##VIDEO ID:jQagxRy_sSg## okay welcome to a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act and that advanced notice required 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 M Ballard here M Clark Emory M Cooper Miss gills M Gomez here Mrs hoppy here Mrs Santoro here Mrs Ry here Mrs frienda here we have a quorum thank you um and we will be going into executive session the open public meetings act authorizes a public body to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which spe specified topics are to be discussed under circumstances where the public consideration of such top 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 clearly be 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 please have a motion to go into executive Miss Cooper and a second Miss Ballard thank youbody um we've just come back from executive session if you could please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to theedge States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for for all thank you I'm going give it over to Dr brochel for the report of the [Music] superintendent thank you Mrs frienda our first uh item of business tonight are our we have two students here from Burnsville Middle School uh we have Emily man who's representing our peer leaders and Katie guble who is representing uh the currently undefeated girls basketball team ladies come on up [Music] hello everyone I'm Emily man an eighth grader at BMS and a part of the peer leadership Club this club has been running for many years and I'm excited to share what makes this club but especially this year's Club extra special pure leadership is an application only club and is available to eighth graders led by Miss pascarelli we meet once a month after school and once or twice during the school day per month as well as you might have already guessed p leaders work together to create a positive caring environment where everyone can learn in our school these goals lead us to working with students in the other grades and planning projects where they can get involved to become better leaders themselves so far this year the peer leaders have done several projects with the fifth graders one example of this is the fifth graders games with gratitude day for the second year in a row peer leaders went into every class and played games with them demonstrating good sportsmanship the event was a definite success as several fifth graders wanted to know when their new friends would be back because of this we decided that a new program with the fifth graders would be a great addition to the table after much brainstorming we developed the pure partners program and yes before anyone asked most of the brainstorming was over the name in this program fifth graders can sign up or be recommended by a teacher to be tutored by a pure leader during their lunch for maximum efficiency the sessions can extend to their study hall and to ensure everyone is comfortable fifth graders can request a certain peer leader to help this is a really good opportunity for them to gain knowledge in a relaxed one-on-one environment while a representative from Pure leaders talked to the fifth graders during their lunch last week we can all relate to forgetting something important that's why I'd like to ask you to spread the word about this event if you know a fifth grader who might be interested the first meeting is this Friday and signups are on their Google Classroom page page on a related note the only other all A3 Club the earth science team has their first meet at Ridge High School coming up they are the only Middle School in New Jersey that competes in this High School level competition but that doesn't stop them from consistently placing High good luck to them and their adviser Mr King thank you for taking the time to listen to my update on eighth grade clubs I hope you have a great rest of your night and I'd love to welcome my friend Katie up to talk to you about basketball thank you Emily hello everyone my name is Katie gble I'm an eighth grader at BMS and part of the girls basketball team the basketball team this year is doing really well our record currently is 12 and0 in our most recent game we won by 21 points 55 to 34 shout outs to Jane fryzen Sophia frame kir arianta Alis Jessica cillo and Grace Healey for their amazing game throughout on offense and defense the half time team deserves a shout out as well winning their game against menen burrow Katherine Douglas Illy Sasso Hannah Martin CI McCormack jiv Dee and Fry Espanola all played a great game with a shut out as we go into the playoffs as a number one seed with no losses the coaches are a big part of our success they encourage us to work harder and give constructive feedback about what we can do better and what we are doing well coach OK Conor and Coach Brown are the great coaches who make sure everyone's having a good time while learning and playing while there are many students on the team the coaches make sure that everybody get a gets a good chunk of playing time overall the girls basketball team does not only give students an option to play the sport but it gives students a chance to connect with other grades and make more friends now coming to the boys basketball team our boys basketball team is on fire the team is led by a talented group of eighth graders and works under the guidance of Coach Petri and Coach Reed the team is the number three seed going into the playoffs and are playing a big game tonight wishing the BMS basketball teams a successful round of playoffs as they begin this leads me to talk about spring Sports BMS School sports have been given me many opportunities such as making friends practicing Sports just overall something fun to do after school these programs have been run so well and smoothly that I have thought about trying so many new sports that I would have never had the chance to try if not for bms's great sports program so if you're considering trying Sports you may not have had the chance to try you can try it at school thank you so much for taking the time to listen I hope everyone has a great rest of their night [Applause] thank you Emily and Katie very nicely done I am from the high school we have Nora durac who represents uh the high school [Music] kids good evening everyone I hope you're all doing well despite it being absolutely frigid out can say I am cold to the Bone regardless of how much I sit in front of my fire um to get started we have had some fundraising recently coming in strong with last week's volleyball tournament which was hosted by the junior class they had about they had nine teams and about 70 students participate total so it it's a really great turnout the winning team was once again njlc who had previously won our dodgeball tournament um as first place first place winners they received a prize and a trophy the junior class is currently in the process of donating $100 of their proceeds from the tournament to their Clash charity which is Homeless Solutions Campbell's flutterflies is hosting a gold out game on Saturday during the boys basketball game against Ridge our Rivals uh they have been selling T-shirts for the game and are hosting a half court halftime shootout competition all proceeds will be going towards Childhood Cancer Research In addition to fundraising we've also had some field trips the anatomy classes had the opportunity to go to Liberty Science Center and they got to watch a um heart surgery live stream uh I personally went last year super neat experience and you're like able to ask questions so it's really great um in our theater Department there's also been a lot of good news uh cast members performing in the upcoming play Legally Blonde who average at least 150 minutes of dancing a week are going to be eligible for a Maring period 3 option to exemption until the play is over so that's really great you know uh their hard work is really paying off um this Friday we also have a lot going on as many of you know the second Maring period ends Friday and starting next week students who are taking single semester courses we'll switch over into a new semester long class or a study hall uh for us seniors Friday is very exciting as we have our night of the Stars event so you know everyone's been talking about their costumes and getting ready group costume should be very exciting um let's see what else as far as winter sports all of our winter sports teams have been doing really great boys basketball is currently 85 girls basketball is 112 and within our division they are 5-0 both boys and girls fencing are currently 7-0 and they have the opportunity to be divisional Champs if they beat North hunon this week if they win the division it will be the fourth year straight for both teams so that's really impressive uh girls fencing are also the Somerset County Champions um given their past history and past Seasons the ice hockey team has moved up to the best division division at men and Arena where it has been a little bit challenging but they did tie the other night and continue to play really hard for ski racing it has been a little bit more of a difficult conference but they were working hard the girls hold a score of 73 and the boys 28 our swimming teams are doing well both teams are currently 34 and they've had great swims at the Skyland championships most recently the girls placed eighth in the 100 free 10th in the 50 free and sixth in the 200 free relay the wrestling team has been working hard with their new coach and currently have a dual meet record of 63 uh winter track is having a very strong season both uh both the boys are County Champs and US second time in the DMR and number one in New Jersey they set a School record in the Sprint medley which is super exciting and they were officially invited to the milrose games in the 4X 800 So yeah thank you so much [Music] we're going to move into our uh recognitions for uh the evening uh we do have two groups of students that we're going to recognize the first are a group of students from the Middle School uh who are being recognized as earning a place in the Central Jersey music educators Association intermediate honors choir uh this is an extraordinary uh deal um this is a big achievement and I just want to point out that um this school year I've fielded a host of um compliments regarding um our Coral program and our teacher over at the middle school as well so this been great to be able to see uh three kids earn uh placement um in the S uh cjmea intermediate honors choir uh we do have a resolution for these three students um and I'm going to invite them up um to earn them uh the first uh is a young lady named Ella huncher Trinity [Applause] Landry and Jillian perer congratulations to all of the cjmea uh honores and we're looking forward to great things uh as you finish out your middle school career and as you move on to the high school uh second group of uh editors are from the BHS Crimson uh they were recently recognized Iz by the school news online as a distinguished site uh we have a very high achieving and very