with the clerks of the respective municipalities and advertising the 10 Congress newspaper and the uh Conan County Democrat. Uh please stand for the flag. Father God, Jennifer Bachelor
here. Arthur Dennis here. Gina Fchettes here. Ryan Keys here. Kevin, Erin Ori here, Michael Strauss here, Ronnie John Marino here, and G
present. Okay. Um, see this is slightly different than we now or we No, we're going to go. Yes. So, I would at this time I'm very excited. We have a
lot of faces in the crowd to invite up to the podium Mrs. Williamson who teaches uh seventh and eighth grade English language arts and she has some students here. They're going to do some reading of poetry for us. So, if you want to come up and just say a few things and then you can introduce our
students. Good evening. Okay. Um like Mr. Suza said, my name is Kelly Williamson. I teach seventh and eighth grade ELA at the middle school. And today I have some of my eighth grade students here with me that are going to share poems that they wrote as a culminating project for our unit called
the power and poetics of storytelling. The students each wrote a series of poems about a time in their lives that was important to them. I think first up is Braden. Uh, hi. My name is Braden Chinoski and uh I wrote my poems about participating
in like cross country. Uh, my first poem is O to the track. Uh, I love the way my shoes hit the track like a cheetah on grass. I love the way the sweat drips off my forehead when I run. I love the crowd, the way the crowd
cheers when I finish my first lap. I love the smell of the freshly cut grass and seeing the beautiful blue sky. Uh most of all, I love cross country. Um hi, my name is Llaya Dorman. I wrote my poems about being a type 1 diabetic
and how it affects my life. Um, this is a free verse poem and it's called diabetes. Um, I meant definition a chronic condition that affects how the body uses glucose for energy. As in my dad yelling at me to give myself insulin because I have diabetes. As in people
confusing type 1 diabetes with type two diabetes. As in having blurry vision, neverending headaches and heartburns, and feeling nauseous because I have diabetes. My second poem is called My Body, Not My Illness. Illnesses come with cons. Can't blame God how I ended
up like this. This is my life, different from the others. The odd one out of the group, the color black in a world full of rainbows. But sometimes you can shift your way out of the storm. There are so many ways and so much more. The crowd is screaming, "You are the greatest. You are the champ. And you can make it."
Life is not about fear, but more than facing the fear. You are not a victim of your body, but it's loyal defender. My laugh poem is called The Girl with a Blood Drop Part. Sometimes I feel broken, like my body forgets the rules. Needles and numbers fill my days, and I
wish for a cure more than anything. But then I wonder if my blood didn't whisper warnings, if my hearts did a beat and drops are red, would I still be me? I'm the girl with a blood drop heart, strong, scared, and still hoping. Hi, my name is Lola Mench and I wrote my
poems about my experience with Hurricane Ida. Um, September 1st, 2021. 3 p.m. The bell rings. I fly out the doors with my backpack bouncing on my back. It seems I've had the best day. 8:30 p.m. Water is rising. We need to evacuate, but
where is there to go? As we trudge through the sea of tragedy, my mind's racing. My thoughts are filled with things like, "Are we going to make it? And what's going on?" 5:00 p.m. Rain's pouring, winds blowing. I think nothing. 5:30 p.m. The rain's picking up. The
wind's howling like an angry dog. My thoughts are going places they shouldn't. The worst places. 5:35 p.m. It's going to be okay. That's what they told me. 7:00 p.m. Call 911. Clearly, they were wrong. Um, hurricane, a noun. A storm of
violent winds. As in Hurricane Ida destroyed my town. As in my house is still under construction from Hurricane Ida. As in I still have some trauma when it rains even the slightest from Hurricane Ida. As in I still get flashbacks from that day almost every
month from Hurricane Ida. Rebuilding. It takes a village, so they say. But if there's nothing left, what is there to pay? As I walk down my street, I notice when people are hurt, they come together. It's like a wakeup call, a shock of lightning. I'm still
dreaming, but the world's still spinning. Days pass by, but they all feel the same. Seasons change into a new year. People make resolutions. I guess I'll tell you mine. Please, oh, please make this nightmare stop. And even though some part of me will always be dreaming, I now know that storms come
and go, mine just took a little longer to pass. Hi, my name is Olivia Sherwin. I wrote my poem about experience with Florida and how it changed my perspective on life and I had three but I'm only allowed to read one. So my poem is called what doesn't kill you makes you
stronger and it's an oath. I felt the pool breeze against me once again. I saw the pine trees and my old Lambertville friends. I saw them the same as they had always been but they didn't see the same girl they grew up with. I thought just being in that environment would free me from my mask in just a snap. But healing
takes time. It doesn't happen just like that. I wanted so bad for the time to pass, but I learned that healing takes more than letting the moment surpass. Because happiness isn't served to you like a dish in glass. You have to climb up the mountain if you want to see the horizon. Feel your feet ache and shake
as your legs buckle and break. Don't stop. Keep going, they'll say. I promise when you reach the top, the pain will go away. Not forever, at least until there's a new mountain to climb. But it's fine. You get stronger every time. So, always embrace yourself for the always brace yourself for the pain because that's just life's way of game.
