therein has been provided this is a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills at which formal action may be taken the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda roll call please Mr Baker here miss Ballard Miss Cooper Mrs D gr pre here miss gills here Mr Joyce Miss Nathans here Mrs Santoro here Mrs Ry here and Mrs fenda here okay executive session the open public meetings act authorizes a public body to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which specified topics are to be discussed under the circumstances where the public consideration of such topics will clearly endanger the public or where the personal privacy or guaranteed rights of individuals whose activities or Affairs are to be discussed would be clearly in danger of unwarranted invasions and the matters about to be presented for discussion clearly meet the circumstances test of such act the Board of Education of Somerset Hills now adjourns its public session to reconvene an executive session for the purpose of discussing the following Personnel student matters contracts negotiations and litigation can I get a motion to go into executive please miss Nathans and a second Miss Cooper thank you everybody thank you thank you so much for being here this evening I know we have a lot of special a lot of special things to take care of so I don't want to waste any time if you could all rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and if I could ask the board before they take their seats to take a seat in the audience we have a special performance before we get started with our report of the super well good evening everybody it's another great night here in Sumer suet Hills and the Arts are indeed alive and well here at Bernard's high school and in Somerset Hills School District and we have our world famous magical here uh to perform for us and uh Mr leine uh certainly has joined us and uh honestly it's it's just a treat and a pleasure to be able to open up our meeting uh with you all so I'm going to turn it over uh to you and the Gang and uh thank you so much on behalf of the board for uh coming tonight thanks for the invitation really appreciate it I want to let the students do the talking so kayy start us off all right so the first song that we were singing called it's by sartel and it's this he he over High de e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e for e e e for e we're going to ask uh the group to stay up here because we do have some proclamations and some recognitions for you tonight but I can't think of a better way uh to start uh a meeting than what just happened so uh really an inspiration so we have some recognitions for uh the group here we're going to start with your fearless leader Mr leine we have a formal uh recognition for you on behalf of the board we do um this is a resolution honoring the Mad goals director Mr Matthew leine for exemplary dedication and guiding the Mad goals to an extraordinary placement of grand Champions at the 32nd annual concert show Jazz and pop choir Invitational in March of 2024 whereas a Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and commodation to esteemed Educators who exemplify dedication care and Mastery in teaching who ignite a passion in students and who cultivate student Excellence at the highest level of performance that's you whereas Mr Matthew leine is part of Bernard's high school and serves as an inspiration to his students and staff members alike now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend Mr Matthew leine for his commitment to the BHS Coral program outstanding leadership and months of dedication and very hard work when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by you Matthew the board of education secretary is directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 24th day of April 2024 congratulations beautiful so not to be outdone we have recognitions for the madals as well um I'm going to read one of them but all of you will be receiving uh the recognition uh and the resolution will honor particular student uh for his or her contribution to the extraordinary Coral accomplishment at the 32nd annual concert show Jazz and pop choir Invitational whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and accommodation to dedicated students who perform and compete at the highest musical level with effort responsibility and a positive attitude whereas a particular student is creatively engaged in music making for Meaningful purposes see SE Merit in participating in the Arts and exemplifies grit and determination in honing their craft whereas a particular student is part of the Bernards high school and serves as an inspiration to their peers and the staff members alike now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend these students for Extraordinary accomplishments along with the entire mgal ensemble as they were named Grand Champions when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by these students and the board of education secretary is directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 24th day of April 2024 so uh if I could uh get some assistance that'd be great okay so our first uh Honore is Jonas a I'm sorry apos apostolos you go and Jonas I apologize on the name I have um two practice sessions before every board meeting on names uhy pretty well yeah but I even get it spaced out so mateline boac Neil chanth Ella damratoski Gabrielle Dina Cola Spencer Deo was not able to be with us tonight Dew sorry it's okay yes no we'll enjoy that tomorrow yeah enjoy roast me appropriately yes not you okay George Elkins all right okay Eva Fernandez Megan Fitzpatrick Kyle Garcia Alice Gonzalez Maddie Holier Julia karpinsky Monique kaala Dori Aiden Kinsey Georgia Kissle Maxwell Leni Bridget McGee merth Mitchell Julia Schmidt she's not here okay Isabelle skara Abigail Sebastian wasn't able to be with us tonight Alexis sidlowski and last Kaye Welsh congratulations to all of the magra gos and thanks so much for performing for us this evening yep you're free to go yep how are you very welcome appreciate you my pleasure thank you great night so next on our uh presentation tonight is a presentation about the about the intergenerational prom uh that is going to be taking place at Bernard's High School on on May 3rd 2024 and I'm going to welcome Miss Stephanie Lesnik and Mr Greg D jaino and Shelby Rich how are you are you good like thank the entire Board of Education and the administration for allowing us to speak here tonight uh just we're here just to basically invite everyone at the table here Administration Board of Ed um we appreciate uh Dr brochel inviting us and got Miss Dr Butler you weren't you miss Butler before uh congratulations and Mr Marco and all the Board of Education members um the prom started back give you a quick synopsis I know it's you have a long evening ahead of you quick synopsis we started this in 2008 brought it from marown high school went to the uh prom there as part of my duties as a te of students and fell in love with the entire idea of this prom I call it a prom it's a a dinner dance kind of thing and brought it here and it's been nothing but a success ever since in large part due to the students here and to the people the people that work on the outside and the people on the inside an Connor was the first person a key Club adviser that helped with this and we now have uh Dan Kaplan who is phenomenal energetic and and dare I say popular the downplay that I mean popular is not uh not the proper adjective it's it's way beyond that um and we we'd love to see everyone here tonight um if you can come we'd appreciate it we can I know none of us not everyone here is a senior citizen um but you don't have to be a senior citizen to come and join us uh we have a beautiful dinner a lot of food um we'll set you up in your own table my goal is to see at least one and there's eight people at a table at least one table of Board of Ed and administration uh Personnel at the table if we can if you can just watch the students and the senior citizens interact with each other it's just it it'll melt your heart uh it certainly has done that to my heart and um one more before I turn it over to Stephanie Lesnik who is is phenomenal the energy Stephanie has is just incredible and you'll see that come out in just a second here um we are hoping to get as many seniors as possible we have not done this for 5 years now 2019 was the last uh prom that we ran and our numbers right now are a little bit on the lower side so we're reaching out to anyone on the board here anyone in the audience if you know of any senior citizens in the community any senior citizen Bernards high school graduates or Bernie I'm sorry Bernards High School alumni or senior citizens and even if they're a little short of being senior citizen age it's that's fine it's not I know people don't like to do that and I I I got in trouble the other day inviting someone that wasn't a senior citizen but I just invited her because people who help and and offer their services and donations and Etc uh we'd love to see everyone there the people who donate the food uh pretty much can never come because they're all in the restaurant business and Friday night obviously is a very busy night so again we thank you for this opportunity and we hope to see as many of you as we can there and we thank you for your continued support you've been supportive ever since we started this and uh we we we thank you for that there's a lot that goes into it and a lot that the school does and uh we do appreciate it having said that Stephanie Lesnik before I talk before I speak I'm going to introduce Shelby Rich who is the president of the Key Club and just an amazing asset to the Key Club and to the high school so shallie I'm just gonna sorry I'm just going to talk a little bit about what we're doing as a board and as the Key Club from the student perspective we already elected our board for next year so the board from the year and the board from for next year are working together we have I think five different committees um there's a decorations committee advertising committee um entertainment committee and yeah we have about 60 volunteers so far and we these volunteers can sign up for the spe uh specific committee that they want to work with and we met as committees we made an Amazon wish list and are ordering all the stuff the decorations that we need um the theme is Hollywood red carpet so it's going to be super fun none of us have experienced this before and we've only heard good things so we're all super excited there'll be a photographer there DJ games so yeah we're super excited and hope to see some of you there for those of you who don't know me my name is Stephanie Lesnik I am a proud mom of two uh Bernards High School alumni Harrison class of 2021 and Matthew class of 202 23 I first became involved in the intergenerational prom in 2019 the last one that we were able to have for the obvious reason two of my dear friends were working with Greg as as the community co-chairs I helped pick up items from donated items from restaurants around town and donated items that were given as door prizes for the evening and then later in the evening I helped out in the kitchen because the kids serve our senior guests dinner at in the evening and it's a wonderful evening when Mr Kaplan asked if I could help again this year I couldn't say no and not just because I can't say no to that man but because this is probably of all of the many many many events that I have volunteered for this is probably one of my favorite the interaction to see the interaction between the students and our senior citizens is it's just a joy to behold as they say it is really one of the best parts of the evening um we are inviting you all to come and join us and walk the red carpet and just enjoy our evening um and if anybody in the audience or anybody on the board knows of any senior citizens living within the somerset Hill School District um please let us know please let them know we would love to have them and we can also use some volunteers so if anybody would like to volunteer please join us um I'd like to just give these to you guys it's just invitations so you've got all of everything in back and thank you so much for letting us speak this evening okay next on our agenda is uh series of reports from our student Representatives we're going to start with our friends from burners Middle School uh we have a Maya AA RAM and Isabella pagata good evening everyone I am Isabella Pata and I am an eighth grader in Bernardsville Middle School my main race that I run is a 4 100 m which is one Lop around the track and so far my best time is a minute and 8 seconds with track being a highly competitive Sports sport many events come along with that spreading events involve the 100 meter 200 meter and the 400 m distance events include the 800 M and the 1600 M while field events include shoa and long jump chalk and field in the middle school is one of the most popular sports with more than 80 participants in grades 5 through 8 we have had two meets so far one which we hosted three teams at our high school track and another away meet taking place at Bridgewater Middle School although track may just seem like running is so much more than that track meets are a fun way to hang out with friends and socialize while competing against other schools cheering on teammates as well as getting an extra exercise personally I enjoy track because I love love hanging out with my friends and competing in meets in the past 2 years which I have done track at the school I have felt my speed has improved so much which I am so proud of I first joined track because it would make me build up speed which is great for my main sport soccer and I get to see my friends more often as it is my last season of track with the middle school I am so grateful for my experience which came along with that and now I will turn things over to AA thank you hello everyone um my name is AA RAM and I'm in seventh grade I have been on the culture and climate team for the past two years culture and climate is a group of sixth seventh and eighth graders that helps plan spirit days and events to Bright and students days these events encourage school spirit and help students get excited about BMS in the past year we have planned single day events like pie day and spaghetti day both of which were big hits among students we meet every few weeks to discuss the climate of the school and what we can do to improve it our group is led by Dr rudo and miss pascarelli a couple of months ago culture and climate wanted to have a single day event National librarian day which is on April 16th however I thought that we could make that event even bigger and make it span a whole week after reading multiple articles with ideas and suggestions on how to have a successful book themed week at school I selected the events that I thought would be the most popular among students this included a library scavenger hunt posters in the cafeteria that had play onword slogans from books relating to food time and literacy class to write book reviews which would be displayed for all of BMS on a bulletin board a book character dress up day and a school themed graphic novel cover design contest additionally Miss pascarelli had a banner made for Miss gash thanking her for all of the Stellar contributions she makes to the BMS Library we celebrated this two weeks ago and I can say with confidence that these activities helped encourage reading and spread the word about National librarian day which is what this week was centered around thank you for your time thank you ladies was such a great report you guys did terrific uh we have Madison fuia here um for the high school report not Madison okay Gabby all right okay we have Gabby and here's a speech thank you yeah Madison couldn't be here tonight so it's just may tonight um okay all right there we are spring Sports have taken off and burnard is so far crushing it boys lacrosse is currently undefeated and girls lacrosse has an impressive record of seven- one baseball is currently first in their