e e e e e e e e e e
e e um okay we're going to um call the meeting to order um I um just a minute let me move let me just read the you want to take a roll call and then I will
here here here um join me please in a flag salute Pledge of Allegiance the Ridgewood board of education has been meeting in executive session pursuant to njsa 10 col
4-12 the minutes of this meeting will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists and I hearby move that the board of uh no no hold on sorry pursuant to the requirements the
open public meetings act advanced notice has been given to the uh Star Ledger the record and the clerk of the village of Ridgewood in addition notices were posted in the office of the board secretary and in all school buildings so welcome everyone and
um we're going to um have Harrison uh start with your report then we will go to our retirement recognitions and comments from the public and then we're going to move a
little bit around the agenda um so Harrison thank you yeah um I appreciate you uh commenting me let me get out of here a little earlier than usual um so hi uh end of March which is crazy we're a quarter of the way through the year
which is insane um so got some fun stuff going on uh so super sign Saturday happened on Saturday March 1st as well as the Asian benefit which was a little later on that same day um Smash Hit as always it's a
really cool thing uh if you get to go see some awesome performances they raise a lot of money it's it's it's a really great thing that we do um RS spring orchestra concert happened on March 5th in the Campus Center um and the rhs Jazz Showcase took place on March 11th also in the Campus Center
uh Spanish one students recently uh got to make pic Deo in class learning about Spanish foods uh Alisa students got to make uh colorful collages inspired by their studies on Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter uh and physics one students uh recently built electric
circuits both series and parallel in a class as part of their studies of electricity and through this Hands-On experiment they were able to validate Ohm's law uh asl1 recently completed its third annual uh handshape art class inspired by The View and image Art uh
this art form allows de individuals to express their experiences and challenges through various mediums uh rid is preparing to welcome 19 Spanish students in April as part of our Exchange program um and they're looking for additional host families so if you're interested uh you can reach out to them uh the unified
Club recently had an event at gwm uh gwms uh with the Harlem Wizards um Juniors Had State Testing the week of Monday March 10th uh giving all of their students uh in the building a glorious week of delayed openings I
loved it it was amazing um definitely my favorite week of the year um an rhs Alum and current real estate developer visited the school a couple weeks ago uh and talked two of our real estate classes pretty cool uh level three Woodworking and design classes recently created their own wooden mugs using
recycled wood uh while level two classes created cutting boards uh the Prep students have been busy recently as they got to see the maple syrup making process on a recent CBI trip uh and they're relaunching their prep stack card um HOSA students recently performed
DNA extractions uh on fruits which uh they did at super science Saturday um artbeat recently had a spring show in gym 2 where students uh and bands came together to perform for parents uh students at faculty in the audience um I got to go it's a very cool
show they they put it in the gym they have just kind of one light hanging over the band in the center of the room uh it's a really cool little event that they do and we have very very talented students uh at the high school so it's a good event um teachers had a professional development day last week
giving uh students the day off um they talked a lot about uh AI with teachers and just kind of some training on how they could use it personally and also how they could allow students in the classroom to use it um there was a college fair in the high school last week for students with
75 schools in attendance um tomorrow is the virtual 10th grade parent meeting at 7 p.m. uh the youth art month reception happened on March 19th here at the Ed Center and the sophomore junor joint semi formal was happening this Thursday the
27th uh the new players also just put on their production of bean girls this past weekend I got to see that as well that's a really good production that they do uh they always have really high quality stuff going on there uh so it's always fun to kind of go see those uh project interact recently collected
the uh donations for the kids and cleats which is an organization that uses soccer as a vehicle for children to ride out of pover poverty excuse me in Cameroon Africa uh members also made Valentine's cards for veterans uh and Valley hospitals pediatric unit and they've also been helping out with a
food pantry in Patterson recently uh the RS women's Varsity ski team capped off an astounding undefeated season with the state championship Victory uh so congratulations to them they did an amazing job there uh the RS ice hockey team defeated Randol to earn a state sectional final win uh which is their
first ever time doing so and they went on to play at the presential center against Westfield where they unfortunately lost um but I got to like skip school that day and go see them play uh which was super fun just to see your your school at such a big stage like that um it's pretty cool so
congrats to them uh the boys crew team brought home the fastest boat trophy at one of their recent indor competitions uh students recently went down to Atlantic City to compete in Deca competitions and and we had a whopping 46 students move on to finals so congrats to all those uh girls who code
recently headed to New York City to see the Google headquarters um rhs wrestlers took home some State medals with some notable accomplishments among the team uh which included Camila Castro's fifth place finish making her the first three-time uh state state place winner in program
history and Franchesca G's uh state champion uh making her the second wrestler in history to win an N um and finally the RS boys PS earned a victory in the sectional final round for losing the state semi-final we C
impressive and historic six and four season uh they've obviously garnered a lot of press and attention this season uh so it was nice to see them get that sectional win to to end off that team uh that's what I have for you uh thank you guys and I will see you uh in a couple weeks
yeah lots happening in the high school my goodness right that's right thank you Harrison yeah all right um we will um let me see get uh go to the retirement recognitions so you wanted yes so I'd
like to invite up we have a we have a handful of retirements tonight retirements are always Bittersweet celebrations we're always so happy for our retirees but we are so sad to see them go and just just as a matter of coincidence at least I think it's a matter of coincidence unless you all coordinated with each other um we have
several from Haw tonight so I'd like to invite up our principal of Haw Elementary School Miss sha stoel who's going to honor our retirees tonight shall I go in the order that's listed how are we how are you yeah so the plan was to go in the order
as they're listed so we will Debbie think please come up oh good evening I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Mrs Debbie Gregory thinkink for 23 years of service to the Ridgewood Public Schools she has
served as the HW Elementary music teacher sharing her love of the Arts passion for Learning and outof the-box thinking Mrs Fink's dedication extends far beyond the scheduled music class you
can always find her in the music room meticulously crafting new Tunes arranging ORF instruments creating engaging historical and musical slideshows or designing her next inspiring bulletin board music was not confined to her
class class room rather it permeated the entire school it has been a privilege to witness her nurturing Young Musicians guiding them to discover their voices Master fingerings on the recorder confidently swing the tone Chimes and
joyfully clap to new rhythms mrsf has truly inspired students at every level to unlock their true musical potential and express themselves freely so thank you oh there's more so here are a few words from her
colleagues since I've only been at hods for just three years now I thought it was fitting to ask some of your peers for a few words about you so here we go Deb has brought the joy of music to our school in so many ways from daily lessons to special celebrations she has
gone above and beyond leading clubs like guitar and tone Chimes often giving up her own time to support students her passion for music and dedication to our school Community have left a lasting impression another teacher says Debbie
Fink has been such a gift to Haw she finds ways to teach our students about music and movement that are creative and engaging Debbie helps children to take pride in their abilities and is their biggest cheerleader along the way Debbie
has gone above and beyond to support classroom teachers by by integrating music into the classroom curriculum her love for what she does is evident in each and every program that Debbie is involved in throughout the school year Debbie has brought much joy to our
school especially through her energy and creativity we will treasure the schoolwide singalongs with her guitar to getting teachers into costumes for the holiday song fest she has made music fun for everyone she also authored the ha's
number one song along with the fifth grade students Mrs fins Mrs fin always wanted to make every performance different and special and that she did she went above and beyond to nurture the love of music with Boundless Energy and patience kids
discovered the joy and power of expression through sound and because of this strong music Foundation many of her students continued in the field of Music besides just learning she has taught students that with practice and
perseverance one can learn to play an instrument or sing a tune when planning her concerts Debbie always seems to have a theme in mind these come to her naturally as she truly personifies each of them family friendship and
belonging the song lyrics often bring these to light and allow students to re reflect upon their own feelings around each Debbie always offers her friendship to colleagues whether professionally or personally Debbie I want to wish you the best of
luck as you move into the next phase of life for some reason I imagine that you will be even busier than you are now your outside commitment to music will will continue on and I hope that you will visit us in your spare time I cannot thank you enough for all of the outside of the classroom things that you
do for our school they have not gone unnoticed I promise thank you for teaching me about the inner workings of HW and as the song reminds us HW is is number one and I just want to make clear for our retirees if you'd like to say
anything you're more than welcome to we'd love to hear anything want to come back and do stay because well it'll be some pictures afterwards yeah so not for the whole meeting just just after
that so Mr Stanton will you come up so good evening again I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Mr Joseph Stanton for 26 years of service to the Ridgewood Public Schools he has served as the fourth grade teacher at Haw teaching hundreds of children
connecting with families and serving as an amazing colleague to his team and all of the hall staff over the years when I first met Joe it was many years before serving as the hall princip principal I came over to Haw from BF for
an observation of a fourth grade teacher the room was serious the lesson began and immediately one could feel the power of the connection between teacher and the students the content of the lesson was not important but the manner in which it