I've learned there's a lot of climbing and pain in life. And that's why whenever you reach the top of a mountain, you should always look over the horizon line. To see healing isn't in reaching the end, but learning to love the climb. Lord, I had been suffocated in your ocean and trampled by your waves. But if I had to do it all
over again, I would do it any day. For if you hadn't drowned me first, who knows if I'd ever learn to breathe this way. Hi, my name is Yasmin Silva and I wrote my poems about moving from Nor to Lam. Moving one. My first poem is five
reasons why moving away is stressful. Number five, packing is horrible and not fun. Number four, I don't have a say in anything or any of the the decisions. Number three, I'm not used to any of the chaos that happened in the house. Number
two, nobody cared about how I felt about the situation and they just everything I said out their heads. Last but not least, number one, I wasn't going to be able to see my family members for a while. My second poem is an ode to my old house. Oh, old house.
House of fun. House of laughter. The house everyone loved. Oh, how I miss all those that laughter and fun every Sunday. Oh, I miss those memories. Every Sunday, something new would happen. Oh, how I miss my cousins killing me with
laughter. Oh, how I miss forgetting all my troubles and laughing instead. Oh, how I miss playing hide and seek with my cousins, though it was never fair because my aunts and uncles always told me where they were. Oh, how I miss all
the fun parties we had. Oh, how I miss my old house. Oh, old house. Thank you so much for never letting me down. Thank you so much for being my dream house and thank you so much for giving me those awesome, great, and amazing. Oh, old
house. I will never forget you. We have one more. Yes, we have one more student could not be here tonight. Hi, my name is Julia Bulman and I wrote a poem about my experience with Hurricane Ida. The whole part of the
poem is called is called a natural disaster and the first poem I wrote is called the burning day. 8:00 a.m. I leave the house mom sleeping fixtures pouring. 8:25 a.m. I walk into school, meet the teacher. They had a fun.
The car is soaking wet. Rain is pouring. 3:15 p.m. I'm finally home. Rain's pouring. 5:30 p.m. My mom leaves. Babysitter comes. Rain's pouring. 6:00 p.m. We order pizza. Water's rising.
6:30 p.m. The pizza comes. TV's on. Water's rising. 6:45 p.m. Water reaches. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. 6:50 p.m. Get in babysitter's car. Try to drive. Car gets
stuck. Panicking. Can't breathe. 7:00 p.m. I stumble out of the car. Walk through water waist high. Where's mom? 7:20 p.m. I finally get at high ground. I collapse. I black out. 7:45 p.m. I'm safe in my friend's house. freezing
cold, millions of thoughts running through my head. The second poem I wrote is called Five Reasons I Can't Go to Sleep. The amount of adrenaline rushing through my me could wake up the world. Four, the last time I saw my house, water was about to
crash through the doors. Three, all the thoughts in my head were so loud they were deafening. Two, I had left my stuffed animal named Muzzi at home and I couldn't sleep without her and I didn't want it want the cold water to take her from me. But most of all, I hadn't seen my mom since 5:30, which felt like years
ago. And I all I wanted was to know she was okay, for her to tell me it was going to be okay and for her to hug me and never let go. The last poem I write was called Destroyed. Destroyed. Put an end to existence of something by damaging or attacking it.
As in a tree fell on my mom's car, destroying it. As in if my mom's car hadn't been there, my house would have been destroyed. As in, if the tree had hit my house, my life would have been destroyed. Thank you. So again, thank you to Mrs. Williamson
and all of our students who came this evening and obviously Julie as well. That was a phenomenal job and uh we give you a lot of credit for coming and reading in front of all these these faces here tonight. So, thank you so much. You're welcome to stick around, but you can you're more than welcome to
go as well evening. Everyone, I'm Lauren Ronburgger and I'm part of the LA board. Um, for December, we're doing our fundraising where we're going to We're doing a letter writing campaign. So, the letters will be going out in December. And Mr. Suzo, if you're
so nice enough to post it as well. Um, you know, we look forward to everything since we do get um a lot of inquiries for, you know, different school events. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Hello.
Uh, Jessica Hardigan, um, PTO. I hope you're all doing well. Um, we're happy to share that our fourth grade cheesecake fundraiser was a great success. All funds raised will be added to the fourth grade account to help support their end of the year promotion activities. Um, if any third or fourth
grade parents here tonight or listening from home would like to assist with future fundraising efforts, please email the PTO. We are actively looking for additional ideas and volunteers. Um, the same also applies to eighth grade families. they have some stuff planned at the end and we've decided to have
dedicated accounts to to those events so we can allocate money towards them. Um so if anyone wants to help out, please feel free to reach out. We're always looking for new faces. Um a quick reminder, cheesecake pickup is tomorrow directly after school in the elementary
school courtyard. Um, an email went home to all those who purchased. So, if you were unable to to pick it up at that time, you make arrangements ahead of time with Corey. Um, we're still seeking volunteers to help run our clothing drive and Christmas tree fundraisers.
Um, they're relatively easy things to run. So, if anyone would be interested in that, please email the PTO. We're hoping to use those funds and put them directly into the fourth and eighth grade accounts. So, um, our November kids night out was a
huge success. We hosted 46 students and the majority of them were prek and kindergarten students. Um, so it's a wild hour and a half. Um, we had seven parent volunteers and Miss Ryan help us
out. Our next event is Kids Day Out and it will be held on Saturday, December 6th from 10 to 1. Um, and our hope in doing it during the day is that families um can do last minute holiday stuff, wrap gifts um while their kids are
having fun somewhere else. Um the South Elementary holiday shop is coming up from December 8th through 12th. Um envelopes went home and they should be returned to school ASAP. The shop will be open on Monday evening, December 8th, um from 5 to 7:00 and that's exclusively
for prek families. Um they're invited to come and shop, make holiday cards, and enjoy refreshments. We're also beginning to plan for spring enrichment clubs. Um if you have a club idea or if anyone's interested in being a club teacher, help spread the word. Uh
we most of our clubs are taught by South South Elementary staff, which is really wonderful and nice. Um, and the PTO's been working closely with the middle school to support upcoming events. We're partnering partnering with Miss S on the seventh and eighth grade winter formal. It's
currently scheduled for Friday, February 6th. Um, which is also going to be the same day as the Valentine's Day dance at the elementary school. Um, and the PTO will be providing refreshments and decorations for the seventh and eighth grade. And then we'll be doing the whole
shebang for the um one at South Elementary. And then finally um last week or two weeks ago um Jen Bulvinoski or organized um providing lunch and dinner for the all all of the custodians in the entire district to thank them for
their for their hard work and putting up with us and having to deal with 50 kids on a Friday night. Um but that's all I have. Thank you guys. Thanks. Okay. Um, say we do our minutes approval
before we get into our reports. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve the minutes of our October 27th meeting. And so, that would be for both the regular and executive motion by Ronnie. Can I have a second, please?