division with a record of 5 and3 with one game tied and softball has a current record of 6 and three Junior Prom was last Thursday held at Basking Ridge Country Club it was a hit as always and all the hard work of the Junior class Council paid off allowing Juniors and their dates to have a memorable and fun night the senior class council is busy this week as they're hosting a trivia night tomorrow in the cafeteria students have formed groups from 5: to 8 and asked the faculty member from the school to help them out and all handed in the $10 fee at the end of the night the group that is able to get the most questions correct will get half of the admittance fee money so everyone is trying to be on their aame decision day for seniors which was previously on May 1st is now moved back to May Monday May 20th due to delays with a faf of forms don't worry though students are rather preoccupied preparing for AP testing which will run from May 6th to May 17th the school student council just put on our our first wall of wall of Honor induction since Co honoring Mitchell Collins Christine hoffbeck Le lickfeld Lisa odenweller Frank Robertson Karen uck and Captain Robert Terry all Bernards alums who have gone above and beyond in their life after Bernards peer leadership just notified the new student students who will be joining peer leaders for the 2024 to 2025 school year there is a meeting on Friday to welcome all new members and they will begin discussing activities to welcome the incoming freshmen in the late spring and early fall National Honor Society also just announced their newest junior members one of the school's favorite volunteer organizations Garden Club continues to offer great opportunities for all students to volunteer recently volunteer high school students took a bus to Bedwell and worked with Bedwell students on their front Courtyard building relationships and brightening up the around Bedwell the music department at Bernards has been working over time to bring wonderful performances together for the school in the Greater Community Bernard's band is soon to be is soon to be hosting a senior Spotlight where seniors get a chance to perform a piece of their choosing the choir Department recently put on their annual pop night performance a themed night for singers to Showcase their talent this year's theme was Disney as voted by choir students and in addition to Ensemble numbers individual students perform solos and small group performances magal the audition based choir at Bernards is an ensemble that has played a very significant role in my time at Bernards recently we attended the Roxbury Invitational a festival where choirs from all over New Jersey Pennsylvania and New York compete for rankings in various categories though it was our first year competing Bernard's magical placed first overall in the choir Ensemble category this was a major accomplishment for the group and we are so glad that we've been recognized by the board today for our accomplishments and for Mr Line's contribution thank you very much thank you for indulging me tonight as we went out of order a little bit on the agenda as far as recognitions but um I felt like it was a great kickoff with the magical um wanted to take a moment to um to highight light um two students and a group of Faculty members uh who recently uh did something um really noteworthy um really inspirational and um really impactful for uh not only the the Bernardsville Community um but you know reaches far outside of of Bernardsville and Somerset Hills uh so I am going to ask um andelora parente to come on up for a moment and Sophia parente so ladies uh what you did was uh extremely inspirational and for the benefit of uh the group here uh that's here tonight um I want to point out that you are the spear head behind St baldrick's event a charity event that um where some of your classmates about 20 or so of them uh got together and uh cut their hair off for charity and I'd never been and parents um one parent and uh if I may the day after the event um you rumors you know how those kind of happen sometimes there was a very quickly generated rumor that Miss Clark also cut her hair off because a colleague had a misguided email that everybody misunderstood so ladies just so you know I grabbed the first person I could find and Mr Marco and I went right over to miss Clark's classroom I mean I did cut off I didn't ra the razor she didn't Brave the razor but there was so much inspiration in the room that night and I personally witnessed um people that didn't intend on on coming to cut their hair and they they did it and they went went through with it and they they really felt a greater contribution not just to this high school but to Pediatric cancer uh around the world and you know that paying it forward component to all of this is something that you wish every single kid that comes through these doors um understands that concept and and I'm sure many of them do but you all had the opportunity to kind of put it on display and it was great to see uh very very inspirational and uh I'm certain you and your family U are proud of you um I know I am and you know I'm proud to say you know a that I met you and you know you're one of my kids and and that's a cool thing so we do have a resolution for the two of you um and um I'm not going to read both but I'm going to read one okay uh so resolution honoring Sophia and andelora for their extraordinary uh for their role in the extraordinary March 7th 2024 St baldr's event in honor of their friend Campbell Grace hoy whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and accommodation to students who perform selfless acts for the betterment of others whereas Sophia and andalora recruited shavy participants and Barbers solicited donations and door prizes and organized countless details with grit and determination whereas the young ladies here are part of Bernard's high school flutterflies and they serve as an inspiration to their peers and staff members alike myself included now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the Board of Education hereby commend you two for Extraordinary accomplishment in seeing the St baldricks event from concept to completion an event that more than doubled its initial goal of $10,000 by raising $4,150 in hopes of conquering Childhood Cancer when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by these two young ladies the board secretary is directed to have this resolution recommended I'm sorry reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this day the 24th day of April 2024 young ladies I wish you congratulations but I want to point out to the crowd that uh it's my understanding that you can continue to give to the St baldrick's uh Foundation right even though it's over here you can go online and and such so we're going to push that out to the community for one final push to see if we can get you to 30,000 or or whatever okay this is just awesome thank you so as in many cases the students didn't act alone uh and they had some great support and guidance from uh three of our High School faculty members that are here with us tonight and um they are no strangers to this room as they've been recognized for other things across across the school um but uh Miss hunkley if you could come on up with Miss Clark and um with Miss O'Brien come on up so we want to recognize you to uh you have um certainly the three of you have a tremendous amount of passion and dedication and drive and support for the kids that you serve and uh I see it in the hallways I see it in events like this and it certainly does not go unrecognized by the Board of Education which is why we're here tonight to honor your work uh so we have a resolution for you as well um whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor to you ladies um and commodation to esteemed Educators who exemplify dedication to their students in the classroom andb Beyond whereas these faculty members are part of the high school and serve to inspire students and to inspire staff members alike with kindness and helpfulness now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend uh these faculty members for their commitment to supporting student event organizers and helping to orchestrate a successful fundraiser which took over 6 months of planning and ultimately more than doubled its initial goal of $110,000 by raising $4,150 when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns on this day it does so in honor of your achievements the board secretaries directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 24th day of April 2024 uh you all have done beautiful work uh in this area and your passion and your energy in a lot of ways cannot be recaptured uh enough and I wish I could multiply it um you just have done beautiful work and it really does mean a lot not only to the school not only to the school district uh but to this greater area and uh please don't forget that you're welcome next year we're going to get Dr brochel too I'm going to get a r I'm get yeah you're pretty good at it yeah uh last but not least uh we have Fernando colado if you could come on up my friend so recently the school board uh many of us were able to attend a county level uh recognition of particular students um who are what uh we call unsung heroes and something really impactful happen that night uh for me as an educator and for everybody in the audience uh it comes to No Surprise um that the U staff member that honored you uh became emotional and was moved to teers when talking about um your experience at the high school when talking about how strongly they felt about where you are today in comparison to where you started in nth grade uh and um again they became emotional and you did something that um all of us were thinking like put your arm around her you know really console her and without without even thinking about it you made that adults life better and um it's important that you saying the impact that you have on us in addition to the school having an impact on you and uh you've given us quite a bit in your time here at the high school I haven't known you all that long um but I find you to be a fine young man um with a high level of character and somebody that um I'm proud of and I want to know the whole Community here to know how proud I am of you and that um you're one of ours as well uh so we have a resolution for you as well this has been a big month for you uh so uh the board too is recognizing uh your positive attitude uh your strong leadership skills and a quiet resilience um that really can't be matched and it was recently recognized and celebrated at the 20124 School Board Association Somerset County unsung hero award ceremony whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and commodation to dedicated students who exhibit exceptional character trace and good citizenship whereas Fernando colado is engaged in creating a safe and inclusive climate that supports and inspires and uplifts those around him adults included and that makes Bernard's High School a better place now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the Board of Education hereby commend Fernando colado for your strong character your upbeat attitude your consistent leadership skills and a quiet resilience in the face of personal challenge when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns on this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by Fernando colado and the board secretary is directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 24th day of April 2024 Fernando on behalf of the board I wish you congratulations okay um moving along here Somerset Hills Education Foundation has been hard at work um for I understand they have also added uh an additional member uh to the board there uh which would be a familiar face um to this group uh Kathy Tober is uh a new trustee with chef and they have announced a the 2024 digital campaign there are uh some planned events that are going to be taking place um through uh the remainder of the calendar year and we are certainly um excited to support them and to support um uh Miss Christie and all of Chef uh so um some information will be forthcoming to all of our homes and uh through um our normal communication challenges uh as they support um or a host of areas is inside of the school district again we've had the magar goals that have been covered in the press and certainly um recognized tonight um at Great length and that was some big news that came from um came from the magder goals this month um in March we had a budget Retreat and it's my understanding that there was the first uh first budget retreat in a long time for the public and for the board uh we spent about uh four hours on a Saturday together and went through a host of different areas uh in our budget in order to um Avail that information to the board and to the public regarding all of the different nuances of our budget um what that process looks like how does it all kind of come together uh we then dovetailed that into a tenative budget um presentation at our March meeting and tonight um mere moments we will have a uh formal budget uh presentation and um hearing uh for the public uh so we did um we got a lot out of that um as well it was read Across America week recently at um Bedwell um in 2024 or actually in in March we celebrated um read Across America and we had musical performances and guest speakers uh at Bedwell uh throughout the week students participated in drop everything in read time and we had um host of our K2 families were treated to a special musical performance uh students were able to sing popular songs uh with a Twist uh we hosted a pajama day uh I did not participate in that per se but we did host one it was very popular with the kids um and all in the focusing in the joy of literacy and in the joy of uh promoting um literacy with um with and for all of our students we have another update from uh as we did last month from our digital art classes and uh we have some examples there uh that have been taking place in Amy Newman's digital art classes and uh the work that they're that they are uh executing has just been just inspiring it is uh that time of year where we are recruiting for staff for the next school year so we've been out uh hitting the road I've been with um our human resources specialist miss mean at different job fairs different recruiting fairs uh I would remind uh folks that knows anybody that may be interested in different um positions in the field of Education to check our website uh for the most accurate and upto-date vacancies uh you'll see on the slide here we do have a longterm replacement for a physical education teacher at the high school a school counselor and a music teacher at the middle school and an academic support teacher and a special education teacher um in the area of U Elementary at Bedwell uh among others so check our website uh recently we had our high school musician uh take a trip down to Disney and um Mr tasler uh has brought 44 talented musicians um from you know our concert band and our Orchestra at the high school to Walt Disney World and that was uh it really was great to see um they were um able to get feedback and honest assessments from judges that spanned the areas of sound quality technical accuracy General musicality management of interest of instruments and Stage presence the final category um they earned a perfect score for both both ensembles in the area of stage presence which is a very big deal um they received positive recognition but um in in talking with the teacher they really were ignited by the overall critique from the judges in order to continue to hone their craft so a very successful trip uh down to Disney and uh got a lot of great feedback uh about that we honored uh Fernando tonight as the unsung hero award and uh that was covered um in the uh Bernville news uh as well and also such a great night uh so we have um we have a did you hear um slide here did you hear that our um stem team at Bernard's High School uh took first place out of 16 teams on April 16th at a stem event at pasak Valley High School uh they were