adequate notice as required by the open public meetings Act was provided on December the 17th 2024 by posting the notice with a respective cler of the city of lamberville bur of Stockton and Township of westw and advertised in the Hun County Democrat and the Trenton Times newspaper please stand for the
flag salute flag the United States Amer the Reps Nation andice Jennifer Bor here Martha Dennis here pet here Keys Kevin kovaleski
here here Micha stra here Rody Todd B now here Jim gallager pres uh thanks everybody for joining us uh as you can see we have a uh we're very pleased to have with us a special guest the high school jazz band did you want to say something in the way of
introduction we're very excited we thought it would be um a great evening as we honor our educators of the year to kick off with our jazz band so I will turn it over to Mr Steve amazing behind two pieces to perform for you this
evening that we put on weeks ago first is my Valentin feat on the followed by every little she does mag it's GNA feature hope you enjo thank you
e e e e e e e e e e e for
you e yeah yes I do first of all I might be the luckiest person in the school because my office is right next door to them and I can hear that all day long it's just awesome so this is one of our highlights of the year for the district and for our
Board of Education as we get to honor our Governor's educator of the Year program for our teachers and our Educational Service service professionals um who who have gone above and beyond as far as what we expect of our staff staff members were nominated
by their peers parents and students a committee was formed at each one of our schools consisting of an administrator staff members and a parent representative and we used the following criteria to select each recipient exceptional instructional strategies
Superior ability to inquire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn respect and admiration of students parents and your colleagues the ability to Foster excellence in education as evidenced by ongoing contributions and the overall learning
environment at this time I'm going to introduce each one of our building principles so that they can introduce their educator and educator service Professionals of the year I would ask that after you were introduced you would come up and you can make your way around the inside of the table to shake hands
with all of our board members and then we have a little special gift for you as well um and then I would also ask at the end once we're done with all of our introductions uh our honores if we can have you go out into the hallway we would like to get a picture so we'll start out first with the middle
school on location and Mr Dave Miller principal good evening so first I would like to acknowledge Cindy zidik Cindy has been an exemplary ESL teacher at West Amwell school and the middle school in location for the past nine years and has served the district at the high
school prior to that her enthusiasm and creativity are evident and her engaging less and interaction with her multilingual Learners she has positively impacted students in grades kindergarten all the way through High School seniors Cindy has also served the South
hunterton schools as part of our ESL parent advisory committee for many years connecting our community to our schools our students and our families she has been an asset to our elementary teachers as an advocate for students a collaborator and a strong communicator
and champion of her students assets for all this and more we congratulate you on the honor of Governor's educator of the year e next I would like to honor Ivon Penna as a power professional Ivon has been able to enhance learning and transform
students in our classrooms she has supported students understanding that each student is unique and possesses their own interests strengths and challenges Avon has worked with multiple grade levels and has supported students with a variety of educational needs this
year Avon can be seen guiding and empowering our preschool students Avon has created a culture around her that is warm supportive and carries the highest expectations congratulations on the honor of Governor's educational support
professional of the year e next we will be we will be doing South Hunter Regional Elementary School unfortunately Miss konis is at her son's championship basketball game this evening so miss Janel and lenon is going to sub in for
her good evening members of the board the jazz band and teachers and our community it is is such a pleasure to um stand in for Miss konus um because these two people that I'm just about to introduce to you are unbelievable
Educators in all aspects of the word this evening South hun ele school on behalf of Miss Q Dear Miss Jameson I cannot express enough how proud I am of the dedication expertise you have
consistently demonstrated throughout your many years at LPS and South Elementary your work and commitment to your students are remarkable and it's no surprise that you have been honored as teacher of the year I do not doubt that you will continue to be Progressive and
inspiring educator for many years to come you have brought so much to the students of South hunon not just as a teacher but also as a proud product of South hunon yourself your passion and dedication resonate deeply with both your colleagues and your students at
South ell Elementary we emphasize teamwork you are an integral part of our team your contributions and hard work significantly impact us and we are incredibly fortunate to have you with us thank you Miss Jameson for all you do you are gen excuse me genuinely an asset
to education and she did not note that Miss Jameson was also one of the judges at the night of the net which was wonderful to see her there so thank you e and now a few words about our support professional of the year at South
Elementary counselor Cortina we are fortunate to have counselor Cortina not just as a counselor but as a counselor with a background in teaching as a kindergarten teacher no counselor CA is a support professional who works daily to support
our students teachers and families counselor courtine is an exceptional counselor who has always prioritized her students and created an environment where students feel valued I am confident counselor Cortino will continue to make an incredible impact on
students and her colleagues Council cartina has always approached her role with utmost dedication and passion which adds to the positive environment at South Elementary congratulations councilor k there's probably nobody who you can
share as many laughs and tears with as counselor fortina so we applaud her and the principal for our High School seventh and eighth grade as well Jen mcnight I'd first like to recognize Mr Brian Riley Mr Brian Riley has been
recognized as South Hunan's educator of the year a testament to his dedication and impact both in the classroom and on the field as a passionate social studies teacher he brings history to life inspiring students to think critically and engage with their world around them
beyond the classroom he serves as our assistant football coach mentoring student athletes and instilling values of teamwork perseverance and sportsmanship Mr Riley's unwavering commitment to his students both academically and athletically make him
an invaluable part of South hunon community and we are proud to celebrate his well-earned achievement man next I'd like to congratulate Mrs Kristen erbes Mrs Kristen erbes is our dedicated prek through 12th grade speech
language pathologist and she is being honored as South Hunton service professional of the year with unwavering commitment she supports students in developing vital communication skills ensuring their success both academically and socially her passion for speech
language development and her individualized approach to each student's needs makes a profound impact across all grade levels Mrs 's dedication expertise and Compassionate Care truly embody excellence in education and we are incredibly proud to
celebrate her welld deserved recognition so again just a congratulations to all of our honores and just to let everyone know they will they're not done yet so they will be accompanying me along with all of our other hunon County Educational Professionals of the year um
for a great lunch in in May at raspberries uh right outside of Flemington will they'll be able to be honored with the rest of their colleagues throughout all of hund County so again congratulations and I look forward to that talk take photos
and that resolution where the sou Regional scho District Board of Education recognizes the inval contri of Educators service professional the educ our
students SCH District of UC celebrating and honoring the outstanding achievements of our Educators and service professionals and whereas the South Regional School Board of Education is recognizing three educators of the year and three Educational Service Professionals of the
year for the their exceptional dedication leadership and impact on student learning now therefore be it resolved that the South Hunter and Regional School District Board of Education hereby formally recognizes and honors the following educators of the Year Lindley Jameson Cindy zidik and
Brian Riley and the following Educational Service Professionals of the Year Melissa Cortina Ivon Penna and Kristen erbes he had further resolved that the South hunteran Regional School District Board of Education extended sincere graduation or gratitude and
appreciation to all of the educators of the year and Educational Service Professionals of the year for their tieless efforts and commitment to where ston Community uh be it further resolved the South utan Regional School District Board of Education will publicly recognize and celebrate the educators of
the year and Educational Service Professionals of the year honores at the March 17 2025 board meeting adopted March 17 2021 so again thank you everybody oh God that's that's that's fine but I'm
still timing picture did e e e there e up back under four minutes I know
some time it perfectly just teacher or can a board member get in on this your report you see nothing a minute or sorry all uh next up on our agenda this
evening uh we have our report from our student representative to the board so please take hello hello okay for our Sports our winers or winner Sports I guess our winter sports have finished so our spring Sports have
started last week and they are getting on their way our win our spring sports are middle school and high school softball Middle School and High School baseball track and field and call um we heard back from um and we got our
our winter sports um students they've been recognized by the Skyland conference all conference our second team Noah leg and Noah cor a for wrestling and our honorable mentions Milo do and Parker rampel also for wrestling um this month our National