Second by Martha. Any discussion on there is no discussion. Let's vote. All in favor? I vote. Okay. Um, so now we have uh several reports uh which we let Mr. Sugo uh take
us through. Yes. So we have two reports that we do annually at this time. The first one is our uh HIV harassment, intimidation and bullying self assessment that we're required to do each and every year. Um
both reports that you'll see tonight are for the 202425 school year. So last school year. So just a little bit about the HIV um self assessment. So each of our buildings have what's called a school safety and climate team that meet throughout the
year. Um those individuals also look at any HIV reports that will come up throughout the year and then they have to do a self assessment just about uh HIV protocols which you'll see that I'll get into. You'll see on towards the bottom of this slide that our overall
district score, the average of our three buildings with a 71 and a score of 50 indicates that the school meets all state requirements. And this is something that's been going on for several years. There's different categories. The scoring for each means that uh if
you look at it, a zero does not meet the requirements all the way up to a three, which is exceeded all requirements. So the first core element is the HIB programs approaches and other initiatives. So just programming and annual documents related to HIB
assessment related to HIP programs and you can see how each building scored themselves in the self assessment and then what the total score was on the bottom of each core element. Core element two is just training. So
folks that are working in our buildings um and the fact that it's discussed with you know those individuals as far as what our processes are, where are the forms, what does that look like? This could be volunteers or anyone else working within our buildings. So you can see where we landed there. But core
element three, this is really different things that we have to train our staff on. Suicide prevention, instruction on the HIV law, um inservice training, things along those lines. We also have an anti-bullying specialist, sometimes two. The high school actually has two
and then we have one for the middle school and one for the elementary. So they have opportunities throughout the school year to go out for training as well. They also would meet with me. I am the district anti-bullying coordinator. So I will meet with them periodically throughout the year just to kind of go
over report writing, case law, case scenarios, and how we apply the law and things along those lines. but they're the ones who actually do the investigations in the event there is an HIV curriculum and instruction. So, how it relates to our curriculum and
instruction. The state of New Jersey each and every year has what's called a week of respect which we do the first week in October. So, there's a variety of different activities that each one of our school buildings do in honor of that week. Um, core element number five is HIV personnel. So each building as I
mentioned we have to appoint an anti-bullying specialist. That information is on our website by the way all the contact information. They have to meet at least twice a year with me and their safety team has to meet at least twice a year as well. Um just to kind of take a look at programming and
any HIVs and if there's any trends depending upon what the HIVs are. For core element number six. Um you'll notice there's two buildings with scores and then one that's not. The one without is because they did not have any HIV. So our elementary school last year for 2425
did not have any HIV reports. So based on that, they answer the questions a little bit differently. Um you can see option A says minimum of one HIV case. So make sure that we implemented the district procedures. There's a basically a 10day timeline that we need to follow
in the course of our investigations. um and that all the reporting procedures were followed and all that information was documented in a report. Then you'll see for core element six option B no HIVs you'll see NAS for the middle school high school and then the
56 school and then the elementary school scored because they didn't have any HIVs and this is just more about not that the processes were put in place because there was none to put in place because there was no HIV but that we have these processes in the event that there are core element number seven is the actual
investigation. So again, option A, minimum of one HIV. So you'll see for the elementary it's NA, but for the others, as I just mentioned, making sure we're following that 10-day turnaround. The written report comes to me um within two days of the completion of the investigation. And then the board of
education does review these in executive session. We have some on our agenda this evening where we take a look at and then they will vote the following meeting. Um, so the ones that we look at in executive session tonight will be voted upon by the board at our December meeting to affirm the decision of our
anti-bullying specialist. And then for core element seven option B again no HIVs. So for the elementary school um you know again just about that all these processes are in place and these things um are there. Core element
eight just reporting. So making sure that we have a procedure and staff members understand you know how do they fill out a report what does that look like who does it go to and then these grades for this self assessment will eventually be posted on our website. So
if you go on our website now you'll see probably the last seven or eight years that are listed and what those look like. Um there's also in the law there is the ability um in our policy
for a district to make a decision if they want. We decided not to do this where a principal could do a preliminary investigation to determine whether or not it falls under HIV. We chose not to do that. So that's the reason why you see no here and then NA for the one
below it. just because we felt it was important that if an HIV is reported that we investigate all HIVs and we don't make a decision on what we're going to investigate and what we're not. There are some districts that do that. We were not comfortable with that. So, anything that comes in it's reported whether even just looking at it on the
surface we may know based on the characteristics of the law that it's not going to fit. We still do a full investigation and then present our findings as such. Um and then just a reminder just about some resources. So a couple years ago we
created this document which I think is a really important document, the one with the blue on it. Um a lot of times obviously when there is an HIV parents have a lot of questions. This document is really a Q&A that's on our website that walks them through all the
questions they have. In other words, for example, how many days is the investigation? How am I going to find out the finding? What if I want a copy of the report? What are the possible consequences? What's the law actually say that they need to follow in order to determine whether or not it is an HIV?