successful student newspaper here uh at the high school uh it's not uncommon for me to bring them uh in front of the board and to honor them with a resolution uh honoring their success uh this year is no different except for the fact of how early in the year they were honored um it's never been quite this early according to uh their advisor Miss hunkley and um it just kind of reinforces how strong our program is here uh how excellent uh our educators are and certainly most importantly um how terrific uh the student editors are uh so uh these folks are the leaders of the BHS Crimson that we are recognizing tonight uh they are the student editors and I will call them up one by one uh with resolutions from the board honoring uh their work and being named a school news organization Sno distinguished site uh so our first Honore is Colin cajano Jack [Applause] Martin Evelyn Nan [Applause] Bailey Olen uh can not be with us tonight but let's clap on the last Ella Patel Ari Rosen Killian schogger William Simpson Claire Taylor Andrew trop and um that rounds out our student honores for tonight give one last round of applause uh for our editors [Music] have a good even m [Music] in December in our edition of Pathways uh which is our um uh our District's newsletter uh we made mention of bedwell's door decorating for a cause contest and we did promise to reveal the winners at the January Board of Education meeting um and in first place for the single door division uh we honor Miss Rodriguez you know big deal right uh second uh or best overall was Mrs coats who is everybody knows is at our front entrance and our first place in our hallway division is the first grade hallway uh so congratulations to them oddly enough I was a participant in uh Mrs Hall's door um so she had a a great idea and she had pictures of all sorts of Staff members making funny faces on her door and uh that picture is now on my refrigerator at home so [Music] um in our community cares we've got some great news coming from our multilingual Learners club uh they are collaborating with Sally Roser from communities in crisis uh they've organized a very first community service project of the year uh to support cards for kids which is an organization that distributes handmade cards to Pediatric patients Nationwide um so being able to um understand the specific need for cards written in Spanish the students that were led by school district teachers uh Miss gay and Miss Medina dedicated uh their lunch periods to create and personalize uh these unique cards um to support cards for kids so a great initiative uh coming from the high school for sure continuing Partnerships uh bedra Elementary School is continuing their partnership uh with a Somerset County organization called sweet reads uh they provide free books for children um through collaborations this year all of our multilingual Learners at Bedwell will received several books from sweet reads uh and they received them around the holidays and I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Mr Catelli um helped uh Spearhead this initiative the Bedwell home and School Association uh has been busy supporting uh all the teachers over there at Bedwell but uh there was a grand opportunity that was seized by Mr thorlo who is bedwell's technology and design teacher uh he applied for and he was awarded an upgraded 3D printer uh it's called the bamboo A1 3D printer uh and there are a host of new advancements uh when it comes comes to enhanced technology uh in comparison to uh his previous uh 3D printer uh Mr thorlo work closely with a District Parent Mr Donahue um who does have expertise in this area uh one of the first projects that Mr thurlo um attacked was uh printing the remaining 10 states to complete a topographical map of the United States of America um and they're also bus printing um cones fidget toys numerical building blocks and other interactive pieces uh that are useful for this age group they're useful for brain breaks they're useful for mindfulness and um we're just thrilled that uh there's a deep and Broad partnership at the um HSA level with Mr thurow and uh his creativity as all of you are are aware uh tends to have no bounds so lots of cool things coming from um partnership with Mr thorlo and the HSA uh we do have some photographs that illustrate uh the remaining pieces from um the United States topographical map and some other items there uh the kids have created so uh very cool things uh indeed uh Claire Taylor who certainly is no stranger to the board uh was named as a um everyday hero for January uh she cares about her community she gives back uh not only is she president of the high school Green Team but I also read in the newspaper that she's on the burrow green team as well um so that's a uh that's a very big deal uh the green team this year uh had a role in recycling over 600 lbs of plastic you may recall that Claire came to visit us uh and to promote her project in the summer and um it is something else to be able to create that many pounds of plastic for sure um she uh has started a new section in the school newspaper uh she was just honored a few minutes ago uh but that section is the Bernardsville Beginnings uh in order to support small businesses uh in town and I think that's a great idea uh so she was named the high school everyday hero for the [Music] month Sam Turner and Don Russo are teachers over at at the middle school and um they are um engaged in a uh Spotlight on literacy um regarding the current literacy units uh that are fan favorites amongst uh their sixth grade students um they uh students are immersed in non-fiction writing units that culminated in the creation of chapter books uh over at the middle school and um at this point the class is now focused on non-fiction reading and they will uh help to develop a quasi uh Ted Talk at the end of the unit so a lot of great things taking place regarding literacy moving on to the first ever volleyball tournament was organized by the junior class officers uh Nora did speak about this uh a few minutes ago there are a few photos uh one from the njlc team um that has uh swept the class competition so far this year um this event raised money in support of the Junior and senior prom and a future class of 2026 mural uh njlc $150 a portion of the profits were donated to the junior class chosen charity which is Called Homeless Solutions a Homeless Solutions is a nonprofit organization that works with individuals in Morris County who are homeless or at risk of being homeless um junior class will also host a bake sale the week of February 10th so they are very busy prepping for murals and proms on um earlier uh this this month last week uh we had a team of teachers that brought our anatomy and physiology classes to Liberty Science Center um and um it was a very well attended field trip uh again uh Nora did speak about uh the students watching a live heart surgery uh which was um very popular and very informative uh for the students on that trip Bedwell has begun the battle of the books um it's our March Madness um a March Madness theme uh we had a guest speaker or Bedwell had a guest speaker uh to help kick off the battle of the battle of the books Julianne brzinsky Simpson um Miss Simpson was born in Elizabeth she was a four time All-American from the John F Kennedy college and she gained National recognition as the co- captain of the 1976 women's national basketball team and they earned the silver medal in the first ever women's basketball competition she spoke to the kids and she helped kick off the battle of the books um there are currently 16 teams and 12 books on the battle list and um we begin our uh competition on March 12th so a lot of activity coming from from Bedwell the advanced placement European history class um visited uh the men and took in some Opera and Dr hog uh brought his suit as to se ABM which is an opera um by bini and uh they had a great night out uh great meal and a great Opera and that certainly is noteworthy the girl up Club is continuing its work in the history uh hallway uh they started an empowerment initiative uh where one component is for club members to create an informative display in the hallway every month for various heritages uh Heritage Month celebrations with the goal of being able to decorate to educate and to celebrate uh so the girlup club collaborated with the Asian-American Pacific Islander Club to create a display about the Lunar New Year which is coming on the 29th so very cool indeed we were uh um informed uh through Nora regarding a lot of the um accolades on our athletic courts and um you see some photos here from um girls and boys basketball um important to point out that Hercules Stewart at the Marine Corps holiday classic track me uh broke the school record in a long jump with a leap of 22 2 1 in and that's a great Action Shot there um uh Jack Alexi who was a 2024 gold medalist from the Paris games in swimming uh who I believe is um you know hail's from mendum or somewhere thereabouts in swam at the Somerset County y uh shared his Olympic experiences with the high school swimmers recently um coach organized this opportunity and certainly was very cool uh boys and girls fencing are also highlighted on this slide both teams were undefeated both did uh very well at a um at a recent Invitational event up at Drew uh University so we hope to hear great things uh in the world of fencing or continue to uh kindergarten registration uh has uh been uh underway since the very beginning of the month uh right now we have 60 families as of uh yesterday morning that have begun the registration process for kindergarten uh and we have information that we're sharing out on all the major um media outlets and um different organizations in town to try to get folks uh in early to register uh coming in early to register does uh assist us and support us in a great way in the area of budget development uh as well um as we project out um class sectioning and class sizes and things of that nature um with our programming uh over at Bedwell Legally Blonde is coming to us in um about 6 weeks time uh March 7th 8th and 9th um and we're looking forward to that and as always you can find uh news in our Friday folders uh Etc uh this winter we're going to uh dive into a host of um commune engagement initiatives um in the area of special education um in the area of strategic planning and in the area of developing our budget uh so we want to be able to have uh folks that are able to contribute in a variety of ways to um inform the district inform the administration and help uh craft our practices as we move forward uh so we have some great opportunities there that we will continue to promote uh through uh my office and and ultimately lead uh the Burnsville planning board will be receiving a or be provided with what's called a courtis review regarding the board's intentions to develop its property here at Bernard's High School to in to include the installation of LED lights on Ott field um the planning board meets again on February 13th