was delivered the way he spoke with the students and the natural Rhythm and flow of the classroom were at the heart of this lesson Mr Stanton spoke to the students like young adults honoring their words and challenging them to think this has not changed in the three
years that I've worked with Joe I have seen him continue to shine in the way that he connects with and encourages the students to be the best Learners the best humans and the kindest most Compassionate Friends that they can be he brings instructions to instruction to
life and creates strong and imaginative writers in the process so now a few words from his colleagues are you ready okay as a talented writing teacher and a published
author Joe has shared his passion for storytelling with countless students his love for sports especially college basketball and Lacrosse has energized the school community and sparked excitement in his students Joe is a teacher who wears his
heart on a sleeve he cares deeply for those around him including his students he also has deep feelings for the copy machine as in he hates it the feeling is mutual almost every time The copier is broken it is it is because of
Joe there are copies still being printed from many years ago thanks to that one copier or incident Joe do you remember the one Joe exemplifies what it means to be both a caring colleague and an exceptional educator generously sharing
his favorite stories his favorite short stories personal writings and obsession with lacrosse with his students his Mr true stories of the day have become a beloved classroom tradition matched only by his legendary
impromptu dance parties complete with flashing lights blasting music air guitar performances and light up necklaces all orchestrated with the brilliant educational justification of giving students something to write
about beneath his Rockstar classroom from Antics lies a softy who couldn't hide his emotions if he tried alternating seamlessly between tough love lectures and a hug or pat on the back for anyone in need H is truly fortunate to have such a dedicated
educator who models the very values we hope to instill in our students each day so as you can hear from Joe's colleagues he is a special teacher that shares his true self with his students in the last couple of years I have been fortunate to learn all about lacrosse
from Joe and so have the students in his classroom as a matter of fact the upper grades have learned all about this sport as well Joe has graciously LED several assemblies at Haw School each time Joe reached out to me saying that he would like to lead an
assembly and address a specific topic for student learning I excitedly responded with of course tell me more one might think that I would know that the answer always leads back to Lacrosse a few months ago when Joe said
he would like to do a presentation on black history I thought that he might share about famous authors or inspirational texts used in the classroom nope he wanted to discuss lacrosse I should have known he prepared a presentation on the origins of
Lacrosse at hpcu and how important this was culturally and historically what turned out to be a wonderful presentation was of course centered on Lacrosse I wish you well in your next phase of life and Lacrosse of of course I hope that you enjoy the added moments
with your wife and your son Owen May the next chapter of your life be as rich as the one you are currently in Mrs Roa it's your turn but Mrs Roda and I prefer to start out with a laughed other than a tear is that right okay
Mrs Roa has served the Ridgewood public schools for the last 23 years of her teaching career she brought with her a wealth of knowledge to Haw Elementary School and taught several grades but is finishing her career as a first grade teacher Mrs Roda has a variety of skills
all that have served her well in the classroom but have also allowed her to make a lasting impact on the Halls Community and the students that that she teaches when I first arrived at HW school I was welcomed with open arms a list of details about the school and
then a handful of ideas or things to mention over time Mrs Roa has let me in on a few secrets to her success be tenacious she never gives up when she believes in something or someone support
the idea or the person as best you can watching Mrs Roa Mentor new colleagues and teammates over the years has been eye openening through many hours of work learning new things and a lot of laughter she has helped numerous staff members understand the importance of the
history of ha's school thus allowing them to be successful as they carve their very own path there's more so these are a few words from her
colleagues Jill has been a part of our school guiding us like a true mama duck a leader at every grade level she's worked in she has inspired both students and colleagues with her creativity and dedication her love for the kids and her
fellow teachers is evident in everything that she does and she will be deeply missed so the next comments come from her current teammates it has been so wonderful working with Jill these past two years she welcomed me to Haw with open arms
not only is she my teammate but a true friend see she is such an amazing asset to Haw and will be truly missed by our whole school there's so much to say about Jill she will be dearly missed by all of us here at Haw especially by our first
grade team I will miss our daily morning chats as both early birds at Haws she would stop in with a Hello and a daily check-in where not where we not only talked about school related matters but we often shared about our families and
our lives I appreciate our daily morning talks I will miss her for dance seeing her lead 701 graders dance along to encantos family magical will always be a very fond memory her colleague says that she is
truly in awe of the way she leads the Next Generation of teachers the way she led the new first grade team to be so unified the way she reached out to the new teachers and how many of them gravitated towards her shows just how much she has a heart for raising strong
teachers who also have heart also what I admire about her is just how on it she is with technology and trying out Innovative and creative ideas for lessons she continues to share her new ideas with us she doesn't seem
to be satisfied with the status quo so when Jill shared with me that she was planning on retiring I asked her to think about what she would like to do in her final year she seemed surprised by this question but in small ways she has
started to integrate these events she led a team of teachers through a dance routine to enhance an assembly for the students Joel led the after school rehearsals which were filled with laughter and got us excited to show off our dance moves she made up look like
rock stars and the students loved it we all know that Joe loves to organize and bring people together we cannot wait to see what her next Haws luncheon plan will be the staff is still talking about her successful one by luncheon thank you for bringing us
together to share a meal most of all I want to wish you well Jill you deserve what the future holds spending time with your beautiful granddaughter cie visiting with Christian and Amy heading down to Florida for a little fun at Disney whenever you wish thank you
for all of your hard work and all of the laughs that you and I have shared Jill we will have stories about animals for years to come the raccoons the squirrels and a host of others see you at the next lunch and friend
that was really wonderful yeah so no one else can retire from HW okay that's our limit yeah um I I thought we could get some pictures so maybe the Haw family uh anybody's here from Haw who'd like to be in a picture with the retirees let's do
that first then if you'd like to have a picture with your family and then the most exciting part is a picture with all of us why don't we do the H um e e e
e e e e e e e then the SC started she also Carri yeah e okay I so thank you everyone um we'll
sort of continue on with the meeting time fr here got about an hour 19 [Laughter] minutes okay um congratulations to our retirees that was really nice Shauna you
did a beautiful job yeah um our we will go in into a comments from our public I don't know if there's anyone um here in the building who wants to make a
comment I can't see are there other or is it everybody is uh I will go to comments uh remotely doesn't appear to be at this point uh so
we'll go on with the meeting then I'll close public comment we do have a public comment at the end of the meeting then thank you um our present do we want to go ahead and um okay so um we're very
fortunate to have our architect engineering uh Engineers here um Jan picaros and so we're going to move up the um resolution or the right I was just going to pull um
bring it up so it is under yeah it's under resolutions and motions not included in consent agenda and it is uh 10B opening of bids
and award of contract for HVAC Renovations at the Glenn school and Ridge School you've heard us talking about this for a number of uh for a number of years and um it's come to a resolution so I move um that we accept
um this resolution so just as we do this um this is to replace the um hbac systems at both Glenn school and ridge school that are mirrored schools really they're both the same um heating HVAC system we were
very fortunate in the bids that we received and our lowest bidder was GDs mechanical at 6.9 uh in um billion do billion dollars um and some change uh that was lower
than our um anticipated or estimates so um we are fortunate at that any monies that um is not spent and we anticipate that to be about 2 2.7 million dollars goes back or stays
in our Capital so um we're very fortunate on that one um there was a lot of discussion about the design of this and I think we've come to a good resolution so um thank you for your work on this um I do anyone have a comment
yeah I just wanted to add some um some background information on the uh project and um as Sheila mentioned there was a lot of discussion about it so we are upgrading majority of the HVAC at um
Glenn right and um and at rid and most of Ridge Bridge has some yeah some newer Wing that will not be touched but anything that was old so for these two building that Sheil they had an old for a system that was original to the building and those for a ducts go under
the build under the floor and they were serving both Heating and Cooling um in the new referendum designed um few years ago there was a proposal for hot water based uh heating which was tested at High School in 2008 and it works well
there and then the for the cooling component um the uh split air condition conditioning or in high school we have a chiller but here the proposal was uh split air conditioners and then we when we had a different architectural firm
few years ago they had proposed a vrf system across the building for both Heating and Cooling and when uh our current Architects did their research they found out that um a hybrid in the current technology that's available I think a hybrid system may be more
efficient where we do the heating on most cold days using uh hot water system and then cooling using a vrf system and heating on moderate days using vrf system so it's a it's a combination of two technologies
where we'll be using both um when when it's too cold outside we'll be using hot water to heat the building when it's moderate we'll be using um vrf uh just refrigerant will go out and come back in and use the outside air temperature to go uh to hit the building or cool coal
pull the building and that should work very well and one of the very examples so if you go in in a June month um for the graduation when we all uh gather at the Freshman Focus room at high school that room is pretty comfortable so that's the technology that will be
deployed in the entire building for heating and cooling where there's an outside uh air handler that will send the um refrigerant and it will cool the building in in those months so I think from technology perspective this should work very well and and it takes into environment into account climate change