That is all spelled out in this FAQ. Who are the anti-bullying specialist? You know, those different things. So, this is something whenever we do have an HIV that we do share with parents to say, you're probably going to have a lot of things going through your mind about this process. take a look at this first and then obviously if you have follow-up
questions feel free to reach out and then each summer we always do an analysis with our district administrative team where I break down each one of the HIVs and we take a look at to see what are some trends depending upon the building from a programming side of things do we need to develop
different programs because we're seeing different trends depending upon where they are um you'll see when I get into my next report I'm going to get into a little bit more detail about how many HIVs that we had last here and there is definitely some positive information there. So that is the HIV report.
Now we'll get into what's called the student safety data system report. So last year I presented I think it was in February the midyear report. So everything up to that point. Now I'm presenting the fullear report for last year. So, anytime we have an issue in
any of our buildings with let's say and I'll just start running through some of the different categories like first of all if it's an HIV alleged or confirmed. So, if it's a report we find out it is does meet the law that would be confirmed. if we had issues with anything where there was a threat,
substance abuse, substance possession, um if there was a weapon, if there was a fight, if there was vandalism, these are all things that we have to report out to the Department of Education. So, this is the form that we use, which, you know, I know it's tough to see, but I'll we'll
send this out tomorrow. And it has a a variety of different things about information related to any incidents. And then for the HIV specifically, this is geared toward that. So this part of the form is if there's an HIV we have to provide all this information department of education.
So the good news is from last year when we look at all these different categories we had two substance abuse violations at the high school and last year was 712 building. Um we didn't have any vandalism. We had one violence which
is typically some type of altercation. We didn't have any weapons. So, it's always great to see zeros in that column. We had a total of seven HIVs that were reported and you can see the locations where they were. I had mentioned before obviously the elementary school didn't have any and we
only had one that was confirmed. So, we had seven total that were reported and one based on the law is actually was determined to be an HIV. If we look at some trends, you will notice a pretty significant decline. So this just goes through over
the last four years what our numbers were in each category. And obviously last year we had 19 HIVs that were reported and five that were confirmed and we went down to seven that were reported and one that was confirmed. Um
and I think a lot of that quite honestly is credited to a lot of the different resources that we have in place. So we have people and we have programs. So people, you know, our counselors, a couple years ago, the board invested in hiring a mental health clinician just to
do mental health counseling. We have a student assistance counselor, obviously, our anti-bullying specialists, threat assessment teams, our school climate teams, and our social emotional learning committee. And then we did do a lot of programming last year. And this is just
a list of different assembly programs. You know, Red Ribbon Week is a week that we do in October. a lot of different things that we did throughout the year to hopefully continue to kind of drill home that message to our students about the type of behavior that we're hoping
to see each and every day. So, um this is a credit to our staff and specifically our counseling staff because they're behind a lot of this. I will say there are a lot of programs on that side that were funded by the LAF, right? So typically there's a lot of
grants that go to our LAF and some of these different assembly programs are funded by the LAF. Without that we would not be able to do them. So the good news is um we are reaping some of those benefits. We always continue to take a look at this as far as our programming
goes um and as far as our programming now for this year as well with different things that we have planned. So that is my two reports that I did. Um I don't because I had two slide decks to
present. I didn't do a slide deck for a superintendent report, but there was just two things I just wanted to mention to highlight. First of all, you may have noticed some equipment outside down near the football field. We did start our turf project today. So that is something that will continue. Um right now the
estimated completion date is the beginning of March, weather permitting. Um, they will be working pretty much Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30. There could be a potential of a few Saturdays in there if we do get a day where it rains on during the week and they want to make up the day. But, um,
you've noticed the, you know, equipment that's out there. The first thing they're working on is they're building like a bridge over the track to protect the track, right? Because they will be bringing heavy equipment to dig up the field to the turf. So, we want to make sure that our track, which is obviously not that old, is contained in pristine
condition as they found it. So, that's the first thing they're working on. So, that's exciting because that's something as as a board that we've been working on for over the last year. So, to see them show up today and start that is really exciting. And if all goes well with weather, you know, hopefully we'll be able to utilize it for our spring
athletic season. So, that was the first thing. The other thing I wanted to mention is we're still working through the closing for the West Antwell School. I think I had mentioned before that our buyer for the property um did exercise a clause within the contract to extend the closing out a certain degree. So, we're
working through that. Um but I will tell you in our committee conversations, and you'll hear more details of this in December, the board continues to be committed to using the proceeds for the sale to pay down referendum debt obviously to provide relief to our taxpayers. Um, we have been working with
our auditor and our financial advisor specifically on researching the best option that's going to be the most beneficial to our taxpayers. So, we hope to share more information about that at our December meeting as we work through those different things. And by that time, hopefully we'll be concluded with
obviously the closing and actually have the money in our account. U, but I did want you to just have an update on that so you don't, you know, we don't lose track of the commitment that the board made to the community. That's it for me. Is there any qu I mean questions from the board about
start with questions from the board on the HIV? Um, one thing I would just say for the public and I feel like we say this every year, but so, uh, harassment, intimidation, bullying is a is a determined by a statute, the New Jersey
law. Um there are strict criteria for what qualifies as a HIV incident which you saw we've had seven of them reported but only one of them actually qualified under that criteria. So uh that said uh
just because there's an incident uh that is not deemed to be hib that does not mean that if there was breaking of rules in school or whatever that there was not some form of discipline or pun or what's the consequence discipline
appropriate to the interactions. So um you know just want to make sure that that doesn't mean that six people also got free. It just means that they didn't meet the state criteria which is very narrow and I just posted it up there. You can see as Jim mentioned there is this is
and this is from that docu document I mentioned there's very specific criteria that we need to follow that determines whether or not it falls in HIV. But again, that was part of the reason Norton decided a few years ago when we were sort of creating policy around this
that we would have everything investigated rather than having one point person who might make it, you know, decisions on what we see and what we don't. Any questions from the board on the HIV data or the report or going forward?