uh at 7:30 over at Burrow Hall uh I will introduce the project and certainly the board has um experts in the area of uh land usage that will um talk about that and also uh from our engineering team uh that will discuss uh the lights as we did here in um September and um throughout some uh brief updates on on the lower Fields project these uh photos were taken um earlier in the month um about a half hour before it started to snow um so I beat it just in time so you'll see that there has been some significant grading work um as you transition from the infield to the Outfield uh there was a significant decline as you moved um from those infield spaces out into the Outfield so that um that slope has been um been made to be much more gradual and less significant uh there is some uh grading that is going on on the infield uh as well um and the same transition from uh the infield to the outfield on the softball field uh is taking place as well uh you see some photos here uh the photo on the left is a picture of an elevated um home plate and pictur Mound and a um a field level view from approximately Third Base um our photo to the right so things are moving on and we fully anticipate to be ready for uh the spring season uh at a recent uh meeting was requested U by a board member that um the Somerset Hills School District um discuss cell phone usage with the Bedminster K8 School District just to just to uh kind of review our own uh practices regarding cell phone usage and to examine uh that a little bit further in speaking with um Bedminster it's uh it's clear that uh there's a lot of alignment if not perfect alignment K to 8 uh regarding how cell phones are utilized um and uh certainly Min or doesn't have a a high school they come to us here uh we are examining you know how people feel about cell phones and uh what what the uses are uh we did send out a flash survey to uh parents teachers and kids we got uh well over 800 um 800 participants um participants uh offered an understanding and acknowledgement that cell phones offer a level of distractability um to the users uh they um reference understanding that social media uh access uh is a challenge and isn't necessarily an instructional support during the day there are conveniences that we have become accustomed to all of us uh I'm going to assume all of us here uh have cell phones and utilize them in some way whether it's coordinating a ride home or you know just being able to connect with home on you know some after school items um and and respondents also reported a declining uh interpersonal interactions uh there was overwhelming support uh to maintain full uh full student access to to student cell phones um and I haven't really dug too much into the data outside of like the overall uh reports but um you know students uh I would imagine um when to keep cell phones as is um Governor Murphy has indicated that he has a priority uh to legislate cell phone usage but to um put the onus of that decision onto local Boards of Education uh he has not offered any uh any real specifics of um any specific legislation per se um I will say that uh from my observations um it appears that you know in a broad sense that the application of um cell phone usage at the high school does marry um convenience for for kids to utilize them um on an as needed basis in passing time and in uh things like study halls and lunches um and it does does appear that at the classroom level um it doesn't appear that they're overly distracting or or getting in the way of of real instruction uh but we will continue to kind of examine that uh just so we're clear the board does not have a policy on cell phones but we do have administrative practices that are built into our code of conduct um so and I think that's pretty standard across um the districts that I've spoken to about this particular matter that there isn't an actual policy itself just uh administrative practice so brief update on that and as we as we move forward um we do have uh interview panels that are conducting uh interviews and discussions with um candidates to become the Bedwell principal uh that's taking place uh this week and as we move into February um we've begun uh candidate screening for the business administrator vacancy as well um and um you know we will continue to do that uh as we move into February February is an important month because the governor follows up his State of the State address which he gave last week and he follows that up with a budget address and what the why the budget address is important is because he lays out his financial priorities for the coming year and inside of his financial priorities uh he outlines uh exactly how he would like to fund New Jersey Public Schools uh so 48 Hours by Statute after he gives that uh final address that budget address uh it'll be his eighth and final uh he will then um release state Aid uh to all the districts so then you know we can kind of bake that into uh our budget in advance of our March uh work together so um important month uh for the governor and um I know that the Department of Education is wrapping uh that process up uh one item that I'd like to uh point out to the board and to the community uh really is a is a shifting of um uh shifting of an agenda item that is um currently on the agenda for after public comments but I would like to point out uh that January is uh Board of Education recognition month you all are community volunteers you all give hundreds of hours if not more to um the various responsibilities connected to being a board member uh and uh you do so very well you do so with great commitment you do so with great passion and you do so with students um in their success and their support in mind and I appreciate that and on behalf of uh all of the staff members here um in the district and uh speaking on behalf of the communities uh that we collectively serve I thank you uh for for what you do uh for all the students and all the staff members in our district uh on behalf of those folks uh that have elected you to this position so congratulations uh we recognize you and we thank you for your [Music] work um Miss Brenda we do have um some board recognitions to retirees that I'll defer to you on yes Miss Ballard as uh the new chair of our policy and Personnel committee will you do the honors please yes I'd be honored to make these announcements um whereas Janette bercero has been employed from January 2008 through June 2025 as a high school teacher and whereas she exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism in her duties now therefore be it resolved that the somerset Hill School District and Board of Education recognize Janette bazo's retirement effective July 1st 2025 and extend to her congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement whereas John hog has been employed from September 2000 through June 2025 as a high school teacher and where as he ex exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism in his duties and now now therefore it be it resolved that the somerset Hill School District and Board of Education recognize John Hog's retirement effective July 1st 2025 and extend to him congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement whereas Dana fiser has been emplo employed from September 1999 through June 2025 as an elementary school teacher and whereas she exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism in her duties and now therefore be it resolved that the somerset Hill School District and Board of Education recognize Dana Fischer's retirement effective July 1st 2025 and extend to her congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement thank you so much um and those are three uh big retirements there who have had a tremendous impact um on our school community and most certainly our students over the course of their careers we are going to move into 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'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 public comments will be limited to 30 minutes for for this section a reminder for all parties and 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 comments thank you in advance for your input and we do have our timer um so if anyone should take the podium you will just take note of the timer that will count down from 3 minutes to let you know how much time you have remaining on your comments at which time you'll be interrupted so if there is anybody that would like to make a comment at this time on an actionable agenda item nope okay can I get a motion to close public comments please uh Miss Cooper and second Miss Soro thank you very much um and as Dr brochel referenced the on the agenda um it is noted that um it is New Jersey school board's appreciation month and we thank him for that recognition that he gave during his um superintendence report oh this is wrong um and we're going to move on to the approval of the minutes so um I am going to ask for a motion to approve the minutes for the public input and action in executive meeting minutes just for December 18th Mr Baker and can I get a second uh Miss Ry thank you and is there any discussion on the minutes no okay then roll call Miss Cooper yes M gills yes M Gomez I Mrs hoppy I don't think I was okay Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Mrs Ballard yes Miss Clark Emory and Mrs frienda yes motion passes okay and um you'll see later in the agenda under policy and Personnel we have a policy that is going to be amending our um board committee policy we are going to be combining finance and facilities and operations into business operations one committee and Mr Baker is going to be the chair of that committee but until we have made the um the updates and voted to approve that policy we are going to still break them out as finance and facilities and operations so I hand it over to Mr Baker for finance uh thank you um I'm going to give my report in two pieces so and there'll be some over hopefully not a lot of overlap the um the combin committee which is the business operation committee met on January the 15th for about an hour and 10 minutes all members were in attendance along with do along with Dr brochel and Mrs f ra um we talked about seven different topics I'm going to talk about the ones that affect Finance first um we talked about the long range facilities um plan that is being developed for our help in the referendum so this is this item does fno n and finance and Dr brel outlined some items that we're think about not that these are going to be the ones that we would do um uh a new robotics facility an upgrade of of the TV studio this is this is for the high school and be clear um an upgrade of all science labs retrofitting the upstairs of the media center to make it more flexible and maybe a culinary arts area in the Middle School upgrading and adding science labs in the elementary school upgrading the security entrance renovating the media center adding tech tech spaces in the lower part of the building for k through eight instruction um we also discussed the possibility of