good evening everybody uh at this point I would like to call our February 11th uh 2025 meeting to order with everybody please stand up for the F the United States of America to the for it stands na God indivisible
andice hey Mr boy can you call the roll please yes Mrs H here Mr seral pres Sir Mr Jess here Mr Carlson here Mrs Sherwin here Mrs CA here Mrs Dale is absent Mr
kimik here Mr Garcia is absent Mrs Shaw here okay we have a forum public notice adequate notice of this meeting in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act has been provided by action of the board of education at its
regular meeting January 7 2025 notices that the corer news and Star Ledger circulated in the school district and a posted notice to this effect on the board of education website and building Bol the board administrative headquarters 51 Westcliff Street Somerville New Jersey so at this point
uh we are opening up the four to public comment uh and again just uh keep in mind please that public comment and participation are governed by the rules that are stated within the agenda itself I would just ask that if you making comment first that you state your name
and your address and keep your comments to approximately 3 minutes okay are there any public comments good evening Danny tip ladies uh 15 Hamilton Street Somerville New Jersey um so when you download the I have a request when you download the
agenda you can search it it's easily searchable like if you're looking for something specific is it possible to get the meeting minutes uploaded to the website also in a PDF file that is searchable like as of right now you'd have to read through the whole thing if there was something specific you were looking for just make it more readable
if there was something that you were specifically looking for that's it great thank you for your comment there any other public comments distinguished members of school board superintendent Lis and Friends
Jamie bortac Readington New Jersey I wanted to address the board this evening the voting referendum regarding the facilities expandion and renovation projects within the district I applaud the administration and school board for initiating a very ambitious and long
reaching Capital program and upgrading the infrastructure across the district uh the widespread facilities and programs will likely impact every student in the district and for the better investment in our schools on a prudent basis is necessary to maintain
competitiveness and Lasting viability our schools and communities are ins sconed together as one for many your home is the most significant asset of ownership that you have the value attributable to your home is directly
reflected in and by the quality of the schools any future incremental value appreciation that your home realizes is also greatly attributable to its schools by investing in our schools and its programs and Facilities we continue to
make the district the place that people want to move and raise families I hope that this message resonates so that the referendum passes and the project can move forward uh and while the checkbook is open our music program is growing both
in numbers as well as opportunities and accolades for students certainly the marching bands no is well established Additionally the concert programs have achieved their biggest enrollment in many years and the coral program has had a record number of freshmen quick
microcosm of this growth is indicative in the indoor percussion Ensemble the Viper percussion Ensemble had about 12 people three years ago it now has 36 I would urge the board to look at the capital needs regarding instruments and
Equipment my rough back of the envelope calculations is that roughly $250,000 would accommodate this it could be adopted with a 3 to foure refresh plan with about 62 to 83,000 a year going towards that effort uh the growth
of the program is also such that the district may need to look at an incremental teaching position to keep the student staff ratios in line with reasonable metrics please continue to invest in this Flagship program which is one of the cornerstones of the school with some of the most intelligent and
talented Achievers of the high school in an environment that is accommodating for all thank you very much thank you what you do for the district thank you for your comment there any other public comments hello my name is Nicholas Eugene Delo and I live at 11 Shady at
court Branchburg and I attend Branchburg Central Middle School I'm currently in seventh grade and I am here to advocate for an orchestra program at Somerville high school I have been attending Orchestra since fifth grade and when it was introduced to me and and that is
when it was introduced to me I now play for the orchestra and chamber orchestra at bcms once a week for the before school club I love playing for orchestra playing the cello is my life and I plan
to continue for high school college and professional career currently as you know there is no Orchestra program during the school hours at Somerville high school myself my family other Orchestra members at the middle and and other Orchestra members at the middle
school and their families would like to ask for an orchestra program that will be in place so that um we can continue Be Love currently there are 62 members at the middle school many of which are passionate about what we do we will we look forward classes
lesson times performances trips and competitions there there is an after there is an after school club at the high school but it only meets once a week it that doesn't satisfy the daily experience and and grade that we would
obtain from a structured orchest class as as I can as I can't speak on a personal level for each student each student that plays but I know that music gives me an outlet to express myself it improves my life quality it gives me
a way to be creative a way to channel my emotions it gives me an a social outlet an opportunity to socialize with other students my age with similar passion there is there's tons of literature and benefits of Music how how
music introduces the the um introduces brain reaction and stimulat and stimulates Direction and cogni skills there there are studies that show music helps students get better at grades makes makes us more responsible and
disciplined helps us open up and be more soci because it gives us the ability to express ourselves I don't want to end my uh education next next year after four years of working so hard I've learned so much and have and had wonderful teachers
I had already considered other high schools to attend to because no Orchestra program at shs other options are very expensive or require me to move to another town if you could please consider adding an orip curriculum to to myself and many other
students lives in shs we would be very grateful thank you for listening thank you for your comment hi I'm Telo I live 126 Old York Road in Bridgewater and I am the uh Orchestra adviser I the orchestra
teacher at bcms and I lead the club which does meet once a week um after school on Thursdays I want to start off by um acknowledging that many of you have seen me here every couple years and are used to my my speech if you will um
and I also just want to acknowledge how grateful I am for um your funding of the club and allowing me to meet with the students and to have this club it's been a really positive experience for the students um and a great way for me to continue music the music education for