challenged to design and build a wind turbine that yielded the most revolutions per minute while attempting to maintain a fixed position in a tub of water uh prior to that they were entertained with a keynote address uh from an engineer who is on the front front lines of developing a wind farm 40 m out uh in the ocean uh so it was a very productive day for them um from an application perspective and also learning um in the field as well uh did you know that burners middle school has 137 Fifth through eth graders participating in Spring Sports and that is currently 133 of the Middle School's population um interestingly that we had a member from the track and field team present tonight uh that is a significant number of students um on those teams and it really is great to see so many students uh that wish to participate and lastly did you see um we had a great collaboration between the high school Garden Club and our friends down at Bedwell as they Revitalize the Bedwell butterfly garden and for those of you that that can't see the power point I just want to point out that the butterfly is moving and that was a big success in the office when we were putting this together so very happy about that um we're going to go into the uh our budget Retreat uh as well uh I'm sorry we're going to go into our formal budget presentation as well um in the in the spirit of numbers uh this is actually our second meeting in a row um for those of you that may not be aware that the dat is actually a palindrome um so that means that the number reads the same forwards and backwards so last week or last month it was 313 and today it's 4242 24 so um just a small nugget of information for our budget appetite yeah so we're going to make a transition into the budget here uh again um this is our third uh crack at public presentations regarding uh what we have put together for a budget for next year uh this is uh probably the highest level of um the presentation so we started off with um you know a deep robust um kickoff in March um early March followed by a tenative hearing um in the middle of March and then a final hearing today so our role here really is to be able to balance fiscal responsibility with enhancing our educational programs uh you can't have that balance get out of whack um f so it's got to be level uh and and that's that's the spirit in which we make decisions administratively and that's the spirit in which we deliver a budget uh to the board and ultimately to the community to be able to understand that we have to have a balance between the taxpayers and the needs of the district uh and so that consistently remains um remains a goal there uh from a priority perspective uh we had um a desire to increase opportunities for our students uh specifically we wanted to maintain what our class sizes uh currently are uh we wanted to introduce bilingual programming at Bedwell we wanted to introduce language and learning disabilities programming uh at Bedwell as well and we wanted to support and grow our advanced placement uh course offerings uh secondarily we wanted to enhance what we currently had uh by providing uh new opportunities for kids in athletics uh new opportunities for kids and extracurricular opportunities uh supporting professional development and supporting um our curricular responsibilities as well uh and our third priority was in the area of in infrastructure and operations uh we wanted to address uh transportation of hazardous roots in and around Bernardsville to the extent that we we could and we've done that through this budget uh we wanted to enhance technology Communications and security as well uh and we've been able to uh do that uh we're projecting 1,628 students uh spread uh throughout the district and from a curriculum perspective uh we have a uh budget here that's an increase of 60,500 $50 and um it supports a host of areas uh it supports areas in math and science uh for I ready programming updating our materials and online resources in physics AP Physics AP Calculus BC Algebra 2 uh still in the area of math uh it enhances our teacher contracted Training Services our summer curriculum writing and a um continued diagnostic um software in the area of math uh it also supports a bilingual program at Bedwell uh so that would be teacher training that would be teacher salaries that would be summer curriculum uh that would also be a supportive Ela program classroom libraries and Spanish screening exams as well in the area of English and language arts uh we have uh money budgeted for summer curriculum right writing uh curriculum development teacher training and contracted Services uh the Visual and Performing Arts has a restructured art program at the high school that streamlines um our current photography and offerings and introduces Digital Arts as um another Pathway to getting into our APR programming as well social studies and World languages has AP um course offerings in macroeconomics microeconomics AP psychology Spanish 5 and we have new texts for um two existing AP courses that reflect recent College Board course changes and we also have the introduction of advanced placement Human Geography for students at the high school as well um we're looking at um additional AP textbooks and psychology textbooks uh curriculum writing in the area of math and language arts just as a point of a reminder the Department of Education is is working in concert with the State Board of Education who have codified new learning standards for language arts and math uh so we're budgeting uh for those those courses to be um uh for their curriculum to meet the uh standard set forth by the state board um we have money allocated to uh in the area of Bedwell related arts that's linked to our strategic plan plan uh as well continuing in curriculum uh there's continued um budgetary allocations for I ready um we are also um doing as much in our bilingual programming training as well so we're ready to go there um so uh ultimately we have um prepared a curriculum budget that meets and exceeds what my what my expectations would be for for um for us to meet the state standards in um in math and language arts uh particularly because those areas have been revised recently um as well as continuing to enhance um our special education bilingual and advanced programming um departments as well student services um we have a a budget here and as you can see um budget total is U 7,877 473 uh it's a modest increase of $182,000 um we have professional development in the area of curriculum uh for a language and learning disabilities program uh we have money allocated for translation services uh we have money allocated for care soless and for those that are not aware care soless is a service that the district funds in order for families of children that attend our schools um IT allocates services for children who attend our schools IT allocates services for staff members who work in our schools and staff members families uh to secure mental health uh supports uh when needed um it is something that um is is important to me to be able to provide that to the district and that's that's um spoken for in the budget uh we have software um that's in our budget that uh focuses on on on IEP software and 504 software uh we also have testing kits uh for the child study team as well uh we have related Services that's budgeted for our behaviorist assisted technology uh onetoone nursing medical evaluations neurological evaluations and psychiatric evaluations uh we have money allocated to execute our random drug testing policy work um our bilingual evaluations and um home instruction um as well uh in the area of um personnel and program advancements the spending plan does include an additional teaching position at Bedwell for a special education program it's a language and learning disabilities program um at Bedwell it's new uh that will fund one teacher and two par Professionals for the room we will also have a bilingual program uh for our K to1 Learners there uh an academic support math teacher there that's full-time an additional section in kindergarten is in the budget uh from an extracurricular perspective we have wrestling um coaching stiens in the budget at the Middle School uh and we have a coaching stip in for high school girls volleyball and we have have four permanent substitutes allocated for the high school a special law enforcement officer contract uh with Burnsville Police Department that ensures that there is um uniformity across the district so each school will be uh supported by a special law enforcement officer um we have a Web Master uh a central registar uh two additional bus drivers two additional Transportation AIDS and the retitle of a supervisor position is all spoken for in the budget as well uh in the area of facilities and operations we're going to be boosting um our cell booster uh I should say enhancing our cell booster over at Bedwell uh that area of sceni drive has pretty spotty reception and we feel it's important to be able to enhance that uh the high school uh We've budgeted for a track replacement we've budgeted for lower field enhancements uh and we've also budgeted for enhanced excuse EXC me um pack lighting uh upgrades um all of which will be supported through capital reserve so this budget was able to uh deliver on particular priorities which um we set out uh to do from the beginning uh we wanted to be able to ensure class sizes for our kindergarten our youngest Learners uh we wanted to be able to uh add additional support mechanisms academically uh in the area of math at Bedwell uh this budget has that uh we wanted to support our multilingual Learners and there's a new bilingual program at um Bedwell uh we wanted to be able to um create and deliver a new uh self-contained program at Bedwell a culum and professional development uh school security and transportation so in transportation we expect to be able to um deliver and and transport an additional 120 students that are housed within our hazardous routs uh in Bernardsville um to school so we've been able to do that inside of this budget uh we have four District goals uh those District goals are spoken to as well uh inside of this budget uh I'm going to speak a little bit about the taxpayer guide to educational spending uh that's a way to uh it's a it's a metric that the department of um of fiscal puts out through the doe uh that allows you to to take a look at where your budget lies in comparison to uh similar districts to you uh what the state does is they group uh districts uh with other um with other school districts that are of similar size to yours uh so we are grouped um in a in a K12 group uh that has between zero and 1,00 students so that is our peer group and um almost every county in the state is represented there are 19 out of 21 counties um that are represented inside of our group so it's not just a regional uh comparison it's a comparable above um you know it's a comparison um all across the state for districts of um similar size so there are ratings that get developed and I'm going to give you kind of the high level here uh they develop our ratings from our userfriendly budgets the data that I'm going to present is past data but gives you a frame of reference as to where you are budgetarily uh as an example uh there are 51 uh school districts that are in our peer group and a rating of in this case as an example a rating of 31 in a peer group of 51 means that 20 school districts spend more than you and 30 school districts spend less in a particular area that gets reported um so our budgeted cost per pupil uh we have a rating know 43 out of 51 that means that 42 spend less and eight spend more you see how that works okay um our total classroom costs we have a rating of 41 and 51 our classroom salary and benefits a rating of 41 classroom supplies and textbooks we have a rating of 38 classroom purchases purchase Services we have a rating of 18 total Support Services we have a rating of 40 our salary and benefits for Support Services we have a rating of 41 our total Administration we have a rating of 30 um our Legal Services we have a rating of 22 our Administration salary and benefits we have a rating of 41 total operations and maintenance we have a rating of 39 operations and maintenance salary and benefits we have a rating of 43 extracurricular costs 44 our teacher to student ratio and their salaries we have a rating of 33 our educational support professionals that ratio to to students and their salary is 33 and the administration to student ratio and salary is a rating of 23 um when looking at our state revenue resources we have a rating of five of 51 uh our tax Revenue resources is a rating of 35 our federal revenue sources is a rating of three our tuition Revenue sources is is a rating of 35 our fund balance resources are a rating of 51 so the story there is that um state revenue sources are low we don't receive um very much state aid in comparison to your overall budget uh federal revenue uh is very low as well that's why those are so low um few years ago when this was um when this data was from um we were in the middle of covid the Department of Education allowed you to carry a certain amount of fund balance over into your budget and we did use 4% of fund balance which happen to be uh the highest at the time of um our peer group student to teacher ratio we're 31 of 51 student to support staff ratio were 18 of 51 student to Administration ratio we are 22 of 51 and our classification rate is 35 of 51 it's classification of uh students with disabilities so the implications here taking away from the taxpayer guide for educational spending is there a high Reliance on property taxes uh due to low allocations from state and federal sources there's an above average um Co above cohort average and pupil support costs so those are classroom cost salaries benefits textbooks Professional Services uh there's lower uh administrative costs and legal costs uh with the group uh the cohort average um we're in the cohort average for operational costs and maintenance costs and we're at the cohort average of uh student to teacher and educational support ratio and we have a low student to Administration ratio um we have a few slides here including some pie charts because it is a budget presentation from um Mr Marco thank you Dr B with your approval of the tenative budget at our last meeting on March 13 subsequently it was prepared and submitted through the doe budget software um on or before the 20th of March which was my deadline following this the Somerset County business administrator and the superintendent reviewed our budget resulting in a few recommendations these adjustments were Incorporated leading to the final approval in early April by the county which allowed us um and enabled us to advertise the userfriendly budget in both the Burnsville news and The Courier News um last week in preparation for our budget hearing today um highlights of the changes that were made from last meeting um from our presentation pertain to our utilization of the bank Cap Fund did you do that or did I do that oh you did that I'm I'm I'm not ready for the pie chart um again the highlights of changes that were made uh pertains to one our utilization of the bank Cap Fund initially we had projected using 174,50 n of Bank cap however due to a projected health care cost increase in our current budget um the district generated sufficient Health Care adjustment which is allowed by the state to be applied to the 2425 budget this is good news in that we still have two additional years to use the bank cap funds providing increased flexibility for f future budget planning um and the budget resolution the last paragraph reflects that we'll be using the health care uh adjustment as opposed to the bank cap that was in our March resolution as Dr brochel explained under the facilities in operation the suggestion was made to exclude the custodial equipment from the capital reserve project as a result the adjusted capit Capital withdrawal amount stands at $1,720 th600 Additionally the final adjustment that was made to um our budget was the special Revenue fund uh it was