a second question besides the referendum to fund all all those big projects for things like the um improving and retrofitting the the lower high school gym and maybe exterior restroom for aot field um I think it's important for the board to understand that whenever we put this plan forward in the next few months whatever it is and we talked about it before to be it would be a tax it would be tax neutral let's say $35 million Bond it would because bonds are coming off adding these new projects for 35 million would not change what the taxpayers are paying going forward but the state department of education has to um review these to give approval because they give us 40% funding and that takes six to eight months so that's pushing us into the end of this year which means we would have to have a referendum vote either in December or January which is not would not be at the um at the general election in November so there's pros and cons on that we can talk about that some other time also in finance we all got on the committee we got our budget books so anybody who haven't seen these you'll be getting these shortly um and there's a wealth of information goes into the book um and it's only about half full full right now but it it outlines what um each school and and an administrative Department would like doesn't doesn't mean they're going to get it but they that's what they like um and so we discuss a few items in here and we'll be developing um when Dr bro will talk before that we're going to have a a budget a retreat in March and we're going to present at the March board meeting a draft no budget and then we vote on it in April um I do want to point out that uh when Mrs demarker was here a couple years ago we moved a lot of our our our our cash on hand into this New Jersey arm and we've made $400,000 in interest so that's remarkable if anybody's moved their own money into a money market fund it's remarkable them getting a point to 5% at your local bank so that's wonderful news that's $400,000 coming right back into the school another Finance item to help us with the referendum planning are our um Bond advisors which is called Phoenix advisors will make a presentation to the uh to the committee in February so we can understand all the ins and out ins and outs of a of a referendum and some of the timelines involved um the last item which crosses both sides would be um we talked about possible um his recommendation that we should do a a consolidation study with with Bedminster not he's recommending not we should do it but we should do the study um there's grant money available I was on the board back in 2007 when this was done back then and we founded to be at the time would be um it didn't make a lot of sense but now there's a lot of um mechanisms to make the finances and the combining of the school district districts more Advantage so this would be a study by a third party that if this board approved it and the Bedminster board approved it in the next let's say three or four months we could have the study started and there' be grant grant money available so we would not have to pay for it um and those are all the finance item so I'm going to turn it back to Mrs frienda okay then I would like at this time to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through 10 on the agenda I have a motion Mr Baker and a second Mr Cooper and is there any discussion on the finance items I just think it's wonderful did last to gain us an extra 00,000 [Music] um I also want to point out that item number nine on the agenda I want to thank Chef for three donations of 9, $199 to three great places um so that's um I think of of the 10 items we're approving that would um that takes special special notice yes and direct impact on our kids um is there anybody else [Music] NOP okay then roll call please miss gills yes Ms Gomez yes Mrs hoppy yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes M Ballard yes M Clark Emory yes M Cooper yes Mrs frienda yes motion passes okay thank you um we will go back to Mr Baker facilities and operations please okay so there's three items that I didn't talk about that are that are purely fno uh one was what Dr brosel talked about the lower athletic fields so those photographs were very great and I um just so it's clear that we hope to have this done by the spring season um you know the weather's not good right now we're trying to do anything out there but um you know I think that we will have it done by then so they're going to once all the regrading and the soil's been there we're going to have to sod some of the infields and put grass seed around where it's um it needs it um so that was that item He also mentioned the allot field lighting project which has been submitted to the planning board for their review um in a couple weeks the last item that that is EO is the renov of the know of the tennis courts at the polar grounds um and we think we're going to add that as a capital project for the next year and maybe two years because the tennis courts are in in two pods three and three so we could do half and half um and and spread the cost out but Dr br's got to get some estimates on that and uh we'll be talking about that as we put we put the budget together um and I think that's it Mrs frienda okay um other items that you would like to read in for facil yes I would like to read in let me get my sheet here so I'm going read there there are presently um two there is a resolutions one and two I'm going to add resolution 1B and 2B and so for for so for 1B um it's resolved the Somerset Hills School District reviewed the harassment imitation no imitation and bullying case presented on January 2nd and upheld the findings and consequences recommended by the superintendent for BMS number six and for 2B it would be resolved the somerset Hill School District reviewed the harassment and intim ation and bullying case presented on January 2nd and upheld the findings and consequences recommended by the superintendent for BHS number 14 okay thank you so much welcome um what we are going to do just for the sake of clarity for the board is we are going to um vote independently on each of these resolutions so for the 1A I'm going to ask for a motion for item to approve item 1A on the agenda Mr Baker in a second okay any discussion who's the second oh SC okay okay then we'll have roll call on 18 please M Gomez Mrs hoppy yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes M Ballard yes M Clark Emory yes m Miss Cooper yes Miss gills yes Mrs frienda yes motion passes okay thank you um and now I would like to ask for a motion to approve item 1B on the agenda uh Miss Ballard and Miss Cooper again and is there any discussion on 1B okay then roll call please Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Clark Emery yes Miss Cooper yes Miss gills yes Miss Gomez obain Mrs hoppy yes Mrs fenda yes motion passes okay um and now I need a motion to approve item 2A on the agenda Miss Ry and a second Mr Baker okay okay is there any discussion on 2A no okay then roll call please Mrs hoppy yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Clark Emory yes Miss Cooper yes abstain [Music] 14 okay and Miss gills yes Miss Gomez I a think Mrs frienda yes motion passes okay and finally um item 2B I need a motion for to approve item 2B on the agenda Mr Baker and a second Miss Ry and any discussion okay the roll call please uh Miss Gomez Mrs hoppy yes M Mrs cantoro yes m Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Clark Emory no Miss Cooper obain Miss gills no Miss Gomez and Miss frienda yes motion passes okay thank you and before we move on to curriculum is there anybody that has any new business for either facilities and operations or Finance for future agendas or old business nope okay then we will move on to the report of the curriculum committee Miss Cooper thank you our new curriculum committee met Tuesday January 14th for an hour and 15 minutes uh committee members this year include Mrs Brenda Mrs gills Mrs hoppy uh Mrs Ry and myself to and last week Miss frienda M Hobby Miss Ry and I attended along with Dr brochel Dr Butler and Mr Catelli uh we began our meeting by uh welcoming our new member Mrs hoppy and then Mr Catelli joined us to give us an update on our on the bilingual program for kindergarteners at Bedwell according to Mr Catelli and the data he presented students in this program are doing remarkably well and families seem to be really happy with the program the transition to Bedwell for students in the program has also been quite a bit smoother than for our multilanguage Learners or mlls in our previous years students are progressing much more quickly towards letter recognition in both English and Spanish than our mlls in past years in the January assessment students in our current program recognized as many letters as last year Year's ml students did in April which means that students in our bilingual program are months ahead of students in previous years Mr Catelli and Dr Butler also described some of the valuable insights our bilingual consultant has shared to help guide our curricular efforts and to ensure that our ml students feel welcome and like they are an important part of our community in all of our schools regarding plans for next year Mr Catelli Dr brochel Dr and Dr Butler indicated that they would like to continue offering the bilingual program in kindergarten and to expand it to appropriate first graders as has been previously planned uh we also discussed the possibility of running a dual language program in first grade in the future but this option requires further exploration by the administration in our discussion of the bilingual program Dr brochel also emphasized the great work of our of the Bedwell HSA which has been thoroughly committed to ensuring its success we then transitioned into a discussion of the curricular budget for the 2025 to 2026 school year Dr B brel indicated that he's expecting a slight a tighter budget next year due to plateauing state revenue he doesn't expect our our state aid to increase and Bedminster enrollment is also declining however curricul our curriculum requires fewer updates in response to changes in learning standards this year compared to last year Dr ederton will be joining us next month to discuss math instruction at at in the middle school and the high SCH school but last week Dr Butler gave us a brief overview of the work curc work currently underway to ease the 8th and nth grade transition in math uh in in recent months Bedminster and um the Somerset Hills administrators have met several times to improve alignment between districts and math instruction articulation between uh the middle school and high school teachers is also continuing in an effort to improve alignment in algebra Dr Butler did inform us that standards for welcom recommending students for honors geometry in nth grade are changing to be recommended for honors geometry eighth grade students will need to receive an A and not an A minus in algebra at BMS the staff is also considering njsla and I