these students um as you as you heard from from my student Nick there are so many students who are missing out not only on um having the full experience of being in classes but also um so many
students don't participate in the club because there's so many other things after school they have sports they have family conflicts a lot of my students have work and they can't participate because they're working um and I feel so sad that these students aren't able to
continue certainly there is a phenomenal band and choir program and I do encourage all of my students to take advantage of this so that they can um continue in music but asking someone who's really passionate about their instrument to change their instrument
four years is really hard to do um so I do urge you to to consider what it might look like to add an orchestra class to your curriculum maybe it would start as just an elective or maybe it would
become something more than that to be able to reach these students my numbers at bcms have grown in the eight years that I've been teaching there um now it ranges typically from 60 to 70 kids in Just branch middle school and then it
drops down right now I have 20 you know 20 to 25 kids in this club which again I'm so grateful the kids that are there they're really passionate they make every effort to be there but I'm missing out on all the students who tell me oh this was my passion but I'm really
competitive and track so I can't I can't do both I can't miss out on my fencing meets which are on Thursdays um and you know you you heard how the the music program is growing with the band and the clier so if there is a consideration for
a part-time position that person could teach Orchestra and there would be interest I guarantee you there would be so much interest and it would only enhance the program I do have some students who participate in banding choir um but a handful just do not and they don't get to have it as part of
their GPA um it makes it very difficult if they wanted to actually pursue music not that that's the sole purpose of music ucation but just meeting for an hour and a week is an hour a week is really not enough um I also wanted to ask what this would look like long term
if if there are certain numbers that you're looking for for me um you know you've heard me speak at board meetings but I I would love if there's some sort of communication so that I could know okay we're working towards this number in the club and that will allow us to
consider it um I know that because there's no string program in in the middle school for Somerville Elementary that that has been also a point of contention um but if there's a a person who maybe could be part-time at the high school and maybe start a program at the
middle school it would like I said only enhance um the the program I know I'm I'm short of my time I just wanted to add that I do have probably over the past couple years 10 to 15 families who have outright told me that they're moving we're sending their kids to
private school because of the La of the Orchestra program so then you're missing out on the those excellent students in summerbell high school so I just wanted to bring that up as something that I'm seeing that you're not necessarily seeing in your numbers that this really is a lack um for how phenomenal the
music program is it would only be better by adding this other this other Branch thank you so much thank you for your coming thank you any other public comments okay can I please have a motion to close public comment move okay second
all in favor opposed exension okay public comment is now closed um I do want to just first Nick I want to thank you for The Bravery that it takes to go up it's a courageous thing to stand up in front
of a number of adults and make a public comment like that so I applaud you just for how you did that for the way you compos yourself uh that's not an easy thing to do and I do appreciate everything that you said Mr Sendel I want to thank you as well for your comment relative to the Orchestra program um as some of you may know I've
received a lot of emails over the past week about this um what I can commit to is the idea again of at least having one of our committees examine that uh as you know this is you know it's a facility question it becomes a staffing question it certainly becomes a budget item that
you know has to be examined very very carefully and and it's something again that I can only commit that we'll ask that other members of the board take a look at this uh I can't make any promises with regard to what will happen with that but I think um you know your willingness to come over and actually
run the the club and work in a club you know is a step that wasn't there a few years ago and I think it's a process again in terms of of you know just incrementally moving forward and and you know making sure that we're just examining um possibilities with that so so I do want to commit to that as well
and and Nick again I want to thank you for for your words because um to be the most powerful thing is when a student comes out and talks to us um you know so you should you should feel very good about that um again comments around uh you know just just uh the other aspects
of our music program um you know I think we all appreciate the Arts and we all see the value in the Arts programs themselves and and I just um you know want to um you know thank you for your comments as well and the certainly the idea of being able to search something in terms of the minutes you know we'll we'll take a look at that as well so um
so again um any other comments from board members very quickly okay all right okay good job Mr Jess all right uh approval of minutes resolved that the Board of Education approved the minutes of the Board of Education meeting as
follows January 7 2025 regular meeting can I have a motion for that move Sir Mr Serio a second second Miss Van Horn a second Mr Boyce we can do an all in favor on it right um all in favor I I uh oppos
exensions one and Mr Carlson abstention okay great thank you all right board president report I'll I'll try to keep this very brief because we do have number of things that we're just doing in terms of presentations I do want the public to realize that we made a number of adjustments to our agenda format so if
you're looking at the agenda you'll see that we moved our committees up to the front of the agenda um if we have a committee report the committee report will only take place if the committee has met between the time that the last board meeting took place and this board meeting and board members have the
opportunity to review the minutes of the committee meetings before Public Presentation of those minutes um so just be aware that's a shift that we're making with that so you'll see a date next to the committee if it's listed that typically means that that committee met and that they're ready to make a report to the to the full board in
public um it's important I think uh for board members to recognize that you should be able to view those minutes before they are publicly reported so you're you know informed and you're able to ask questions if you would like to of of the committee um chairs with that um you'll also notice that the agenda is