Honor Society had an induction ceremony for all the new members there were speeches from the president and the respected vice presidents speaking of the four pillars and encouraging all students to carry those with them everywhere they go um the
biggest event arguably of the school year night the nest was finished up last weekend um this is this is an annual event between two teams our blue and our steel team and they came up with creative dances to fit the theme of a
night on Broadway they also competed in different events such as tic teac toe and tug of war and their relays our blue team eventually took home the coveted egg trophy with an impressive impressive final score of 146
to 120 winning by 26 points and tomorrow and still in March so tomorrow is our college fair um South hunon is hosting a college fair with over 90 colleges this year this is Host this is open for both 10th and 11th grade and the peer leaders
are going to help um College Representatives through the school and hopefully find their way um that is it that's everything that's happened so far with our city thank you very good I would I would note that one of the first things you mentioned was the wrestling team and
that there was four kids who made an all Conference team second team honorable mention this is our first year of having wrestling as a varsity Court since the late 990s or maybe 2000 2000 uh so I mean it's like the the fact that they
were able to have four kids that did so well without really having you know over the wrestling program still getting up and rning it's a huge accomplish and also I would say that was a lot of fun yeah certainly hope we do it again next year because this was the
15th Year yes believe I said and it was um it was just a lot of fun and I think all the kids had a great time and could see fantastic sportsmanship through up and I also just wanted to again Echo something Lucas said a shout out to our
counseling department because for Bay Peterson and for Dana cek tomorrow we have 92 colleges that are coming and we're going to be we've actually partnered with new hope soulberry so they're sending over some of their students as well and we're going to have colleges in this room we're GNA have colleges in our gym and then colleges in
our library so all of our 10th and 11th graders will get to experience that so to have 92 colleges in one place is a pretty awesome accomplishment question is there a list of the college there is so I actually was going to put it on a slide but it
was too long so but I will share with everyone okay yep it's an impressive Place yeah um so next up we'll have our p and our LF updates um we'll start with the l thank
you how you doing Tom dicki treasur of the laf um thanks for having me uh reminder March 29th 6 PM is our annual Casino we're actually our auction we're adding a casino night as part of it uh it
includes uh Odes beer and wine a featured cocktail $500 worth of Casino money so don't get crazy all right uh the auction includes silent and live items uh including a week of
summer camp at Art Seed Studio a laser tag party dinners and overnight stays uh and whether you could attend or not best of live tickets are available so if you don't know what best of live is that is where if you win the best of live you get to pull one item out of the auction
ahead of time and that's yours um those tickets are sold uh as well um and it can be bought from any board member so uh again that's the 29th and then one special edition this year uh DJ
Tom will be uh doing a set at the uh Casino auction night so come check that out I have some helpers that we help me a little bit all right and we have plenty of tickets left so expect to see all of you there um other news uh we've
done some grants recently uh we did a stem teacher professional development and we're looking forward to hearing back how that went um we did a trout Environmental Studies Grant where you grow from eggs and release the local waterw ways and we did two physics
grants one for the eighth grade and one for the 12th grade uh both with on-site events uh the eth graders are going into Somerset and the 11th and 12 are going to Six Flags um with schools from around the state so again that's our update so
March 29th 6m we are at the Amwell Firehouse in ringos this year um the right of the road so pretty close thank you all right thanks I'm Jessica hardigan PTO just wanted to start off by saying congratulations to
all of our educators of the year and a great job to the jazzband um our next kids night out um it was moved it was supposed to be last Friday but it's this Friday March 21st from 6:30 to 8:30 registration is open on membership toolkit I'm going to do a
lot of repeating myself just because we have a lot of upcoming events um on Friday March 7th the PTO put together a lunch in for the district Wellness day um it was really nice seeing all the staff together and and it was a really cool we just got to see
like them scurrying between their classes but it was a really nice thing that the district did for everybody and everyone seemed really happy so um our we're in week two of enrichment and it's it's been interesting um it's going really really
well we learned a lot in week one you can have as many lists and be as organized you want to on paper but you cannot control where children go and um but we have 13 classes and we're
serving just under a hundred students so that's a big deal and I'm really proud of the after school enrichment committee and the team of wonderful people that I got to work with it's a really big accomplishment to do what we did and I
just want to say thank you for the El to the elementary school staff for their Pati while we worked out the Kinks in the first week week two is going much smoother with dismissal and attendance um and thank you to Mrs q and Heather and Mr Nicholas for putting up with us and having to put up with us for
the next nine weeks um and a huge thank you to Marcela and Lee for their dedication to the students in our district they give so so much of their time um we're there three days a week um from 2:45 until 5
o'cl um on top of baseball and softball and all the other things so it's it's wonderful that we have such dedicated community members and parents um and then as you know from my last statement um we started planning for the fall we started reaching out to
current enrichment teachers we have most of them locked in for the fall um and if anyone in this room knows of anyone who would like to teach next year or if anyone would like to teach a class it's it's really it's amazing and it's really rewarding to see all of them and what we
can offer to to everybody and the fact that it's accessible to everybody um wathon again a lot of repeating myself is at the elementary school is Friday April 25th with a rain date of Friday May
2nd um and then wathon 5 through 12 will be up here at South Tuesday May 20th we have a meeting to discuss that tomorrow and what that looks like um and it's really exciting because one of the biggest things with having a districtwide PTO was being able to do
things districtwide so it's really exciting that we're able to to do that and bring that to all the students um couple of the Middle School um on location end of the year events one of them has changed um but the fifth and sixth grade dance and activity night
will be uh Friday May 30th from 6:30 to 8:30 it is a drop off event um DJ candy bar glow sticks treats all kinds of outdoor activities um the the sixth grade class trip has changed um from Friday June 6th
to Thursday June 5th um the middle school end of the year picnic is Friday June 13th directly following school and uh field day at the elementary school is Friday May
16th field day at did I say field day sorry my head is like spinning after today but field day at the middle school on location is Wednesday May 28th and we're still working out the details with Miss Ryan um penny wars at the elementary school and the middle school
on location start tomorrow um the elementary school is Super Mario Brothers themed and we actually put that together today during enrichment and it looks really cool the kids are going to be really excited all of the jugs are outside of the media center so they can bring their points in
and put them in there and the winning class gets a prize um it will be like a pizza party or an ice cream party or something to that effect the middle school on location theme is March Madness they put that together today um they have a twist with theirs they can um they can sabotage the other classes
so there's one jar that they can put it into and then one jar that they can sabotage and take away from the other classes and all of half of the money raised will go to um a special project that the fifth and sixth graders are working on they chose their Community project was um to help animal shelters
so they'll be able to take half of the money raise um 3K through 6 and donate it and it will be to the animal shelter of their choosing and we'll work on that with um Mr hollahan and then um one of the other
amazing things is our prek prek events committee they are on it and um they we've been wanting to do a Touch a Truck Event forever and they finally like it's happening so that is Friday April 11th from 9 to 11:30 and that includes prek
and kindergarteners districtwide and then their um activity day or field day is going to be Wednesday May 21st that is it thank you just a couple things I I want to say
and I've said it before but I can't say it enough you know we I could remember I don't know a year and a half ago almost two years when we were meeting about this vision of a district PTO and how that would look I can't even put in the words how much it's exceeded our
expectations I mean the amount of work that they've done and a staff member I think said it best to me about a week ago like that Jess hardigan never stops right so like between the luncheon which was unbelievable for the staff
development day the enrichment program you know one of our goals of a strategic plan was to engage our community and the fact that half of the individuals that are facilitating activities in enrichment are from our community you know beyond just our staff is just awesome so I can't thank you enough I
mean it's just it's been incredible this year it really has so thank you so much um correspondence we did have several letters in the month that were posted online for the public um we uh next comes the approval
of the minutes for the regular meeting and executive meeting can I have a motion to approve any discussion on the minutes favor V okay with that U we come to the