scores when making these recommendations no concerns were raised regarding any of the professional development or field trip requests currently on the on the agenda for approval and that concludes my report thank you very much Miss Cooper um I would like like to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through five on the agenda Miss Cooper and a second Miss hoppy thank you and is there any discussion for curriculum yes Miss is it absolutely given first [Music] gr next year I thought that's what it was this year first grade next year as long as we need one first grade will have one okay thank we're still a little up in the air about how many students will need it but okay and just to follow up on that it's a essentially a non-negotiable in budget development to have monies allocated for that position to put us in the position to move that [Music] direction I have a question regarding uh the math so the alignment because I know that's a very big issue with b um are you still having geometry then in middle school we will still offer geometry in Middle School okay so if if it's needed again we have to see you know each year we look at the class that we have and we want to meet the needs of of the students that are in that class so as long as there are students who are ready for geometry yes okay so that means B me says it we don't have right like that was the problem there is no way like we can do something for the school the students to come here and I like toet it's something that we've explored um we don't have any definite um plans yet though but they are still talking about we want to be able to align as closely as we can thank you because I know many parents are yes I know I know before we move on I just wanted to say like the present presentation that Mr Catelli gave and I just want to thank the administration Mr Mr Catelli just the tremendous work that has been going on in the bilingual program it was just really astounding just the success of these students and how much they've achieved and it's just it's was just um remarkable so thank you guys I want to Echo that um Miss Cooper I'm so thrilled to hear um you know here we are only in January and the success of the program so far so that is um it is a pleasure to hear that thank you for all the hard work on that um Miss Cooper or Dr Butler can you just talk about what a dual language program is and what that would look like I mean I know it's in discussions but I'm just curious if you can give us a little more detail about what that is and can I PT that to to to you Colleen sorry we're in very early like kind of Discovery um uh right now but it would be students who some are multilingual Learners some are english- speaking students and they would be learning together there's different models um one of the models that um we are exploring is maybe all of the Court classes in the morning would be in Spanish in the afternoon it would be in English there's different models though and we're still really at the very early um exploration stage I remember um Dr Catelli talking about how you kind of have to progress into this but I remember there being a lot of excitement on the committee about the prospect of that at some point you we've had um a lot of parents show interest so it's something that we wanted to look into great thank you and to add to that too just because it is so exciting the Mr Kelly provided us with some pictures and um the family environment in that classroom and the welcoming and um the community that those students and the teachers have developed is really um very special and um something that should be recognized and that goes to the greater School Community as well down at Bedwell so um major appreciation and thanks to everybody involv I also just wanted to give a a shout out um they have a great teacher too so we want to make sure yes can I ask a question sure um for La better word just CU I'm in that special ed world um when you talk about the integrated program How would how would you get the English Learners like is there a lottery system like who like I would love my son to be like if I had to be in that class because there's nothing more joyous than learning we'll have to wait and see oh so I'm that would be a nice problem if we if we have to have a lottery system we see because you know there's going to be a lot of excit M across the board so all right thank more to come more more to come okay is there anybody else for curriculum no okay then roll call please Mrs hoppy yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes M Ballard yes Miss Clark Emory yes Miss Cooper yes Miss gills yes Miss Gomez so do I say yes to the ones that are high school only right so just to those thank you yes and Mrs fenda yes okay motion passes okay great thank you um does anybody have anything for new business for curriculum to be put on a future [Music] agenda anything for old business y I mean I don't know I just it came to my mind like is it possible to offer like in the summer a program for example the kids that are algebra A+ to have a geometry I'm just saying you know like they yeah thank good question um okay if seeing none then we will move on to the report of policy and personnel and Miss Ballard for person than you the policy and Personnel committee met on January 14th for I hour and 15 minutes in attendance uh was myself Miss Clark Emery Mrs gills Mrs Santoro Mrs frienda and Dr brochel um some of this was covered in the superintendent report but we'll add on uh the the principal hiring at the uh Bedwell the there's been internal candidate interviews the ads were posted in October and November um external and internal candidates met with a panel of administ Traders and parents and there are three excellent candidates moving forward One internal and two external um the next stage is the level three interviews they'll meet with a different panel to merge candidates the panel includes representatives from every grade level staff wise Support Services administrators and parents one final meeting will follow when the pool is narrowed down to one or two candidates and then a decision will be made hopefully by February or March um in the business administrator hiring process conf conversations are beginning with introductory phone screenings with the goal of a March or April hire um policy we had a lot of would do we'll pause so that we can vote on the Personnel sorry that's everything for personnel is that everything for personel uh yes okay great um then I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through 18 on the agenda can I have a motion please miss Ry and a second Miss Soro and is there any discussion for personnel no okay then roll call please Mrs hoppy yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Clark Emery yes Miss Cooper yes Miss gills yes Miss Gomez yes Mrs fenda yes motion passes now miss Ballard policy now I can do policy okay um we had a lot of policies to discuss but we kind of ran out of a little time so um we discussed two emergent policies that will go for first read today um one is the policy 0155 which is the board committee bylaw which we discussed earlier about the merging of the different committees facilities and operations and the finance which will be the business operations committee um we also discussed the substance abuse abuse uh administrative regulation um and this is something that was uh brought to our attention by the high school principal and the problem is that our regulation is overly restrictive that it calls for blood samples to be taken for particular drug testing and this is for suspicion of drug use not the random drug testing uh we used to have a district physician who would do this but now we use outside vendors and this service is not available um page 22 of the regulation provides for changes to the regulation which are l restrictive the modifications to the regulation allowed the administration to remain compliant with the policy and regulation while working with our vendors who will do passive testing such as breathalyzer tests um and then to the cell phone matters um Dr brochel talked a little bit about uh the surveys there was two surveys One external uh comparing our cell phone practices to other schools in Essex Union and MJ mujc districts and then an internal survey um a brief overview of results from the external survey show that our policies are in line with other school communities the results of the internal survey showed a recognition of the distractability of cell phones use in learning situations as well as social media impact while expressing a significant desire to have access to cell phones um something that was mentioned over and over was it was important to ensure that people can get rides home uh the board currently does not have a cell phone policy we have administrative policies that are built into the code of contact and that is my report thank you thank you so much um so then I would like to ask for a motion to approve action item number one on the agenda for policy that we approve action thank you Miss hopp and a second Miss Soro and is there any discussion relating to policy question yeah the cell phone survey um thank you for providing the link to the survey to the other board members um I would think it would be really help it looked to me that the um data were analyzed together student responses and parent responses were analyzed together I would like to see them separately um I think there's be a vast difference yeah that's correct and I I should have made that more of an emphasis in my report um the data that was presented was was Global and inclusive of all the part participants um it was really more of a a Time issue on my on my end where we didn't really disaggregate all the way down to the granular level I do intend on doing that um I just wasn't prepared tonight yeah and were parents of elementary school and middle school we didn't no we just sent it out to the high school okay um parents and I think what it does is it gives you a good snapshot of just kind of where people people are um yeah but we limited it to just High School parents high school students and um uh High School staff and would you will you disate it to staff to then yes okay MH yep just had some very heated discussions about that so there going to be some very different opinions and I'd like to see where how that all through well you can tell I mean just in the response rate alone I mean in a hustle we had 400 High School kids uh and interestingly while the results were coming in before the parents officially got the email there were parent results so I guess so I'm assuming that they were talking about it you know how was at night or or what have you um but there was about a 12-h hour time difference between when the two groups got it uh so that was interesting that they were having discussions about it I think that's the most responded to survey I've seen I would it doesn't surprise me I would say so yeah yeah I mean there's definitely a lot of people that have you know a lot of great