organized now into K8 items and 912 items so we are going to continue just with a consent agenda so that means that we'll have two motions on our agendas that there'll be a motion for all K8 items um and they'll just be done at once and the board will vote on K8 items and then we'll have a second motion for
our 912 items so they're no longer organized by the committee groupings they're just organized by K8 and 912 just to kind of keep the consent items um um you know clean for everybody and just understanding what um how that's going to work um I do want to note on
the agenda there are two retirements uh that are that are within the agenda tonight that long-term staff members have made a decision to retire one is margorie Mahoney who is a school psychologist at Somerville Middle School uh she's retiring come July she has been
with the district for 28 years which is uh just a a very long career within Somerville I think it's U something again that um you know that that that speaks I think to her commitment to the community and just to um you know her work as well within within town and then Amy Lawless who is a physics teacher at
the high school is also retiring and and she has been with the district for 22 years um so I want to thank both of those employees and teachers just for their commitment to our students their commitment to our programs um you know and and and really just um recognize that um you know they they've touched a
lot of lives in their time in Somerville uh the other thing I just want to point on the agenda is um item number 10 um there's there's a item in there about Somerville Middle School auditorium seating renovation and I want to thank Mr Boyce and I want to thank um the facilities committee uh because they've
really taken a look again at you know Capital planning and that's something that I think the district has done very well over the years in terms of upkeep on buildings in terms of you know looking at opportunities for Grants outside of um uh you know just our regular operating budget and you know
this is something again that when we look at our middle school that's that's something that with respect to the auditorium that Auditorium is just it's just a gem and it's something again that the seating there is in dire need of repair u so this is addressing that need and I I bring this up because it's also
the idea with our referendum which we're going to talk a little bit about tonight this is the kind of project in terms of upkeep that has been a part of our Capital planning and then part of our regular budget and capital planning and then certain grants that Mr Boyce and his team have worked very hard to acquire where the referendum is outside
of that there are much bigger projects and things that fall outside of our regular Capital planning um but there there are always items like that within our agenda and I just wanted to point that out to the community and point that out to the board because there's there's some certainly some good work and uh I think a real commitment to the upkeep of
the buildings as much as we can do within our operating budget outside of something like a referendum uh so with that I'll close my report and I'll turn it over to um our superintendent all right thank you Mr G appreci appreciate it and uh for the sake of time I'm going to uh go right
into a really important topic that we want to talk about tonight and you can see it on the screen right here um so we are uh heavy into uh trying to get the community up to speed about the factual and clear information for the referendum I think it's really important because we had discussions in the fall and in
December made a decision as to what it was going to look like and now it's getting out that information um both in terms of you know what actually are in the two questions what the cost is going to be to the taxpayer um and how that's going to materialize um with all that said uh we have a pretty complex uh
campaign that's designed to educate and engage the entire community and I think it's important for everyone to know that that'll be done on multiple platforms right so we'll provide information the old fashioned way we'll provide information digitally provide information in person we've already started some of those campaigns getting out in the public and talking to people
and answering questions that they might have um and we want voters to be able to make informed decisions that's really what our number one priority is so with that said in a moment I'm going to show a video this video will be out there for the entire public it gives a nice overview of what's going on in the referendum from top to bottom um I want
to thank the folks that helped us with that one being uh to my left here Mr Garcia speaking on behalf of the board uh we also have Tyler khazar speaking uh on behalf of some of the Arts and the programs he's heavily involved in and uh Jennifer thece uh speaking both as a
citizen and employee of the district um so it's really important that this information gets out there because it really summarizes in video form what's going on there we're also going to have two really important public forums uh and in those forums you're the entire Community will have an opportunity to ask people questions um
and those people are not only us and the the people from our faculty but the professionals that we've hired to work with uh on this referendum so on February the 19th at 7 o'cl in the media center we'll have an in-person Forum with those folks available uh and then a building tour of two the the major
components of question one which is the auditorium and the science room so I think it's important that people see when you go in that Auditorium as you said um we have a gem here in the Middle School auditorium that's also a really important piece of so many of our programs the High School auditorium uh but it's in sore need of of updating um
that's a 1970s original all right we want people to be able to see that so that can help make a decision on whether uh you know which way they want to go with that vote and then on March 4th there's a virtual form at 7:00 and that'll be via Zoom we'll get that uh link out there it'll be on the website
and speaking of that website that is a One-Stop sh that's constantly being updated it has all the necessary information to fully uh understand the referendum and all the components of it but it also uh is up to date with questions that we receive from individuals so that all those questions and answers can be there for the public
to to consume uh we have mailings there'll be postcards that are sent to All residents in Somerville um printed material flyers and business cards that are being distributed those are available in multiple languages uh press releases and social media so we're going oldfashioned with the press releases
you'll see those on from time to time but also social media has that information readily available uh and community outreach as we said we are going to as many community events as we possibly can to answer those questions in person for folks um and there's also a a dedicated email address that you can
get on the website and people have been asking questions uh via that format then like I said we respond directly to the the folks but then we also post that in in facts the FAQs um so this is a focused campaign really built on transparency and accessibility we want