into account Comfort into account all of that and most importantly the budget into account so um our budget from the previous architectural firm that was working on this project was about $1 million total and we submitted the rod
grants for that same $1 million so the $2.7 Million number that U Mr Matthews and Sheila just mentioned that's District saving but if you look from the taxpayers perspective it's more than 4 million because we are saving 1.3 on the state part so it's it's our income tax
right so property tax versus income tax so from state is reimbursing us 34% of the project cost so total the bids came out at $4 million less than the anticipation so instead of $11 million the debate came out at 7 million and for
that I gave a lot of credit to our new business office um Everybody Naomi Mr Matthews Aaron because they have been working um very diligently even for our custodial contract we had seven bids and our architectural firm because they are managing our bids for this project so
they sent out this bid combined as a team they kept it open for four weeks usually you only have to keep a bid open for 10 days but they gave four weeks because it's a bigger project so a lot of contractors um were contacted that okay the bids are open and then we had
three viable competitive bid so all three of these contractors we can pick any of them and they would complete the work so we received multiple viable bids and um we are confident that it can be done in this and they have some margin
there or allowance there for change orders also so if District anticipates any change orders there is some allowance there if it goes beyond that it may go beyond that but I think right now everybody's very comfortable that once this project is complete it will be very comfortable system for both Heating
and Cooling and you not when you drive by you not see windows open for too much heat or um bringing out the cool air hopefully that's that's the goal so so thank you for all the work on this thank you
yes yes yes [Music] yes thank you thank you for coming so just remind me not to put that back on the Aga
agenda so now we're going to go in the order of the agenda um let's see uh we have the student safety data system report yes I'd like to invite up uh interim principal at trell school um and
assistant principal at uh Benjamin Franklin School Miss Lauren Carr Miss Carr has been uh stepping up to the plate uh she took over from Mr Monahan who is our uh data reporter within the student safety data system which is a New Jersey Department of Education
required Reporting System um so it requires uh entails uh inner reviewing all of our um incidents that qualify for recordkeeping within the student safety data system and uh
and it gives an opport and gives us an opportunity to see kind of a general reporting of how things are going in the school we do report to the state but we also report to the board and the public so that they can all see what's going on in the schools we can see some of our Trends uh So based on last uh I guess
the Miss car I think your first presentation was at the was to report on all of last year right yeah correct but unfortunately we had a very unfortunate peaking of events last year and so if you remember if you all remember the chart was pretty scary and it seemed like the events the the incidences were going up quite a bit so uh we made sure
that we included that in the slide to give context to everybody this is reporting period one so this is only reporting from September to December so we did some analysis over prior reporting period ones um and we asked we challenged Miss car to come up with some graphs that could help demonstrate um
you know kind of what our Trends are and I think she did a nice job with that so uh without any further Ado Miss car why don't you walk us through the presentation and share with us what you're seeing in the data thank you so this is the student safety data
report for period one uh for the 2425 school year and I'm Lauren Carr the interim principal at travel and assistant principal at V you got it um so the student safety data system um collects data on incidents that occur
in schools um so all New Jersey public schools are legal legally required to report the incidents um and these are incidents of violence vandalism weapons substance and hivs um I do want to note that alleged hibs are not counted in the
total um and then Hib trainings and programs are also collected so um as Dr Schwarz mentioned um the ssds is reported in two periods so tonight we're going to primarily talk about period one because that's where we are at in the year uh September through
December so the collection ends on December 31st so starts the first day of school and goes through December 31st um we submitted the information um on January 31st and uh we are reporting to you all tonight we will do the same for
January through June um at the end of the year when we are finished collecting all of the data so this is that um chart that we were just discussing from last year uh this is just a report over the last six years prior to this school year um so
you can see the covid trend when it went pretty far down down here um and then we did start to see a little bit of up of an uptick in um 23 24 and this is the total and this is where we are at for um each of the individual in each of the
individual incidents um over the last five years so you can see over 2021 um when students were not in school every single day all day regularly during covid like they are now um obviously that data you're going to see it's going to be much lower um and then you can see
some of the trends where we saw a spike in um hivs over 22 23 um and that was that was when we came really came back to school full-time no masks kind of just like before um so you can see the spike in hivs there um we had a little
bit of uh some incidents and violence and then um some I believe uh vandalism here this is this year for period one so these are our total incidents um so there were 13 total incidents in Period
one for the entire District this year um these all of these incidents as I mentioned are incidents of violence vandalism substances weapons and only confirmed hibs are counted in this um all of these incidents took place at the middle school or the high school level as you can see 61.5% were at the high
school and the other two were split almost evenly between GW and bf and these are each of the incidents sorry yeah question so when when we count an incident in one incident if there are two students involved as a
confirmed Hib is that counted here as one or that's two if it's a confirmed HIV with two student it's one incident are you talking about two like two alleged two alleged aggressors yes and both are confirmed in that so that we'll count here as only one incident or
two I believe that counts as one incident so here are the breakdowns of each of our incidents um so there were across the entire district there were four confirmed hivs three incidents of violence one incident of vandalism and
five incidents of substance abuse uh this is the total for the high school so there were eight total at Ridgewood High School um one vandalism five substance two HIV confirmed and I I put the alleged Hib in there as well um
it is something that we note but it doesn't count towards the total eight this is BF um as you know notice all three of the incidents at BF were under the violence category um which I think can sound like a very scary word um but
these were altercations between students this is the information for G W uh George Washington had two confirmed hivs so this is all of the information over the last five years for period one only so you can see where the trends
have been going up and then going back down overall this year compared to last year we're our numbers are looking a lot lower but but other than this year everything else is year no this is only compared to period one over the last
four year five years yes yeah yeah I wanted it to be in a fair comparison and substances are vaping as well that's considered a substance yes okay so some of the takeaways and next steps
um so important to note is that the period one incidents for 2425 were fewer than previous years at only 13 um we are going to continue monitoring the incidents and Reporting through our Period 2 data collection the district
will continue to implement Hib trainings for teachers and staff and continue promoting positive School culture and we will report on the the final results of this entire school year when it concludes um in the late summer or early fall when that data is
collected thank you questions are there any questions I just oh do you mind going back to um the comparison slide from the first the one we just looked at no the one with which
shows um the numbers yeah for for the first period of of each year that one yes I'm just looking at oh my question was um that I saw that there was there were no substance issues at the middle schools in the first period of this year
correct and I just was wondering if that's an improvement over other years or we've we we're continuing in the good way of not at least not having those issues at the middle school level that's a great question I can check that data for you right now
substances at the middle I'm specifically asking whether or not we have substance issues at the middle schools we're seeing a trend uh for period one only I if you want I can look at the whole year also um but for period one only there were none in
2223 oops sorry let me look at last year as well none in none in 2324 zero in 22 23 zero know at the middle school zero in
2122 also and zero in 2021 so we're continuing the good Trend we're continuing Excell thank you sure thank you wood is what do we have do we have Vape um Vape monitors at the middle school no okay
Middle School no that's good thanks absolutely that's the high school but I don't think we put them in the middle school did we they uh monitors in the in the bathrooms I I don't believe that we did we talked about it but I don't think there was an any compelling reason to do
that I don't believe they were there when I was there in January yeah okay thank you thank you so much great thank you absolutely thank you Dr Schwarz your uh report yes so first of all thank you Miss car appreciate your time and energy on that
report um and your due diligence we'll follow up of course with uh with the end of the year I do want to manage expectations you know it seemed like we had a pretty quiet fall um it has been a lively month or so across the district um if you remember this time last year
we had we were going into spring break right now we've still got several weeks to go before spring break and this is that kind of long period of time when when people start feeling a little bit restless so we are seeing we are seeing some of those Trends um you know I know we've seen we've talked before we've seen a little bit of an uptick in Hib
uh behavior in the schools or at least in terms of Investigations now they're not all confirmed um but it is just something to keep in mind it is do seem to be pretty normal Trend that the fall would start quietly and then things might ramp up a little bit as the year goes on um as far as my report is concerned I I would just highlight uh just two
things first of all the superintendent coffee um I was always want to raise attention we put a lot of time into recapping what goes on at the board meeting and then of course engaging with families um and community members who want to have dialogue we've had some really nice Dialogue on a variety of topics at the last meeting I recapped
the the the budget presentation I did a I tried to do a pretty Speedy version of it I think it was only about I think our our presentation portion was only about 45 minutes and we covered a lot of topics and then we were in uh we we had some conversation with the public I think for about another 45 minutes so if
