best so miss Monroe board congratulates you we want to thank you for your many years service to the district and job well done all right couple more for me uh next the Veterans war project will be dedicated on 11:17 please try to attend as the committee has a wonderful celebration plans to open that project additionally the board will honor the committee and group of people that facilitated that project at our next meeting at November 18th also the main gym will be dedicated to Ruth kellet on 1219 at 6:30 p.m. I hope everybody can attend that to honor a true Trailblazer and education and an advocate for women's sports a couple more I want to congratulate the pths marching band for their third place finish at the national competition this past weekend at Giant stadium and also the PB girl soccer team on their County Championship both of you well done uh and the last thing for me is in case you were living in a cave for the past six months I want to remind everyone that there's an election tomorrow and I encourage everyone to get out and exercise one of the most important rights that we have As Americans and to vote and with that I'll pass it over to Dr poris thank you Mr thank you Mr senic we do not have a student report um they took a they took care of that last week um I don't have a ton of things to report on but I'm excited to say I enjoyed the football game Friday night and I'm incredibly proud of the performance of the football team our cheerleaders and the March B would like to seeing our bleachers packed but are still really good and I'm confident we're going to send a strong contingent down to Friday's game in Bernardsville against Bernards uh earlier this actually last week pushed out our first podcast of the Year Mrs vle and I discussed how math instruction has changed and how families can support our students I'm looking forward to getting back on schedule with topics such as the college application essay process of applying to and attending a service ACA Academy this one unfortunately requires coordination with my older sister so it could take a while uh another one on why attendance matters and also one on supporting families that are impacted by diabetes this month is diabetes awareness month and that's a obviously very near and dear cause for me so it's something we're looking to help educate people about that but with that I also put it out there if there's a topic people want to hear about or um engage in discussion about just let me know we're always looking for topics I was able to attend the unified soccer game against Mar SNES last week and I'm really proud of how our team performed against a much larger opponent they had about four waves of reserves we had none I'm also supremely impressed with how a couple of our graduates from the program came back to cheer on their friends and really provided some very engaging conversation with me earlier in the week last week the uh msgp which stands for median student growth percentile scores were released by the state we've already begun to look at correlations between performance levels for teachers and usage levels of I ready and tools for their students and how those impact student level performance then finally we survived the last day of October which I don't like to mention uh we did so intact and have a somewhat choppy but very enjoyable calendar coming up for November with that said a reminder that Thursday and Friday schools are closed for the njaa convention and later on in the month we'll have on guys close schools closed you know what I like actually is I'm going to feel less pressure to call snow days because like I mentioned schools were closed and these guys were unfazed so that that that alleviates a lot of stress and tension for me so that's that's good news um also schools will be closed at the end of the month for Thursday and Friday for the best holiday in the calendar which is of course Thanksgiving and then Friday so that you can spend every last time on inexpensive items anyway that wraps up my report I'm very excited also and just to Echo something that Mr s was talking about to recognize um success of our cross country team but it's so great to hear the conver ation about how well the marching band did at their competition how the PV girl soccer team um also won the Cy so let's keep the really good news coming in I know we'll keep recognizing it and celebrating it so congratulations and we'll see you up there in about five minutes thanks all right let's get on with it or about 30 seconds all right so first off we'll bring up coach Dan Green uh for the recognition of the PB girls cross country team and then we'll have uh Mrs Stager come up for a recognition for our um unsung superhero and education hey good evening um I would like to thank the Board of Education um for recognizing our PV girls cross country team tonight um this was a special season for our girls as theyve repeated and became backtack County Champions all the girls on the team were truly a pleasure to coach um it's a truly special group of girls being recognized here tonight not only are these girls fast Runners but they're great people um they do the right thing they're respectful responsible honest hardworking and they represent our school district really well I would like to give a special shout out to the eighth grade girls on the team uh most of these girls ran on the team for all three years and they've all played a large role in the success of our program the eighth grade girls posted an impressive record of 16- one across their last three years to go along with their two County championships I'm proud of them for setting a great example for all the younger athletes and the kids in the school to see what it takes and what it means to be a successful student athlete um I have a few Milestones to mention um here tonight Rose MC Bernie um set a new record at our green View Park course this year Rose finished the 1.8 mile course in 11 minutes and 8 seconds so for reference mathematically that's about a six minute mile Pace across two miles congratulations Rose um I have lots of stories to tell about the girls I'll give you one more um to keep it brief here um I would be remiss not to mention Lily Martin's one shoe finish at briercliff Middle School um to be uh one of the top finishers in a race um after losing a shoe mid race was impressive and honestly something I've never seen before um plus now I have a great story to tell every future team down the road of why it's important to tie their shoes um in the county Championship itself um Rose Lily Amber Raina and Sam all finished within the top 15 places which pretty much locks up winning um the county championship this truly was a special season ESP special group of girls um again shout out to the eighth grade girls they will be missed and your participation over the years is very much appreciated congratulations again to the 2024 PV girls cross country team backtack County champions they're in order now in my order thank you um at this time girls I'll call you up one by one um to come up receive your certificates please stay up here once you have them for a quick picture Isabella bonfante Samantha Healey Sophie kernin Autumn Rosen Riley doie dhne kernin Ryland shenton Emily Henry Lily Martin Rose MCB Bernie Amber Meyer Valentina n Maggie schan Anastasia seosi Lydia Topps and Raina Tuttle once again thank you