recommended to include Student Activities scholarships and other local fund into this category which historically were not reported under fund 20 which resulted in an increase amount of 941,618 is reflected in our chart so with these three adjustments the overall Revenue shows a modest increase of 0.1% compared to the previous year now for the pie check um the changes were very minor so which did not affect the um pie chart and as Dr brochel uh mentioned that we are heavily based on our local taxes which is the 76% % of our total revenue and tuition is 11% and that is mostly from our Bedminster for the uh high school state aid is 5% capital reserve is 4% and fund balance remains at 3% and all other is 1% uh similar to the revenues the total expenses also reflect a minor uptick um the same uptick since we need a balanced budget of 0.1 1% from the previous year and same as the revenue side the expenditure pie chart also Remains the Same with salaries and benefits being the biggest piece of the pie and the special ed is 8% transportation is 4% and all other um is 12% so in summary the total tax impact Remains the Same um we are doing a 2% tax levy with a combination of 2.5 in general funds and with a decrease of um Debt Service and with the increase of um the 2.5 is the health care adjustment that we're using so we're doing a 2% tax levy with the 5% and if you add that with the decrease in The Debt Service fund which is our bonds uh you get a total tax levy to the public for 2% and that sums up the total overview of the numbers uh so the board we'll have a you'll conduct a public hearing later tonight in the agenda regarding the budget and um my report has been lengthy tonight uh we continue to work on uh the feasibility studies for uh OT field uh we are currently um surveying the community um and there's a survey out on our website uh that will close on April 30th we've been uh surveying or the survey will be open for approximately one month uh we're also working on um finalizing our communication plan uh which we'll present to the board as well uh to to implement and uh I would ask and remind all folks that they can follow um our website for news and and different happenings that taking place in the district on our website um under District news and that concludes my report Miss frienda before we close this portion I just want to hand it over to Mr gr pre for some retiree recognitions whereas Deborah Thorp has been employed from January 1996 through June 2024 as a confidential secretary business office and whereas she exemplifies expertise commitment and professionalism in her duties and now therefore be it resolve that the somerset Hill School District and of Education recognized Deborah thorp's retirement effective July 2024 and extend her congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement also whereas Steven Sans has been employed from September 1998 through June 2024 as a music teacher and whereas he exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism in his duties and now therefore be it resolved that the somerset Hill School District and Board of Education recognize Steven s's retirement effective July 2024 and extend him congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement okay thank you Dr brel for a report that was chalk full of information amazing celebrations I wouldn't be adverse to starting every board meeting with student performances and um just amazing recognitions of things that are going on in the district and we are going to move into our first public comments for actionable agenda items we very much welcome input from the Public Public comments are welcome at this time on any actionable agenda item towards the end of the meeting there is a second public forum on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes you will be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the podium to complete their statement after everyone has been heard and had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with the New Jersey state statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel public comments will be limited to 30 minutes in this session a reminder for all parties and attendance to remain respect ful and that there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt a speaker's comments thank you in advance for your input and Mr Marco sets her timer so just please be mindful of that for where you are in the three minute cycle um is there anyone that would like to make a comment on actionable agenda items no okay then can I get a motion to close public comments Mr granday Miss Soro thank you very much um we will then move into the approval of the minutes I will need a motion to approve the minutes for public input and action and executive meeting minutes for March 13th and our special meeting for the budget Retreat on March 9th can I get a motion Miss R and a second Miss Cooper any discussion okay roll call please Mr Baker yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs dgr pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes and Mrs Renda yes motion carries thank you before we move into the report the committee report for finance we are now going to open the public hearing regarding the 2425 budget um we are going I am going to need a motion to open the public hearing Miss Santoro in a second Mr Grand Pre thank you very much um and the discussion will'll start off with the board um if anybody at the board table has any questions regarding the um changes made to the budget or the budget as it was presented this evening yes M Ry i' just like to say um I it's really good that we had the budget Retreat and afterwards that we looked at some things especially in providing math help at the elementary level and it I appreciate the flexibility of both uh the finance committee and the and the people that put that budget together to add to things that sort of came in after and um I think that that's especially that math help at the elementary school is a very good addition to our budget thank you is there anybody else no okay then at this time I would like to open it to the public if any members of the public have any questions or comments on the um budget the 2425 budget now would be the time you can take the podium but it is only on matters relating to the budget at this time no okay um then I am going to need a motion to close the budget hearing Miss Ry and a second Miss Cooper okay and then we can go right into to Mr Baker we're gonna we're going to combine two reports this evening for finance and fno okay thank you yes um I'm going to give the report of the finance committee and the fno committee back to back because a lot of the items we discuss in each committee cross over what we're going to vote on it would be unfair to talk about something and vote not in the committee so I will do that this is the first time we've ever done this before but we'll give it a try um the finance committee met um on April 10th for about 45 minutes uh um we had five members in attendance along with Dr brochel and Mrs DeMarco um we talked about four items we talked about the budget update I'm not going to go through what we just presented we talked a lot about the budget update why the county made us a change a few items um which were very insignificant but I think the bank cap is probably the biggest item uh not using that but this year but saving it for the coming year and using the health care waiver um was big we also talked about in both committees about the bid opening for the track we got two bids for the track one was just over a million when was just under a million dollar so we're going to be voting tonight on fno number three to accept the bid for the lower bidder um which comes in under budget that will we budgeted for so we're saving $150 59,000 we can use someplace else um which is fantastic um we also talked about um in both in both committees that we were successful in acquiring three used school buses from the county these are bus the county no longer needs they put them up for auction we got um two 24 passenger buses one was a 2016 bus one was a 2020 and we got 154 passenger bus which is 2009 which may seem old but the county uh not the county the state changed the rule from 10 year 10 years lifespan of a bus to 20 years so we still have about five or six more years on that bus and it's got a great engine in it and we're going to use that in in a lot of our routes um the total cost for these three buses was 126,595 has been a great Transportation year so I commend our transportation department on that uh we talked about in both committees uh at Bedwell we have six classrooms in in the lower level that the HVAC the HVAC units there's two of them are have failed and it's uneconomical to replace them I mean to repair them we so we're going to replace them and there's a um an item on the agenda tonight number 11 in finance to uh pull 58,7 from maintenance reserve and make and place the order for these two HVAC systems and hopefully we'll get them uh early summer and get it finished by the opening of school so that's what we talked about in finance in EO we talked about the same things except we added in uh a section about the lower fields at the high school we've um our architect and and an engineer were giving us different information about what the true cost might be to make the information make the fields better and solve all the drainage issues and the playability issues for the baseball and heart and and softball field so uh we're going to get an engineering firm in to give us a um an actual budget number on that and there's an item on the agenda for approving tnm for $113,000 to get that done we're also going to spend $3,460 on getting the fields well we probably spent it already getting the fields fixed for this current baseball season okay we might be spending more um as we go through the spring um next item we talked about was um shared services with the burough of Bernville things like the tennis court and the fields at the polar grounds and we have a lot of other things we share there's not a lot of things in writing about who's responsible for each issue whether it's repair replace uh general maintenance who does what who does what so Dr brocher is going to work with the the bureau and go over all the shared services and try to come up with a written um plan that codifies who does what and I don't think that's going to take a while but it might be a good year right I would think um so that's on his to-do list and we'll be talking about that more in fno as we go further on um we also talked about the need for doing some rfps we we haven't done an RFP for for our architect in a long time uh we did our Law Firm know recently and we did our accounting firm a couple years ago so we need to do it for our architect and we're going to do it for the engineer because we feel that we need Engineering Services too so tomorrow they will place an ad for rfps for architect services and Engineering Services um and I think that's all we t talked about so I we turn it over back to Mrs frienda okay thank you Mr Baker um at this time I would like to ask for a motion to move action items number 1 through 14 on the agenda I'll move Mr Baker and a second Mrs Santoro okay and is there any discussion on the finance items I just Finance just Finance yes okay all right thank roll call please miss Cooper yes Mrs D gr pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs santoru yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay thank you um at this time we are actually going to have to have a brief departure from our agenda and we do have to go back into executive session briefly for the purposes of discussing Hib which is is an executive level um matter before we can go into moving the items for facilities and operations so um we indulge the public um in a maximum 30 minutes of executive session so um I would like to make I get a motion to go back into executive session okay Mr Baker and a second from Miss Nathan's okay thank you everyone and we will return as soon as possible e e e okay thank you everyone um where we left it was Mr Baker had given the report for finance which Incorporated the facilities and operations um report it so um as we come back I am going to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through three on the agenda Miss Ry and a second Mr Baker thank you and discussion on items one through three I I have a question it's not necessarily on numbers one through three but it's fno related um so a few months ago we discussed the possibility just the conceptual possibility of um revisiting the start time to accommodate um you know the bedman uh to Far Hills and Pac Gladstone students in the high school and I was wondering and I think there was some discussion of investigating um evaluating student interest in that and and parent family interest has any progress been made on that not at this time at this time okay any any any any thoughts on when that might you might might start that process okay thank you is there anybody else nope okay then Mr Marco roll call please miss Cooper yes Mrs D Grande y okay number one okay okay Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay thank you um at this time I need to request a motion for number four action item number four on the agenda can I have someone make a motion please make a motion to affirm number four okay and can I get a second Miss Ry okay and roll call please oh wait discussion is there any discussion no okay comment on this um we have a few of these on the agenda uh it was first time in this appeal process for myself I think a number of the board members just being that they are uh related to hivs I think and again I know HIV standards come down from the state perhaps it's a district we can do uh sort of an educational forum for parents and families to I don't know I keep bringing up the uh example of when we went to school we knew it A detention was right we knew what the outcome was um related to these and unrelated to these uh I personally have gotten a lot of feedback that I don't think parents and families know what an HIV means if it sticks with uh student throughout their High School career Collegiate application process Etc so perhaps that's an opportunity for us as a district to educate families parents Etc just as we go these okay thank you anybody else okay okay roll call please Mrs dgr pre Miss skills I'm sorry I'm just a bit confused the motion is to affirm the decision of the superintendent so if you want to affirm his decision you say yes and if you don't if you want to yes yeah number four yes number four we're on number four we're on number four yeah okay Mr Joyce yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Cooper yes and Mrs frienda yes motion carries okay thank you um we are going to go through the same process for number five I'm going to need a motion for number five on the agenda I'll make a motion to affirm number five okay thank you and I need a second Miss Ry and is there any discussion okay roll call please miss skills no Mr Joyce yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Cooper yes and Mrs Renda yes motion carries okay thank you and finally I am going to request a motion for number six on the agenda Mr Ry I make a motion to okay and I need a second okay thank you is there any discussion yes quickly um in the same process I spoke about earlier putting families and parents in terms of the process and how we proceed with these Something tells me growing number of hivs and the lack of Education that I mentioned probably to see more Feld processes so quicker we can educate and also just make it a seamless process for thees okay is there anybody else Miss Ry I'm a little Jo's with the caveat that some of this comes down from the state and this is something that needs to be argued know the state legisl and I think I know that they had they had off you can write letters you can write letters too you don't have to be in person okay is there anybody else no okay then roll call please Mr Joyce yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr B yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs drr pre Miss gills motion carried oh and Mrs frienda sorry yes motion carries okay thank you very much okay Miss Cooper curriculum uh the curriculum committee met Thursday April 11th for 2 hours all committee members attended and we were joined by Dr brochel and Dr Butler uh we be began the meeting with an update on the math curriculum with a focus on grades 5 through 10 Dr Butler presented datea on student achievement and curricular needs in math at at the middle school and the high school as a continuation of our discussion from last month we discussed three main topics the transition from honors math in the Middle School to honors math in the high school the double accelerated math pathway and instructional time in the middle school as we noted last month um students and honors geometry in nth grade who successfully completed honors algebra in e8th grade have historically struggled um data presented by Dr Butler confirmed this indicating a drop in achievement between grade eight algebra and grade n honors geometry with five to 10 students dropping dropping honors geometry every year internal data and njsla data presented by Dr Butler suggest that Algebra 1 curriculum at the middle school may require some adjustment to ensure alignment with the High School curriculum and to adequately prepare students for honors geometry we also may be accelerating too many students in the Middle School in the Middle School approximately half of grade eight students take Algebra 1 and by contrast in in in Bedminster only 10% of grade eight students take Algebra 1 Dr Butler made several recommendations to help narrow these gaps she emphasized the need for uh teachers to Pro to provide accurate conservative recommendations for placement and in addition to teachers recommendations she recommended that the district use a matrix based on a com on common unit assessments and of course assessments and I ready scores for placement recommendations she also recommended that the district re-evaluate and adjust course level recommendations after market marking period 3 and marking period 4 preliminary njsl a scores generally become available at the end of June other recommendations included renaming honors math courses in at the middle school to Algebra 1 and geometry ensuring that teachers in Algebra 1 and geometry in the middle school and the high school are able to meet and observe each other using common final using common final assessments for the middle school and high school math courses and calibrating with Bedminster and the middle school about what is needed to assist the transition between middle and high school math uh next we discuss the import the impact and identification of students in the double accelerated pathway students in this pathway are typically identified in grade five and are given the opportunity to self-study in the summer and test into the math 7 honors course students later transition to Al into algebra in the 7eventh grade and geometry in the eth the committee agreed that there are Equity concerns with this approach due to the need for summer study many parents pay for private classes or tutors and significant time money and parental support may be required some students Also may face concerns related to period pressure and moreover once a student is on an accelerated or double accelerated path it's difficult to decelerate Dr Butler offered several recommendations to enhance outcomes in the double accelerated pathway first she recommended re evaluating double acceleration protocols every year using multiple data points and delaying double acceleration until the high school with a few exceptions the decision decision to double accelerate students before n9th grade should be based on solid evidence of exceptional student achievement she also recommended using student stricter guidelines for identifying candidates in June for double acceleration starting in 2025 potential guidelines included a grade of 98% or higher in grade five or six Math upper level five scores in the on the njsla test above grade scores on I ready math Assessments in all domains and teacher and parent recommendations this summer or the summer of 2024 will be the last summer for grade ma five math self-study for double acceleration these recommendations will be presented at a parents meeting during the principal's coffee hour and letters to parents Dr Butler also recommended updating the high school criteria and procedures for student acceleration through summer study running a local geometry class taught by a a a high school teacher during the summer and providing additional support for doubling up in math in the high school the final topic we discussed in regarding math um which we mentioned we also mentioned last month was the concern that math instructional time in the Middle School appears to be insufficient related compared to other districts uh Middle School uh BM middle school students receive less instructional time compared to neighboring districts for example um Bedminster students receive 80 minutes of instruction in grade five and six and 60 minutes in grade seven and e in math and in contrast a middle school students receive 43 minutes of continuous instru math instruction regardless of grade given this disparity Dr Butler recommended that the district adjusts the the Middle School master schedule to allow 60 minutes of continuous instructional time in math in grades 5 through eight with the same teacher increasing math time in the middle school is an is an important priority for the committee next we discussed the use of the coats nagar General ability test in Bedwell historically Bedwell has used coats as a as a tool to identify students for participating in its opt three gifted and talented program however this tool has shown some bias favoring English-speaking students in response the Min Administration has been in investigating non-verbal assessments that use minimal language and written directions that do not rely on a child's reading writing or language skills the Nary non-verbal ability test was recommended by bedwell's gifted and talented teacher it is the gold standard assessment for unbiased scoring and provides a more Equitable method of assessing diverse populations for gifted programs um last month uh Doc miss Galo attended curricul our curriculum committee to uh describe the capturing kids Hearts program this month Dr Butler reviewed the specifics of the program and a proposal for its use at at the middle school this summer uh 50 staff members at at the middle school will in attend two consecutive days of training and have access to the course training ma manual in the the fall staff from capturing kids Hearts will conduct a two-day implementation visit which will be customized to meet our needs um but will include a one-day instructional session for up to 30 participants capturing kids heart staff will also visit in the spring of 2025 for another campus traction visit involving group and one-on-one sessions the middle school will also have uh access to campus specific subscriptions for comprehensive ongoing support in the 2425 school year um and together the cost of training and our participation in this program is approximately 49,000 Dr brochel then reviewed the qualtrix program with the committee qualtrix is a software program that allows schools to collect student uh faculty and staff feedback and and and uh Community feedback as well through surveys online reviews and social media it can also be used to help schools measure satisfaction levels and identify areas of concern with the goal of enhancing the educational experience and tailoring educational offerings to meet the needs of students this district will be using this web-based software moving forward uh we then discussed field trips and professional development and school business requests the um committee had several questions regarding PD related to qual tricks three administrators including the superintendent uh ba and director of student services have requested to attend the three-day qual TR conference the district will be covering travel related expenses but the cost of conference admission is free to the district we will vote on these PG requests tonight next uh we discuss the feasibility of instruction in American Sign Language or ASL at the high school in response to interest expressed by board members and students according to Mr Catelli and Dr Butler there has not been enough student interest to fill a complete program currently students who have studied ASL have not stayed with the program as long as they intended because of the difficulty of learning ASL virtually reality is that finding certified and appropriate World language teachers is difficult and when starting a new language that may not run full-time finding a full part-time ASL teacher will be nearly impossible according to Dr Butler other districts that have tried to launch ASL programs have not been able to staff IT staff them unfortunately according to the administration the only way to fill an ASL position is to have a virtual teacher and that may not be as effective or feasible in the context of state requirements do finally Dr Butler mentioned a field trip involving a visit to Brick schools to see the culmination of a multi-year effort to rewrite the fifth grade curriculum to focus on local history and Civic engagement and collaboration with local organizations hopefully the administration will share an update of on this trip in the future and that concludes my report hey thank you Miss Cooper can I get a motion to approve action items number one through 10 on the agenda Miss Nathan's in a second I'll second okay Mr Cooper and discussion actually yeah I just wanted to say thank you for your work especially the M section is very anxious to work with everybody um we have a very large parent group um who is very concerned that we're not adequately preparing our children um and we want to make sure that we are doing all that we can so Dr Butler knows all this so they're this is very welcome I'll be very happy to share some of this information at our Bedminster board meeting tomorrow night because it's been a very very big concern especially for kids who double up on math I've had two that have to do that and it's pretty miserable um so having additional MTH support is is all really wonderful news so thank you very much for your hard work to working through this with admin know they were all the same kids I agree absolutely all the same kids so thank you anybody else um I want to touch on American sign language for a moment and kind of the discussion that that led to with regards to World languages you know I think it was a good and for for yeah Mr Baker um I have a question about the gift of and talented I'm I'm uh just it's more informational like what what age group are we giving these test to I try to imagine what a nonverbal testing is with no writing third grade early in third grade we may third grade we may shift it to late second grade but generally it's early third grade so are they doing it like on a screen or do they give a or do they have a or they have a book they look at or they have they have paper right so so they look at the paper and they have to solve a problem okay but but there's no English on it there there's very little okay it's language it's all pictures and symbols okay just just want to know because I never very well I know I hope I would I hope I would but no it's just that you know I've never really thought about it it's like when I read that it's like oh right you know that's that's that's pretty cool we've been concerned about for a while research and and the program that we're moving toward um is really as standard just eliminating bias so how many how many students normally normally qualify for gifted inment is it a small number like five or it's more than that okay okay thank you in the spring time jary they'll present their work okay heard it okay um I just wanted to uh re reiterate something that U Miss santor said and expand upon it a little bit regarding um her comments on ASL and um specifically um regarding children with language processing issues um I just would have like to even you know take that specific issue and just do a little investigating to make sure and to see how we're supporting our kids who you know being that world language is all language based just H what type of supports we have in place for kids that um struggle in these areas and I imagine those things are multiplied for students in the world language realm um so I thought that that that kind of illuminated an important Point um and additionally you know also I think World Language I know that it's one of the areas that since the pandemic is a huge struggle in Staffing not just ASL just across the board um I think that we are phenomenally lucky that apparently we had two amazing candidates I believe we we were very lucky for the bilingual program and we really um that will come up in Personnel but um it is a challenge and so I do think that you know at this time given that that is a challenge that is likely going to you know we're going to see for at least a bit of time looking at our world language program say as it exists and what tweaks we can make just to make the program as successful as possible within potential limitations that you know we're we're challenged with so I just wanted to reer that is there anybody else I have a few questions for topic two um so we're eliminating the double accelerated s okay I'm sorry I misunderstood that um I had another question so wait because then it says here delay double acceleration until high school so with the few exceptions are those children who meet the new criteria but won't they face the same problem for those children I know it won't be a a summer self study but won't those children still be facing the same issues those who can have tutors with those who cannot afford tutors but more likely than not they're getting tutoring during the school year to help them I mean that's not a shocker um so lots of data point I think the the concern that we were talking about from a tutoring perspective is for at this time to qualify into that double accelerated program the process requires students to study over the summer and often times those parents are utilizing a tutor and that is not an equitable opportunity for everyone but even throughout the whole school year my kids have to be tutored it's not fair for other kids who don't have that I don't have that opportunity growing up um so I just I'm just confused about how do you make it Equitable without eliminating things or lowering standards can you hear uh we provide math Labs so that students can um work with teachers so that they don't have to go to tutoring after school or pay for it I mean there's things like that available as well okay thank you I think that was it all right thank you is there anybody else okay then roll call please Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs de grume yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce and Mrs frienda yes motion carries okay thank you Mr gr Fray Personnel please so the policy and Personnel committee met on April 8th for just over two hours all members were in attendance in regards to Personnel um we reviewed the U job description for the regist which was discussed in the budget hearing this evening and um the title of which is also on the um agenda for approval tonight and we reviewed the pending agenda items in regards to Personnel thank you um I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through 18 on the agenda please I'll make the motion Mr gr pray in a second Miss Ry and discussion yeah um I don't know if I missed it Kristen because I was look reading something else did we mention policy 0164 this is Personnel oh duh okay sorry anyone else no okay roll call please Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D gr pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathan yes and Mrs frienda yes motion carries okay Mr gr pre policy please yes so in regards to policy um we started the meeting off by discussing um bylaw 