Uh if there are no questions, we do have we do open this for public comments. Yes, we have to have we actually have to have three public comments tonight. So the first public comment is and Jim will read through in a second, but it's specifically just on the HIV and the
SSDs reports that I just did. I don't even have to say anything. I think he's already said we're going to have right now we're going to open a period of public comment. This is as Tony said just to talk about that hearing. If anyone has wishes to come up and make a comment on the HIV process on
you know the the statistics or anything going forward uh you're welcome to come to the microphone. Uh we ask you limit your comment to about three minutes and um with that and there will be following this we will close that comment period and then we will have our normal public
comment period in which you may make comments about anything on the agenda or off that's related to this. So this comment period is only for the HIV program. So with that said I'll say this comment period is open and does anyone have something they'd like to bring
before the board? We do. we just ask come up to the podium, let us know your your name and the community you're from and uh but it does not seem that we have a lot of comments from the audience. None online and we have no comments
online. Um so that I'm going to close the period of the public hearing on the student safety data systems report on HIV self assessment. Um and with that we will open the
regular public comment period of the meeting. So again um the same rules apply. We ask if you limit your comment to about 3 minutes address the board with your comment and um if you come up to the podium just let us know your name
with that. Does anyone have something they'd like to bring to the board to see? Okay. I don't see it right at the podium. Do we have anything online? Okay. Uh we will have one more public period for public comment following our
committee reports. Um so with that though, I will close this period of public comment and uh we will move into our committee discussions and we'll start with the curriculum and technology committee. Mr. Curriculum and technology met on
November 12th um in the library. Um we had two substitute committee members of Miss Dennis and Miss Bachelor joined us that evening. Um and um first up with technology we got a report that field
testing for NJSLA had been smooth on the IT side. Um they uh had also launched arbitro formally for both facility use and for work orders. We were still waiting on the facility use um side as of last month.
We also since we were in the library got to see the new music technology setup thanks to our LAF grant. Um it it was really great um to actually be able to be in there. It was fertuitous that that uh we were locked out of SEO.
And um then also we were informed that um they were looking to order some drones for the egg shop. Um again thanks to another LAF grant uh and that Mr. Monaco was working with Mr. Selli on
that to find the right thing as uh they wanted to start using this. we got a an update about the high school redesign um or restack. Um so uh we went through the
results of the three site visits that Mr. Souo had gone through and um looked at each of the individual high schools programs. So they they visited three high schools that already had a similar program in place and kind of looked at the good and the bad and where we might
want to align. Um the next step is the evaluation by u the teacher advisory council and um then they would give us recommendations on how we would proceed. We also received all of our school of performing arts curriculum which we we
will be advancing this evening um to uh approve. We looked at screen time analytics um and did evaluate these by grade levels. Um it would it continues a little bit further down in my report but um wanted to talk about AI first. Um
there was a survey that went out to teachers um about use of AI and um we'll be taking the results of that and our student rep is also working with Mr. Souo to come up with a survey for
students on AI so that when we tackle this it's going to be a more important decision. Uh this again is on our curriculum committee agenda as a standing item for the entire year. Uh I I was a little worried when all of the eighth graders were here um about
this next item to thankfully they they were not here for that. Um we did a survey on YouTube youths um amongst the teachers and um from the results of that made the decision that from K to 8 um
that YouTube would not be allowed on students devices. Uh so the the teacher said that it would have very little impact on instruction and we went ahead and said we're going to do a month-long test of it. We also are going to combine that
out with um a focus on teaching responsible screen use to our our kids and then also um the teachers are going to get some refresh training in GoG Guardian which is how um they have classroom management over the Chromebooks.
Then our final thing that we discussed was um middle school math as we got last meeting. Uh middle school math was definitely a focus area for us based on the NJSLA's um and there was a special
meeting amongst the teachers um and Miss Lennon. So um they are going to get a special PD session um for that. I believe that might have actually happened last week. And um there's going to be reinforcement reveal training um with all of the teachers including all
of our special ed teachers for this. And um we're going to be looking at a shift away from technology use with a focus on small groupoup instruction. um and all middle school parents received a
newsletter um detailing these efforts I believe last week or the week before I got biolas. Um with that said, I would like to move items A and B, please. So move. We'll have a second.
Second. Second by Aaron. Thank you. Any discussion on items A and B? B obviously is our curriculum for um I just want to say how happy I am that the YouTube is off of the computers
for A through eights. Um I think that's great. I have a question which is we were saying it's a one month um trial. So like how are we determining whether or not to expand it past the one month
period? Well, I think what we decided was that it would be a one-mon focus. So, uh that focus would be on the training for our staff and our students. I don't think we make like the So, does that mean what does that mean?