superintendent update are we doing update we're actually going to do this yeah the student safety data system so this is something we have to report on uh twice a year what we'll do is I'll go through the slides that I have and then there is a special public comment just
for this report so we'll open up um public comment see if there's any comment on the report and then I'll do my superintendent update and then we'll do our normal public comment so this data that you're going to see in front of you is only for reporting period one so it's from September to December of
2024 25 school year and then what will happen is in October of next year um I will do the full year report so just to kind of give a little bit of background I know it's tough to see but keep in mind I'll send this out tomorrow so if we have an incident um involving for
example HIV orass intimidation and bullying whether it's alleged or confirmed it doesn't matter we have to report both if we had an issue with substance abuse if we had an issue with violence or vandalism these are all things that were required in state of
New Jersey to report it's called an ssds form um and that just stands for student safety data systems and we actually submit this information to the state twice a year once midy year um at the end of December and then again at the end of the school year and then this
data is logged in on the state system from gear to gear so this is what the form looks like um this kind of gives you a little bit of background of what we have to report and then this is the HIV portion where basically we have to give the
information about the HIV whether or not whether or not it was investigated within 10 days and then obviously if there was an issue with HIV what category fell into and the criteria and things along roadwi um so I wanted to report and this
is good news to report um up through December uh we've only had one substance abuse issue uh at the middle school high school and we had one issue of uh violence keep in mind violence can be a threat different things along with on
physical confrontation uh and we've only had two HIV reports um so that is something that we've been focusing on throughout the year and I'll share in my next slide you'll be able to see kind of the comparison from last year of what our
data looked like um actually up to this point we only have three hivs um in the district for the year going in the you know the middle of March so and out of the two that we've had that are reported on this form obviously the other one was after
December so we reported the second half of the Year neither one of these two were actually confirmed as an HIV so they were reported but based on the criteria that we used so when you look at our data from last year you know we had 19 HIV rep and year before we had 20
HIV reports so um obviously that's a pretty significant decrease in the numbers so uh you'll see on my next slide I really do credit our counseling department and our staff and our Administration based on the programming that we brought in because we put a lot
of emphasis on this as we focused in it as well as on the subance offenses well look at last year did have 13 subance offenses for the year so we talk about you know I kind of really took a look at over the last two years what are all the different things that we've done and who
are the people that are responsible for it so obviously we're fortunate that we have counselors in all of our schools and and more than one obviously in this building we hired several years ago a mental health clinician just to focus on student mental health issues and also supporting families with family
counseling we have a Student Assistance counselor who one of their main focuses is on substance abuse we have our anti-bullying specialist we have our threat assessment team we have a school climate team in each building and then one of our goals this year for the district is we have an SEO committee
which will be making a recommendation on a character education program that will be implemented next year K12 so we have a lot of people that are responsible for this and then we look at programs and quite honestly a lot of the programs on this list were funded by LEF um almost
all of them so challenge day which was two years ago that our our students went through in ninth or eth and nth grade um we had an assembly for be the chain with Tom th last year for our um ninth graders and eighth graders we had canfell Productions and if you want if
you're interested when I send this out you can click on the links that was an elementary one prevention resources was here this year you know don't get Vaped we did a healthy choices week which used to be called red Ren week but now we call it healthy choices week just working with our students you know about making healthy choices we had a
phenomenal presentation just recently called coming up for air um through attitudes in Reverse which is our therapy dog program so Trish Baker came um and did an incredible program for about an hour with our eighth grade students and um brought some of the dogs
with her as well but just really talking about the different challenges of mental health and um you know recognizing signs and symptoms and the stigma that goes along with it uh it was a really awesome program week of respect which we do each and every year in October all in the
house which I know the laf just funded has come into our elementary it's an R&B and soul and pop and AC C capella group that focuses on character education last year we had Ian Cory um which focuses on our um you know abilities week the 100
saate Schools at which students can utilize to report anonymously Timothy Roar who came last year focused on disability inclusion and acceptance and then Dr Paul who's coming um towards the end of the year in June for elementary about you know never let
your attitude become a disability so again a lot of time and effort has been put into this um the good news is the data is showing that what we are doing is working and again it's a credit for our building admin ation our teachers and then more importantly our counseling staff we put a lot of time and effort in
working with our students so this is the first part of the report obviously as I mentioned next October I'll give you the full year data January through June um hopefully our numbers continue in the same pattern so I'll open it up to the board any questions about the presentation and
then we'll open it up to public comment no pres but it's an amazing compl it really it represents a lot of work and um also represents it's really um gifting and that's um not easy to do so that's
one there no questions from the board we'll take questions from the public if you would like to come up and um ask a question um ask come to the podium just like in regular public commentary um commenting only on this presentation um just let us know your uh your name in
your community and best answering question from the public something like ask about the have any long coming we have one but I uh we are if we don't have any comments then we
will superintend so superintend a bunch of different things but as was mentioned before I didn't want to just kind of highlight this um Jim had mentioned Lucas had mentioned night the nest uh it was a great night it really was I'm hoping if you didn't have an opportunity
I tried to you know put out as many real videos of all the different events um you know to the community on our Facebook and Instagram pages but I think it you know the DAT that I just presented this is a big part of it right like all of our kids coming together obviously like the sportsmanship and at
the end of the day it doesn't really matter who won and who lost it was just the two great nights of fun with kids um and you know a shout out to our advisors um Mr Hart Miss Sorella um Mr Sloter and M Phillips they
did an awesome job too like there's a I mean we've been here and you can hear them down there practicing for weeks um and every year it's kind of funny it's the same thing we always at how's it going I don't know I don't know if they're G to dance and if they're gonna pull and they just always pull it
together and uh it was it was awesome I thought it the best years that we've had since I've been here so um you know as Jim said you know this will a tradition that hopefully will continue for a long long time because it truly does bring not only the building but we had a lot of community members here you know I
noticed people on the stands that don't have kids in the school but just came to see the event that they had been comeing for years uh and it was an awesome fight so again includ to everyone involved um so I wanted to give an update on our
high school principal search uh just some details so just a couple things the posting actually closed today we've had a total of 56 applicants who've applied for this position um interviews will take place
all day on April 2nd and 3 uh We've selected 14 applicants to interview so we'll be interviewing seven applicants each day each interview slot will be 45 minutes so will be a long day for our folks that are doing the
interviews we have a committee of 12 people that's made up of staff administ teachers parents um the 12 individuals um will be conducting the 45 minute interviews for each one of the candidates um our goal is hopefully out of that process to select two to three
finals that would move on to the next round the goal is if all goes well I would make a recommendation to the board at our April 28th meeting and then the successful candidate will be in line to start on July 1st 2025 so by the time we
meet again um you know hopefully we'll be bringing a candidate to the board uh to vote on and we'll have individual in place as we prepare for the 25 26 school year budget update so we did a board
work session on February 26 I just want to remind the public um the presentation that I did at that work session is available online on board dos so if you have any questions about what within that or you want to look at it just go to board docs go on the work session for
February 26 and it's there on the agenda uh our state a numbers were released the next day on February 27th uh I'm happy to report that we did get an increase of $350,000 uh and 100 315 110 we out of
that 270,000 almost 271,000 was an increase for school choice aid for our school choice program um we have been instructed by the county uh business administrator and superintendent to anticipate a 25% decrease in federal
funding uh unfortunately we don't get that information till after the budget is struck which is in May and June which does make a challenging um our preliminary budget is on the finance agenda this evening with a recommendation of 2.5% for a tax levy
increase so at the work session we discussed some of the uh waivers that are available the allowances for us to go above the 2% cap one of those things specifically is that we had 11% increase in our medical and prescription for our health benefits so at this point um