very much thanks for the board of ed for recognizing the special group and the special night e who said to the girls that's the first time I've ever told a team to pack it in get closer and the team actually did it so I'm really impressed with that so I'm going to call up Mrs Alison Stager to say a few words about our unsung superhero good evening everyone um I I have to say as uh Lily Martin's former principal she definitely had shoe tying down by the time she left Hillview so I don't know what happened there but double knots Lily double knots so I'm here tonight it's my absolute pleasure to be here honoring Mrs Valerie Monroe she was yep as Mr senic said she was recently honored by the New Jersey Schoolboard Association as an unsung hero uh Dr poris Mrs Dempsey and I completed the nomination form and some of you celebrated with her in Atlantic City an unsung hero is someone who works tirelessly often behind the scenes and continually goes above beyond for others without looking for public acknowledgement and here in public I just want to let Mr Gibbs know that um the budget for the Hillview Media Center should definitely be increased I think Mrs Monroe would agree with me um but I'd like to share with you a few exerpts from the submitted nomination that are just a small a small snippet of everything Mrs Monroe has done um over her career here at Hillview and in panic Township so Mrs Monroe currently serves as the med specialist at Hillview Elementary School um and she is much more than a librarian she is a one-of-a-kind person whose efforts to enrich the lives of students are unmatched by any other her career in the district began a little more than 32 years ago however her journey at Hillview began long before that as Valerie attended Elementary School at Hillview the bulk of her life has been spent giving back to the community she loves and uh her mom still lives here her mom was at her Halloween parade last week she's here tonight um and it's it's just it's so great to see her at these events Mrs Monroe knows that books can open windows and change lives she works tirelessly to inspire a love of reading that has now spanned generations with the help of Hill viws unofficial mascot book Waring Mrs Monroe has created lifetime memories for the children and directly impacted the High student achievement levels the students demonstrate the list of Mrs Monro comp ments over the years is quite long but here are a few of the more recent ones um that our our current and former students know and love for book Waring nights uh several schoolwide initiatives such as read Across America and D November uh the annual Quidditch game and chess tournament cave week Battle of the books and of course Library lunch that has that is open to all students in grades one through five and has recently expanded to include clubs such as the collector's clubs Rubik's Cubes Club squish Mellows and more Mrs Monroe is one of those people that has a great idea and puts in the work to see it through to reality every detail is tended to and she applies for Grants and enlists local resources to enhance the students experiences a tireless advocate for children Mrs Monroe strives to make the media center a safe place for all students whether a child is an Avid Reader or not you don't have to love to read um to have a home in her Media Center in her Spare Time Mrs Monroe is also a published author she just released the third installment of the checkmat series The Bishop's blunder and got clap there and additionally um that's great when she's not writing books um she is you know a devoted wife and mom to her family she and her husband Ed have many adventures together and have raised two very successful children Nick and Tori both of whom literally got engaged within the past week uh so she's going to be a little busy in the near future so Valerie thank you for your service your passion and your incredible Spirit you are a true inspiration and we are profoundly grateful for everything that you do you are our unsung hero e you know I I haven't been able to dismiss class since like 2011 but I guess I get to do that in a moment but I just want to add in there to of how much I appreciate your appreciation for one another um it was so nice as Mrs dager was talking about Mrs Monroe to see how proud per former students are and as well as her current students as uh as well um for for an educator that's really special and then to have your family here as well including my my walking buddy from town we haven't seen each other for about a week I've missed you football's wealth but um but just really a wonderful celebration in community and thank you so much girls for your success and for making tonight a really great event at the board meeting as well as Stager M Monroe and your family so classes dismissed now we're GNA get on with the more boring part of the meeting so if you guys want to go here's your chance e pretty impressive Shameless Mr Stager for the library yeah she made the M Republic record it's good uh Mr Gibbs do you have a report yes good evening the lease for the current Board office located at 538 Pompton turpike above the post office will come to an end on February 1st 2026 the post office who owns the building has informed me that they are willing to exercise their right to purchase the land that the post office sits on from the Board of Education Last Summer the board approved an appraisal of the land in order to help prepare for the sale of the property and purchase a new facility the appraisal came in at $85,000 which will go into the capital reserve account in anticipation of replenishing capital reserve funds used to help purchase the new facility as was mentioned at last week's board meeting the new facility will be used towards not only a new board office but also for classrooms it is anticipated that the increase in classrooms will help generate an additional 200,000 per year in preschool tuition on this evening's board agenda there is a resolution to approve a two-month lease of seven Industrial Road subject to attorney review there will be two leases one for two months November and December 2024 and a second for six months starting in January 202 5 and end on June 30th 2025 the reason for the two leases is the board may be changing some members at the January 2025 reorganization meeting and the new board is required to vote on the new lease starting in January 2025 in July 2025 the board will be purchasing the building using capital reserve funds in order to use the capital reserve funds the 2025 2026 budget must include the purchase of the building in accordance with state law once the new lease goes into effect the board can have the school's architect provide the needed information as to the fit up of the new building which will also be in the 2025 2026 budget it will also enable me to work with the current tenants on their office space that they are currently leasing the Auditors have completed the 2023 2024 audit and is anticipated that they will provide a report at the November 18th board meeting there are no audit findings and the school district is financially sound the new playground at North Boulevard was completed on Thursday October 31st and the new windows of the high school are still on track to be delivered the last week of December for the January install the installation was delayed due to manufacturing issues thank you