every Community member to understand what they are looking at on that March 11th vote uh so that they don't have any questions uh regarding it um and what we're going to do just kind of to to finish things off tonight is take a look at this this brief video and we really
want the community to stay engaged stay informed uh and and stay involved in this process so Glenn if you don't mind just playing that video for us it's a little under 5 minutes but then that'll be available and publicly consumable after we play it here we might have to give us a few
minutes but to get it up [Music] online here in Somerville we deeply value our schools and are proud of how they stand out across the state Our Community Trust our schools and now the Board of Education trusts the community
to decide the district's future Somerville schools prepared me and countless others for real world success it's true Somerville public schools have a reputation for setting and maintaining high standards in academics Athletics and Performing Arts our school facilities however need updates to match
the extraordinary things happening inside our classroom and on our fields and stages that's why we're holding a bond referendum on Tuesday March 11th the Board of Education carefully chose projects that benefit every student in Somerville we imagined a future in which high school students would conduct
science experiments and Labs that reflect modern advances rather than the 1970s we imagine the sense of security our student staff and their families would feel walking through new security vestibules every morning and we imagine the Vil
Pride our community would feel cheering on our award-winning Sports and Performing Arts in a fully renovated Auditorium in a new gymnasium or in a new multisport turf field when voters like me go to the polls March 11th we will consider two ballot questions the
first question is far-reaching touching every school and every student with updates to science labs multi-purpose rooms roofs heating ventilation and air conditioning systems security vestibules athletic storage auditoriums and more a multiport turf field at vanderbeer would
also serve the whole community and make scheduling games and practices far easier especially after it rains Somerville students and staff deserve to have facilities that match the caliber of teaching and learning the science labs in particular haven't been
updated since the 1970s we want our facilities to reflect our District's commitment to stem and prepare our students for the environments they'll find in college and their careers the second ballot question would transform our high school a new athletic building would feature a gym locker rooms weight
room athletic training facility and more my own three children have already graduated from Somerville high school but would have loved a second gym they often practiced or competed late at night since scheduling was challenging with only one gym we know that Athletics builds confidence and has been linked to
academic success but this space wouldn't be just for student athletes the marching van Color Guard robotics team and more would use this space not to mention the W programs and Community groups we trust the community to decide and crafted the ballot to have two
questions the timing of this referendum is advantageous for two reasons state aid is available and debt from previous referenda will soon be paid off as a result voter approval of question one would lead to a tax decrease and voter approval of questions 1 and two would
lead to a tax increase either way state aid helps offset the cost to taxpayers that state a $7.3 million for both questions comes from money that Somerville residents as well as every other New Jersey resident already paid the state through taxes only communities
with a voter approved referendum can access this type of Aid Somerville students are extraordinary they're high achieving academically and often participate in multiple extracurricular activities beyond the classroom this referendum is for them it's also for the
Somerville Community a town that is strong because of our schools please remember to vote on Tuesday March 11th polls will be open from 6:00 in the morning to 8: at night at vanderver elementary school and Somerville High School visit Somerville schools.org to learn more about the projects Financial
strategy and how to vote see you at the polls all right want to thank everyone that was involved in that important messaging there that'll be out there to the community and then as I said the uh website really is a One-Stop shop and we hope to see everybody at either the
virtual Andor inperson um opportunities to ask questions so uh another component of my monthly uh reports is going to be uh regarding the district audit so I think it's important that not only in my newsletter which I
put out on a monthly basis but also here uh at the meeting we we give an update of what's been going on and the important work that our students our staff and our administrators have been up to there so uh one of the first things is in terms of data usage so there's been improvements there and have been since the beginning of the school
year streamlining teacher access to student data and then taking that information having a refined data warehouse and consistency check so it's accurate and it's used in a meaningful way uh we continue to uh refine teacher evaluation processes ensuring that inter rator reliability is there with uh
important important feedback tied to identified look fors that all our administrators have that are tied to um you know our data goals uh Recruitment and hiring processes that um you know have been and will continue to be refined especially with our new HR Director J Dr sentes to make sure
they're efficient and aligned to our district priorities uh ongoing work to optimize student placement and refine course offering so that they do reflect our student needs and give them all the academic opportunities that they need and uh curriculum update cycle has been
developed and uh put into place to make sure that those are up to date and looked at on a 5-year rotating cycle obviously learning standards come out that you know make us tweak that then obviously we have to adapt to the state and they tend to throw those curveballs at us from time to time um we've also uh
streamlined our assessment schedule that was a really important observation and uh component to the uh District audit with making sure that we're not over assessing but we have to make sure we have enough assessments to give a real indication of where our students are in real time our our data teams are up and
running not only in each of buildings but on a districtwide level uh and the purpose of those is to look at that data be able to turn key and utilize it and give teachers um actionable steps uh in the classroom with where their students are right now um you know we're utilizing data right now uh in fact
giving benchmarks and uh and assessments like that so that we can look at where students are now leading up to the state assessments um and then actually take a look at the standards unpack them and see you know where our students have been struggling um in terms of MLS we want to
and have continued to look at our intake protocols and our um exit protocols to make sure that those are in line with where our students are and where they need to be um but also we already looked at in the beginning of the school year how those um you know classes were organized um and what type of structure they had and what curriculum they were