you're interested you know they're all recorded they're online if you want to download the presentation off the superintendent web page we put in clickable links you can uh if you want if you're like looking to get a lot of information in one shop if you just find that presentation there are direct links to all the other presentations that
we've done this year from District go presentations to uh this the the state of the schools address uh you can really find out everything you need from there so please do participate and again if you have questions or concerns all topics are welcome we don't shy away from any issue we're really happy to
speak with you there um and then also just want to just just uh just solicit you a little feedback from the board members We are continuing to try to refine our processes and giving you all your materials for the board meetings um uh Lucy Papa Michel who is my assistant and really does a lot of great work
managing the board managing the board issues and matters um we we really we tried to make the FYI more comprehensive and streamlined and inclusive there's also a document that uh Lucy actually put just recently put together that's going to be a running record of all Communications for all of you so that
way if you if you're like oh because I think last time we were that we had we had a conversation about well you never told me this and I'm like I definitely told you that and then I had to think I don't know that I actually told you that so I think there's so many Communications going around it would be a nice nice that we could all see myself included you know what we've reported
out on what we haven't yet shared with you um and then if you remember seeing something but you can't remember where regardless of what method we send it to you in we'll always put a copy of it in that running record so if you have if anyone has any feedback happy to hear it but we are we are do want to be
responsive to your needs yes so my feedback is um the the whole folder structure is very useful the links are still there so that's also useful um the background information was also detailed this time so it's all positive so thank
you so much great thank you I just wanted to say um I was going to put this at my end notes but uh thank you for being so responsive um all the links did work yay so it didn't it wasn't frustrating to get through this um
agenda all the agenda so uh really appreciate that and um appreciate Lucy so thank you uh to Lucy for for um um doing that I think that will be very helpful um I'm I'm one of those people who looks back and say do we discussed
that already so this will be helpful thank you thank you all I think that's it sure sure so we we did follow up on a bunch of topics in the super endent coffee so so I would want so I would want you to definitely check those out
but we did touch on a few topics in the superintendent coffee that actually were board meeting topics so um so the couple of those were a topic of mice and schools like like radent issues we have received over the course of this year more reports than I've received I think
probably ever yeah so uh we did seem to have a pretty cold winter but uh we have been talking a lot in the district level and there we do seem to have certain schools and certain locations where we're having more reports we do have by law uh an integrated Pest management
system um we have contracted pest uh managers who come and do all kinds of proactive uh and reactive work to make sure that we are rodent free pest free but nevertheless we do have upticks from time to time so we did see an uptick uh
and some some some activity over at BF each time that we get a report we mobilize we catch as much as we can we do additional measures we check our perimeter make sure that things are sealed off and uh so I would just say just if you don't don't sit on an issue don't wait we've also been focusing a
lot on food management and I'm talking when I say that I mean not Food Service they do a nice job it's really adults and students so it's the teachers and the students with their own food sometimes gets left in lockers we've seen that as an issue we see food sometimes left out in classrooms like from like from either either people
eating lunch or having a snack um and those are just welcoming uh uh little furry friends uh to be taking up residence in our place so we've been really uh adamant across District Miss Murphy anything you want to share on that I know that you've been addressing some of
this who would have thought I became a nice expert over the last couple of weeks um no I think just to Dr Shor as's Point um we just the food management has been really helpful doing some more regular cleanouts of lockers and check-ins and reminding students to to
throw out trash rather than leave sticky Starbucks cups and things like that in a place where mice can attract mice as well as reminding staff we've also done a really good job where um our pest uh management company has come in and and we've done walkth through they
facilities Department um our one of our facilities managers has done walkthroughs with them and they've really identified areas like points of entry and they've remediated them very quickly as as they come to our attention but they do that on a regular basis it's not just in response we do it as an
extra level when we do see an uptick and we do get reports but there's a regular um review that's going on a regular walk through um by our Pest Management Company we get monthly reports from them and um and we respond accordingly when there's points of entries that are are
noted and and we replace or close up those points of Entry as we're notified of them or as they're reported to us and and you you've made a consistent effort to um for staff uh custodial staff a regular our teaching staff our
principles all to report if you see something don't just say h you know report it so that it gets addressed right so thank you for that exactly we also spoke about um water filter filtered water fountains in the schools
um so just again I think we said it here at this meeting but I spoke about it again at that meeting just that um we'll continue to monitor the progress of Bridgewood water but at this time the cost of changing out all of our filters is just rather exorb um there was a request to see if we
could turn off the water in schools um I don't yet have a an answer as to whether or not that is uh legal from a regulatory standpoint I don't know that we have regulations regarding um regarding the number number of water fountains however concern we are concerned about uh turning off water for
for students in general um dehydration might be more acute concern uh than posos at the moment but we do have well I would say to any family that just feels very concerned I respect that um you know we're not really it's not really entirely clear exactly how those fber chemicals impact our bodies so if
you're concerned we do welcome parents to send their students with water to school as well so please feel free to do that if you're just very concerned we just encourage anyone to do that there was there anything else and again if you go to the superintendent coffee we have notes on all these items
in the slides thank you consent items regular and routine um attendance at conferences I move attendance at conferences someone like to second I'll second it second by Miss
handy Mr Donnie any questions sorry okay none Mr Donnie yes Miss Andy yes Miss Mall yes Miss Brogan yes Administration and here we are on
first reading for policies that were under discussion at the last meeting well two meetings ago we did not meeting it's just the budget that's ready yeah um and were there any questions or
thoughts on that I know that you reviewed it and it's stme do you do you want to move first then then I ask question okay I have question but I'll ask a second by Mr Cy so I have a question on
B2 um the policy for entrance age um I miss that during the discussion time there to catch it but uh the change I see that is we are now seeing if somebody does kindergarten outside Ridgewood and then
come in here but they are still not six years of age we will not allow them to enter first grade so is that um a stes mandated policy or are we bringing it up what are what's the rational for this te that's a it's a coming as recommendation from the administration 6 Ines
away remember be be disciplined with this microphone sorry um so no it was something that came to us um we have a policy that says and it's very common policy for St assessment students have to be five by October 1st to enroll in kindergart um that's because uh the
research is pretty clear on the importance of grade and age um and so we have a cut off that we want kids to be basically five years old for most of their kindergart year um we are very strong about holding fast to that we sometimes have families that move in
from out of state particularly New York this can be an issue because uh they have a different cut off age and so we sometimes have students coming in really by our standards who are really at that kindergarten age but they're coming in looking to be in first grade because they've had kindergarten already uh the
reason why we recommend this change is that that is still a very young age and there's a lot of kindergarten is a lot involves a a lot of social emotional development as well as academic development and sometimes students are just not ready for the learning at that age so by holding and we've had issues
with students coming in and not doing well so the principles have asked that rather than have be facing an issue of potentially retaining a student at the end of first grade that we would have this policy where we would extend that age change to from kind we we extend the same age rule from kindergarten of first
grade the reason that we're not doing that Beyond is because at that point by second grade there's a certain amount of of of U of given maturing and uh and academic and cognitive and emotional development that would seem to that and
research on on kids development are that generally that as they get older they're a there those those age differences don't make as much of a difference but uh first grade our principles and our educators are seeing a pretty significant difference in they requesting change so um
from philosophy perspective I agree because that's what my daughter had just a few days of difference and a lot of people said okay send to private and then um you can bump it in in the school and we kept her back and she was older in the class and that was always good
for us because she was more mature than uh that's what we thought at least as a parents but that's and that's what the research supports so yes but earlier in the original language of this policy there was some leeway for the superent or the like Administration to make it a decision if there was a if the
administration determines that they are eligible to move up something like that that all is striked out now so if somebody is born on September 30th by policy they will not be allowed I you know I didn't think about it that way
because uh but I I have not granted any exceptions no it's October 1st right so nopember 30th they be6 by the spirit of the question or October second yeah October 2nd or right so if yeah so if there's a one day one day difference but
so they have done the kindgarten in private institution or in New York and there's a one day difference because earlier I think there was some leeway by the administration now are we just very so I haven't thought about that because I would I generally I I couldn't I can't come up with a circumstance where I
would grant that leeway okay because even even IQ tests are very unreliable at that age so it's hard to even say you know the only kind the only situation I could ever imagine is if someone were to say well my my five my six-year-old with his one day difference