all right thank you Mr Gibbs that brings us to our first opportunity for public comment uh members of the public may speak on any agenda item only for five minutes by the clock and if you have a question uh bring it to the board president state your name and sign in before we begin all right seeing nobody I'm going to move on to the approval of our action items up first is PMC Mr cesi would you please move the items under PMC I would like to move PMC 8925 through PMC 95-25 second any question or discussion yeah actually I'm just curious so why is unsung hero actually a action item I'm just curious It's a resolution we're approving a resolution we issued a resolution so it's a it's a celebratory resolution the board has the authority to essentially formally pass a resolution to award or acknowledge this recipient for this okay anybody else all right call the roll please Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr G yes Mr M is absent Mr Pompeo yes M shanton yes Mrs Esposito is absent and Mr synic yes motion Carri okay being that Mr mcweeny is not here I'm gonna call on Miss shenton to please move the item under CIS like to move cis- 39-25 second question there you go question or discussion please call the roll Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes Miss Dempsey yes Mr G yes Mr miini is absent Mr mpeo yes M shanton yes M Esposito is absent and Mr senic yes motion carries okay next up is FFA Mr Bloomer would you please move FFA you like to make a motion to move FFA 54-25 and 55-25 second question or discussion okay Mr Gibbs please call the rooll Mr bler yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr gon yes Mr mcwe is absent Mr Pompeo yes Miss shenton yes mrito is absent and Mr senic yes motion carries okay and next up is other I'm gonna ask Mr Pompeo to move the item under other please I'd like to make a motion to move -02 -25 approval of hibit Investigation decisions V question or discussion not that we could have any please call the rooll Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr gon abstain Mr mcweeny is absent Mr Pompeo yes M chanton yes m esito is absent and Mr s yes motion carries okay that brings us into our work shop first the agenda item is PMC with two discussion items the North Boulevard student attendance corrective action plan and Staffing update all right so the first item is exactly what the title says um there will be a corrective action plan up for approval for the November meeting but I just want to call attention to this this is a requirement from the state uh any school that has at least 10% of its student population that is cross ically absent has to complete a corrective action plan that outlines strategies that will be implemented to improve student attendance so that we limit the amount of chronic absenteeism that we see uh chronic absenteeism is defined as being absent for 10% of the school days or more so that's 18 school days um North Boulevard unfortunately crossed over that threshold um and so Dr Shir and I have been working together on generating an action plan which is in back up um that has some steps in it that will help us to reinforce the the principle that it's incredibly important for students to be in school um and also ways that we can help families that might be struggling to get kids into school to help them be better equipped to get students out of the house and into the school um and also provide reminders to families we've we've had it happen where we've made phone calls to families notifying them of the number of days absent had it contested pointed out it's these are the exact days and they realize our data is accurate um so it is something that it's a um it's a district-wide initiative to focus on student attendance you've probably seen it and sign off for or signatures for most of the administrative team but it's really something that's uh taken hold Statewide as well as um nationally because we're having a really hard time Across the Nation getting students into schools we're fortunate in New Jersey we actually have the lowest chronic absenteeism rates in the country country and quic were fairly low compared to the state but it's still a real issue that we have to address it's awfully tough to teach kids when they're not in school so that corrective action plan is part of a state requirement but it's also something that I see producing a benefit any questions yeah down in AC uh I sat for a class on absenteeism the reasons why uh it occurs what can we do to to help it not occur and uh there were actually people in the discussion that felt that it was beneficial for kids not to be in the classroom and they felt that remote learning was very uh allowed a lot of flexibility for some kids and some kids are drawn to it and it works out better and I mean they were they were not the majority of the people in the room but I was still surprised to see that people had that had that opinion yeah and I don't want to I don't want to paint with a really wide brushstroke and say that all remote instruction is subar compared to inperson learning um I'm sure with some specialized program programs for older kids it does serve a benefit but as far as the younger guys there's so much that they they gain simply by being in their seats and and moving about a classroom with your peers um probably the most inspiring Professor I had when I was in undergrad a great line you said the most important things you learn in school are the things you can't put in a notebook and those are the things you pick you you learn whether it's conflict resolution on the playground how to share in the classroom how to collaborate in the classroom so many things that go beyond what's in the curriculum and so yeah you definitely need to be there and it was actually it was it was very nice too um when when you as a board were reporting on what you did uh what what you found most useful during school boards Mr Bloomer had mentioned something about attending a workshop about chronic absenteeism and it was nice Dr SCH reached out she's like am I allowed to reach out to Mr Bloomer absolutely because if he's got the resource um you can share it and I know she did reach out to you right all right good good not not that I want to put Dr Shiri on the spot when she's not even in the room but uh but I think it's great because we're we're we're seeing that the workshop that everyone here attended is being put to use as well is there a certain number of days or any thought to a certain number of days that would then require a student to take part in summer school because they've missed so much information during the year you know is it they reach 20 and all of a sudden there's a warning letter 25 now they have to do the summer school as well that's a tough one um it's something we can definitely look into um course sometimes summer school becomes counterproductive but there's also that that incentive of not having to go um that might might help get kids in um but we we'll we'll look into it because generally if a student doesn't pass a course that's when you put him in summer school but if you have 19 absences it's in policy you can fail a class um based purely on attendance so um we we we can look into the coercive and of course legal um impact of of doing so and since I can't multitask you all had to wait while I wrote that down because I couldn't speak while I was writing thank you