using uh SEI training which is sheltered English instruction um is on a yearly basis now it has been done in the past with many of our instructors but now it'll be uh reinstituted this spring and then on a yearly basis all our students excuse me all our teachers receive that um and really going forward we're going
to continue this important work looking at our data system looking at our professional learning opportunities the 18th is our next one we're really looking forward to that and that's going to be quite a bit of work on getting our teachers up to speed on how to use data in real time how to use it in a meaningful way so it informs their
instruction now um but then also in terms of long term looking at it in terms of our curriculum our we covering all the standards in you know in the proper time frame you know what does our pacing guide look like what do we do with that information so those are some things that we've been working on and we'll continue to do so so I wanted to give everyone an update
there um and if we want uh bill I can jump into that quick presentation on our goals or if you want to go reports first up to you why don't we go ahead and do the presentation then we'll do excellent
thank you go little cheat with some of the gos for all right so this is something we've talked about and and had a few discussions on but we really want to look at quickly here is uh how we set our goals the
committee work that we're doing that alluded to and then you know the CSA evaluation my evaluation happens on a yearly basis all right so board goals we talked about these um conceptually we've uh had some comments on them what I gave you
there was just a little cheat sheet on some of the highlights that you'll see here up on the screen but we want to address the role of the Board of Education we want to make sure that um must be entirely within the board's purview uh in terms of these goals they should be drafted discussed and fine-tuned by the board and the board
should vote formally which we have done on one goal already if you recall that one goal that we have voted on and appears on our agenda is board of education has approved the August 2024 curriculum audit to be used as strategic tool to enhance student performance improve academic achievement and strengthen curricular programs
throughout the district and these goals can be multi-year in nature so um with that said an important component to working towards those goals would be our committee work um and looking at what the committee is responsible for and then the board is
the whole so committees do not decide on issues for the board they lessen the leg work for the board they do the Deep dive on issues of governance and determine a recommendation for the full board right they're um then going to allow the board to either accept modify or reject those
recommendations and in order for the board to do their best work we really need communication as Bill alluded to before getting whatever happens in those committees communicated out to the rest of the board M so they all know what's going on before it's then shared with the public so that's an important step to that
work so in terms of best practices we want to clearly Define the mission of these uh committees the board understands the purpose of the committee and the committee members understand what their duties are when they go into those committees we want to make sure that we're respectful of people's time but that we use that time together
wisely all right consistent committee membership um for the calendar year so we want to get out an agenda of when we're going to meet and get those cend invites out to everybody oh I ski one sorry and administratively a on which is going to attend those meetings right that'll be regular and the same person
so there's consistency there we want to keep those uh meeting dates regular obviously if emergencies come up you tweak them but you put out the whole year um you know schedule for those so that everybody knows when they are and can work around those um they're going to uh perform work to support the
superintendent's recommendations with boards for future agendas right not busy work and the agendas are are prolongated to or excuse me shared with all the board members not just committee members we talked about that and then minutes are going to be distributed to everyone I had mentioned this already
but it's important that you have a start and an end time and you're respectful of that you want a real strict agenda that's going to be you know followed and adhered to right sometimes you might stray in a conversation but we want to get back onto that important work that we've been assigned as a committee it should be focused uh and take care of
that work at hand and allow for discussion among all members board members and administrators alike um minutes are to be taken in consistent and appropriate Manner and as we talked about communicated out they should be accurate and uh everyone should be on board with what's in those
minutes right um it's important that they're accurate because everyone's going to be getting them and then eventually shared with the public so we want to make sure that those reports that come out reflect those minutes accurately the committee abide by establish mechanism for all members to gain that thorough understanding um and
chairperson uses the minutes as a basis for their committee report that they make at the public U you know meeting and committees examine their effectiveness on a regular basis right so we're always reflecting on our practices making sure that we're doing uh you know what we've been assigned to do and tasked with and make sure we stay
on task with that all right last component is the timeline that you know we'll talk about at a later date but make sure that that ads to you know responsibilities the board has for my yearly evaluation all right thanks um just for
a full board um and I do want to just have or invite a short discussion about this if if people would like to ask questions this is one of the areas that you know I think we really just need to kind of think about how we function as a board making sure that a couple key points like the agendas for meetings
being sent out to the full board ahead of the meeting taking place like essentially when a meeting is scheduled and we know that you know there's going to be a curriculum committee meeting the agenda should be something that um is developed and is in my opinion shared with the full board before the meeting
takes place um it's not something again that means that you can't have something introduced to that agenda that takes place organically within a meeting but generally speaking board members should be apprised of what is being discussed within those meetings um so that that's
kind of a shi I think in the way that in my experience our committees have functioned um Jr's also kind of pointed out a couple other things that that were on those sides you know the idea of minutes being taken at the meetings and having a standard format for me for for minutes really that that I think is
shared between committees as like this is just kind of the way that we take our minutes and then really I think that um the point of having like a standard or a set person administratively who is the lead a on that person can also help with