So, what it means is I will tell you right now, I have no intent on restoring it right now. um unless there's a a reason that someone comes to me, meaning from the educational side of things that we would need to, but um I think we we'll
look at it again in a month just to see if there has been any issues that have been reported, but I feel like since it did happen, which is now a couple weeks, things are pretty quiet. I haven't heard anything other than students have noticed it, but as far as the educational side of it, I don't think
it's had any impact. So um um sorry if it if it comes back to me I'll sure any other discussion on item uh our curriculum will be approved
there are no other comments or discussion let's vote Jennifer Bachelor Yes. Yes. Oh, sorry. Never mind. Did speaker uh I think something showed that the speaker wasn't Oh, am I on now?
He's good. That's She was unmuted. Yes. Martha Dennis? Yes. Unashetti? Yes. Brian Ke. Yes. Devin Kovak. Aaron Olirri. Yes. Michael Sha. Yes. Ronnie Tarino.
Yes. Jim Gallagher. Yes. You had something else you wanted to add. Yeah. Just um so with the screen time analytics, if there was one done prior to YouTube being taken off, I think it'd be
interesting to see what it is now. And we'll stay with you, Mr. machete because we got the the person out of the Okay. Okay. So, uh personnel committee met on November 19th at 7:30 p.m. It was a
virtual meeting. Um at that meeting we discussed the uh personnel appointments, resignation, lease of abidences and other actions that are on the agenda this evening on. Additionally, uh Tony advised the committee of the extracurricular and stipended
appointments for the 2526 school year that are on the agenda. Uh Tony discussed a personnel issue with the committee and then in addition Tony went over the two presentations that he
gave during his superintendence report. The school self assess assessment for determining grades under the anti-bill bullying bill of rights and also the student safety data assistant report. And with that I'd like to move items A
and B. So move. Can I have a second please? Second. Second by Mr. Charles. Any discussion on items A and B. Just note that the uh student teachers coming in from uh PCJ have got some
really great cooperating teacher mentors to work with this year. And Mr. Hudach, Mr. Bullahan who's a a great roster of people to work with. So I'm sure that they want great experience. Great. Mark, yes.
Gina Bashetti, yes. Ryan, yes. Ernie, yes. Michael Sha, yes. Jennifer Bachelor, yes. Yes. Ronnie Marino, yes. And Galler, yes.
Policy committee. Yes. And I'm awake. There it is. We met on we met on November 5th virtually and for our first read we have a policy 2624 in the grading system. This was not mandatory but uh we wanted to make revisions that aligned to the no
school configuration. So now we have a disability rating scale for our elementary grades K through two and three to five. We've also removed the references to AP and honors courses for our middle school scale. language was removed. They grandfathered the high school classes into the prior grade
scale. That scale did not align with the college board standards which made grades look completed. That is all over with. And language in section F was shortened to reflect the current electronic storage practices. Teachers don't grade books and things of that sort. So that sort of duplicate language
was removed. Um there was also a recommendation from a board member to chart the grading uh for each of the grades out separately for clarity and that was done. We have regulation 5460 option two on graduation. This is new but it's
mandatory for us and that's because the new regulation accommodates the performing arts academy specifically allows dance to be substituted for physical education as a graduation requirement. I know for clarity that this is not actually limited to the performing arts academy. However, the
regulation includes a committee approval process limiting the risk that the section could be used for unintended um exceptions to state graduation requirements um and acknowledging that there may be circumstances where that is recent. So, we now have a process for that. The language came from Strauss
Esme and also from other districts that have similar requirements. the committee will address um or the board will address this on mass for the dance program that there's a application process that you go through and so we're not requiring everybody in the dance program to do it separately. There will
be a onmos pro uh exception that will be made when um when the uh board approves the performing arts program. So that will be part and parcel of that. Um we also have last but not least on our first read we've got policy 1620
administrative employment contracts. This is mandatory. These are non-material changes to language uh in the text of the statute. Uh it's related to the administrative code section that address this requirement for executive count superintendent review and approval of employment contracts for the
superintendent, assistant superintendent, and school business administrator. And then on our second read, we have policy 511. This is the eligibility of resident and non-resident students. We went through this in detail on the first read, so I won't repeat everything, but just in brief, this is about waving
tuition um and the ability of the district to wave tuition. Um the school board um uh association significantly has limited that. That's challenging for us because of our choice program and as participating district, we are not able
to charge any students tuition. We had a little bit of a flexibility when it came to certificated teaching staff and we're taking advantage of that. So staff members that do reside outside of the district but have students will not be charged tuition, but we are not able to extend that to non-certificated staff members. We don't have anybody that
falls into the bucket at the moment. Um for students who are moving in and out of the district during the year. Uh again, we're pretty hamstrung on that, but we are going to treat them as uh non-tuition uh unfunded choice.
Unfunded choice. There you go. Unfunded choice students. We're also going to extend unfunded choice student status to um our uh students that are here on a vischange students under the J1 visa program. They're not going to extend that to F1 visa holders, but that is our
current policy. So that's not a change. We have policy 5516 which is the use of electronic communication devices. Um this is uh not mandatory but we added we wanted to revise and extend the types of devices that are included under that
policy. Um we did make some minor reformatting changes and we also added at the recommendation for board member smartwatches to the list of covered devices. And lastly we have the corresponding regulation. This is new.