is going to be significantly more capable than all these other students and even even among very highly intelligent kids you can't it's very hard to tell at that age okay so yes so but but but but second grade uh you know and the and people could still gain the
system if they want to keep in private school to second grade but by then you can you can see more and you can make better judgment calls thank you sure there was a a time when you know you could have your child who you know it
sort of tested if you will but I actually witnessed this test and you know it's just like keep you keep my jail back a year yeah that's what we were it was an interesting test because I couldn't see how they could actually
see any real capability they had because she was close to that October right and so so um it was just interesting I didn't see that that it had a lot of value um in really seeing whether she would do well in kindergarten or not so
better to be the older child at that point yeah and and for anyone who's concerned about their child being and ending up being gifted and again kindergarten first grade it's very very difficult to tell the difference between a student who's on a path toward giftedness and not um we are build we're
building robust gifted programs so one another rationale is that as kids get older you know gifted education was okay gonna mess up our times here I'm gonna you gotta get let me get this one thing in one thing so so so the the
challenge the challenge of gifted education really started as like a problem to be solved because kids certain kids intelligence progress so much faster than their emotional state right so then what ends up happening is you have kids who are you might and
that's why great acceleration is not something that we generally like to do because you might accelerate them for year and they're fine academically but they might not be emotionally ready for some of the more advanced topics and they might definitely not be ready to be going to school with kids who are like maybe a year or two biologically older
than them so I think this model of keeping kids in in in a tight cluster by grade level based on their chronology based on their biology biological age but then providing them with differentiated offerings based on their needs over the course of their careers is the right way way to go great thank
you thank you thank you so I think we have a a motion in a second so yes yes yes yes curcum and instruction um most of
this um I believe that we talked about at our um a curriculum uh committee meeting so uh would someone like to make a motion yes yes yes and I just want to point out this
new course in in math for computer science game design and um this is partially funded or I don't know maybe fully funded or the Technologies funded by the Education Foundation so thank you for that and the since we have had this new math
supervisor there has been incremental changes every couple of months we have had something new something good so our math and computer science department is constantly in improving so we need just to go back um I'm sorry to
Administration and um you wanted to um recruit I would like to recuse myself from Administration um number one so although she voted for the policies yes but not for part one so sorry about that yeah we
moved the whole whole thing yeah so but that's great thank you we've rectified it thank you um Human Resources I move human resources and I would like to um just
um yeah yeah just I made my comment after okay it was oh was afterward yeah got I should have made it before but yeah that was uh human resources and just that we do have another retirement at hos and that's Pat Higgin she couldn't be here
tonight um after 32 years of um service to the district and we thank her for that um on human resources I think there's a one change um that is correct I just want to withraw sorry did we get
a second for human resources I moved it sorry no problem so I'm just gonna I just need to withdraw a recommendation under uh 8A so that would be D
8A so that is under chaperon for the 2425 school year it's on page nine the agenda page nine following along um and the 11 10th and 11th grade semi-formal unfortunately uh we did not
have sufficient interest um so the so the the recommendations related to that event so there's two lines there uh for the 10th and 11th grade semi-formal uh we the event will not be held so I'm just withdrawing those recommendations Mr
Matthews if you can just reflect that in the record pleas this thank you was it a new event or just this year we don't have enough believe it was a new event is that right it was um they always try to do something but uh some kind of formal or event you know per
class this year they combined them and they worked really hard to come up you know I have to give kudos to the high school team because they really did a great job but unfortunately they didn't get enough kids to want to do it so it happens sometimes yeah yes
so um just one comment on on the U new positions that you have for facilities um I know I noticed you don't have yet the U the positions that we talked in the budget but I received a comment after the budget um from one of the
parent that since now we are building in-house capability for Mechanicals and plumbing and electrical and all of those maybe um we can reach out to reud water and Village and offer them that we can build
capacity and some sort of Shar service so just something to consider so that was one of the comments that I received that if we are building Capac capacity then we may be H to if they they are willing to get into a shared service agreement with us then we can hire more than one
trade like one every type of trade and um we can have backups so that was just uh so somebody who was listening to our meeting sent an email after the meeting is this is this for um like a a substitute or a backup
or no so we are building now our own El no I understand that but I just didn't understand that last part so they sh so the concept was that if Village is currently Outsourcing that or they hire contractors to do smaller part or any the vage wood water if they hire people
and if we tell them that we have uh trades and we can provide them these services and they agree to work with us then we can hire more instead of just one per one or two right so that way we will have capacity or
backups so if somebody goes on vacation we'll have somebody else because people don't think that the village hires has their own electrical and Plum they didn't know that so that's why they said let's just explore that option that if Village is also just like if we were we were Outsourcing if Village is also Outsourcing maybe it's a good idea to
talk to them and I don't know the answer so I'm just bringing up something that was brought to me we can follow that conversation see if there's any benefit with vill yes yes yes yes yes Anna again thank you for all the
HR work that goes into this we we do have a significant number of Staff members who are out and so I thank the staff members in the district who are taking on a point
2.1.3 or whatever um in helping us uh to continue to you know have great teachers in the classrooms for our teach for our students so um you know I appreciate our staff doing that I appreciate the work
that goes into to trying to manage all of this and um you know substitutes um who know the subject area are harder to find when there is this leave of absence so um
particularly uh science and math so thank you for that special education there's a number of harder to find so I appreciate that I notice it I'm sure all the other um board members do as well so
um we're now at e finance um and I move Finance I'll second there are a number of uh generous donations um and uh Napier and Joseph uh MCA
ltp uh D LTD uh 14,000 which is a gift in kind of furniture for offices conference space and classrooms at Ridge Elementary School softball high school team $320 again a gift and kind of a massage
therapy gun to enhance the high school football program I'm sure that is softball I I'm sure sure that's a good thing I just don't know what it is uh uh Ridgewood High School Korean parent Association $2,000 should be used to pay
for the guidance counselor's College visits Ridgewood High School girls lacrosse one $326 to be used to pay for the additional cost of a charter chartered bus on April 12th
2025 uh the neason Family Foundation 1500 to be used at the discretion of Benjamin Franklin principal to enhance programs Ridgewood High School boys lacrosse $1,360 to be used to pay for additional
cost of a charter bus to Delaware and morst toown travel home and School Association $1,200 which is a gift in kind of a courtyard beautification project an ecological Center at Travel elementary school that's probably in the
courtyard I imagine yeah Bridgewood Alpine race team Incorporated $7,650 to be used to pay for the DNM bus fees during the 2025 winter ski season they've had a very successful ski
season and again traval H and School Association for $ 44,600 a gifting kind of an installation of stage lighting at TR travell elementary school so thank you that's extremely generous of all of our donors
so thank you for that they'll be in the record I'm sure uh some thank yous will go out to them um uh I don't think there's anything other to pull out um are we ready for Vote or are there any
questions okay I don't have any questions but I just wanted to make a comment on e um 8 we we don't have nine yeah we have seven eight and then 10 so yeah so I wanted to make a comment
on E8 and also want to make a comment that we don't have right no we don't have an N but that's secret oh okay okay perfect so yeah the my comment is on eight uh so the
agreement with d uh to purchase uh Chromebooks so if if you notice this is our second year where we have this quarter million or more um it equipment purchase on the agenda but there's no
corresponding lease purchase agreement with that so before that for last several years since I've been attending the meetings 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 all those years we were doing $1 million of
uh borrowing uh three-year borrowing for purchasing it equipment and then we would paid back in three years so 333,000 plus interest so we were basically addicted to that one $1 million borrowing every year and then we were spending that much money and last
year um we decided that okay this we should only purchase what we need and we start paying it off so last year we only had because we did not borrow we had to pay back six two years worth of Prior
two prior years this year I think now we'll be paying one prior year or maybe two because it's a three-year term next year it will be one prior year and then from following year we'll have $1 million extra in our budget operating budget so this 1 million was a being borrowed and then going from our
operating budget and we were spending on it but now we are only purchasing what we really need so this year right now we are only seeing 2443 there may be more if there's budget but it doesn't have to be $1 million it we don't have to borrow $1 million every year and then spend on
if you only need $700,000 worth of ID so that was a change that was brought as of last year yeah and I reviewed that with respect to this purchase because we had other board members with questions about it I had a specific meeting with our IT director and we are on a good path right now in terms of being able to fund the
things that we need and especially considering the way the interest rates spiked recently exactly um it's a it's a different the strategy doesn't work as well right yes yes yes
yes resolutions and motions not included in consent agenda we'll take a we have already um approved B and this is the agreement of um our contract it's a four-year contract with
our uh administrative team and um so at this point we will not need to negotiate a contract for at least three more years with that will be with our teachers and then in four years our administrators again so we do have uh sort of a a