that you know that person can kind of help you know kind of organize some of that because if we're meeting in a in a school facility and it's you know something that you can't get on the network here you know that person can also attend to that the administrator should also contribute to the agenda so it's the type of thing that it should be
a board agenda but you know it's also the type of thing that an administrator may say this is really important and we talk about this during this time frame so it's more of a collaborative effort with that um you know Jr and I have a lot of discussions about this I think in the time that we've kind of met over the past month and a half or so just trying
to just make sure that we have systems in place that are clear for the administrators are clear because we have a lot of new people on our administrative team are shared in terms of the clarity with board members and that that work is something again that uh is sustainable over time so like as
we kind of shift committee chairs next year or the following year that you know Jr has a system that's clear and the administrators understand it the board members understand it and when we do our you know our our orientation for new board members we're able to communicate that effectively as well um there any
questions about process on that or or comments Mr no just just for clarity really simple the administrator is that somebody Committee Member as well to take to take minutes and set the help set the agenda okay yeah so the administrator is a full participant in
the meeting um you know I think when we when we talk about attendance at a meeting an administrator would be noted as being here as well and is is serving on that committee as the administrative is on yeah and and as far as recording the mins go be a standard template that will be created or yeah I think we
something will be pushed out and he has you know something again that can be shared with the administrators and also shared with the committee chair so they're clear on that you know and I think you know that's just one of those things again that you know when we talk about um you know the Public Presentation of
minutes you know the idea in our work here as a full board when when a Public Presentation of the minutes is done that's the opportunity for us to kind of share our work with the public but it's also the opportunity that if there is a question that somebody has about those minutes that the board member has been
able to review it ahead of time and not not hearing it for the first time when it's being presented in public so that board member would be able to actually say well I do have a question about this and can you clarify this item on those minutes you know that's that a thing um I think relative to board goals um you
know Jr provided kind of a cheat sheet here that um has some draft board goals that he and I discussed that's not intended to be an adoption of goals tonight I think what I would ask is for everybody to review board goals that are on here if you disagree with those board
goals or you think like that shouldn't be on there for now and there should be something else in place that you look at that that you provide feedback to me um Jr and I meet weekly and he and I can have a discussion about that and for our next meeting we want to do a formal adoption of board goals so I would ask
that everybody contribute you know their ideas around what our board goal should be as opposed to District goals and make sure that that's the work of the board so you know one of the things I think that our a board goal that I'm going to recommend is that we really um revise
our our you know committee workings and that we make sure that we're attending to that across the year in terms of our committee communication you know that that may be an example of a board goal that's kind of measurable at the end of the year for us we can kind of look at that and that makes sense all right questions or comments about a board members you want do you want us to email
you and Jr together you email sure uh yes I do have a question if upon receiving minutes from a committee and if we have questions or comments do we email that committee or wait until the next public meeting I think it's
appropriate you can email that committee chair to ask clarification about that um and you should see see me on that as well so I'm aware of that um you know I I think that's an appropriate thing to do in terms of you know a very specific question if it's something again that um
we want all board members to hear or see then that's something again that I would bring up at a board meeting as well yeah was so we have to be very careful when we put out these meeting agendas which I think is a great idea ahead of time it's
not a it doesn't become a a subject of for open discussion and replying to all and stuff like that doesn't accidentally become a right and those meeting agendas should really be um they could be BC Seed the board
members and I would recommend anytime that and the committee chair and the administrative and J Jr and I could speak about this like who is sending out those minutes to the committee itself you know I I've done it both ways where the committee chair does that I've
also in my professional work you know do some of this as well and administratively sometimes that can be done but I think anytime we're having a like a full sharing with the whole board that should always be a BCC so there's no chance of like a a quarum and a
discussion taking place that way but it's great point I mean that's something we have to be really really careful about I personally am appreciative of this effort I feel like it builds consistency so that when we are changing committees that the procedures are the
same you know we we have consistency I think it's it's too easy to become complacent um that yes we're doing this but it's not it's not something that that everyone is abiding to per se so I think this will build consistency and it will really help with the transitions as
we move forward um and then regarding the discussion about the types of committees that we would like to see for our board is that something that is going to happen as we start to talk about these goals because from what I'm gleaning from what you're saying is that
we're reassessing the number of committees we possibly have if I'm interpreting this correctly um I I I'd like to learn a little bit more about what you need committees committees are actually stated in board policy so if we're we can always evaluate the number
of committees that we have or the I think the charge of the committee U that's something that's a full board discussion and if there are suggestions around that then you know that's something that um would require us to make a policy change um my recommendation would be that we don't do that in the middle of the year that we
do that you know when we do a reor so like we think about that you know committees are assigned in January so if we were going to make a a a change to committees I would recommend that we do that for our November agenda and we make a change in November with the idea that