that's the recommendation for a 2.5% increase the way the process works the preliminary budget needs to be submitted to the county by tomorrow for review the public budget presentation will take place on Monday April 28th at the Board of Education meeting and then
with the board voting on the final budget realizing that changes can be made from now until the final budget vote on April 28th so really um you know the county process is more of a placeholder where we have to sendit something so we put it in as a
placeholder but there will continue to be discussions over the next five to six weeks and if there's any changes that are made that will be presented as part of the April 28th Public Presentation for the community so um you know just
what I'll share quickly 2 2.5% the rationale there was that um one to 25% in our state aid reduction and two uh really three things two the increase in the 11% for medical prescription and
three the fact that we are in negotiations with our largest bargaining unit and obviously if you look at what our state and County averages are are right now they're well above 2% so we have to take that into consideration as
we complete the negotiation process which hopefully will be done by the end of the school year plan accordingly when we're building our budget all right and then my last topic I'm G to get into is a little bit about South Hunter Regional Middle School
schedule all right so our 58 building which obviously you're following along will open in September um just a couple details that I wanted to provide is that our student day will be very similar to our high school right now it's estimated 750 to 250 but it's going to probably be
in line very close to our high school class periods will be somewhere in between 48 to 50 minutes we're still kind of working through that our school buses so the way we're going to work our buses is we will divide our drivers in half and half of them will be transporting middle school students and
the other half will be transporting high school students so we're not mixing fifth with 10th and 11th graders it's going to be separate rotations and the fact that we're not sharing buses will allow each one of us to arrive and dismiss at the same time rather than
have to stagger if we were sharing a bus so Amanda Brown who's our transportation coordinator has really been working on this since the summer and doing you know we have a software program where we can run you know different you know iterations of how this is going to work but she's been working on that for
months um and the nice thing is next year for our students who are in grades 5 to 12 since we will be one campus they will be able all utilize the late bosses at 5:15 so whether they're staying for clubs or activities or sports or whatever it may be um right now only s
to 12 but now next year 5 to 12 will'll be able to do so just to give you a little bit of you know a window into the schedule um so this is just a sample for fifth and sixth grade so what you'll notice is a
seven period day there's a lunch block there's an accelerate block so you're familiar would accelerate with the elementary school and flex at the high school it will be very similar more in line with the elementary and the way the elementary is set up so the accelerate
block will be 30 minutes every day where students will be getting what they need and interventions and enrichment and all kinds of different things um you'll also notice something interesting we are providing students with Wellness PE and health every day five days a week for 48
to 50 minutes which we think especially at the middle school is really important sometimes when you look at middle school schedules um in other districts you wouldn't see that you might only see PE maybe two times a week or three times a week we felt it was really important um and then you have all your qu area
classes you know your language arts your math your social studies and your science and then as you get into Middle School we really start to talk in fifth and sixth grade about explorator so what does that mean right so you're going to see the word exploratory in fifth and sixth grade and then the word elective
seventh and eth the goal in fifth and sixth try to expose students to as many different things as we can for them to hopefully about a time to get the seventh and eth and definitely by the time they get to ninth to start kind of following a pathway of where they really have areas of Interest right so there's
not a lot of choice in fifth and sixth grade um because we really want to expose them to as many things as we can we will have World Language and the students will choose from either French or Spanish for World Language they'll have that for 90 days right so it will
rotate in an aay rotation with something else now in this mock schedule I just gave an example of stem doesn't necessarily mean that it will be married to stem could be you know their art or their music depending upon how the schedule plays out um and then you see that period seven so again that's for
the exploratory so they're going to get stem art music every fifth and sixth grader in some capacity right and they'll rotate for reach one of those for 90 days in their schedule um and then the hope is by the time they get to seventh and eighth grade they're going
to have more opportunities and more Choice first of all what you'll notice is PE and wellness is still five days a week 48 to 50 minutes you'll also notice a significant change in World Language World Language is now every day five days a week all year long right so if
you're building a world language program at the high school level and you want your students to be able to access AP and some of the higher level courses they really do need to start having it every day at seventh and e8th period it's difficult to have it for a marking period or every other day just can't
cover the amount of curriculum that we need to cover so it will be every day um you know five days a week and then you'll see that obviously the accelerate block but then the elected they're going to have some more choices so now they'll have band chire or stem a FFA program
which is still alive and well and A lot's happening there and then our intro to theater program so you know you heard me last month talk about about Performing Arts Academy Theater has been a huge hit this year obviously we just had an unbelievable spring musical of Matilda so we will be you know exposing
students to that in seventh and eighth grade so they'll really make the choice right so whatever elective they pick and again this is just a mock schedule doesn't mean all their elective periods are going to be period seven they could be two or three or five depending upon grade level and how the schedule plays out but they're going to make some
choices right so if I'm a student and I really want to do art and I really want to do St I'm going to take that for 90 days each so I'm going to have one for half a year and the other for half a year you know if I want to do band and I want to do theater like there's all kinds of different options depending upon what students are going to select
so again there many different things um you know if students want to do band inquire we'll probably be able to work that out as well with even possibly another elective where they could rotate on their you know Monday Wednesday Friday they could rotate between band and choir then Tuesday Thursday have something else then it flip flops the
next day so there's a lot of different choices I think this is really important so the counseling support which we just talked about and the benefits that we're reaping from that we're gonna have two counsels at the middle school so two one for fifth and sixth grade Mr areri and
then Mrs fenamore for seventh and eighth grade um we're fortunate our class sizes are small so when you're talking about you know I know Miss areri came from a district where her case load was 500 600 kids right how do you get them know five or 600 kids that's really hard to do so
the fact that we're going to have two counselors be able to really get to know our students work with them and support them it's going to be a huge benefit for us huge benefit for our kids and then extracurricular activities so this is really exciting so in the
fall our plan is all for soccer field hockey and cross country to grade six seven and eight right so not just seven and eight six seven and eight in the winter time basketball wrestling great six or eight there might even be a potential with wrestling depending upon what our numbers look like in the
beginning we extend that down to fifth grade um spring baseball softball and track so to have a track program for our Middle School along with our high school grade six through eight and then we plan on running inter murals for grades five through eight in the fall and the spring so if you're a student who maybe just is
into into the you know after school five days a week sport thing but you still want to do some type of intermural you're going to have the ability to do that all four years depending upon you know what your preference is and again as I mentioned before all these students that are engaged in these programs will be able to use the lay pu at the end of
the day and then right now we talk about co-curricular we have yearbook Odyssey of the mind which is an awesome activity um for students coding Club student council FFA Club Art Club chess club we're going to have a a Middle School
Musical so rather than just one musical we're gonna have a a middle school and a High School Musical um we started this year our Eagle ambassadors program which is much very similar to like a peer leadership program crazy H robotics dance club a talent show Science Olympiad so there's
going to be a lot of activities for students to do whether it's clubs whether it's Sports whether it's intermurals the hope is that we'll be able to have as many students as we possibly can engaged in some type of extracurricular activity and then they
will have transportation that goes along with it so there's no reason why they can't participate we're really excited about that um these are really important dates I'm just tip I'm this tonight's just tip of the iceberg we're going to really dig
in a lot deeper to what a middle school is all about Middle School philosophy and all the other things that go along with it so on Tuesday March 25th at 7 pm in the High School auditorium this is for our parents and students grades 5 through seven so if you have a fifth sixth or seventh grader you would come
to this program we're going to get a lot more detail into the middle school have the ability to answer questions that you might have and then we're also going to do just a separate parent night for our fourth grade parents we're going to do it at shres in the library um and that's