then the other one uh Staffing update this is something I like to include in in all of our workshops because I think it is important especially in an era in which we see Staffing shortages um it's it's on the news it's my conversations with my colleagues we see it so right now our biggest priorities um in terms of um vacancies are to work on leave replacement positions uh we have a couple that are available at North Boulevard I included that in my newsletter on Friday and um perhaps it's coincidence but we we have a few applicants there so uh Dr schir is getting the interview process going there sometimes for the leaves you have massive amount of lead in sometimes it's sudden either way you have to be able to fill it and and do it um as as well and urgently as necessary um we've also filled a few lead replacement positions at PV um a lot of credit to Mr seasi and his team for um acting swiftly there and getting some really good people into important places uh we're in the process right now of interviewing to replace uh speech therapist that's a vacancy that emerged um after the school year had gun we also need a bus driver which is a familiar refrain across probably every District in the United States and then um we did have somebody we thought was going to fill the French ESL position um but then the state um did not renew the um waiver that would allow us to employ people who were retired so we had to go to plan C and plan C involved using an outside agency but they were able to staff the position position it's it's pretty hard to find a French teacher it's really hard to find an ESL teacher it's tripy hard to find somebody who has both those certifications but right now we have someone in that position so we're we're knock on wood we're doing well with Staffing um but as we've seen that could change tomorrow morning any questions on that okay moving along to CIS two items I impact tutoring Grant and edgey planet um so just with the high impact tutor just a reminder that um we're going to be awarded a little bit more money so we're going to talk to the elementary schools about um doing a little bit more high impact tutoring and I say a little because it's not a ton of money and you have to spend it on tutoring so that was it just to make you aware that that's something we're gonna um pull together um and then edgy planet um just we're going to update the site I've been working with the rep to we spent about two hours on the phone trying to make it more user friendly so they're in the process of updating that which will make it easier for our teachers to utilize um and I think when that's public facing you won't find 5,000 standards there you should find the standards that are in the unit that are actually the ones that are priority for that unit um so just making aware that we're doing those type of things yeah and something I I appreciate um that Mrs V's working on there is I'm a firm believer that curriculum should be good enough that you would want to put it in your back pocket um and short enough that you can fold it in half and put it back there so what she's doing through the electronic means is is really creating a more efficient edge of Planet platform to help our public be able to better view our curriculum Dr Sheran brought the program in we we saw as they were working through a few of their own kinks in the system um and now as Edy planet has really stepped up we're able to place more demand on them and have them achieve those or meet meet those needs a lot more effectively so I I appreciate your work with that because you want teachers to look at the curriculum as a living document that's helpful that can immediately address questions and provide guidance and if it's CL if it's cluttered they're just going to turn away so I'm excited about it all right moving on to FFA there's three items there leaste of an eight passenger van the uh Board office need classrooms and then the North Boulevard prek and MD project oh yes we were in the process of looking into a lease on an eight passenger van for a new staff member that we're looking to have board approved in November 18th um there's a new law bill number a-280 s3000 that permits the eligible drivers to operate an S Type vehicle up to nine passenger the laws changed the requirement for drivers to have a CDL license with these School Bus endorsement now non-cdl drivers can drive the school district's buses up to nine passenger the new candidate doesn't have her CDL but is an experienced driver with larger Vehicles the new van will help alleviate three bus runs that are currently out outsourced uh which will be a savings to the school district the cost of those runs is $133,000 of which it is estimated that the school district uh will save about $40 to $50,000 depending on the cost of the lease of the new van we are currently working with a co-op on a quote on the lease which would be board approved of the November 18th board meeting any questions so one a passenger van driven by a person that has the authority to drive it and certification to drive it in L of doing a bus get rid of three bus routes save 45 GS you got it is that because we have three bus routes that have fewer than nine students on them we we are short of driver I don't if you remember Miss Dalia was retired she had retired yeah we haven't replaced her yet so that's what we're looking to replace her but unfortunately getting a driver with a CDL bus license at our salary range is tough I mean almost impossible so this actually helps alleviate that this new bill that was just passed so we'll be able to hire a bus driver that doesn't have a CDL although she is going to work towards getting it so she will be fully certified within I would say about a year or so uh and she's very excited about doing this position and so it's a win-win for us that's great thank you would it financially make more sense to purchase it over in the long run instead of leasing it but we're going to look into the lease first the purchase right now I really don't want to outlay too much cash because I have a very big expense coming up um so right now well you can guess okay um but yeah I we did consider that but right now I don't want to outweigh that kind of cash yeah any other questions no I'll put it out there too that when when it was announced that you didn't need to have a CDL to drive one of these there were several members of the admin team who were very excited about the possibility of driving an eight passenger van so we may have some substitute drivers in our best Gordon have you looked into possibly renting this thing out on weekends we hav research that yet are you interested what we I might know somebody okay for the insurance any other questions no thank you great idea the second item I have is um the just going over some different things for the new board office the building located at seven Industrial Road is uh approximately 15,000 squ foot building with three levels the ground floor which can't uh can't be converted into usable space to to the zoning of the building the second floor we are looking to uh into converting into a preschool classrooms in the third floor we are looking to house the board office with additional non- preschool classrooms currently there are tenants on the second floor Once the lease is solidified I will be meeting with the tenants to discuss their intentions as to their leases