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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=PM3_fH3N7Mw

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Couldn't be better. Couldn't be better. Okay. Good morning everybody. Nice to see everybody here. Um Notice is hereby given that in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 the laws of 1975 notice of this meeting has been sent to all school offices officially designated

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newspapers filed with the township clerk and posted in the board of education office 48 hours in advance of this meeting. Roll call vote please. I mean sorry, roll call please. >> Certainly. Mrs. Asore >> Here. >> Mrs. Austin >> Here. >> Mrs. Berkowitz >> Here. >> Mrs. Lefler >> Here.

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>> Mrs. Pinterelli >> Here. >> Mr. Rossini >> Here. >> Pledge salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, >> Okay.

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Um With regard to my comments today, my report, I don't have a whole lot to say. It's been a nice quiet summer I think and I hope everybody's been enjoying it. Um This is the first summer I think we've had without any construction. So I think everybody is enjoying that too,

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right? Yeah? Nice and easy. Um so Um that's about it. Hope everybody's having a good summer. Um and I'm going to move on to committee reports. Mr. White isn't here. Anything with regard to buildings and grounds? >> I'll speak under my report, please. >> Okay. Um Mrs. Berkowitz, communications and

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policies. >> Um Yes, we were uh just discussing the other day. Um we'll have an update um on the agenda for uh the cell phone policy regarding um no cell phones and

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we'll be you'll You'll it in the agenda today. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Anything else? That's it. Um Mrs. Austin, curriculum and technology. >> Nothing for today. >> Okay. Mrs. Pinteralli, finance. >> Nothing for today. >> I have nothing to add with regard to

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negotiations. Mrs. Asore, personnel. >> Nothing. Nothing for today. >> Okay. Committee meeting schedule, please take note. Um I'm going to open the meeting. I'm the first to have this uh comment. But this uh on public comments for agenda items only, what I'm reading

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now is going to equally apply later on for other portions of public comments. So, I'm not going to read it again. Um the River Vale Board of Education is committed to encouraging the citizens of River Vale and employees of the River Vale School District to speak directly to board trustees. In order to facilitate this

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communication, residents and employees are requested one to sign in before speaking, two to maintain an appropriate sense of decorum, three to limit their remarks to no more than 5 minutes. The board will also take under advisement the written comments and opinions of non-residents that are submitted to the board secretary. Be

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mindful of its responsib- responsibility to maintain the orderly conduct of meetings. The board retains the right to rule on such matters as the speaker's right to address the board as well as the appropriateness of the subject being presented. The board's decision in such matters is final. The board also reminds all members of the public that while it

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subscribes without reservation to the principle of keeping the community informed by policy and law, it cannot allow public discussion of personnel matters nor can trustees comment on any current or pending litigation. If a matter concerning an employee of the River of the River Vale Public Schools is of interest or concern to a

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resident, the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal or the superintendent of schools by telephone, letter, or email. Um I'm opening the meeting to public comments with regard to agenda items only at 9:34.

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Any comments on agenda items? Okay, I'm closing it at 9:34. And I'm going to move on to uh Mrs. Cineris report this week. >> All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. So, preparations for the 2026-2027 school

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year are certainly well under the way underway. Our principals, they've been busy with lots of stuff including building student schedules, finalizing class placements, designing meaningful faculty meetings, and professional learning for our staff.

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And also just working through the countless details that ensure that we have a smooth opening. Our custodial staff is of course in the middle of their summer projects to ensure that our buildings are all ready for opening day. Our office staff, they've been working behind the scenes

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ordering supplies, receiving deliveries, processing all the purchase orders, and everything that comes in over the summer up to make sure that we are ready to hit the ground running in the fall. Miss Dowling and I, we've continued planning for opening day and she's also been planning out the whole year's worth

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of all the good stuff she does with data and the instruction and her and I have a meeting actually later this week to finalize some details and add all of our finishing touches on everything. So, we're we are certainly busy. Yes, we don't have construction, which is

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wonderful or at least major construction going on, but we're busy with lots of other planning. I also just want to update the board. You had approved me to go to a conference a couple of meetings ago in New York City. It's called Bridges. So, I did attend that last week. It was great. I

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had an opportunity to have a lot of discussions and present at this conference. It was all about AI and how we can use that this technology to improve efficiencies in our workflow. I was fortunate to have discussions and

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work with a group of educators that work globally from the private sector and it was called Bridges because it's about how do you bridge the private sector and these platforms into the public sector, into public education. It was a fabulous conference um and

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I hope to be able to go back next year and maybe even bring some more people from our team to to be able to learn. It was great, so thank you very much for approving that. And then um last but not least before I close, I do want to thank the board for your

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continued support. I know that my contract is on the agenda for this morning and I really do look forward to our continued partnership and I appreciate your confidence in me. So, thank you very much. Have a wonderful summer. See you in August.