we know that that committee is going to be uh somehow adjusted and that that policy is going to that we can approve that policy uh in November so we know going into December that's that's that's the adjustment that's made for the new year okay and I really will appreciate having all of the dates of the meetings
for the entire year so that I can plan appropriately and it is a type of thing for committee chairs you know my feeling is we should we should schedule 10 meetings a year you know with the idea that if if there's not a topic that requires a committee meeting we can
always cancel a meeting but I think where we get caught sometimes right now is we schedule four or five meetings and then we need a committee meeting and it's really hard for people to get their calendar straight so I think you know you know my my ask would be that you know people have monthly meetings scheduled they're on the calendar um
it's something that Jr is aware of it's something that the administratively ason are aware of we block out our our own calendars for that and then that there's something again that somebody can't make a meeting or you know we have to make an adjustment to that then that's fine you know and I think um you know I know Jr has reached out to certain committee
chairs and just say can you share the dates with me but other board members should know that a committee is meeting at this time you can't go the meeting but you should at least know that they're meeting but not all like policy committee is only as needed an ad hoc
one right and that's a question of can some of those ad hoc committees be you know combined in some way you know there there are you know that that's a that's a bigger discussion I think that we don't have to have right now but I think just want to make sure I wasn't supposed to schedule a yearly meeting no yeah
those ad hoc ones are a little different they only meet as as you know as required right and then once once the procedures are set in place we we will we be able to can you send that out to us you know it seems like we're in the development stage of deciding are we reaching out to committee chairs you
know there's been a lot of things that have been discussed so if we can get a copy of the procedures so that we're we're all on the same page I think that would be hopeful yeah I think the commitment we can make on that one is that um Jr and I meet weekly so he and I will finalize uh what we feel the
procedure should be um and we'll push that out to all committee chairs and all board members so there everybody is aware of the way that's going to function and then um you know that doesn't require us to formally adopt that um that's just something again that is going to be you know kind of a norm
that we have with that but but I do think um you know this this to me is a good example of a of a of a very board specific goal you know this is something that you know really governs the way we function as board members rather than like a district goal that is is kind of in the administration of the of the district
itself okay all right any other questions or comments all right thank you everybody for for your contributions there that's great okay you have anything else all right moving on to committee reports uh Mr shil yours is not a
committee report but you're making it very an update go for it and in a brief point that sir but um first with regards to um Athletics and activities I guess I'll speak to that now as well we'll be
scheduling our first meeting from March and then this based on the conversation now we'll be scheduling remainder remaining um things for the year so I look forward to that um and now really really quick updates I know there's a lot to cover um with all the bill faithful out there here some quick
updates from the pirer nation I'm going to start with girls basketball because um I want to First commend uh our student board rep Riley Doo I think that is her for um including oh no Char that's this is Charlotte Taylor forgive
me Charlotte Taylor here for for her career 1,000 Point uh uh senior Charlotte Taylor but I also want to say the lady Pioneers are facing their Rivals bridgew right now as we speak tip offs in about 10 minutes and then princeon day tomorrow there's four games
left in the season before the 65 Pioneers close out close it out but they are on a tear winning six of the last eight and the last loss including the summerson county tournament um tournament round to Bernards but last week's conference players of the week
let's give it up for I said Charlotte um she had uh what do they see against hell she had 11 points six rebounds three assists uh 19 points five assists five steals four rebounds and two blocks against Ridge and obviously her thousand point which I mentioned and then five rebounds five assists and four Steals
and three blocks in that same game um let's go to boys basketball the equally dominant Squad uh led by Brady shy and honorable mention for Skyland conference player of the year uh winners of seven to last nine inste of top the Scotland Valley Conference today they're at
burnard tip off in 10 minutes um and then the remainder of their season will add some mileage to the tires as they play burners tonight uh or L harage tomorrow dellan on Valentine's Day andun in central on the 18th so he does lead
the team with 414 points and Tim L following up with 269 the boys fencing team had wred the ship after a five game with a five game Tear after losing the for six so the Pioneers at 1 eight out of nine with the last match being tomorrow at hackstown the girls fencing
Squad led by Molly James at one2 in a row and will compete on the road to cap Walther Seas against hackstown um uh Kent Pace on 1220 respectively and Senior suaya Salma
holds an amazing saber record uh with 24-2 and Senior Tiana nin is 26-6 in the EP rounds as well uh let's go to wrestling a tough year for the wrestling program The Coach K and Company notched up a victory against Fort Lee in style
4631 led by pins from David carasco aen barer Sean O'Neal and George forgive my pronunciation darle okay the boys are closing out the seasons at middle SE night then home in East brunck and marbo
and closing out uh on the road in North planfield so there was a lot discussed about music night and um I can see probably by the small crowd I bet you everyone in here is at the uh Somerville High School Jazz Ensemble uh at this
very moment because they are performing Jazz night at Fresh restorations in in in Somerville so the quartet is also joining them in song and raising money for the booster program so if you haven't been filled with the spirit of music now you should go check them out
tickets are only $20 at the door so if you get there on time or late you will get your money's worth so uh next I'm going to switch it over to robotics we're going to say the date March 11 2025 the robotics team will gather with friends family and supporters to
celebrate the incredible accomplishments from the 2425 build season with an open house dinner is provided and they will showcase this year's robot and you can learn about the build and advancements that were made this year um former board
member pontillo and I attend every year and I encourage uh as many board members as possible to see this event it is it is awesome if you can attend a robotics competition to see what team building and performance actually is um especially when multiple industrial