input into this conversation I think that's what we talked about in the committee that there's a lot of layers and you know I I think there's um a lot of different considerations to make but it's important to hear all the voices and you know and figure out what what it is we're trying to accomplish right I mean that's kind of the conversation that we have get very clear on what it is we need to accomplish with or if we need a policy you know it's interesting there we all look at different pieces to this particular question through different lenses right and uh we we all have a variety of lenses whether you're a parent uh some of us are adult Learners uh some of us um you work in schools you know so you kind of see it you know through each of those lenses and and I think that that'll that kind of rings through the feedback um I think that there's a lot of applicability uh to it I've had discussions with folks about uh with Educators uh and leaders uh about the fact that if our job is to prepare students for careers that don't even exist yet or if our job is to is to prepare students for a career that utilizes technology isn't it our responsibility to also teach and model how to use that in an appropriate way uh so you and that's kind of like the response to the the notion of we need to lock up cell phones for the entirety of a school day um you know my point you is well there are roles out there where people need to know how to balance uh technology and face-to-face interaction and I think you know on the parents side the data is going to suggest a high preponderance of desire for face-to-face communication um so I think that it's a um it's a good discussion it's a good conversation it's a good analysis uh or something to analyze regarding um are we putting kids in the best position to be successful um with our practices um I I would I would say and then I'll finish I would say that I'm not sure that there's an there's a problem on the instructional side of the argument here based upon and what I'm seeing anecdotally uh I would say as a as a parent and I would say as um as a leader that social media you know is to me the the far greater challenge than balancing how to utilize uh technology and instruction um and um and we only have a small a small hand in that from a district perspective when it comes to social media I think that's certainly a uh a challenge uh I know that in meetings that I've sat in with uh folks like senator gopal who chairs the Senate education committee there is a high level of interest um I would think around the concept of social media and how um how legislation supports um school districts at developing policies to limit um how and when social media is access during the school day not sure that's something that is attainable um um legislatively but I think that's the intent um so interesting times are ahead M you oh I'm sorry that's okay um I guess there's so many different layers to this cell phone thing like I I guess like what is the purpose what are we looking to do you know are we looking to teach them how to use it appropriately are we or are we addressing the big elepant in the room that is always there which is causing anxiety and depression and self-loathing you know for our children um so you know so I I I know I came into this late and I apologize for you know that ignorance but I I guess my my thought is you know technology is very important and yes we do need to teach our children in the community's children um how they need to learn how to gather information effectively but there's that that's such a delicate balance too you know you have it it's it's an emotional like time bomb at times do do you know what I'm saying like I just so I guess as a school we just have to look at like the why what's the purpose here are we just limiting it to like you know hallway use you know or are we going to address also the social and emotional impact technology and cell phone usage and Instagram and Facebook and all that other and YouTube and all that stuff has on our children besides AI to write their papers so not not speaking for the legislators that are giving their opinion on this topic but it it it is clear there's concern about the mental health side uh specifically with social media and I think that that's probably where this this will lead like legislatively um and for those of you that have uh neighbors or children or a an account yourself for an an app called Tik Tok um this past weekend was evidence enough that that was a very important um I guess the 12-hour deletion of that app worldwide was a very important moment in a lot of people's lives that I uh have come to know on a day-to-day basis in my house and you know um and and I think it speaks to a greater point that um you know what is what is the level of impact on on a particular social media platform and I think that is where the discussion really is is aligned with um around concepts of the depression anxiety mental health ET and truth and untruth yeah like like to differentiate between what is real what isn't real and how to parse that out which could be a whole course in itself yeah it is isn't it at this point there is and uh you know came into it late brief brief side note uh our media specialist at the middle school teaches a terrific unit on on um truth in media and and deciphering um fact from fiction online yeah but it is a that is a state mandate in curriculum thank you Mrs I could like to absolutely thank you so much for taking a look at this I'd like to respectfully request that this survey be moved on to the Middle School level as a former Middle School [Music] teacher it was a big problem in a bigger problem in middle school perhaps than with older users who tended so far as I could see to use it in a better way you know I had kids just went into bathrooms and they did was sit there for 20 minutes you know trying to access their social media and we didn't survey the middle school so I just want to actually ask that we do that I think that's just so uh we're clear on why we didn't uh is that when a k to8 student in the district doesn't have the ability to use their phone during the day so they come to school with it okay it's in the locker it's in the locker and then at the end of the day they take it home uh so thank you yeah just one second I just want to make sure that there's nobody else that hasn't spoken yet that wants to contribute okay so I was just going to say Miss Sai I agree with you there's so many different layers to this and I think that's the point we have to be very clear about what information we're looking to get because clearly this is being looked at a legislator it can be looked at a policy but maybe the biggest thing that needs to happen is a community outreach education and dialogue right because the social media aspect creating the anxiety you know um if we take away cell phones for the time that they're in our buildings I'm not saying there's not value to that but if then they're on them for 12 hours as soon as they get home right that's not necessarily solving the problems we're looking to solve so I just think I think it's such a wor worthwhile conversation and obviously it's happening at all different levels and it's going to be good to continue to get input and but Pat to your point at the middle school maybe down the road surveying the impact of social media on our kids and I don't know if that's our responsibility as administrators but those are the things you know since they're locked away in lunder throughout the day it's not a usage issue per se but yes CL emry I I agree with what you're saying um on as far as the Middle School level and Dr brochel it would be great if everyone actually did put them in the lockers and keep them there but they they don't and you know they carry them in their pockets or their backpacks but they're not supposed to be used you're right affirming that they're not supposed to be used during the day in class at all um but just to remind us that we're they're not in the lockers for for the most part for most students that's also something that might you know take to look at at some point just in between going to the bathroom because they are you know being used in the bathroom when they're there or somehow um that's all I'm sorry okay cuz I can overthink things sometimes um then you have that and I can understand why it's in your pocket cuz half of the time you're watching the news and God forbid something happens at a school or a library or so then there's that piece too like you know as a mother i' be like hid it in your pants show anybody do you know I mean you that that would be me telling my son don't put it in your you know I I'm sorry but I would say don't put it in your lack cuz shove it down your pants but you know like just to be safe cuz God forbid but that's the Jewish mother so but that's another piece do you know and with the anxiety I didn't mean so much that the anxiety of not having your phone I meant the anxiety with social media the impact oh okay I got CU I ramble but to that end and you know it's interesting it was incorporated into learning standards regarding um Mis you know um misinformation or how to truth from you know fact from um non-fact uh I if maybe you know it's oh they tend to ask for feedback like if they do start to go the standards route they the legislators do ask and the department ask for feedback um from all of us I think it would be very worthwhile to pay attention to that as Dr brochel says it's something that's on the radar so that we can provide that feedback because I think to the end of the media specialist doing this I think that probably a lot of the progression of this would be more overt teaching of the psychology behind reality of what what everybody's true experience is versus you know because so much of the mental health issues surrounding things are based in that you know what is your reality versus what you're seeing but also that responsible usage which has started but maybe a more um firm curriculum surrounding that so I think that our feedback if that opportunity Rises would be very valuable moving forward yes Miss Cooper I I think that if I would love to see what the opinions of I would love to see the survey expanded to the parents the middle school kids too just to see what they the parents think of because most of their kids are going to be in high school in a couple years I would like to see what their opinions are of a cell phone use in high school what their what their opinions are what their wishes are as well and maybe there's good feedback that kids are cuz I thought that they were locked in the lock oh sorry some are some are some are my son was very it was a little bit more like for some reason yeah yeah is there anybody else no okay then roll call please Mrs Soro yes Mrs R yes Mr Baker yes mic on um Miss Ballard yes Miss Clark Emory yes Miss Cooper yes Miss gills yes Miss Gomez yes Mrs hoppy yes Mrs fenda yes motion passes so that was just like a really great robust conversation and sharing