uh currently there are two tenants that are on a month-to-month basis but there are five others that are longer leases uh the leases are currently providing $30,000 in net revenue per year um of which we will be losing rent from the board office starting January 2025 in the amount of $55,000 per year from the rental of the postop property the current rent at seven Industrial Road properties paying 32,000 per year which will help offset our loss the goal to fit up the preschool as soon as possible to begin collecting uh 200,000 in preschool tuition and fulfilling the needs of the school district any questions so we've had a wait list for years does this wipe the weight list out or is it just shorten well it will pretty well WIP it'll Wipe Out the one we have now okay if it grows substantially no I'm just saying what we've seen year-over-year about that weight list this satisfies they should satisfy nice very nice any other questions no and I'm glad you brought that up too because there there are some really nice um offshoots from that too that that if we can limit the the pull on space in Boulevard for prek and move some of it um not all of it but some of it to um the the new office complex or structure um that can also allow us to get back on a rotation where instead of Hillview and sjg alternating the third Kindergarten now it can again be among the three schools North Boulevard hasn't had a third kindergarten in at least six years because we just haven't had the classroom space to be able to do so and that actually will will help um leave some of The Strain on classrooms at Hillview and sjgs we're tapped out there as well we've had to collapse a few things so this should have from my estimation a ripple effect that's going to benefit all three elementary schools and when we talk about um student measurable student learning data North Boulevard is always dealing with a smaller sample size and for anybody who works with Statistics you know you want a larger sample size to get more accurate data and so instead of always going with 40 to 42 students now we can start looking at closer to 70 students in a grade level moving forward so lot of lot of really nice benefits to doing this one more question with question there's been funding obviously funding discussions for the last few years on preschool expansion will we qualify for any of this any of it well we haven't qualified in the past because we were what's considered a tier four we don't have enough um impoverished students I should say not to qualify uh they're going to be opening it up again so possibly we could qualify obviously we'll go for whatever we can get I don't remember if being the income level yeah it's based upon Title One status but my next question in terms of when we're looking at these preschool programs or these preschool classes how many students are we looking to put in each class because um with the PSA which hopefully we will get the max number including special ed students which do not count towards the funding is 15 students so I just kind of want us to be a little bit um you know aware of those uh requirements so how many were we thinking I I'd like to max out we'll have the available space and obviously we'll meet the whether it's 900 925 950 square foot requirement but um the goal is to is be able to fill the classroom you realize a greater efficiency there and you can service more families in the district um if it's something where it's preschool integrated classroom obviously we're not going to open the doors wide open 15 kids coming out of the gate because you have to plan for I refer to them as the kids you don't know you have yet so students who turned three during the course of the school year who are not yet in um the evaluation process when when they show up you have to evaluate and then provide uh preschool space so um we'll be very strategic in how we fill those classes but the goal is that that last the school we're dismissing 15 kids from from those classes or depending on what we're able to fill but perfect yeah I'm excited for it so are we anticipating that the entire preschool program then will move to the new location or there will still we we'll have a few different things going on because I'm also thinking of this in light of number three and putting in a prek playground at North Bard yeah and that and that actually that doesn't factor into the thinking it's kind of like two is is factoring into the thinking for three as opposed to the other way around but um we would keep most likely the preschool disabled program at North Boulevard because we have the personnel there and also a lot of that personnel's used for the multiple disabilities program so instead of stretching them out and having to duplicate um some of the job just job titles um keep them there and it actually gives me a nice segue into item three I'll keep answering questions about two but part of the reason for getting the prek playground is to provide an opportunity for play not just for the kids who are three to five but also for the you know anybody in the community who wants to use that off hours but also for our students in the multiple disabilities program so those would continue to be housed there um but then if we could do the preschool integrated as well as a gened to me that would be phenomenal other question question no thank you and then as far as um the uh prek playground uh that will also service a multiple disabilities students um this came out of a conversation and this is in the very very early stages there's nothing in the budget for this we're we're it's largely it's a step ahead of speculative because we actually have plans um but uh we had a couple of community members approach us about looking into grant funding for a um a playground that would Target our our preschool students as well as students um with specialized learning or physical needs um some other communities do have similar type playgrounds most playgrounds are designed for students between ages 5 through 12 and prek students are between the ages of three and five so um we've been working together with two community members um as well as Mr Gibbs was in on one of our meetings to Anderson has been pivotal in this process um Dr SL we also brought in some vendors to give us basic idea of what the scope of the work is and what's available to us um they proposed something to us that would have a rubber surface as opposed to the mulch which we think would be beneficial uh for the students um the the technology for this is phenomenal we ask what if it gets really hot they say just hose it down it dries off really quick and it stays cool for quite a while it would include a can that would also help to keep um surface areas cooler um we would also look to have a walkway to the playground um it's G be very expensive um so this is something that we're going to be um forming a committee about since it is really a community project and we're going to look to see if we can get corporate donations as well as looking at what type of of grant funding might be available because we are looking to um Provide support for uh students with with varying needs one of the items that we we're going to hopefully be able to get is a communication wall so that students with autism who might be non-verbal will have an opportunity to be able to communicate what they're thinking or feeling or what their