on Wednesday April 9th at 7M uh in the future obviously we would have these programs in the new middle school but obviously this year we can't get in there yet obviously moving forward starting next year we will and have it rated by the building so we'll continue to get this out I know we've gotten some information out about this already we'll
continue to remind parents um because this is the opportunity will they'll really be able to dig into all the this different aspects of the Middle School you have specific curriculum questions all those different things um these are great to be able to do that and then we'll be starting our you know we've already started the master schedule
process and individual students will be working with parents and students will have to make some selections and on course so we'll be supporting you know especially our fifth or sixth and seventh grade um parents to make those Selections in on course um and we'll be
moving forward and ready to go for next year any questions from the board about anything I presented any of the slide um I'm one really pleased to see how thoughtful it is now moving from middle school into high school and how you how
not only in academics but also extracurricular activities that you we're moving kids for success to high school um the extracurricular I know that there's been a lot of um communication to us about wrestling I'm glad to see that on there I just want to
make sure I know we do have the budget uh preliminary Budget on this evening um we have budgeted for that program in there and for all the supplies needed correct yes we have okay wrestling was open to girls too yes yeah like we need there's some there is some
changes coming from njsia so yeah starting with next year I will share that with them so in essence what will happen is and Aon you jump in because you we were communicating about this um in the past you would have you
could have a girl in your wrestling team um now what's going to happen is there are a lot of bigger districts um that now have girls wrestling yeah it's getting pretty big that's why I was wondering so hoping is that everyone does that but for us obviously we're not
as big so the chances of doing that may not be you know like it would be for a bigger District so if we have a female who is on the team and we don't have a female team right then we would have to communicate with other schools to see
whether or not they have a female team and if they do they have someone who maybe they could send to wrestle so it's a little bit more complicated than it used to be uh well I think I and just to add on I think it does raise the question about Equity gender Equity when
it comes to sports and middle school so in the budget if we're going to be adding a lot of money to wrestling for Middle School I think that even if we have a female in routine now it's going to be very separate and so I think the choice for
the board is going to have to be somewhat of a balancing between wrestling and another opportunity for girls because I I think we we all know that wrestling as a co-ed sport has been
named a co-ed sport but in practice is barely close to a Coit so I think it raises the question about what our girls have access to during that time period
that you know is is fairly Equitable from a gender perspective yeah I mean does this affect us at the high school level as well so do we have I know that there's girls basketball during the winter is there another boys backet off yeah no I'm just
I'm just trying to see if there's what the other opportunities would be I would I believe there was Winters I'm sorry I I just innocent is all new all this all came down within the last month yeah I read again it wasion was
njs I just want to say in the fall we have soccer field hoeing cross country so there there's no boys fi hoing and there's two co-ed Sports so maybe at the end of the day it evens out I'm not disree but you're saying Aon but I also
think if you look at the whole picture maybe there you know if you look at the entire year um but also don't girl so the girls can no longer wrestle the boys oh okay absolutely not nothing not even with
commission from parents nothing yeah that's yeah well they need to get their stuff I've seen a lot of about girls wrestling at other schools so I'm just wondering my daughter plays softball with two girls who wrestle 100 and they have a girl
so it's too now right and and actually my daughter was interested she plays basketball but she was interested in possibly wrestling um but I will say this obviously this is all new and I didn't know that changed either but um when our wrestling program started at
high school our coaches really that was kind we had very few kids and they that was kind of what they did was they mixed and matched and found opportunities for our kids to go and wrestle even though they didn't have whole team right and even though we and it started as a JB
sport so you know I think there is a possibility there that we could have you know perhaps that can be done again finding opportunities if there are girls in South who are interested in wrestling I think it's a i wrestle I think it's a
great sport I think one thing I want to make sure maybe that we change is rather than saying if there's girls that are interested maybe also letting girls know that it is a girl sport too kind of thing you know mean because I I feel like when I've seen us talk about our
wrestling program like there's no girls this year I just I kind of thought maybe but I I think it's important to let let them know that girl so I'll follow up with Jason Miller who's already he can maybe all invite him to come and kind of do an overview of our Athletics yeah as
far as you know where we are as far as opportunities and then he probably could share more you go to njsi meetings twice a mon or as what other schools are doing how we forward with and I think if you came it would be interesting to see the participation by gender um sort of to
genus point about you know it's it's it's the concept of what's available versus who participates right and who participates wrestling is the perfect example it's a co-ed sport this year but who actually participates we know are a
majority boys so I think that it's that um def fact Impact versus actual the same point though we have if we have a dance team which is technically Co yeah I didn't even know we did see are their boys
participating ex and if we're looking at Equity let's look at that as well well we have to balance the two kind of like I said to Gina's point but to to Jim's Point as well so my kid one of my kids was on Middle School soccer um and it
was a co-ed team this year so finding teams to play with was not easy so they they did work out a good schedule for them and it was Co now the hope is because we're opening up to sixth grade maybe that CH that I
activi I know that I just I just want to say that you know I think these are all things that we need to think about we need to address obviously but I also think that you know starting a wrestling program and especially given that
probably the m majority of kids who are interested in doing it are boys I mean I don't think that should be a reason that the district should kind of shy away from supporting and promoting this as an
opportunity for the kids so I'd hate to see that kind of be the end result of this conversation I don't think it is I don't want to speak on behalf of the board but I think we have every intention of offering Middle School wrestling and but we just can look to see Compares what it looks like and what
her other op so I'll have Jason this is his homework and uh we'll have him come back and share that and even if you have a couple girls that want to can practice and practice with each other not necessarily FInd matches I just think it's important that open up and that
this is also a girl sport you know like I think that then might grow it and as it becomes more you know popular then maybe more girls would want to get involved and then we could have a team then did they lay out any type of PL they made this rule te are they just going to leave it on the district to
figure out who again I'm I just got it I'm going to defer to Jason no I know I'm I'm just curious with no consideration for no consideration of anything change the rules right and no consideration for any female that wants to wrestle which is ridiculous you know there's no plan in fact because there
are rules with Athletics that you can if you're in a group one school you cannot go to a group one a group four school and participate in any athletic even if that school doesn't have the Athletics right but there is a chance where maybe if there's only three
girls right if we looked into this if my daughter with swimming that they maybe can participate in the tournaments the the girls tournaments that are run with the other schools and when they come County tournament or state or Co-op and everything like that could we partner with Hunter and Central
where we had two girls they can go there but yeah it's just it's disappointing that they change the rulle and and then don't have a plan when they're the reason why they're changing the rule is they're saying there's a lot of women's wrestling teams now in high school but then they don't have a plan for the smaller District No it's typical sounds like so
just a couple things it sounds like this is early and so by next fall well you know when when these things will be sort of getting closer um this may look very different than what it does tonight information don't release the information if you don't have a plan
agree right you know like it looks bad on you that you didn't do what you're supposed to do and as Kevin said we're being you know we were wrestle against the Manville the Bel beers and the other group ones who who will be in the same boat because they are same similar size to us so there may be an accommodation
for us as smaller schools but that perhaps they we can Mak this work um the tournaments is exactly what we used to do with the wrestlers they would go to Del out and they would enter them tournaments and they would wrestle against kids from B schol and it and and it worked
well well and I will say and the other pie so you know we do try to obviously Pro provide opportunities for both for all genders for everybody here we want everybody involved in things including many at the Nets and every other thing um we had a group of girls who came up a
few years ago and wanted to do a Spring sport they didn't want to do track and field and they didn't want to do softball so they started the uh football team they have a girls flag football program which is now on its third year and uh that is an opportunity for girls to play you know something I'm only