of perspectives and ideas I just wanted to say thank you I thought that was that that was great information share by everyone um uh is there anything for new business to be put on a future agenda for policy new business I'd like to address changing the format of the meeting so that parents or audience members can speak on non-agenda items first so that they don't have to wait for the entirety of the meeting before they have an opportunity to speak on any subject matter because I know that's been a complaint of parents so um Miss ballor just so we're clear there's a u there's a board bylaw that legislates how the agenda um is developed which is what is being asked of the policy committee and I can forward that to you thank you okay and was any old business nope okay then miss santur student services all right so student services this year on the committee is Mrs fenza um Miss Bard Miss Cooper and Miss Ry um everyone was in attendance at our meeting on November 14th and um it was a nice meeting kind of culmination of the how many was this our third or fourth meeting for this committee it's a newer committee so I think it was our third or fourth um of the dialogue and conversations we've been having around student services uh Dr broel touched on it in his superintendent report and predominantly what we talked about was the operation resp for excellence meetings that are going to take place on the 23rd of January February 4th and February 25th um Dr broch will talked to us about the fact that he was going to use the paredo principal which is either similar to or what you did use in the meeting for similar yep and um you know that these meetings are intended to provide an opportunity for parents and staff to both communicate and learn from each other and um we really want all parties to be heard in a constructive and productive manner um so you know we're looking forward to these sessions getting kicked off and then um Dr brochel obviously reporting back to us with the results and discussing that at Future meetings um and then we just had a little bit of a brief conversation as that um program gets kicked off as de some of the topics that we'll be moving on to next those are going to include um co-curriculars reviewing all of our co-curriculars um and through a lens of equity our Administration is going to review Staffing opportunities for kids the outfitting budgets um student satisfaction and we're going to take a look at all of that as well then as um digging a little bit deeper into culture and climate within the district learning a little bit more more about what's going on with capturing kids hearts at the middle school and then um you know how that will either Branch out or um what we will be looking to do at the high school going forward so y that was it and we don't have anything on the agenda we do not have any action items for student services but if there's anybody that would like to um raise a new item for future agendas for student services no for olds no okay then we will move into board announcements the views and opinions that are may be expressed by individual members of the Somerset Hills Board of Education during board announcements are solely those of the individual board members and do not reflect the views opinions policies regulations Andor positions of the Somerset Hills Board of Education or any other individual members of the board is there anybody that has anything for board [Music] announcements no okay then we will move into the second public comments um session 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 statements 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 to all parties in attendance to remain respectful and there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt the speaker's comments thank you in advance for your input and again we will have a timer set if um at 3 minutes and it will countown for your reference as you're speaking and at 3 minutes you will be interrupted to see if there are any other speak who would like a turn turn at the podium so with that is there anyone for public comments this [Music] evening Alison leera 10 Steven Street in October my husband and I met with a child study team for son's annual IEP review during the meeting it was determined that he would undergo a reevaluation to see if Jake was ready to transition into the gened reading class with his peers we informed the team that we had scheduled an appointment with an opthalmologist once his classes arrived I notified the child study team and his re-evaluation was scheduled on December 2nd the Monday after Thanksgiving break Jake came home and told us that he had met with someone for a long time we realized he was referring to his re-evaluation and asked if he had worn his glasses the entire time he informed us that he did not have them at all I immediately reached out and my husband and I then met with Miss kensky but unfortunately the meeting did not go well I followed up by emailing Dr brochel and I was very satisfied with his response I felt heard and that he recognized some of the shortfalls in the process therefore I did not attend last month to share any further concerns however last month I listened to Dr panic's speak and that is what brings me here tonight I had always assumed that the challenges we faced were within the old cop building whether due to budget constraint lack of personnel or leadership decisions under Miss kransky but after hearing Dr panic I now realize that my concerns may also extend to Bedwell this realization is heartbreaking because we have genuinely loved the therapist and teachers who have supported us on our journey let me be clear my decision to speak up has nothing to do with them last month Dr Panic spoke about how hard everyone works and how no one person has all the answers I agree no one has all the answers I am sure we can all agree that students should be tested though with their glasses however I hope we can also agree that while certain practices may be legal they are far from best practice for example testing after a 5-day break Miss kensky maintained that it was appropriate to administer a lengthy multi-period test immediately following a 5-day break on a 7-year-old uh ABA services and goal setting she reiterated her position that it was accept able for someone who has never met a child to write ABA goals for them when we asked repeatedly if this is considered best practice in her professional opinion she avoided providing a direct answer relented and said yes number three classroom placement for Jake Miss kensky defended Jake's placement in a first grade resource room although he's in second grade arguing that it was legal however this placement Rises significant concerns Jake is reading chapter books writing paragraphs yet he was placed with students that are learning how to decode it's difficult to see how this was considered the best fit for him especially as we know this kind of mismatch will lead to frustration and ultimately behavioral issues so if this is what trying your hardest looks like well I'm here to tell you it's not enough you need to do better Dr panic when you are telling the community that you are working hard in doing your best I'm here to tell you and the board our experience people have reached out to me after hearing about about our experience to to share theirs and this is completely um unsolicited so although you are a member of the community if you don't have a child being underserved or in some cases not being served at all then I am unsure what perspective you are speaking to please keep in mind Jake is a success story and I'm here to celebrate him and try to make this path smoother for anybody that follows us thank you thank you is there anybody else for public [Music] comment good Eventing everyone I am Lee Eaton I live at 6 laurw Drive in berville I would like to share with you an email sent to Mr khaer and Miss kuransky on behalf of my husband myself and 12 other parents in my child's fourth grade class Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. we still have no response or acknowledgement to our detailed concerns regarding a major change to our classroom's inclusion support tomorrow will mark one full week since the change was was made and we have yet to hear any information other than from our very upset children we remain very concerned with the actions taken by special services and the administration here is our email we are a group of very concerned parents with students in the fourth grade classroom of Miss holl Mr seen on Thursday of the past week January 16th our students returned home from school feeling upset and were reported that mren has a new schedule and will be gone from the classroom every morning going forward this is a drastic shift for our classroom as it has been operating on a co- teing model and we have received no communication on this change we are requesting more information or a meeting to learn more about this Sudden Change some students in for Hall saken have been receiving support from Mr Sten for years prior in a resource setting and have been lucky enough to transition out of resource and into inclusion still with Mr Sant fourth grade is a pivotal year in Somerset Hills and students are preparing to move over to BMS for these students spending fourth grade as their first year out of resource they are also reading to learn in all subjects their support from Mr Asen as the inclusion teacher assures these special education students are not only finding success in their new learning environment but also will be ready for another huge change in September at BMS it is important to understand all 20 students in four hall seen regardless of identified support need are greatly affected by this unexpected and unexplained change changing support structure of our class even if legal Alters a ability that is the underpinning of the entire class all students benefit from the structure in place since day one why would the district not hire a new person for for a new support need why is our classroom being completely changed with no notification to parents why would the best practice not be the standard for all of our students thank you thank you Miss Eaton hi good evening Michelle Gagliardi I'm a resident at 92 my Mount Road and a concerned parent and of a student in the grade four hall saken classroom echoing what Lee just shared I'm concerned and disappointed with the lack of communication from the district regarding the immediate classroom changes this is at no fault of our incredible team of Co classroom teachers further all of the students in four hall s s and their individual needs deserve to be considered the current level of inclusion support has been instrumental in fostering a classroom culture where all students can Thrive academically socially and emotionally reducing Mr s's time in the classroom not only compromises the progress made to date but has also the potential to create significant challenges a mid-year change prior to graduating to the middle school is a questionable