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>> Okay, thank you. Um Mrs. Ippolito's report, board secretary's report. >> Okay. Good morning, everyone. Just a couple of updates for the board. Um as Mrs. Signori has said, we are definitely busy busy busy.

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Construction has been filled by other things. So, as you're aware, we have engaged um and we have purchased a van to be transporting special education students next year.

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So, that has been a process. We have found a driver, which is excellent as a main driver. They're on the agenda. They actually have a CDL license, which is not necessary for the van that we

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purchased. However, it does allow for um some some lesser training. There are specific requirements so that you're aware of the anyone who is a non-CDL driver. You need to go through a criminal

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history background check every year. You have to have a physical every year. You have to complete what is called a carry report, which is a child um protection investigation every year

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and you have to go through training. So, we have in the agenda some backup drivers, which will be Mr. Tracy, will be, um, Mr. Labrere, who is a substitute custodian, and our maintenance, um,

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our new maintenance staff, which is, um, Brendan, and myself. So, we do have a full-time driver. They will be the routes that we are looking to utilize the van for are to transport

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We're looking to stack the routes, and I I wish I could have done more, but unfortunately, due to dismissal times, it's just not going to work. You can't be in two places at the same time. So, we have three students currently that attend a school in Paramus.

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What we are proposing to do is we also have three students in district that attend Holdrum. So, we would pick the three students up from and transport them and drop them off at Holdrum. And then we would, due to the start time at the school in Paramus,

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it's 9:00, we would have time to pick up our three additional students. And we are looking to partner with two other districts to take their students so that they would help to offset the cost and drop them off in Paramus. On the way

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back, it is not possible because all three all two well, both schools, they dismiss at 2:45. So, we will just go and pick up the students in Paramus. But at least again, it's something that we're able to

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do. We have hired a bus aide. That person We have two, actually. We have one person that's going to be in the morning and one person that's going to be in the afternoon. So, this way, if there is a reason for somebody to be out, they can coordinate and they can cover

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for each other because the bus aide does need specialized training as well. So, that is what we've been doing with that particular um initiative this summer. Also, just to let you know that um

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we are still in the process of transitioning platforms from in our financial software from Alio to Link. And I have my staff here and I just want to give credit that Mrs. McKeever, who is our accounts payable

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person, she has been working diligently with all of the building level secretaries to help them on board with the new platform. We have Gloria Galucci, who's payroll. Again, it's been uh a heavy lift for her as well because

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she's had to transition from one platform to the other, a lot of testing. Obviously, we understand how important people's paychecks are. And I also have Ranya Bajati, who's been wonderful in the transition as well. And

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she's also been dealing with these new um transportation compliance issues. And then we have Miss Hayek, who's in the superintendent's office. Thank you very much for

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dealing with the new requirements as well. So, as a team, this is who you have behind the scenes that make Mrs. Signori's job and my job work because we can't we can't do it all. So, thank you to all of you.

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Um I also want to bring up to the board that we had spoken about our chillers at the June meeting and we had talked about investigating we had some maintenance

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issues. Mr. Tracy and I have met with our architects and engineers. We have engaged in a feasibility study that will take 4 to 5 weeks to do. The goal is that we will have that study done for the Buildings and Grounds Committee

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meeting on the 28th of August to provide some additional feedback. We have been hounding a vendor to try to give us an estimate as to what it would cost to fix Holdrum's chiller if in fact there is a leak in the coils.

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Let me be clear that the chillers are working as of right now. You do know that we had some issues in our startup. All indicators are in September, second week, we're going to be down into

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the 50s at night. So, I'm hoping that that's where we stay. So, um just wanted to bring everybody up to speed. I don't know if anybody has any questions. >> Yeah, I had a question. Um I've been emailing back and forth with Art because

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he's in charge of the Buildings and Grounds. And so, just for clarification and financial purposes, does the air conditioning run during the summer? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we're running it fully. Okay. >> I wouldn't say fully. It's it's running.

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It may not be at the temperatures that would be when there's people in in the buildings, but it is running. >> Okay. So, we're making sure that it's running up to par at Woodside as well because there was issues there. >> In all three buildings. >> Okay. >> As you can tell, we're running it here, too. So, yes.

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>> Okay, great. Thanks. >> Anyone else? Okay, so thank you very much and have a great rest of the summer. >> Thank you. Well, that was a good report. Um the um we're going to now move on to a public hearing portion

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of this um, meeting with regard to Mrs. Signori's contract. Um, with regard to this public public hearing, uh, there's public comment opportunity, but only on the public hearing item. Um,

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the same rules as I mentioned earlier with agenda items. Um, is there anybody wants to make a comment? Okay. I that's I I my comment is going to be that, um, with regard to the contract, it's the

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same, just adding a year, which, uh, to me signals Mrs. Signori's commitment to our district, um, which we are all, I know I am, and I know we I think we all are very thankful for. So, thank you very much for

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agreeing to to add that extra year. >> Thanks. >> Appreciate it. Okay. Um, anything else? Anybody? Nope. Okay. Oh, I was supposed to officially open and close it to public comments 9:45 at 9:45.