saying that because if there was a group of girls here who said we we would like to maybe you know see another sport that comes for girls um perhaps they could then you know you know Bring It Forward propose it see if there's interest they
wanted to do you know I don't know what they swiming probably out question but uh our student School Board representative should uh next year maybe work with the middle school and you you know become you know or have
representation I would love to see kids coming you know to the board and again that's Mr Miller um because he's got a lot of homework yeah he's hope hopefully I text but I don't know if uh
the you know there's always a challenge because we are small hey we start voling all tomorrow and it kills our basketball you know what I mean like so you're that's what you kind of have to balance you know right you know as far as what that looks like yeah more to come more
information to come on this I have a question about the schedule um during the lunch period is that just lunch or is it also lunch in recess though and I should have said that we'll have two lunch periods so there'll be a five six lunch or our fifth and sixth graders
will eat together and then a separate lunch period for 7th and eth and within the 30 minutes kids can go outside can you change that on the slides where you send it that okay and again we'll dig into that more in detail at app I think that'll be especially important to like the fifth
grade six you know to what I said I think that having a you know the ability to go outside and have a recess period and during that lunch it says lunch right now yeah it's I mean I think it's good for all the kids obviously but especially the
younger ones yeah and to your point there's also what Tony mentioned is that there is wellness and Peak every day yes which is a a very big difference to what our fit graders are right any other
question oh I just there'll be a late bus for the after school activity okay so that we'll come to the first period of public comments um we will have a second period later in the meeting but this is an opportunity for
uh members of the Republic come uh forward and uh make a statement to the board um on any topic on the agenda or anything else that is burn to you um I just will mention that if a member of the public becomes disruptive during the
meeting um I can warn you and continue disrupting may result in being prevented from speaking during public meeting or being removed uh disruptive product includes sustained inappropriate behaviors not that I expect any of these uh such but not necessarily limited to
shouting Interruption and use of profanity or comments that are abusive SE or defamatory um we ask uh no participant can speak more than once during any public comment and we ask that you uh limit your comments to about three
minutes um with that uh please if anyone has someone like to bring for the board come to the podium let us know your name and the town where you live and uh to hear your comments sorry
Westell um the schedule looks great um I have two very different children one child who that schedule probably would work perfectly for and then one who I I do have concerns um I just was wondering if maybe during the parent um information
nights you could go through what it would look like for a child who's OCR um he is going to go from being in fourth grade spending a great deal outside of the classroom to a great deal inside of the classroom and I do have
concerns of how that will affect his Central auditory processing disorder his ADHD and integrating from going from a class of nine to being in a class of 17 to 18 kids it's a going to be a very big deal for him and a very big change for
some of the just thaton same program I know but I like right now he's only in the classroom for social studies twice a week that could be the same thing no changes if it's if a student has a special education program it requires those are be what would that look like
for like um sorry the middle school is going to be a huge change for for me looking at this stuff but like for language and stuff like that would he still be OCR for world oh okay right so he would still be okay but
maybe I just y we can elaborate for the parent World Language sorry right I guess maybe elaborate a little more on what that would look like for spe special education students because I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one who as questions thank you
thank you do anyone else have a comment of hi Shar Lambertville um I was reading the um cooperation with law enforcement agencies regulation that is um on the agenda tonight and I have a concern and
a question about the specific procedures and responsibilities of School District staff for notifying parents in instances of law enforcement interviews involving their children um school officials will not notify in instances of suspected child abuse or neglect shall notify uh
parents when the student is the target of the law enforcement investigation and shall notify parents and Guardians when a student is involved with or has interaction with law enforcement that seems to Encompass pretty much everything um that would happen to a
child's uh involving law enforcement at school but then it says in all other instances School authorities shall permit law enforcement authorities to determine whether or when a student's parent should be contact conted and so
this language sounds really vague to me and I'm also really concerned because if my child's at school and this interaction isn't either that my child is the target of an investigation or that my child is involved with or as
interaction with what possibly is happening where my child is a involved with law enforcement and how is it that the school is allowing law enforcement to decide whether or not I'm
contacted um I if my child's at school I believe that you are the ones who are supposed to be watching her and protecting her but you're stepping back and letting law enforcement decide whether to contact me so in what
instances could that possibly happen um and if it's just kind of like other instances then I don't think it should be there at all because it makes me really uncomfortable that our kids are it's like well maybe we're just going to let them decide
whether to contact the parent my answer to that would be in more do you want me you want me to address that you can go first then I'll follow so one of our other board members noted that Sharon that there was a gap in that the parent should always be
notified if your child has any interaction with law enforcement and that needs to be very clear because the language is somewhat thing and there should never be an incident where your trial has any interaction whether or not they are the Target or somehow tangentially is is been involved in law
enforcement that the parents always need to be notified by the school so that edit is being made to that policy tonight it just we didn't get it into the document that is in the board docs but you will hear that in my report
there'll be a separate section with that language be okay so that's done yes okay yes awesome I appreciate it sure thank you very much um does anyone else have a comment like to bring we have an online comment we do
that one it is from Denise B from West Amwell good evening I'd like to inquire about the busing situation for the softball team it is my understanding that the team is once again sharing a bus with a regular off group including middle school and high school students the bus is extremely
crowded between the regular students and the softball team school backpacks and softball equipment bags for practice last year it was made a priority to give the teacher or the team Their Own Boss rubo drove team to the field on behalf of softball team we greatly appreciate it once again team could have a similar
setup the last year this would ensure the buff is not overcrowd and the team arrives with sufficient time for practice but more importantly for upcoming games it is critical that that they have adequate warm-up time prior to games thank you very much for your consideration the only thing I will say
to that is we've been monitoring since the day we started softball team is arriving at 304 each and every day Amanda's gone herself they're actually on the field before our baseball team is even on the field here at home so um you
know that we put a lot of time and effort into this we're sing a new field that we're getting ready hopefully to be able to utilize by May 1 the board approve that we're doing everything that we possibly can um unfortunately Mr rubo is not available to do a bus run after
school every day like he was last year um that's kind of really all I and and this is so they are sharing a bu they one of the first drop offs if not the first drop off of a bus that is also dropping off other students but um this
is a this is a going to be a half year Sol half season solution because we hope that by the end of April early may they will be playing on the ball Feld here so um anyone else public anyone else um for
the public comment there will be if there is none I will close the period of public comments there will be another opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting uh and we will go to our committee reports uh begin with our buildings grounds uh
Transportation plans and safety uh Mr Keys our chairman is out this evening um we did meet on Thursday um and discussed the budget um as well as all of the other items listed here um so at this time I will ask
motion to approve items a through oh so better prepared so I'll meet a motion of through items a through o and then we can discuss individual item question so moveed so moved by Martha thank you can I have a second please
second and a second by Jen thank you very much any discussion on the buildings and grounds uh items for this mon um as Mr noted in his report um the
we are going to be p we are going to be voting on a preliminary budget the preliminary budget can be changed over the next five weeks before we adopt the final budget the preliminary budget will have a tax increase of 2.5% that is down from what we were
originally projecting um but uh it was still u a little higher than our 2% which is what we normally do because uh of the uncy surrounding FAL hold on it's not normally though the
last years we just did for the last years but that's the only s so it's not a normal process it's just we were able to keep it that way because of great budgeting and and and things like that um but now obviously what's going on it's just
not normal for other District yeah and just to add on it it it also is because of the health care cost increase correct it's not just the federal fund is and negoti and the negotiation with