0164 which was a topic topic of discussion in our last board meeting um where I had asked all board members to please provide feedback prior to our committee meeting um this then ensued a long discussion within committee um the drafted changes had been sent to the committee prior to the meeting for review and subsequently have also been sent to the board with the track changes for everybody to review they were drafted in the most restrictive process of the recommendations um there were concerns that were raised about the timing of the overall policy change it's a policy that's been suspended for well over a year and best practice advises that we do not leave it suspended for too long um there were also concerns raised about our the recommendations to change the supplementary matters title to board announcements and restricting where board members may be able to speak on certain topics board members have the opportunity for unlimited speech in each committee based discussion and the vast majority of all of our board business should fit into one board committee category there were discussions on the time limit that was proposed for the board announcement section which was 10 minutes with a motion to extend if possible as we discussed in committee this was the most restrictive part of the changes that we did make um in terms of them being proposed not all Who provided feedback had recommended a time limit this is up for discussion with the full board so please we hope you've considered how you feel about this and we'll have an active discussion about it this evening um next steps for this polic or bylaw will be for us to discuss it here in public with the full board um on the current changes that are proposed and then for it to continue to be worked on in committee until we have a cons a consensus on our changes we will then ask for um assurance that we are legally okay with the changes that we are looking to make before drafting it and placing it in first reading when appropriate there's not a defined timeline for when we choose to get this to First reading but we would like this policy to be clear and agreeable to the whole board um we also went on to have a discussion about the booster club policy the booster club policy changes um have continued to uncover various implementation change challenges that are being addressed regarding conditioning and strengthening positions of coaches and other things that have been previously supported by booster clubs and not always board approved Personnel wise the lead new leadership in the booster clubs are working with Dr B to find a path forward that can be beneficial to all students and all sports um additional discussions have occurred surrounding logo use and snap options with booster clubs versus student initiation for SNAP ra and solutions continue to be worked on for all aspects of the booster club while adhering to our revised policies we also discussed the policies that were previously in first reading and now are in second reading um they were all moved without any um additional input from the board or the public at that time um and pending items for next month will be that we are going to be revisiting the um substance AB substance abuse policy um and beginning to work on those potential changes as well okay thank you um at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to move action item number one on the agenda I'll make the motion Mr gr pre in a second Miss Nathan thank you dis discussion statement a statement um first of all thank you because I know we're going to keep discussing this um proposition to move back to where supplemental used to be back in January or February of 23 um I not surprisingly opposed the proposal to dramatically revise the board's agenda by eliminating the supplemental section senior ranking board member Robert Baker recently acknowledged supplemental as an integral part of our meetings throughout his 7 year tenure highlighting its importance to the board's operational framework so what are the true intentions behind such a radical overhaul and why now I think I can answer both I have been a member of the board's policy committee since I was first elected the seed for this contentious proposal was planned in January or February of 23 shortly after Sam assumed the presidency for her first term she proposed repositioning the supplemental segment of our agenda to follow public comments framing it as an experiment to give board members the last word so to speak at meetings and I do not mean that derogatorily the intent behind this trial period which was supposed to end again A year later was to determine where to position supplemental within the agenda now it concludes with a proposition to scrap supplemental entirely in favor of an untested and unproven board announcements a concept that is both nebulous and possibly constrained by severe time restrictions on board member speech why where is the ground swell of demand in the district to hear less from its elected officials in the last year plus a policy committee meetings there has not been any further discussion on the timing of supplemental or whether to remove it given the board's poor record of meeting management this year as we struggle to deal effectively with handling racial issues and ethical violations by one of our members certain members of the policy policy committee myself included question the timing of this proposal in January because of a misguided suggestion by attorney Weiss my comments reporting serious and well documented ethical violations against board leadership were wrongly confined to the Tim limited public portion of the meeting rather than the supplemental or the policy committee report in February I attempted to revisit my comments during supplemental allowing for a more comprehensive pres presentation yet my remarks were abely cut short by an improper motion to adjourn from Mr Baker sanctioned by President arenda while I was actively speaking a direct and still unexplained violation of Robert's Rules let's be clear Robert's Rules prohibits a member from monitoring I'm sorry from motioning to adjourn the meeting when the speaker has the floor there is no except exemption or exception to that rule and none has been cited or offered to defend that elal motion what the public saw was a man going well beyond long established procedural Norms to cut off his Hispanic female colleague about to address our shared constituency about race my perception as a minority is not for my colleagues to question belittle or challenge and especially not chastise me Sam compounded this oversight in March when she initiated a vote to decide whether I should even be allowed to complete my previously wronged interrupted remarks yet another procedural error I have been told to stop playing the race card and in reading about the meeting the following day or I'm sorry the following week I saw for the first time that I quote un quote identify as Hispanic let me take apart both of those highly racially and sensitive comments and explain how exceptionally harmful those comments are the term playing the race car implies that individuals are using their racial ident identity as a tool for personal gain or Advantage the insinuation not only trivializes the experiences of racism and discrimination faced by marginalized groups but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes that portray people of color as manipulative or deceitful by suggesting that raising issues of race or ethnicity or transgenderism are PLO rather than legitimate concerns this phrase dismisses the systemic inequalities and injustices that continue to oppress all minority communities it invalidates the struggles and experiences of individuals who confront discrimination daily perpetuating a culture of disbelief and dismissiveness as the leaders entrusted with the well-being of our community it is imperative that we reject such language and instead strive to acknowledge and address the systemic racism and inequalities that persist within our society moreover imagine the chilling effect on students when they witness the board president submiss racial complaints that and I'm sorry not just you others this not only undermines the trust between the board and the community but also discourages the students from speaking up about instances of racism or discrimination they face when children fear that their concerns about racial Injustice will be dismissed or minimized it creates an environment where such issues are swept under the rug rather than addressed appropriately similarly referring to someone as identifying quote unquote as his Hispanic or any other ethnic identity is racially offensive because it reduces their complex identity to a mere label or category with language that implies that one's racial or ethnic background or gender is a matter of choice or preference rather than an intrinsic aspect of their true self it disregards the historical and cultural significance of racial and ethnic ident identities perpetuating the notion that they are interchangeable or superficial what proof must I provide my parents immigration papers how about my grandfather's prison record Castro jailed him for years because he spoke out in the face of violent repression given this brief family history information I just shared should make it obvious I will not be silenced by these transparent attempts to limit speech because it upsets my colleagues Sensi sensitivities about racism in our district and our community nor will I have my proud Heritage publicly questioned by another once venerable local institution we must reject language that diminishes or erases the significance of racial gender and ethnic identities and instead promote understanding empathy and respect for the diversity of our community you are sorrily mistaken if you believe what we say and do here has no effect within the schools once it was published that I quote unquote identify as Hispanic one of my children was confronted by a classmate quote so I hear you're a fake Hispanic end quote make no mistake the intent of this motion is nothing more than to institutionalize the racially and ethic ethnically insensitive behavior that has marked the meetings this year to silence voices of dissent especially on I'm skeptical but hopeful that the committee will offer a more detailed rationale and justification for such significant alterations reaffirming our dedication to transparency adherence to procedural norms and the high standard of governance our stakeholders rightfully expect they cannot do so then they must justify why we are spending precious board time and resources to fix something that isn't broken and has worked well for decades I appreciate again that my board colleagues will continue to discuss this topic and hopefully reach an agreement that does not work to stifle our right to speak and serves our meetings well thank you okay thank you for that statement um first I am just going to address a few things I did not make any changes or suggest any changes to this policy back in January 2023 as the board president I put forth a collective motion on behalf of this board who wanted to make that change you keep singling me out in these situations I was acting in my role as board president I'm putting forth a motion on behalf of the board can I interject for one second e don't understand the role of the board president or you're doing it on purpose that's first of all but I'm going to continue my statement you have now brought race and identity into play here when I asserted being a minority as a Jewish female in this community you responded by saying I didn't know you consider yourself a minority and if you consider yourself a minority okay then someone actually got up at the podium and told me I wasn't a minority so while you sit here admonishing the board for perceived persecution overtly you yourself addressed me as considering myself a minority and I realized that clearly there are people in this community that don't agree with that but 2% of the world population 2.3% of New of the United States population 6.6% of uh New Jersey population and 1.5% of Bernardsville population unequivocally and numerically makes me a minority religiously there is great debate over ethnic minority status as far as Jewish peoples are concerned so I take tremendous omage with that assertion given what transpired in the course of this last meeting again that Focus coming in this direction especially given that context is extraordinarily insulting and I'm going to go so far as to say not just to me but to the majority of this board the insinuations that you're making about us and our perceptions about you and the fact that we can't have simple disagreements on on statements that you make we are allowed to disagree with you and it doesn't have to be based on anything other than the content of what you're saying the this is now multiple months of you asserting that we're disagreeing with you and responding to lengthy statements or assertions that you're making and that we're doing it on the basis of ethnicity and race those are very very lofty assertions to make and there is nothing to substantiate them I the you're you're making eyes what has any member of this board done to infer that there is any type of racial or ethnic discrimination you I'm gonna I'm going to finish but it it they're repeated assertions but again I just raised the context of how I was treated in asserting my minority status so I I I actually I I kind of can't believe and I'm I'm more than happy to give you the history of my family and their fleeing of the Holocaust and what they faced here if we want to start giving personal dialogues of our experiences and the way we've been marginalized I'm sure everybody has seen the news I'd be happy to give you my children's experiences here in this District over many years and the anti-Semitism that has been directed at them so yeah I take tremendous issue with that line of speak I will end it there to allow other people to weigh in um as you and I have already had an opportunity to speak I don't know if at this time there is anybody else that Mr Baker I'm going to address one item what you started your talk on it's about saying that I said and I did say but you misinterpreted it um supplementary matters has always been used for board announcements we're just changing the name of what it is it is not for talking about non-board business it doesn't affect the board and that's why the word never be became a problem and told us last year saying what goes in that topic the entire board meeting is for board business that's all I'm going to say um so when I actually started on being the Bedminster representative and you guys said supplementary matters it was occasionally somebody would kind of use it for a speech and I remember thinking all right this is kind of weird because it's not something we do at Bedminster and I've sat on and participated in multiple nonprofit Board of Education nonprofit board meetings I've never seen anything as supplementary matters again I kind of Let It Go when the meeting started getting very odd this past year I did talk to Gwen Thorton and she said it's not a best practice to have it it people have it um and they've been moving away from it because it it disrupts your meeting and it's it's you're supposed to talk about the the items that you need to talk about throughout the board throughout the meeting not at these at the end part so that for me I'm in full favor of getting rid of it relabeling it because it doesn't it doesn't make sense to me and it never has so that's all I wanted to say is there anybody else I'll just say I had a short period of time in I guess actually probably my first year in the old way now we have the new way um Kristen I appreciate you dra in this I understand it's a work in progress right so this is an open discussion we should definitely have more in the policy committee um guess Bob Optics weren't great right call Spade is Spade so I can understand why Sylvia might have that reaction because the week the month after she was cut off very publicly um we're now changing