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Okay. Um, now I'm going to move on to general resolutions, uh, G1 through G9. Uh, may I have a motion, please? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Discussion? >> I know, um, we had spoken a little bit

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about, uh, the student use of internet-enabled devices. I just wanted to ask publicly, um, so that our our parents know, what is changing, if anything. >> No, that's a great question. I wanted to

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discuss that this morning. So, the policy is, um, covering any device, a personal student device, that can be connected to the internet. So, cell phones, smart watches, meta glasses, and whatever else they come up with. Um

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there's not a lot changing, if anything, on our end as far as practice goes. So, we've always had the rule that when you come into the building and you have you have a cell phone, you turn it off, it either goes in your book bag or it goes in your locker, if you have a locker,

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and it does not get turned on until you leave school. That is going to essentially be the same practice. We are not purchasing Um there are some districts that are purchasing pouches that kids have to put their cell phones in and there are um

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there's actually technology out there that students have to scan in on their personal phone and then it blocks their phone from being used. We're not doing that. Our practice is pretty much staying the same. We are very fortunate that we actually don't have a lot of issues with this.

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Um we do have maybe a couple of kids a year that will take their phone out and use it and then there's always been consequences for that. The difference I would say now is that it is backed by law, not just our practice that we say you can't do this.

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So, it is backed by law and the law does state that there needs to be clear consequences that are outlined um in your student code of conduct that should a student take their cell phone out or their smart watch or whatever the device is.

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And so, the principals, one of the things they've been doing this summer is updating the student code of conduct of what would occur if you have your first offense, second offense, so forth and so on. In addition to that, uh we are notifying our families and there'll be several ways we do that, whether that's

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including the school level will notify, whether it's putting it into our forms that when the parents sign on to Genesis to get their students' placement, they have to sign a bunch of forms, it could be in there as well. We're still having those discussions. Um so there will be plenty of

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notifications so parents do realize that um they really have to make sure their internet-enabled devices are off and away and not being used during lunch or the hallways. And there's some other nuances too that um

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speaks to about like field trips, um certain exceptions as to when they might be able to use that. It speaks to extracurricular activities. So all of those details will be in our policy and outline for parents. So. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome.

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>> Okay. Um thanks. Anything else? Okay, roll call vote, please. >> Certainly. Mrs. Austin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Leffler? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Asore? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pinteralli? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Berkowitz? >> Yes.

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>> Mr. Rossini? >> Yes. >> Okay, moving on to business resolutions B1 through B18. Um motion, please. >> I'll move it. >> Second, please. >> I'll second. >> Questions, discussion.

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>> I'll I'll bring the board's attention to B16. We went out for a bid on our >> I was just about to ask you about that. I was looking. >> I I saw that. We went out for a bid for the substitute services. We ended up with one

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bidder and that was our current vendor and we actually are saving money on their markup. So um we're very pleased that we're we don't have to switch our vendors and we're also saving a little bit of money. >> Yeah, I was just wondering why there's

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only one bid for that. If you know. >> Well, we did have we did have quite a few people ask for the bid spec and I believe that based on whether it's their their company and where they're located and how many substitutes they have

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uh they chose not to submit a bid. >> Okay. >> It is a little bit of a specialized service. >> Mhm. >> So, if you are not in the area, it's hard to get um a pool of

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of substitutes that are reliable. So, this happens to be a company that has been successful. >> Terrific. And I guess since we continue to work with them, they work for us. Um Anything else? >> That's it. >> Okay.

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Roll call vote, please. >> Certainly. Mrs. Pinteralli? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Laffler? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Berkowitz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Austin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Assour? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rossini? >> Yes. Uh now moving on to personnel and resolutions P1 through P25.

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Uh motion, please. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second? >> Second. >> And discussion. I'd like P1 and P2, by the way. Thank you very much. And for anybody who is not looking, that's uh Mrs. Signori's contract as

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well as Mrs. Ippolito's contract for another year. Anything else? >> Nope. >> No. Roll call vote, please. >> Certainly. Mrs. Assour? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Austin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pinteralli? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Berkowitz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Laffler?

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Rossini? >> Yes. Okay, now I'm going to move on to public comments on general items. The same rules apply as agenda items only. Um and I'm going to open it to public comments at 9:51. Okay, nobody wants to make a comment on

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general items. I'm going to close it at 9:51. Oh, sorry, it's 9:52 now. And um old business? New business? We're not going session, I understand. So, thank you very much. I hope you

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enjoyed your morning. We have a nice crowd here. I don't know if the camera catches it, but it's uh Thank you very much. I motion to adjourn. Anybody against? Okay. Thank you.