breathing room here to um to move forward so um you did get information in your packet I know I did go over it with you also um and so I don't know if you had anything else you wanted to add I
move a I'll second it Andy actually that go ahead yes yes
yes yes I'd also um I'm walking this in um and this is a resolution um be it resolved that in the matter of harassment intimidation and bullying investigation and Report 24-
9-1 The Ridgewood Board of Education hereby affirms the recommendation and determination of the superintendent um I make a motion to approve that resolution I'll second yes
yes yes yes yes all right approval of bills I had the pleasure of uh reviewing the bills and uh thank you to Naomi who was there could answer some questions so thank you
for that um so I move uh approval bills as listed on the agenda I'll second that yes yes yes yes board member
announcements I I just want to thank our art teachers and our students because we are surrounded with beauty and um to go to the um art reception lastek week and to see all the smiling faces and the
parents taking pictures of their children by their drawings or their paintings or their sculptures or whatever um and you know it's great and the art teachers um are leading the way really with um the wonderful creativity
here um that they are demonstrating and helping their helping our students appreciate art so um thank you to um all who participated in that and um I just want to point out um that the library um
who's been a great partner for our school district now has small study rooms on the second floor that you can request so let's say you're working on a a school project with a group of kids
but maybe uh a more neutral space rather than come to somebody's house you could do it at the library and reserve a room um uh so it's it's a great opportunity for again for our students to have some independent space in in a nice
controlled environment but um thank you to the library for opening up that opportunity and of course for their youth room that is packed on a regular basis and during exam time they provided pizza so that even made it more packed
so thank you to them um that was all I had any other it's been sort of quiet and for everybody but the board it's been quiet and the and people at the Ed center right uh board committee reports um
Finance we covered everything Finance so I think we're good there um facilities uh you know we did a lot in facilities um just recently do do you want me to
report or would you like to report um so you know we do have this construction going on in in the district uh at at um Glenn and at Ridge and so there it are some moving Parts because we've got
students there in the summer so um uh and that list of of places where those students will go um is Avail will be available soon but um right now the infant toddler program it will be going
to Haw the rise uh and extended day program will be going to no am I wrong are you shaking your head oh oh sorry uh they'll be um going to Willard
right um and I think th those are and oh and our summer Adventure will'll be going no oh Willard so I maybe I I mixed up one
Orchard so uh that's how miscommunication or um Orchard will be um having the Rise program from Glenn school at Orchard so thank you so uh but watch for parents
watch the um information coming out from the district because um there be some changes um if you've participated in these programs in the past at certain schools there there's some change location because of that construction but it's all well orchestrated by the
business office so thank you for that um we are um also I'm pleased that the dust collection system for the high school wood shop has started and that will be completed in
the summertime so although we had hoped maybe to complete it during the school year we won't be able to because of the projects going on now in wood shop uh at end of the uh semester but that doesn't mean that that project
it will be on hold much longer so that I know is a long time um coming to to we got some bids that were too high and now we're we're set to move on that also the stem lab ventilation um will um be working on that next year
I believe um we have rfps out for our grounds and Fields so um and you'll be we'll be looking at those we're are wrapping up
our custodial um rfps um we have scored them we'll be interviewing and hopefully coming to the board with a recommendation at the a April 7th is
that um or the 20 okay either the 7th or the 24th okay um so that that's good news um lots of good work is is really going on in the district um and just let's see anything
else no guess not I think we we talked about everything else or it's on the agenda so all good work is going on with that um on policy I think we see your work happening and yeah we've been doing a lot on policy and then we have a
discussion item on that it if you didn't talk about curriculum I didn't know if you wanted to do that no I was just moving around so I didn't okay um while I have the microphone though I just want to talk about um cpad because I always give that update so um I don't know I
didn't update last last time so cpeg had its first fundraiser um it was very well attended it was a lot of fun Dr Fenwick was there Dr Schwarz was there Sheila was there I was there we had we had fun um and I think it was very successful for them and they're really building a great sense of community and and raising
funds for scholarships which is great tonight actually was their sensory friend dinner and um just uh if you're interested in they're hosting a virtual panel on Middle School and High School transitions for special ed that's actually this Thursday the 27th and
there's a Google link uh on the cpeg newsletter uh and the next cpeg meeting is April 8th in the morning great um yes on curriculum uh it's again sir Rob and I are on
curriculum and um we reviewed a lot of what you see here um community schools offering for the summer 2025 I know there was information in the packet um and registrations for those uh new courses at at the new course at BF and
GW is pilot and that's that game design a program that sounds pretty exciting new textbook in science it's the Epic is it epic is that the engineering program it's the third yeah third thirdd year of
that was that science uh for that so um other than that yeah we good all right okay discussion item item is revised policy uh the policy is 511 eligibility of Resident non-resident students this
is um in that policy it's 12 pages long there is one section for non-resident staff and that's that is really where the change occurred in that policy I don't know if Mary or Mary want to talk
about it there is some wording um that I'd like to talk about and ask you to review can I can I frame the so um so so the reason it's on here now is not because it's necessarily in a finalized state from the from the
administration's perspective so I don't want anyone to take this as like a as like our last and final recommendation we put it on because we understand that there is just a bit quite a bit of interest in moving this topic forward because staff members who wish to enroll their kids in the district based on the
policy do have a a stated May 15th deadline the truth is that that's not a hard fast de line but being that it's listed there um there was definitely interest from our board members to make to move this forward and certainly our policy committee so uh we took some so we we we we had some conversations I
took some Liberty based on those conversations and drafted some language um we also uh policies that impact our staff also go through something called the Personnel policy committee so typically I wouldn't bring it to all of you unless I brought it to the the Personnel policy committee first but our
next Personnel policy committee isn't scheduled for a few weeks we reach reached out to uh to uh the local Association leadership um who are part of that committee and said Hey listen if it's if it suits your interest to get the ball rolling on this I'll bring a draft for discussion with the board so
we can get our discussion and then we can move to first and second readings with some revisions as we feel necessary so I've already so we shared this with with with I believe with all of his board members we put it out to the to the public we've already gotten some feedback so we're definitely open to change here so if so if anyone has any
things that they think we should be considering with respect to this policy then we can Circle back with the policy committee for something that looks like a more of a final draft from the administration and then that can go to our policy committee and it can also go to the Personnel policy committee which is a committee between the
administrators and the uh the and the rea so um thank you for that actually that's that's very helpful um the key issue and I know that with policy there's a lot of um technical language and legal language and we need to make
sure that we are 100% um correct right before we adopt a policy but the kind of the the Nugget takeaway from it um which I believe is agreed upon or if there's a concern about it we might need to discuss it is that we are removing the
30% tuition requirement for nonresident staff members children uh who uh become staff members after a certain date and that that's kind of the the that's kind of the Highlight I think for most people and I I do want to
um clarify that that remains the the basic change to the policy and not that the other language the other things are not important they are but that's kind of the key take the takeaway right to use the slides so I I'm I'm correct in that is that right correct okay the
intent of How I Look to represent this now is to is with respect to the employee contribution for having their children to school we'd like to return that to something very similar to what was in the case before we are evaluating that while we're while we're drafting we
are reevaluating a variety of language I know one of one of our members also was interested in and and matches my interest in just getting another look from the attorney's perspective regarding how that language is C just to make sure that it's it's written as cleanly as possible and that'll be a part of our review process here great
thank you so the one area that um I I had wanted a little more uh clarification and work in was um on page I don't know what this page is it's it's in that section that is labeled
children of District employees and it is about um staff who don't live in District but with like their children non-resident and it is the sentence that reads when possible children of Staff members will not be enrolled in the
school where the staff member works I know it says when possible but it's in that section but I I think that that needs just to be thought through a little bit because you would be setting a different standard for your residents
versus your non-residents and I just want a a little more thought to that and see because my sense is in the past it's really been based on when when uh staff
member out of District uh out of who doesn't live in in Ridgewood comes for asking for placement of their child um I the superintendent always took a look at the enrollment where
there was room what grades and all that and and I would like that flexibility to continue and maybe that wording is is more the wording where it you know based upon the superintendent recommendation and
enrollment placement is offered or or you know I'm not whatever the wording is that you think would be appropriate would be one and then the other is in that beginning part where a tuition rate is set I I think we need to set it on a
some kind of a base so is it related to the increase in the budget is it related to the state's increase of our tuitions for the different grades what what percentage is those so I just want to have a little a little closer
look at at those two areas so that was my my two cents I I remember we discussed both of them um and uh particularly your first point I mean that was something I know we discussed a lot with the administration and there was no well I'm GNA leave it to Dr