policy on how the board is run um obviously open to dialogue uh and whatever we come up with as a board we should all understand when we have uh unlimited time for the floor and um For What and um yeah I'll reserve the rest my comments but um Christ thanks for putting your time on this I just want to make um a couple of comments on this so one I want to reiterate when Bob moved to close the motion and I said this last month Sylvia had made a statement that she was going to reread what she had already stated in previous months so I just want to again make sure that it is clear that you were never silenced you stated you were going to reread I'll move off of that because we already talked about we dissected all of this last month as far as the supplementary matters nobody is looking to silence anybody it was always meant to be a short blip we attended the unsung heroes um award and it was a wonderful event maybe next year everybody could join that type of thing because board business if we we are doing our work as board members should be discussed in committee dialogue and it should be presented to chairs to be put on an agenda at which point it will then become a committee discussion at which point it will then be reported out in public and you can say anything you want and take as much time as you need supplementary matters is not meant for us to have our opinions and to um if it's board related you can find a way to discuss it at the board table in a committee discussion so there's no intent to take the opportunity for board members to speak openly away um supplementary matters I remember a my first year on the board it was a June meeting supplementary matters opened and we had a board member Drop a something that was really not wonderful it was an appropriate for the dialogue and then we all went away for the summer with our staff and everybody hearing that and so it's always been a problem I bring that up because there's always been this kind of like what is this for and we never really understood it so over the years this is not the first time and we have have discussed can we Define it better do we need to change it a lot of boards have future business um as kind of their supplementary matters area so I would just say I nobody's interested in silencing anybody here that has never been the intent we want to make sure we stay to board business which is always what we want to do because that's how we focus on children and we want to make sure that we are utilizing our board meeting Mee for the appropriate purposes of discussing board business in the appropriate context of committee discussions because we're a board of the committee so I have no problem redefining it putting a time limit not putting a time limit um I am always happy as I guess the second most senior person on the board now if you have a topic you need to discuss come to me I'll help you figure out where it should go I'll help you put it on an agenda I'll help you introduce it during a committee discussion whether I agree with it or not it's okay I'm more than willing to lend that hand to anybody that needs help to kind of say this is really important me but it has to be board business and I think that's where a lot of us have disagreed over the past couple months um but that's that's my you know I I'm I think that everybody has a right to say what they want focus on the board and we can find a way in appropriate committee discussions to do it so I am still for redefining it and you know getting closure and I do I want to reiterate this was absolutely started under me as president so Mr gr just in in all pun intended just to supplement what Heather was saying um in terms of sorry just got it yeah in terms of us not silencing people there is a place to talk about everything in a committee um and we just need to make sure that we're putting it into the right framework of the meeting um and I will just ask because we are adjusting meetings a little bit in the coming month our next policy and Personnel meeting is I believe on Monday so if anybody has any feedback in terms of changes to the policies or time limits or anything like that please um try and get that to me so that I can put it into to any changes we will hopefully be discussing on Monday um as I said we made it as restrictive as possible in terms of the feedback with putting time limits in and having all the different pieces to it and defining what is in each committee report and things like that so if you have feedback we'd certainly love to hear Sam when you told me that you're a minority and then I said you consider yourself a minority you corrected me and I corrected myself you left that part out so you can Grimace but I I did cuz I rewatched the meetings because I forget some of it but I did correct myself after you clarified it and I'm sorry if you were insulted that somebody else doesn't believe that you're um a minority I am sorry for that because I know what it feels like to be labeled in quotation identifying as Hispanic it's about as insulting a thing that can be written um I'm sorry that your kids have dealt with it because my kids have dealt with it and it's not fair but I think the kids can learn or our learning from how we conduct ourselves and how we dismiss some things that are important to some and not to others and I know what you're saying that I was just going to reread my remarks works except I was going to reread them in one statement without interruption until I the rules Robert's Rules of orders were just just thrown out the window and I was interrupted and I still have no answer no Clarity to that why why was that allowed it's it's it's a matter of interpretation is what I'm told I've looked it's it's just not allowed not not ing supplemental not while somebody's in the middle of speaking you don't make a motion to adjourn it's it's just it's disrespectful the message that I was relaying wasn't being accepted and to say that I can go to a committee and say hey this is going on I went to you personally and Dr brochel and we all agreed it was board business that day that that's why I remained under the impression that it was board business and I'll share with you in supplemental because you asked at the last meeting for the statute it doesn't matter anyway whether it's board business private or public it's it's governed by a New Jersey statute which one you want it now or in supplemental well we're what we're talking about here is policy and the we have policies that deal specifically okay then I'll save that for supplemental but I'm I'm actually talking about policy right now so when you say where would you have addressed these things yes where we have policy zero we have policy 0142 with which references our oath of Ethics we have policy 0145 that references resignation and removal which is something that was raised um in addition to that that could be an executive level conversation regarding ethics and legal advice to that end if that is something that you have questions about but those are things that certainly could have been disc discussed in Committee in reference to those policies and how we govern ourselves furthermore I'm going to say that I went back through every supplementary matter since January of 2023 and when we ask about where things fit and eliminating supplementary matters no one is looking to eliminate supplementary matters for as long as I've been on this board it has been a point of confusion and misunderstanding as to what supplementary matters is so it's taking that portion of the meeting and defining it as board announcements you can then take literally everything that has been discussed in supplementary Matters from January 2023 to date and put it in a committee discussion January 2023 there were issues raised in supplementary matters regarding the health curriculum that would have been a perfectly fine thing to address with the curriculum chair to have the the committee review it and for the committee then to have it read out and a public discussion ensue February 2023 there were budget questions and reg and questions regarding how state aid is allocated Andor denied um those would have been wonderful questions to pose to the finance committee and have Finance discussed have a readout done and have a full board conversation in public AP African-American studies was raised in that same meeting that would have been been a wonderful thing to put forth to the curc you're putting all of that stuff on me no no I'm just saying things that have been raised in supplementary matters asking how do you know where to put it I I went through every single one and every single one was eano finance committee and the the point then being if there isn't a place for it then you need to question whether it's board business and if it's not board business maybe look at the policies and to see where it would enter into a policy discussion but there was not one thing that I could find in supplementary matters that could not be raised via committee discussion or public discussion after being raised in committee so as far as trying to silence no it's just moving it to the PO proper venue for discussion that's all it is is if you want to talk about ethics violations or policies related to ethics violations take its a policy if you want to get legal advice on a matter regarding ethics bring it to Executive session there there is a place for everything no one is trying to restrict anything it is just that supplementary matters is after the board business is done we can't use that piece of our meeting as an ad hoc catchall committee discussion that is not what it was intended to be that is not what it should be we have committees for that if a committee does not exist if you're finding that there are issues that we need to address and things that are not being addressed through our current committee structure and that we need to add a new committee that is what we're here those are the things that we are supposed to be talking about to make sure can I just finish though I want you to think be me for a minute I took it inhouse first because I didn't want to bring it out publicly I thought it was highly sensitive highly inappropriate and I didn't I didn't think it needed to be brought out I brought it in house and it was shed away and how am I then supposed to bring it to a committee with any hope of it making it on the onto the agenda be honest if you were me and that's the experience you had correct correct me for a moment we do have a supplementary matters coming up this is this is related to the policy discussion can we be respectful to the he's right can we be respectful to the public Absolut yes absolutely but I I just I just want to clarify that this this is embarrassing can we please move on and go towards excuse me Mr Joyce there there was a very lengthy speech given at the start of this I know committee meeting have to move on I understand but when we're talking about restricting speech and now can pick it up in suppl matter but it's not for supplementary matters that's the pointy I'm who's being I understand that you're but this is our business this this is a meeting of the board in the public where the public has the opportunity to be heard this is a board meeting so I I would like to make it Sam I think you I think I think the point here has been proven that thing that that things are going very one way here this is actually an appropriate time to be having this conversation and now it's being said that we should move it to supplementary matters listen I just want to be respectful I understand and we always want to be respectful but this is okay I I would like to make a comment so Sylvia to I want to say this as much as I feel a little silly admitting this you could go watch other board meetings which is very educational from the standpoint of learning how other boards operate what committees they have what type of um you know how they end their meetings and everyone you watch will be different so what I would recommend is if you feel that this is now too restrictive go look at some and I know we're all busy but I've done it and you know when you're when you're really curious about something you can research it and make a recommendation that would put forth something in the middle for the policy conversation that then you guys can discuss and make a recommendation to the full board but there are a lot of different ways to do this type of thing every board does it slightly differently and I think that that is probably you know we have some ideas to work from and then we can continue to have this conversation um but I do agree that you know I I appreciate the public coming I know it these are long meetings but these are the dialogues that we have to have these are the dialogues that you know bring all the different opinions to the table and sometimes they take longer than others so Heather I appreciate instead of you just saying no you're wrong your perceptions wrong whatever else has been said I appreciate you saying come to me if you have a question and I can help you with it and I hope that's the feeling that you've gotten from all of us I'm sorry I've been skittish since December 12th I have been skittish since that date I I felt like if it wasn't happening at that point and again the circles were wagon the wagons were circled sorry um why would I bring it to a committee to be shot down there that my feeling but I agree with Ian we should move on because these folks have been sitting here for hours okay can I get a roll call please Mrs R yes Mr Baker Miss Cooper yes Mrs D Grand Pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes and Mrs frienda yes motion carries thank you public comments public comments are welcome at this time on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes you'll be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with New Jersey statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel a reminder for all parties in attendance to remain respectful and that there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt the speaker's comment thank you in advance for your input and again please reference Mr Marco's timer to see how much time you have left on your 3 minutes thank you would anyone like to take the podium for came in here with Frasier technology companies five months ago we worked diligently with Jeremy Schwarz the IT director of Somerset Hill School District for the first three months it went very well we steered the school clear of a contract they were currently in we showed them how to get out of that contract furthermore we also um steered them the school clear of all proprietary Solutions where the board would be stuck with one company and not able to be uh you know shop around so Jeremy Schwarz told me and my colleague that we were the Front Runners in this copier printer technology uh deal we were introduc UC to him via Mr Mike hoppy the vice principal here who we've known for quite a while and the reason why I bring up my family here is because I didn't expect it to give me any preferential treatment but I expected a fair and equal opportunity on this technology deal we were told that we were in the lead wasn't really talking to anybody else Jeremy Schwarz actually said he would try like to get a deal done by January of beginning of this year so from October 23 up until March of 24 we worked with the school so about three months into working with Jeremy Schwarz he informed me that not to worry but that Miss Jenny DeMarco was talking to a friend at Atlantic tomorrow which is a competitor uh but not to worry and I said well I don't really care this is a public school it's supposed to be open transparent you got to do your due diligence no problem we asked Jeremy though would it make sense since you're telling us that you and Miss DeMarco are the two decision makers on this technology deal and by the way that the board would rubber stamp their decision uh we asked to meet with Mr Marco we were told we were not allowed to meet with her and if we went above his head if we went above his head Mr Marco would get angry M now is there anybody else who wants