and borderline irresponsible decision to meet a new need within the school if there is a need for additional resources at Bedwell we would expect new resources to be added not taken from another area of need especially taking from a classroom which is an exemplary model of a Cod teing success please let our class families know when we can expect answers to our concerns or when available to meet with us thank you for your time and this is on behalf of the Gagliardi family fuia eatens Shavers Paladino dones bananis and pum thank you thank you Miss gaglardi good evening uh Amy shaver Tony Southfield Drive Bernardsville good evening uh I would like to First note that we did send U an email to Mr koffer and we have yet to receive a response my daughter Tessa along with 19 of her classmates entered the fourth grade year at Bedwell in the fall and the inclusion classroom led by Miss Hall and Mr San my child does not have an i AP but I was beyond excited for her to have Miss Hall my son Bryce had Miss Hall last year in the 23 24 school year and she is a superior excellent teacher one of the best at Bedwell and Mr saen who I had only heard the best things about from all the parents whose children have been in the resource room from the beginning of the school year it was evident that they were the Dream Team running the classroom together and feeding off one another in the best ways back to school night and November parent teacher conferences with both of them was fluid and Flawless and my daughter has flourished and had one of her best years at Bedwell in their shared classroom being a classroom mom I have the opportunity to be in the classroom for parties and crafts and the two of them are magic together the dynamic is untouched one that Fosters learning collaboration engagement creativity fun discipline and in my mind the per picture perfect perfect picture of what an inclusion classroom should be fast forward to last Thursday January 16th the children in four hall PA saen came home from school telling their parents that Mr saen was to be pulled out of the classroom for the beginning of the school year or for the beginning of each school day for the rest of the year to support another student in a different class and grade yet none of the parents had been notified the kids have already spent the first five months with Mr Hall and Miss Miss Hall and Mr saen co- teing there every day in the classroom surely this could not be true that they had pulled Mr saen out and not told the parents but it seems it is true a change to a teacher midyear is big deal for any child let alone some with IEPs that have depended on that Dynamic and culture in the classroom my daughter does not have an IEP and has never been in the resource room at Bedwell she has spent years in the middle of the pack academically and somewhat lost amidst the Sea of students I can say this year she is excelling academically specifically writing and when she has trouble in math is getting that extra help she needs even though she does not have identified support this has boosted her confidence and is preparing her for Middle School this is without a doubt as a result of the excellent co-teaching between M Paul and Mr saen this attention to her gift for writing and ability to get extra help in math will no doubt be affected by this change as teachers as both teachers will be spread thin trying to manage a class of 20 some with IEPs during January through June in which the mo which is the most crucial time in fourth grade as they prepare to take their state testing this change while it may be legal as it relates to IP time requirements is not the reputation the district should be striving for for surrounding special services especially an inclusion classro room for two teachers is justifying the norm as well as moving teachers around without consideration for the actual teacher in their Career Development lack of communication and regard for an established teaching environment is something that has been ignored in this situation teachers should not be pushed and pulled around so sorry I just have to interrupt if there's anybody else that would like to take the podium Chen fish hi Kathy fugia Fox Hol Trail Bernardsville I am also here to speak to you about the changes in four hall seen my son Nicholas is in that class he does not have an IEP um I am here to discuss the changes that have taken place regarding the fourth grade inclusion class that was originally taught by Miss Hall and Mr seen as my son Nicholas is member of that classroom this class has been taught as an inclusion and co- teing classroom since day one though Miss Hall's a veteran teacher and Mr siken is on the newer side this was a new experience for both of them and it was evident that they worked hard before the year even began to create an environment where everyone's needs were met and each student and teacher strengths were magnified conferences in November were held together a clear plan was outlined for parents regarding which teacher was responsible for which lessons throughout the parts of the Day comments were heard from both teachers about a student's progress and learning and specific strengths and weaknesses it was evident that teaching was happening together and a great deal of emphasis was being put on the class room team as a whole to Echo what Amy has said I'm also a classroom parent and have had the opportunity to be in the classroom for parties and crafts and the two of them together really are magic the way it feels in that room it's easy to see how the children are thriving it's an environment that Fosters learning engagement creativity fun discipline and all that an inclusion classroom should be this class functions as a team because the team of teachers has made it that way to remove one of them for even a portion of the day makes no sense the children are threaten and you finally have a successful special services environment in this building on a separate note I'd like to know why parents were not notified of this change by Administration school or otherwise why did I have to hear about this major shift in classroom environment and dynamic from my 10-year-old was special services hoping the children would not report back at home were they hoping to sneak in the change without parents noticing the children noticed and the parents have noticed and you've left parents with no answers for our children about why have of their beloved teacher team has suddenly headed to another classroom after 5 months of them being taught together I strongly urge you to reconsider moving Mr Sean out of the inclusion classroom he's an integral part of the classroom Dynamic and the students and parents will miss him greatly I look forward to hearing an update from some or all of you or possibly even building administrators thank you thank you [Music] Mora mcgrail 36 Steven Street Bernardsville during the last meeting it was mentioned that special education is about ensuring that every child regardless of ability has the tools and support they need to be educated appropriately it was further explained that decisions are made by a multi-disciplinary team including parents and teachers and that collaboration makes for the best outcomes I feel it's imperative that I share my experience publicly so that everyone can see how the district defines collaborative after receiving reading support in second grade with a reading specialist not via an IEP our child was placed out in third grade for being quote unquote right on the cusp in January of 2023 I submitted our initial letter and request for an evaluation and we were denied we spent the rest of that school year meeting with Specialists and having private evaluations done after seeing our ZIP code one of those specialist said she truly hoped she wouldn't find anything because she knew what a challenge it would be for us to get services in our district that definitely sounds like the reputation of a child study team that's collaborative in July 2023 7 months after our initial request for an evaluation the child study team agreed in November of 2023 11 months after our initial requests and thousands of dollars later the district was finally collaborative and after several pain making meetings we had an IEP in place for those 2 years my child had zero specialized reading support how is this ensuring that every child regardless of ability has the tools and support they need to be educated appropriately how is this collaborative most parents would give up at the first no and that seems to be what our district wants as mentioned last meeting IEP stands for individualized Education plan however the recommendation we were given was an off-the-shelf recommendation for several hours in a resource room when just months ago this same team of individuals was telling me that my child didn't even need to be evaluated how are we to trust their recommendations when I questioned the child child study team about other options there was again no collaboration the response I kept receiving was this is what we are recommending and is it is in accordance with state laws which seems to be a recurring theme from every person that has has been up here tonight so I offered a solution that I knew they would say no to but thankfully I have a child study Advocate who is part of a child study team in another District so I knew it could be done she was appalled at the Hoops we had to go through the lack of detailed information in the evaluations and how uncollaborative our child study team was no one doubts that our child study team is working hard but they need to work smarter we are fooling ourselves if we think it is like this in every District that there are this many lawsuits for failing to provide services for parents even with a diagnosis having to fight tooth and nail for their child's education for the majority of parents having the same experience for there to be this many serious behavioral issues in classrooms M mcgrail my apologies I have to interrupt is there anybody else who would like to make a statement nope okay then you'll have another 3 minutes okay um for there to be this many serious behavioral issues in classrooms likely because we have failed these children and now every student in that classroom's education is being negatively impacted We are failing our children and our teachers in any business the culture attitude and ways of working is set by leadership leadership sets the tone in my experience with our district the leadership of the child study Child Services team has set the tone for mediocracy instead of thinking outside of the box for the individual child I truly look forward to collaborating in the future thank you thank you is there anybody else at this time no okay then can I get a motion to close public comments please miss Santoro and a second Miss Cooper okay thank you and I will need then at this time a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion for okay and a second okay Miss Gomez uh all in favor okay thank you have a good night everyone say hi