the current there's a lot of lot of happening right yeah um I just wanted to clarify that many other districts are looking at increase higher than I right past a 6% referendum V billboard every day
so so um just for clarification purposes this vote actually includes G correct this we voting on all of the it okay okay yes yes so we yes we're voting on
preliminary thank you that's why I was I was going through um any questions on any of the item the time that I have a question on on G on the resolution okay the I was just carious about the uh 650,000 from capital
reserve the withdraw part of that is for the field I'm sorry what's that the field tur the project and then 150,000 of that is for the parking lot outside okay thank you um in this in this among these
things that we're approving we're also approving our budget for preschool expansion Aid this is a final budget so we will send that to the state and um once that is approved and that will fund the preschool program
for next year um we are also seeking uh opening up bids to actually do the construction on the track project um I understand that they've started the pering process so have that work done
over and this is our preliminary budget that we're going to submit to the count yeah the preliminary budget will go to the county the county business administrator has to approve has to sign off on everything they have their own
administrator and they will review it and they will send it back to us um and then we will we have a public hearing before our April meeting at which time we will discuss the budget the final budget in more detail at the April meeting we'll go on Final budget again
the preliminary budget uh that we send to the county can be changed any time up to that final meeting and in so over the next we five weeks then as we as things happen it seem develop anything changes
um we can still make it go and historically we have you know budgets have changed in terms of the public hearing that you said is it a public meeting of the board aard meeting we hold a hearing basically as part of the board meeting so we have to take the
same approach as I did with the report tonight there I present the budget similar to what I did at the work session and then there has to be a public comment just on the budget okay and then the board do thank you other questions on items
V with Jennifer Bachelor yes Mar Dennis yeset yes Kevin kovaleski yes Aron yes Michael St yes Ronnie Todd Marino yes
yes um curriculum of Technology Mr oh person I skipped right over sorry Sor yeah that's okay start that that is absolutely uh we had a meeting on March 13 um we went over the um personel
actions and appointments um that are on this evening's agenda the superintendent also um discussed the student safety data systems report that was presented earlier in this meeting um the uh
superintendent and also provided the committee with an update of the district's nonen review process we were advised that negotiations with sha are ongoing um we were given an update on the high school principal position
search which was covered earlier tonight Tony um the Tony also advised the committee that he' be announcing Staffing assignments for the 252 school year and uh let us know that he and Jan nellen were going to be attending the NJ
stride virtual uh job fair on Thursday of this week and then finally um there are a number of open positions um in the district which include uh five through eight art French
and Spanish teachers um a Student Assistance counselor and a learning disabilities teaching to and with that I'd like to move um items any discussion on items any Mar Denis
yes yes yes AR yes St yes yes Ronnie Mar yes yeah sorry I blame the lack of light my
own eyes so we met on um Tuesday March 11th um we went over briefly the wellness day um and a few takeaways um is that our sessions that were led by our staff were all full um we had both
art therapy and yoga led by members of the community um and also a very large shout out was given to our PTO for their participation in the day um we also got a an update on the Performing Arts
Academy advisory um meeting um it was attended by staff um a rep from Music Mountain Theater uh the polych superintendent and then uh two of us were also there as as parents board members um our next meeting is set for
4:30 um so we do have to have two of them before we create we can submit the curriculum for the performing a the Arts Academy to the state um and our next steps are to create that curriculum which is in process right now establish
a post-secondary partnership um which Dr leko is working on and um applying for that c the CIP codes um which again come after that 4:30 meeting U we also got a brief update on the gifted and talented
parent advisory committee meeting um that was happening um directly afterwards um and uh we are going to have a gifted and talented update at the May board meeting um we did dive in pretty deeply into our
grades N9 and 10 English curriculum that is being piloted it's common lit is is what it's called um we are going to be using the assessment package and uh it includes both studies of actual books and and also thematic units that are
around authentic text excerpts um poetry multimedia and non-fiction all of these go into the standards that are set by the state um we are currently piloting one unit um of lessons plans and those
units are science fiction and social commentary and people and their environment um we do have teachers uh doing both of those at uh the ninth and 10th level and um this also includes standards based reading and writing rubrics um that can
be used across all of our professional learning communities which means that social studies science uh can take those rubrics and use those standards for all of their writing as well uh there's a data component I know
we talk a lot about data and um this will consistently be used across the grade levels and um we also went over the the general process as we select these programs for the pilots um we did
table our middle school math courses for next month as we had another meeting coming in on our heels but uh we'll be sure to deal with that I have nothing to movey all right we have several items for first read we have an exciting one
which doesn't usually happen in policy uh but there is a new policy that's been man mandated by the njs the njsiaa which is requiring all member schools to adopt a spectator code of conduct policy during this current
school year for incidences of unsportsman like conduct as set forth in the policy the policy must require immediate removal of a person or persons from the event and the school premises minimum disciplinary measures including the approach to multiple violations in a
defined period thus creating a disciplinary framework and an appeals process there is optional language that's included in the policy for other changes you do have to refer to their additional Guidance the policy applies to high school only uh for our
disciplinary framework we do have a breakdown of uh first offense and I will note that for different sports there's a slightly different framework it's a little bit different for football based on the abbreviated season so for example for a first defense for football would be a suspension from attending the next
one home game for all other sports it would be a suspension from attending the next two home games for a second Offense for football it's three home games for all other sports it's five for the third offense three strikes you're out you're you're suspended going forward uh there
is discretion that rests with the superintendent uh after consultation with the principal to increase disciplinary uh actions and we have or we recommend we are recommending to accept all of the options related to conduct at away games conduct
at the last event at an activity season and suspensions um that extend to other sports and activities uh so I would I would say and I should note that there has been conversation with the athletic directors to confirm their ability to enforce these Provisions because it is a
certain amount of record keeping that has to go on and I would ask board members this is a impactful one to our community to go ahead and read this and if you have any comments to to let me know um student smoking there's the policy and the regulation 5533 on student
smoking uh the change is mandatory uh and it relates to updates to the memo of understanding related to electronic smoking devices particularly for the use of Al excuse me tobacco products which is illegal on school grounds but also to
make sure that we're incorporating um the extent to which there's a suspicion that anybody is using a controlled substance or cannabis in an electronic smoking device and the appropriate report to law enforcement so recommend that we would on our second read accept
those changes any question on the items for first read we do have several items for the second read uh those uh include the policy and regulation 7441 on electronic surveillance which we
discussed last month that has to do with schools that have the video surveillance equipment and the ability for law enforcement to turn that on during emergency of situations only which has to be documented so we are recommending to move that forward to for approval and
uh as was discussed earlier cooperation with law enforcement the changes that were mandated were fairly discreet it had to do with the addition of the handle The CARE program and also adding the language or other drugs in relation
to cannabis but there was the recommendation by Michael Strauss which we are adding the language and that's actually going to be in section 3C language will be added that school officials shall notify parents
and Guardians when a student is involved with or has interaction with law enforcement so that's not in your materials but we are recommending that that language be added and just as a last item and I apologize for not raising this earlier we have spoken about this was a a change that we are
making as a district was not mandated on the inter uh policy and regulation 5117 on interdistrict school choice program to add language recognizing a priority for applicants who have
siblings who are in the program and it didn't get into the materials we had talked about that yeah and it's actually in the policy already we discovered so that was the reason why we didn't well there you go we're ahead of ourselves so I would like to move the policy and regulation uh
7441 and policy and regulation 9320 with the edits referenced or that so all right we we were on the we have to update this and come back to it with that language no it's been
it's updated on oh it is there I added it sorry okay can I just ask a question about the update and let me first say my she's made a motion to to approve the set of policies on the first reading and set of policies on second reading