to speak yeah there if anyone else wants you can come back but if there's anyone else that wants to make a statement I need to in January over a weekend my daughter just please state your name oh sorry okay Alison laera attends Steven Street Bernardsville in January over a weekend my daughter was on a group text and a student texted the group chat a video in the video the student has a the special they had a special need Student acting out a sexual act in the locker room the special need Student obviously had no idea that he wasn't in on the joke my daughter responded immediately to the group text and responded WTF she then sent the email to the high school administration and went to see them first thing Monday morning later that week she was told that the student served one day of in school suspension but was able to play in his game she was outraged to hear that this wasn't taken seriously so she sorry so she went and spoke to the high school administration at that time she was told that it was being investigated we were under the impression that an Hib was filed as the word in investigation was used and we wanted to give it time as we know that hibs take about a month to complete after a month I followed back up with the administration at that time I was asked if I had filed an HIV I responded no because I assumed with the information we gave you that you had to at that point I reached out to Dr brochel and spoke with him I then received a phone call from the high school administration the person the administrator that called me was incredibly aggressive speaking over me and was gaslighting me he told me that an HIV was unfiled because a there was no victim and B no distinguishing characteristics as I'm sure all of you know that a child in a protected class is a distinguishing characteristic and the law deems a victim as what any reasonable person would feel the administrator was trying to dismiss me the kicker in this whole situation the only person that acted appropriately was the 17-year-old and she will address how that affected her in a moment after this conversation I felt that the high school administration was hoping the situation and I would just go away and realized I can't trust that they would do the right thing so I did I called the victim's mother and my fears were confirmed I had a very uncomfortable conversation with a woman I had never met no one told her this happened two months after the incident I then emailed Dr brochel and asked for a meeting with the High School administration so we could discuss the lack of understanding of the HIV procedures instead I was offered a meeting with Dr brel and Dr Butler unfortunately Dr Brussel brochel sorry had an emergency but I did meet with Dr Butler and we had a very good conversation and she listened to all of my concerns since then I have not heard from anyone so I sent an email to Dr brochel yesterday to once again follow up and have not yet to hear back which is what brings me here tonight thank you she is going to finish y thank you start my concerns okay um I'm Julia bin I live at the same house t St Street um my concerns are that everyone hopes I just go away and they can move on but I will not let this go until I feel comfortable that this will never happen again so here are my concerns High School administration is speaking disrespectful to a parent whose child spoke up and advocated for someone who could not for themselves the parent was not contacted the parents were not contacted and we would like to see a school procedure that when a special needs student uh is involved in a situation that they are alerted lack of supervision in the locker room is also a concern and we also feel we want to feel confident that the high school administration handles Hib appropriately and that there is no oversight as I feel that the high school administration in this case tried to whitewash the whole situation and um I would like to explain how the failures of the high school have affected me the day I told the administration about the video I was called a snitch by numerous students I was like bombast bombarded by them at lunch and and um I ended up in the bathroom crying asking my mom to come sign me out of school because I had to go home because I was crying so bad and the same administrator that was disrespectful to my mom ended up standing shoulder to- shoulder with the student who did this while I ate lunch and they were it seemed like they were trying to intimidate me I can't even begin to tell you how intimidated they made me feel but I'm not the instigator neither was the victim so why does it feel like the administration is helping the perpetrators and doing the victim a dishonor thank you thank you very much is there anybody else what's what's the bottom line number the budget is it 16 million 20 million oh I'm sorry what was that give your name and address oh it's Joe Rossy I live in Bernardsville and uh at 101 Crest Drive and you probably know me see me on the fields and the streets and whatever but anyway what is the total budget of the of the um our summer cedule school district 22 22 million agenda I know that but I'm I don't have the agenda I'm just no one can ask ask me answer that question to is about 50 million 50 million 50 you can't okay 50 what I think I would know anyway I'm here to talk about the um moving forward with the lights and the track the track we need the lights in before the track is built I I i' I've studied it I looked at it I talked to people I got quotes um and we're ready to go with the with the um very simple very affordable it's not a million5 like your architect stood up on the stage and told us it's onethird of that okay you'll get be able to put lights on the field and light the field safely every night till 9:00 so there our kids in this town in the district can play safely on that field there's no reason to stop it to not do it it doesn't affect anyone there's no glare you've seen the photos you've seen everything but what you're doing by us not moving forward on the town and on the school we are restricting our kids so many kids that we have playing I don't know what would have happened if my me and my friends haven't built all these fields you you have to complete the lower field that's very important I was happy to hear what you said that you got a hold of tnm is that true thank you TNN I have given this school district all the plans completed plans that showed everything from drainage to everything you've had them there's no reason for the upper field and the lower field all you had to do is months ago look at them bring tnm in work with them the drainage thing would have been taken care of we could have moved forward already on the lower field and we would have saved a lot of money on the upper field okay so all I'm saying is that what is the problem with moving forward with the lights I could take it out of my pocket probably and and pay for it why are you holding it up we need those fields we need to do it at Little League because we don't have enough Fields there we need to do it at polar grounds because we don't have enough Fields give us a break you have the money you have it in the account there was 350,000 that was put away because I knew you weren't going to maintain the T tur field when we donated to you and that's exactly what happened it was only 2600 twice a year to do it you never did it you ran it into the ground by the 10th year and you went to the 15th year you've gotten more than enough out of the million dooll gift now stand up give us the fields that we need here to keep the kids on this campus and not transporting them back and forth because all those fields up there we worked very hard to raise the money and build and donate them very little was given by the town there Evan cow was built my friends 500 and something thousand State ofart grass fields there's power there there's water there please let's do what we have to do to get these fields done okay thank you Mr Ry thank you you have any questions I'm 24 I'll answer any question I will okay thank you is there anybody else Mr so speak quickly here so let's cut to the chase on March 19th after five months of working with Jeremy Schwarz your IT director and for the first three months G his G him giving us the impression that after all the help and the free guidance and the oneon-one sessions with our technicians at no charge that things were looking pretty good for us but he needed other choices no problem he mentioned that like I said that Jenny wanted to talk to her friend at Atlantic tomorrow because they had a reference in the Wayne School District where Jenny used to work fine now in a private situation you want to work with a friend no problem but this is supposed to be open transparent it's a public school in the state of New Jersey on March 19th I got a call from Jeremy Schwarz saying that Jenny DeMarco was going with Atlantic tomorrow as her choice at which time I said we never gave you or Jenny or the superintendent our proposal are pricing or are referrals he said that was not necessary it wouldn't be looked at and that price didn't matter which the taxpayers might want to know that anyway he then said uh we thought at that time it was important to send our proposal referrals and pricing which was $3,000 a month cheaper than the current vendor to the the superintendent Mrs DeMarco and Jeremy Schwarz we got a call the next morning an angry call from IT director Jeremy Schwarz livid that we sent an email out with just our proposal on our pricing and our referrals what would make anybody angry about that he told me directly and my colleague Mike Russo that Mr Marco was so ins sensed that we sent out our proposal and our numbers that she signed with Atlantic tomorrow that very night at a spite she was enraged those were Jeremy schwarz's words Jeremy Schwarz went on to tell me that our company has just lost any chance of ever doing business with Bernard's high school so given my family history I would have expected a fair and equal opportunity there's a lot of talk and on the website about non-discrimination you know how about fairness openness transparency I had a call with uh Dr brochel after we sent a proposal we had a nice conversation I explained everything to him he said he was going to get to the bottom of it and would he mind if I called him back I said no absolutely I'd like a call back I never got the call back I was also told through the grape vine that he stuck his head in to Jenny and uh Jeremy and said I thought you guys had this covered which is kind of shirking responsibility if you ask me if you want to get to the bottom of something anyway I received an email that didn't even say my name it said hello Mr Walsh that that's your this is the last I me you guys had an hours I mean I had to say this I'm but I have to say this I have to say this I know I know but it's ridiculous it's ridiculous Mr wal your time is up thank you thank you thank you Mr Walsh thank you thank you thank you Mr Walsh thank you Mr Walsh Mr Walsh thank you your time is up thank you Mr Walsh your time is up and I wanted you to know that personally kind kiss can I finish can I finish his comments for him no as a private citizen no you can you cannot act in the capacity as a as a member of the public while seated at a board table to know I'm glad the attorney was here um so the I just wanted to ask just restate your name please Julia Ben and I would just like to add on to what I said um that I'm really upset with this school because it's supposed to be making kids into Role Models by the teachers and staff being role models and we are so lacking in the staff being Role Models the admin they are being petty as younger than high schoolers are being petty and then on top of that they are not helping the kids who are at a disadvantage at all thank you is there anybody else for public comment can I get a motion to close public comment Please Mr Grand Pre second Miss Nathans thank you supplementary matters the views and opinions that are may be expressed by individual members of the Somerset Hills Board of Education during supplementary matters are solely those of the individual board members and do not reflect the views opinions policies regulations and or positions of the Somerset Hills Board of Education and or any other individual members of the board is there anybody that has anything for supplementary matters I just want to applaud the young woman who stood up I know wasn't easy and I'm very proud of you was very easy good I'm glad it was easy for you good on you is there anybody else given The Bravery here it is hard not to regret my earlier votes I just want to have that on record okay is there anybody else I don't I don't feel uncomfortable as long as you're not directing it to an individual it's it's perfectly fine as I I thought you meant you were going to be responding to a mender okay is there anybody else I do just uh in light of uh Mr Joyce's comments um Mr Weiss U pursuant to Robert's Rules of Order um I believe that um according to the document I have called board effect.com uh a member may make a motion to reconsider something that was already disposed um it's not um it can it can be done uh I don't know if it's Robert's Rules but I will tell you that typically should a board member wish to change their vote it needs to be done no later than the following meeting at which the vote occurred and um it would have to be um by way of a motion and um then passage by the full majority to allow the board member to change the vote is my recollection off the top of my head as I sit here now at 5 minutes to 11: uh could you just be reach out to me about that U you know next day or so sure thank you thank you and that goes for everybody for any vote Mr Marco asked me if if it can be changed now um my recollection again is that it can be changed up until the following board me the F the next board meeting is the deadline if it's not done by then at the end of that meeting then it can't be undone is my recollection iate on the fact that that uh there are specific instances if I disagree with everything but she given again bravery tonight and the process and the elaboration the infy of HS so Mr Joyce just for the record um is that you're changing your vote on both on four five and six on all of them okay thank you I too would like to change number four to make another motion no we to do one at a time sorry um so under the circumstances um and since we have not adjourned the meeting I don't think it's an issue for Mr Joyce to change it now by letting us know that he's doing it as opposed to at the next meeting we would have to do a motion and all that need a motion my Rec my recollection again could just change it yeah because the meeting hasn't been closed um so I don't think it's an issue uh if he were to change it now at this meeting okay so I'm going to ask you Mr Joyce um number four okay and number five and number six so these are um fno number four five and six one second one two 3 four 5 six motion still carries on four and one two three four five motion still carries on number five and one two four motion still carries on number six I just to say I you know I I think that some of this underscores the conversations that we're having as the importance of our role as board members and understanding when we make votes what we're actually voting on cuz sometimes things get completed and we have to understand the procedure so I just kind of again then want to endorse board training which I know we're really working hard to get on our plate and making sure you know that we understand our roles what's board business where it's supposed to be discussed how it's supposed to be discussed how you know votes um work I I think this is all critical to being a successful board for our district I think as I I would agree with that I think as as part of our certification we should certainly add in additional governance training yeah thank you is there anybody else I need a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn and a second anybody yeah okay Mr Grand Pre thank you all in favor I okay good night