needs are so um we're really exploring something that I'll admit I didn't know terribly much about leading into the process and I'm very excited about it um our community members have been in touch with the grant writer from William Patterson who's willing to provide services um and I'll put it out there too I want to start getting the word out to the community that this is a project if someone works for a corporation um that's looking to make donations to a really great I guess project this is something that we can definitely look at especially as we get closer to December 31st if corporations still have unspent donation money we would gladly accept it but I'm excited about it I'm also nervous about it but I I think this could be something really great not just for our school but also for our community at large do um do we have any estimation at this point of what it would cost and the size of it uh it the size would be um there's a gated in playground that is as you're walking towards North Boulevard um if you go around to the left there's a gated playground there um that's where we go because it's already gated so we have so we're a step ahead of the game there about half of that surface would be um that that rubber surface while the rest would be would be natural grass um and it's something again that we would be available to the public after three o'clock Monday through Friday and then obviously on weekends as well um I've been advised that's become a de facto dog park um which I'm not terribly excited about since we don't want dogs on school property but this is something that we hope be available for the whole community so that would be the size then you had three or two questions cost the cost is quite a bit it's uh the the initial estimate we got was 245,000 um yeah for comparison purposes I believe the brand new playground we put in for our 5 to 12 poort was around around 65 so this would run um quite a bit more and that's that's again why part of the reason why we're looking to get um support from larger entities that have a little more um liquidity with their funds that would they'd be willing to pitch in and it's a it's such a great cause too so they have one of these in Wayne on a green rail yep and I grew up in Wayne and uh it wasn't there when I grew up obviously but it's there now the thing is unbelievable it's really really something so it'd be great if we could get something like this in panic especially North W yeah and to have climbing equipment that you can safely put a three-year-old on or if you have somebody um who has difficulty climbing um or getting up above step we do have something that they can walk on that's a lower step um so the there's an incredible amount of thought that went into the design and uh it's really impressive because it's it it has such a focus on inclusivity so um kids of all ability levels will be able to play together which to me is so important so in Atlantic City there was many vendors with their like you know little small samples of each uh item and and they're it's amazing what they've come up with yeah and we the um the vendor that we met with um back on Wednesday were from Ben schaer and we've used them for a few projects and they're um they've been a good partner with us and they they they took us through the process they said the installation would probably take about a month um you know barring if there's any weather but since it doesn't rain anymore you we wouldn't have to worry about it getting stretched out too far but um they they they they listen to all our questions um it it was really great because because again this is an area of unknown I've been involved in in a number of playground installations or Renovations but this is this is a whole different type of playground um and what I one of the things I love too it came to us from the community this wasn't my idea it wasn't Dr sl's idea it came from the community since we are opening this up to the community after hours and on the weekends um is this something we can partner with our Town Council at all with and any grants that they have funds access to that we wouldn't necessarily fny you should mention that uh because I I was I was supposed to meet with uh someone from the township on Friday but unfortunately I had to cancel due to uh some other circumstances but um this is something that I would definitely invite them if they wanted to get involved to participate in because I do think it would benefit yeah anybody who has small children in the community whether they're of school age doesn't matter whether they attend our schools doesn't matter we want we want to really be a place for for everyone and we we we hope to be able to achieve that it it might take a while so like what I'm telling you right now on November 4th 2024 I wouldn't expect it to be built in time for the 25 26 school year but we're working towards something um we have the space we have the initiative we have plans um now we just have to put a few more pieces into place all right moving on to policy two items routine policy regulation review and a couple items under there and then the AI policy progress update okay thank you so um I just we selected four policy well three policies and one of the regulations that go with one of them for just a routine review um that hadn't been updated in more than 10 years I think most of them are from 2011 so um I wanted to start with the first three uh 130 duties of the school business administrator 1330 evaluation of the school business administrator and 1330 R evaluation of the school business administrator we're not you know didn't mean to put you on the chopping block or anything here Gordon they just all happened to be ones that hadn't been looked at in a while so you're you are welcome to comment on them as well um but did anyone have any comments questions or other concerns about those three I mean they all looked fine to me I I was curious if Gordon felt anything and again to put you on the spot if there's anything missing you know the job better than we probably do so I I just because I haven't been looked at for so long I was just wondering if they they look accurate to you they find yeah it was pretty accurate I mean there's nothing I would add to it um it's pretty thorough yeah definitely gives you a good perspective of how much Gordon has to do so I was very appreciative of all that you do after reading through that um then 1331 the evaluation of the board secretary I was actually surprised to see existed because okay I'm not the only one um so it states that the board is supposed to be doing an annual evaluation of the board secretary was also Gordon because the business administrator functions as the board secretary with a slightly different set of responsibilities um and so Mike uh Dr ptis and I kind of talked a little bit about this when we we consulted legal advice because we weren't sure this was even legal since the business administrator is not an employee of the board but rather of the superintendent then in the capacity of the board secretary necessarily what that evaluation was so um I assume that it was the legal advice was that it was okay to have it to a certain extent but Jackie if you want to weigh yeah so so what's interesting is is the positions of business administrator and board secretary are actually two separate and distinct positions a overwhelmingly large number