let's let's complete that by getting a second and then we'll discuss so a second by Michael thank you now please sorry my bad Robert trolles um and I apologize to the board and to the committee for not being available for
the committee meeting um but I do have a question related to the add-on that you've noted I did read it um can you explain to me how it relates to the child abuse neglect exception within the context of a policy it would so there
there would so if there's an issue with child use neglect we notify CP went up there okay and that's it's written in a way that reflects that corre okay so C is what portion C is just and here's the reality it's more I'm sorry
it's more a portion of like what's a and b because I don't have it in front of me and I this is what I'll say as far as practice right if a police officer comes in the building and says look we want to meet with John that's not happening without parents being notified and parentin here they can't even really do
that can't meet with a kid just for to say can meet with a kid right so I mean I've had that experience my whole career right where obviously we're notifying the parent the parent a police officer just can't be with a kid in the CL conf room in the cing office without a parent
not to happen if there's an incident on campus that constitutes a crime and they're like interviewing kids as Witnesses they're not doing it they don't do that either right or if they're doing it they're doing they're not doing that they do police and then a parent has police work so what we'll say to the
parent is the law enforcement officer is going to contact you and going to want you to come down with your child to meet the police station they're not conducting an investigation we can we'll conduct an investigation without them if we need to depending upon what the issue is but they're they're not going to be meeting with kids just for the kids without a
parent here under our roof that do that down if your not here that's Happ we can fairly easily address your concern Aon and I don't know what you need to do precisly but a is that school officials shall not notify the student's parents in the instance of suspected child abuse
or neglect C is what we add it school official shall notify parents when a student is involved with or has interaction with law enforcement it can easily say except as indicated above perfect and then you're that's what I was asking there you go okay thanks the lawyers are doing
that can will say We'll amend for Mo right approve it with that new language edit with that edit yeah can I just ask so so the version of this called of this regulation that's on the attached to the
agenda is the post update I updated yesterday but D is still there there there was so so the original policy if you remember the email that I communicated with you guys yesterday there was an A and C right I added an
additional letter and now there's B and the letter c that you're looking at in that regulation was not there before you so but D still says in all other instances School Authority shall permit law enforcement authority to determine whether or when a student's parents
should be contacted so like I think C is great but there's still D which still has this in all other instances language which seems like it might be in conflict with what's intended
by I don't mean to believe the point but I just want to make sure at it today we feel like that doesn't just isn't more than a catch all then we can get rid of it but I agree table for so now we have an amended
motion make I make an amended motion to withdraw to approve to approve policy P 5533 and regulation and then and the matching regulation yeah yeah I don't think there's any issue with 7441 and
regulation 7441 it's the other two 93 that we P policy regular okay so so moved another second second second by Aon thank you any discussion on those policies I do have a
question with regard to spectator code of conduct and that it's um kind of we have typically we do have we do have adults Mrs Phillips Mr Bill historically would be at basketball games and that's you know you see it at basketball games to
you have a crowd and they're indoors and you can actually hear what people are saying as opposed to a football game where you may not be able to um but they will address when somebody is sort of out of line in stands um but this is kind of like requiring then we have to
have somebody there so correct and just a little background the athletic directors for our conference all got together and Dev the consequences consistently so every school is going to adopt in our conference the same level of consequence but you're right the other thing too
comes into play with ejection so you know someone was ejected by a football official or at a basketball game whatever that's going to automatically trigger follow so it could be could be either could be a school person person
representing School correct could be the referee basketball referees will throw people out if they you know being aous um I guess the other uh there was something
El any other questions on poliy there is a long list of conduct that's included in that policy to take a look at what I wanted to ask was if if a parent had an away away game if I go to
Bader and I act like a Jabron in the stands of Bader and they throw me out in they're going to let Jason Miller know and he's going to be like what the hell you doing you can't come to next corre there we're oping optioning in if you look at the
policy um I'll pull it up real quick yes which one is it Mor it's 3C isn't it 3C not held not held yep right here qu will come into play not to belor this now you've said that the athletic directors got together with that
particular policy is are they recommending to their boards that that also be adopted so that across the board we don't have people coming will marry every every District policy in our c will be exactly the
same so Cooperative Behavior throughout the conference and now the other issue too keep in mind where most school districts have video every right so gym or whatever you know we've already we had that issue earlier this year unfortun only had a middle school event
where one of our parents thought and the whole thing was on video we were able to I if you all but in Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania there was a state playoff game and parents got involved and partipate three minutes left in the
game and they ended up stopping they ended up stopping the game game and initially they declared that the team that was leading at that point was the winner and then they said you know what both of these teams forfeit they're out of the state playoffs and we'll just put somebody else on that spot I mean you
know conduct parents hey the worst thing about you Sports is kids I mean the parents excuse me think about you parents me being one of them so uh but you know sorry it's been long okay uh any
other discussion on apologies um if not much Gina pet yes Kevin kobeski yes ER L yes M stra yes yes Mar Den yes Ronnie Tod
Mar yes okay school and Community met on March 11 the same day that Michael said we had lots of backtack meetings so we had a short meeting but it was also h in terms of what we what we discussed we
reviewed the climate survey and made some recommendations for some additional um questions and ways to gain additional information um one of the things that we had uh added to the climate survey last year was a text box for every question
so people can um provide detail um for each rather than waiting until end for this text box and we don't necessarily know what comments relate to back to um we also talked about celebrating
student achievement um with the success of the news bites we're going to be adding a student Spotlight that will alternate with the news bites and really highlight the achievements of individuals um so that will be starting um we talked about other ways
that the Board of Ed can honor student groups in our meetings um and um some of the options for that and we also talked about the significant drop in the number of the last intimidation and Bing reports this year um and as Tony said
expressing our appreciation for um all of the work that went into that and the LEF funding for those intial programs um over the past few years uh we talked about student volunteerism uh one of the goals long range goals that we T talked
that we talked about um for the committee would be to uh work towards connecting students to the larger Community which is a part of our plan and we know that there are opportunities for student volunteerism currently including the Key Club and then there's
also a brag sheet that is used by the guidance Department to help um collect information about when kids have gone out in the community service so introducing that brag sheet earlier in the students um progress in high school would get
hopefully encourage more volunteering and we we talked about um a media alert uh highlighting a new scholarship that's been established to honor a past that is it nothing um question yes no questions or
discussion on that um so uh we do have one uh um item under acceptance of harassment intimidation and bullying report again we we we go into executive session at the end of the each month's meeting and
discuss these and then we come out into the regular session uh the next month's meeting um and we vote to approve or not to approve the the find by our investigators so we will be voting on
what was discussed at the February um we do have we have one investigation in February it was not it was per not to be meet the criteria of harassment intimidation bullying not mean that there was consequence for
whatever this Behavior was it's not be that narrowly defined State Statute um we need a motion to approve that in a second byon thank you Michael thank you any discussion
very limited in what we can say about this say discussion all in favor iOS we did have fire and safety drills those dates and times are recorded on the agenda Mr Su you have an
enrollment update here and that is available on the website as well the agenda um so now we come to the second period of public comment same rules as the first if you have something you'd like to bring before the board please
come to the podium state your name and let us know what community you're from and let us know what's on your Mone with that public comment is open anyone something like to bring it to the board do we have any online um doesn't seem that there is any public
comment this evening so I will close the second period of public comments you have a need to go into executive session with you even for purposes of just explaining the report as well as a Personnel update
um so we I would need a motion to go into executive