Um again we talked about it in a fair amount of detail last month. This has to do with device use and discipline. As a reminder, we're going to prohibit prohibit use for elementary and middle school students. We have the flexibility to allow use for high school students in
between classes on the bus um and at other free times. And we we took that we did have some good discussion about this among board members. And I want to note that that is not intended as an encouragement for students to be using their devices during those times. And we are working on approaches to uh
positively hopefully enforce the desire of students to engage during these time periods. But we had some concern if we were to prohibit that we would have a significant amount of effort that had to go into the discipline associated with it. Um so trying to balance those needs but always with a focus of absolutely
trying to keep them off their devices. We are continuing the process we have right now where students are not allowed to use devices while they're in class. You've seen the little um bags, pocket bags. There you go. An example. Um and the
feedback moment is that is effective and that's working. So that's included in the regulation as well. With that, I'd like to move a forward. Outstanding report. Thank you. Accept that motion and I need a second. Second by Mr. Larry. Any discussion on
the policy? I would just say that I was, you know, I think that the use of cell phones by students at the high school in between classes and at lunch is something that should the board should continue to to look at and think
about. um just because of all of the information and data that's coming out about what the use or the possibility of being able to use a phone, you know, after class when they get into the hall.
Um I I think it's something that we should continue to to be looking at. I I agree with you there. Um I think one of the things that I really like hearing is that Mr. Suzo is working with our student representative on ways for that to come from our student body. Um I I
really think that that's a wonderful way for us to positively affect them and teach them exactly what you are saying. Not yes. Brian Ke. Yes. Aaron Oli.
Yes. Michael Sha. Yes. Jennifer Bachelor. Yes. Martha Denn. Yes. Ronnie Tom Marino. Yeah. And B. Yes. Uh, buildings and grounds, transportation, finance, and safety. Mr. Keys. You
I can do you weren't you always there. Just a few things I'll highlight um in the agenda under contracts. Uh just a few things that are on the agenda for approval. Obviously, Camp Fairview for next year. So, we will continue that
tradition in the fall. Matrix engineering is for the oversight of our Turfield installation. Um, uh, 13, the music rights is for our middle school, uh, musical, which I'm excited about because it'll be the first year where we have a high school and a middle school
musical. Um, Magnolia Consulting, as Michael had alluded to earlier, is from sort of for some professional development um, in our math specifically for the middle school. Uh then we had approval of a contract for our accompanist for our middle school and high school performances which will be
coming up in the next couple weeks. Uh county of Hunan. So this is just um we do an annual contract with Hunton County in the event that there was an emergency and we had to relocate students off site. Hundan County Fairgrounds is our
reunification site where we would reunify with parents. So we have a annual contract that we do so we could utilize that facility. Um and then just a a contract in the event that we do need a substitute athletic trainer since we only have one um for us to have the
ability to do that. Just a few other things I'll touch on. We've been doing some uh work as far as our preschool program and there's different reports that we're required at this point in the year with department of ed as far as what we're projecting our enrollment
things along those lines. Um we do expect our enrollment to be maintained of what it is now. We'll run five sections of preschool just like we are right now. We don't see any need at this particular point to add a six section based on enrollment. Very importantly all of our meeting
dates are being approved. Um, obviously right now on the calendar for the board, we have a reorder that's been approved as part of last year's meeting dates, but then all of our other meeting dates for the remainder of the year. I will point out that I did put on here Monday, March 2nd, um, budget work session as we
work on the budget. Um, we may need to do a tenative meeting on Wednesday, March 11th, just because we have to submit a tenative budget to the county superintendent um, probably right around the 16th or 17th. uh know that because we have a new
governor, typically when that happens in the first year, um we may not necessarily get state aid numbers at the same time that we normally would. Anytime a new governor goes into place, they are afforded the opportunity to take a few more extra weeks to kind of assess things where typically we would
get our state aid by the end of February. I'm anticipating it'll be probably sometime towards the middle of March. So, we'll see kind of how all these dates play out and whether or not we have to tweak them. Um, there's just a resolution that obviously allows us. So, one of the things we need to do with the West Animal School is we need to
file paperwork with the Department of Ed to close it as an official school. So, um, that is one of the things on here. You'll just see it's resolved. We're making our last payment to Bach, who was our contractor for the middle school project. So, we were able to get all of
our closeout documents, all of our warranties, all of our extra supplies. So, you'll see on here that this is the last payment. So, that's kind of exciting to finish that out. Um, preschool operation plan. Um, I already talked a little bit about that. Just
paperwork that we have to file. And then I will say again just to acknowledge LAF um just a couple weeks ago we had several of our staff members who put in grants and were awarded money which I'm really excited about. And on top of that I'll just mention that we started our
greenhouse reconditioning today. So you may have noticed outside that all of the old skin of the greenhouse is off. And I full credit I got to give credit to our maintenance staff. Unfortunately, I feel bad to a certain extent because it's just one project after another, right?
They just finished up basically um doing some stuff for our to prepare for our dugouts for our new softball field um right after right before that the playground which took several weeks. And now the next project is to put the new skin in on the greenhouse and then we're redoing the inside of the greenhouse as
well for FFA program. So again, thank you to the LEF for supporting that. And then with that, I don't think I can. So, we'll need a motion to approve item A through Od by Mrs. Dennis and a second, please.
Second by Marina. Any discussion on any of those uh any of those items? questions, comments, just say as I always do for anybody who's been through camp experience, it
is one of the best things we do here as a district. So, I love the work. There are no questions. Brian Keys, yes. Yes. Michael Sha, yes. Jennifer Bachelor, yes.