of school districts including quic have those positions essentially condensed into one role so it is not inaccurate to have an evaluation for board secretary in this case it would sort of be duplicative because it's covered by the business administrator board secretary evaluation policy but for some reason if a district was to ever essentially bifurcate those two positions you would need to have one for each of those positions because the role of board secretary answers to the Board of Education where the role of business administrator answers to the superint got it so what we discussed was having the board provide feedback to Dr pis to include in his annual evaluation of the board administrator the evaluation of the board secretary responsibilities um she said he keeps accurate minutes and does all of the things um that we need to do have him do as the board secretary my concerns with the way the policy is currently written is first of all the statement that the board May consult with staff members assigned to work with the board secretary I thought that maybe shouldn't be there I don't know that that's something we would ever want to do I agree with you me too did so it's essentially staff so I guess it would be any staff member that was helping work on the agenda for example so like Karen does Margaret right like but I don't think that we want board members going directly to Margaret for input for feedback yeah yeah so I was thinking strike that Mar wants that um I have a question though did you and Dr ptis talk about maybe instead of having 1331 maybe adding a couple sentences to to the others yeah to 1330 as like in regards to this because we have it as one um the only duties of is one policy so it would make sense to have the evaluation of the one policy one policy to align and maybe just have the main part and then like a section a section A for the the ba and a section B for the secretary the only it's just one less policy then to have to maintain the only hesitance that I would say with something like that is that it then puts on a future board if they ever made the decision to separate the positions now to recognize that they then have to be separate Poli totally get it I've been here for eight years Sam's been here longer even before then I I don't believe that these have ever been separated out yeah unless Dr poris you've been here longer than have these ever been that you were okay I I don't believe that they've ever been separated out so I've been evaluating meeting business administrator board secretary for the past five years and it never dawned on me to ask the board for input about the 13 for the board secretary side of things moving forward I think it'd be great to have a separate section in the eval involving board input um the evaluation process I've found whether working with Gordon or with his predecessor sallyanne I find it to Be an Effective process it's largely a narrative a contribution from him certain period in advance gives us chance to converse about goals moving forward um but I've never solicited board opinion because I thought that I couldn't um I think I'm also exposing my own ignorance as I speak out loud so I'm gonna try to cut this short but but I think moving forward I I I like the idea of combining them into one document and just clearly delineating this is input from the board for the board secretary evaluation and then the rest would be the business administrator and I'll put it out there too I I support the idea of not Consulting with staff members though I think the input would be overwhelmingly positive um I just find it also overwhelmingly strange so I I support eliminating that yeah I think that's the way to go you combine it so that way you would essentially come to us when you're doing your evaluation and say hey I have this portion of the evaluation i' like you to fill out s tailed in with the rest of yours seems more efficient um because I reading these policies and every one of them's been was adopted in 1999 so I mean they're extremely old they outdate any one of us that's sitting at this table maybe besides Sam um but the one thing I found strange is that the the ba goes out for rfps like on behalf of two different people goes out for an RFP as a secretary and then out for RFP as the ba and I'm thinking to myself what's the difference between the two it doesn't it didn't seem it seems like in our case we have a lot of duplication so we should try and streamline it yeah the RFP should go through the be yeah so rolling the rolling 1331 into the others um also eliminates some issues that with the last paragraph of the existing 1331 like having an informal Board conference with the board secretary I don't think that's something we would ever want to do the deadline would be the same but it's not something that we're beholden to in terms of a written plan and performance grow uh whatever it was performance Improvement and growth because all of that's already encapsulated in the other two and so we would just really be adding like a bullet that the same will be done for the responsibilities of board secretary with input from board members of the board I think that's perfect that's the thing like I was going through the list and I was like whoa this is not something we've done in six years so we should do something about it all right so maybe you know it's it's we're not we don't evaluate a Hib you know super here it's not right and I don't Envision a time when we're going to look at our budget and say oh you know what we should add well not if he keeps pulling $1.7 million out State's pocket every couple of years no we're not to do that exactly all right so um we'll work on drafting those and then if we can come up with something uh for the next meeting we would do a abolishment of 1331 and revisions to the others um everyone's okay we're okay with 1320 the duties of the school business administrator though right so that one will just Mark as reviewed and not bring It Forward again great thank you I'm gonna turn the AI policy to you yeah yep thank you m NY um so as far as the AI policy progress update let you know that uh our chief technology officer is Mr has um started discussions with the admin team uh to get representatives for our proposed AI team um he's he's also working on trying to come up with a really good name um I'm quite comfortable with AI team both he and Mr hazler I think it should be something a little bit more exciting so um I think we had something like the Marvel AI team of Awesomeness as a proposed name um yeah I don't think that one's going to happen you could ask AI what it should be name this is and it's actually funny because Matt did that nothing good and and and the name that a AI came up with was was kind of a dud but so that he's looking to get representation from the admin team um through principes as well as supervisors and or directors um also looking to get some teachers who have some degree of comfort with AI because this is very much going to impact how teachers can do their jobs hopefully make it a lot more efficient for them um teachers very rarely ever hear the words we're going to give you back some time and this is something we really believe will help us to do that and also we want to get students involved um definitely at the high school level possibly even at the middle school level as well to get a sense for them for um