Schwarz and Miss Murphy to to kind of flush it out a little bit more but it was something that was on the radar I'm fair to say yeah absolutely yeah yes so um I also uh uh picked the first one where we are talking where we mentioned
uh the so not in the same school or same building where because that becomes a distinction between in District employees versus out of District but in continuation of that so that's a new Clause o and then there's a p the second
Clause where we are saying staff members may not supervise their own children while they are serving in their official capacity during contractual work hours so if you read o and P both together because these both are added new this
gives an impression that we do not want out of District staff members to be interacting with their children during the school time or during their contractual time so no supervision in terms of teach directly being their
teacher in that school or their Sports coaches those type of scenario right and um is that the intent that if somebody plays a specific sport or if they participate in a club and that teacher is managing that club they those
students cannot participate in those I don't think they were going to that the discussion was more or less during the contractual hours that her teacher has before school and after school that the child should be in after care or before
care it was more or L I think most for elementary school teachers whose children might be in their building they have to be in before care and after care and not in the teachers classroom when they're supposed to be doing what they do after contact hours because there's a
contact hour in the students leave and then the teachers have to stay another it varies 20 minutes but the elementary student should not be in the parents room they should go to after care okay so but that I
it wasn't meant to be coaches maybe that's something we need to F tune so but if you read o and P together that's the impression that you'll get but even even if that's sorry you have something okay yeah because if if Jamie is not
looking reading like it's listening to my point then it it won't be implemented it will be skipped yeah so um so uh that so that's one distinction there and the second is is if we are saying that if if it's 20
minutes somebody is in the building and during that 20 minutes they cannot be with them when the students have already left it's uh it's opposite to the trend that's there for making the work life
easier right we are at most of the workplaces we are encouraged to bring the children or um a lot of the now when people are working from home you'll see sometimes kids with them and there were some recent recent examples in the Washington
DC also so I I didn't want to bring that one up but um but bringing taking children to work like if somebody is taking once or twice like are we trying to restrict that or another example there so I understand the elementary
school so if we have a coach that is it's still contractual hours and if somebody or um like a Performing Arts type thing where they bring their child and that child is sitting there in the with the audience and watching that so they are supervising them that they they
are in the vicinity and they can see them and then they are also learning they are watching they are sitting there instead of being at the after care so are we just going to restrict that in this by this policy I I I would say that you should take these considerations and
look at that work yeah and and the Personnel policy committee is really welld designed for this because it has members of the Raa so the administrators group and that's the group that has the most concerns about the responsibilities for child care because they they're the ones who are over seeing the teachers
who have issues with supervision um with they have representation on the group as do the Rea so together we'll be able to I think word Smith this and get this to a place where yes so the two different concerns one was one was if somebody is actually supervising as in the capacity
of a coach or a club because class you can differentiate you can give put give them a different math class or a different physics class but if there's a limited capacity Club then they and that student is interested then they may be their supervisor in that club or in the coach right and so that and then
bringing child to work if somebody is there in in the office half an hour after school for some reason and there are the students sitting there and doing their own work in especially in those type of environments where it's a game or a uh drama club or those type of
things they will actually learn because I I know some examples where my daughters were in the school after school activities and those are still contractual because we pay for those additional hours so when we are paying for additional hours that's contractual and they they came back home and G like
gave stories of the teachers kid who was 5 year old of today we met that child and so they are they make those Bonds in that one month club activity so if if a teacher is doing a club for a month um and during that one month they're bringing their child to school that
child is part of that that Tee so I don't think we should be restricting that can you see that as a virtue do we hear it correctly you see that as a positive yes okay I'm not sure on that one so I need both and I I think that
um I I think I hear everything you're saying and and I I agree and I can also see where um period nine at the high school when you have 50 kids who need uh someone's attention for that however long period nine is and then you have a
young child who also needs his parents attention and it could be it could become a little bit of a battle and um I mean I'm just saying we assuming that the young child would need distraction is a better word and I mean I've been distracted by my kids no so we are assuming here that the child would be um
would need that attention right or I'm saying that that child is just present in that surrounding that the child I think the point of I agree with you and I I think at least when I look at policy I try to and and honestly ultimately this is exactly for the policy Personnel
committee to really flesh out and figure out but I always think about you want something that's as Broad and as as possible so that it kind of It kind of takes into account what could be a worst case scenario as well as a best case scenario and and I think but these
points should go in the overall um policy where that applies equally to whether that parent is in District or out of district and you're absolutely right about that but I think I think I think if either way I think we do have a
um you're not to bring your child to work with you don't don't we have that no we have isn't that pretty much what we we have kids that that go to even tours world tours with their parents probably at this point leave it to the admin rators in the policy
Personnel committee and and I have to admit I wasn't really SE when I raised it at policy last week I wasn't really even sensitive to that next step um I just kind of wanted to get the ball rolling on the fact that you know we were going to make a decision as to
basically less money to let to have your kid come here I think that was kind of what I wanted to make sure was clear we've not voted on it yet but I wanted it you know that it was something that was in consideration and I've captured a lot from this conversation good thank you then I have a couple of more minor
points one is we added something for academic performance so what is the criteria for academic performance is it maintain minimum bees maintain um like is it is it uh like it should be like something that
so concrete right so so that was an area where I felt like we want to have a little flexibility okay because um we certainly don't want to have any student underperforming or not not turning in their homework it's not so much about the grade per se as it's about the academic behaviors the child's not
trying hard and they're coting and getting B's and C's that's still not okay by me if they're trying very hard and they're getting BS and C's then I don't have much of an issue with that but I think that uh there we I want to make sure that there's some discretion on the superintendent part that if a
child is uh not not performing well that I have a mechanism to make sure that um the parent is holding them to proper account from a disciplinary perspective there's already language about um about accountability with respect to
disp I I trust you um I just I'm just uncomfortable about discretion of child's performance just for this one Clause right just just for bringing out of just just as I understand it um even without this
Clause prior superintendant have reviewed the grades of students who are attending as tuition students not just for the teachers but for all tuition students so then that should go that Clause should go to all tuition um sections everywhere where we are getting
everywhere we are where we are not mandated to provide education in District it's yes consistency and then in um point and then there is another one here where we are saying G uh in section g um tution will cover only the
typical cost cost blah blah blah and then all District employees even those District employees hired prior to June 30th 2022 shall pay 100% of extraordinary costs so we don't need this Clause hired prior to June 30th 2022 because now we are making it
consistent no longer yeah so we don't need that and last point is uh this most of our teachers stay for the school year that's how teachers they
start at September and they stay up till the end of the year that's how they rotate right most majority of the teachers uh but the policy applies to non-teachers also and those can be yeah staff members any any permanent salary
staff member and those can um change their jobs during the school year so do we have any Clause here in this policy that protects the student for or allows them to complete that school year if there's a disagreement
with that employee there's a termination they plan they get a better job and then they leave do we allow to that student to complete the school year or even ideally complete that building wherever they are if they are in an elementary school then
complete the elementary whatever is the right what as professionals what do you recommend as a right time to transition can they transition from in Middle School from one grade to other grade or can they transition should they be transitioning at the end of fifth grade or should they be transitioning at the
end of the e8th grade so if we allowed somebody in the school if their academic performance is good they are doing everything right can we allow them to complete that building if the building not the year what's the that's whatever I'm asking so year definitely yes
minimum the Year yes and for the building I'm asking your recommendation as administrators that what is the is do you see any problems in transition between this we have other language for when people become go from being resident to non-resident I see it very
similarly so we'll look at that language so for example if a student's like a senior and it's after April and their parents leave they're often permitted to finish but at other times they have to pay tuition so we'll look at some of the language that we use in those circumstances and I think that's a good
point we should have some sort of a consideration what happens when the parents employment Chang changes but there's an interest in potentially having the kids stay and and that applies to both scenarios one is because a lot of these employees staff members
may not be tenured and if they they don't work out with the district the student should not be penalized and if the student is trying to complete and and the staff member is getting a really good opportunity they should not be penalized to stay there to the end of