fields are combined at one um you know this this this is actually a fantastic event so and last but not least our musical which will take place the 6th 7th 8th of March okay is a tribute to Elvis presy the king himself um and
and a jukebox musical jukebox is the name I couldn't find it in my notes so tickets are not on sale yet but I will let you know uh you you will know when the link goes up for it so with that sir that is my report okay thank you for that all right moving
on finance security buildings and grounds Mr Carlson do you have a report no okay all right Communications miss vanor everything was pretty much covered by uh Mr lisco okay great uh technology crypto I think Miss craft are you yes
doing a report thank you um so we met on January 22nd J already said a lot of what we discussed so I'm not going to say it again um just a couple added things that we talked about we talked about how we are using the multi-tiered system of supports called mtss and
that's been being used by teachers for um interventions and this looks at the student as a whole in their academic and social emotional so take into everything into account of how the student how what students are being pulled for interventions in Vander
we have two English language arts and two math interventionists so the Somerville Middle School we would have one English Language Art and one math interventionist and at the high school there is support during their study periods and the high school has been
observing the elementary for more insight um on the intervention and referral service which is called iron RS which is in all the schools um the budgets are being worked on to see if we can hire a reorganize staff to have more math and ell coaches to help support the
struggling students um uh Place me already said sorry going through my notes uh the the ELA curriculum committee at the at Vander has been reviewing the ELA curriculum the best
practices and making uh the vision for next year many of there's many resources and they're trying to utilize them efficiently AP classes at the high school are being reviewed for rigor and placement discussing their prerequisites and the they are looking
at the incoming the eth graders for incoming freshman benchmarks that are being are being used to help for the placement for next year um the Somerville Middle School uses I and branberg is using the max program um
and we received an AI Grant to utilize funds to train our staff on AI for next year and we are one out of 12 districts that received that Grant and that's it okay good job ask just one question
just on the AI Grant is it is it just for the staff to learn how to use it or is it also integrating it into the curriculum so kids know how to use it or be able to tell what is mostly on the the Staffing end uh with also quite a bit of PD that goes along
with how it then integrates into the classroom but there are other efforts that are already in in in play by um you know Miss denrich about uh integrating Ai and utilizing student input there we have um you know expectations and guidelines that are out there already
for our students our staff uh and it's going really well we're you know I will say she has us on The Cutting Edge here especially with this grant I think it'll really put us in a place that um we're utilizing it rather than reacting to it right we're um you know being proactive
rather than reactive to you know this tool that's not going away right right exactly and she's able to buy like best practices and all that y that'll be great okay and then they'll even be more uh because of this grant in the summer for training oh great opportuni great no that's awesome that's great okay any
other questions all right and we do not have a ad hoc negotiations committee report for tonight and policy committee we did not have a meeting so we don't have a report so there's no equity residenc
y i there was no equity and residency committee either okay all right so we moved on to uh our motions for tonight what I'm going to ask uh moving forward what we do is I'm going to ask Mr Jess as the vice
president to make the motions and then we'll collect a second and then we'll just do our vot so it doesn't get confusing so Mr Jess would you make the motion uh yes I'd like to make a motion to approve items 1 through 21 for the preschool through 8th grade section
please so move okay Mr siril is our second okay uh any discussion okay Mr Bo yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr Serio yes yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carlson yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs crasa yes to all abstain to
nine Mr Kim yes Mr Garcia yes okay and we'll make our motion for uh 9th through 12th grade Mr J yes I'd like to make a motion to approve items 22 through 49 under the 9th grade through 12th grade and District y
section please second sir okay second was Mr shil okay any discussion um I would just like to give a shout out and thank you to miss L she was one of my teachers she taught physics um a lot of gratitude and
I think thank you she's a tremendous educator and really grateful to had in the district great thank you just another please question it's not as nice as that one uh for the high school tuition rate that's the branch for tuition correct 30
and for the do you have a sense of what it was last year yes I do I was hoping you had it on hand to ask okay so last this year uh the 2425 tuition rate is
20553 the 2526 rate you see on the agenda is 22684 and just just to explain a little bit more been do there is going to be a drop in in the High School enrollment next year to the tune of about 47 children so that in it of itself will
increase the per puple rate before any in increase in expenses correct so when you add to that but however the total the total dollars including resource room which was a is a component of the tuition that you pay the total dollar amount would
increase 2.9% for the 25 26 year so 2.9% and this is of course prior to if the referendum is passed and then that implication as well to the tuition it assumes a portion of that that referendum passing it assumes a portion
of that correct all any other questions okay I do I do want to just before we vote um just point out all of the coaches and peer advisors and coordinators that are around there and just thank those people who you know just they get a stien for that but I know
they dedicate just a tremendous amount of time past those um hours that they get stien for so thank you to all those people that are stepping up and just um you know working with our students and just you know providing their their support of our program so all right that being said Mr Boyce can you do a call
yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carlson yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs CA yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw Yes except for 23 and 24 okay all right um moving on
to all business no all business I have a motion to close all business Mr J I have a second Mr Carlson okay uh all in favor all opposed
exensions okay moving on to new business there are no new business items have a motion to close Mr Carlson of first and Mr seril a second all in favor I extenstions no
wonderful and we've reached a German can I have a motion to adjourn Mr sh second Mr Jess all in favor all opposed exensions we are now officially closed at 7:01 thank you everybody have a
wonderful night and we're not out yet we'll be out