what they see as the possible capabilities of using AI responsibly and effectively um so I also um push the word out today to the HSA presidents we had our meeting earlier this morning it's a great meeting by the way um to let them know that we might be looking for representation from parents as well but as far as the AI policy something that I discussed with Mr Shay is that the a the district's AI plan is going to be a living document and that's going to be something that's going to um change and evolve as artificial intelligence changes and evolves it's going to need to move a lot faster than policy moves so um we'll have the policy in place which will refer directly back to the district AI plan and the AI plan the real Champion is going to be our chief technology officer I'll be the steward for it who reports back to the board about any anticipated changes or actual changes but this is one policy we're gonna have to be as far as I can tell incredibly fluid it's not g to be something you can put it in in 1999 and then assume oh this got this has us covered this one's going to take a lot of work um and it's it's moving fast so that that's that's where we are I'm still in a very early stage but we're excited about where it's going to go okay uh that brings us to our next opportunity for public comment members of the public may speak for a maximum period of five minutes by the clock during this portion of the meeting uh if a member of the public does raise a question please bring it to the board president and don't forget to state your name and sign in before we begin joh Asen Sunset Road pumpt Plains um Finance for the high school music parents I'll just try to give a real quick November rundown since I ran out of time last time um so tomorrow uh is jazz band auditions for for win players uh on Wednesday is auditions for Dracula the the play they're going to do um and there's anyone can still sign up with Mr Arnold so audition for Dracula uh next Monday on the 11th uh is a interest meeting for indoor percussion for any students whether they've played percussion instruments before or not uh Tuesday the 12 he wintergard interest meeting anyone who wants to join wintergard would have already had to do the winter sports registration um so if if if students have not done their winter sports registration they can't participate uh this year uh on November 22nd uh that Friday after um Mr Arnold takes his class to do their Willy Wonka performances at the district schools he's going to have a a free show here um that the students will put on Friday night uh at seven o'clock and then I don't know if this is still in the works but when he was discussing the class he was also going to put the student producer director all those people like a Q&A uh session you know to go along with the show just because it's kind of part of the industry and you know to talk about their experience actually being on that side of of performances um on November 26th the town council meeting uh the marching band's been invited there to be recognized for their uh state championship and on November 27th uh that's a half day before Thanksgiving uh the AC capella group has a Knox giving tradition many alumni students from their AC capella groups come back and they have snacks and things before the holiday because most of the kids are home from from school already from college already and then uh just um just as a as a small warning um I'm not admittedly on social medias but I've heard that there are people asking for people to contact Madison School District for some I don't know behaviors on uh the game on Friday the football team ran out through the football field D you know at halftime with the marching band on the field and there's a lot of people upset about the I guess they consider it misbehavior or a little obstinate to run through while they're performing so if if you hear things it's just a fair warning for for you in the administration people are reaching out on their own and I've heard that they're now asking other people to reach out on their own so just as a it did happen was it intentional was it unintentional was it supposed to be a a macho move I don't I don't know um I'm sorry so while the band was performing the Madison football players ran onto the field correct okay yeah yep and they stayed there they stayed there did their warm-ups and stuff while the band was still performing I mean I don't think anything was said among the uh you know athletic directors and stuff that were there or coaches that I know of but I just wanted to let you know that people weren't happy and they're letting them know directly so just to be fair Cas you hear things okay thank you any chance we can get you here in the 18th any chance we can get you here in the 18th with the band to be honored here at our meeting you think he's not going to be here well I know he's GNA be here but because I mean we only have two don't anybody don't let Johnny know that we're getting that se goldplated for him right we only have two more meetings with the rest of the year and uh we have to plan them out obviously so marching B would be a nice diversion from the audit report no offense to our Auditors I think we should do that you I'll check out what we what we might already have for the 18th as well well but if not the 18th then definitely uh December 16th we'll make it happen one of them okay anybody with unfinished business new business board member announcements I'll go um I just want to again congratulate the middle school girls cross country team it's always exciting twice in a row two years it's Quite a feat um and again special congrats to Mrs Monroe so I was unable to attend school boards this year and although I missed the workshops what I really missed was not being there to see her be awarded um I'm a Hillview I was a Hillview parent I spent many a night at book ory and in that library with Mrs benro and she is fantastic so welld deserved like like really incredible so I'm just I'm so glad that that um she was this year's unsung hero so I just wanted to say that that's it uh I just want to congratulate the football team on their playoff Victory and uh good luck in the semi-finals this weekend just gonna jump on and congratulate the girls middle school track team uh the girls I'm sorry cross country team the girls uh soccer Middle School team um and and obviously Mrs Monroe um I think I enjoyed book Ormy night more than my kids which is saying something but they really were amazing um and so glad to have experienced it three times over uh with my kids um also there is an election tomorrow um and what I what I want to bring up more than anything else is nothing about the election itself but uh best of luck to our crossing guards um and a special care for our students as they're getting to school tomorrow uh there's going to be a lot more drivers on the road running to I'm sure vote and just want to make sure that everyone is super safe tomorrow uh and looking both ways anybody else all right we do not have reason to go into executive session tonight so we will adjourn our next meeting will be here on November 18th we have another fantastic meting plan so we hope everybody comes on back including the band if we can get them scheduled and uh is there a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second second all in favor any posted all right good night everyone