the year right so in both scenarios it they should at least be able to allow to complete the year even if it's not the senior year even if it's eighth grade fifth grade whatever grade they are they should be allowed to complete that grade even if you don't consider up to that building yeah with some with some
reasonable cut off yeah with some reasonable cut off We're Not Gonna hire somebody for two months and then like they just quit right away and their kid stays here for a whole year so there's got to be there's there but it's a good point so we'll we'll work out some sort of reasonable reasonable uh framework for how to do that thank you I think
matching it to the resident non-resident um you know and how we do that would probably answer that question yeah good points okay is there I I think we've we've done that policy now okay so now you'll go back and uh it will come back
onto the agenda um for a first reading once um for discussion we'll bring it back for uh for April 7th ail well we can still discuss at first reading there is a May
15 uh no but once we I think that's not um a fixed State because that's an um discretion of the Su and as long as they know that discussion happened and it's moving forward because in the past even
with a small word change we have asked us to bring it back you also have the option to suspend your bylaw temporarily and then just approve it in one reading you want to yeah but I'm just I'm just going by the Precedence U Miss Brogan has many times sent back the policy for discussion even
with one Lang text change small text change and here we are talking about multiple changes so if if our intent is clear why change the bylaw like why why use that if if everybody is agre in agreement there's no reason to uh do
that right May 15th was when staff members are supposed to uh declare their interest in staying that's what right so that's where I'm saying that we were sort of working towards that and and there I'm saying that if the staff
members if it comes back for discussion in April and everybody agrees that this is ratified by the attorney and we are at discussion there's no further discussion then the intent is clear and they can come to the suprent with the intent it doesn't have
to be on the books they will know the intent let let me consider that the teachers can still ask on May 15 some of the fine tuning is being worked out so they still can say yes I'm looking and it's just
the fine-tuning of the cost or what the circumstances may be if they don't complete a year as we brought up today right I think what we are the signal that we are sending is look at the the pricing from last year for um employees
who not non-district employees who were employed before 2022 right and if you're okay with that pricing then right then show your interest and there may be whatever 4% 3% whatever is every year change but that's the
ballpark number because we're not really worried about that right now we're worried about the contingencies built around it not the dollar amount exactly so they can still Express their interest at least four four of us are agreeing to that
okay um uh the acceptance of minutes we have January 27th executive session regular February 24th executive session and February 24th regular public meeting I move all
four all in favor yes I I other business okay no other business I will go to uh comments from the public we don't think no actually I do have one
I'm sorry in the other business I just wanted to follow up on the uh pricing for the Athletics and uh ice hockey do we have any updates on that we have we had we had multiple step steps we asked them to go back into
recalculate an annualized facilities fee to finalize the analysis everything's done but we wanted to have an annualized estimated facilities required contribution by each sport so that we could have a a fair comparison that was a couple weeks ago it should be resolved very shortly we actually just spoke about to with Miss Murphy we hope to
have a resolution on that very shortly so how would you calculate the analyed facility fee when it comes to buildings and grounds that we have or or our onetime fee that we are uh yeah we estimated the we're estimating the the amount of cost for maintaining
building refurbishing existing facilities and then dividing them by the sports and then by the number of students so that would include if we had a onetime capital project four years ago and that will that's correct we over 20 year period okay so dividing total costs over 20 year period and then annualizing
them okay perfect thank you is that all yeah comments from the public I do see a hand up uh Mr or Mrs
loving uh good evening ladies and gentlemen Boyd a loving Ridgewood resident uh I wish to make a comment tonight about a comment that Dr Schwarz made uh I believe he stated for those parents who are concerned about water
quality uh they should send water in with their children quite frankly I found that comment to be somewhat disrespectful and insensitive to those parents who are very concerned about water quality in the school system and I
will say this remember Flint Michigan there are serious concerns about the health of individuals who drink contaminated water to me that remark basically said the school system isn't going to do anything about this if you want to
handle this you take care of your own kids that's almost like saying to me if you're concerned about your kid being harassed or bullied in school send them with a baseball bat because we're not going to do anything about it again I found that comment to be very
disrespectful and insensitive to parents who have concerns about order quality in the school system thank you very much thank you thing no other hands close public comment um I'm sure
you didn't mean to be disrespectful and um Dr Schwarz I didn't know if you wanted to answer that yeah I'm sorry I'm I'm speaking rather quickly because uh we talked about it the superintendent coffee and you you asked me to just say a word about it here today but I certainly thank you Mr loan for joining
us certainly don't mean to be disrespectful in any way trying to be responsible with respect to finding that balance between being responsible with taxpayer dollars for the projects that we commit to and making sure that we're also looking out for our our children's safety and wellbeing so uh the part that I lost over and didn't mention here in
this conversation for the sake of anyone who's listening is that the district committed um you know this is a problem that that all of Ridgewood faces and we didn't have any uh water fountains or bottle filling stations when I got here last year uh that were that had uh any
kind of filtration for posos so in response to Community member concerned that we didn't have um any filtration in the schools uh I made a commitment at the end of the year last year that at least one water fountain in every school would have uh P filtration so that at
least we could make sure that kids and as faculty members as well knew where they could get what uh water that was filtered for p house so uh we actually were able to exceed on that our delivery on that commitment to some extent in that we our Architects and Engineers did
find that some of our some of our units our bot bottle filling water um water fountain units could be retrofitted to with a different filter that could also filter out the posos so it turns out that we have between two depending on
the school we have at least two now in every school we also threw our superintendent coffee and conversations with parents some parents brought to our attention that they didn't feel like their kids really knew which fountains were filtered for posos so we actually had signs made um and we shared that at
the coffee as well and we put those signs on the building it's not a perfect solution but each school does have the the uh the ability uh to have um for those fountains to be found to fill their bottles and to drink from now the reason I brought up the whole water
bottle solution is because in recent conversations uh some parents were concerned well like little kids it's maybe not realistic for them to you know know that there are certain fountains that they can't that that that they shouldn't drink from or should drink from and to be clear um I would advise
anybody if you have the opportunity to drink posos filtered water that you do um but I'm also concerned about ramifications of just turning off water fountains that that were not that that aren't posos filtered so I don't have all the right answers I'm not claiming
to but we're making good faith recommendations here so I I kind of jumped to the end before when I said that if a parent's concerned they can send their student with water as well the reason I bring that up is because it's just sort of a fail safe C all solution if you send your child with a
bottle of water with several bottles of water then then then you don't have to we have to worry so much about can they find the fountain that's that's filtered um but if we were to spend uh you know the several hundreds of thousands of dollars to Retro to to to change out
manually change out all of our fountains over the course of the Year those change outs would effectively be uh un unneeded because of the efforts that the village is going through so um we are as they fail and we need to replace them we are just replacing them with Mo with with
the posos filters so they are slowly being replaced by attrition anyway um but because that's the industry standard but in the mean it seems to be the new industry standard at least um but but the the spirit of it is to try to strike a balance between being respectful of taxpayer dollars and District funds as
well as student health and and every posos filtered bottle filler water uh Fountain has a a very acute sign a big water drop and and it's it's hard to miss in the
schools so um and teachers know where they are too as well so Dr Schwarz is has rard water shared their uh schedule with us and do we know which schools may already be um covered because they they already
have some plants that are active right so do we know yeah so I saw I spoke to Rich calby at Super Saturday actually I saw him and and he he he said that they have something to the tune of I'm G to get my numbers wrong they have quite a few of these site of these plants activated already I want to say
something like 12 or 13 but until all of them are active uh they're they're basically just treating this the the water system as though it is not yet fully filtered that that's my understanding I'm not a hydrologist uh and I think we should we'll get some more information from Mr calby but he
didn't seem at all concerned about um this being resolved uh I believe it was by the end of 2026 but I we're going to confirm that date yeah if if we can ask them because my understanding was that they do this mixing of water from one to
another mostly in summer months um when the demand is high and if that hypothesis is true or assumption is true then at least we can provide some information that which schools or which areas are getting filtered water already
and that may reduce our scope of work work to upgrade if if it comes out to be that we only have to upgrade one or two schools uh then it becomes a smaller project for us
okay so I make a motion to uh adjourn the meeting and um our next meeting will be back here Monday April 7th at which time we're going to be reporting out on our strategic plan correct right that's
the that will be really the a big focus of our our meeting um that evening and do we have our budget vote also on the final budget vote on April 7th or April no April um April 28th okay so on April 28th will be the
public hearing on uh the budget that we spoke about at our last meeting and is now at the County office being reviewed right correct yes said to the county last Tuesday thank you right I move to
adjourn the meeting yes yeah well I don't know yeah yes thank you okay e