Martha Dennis, yes. Peter Bashetti, yes. Ronnie Tarino, yes. And Gallagher, yes. Uh, school and community. All right. So, school and community personally discussed were um parent resources and um student and parent
programming. Um, as we've um were talking about the um screen time and the responsible screen use um we noted that our new contract with Behavioral Health, they are able to do programming at the middle school and
the high school. So we were um going to um discuss with them that that topic as well as some other topics and then Tony will follow up with them to find out um what they've what they've facilitated in the past so that we can then look at
that and and basically build out a calendar of programming for the middle school and the high school um and parent uh educational classes regarding regarding topics like the responsible screen use but also both mental health
and um emotional and physical well-being and how those are connected. We talked about the West Animal School um scale and the letter that we want to make sure that we're putting information out to the community to help um everyone
understand what our options were and what we decided and what the rationale was behind that decision. Um, one thing that we noted that I think is important to say is that because of the timing of the year this like right now, we aren't able to make a payment for next year. So
any of the debt relief won't be won't be realized until the the following year. So um that was important. We talked about parent teacher conferences and um that we had a larger than anticipated participation which was was great. Um
and Tony met with the district parent council just to get their feedback and some ideas about how we can improve. Um and then there the principal Mcnite also surveyed staff. So as they're looking at future planning for that um we'll look
at we'll take the feedback from the the teachers. Uh and it was also noted that in the spring conferences will continue as they have historically on as needed basis. Um but of course parents are always welcome to reach out to teachers at any time.
They don't have to wait for conferences and um springtime even if anybody can can reach out to the teacher to schedule. We talked about the community classroom. Um right now we have 24 volunteers signed up. Uh and teachers have started
bringing in volunteers to the classroom. Uh we saw some great pictures from the fourth grade class having some publishers in and then there were some um programs scheduled for the middle school and high school math classes and I know that Tony posted some pictures on
um social media regarding those classes. So, it's really about bringing volunteers who have experience in or have careers that are connected to something within the curriculum. Um, so those math instructors were bringing in folks who had had used math in their
careers in science and in business. We have um attached to the agenda today, we have the the school calendar for the 26 27 school year. We're not voting on that today. We'll be voting on that um
in our next meeting, but we wanted to make sure that we were bringing it to the um to everyone's attention that because Labor Day is late this year, we are considering starting school prior to Labor Day and because we know that that impacts um holiday planning, summer
planning, we wanted to make sure that we had that out as soon as possible. But again, we won't be voting on that today. Uh we also began discussing the board of education norms and procedures. In the um the board retreat we established
board um goals and one of those was to improve our functioning as as a board um through better governance. And so we're developing this um set of norms um and utilizing from like best practice that's established with the New York school
board um association and then also districts and modifying that so that it works for us. Um and one thing I thought it was really important that and I think we we as a board know this that um sometimes these types of documents are developed when there's been problems and
that's not what this is. This is a way to make us more efficient and more effective. It's not reactive to a problem. It's how do we make ourselves better? Basically taking the oral tradition and creating a written tradition. Okay. So, this is the kind of the unwritten rules
of how we want the board to operate and we're writing them down which makes a lot of sense and it'll also be very helpful for new board members because a lot of times when we have our new board orientation, it's a lot of information, right? So to have a resource to be able to go back to
and just understand how committees work and the processes and different things I think will be very helpful. Um so let's see. So uh next up uh we do have a few routine information items. Um next is our uh again as discussed
earlier in the HIV uh safety data session. Um we do each meeting have a period where we consider or we vote on um uh to affirm the decisions made whether something is an a harassment, intimidation and bullying or not. Uh we
have two of them that we will uh were were reported in o in September and discussed in October or reported in October and discussed and the end of the October meeting. And so this evening we'll be voting one of those as it turns out was determined to be meet the HIV
criteria. The other one did not. So with that I do need a motion to accept the HIV report for the second please. Second second by Brian. Thank you. And I believe we can do a voice vote for this. So all in favor I
I want to. Okay. That motion carries. Um in the agenda it does note that we do have uh we did have fire drills and safety drills of the various schools on the dates uh listed and uh our enrollment
report is attached with the agenda and can be found online. Um with that we've come to the second period of public comment this evening. Um same rules as the first. you are welcome to come up and address the board on anything that you've heard tonight uh on any other
matter that is of concern to you that's related to the schools. We just ask that you limit your comment to about 3 minutes and um with that that period of public comment is open if anyone would like to come up to the podium. Seeing no comments in the audience and
seeing no comments online. Uh so I will close the period of public comment um before we go into we will be going into an executive session for a few moments. Uh we do not anticipate taking action after that executive session and that executive session may take 25 or 30
minutes. Um however before we do that I do want to acknowledge uh earlier this month there was an election in school a school election and uh we do have uh two we will be having in January two new board members joining us. Um one of them is John Banani and he is in the back row
and he is he will be representing Stockton and as I've said to many of you before he will represent an upgrade in the Stockton board member position. Um the other is a gentleman from West Amwell. His name is Paul Faltino. Paul Falcino and uh so he will be replacing
Mr. Billowleski who uh was a served with distinction on this board for at least six years a number of years. So um we appreciate nine years. So uh yes so was grateful for Kevin's long service and looking forward to
seeing Paul here. So I did want to acknowledge that the results of the election. Um, also congratulations uh u to the new West Annwell uh uh township representatives and to all those who are elected in Atlanta
and Gina and Aaron as well and Gina and Aaron who are reelected and we're excited very excited to have the two of you guys back on the board. Um, so with that, um, I will need a motion to go into executive session at 8:06 p.m.
Move by Michael and a second, please. Second, and a second by Brian. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay.