Public's meeting act was provided on December 5th, 2025 by posting the notice with the respective clerks of the city of Lambertville, Borough of Stockton, and the Township of West Amwell, and advertised in the Star-Ledger and Trenton Times newspaper. Will you all join me for the Pledge of
Allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Brocolli? Jennifer Vaccaro?
>> Here. >> John Donahue? Mark DeDennis? Paul Falsetta? Gina Fischetti? >> Here. >> Ryan Kennedy? >> Here. >> Aaron O'Leary? >> Here. >> Randi Godorino? >> Here. >> And Michael Callow? >> Here.
>> Uh we have a full agenda tonight, um and I know we have a lot of people waiting in our uh gallery here. I did >> Before we start, just want to take a moment to um acknowledge two things that happened in the past month, or one that
is happening this evening, um that I'm particularly proud that the board has accomplished, um because we have had to work together a lot on it. Uh the first is I want to acknowledge the sale of West Amwell School. Um while this is a milestone in our
district regionalization, um it's also the sale of a place that a lot of us have really great memories of, and uh the sale is is bittersweet. So, uh I personally have gone through it, as we have, as you might say,
uh but this board really worked together throughout throughout the process, and as a West Amwell rep, I'd like to thank all of my fellow reps for um the grace, the partnership, um and the wisdom, as as we got to
finalize the statement. The second piece from the past and into the future is the AI guidelines that are coming up this evening. And that's another thing that has required a lot of discussion and and I
can say a lot of discussion. So one of the only things that I've ever seen us have a full work session on and it went for 3 to 4 hours. And it required a lot of alignment. So there were a lot of voices in the mix in
this one and we all came at it at a different angle and it's really great when things happen that the voices kind of come together. So I appreciate that everybody put in their two cents and that we all we all
did get there. Um We're also doing something that is really special that is what the board is supposed to do. And we're setting our intentions. And now we get to pass it off to the educational professionals in the room.
And I'm excited to see what these guidelines what happens with these guidelines in your hands. And since I have students here, I'm excited to see what happens in your hands, too. So we all know that this is just the start
of the AI discussion, but it will be continuing and we're glad to add more people to the mix starting this evening. Now more people to the mix. Sorry to talk up. We have
a recognition process this evening that is for the high honor roll. I'll let you take it first. >> Sure. So as we officially tonight close out 2025-2026 school year and look forward to 2026-2027,
we want to recognize um two phenomenal groups of students. First, we're going to recognize our students who did achieve high honor roll for the fourth marking period. So, when I call your name, please come up and receive your certificate. Like we did last month for our third marking period
honorees, if folks are not here, we will mail out their certificates. And then for our folks who are going to honor this evening that received high honor roll for all four marking periods, we have a little bit of a special thing for you tonight that I'm excited to about to give. So, first we're going to start out
with ninth graders who will soon be tenth graders. Um Adriana Alvarez Borja. Next, Lev Bot. Daniel Brewer. Isaac Duer. Olive Dobb. Luke Freeze. Truitt Losch.
Lucy Milheim, who I know who couldn't be here tonight. Daniel Murzynski. Ava Sayre. James Wood. >> I would Now our 10th graders, soon to be 11th graders, Neyli Abreu,
Leticia Aguilar Raimundo, Leah Batchelor, Haley Brown, Amelia Carlucci, Julia Dorman, Liliana Ferrer, Anthony Curdo, Brooke Paciulli, Charlie Phillips, Nathan Pigeon,
Adriana Soto, Abigail Titus Greaves, and Charlotte Titus Greaves. Awesome. And our juniors, soon to be seniors, Finn Baker, Tucker Hicks, Junior B. Hortman, Aaron O'Rourke
Sydney Powell And then our recent graduates, who if they're here I'd be very impressed. Henry Brusca Rosemary Cooper Leo Frazier Ian Harbison Grace Horvath Alex Kucharski
Jason Vincente Campos and Isabel Wernitz. All right, so now we we have a special honor. To receive and obtain high honor roll for all four marking periods is absolutely amazing. So, for our students, as much as I'm
sure you enjoyed your certificates for the last four marking periods, in my mind cash is king. So, what I've decided to do is for each one of our honorees who achieved all four marking periods of high honor roll, which is amazing, you will be getting a
$25 gift card tonight on behalf of the Board of Education. So, first in ninth grade, we have three students, Daniel Brewer, Isaac Duer, and Ava Seirath. >> In 10th grade, Leah Batchelor.
Amelia Carlucci. Julia Dorman. Brooke Paciulli. Nathan Pigeon. And Abitha Abigail Titus Green. All right, 11th grade. Junaebi Hornsby. Aaron O'Rourke. And Sydney Powell.
And then our seniors who just graduated, Ian Harbison. And Alexander Kichawsky. So, I will make sure that for all of our students who couldn't be here tonight, their certificates will be mailed. And for our folks who achieved all four, they'll get their nice gift certificate in the mail. So, once again,
congratulations again. Thanks for coming this evening. And parents, congratulations. You should be extremely proud. We definitely are on behalf of myself and the Board of Education. It's amazing accomplishments. Thank you. >> Maybe grab a picture with all of them to prove that you were here during the summer.
And then the board does have a little business to do in association with this. So, so if you'll come just meet out in the hallway, all of our students and all of you want to get a picture from the board and I guess a vote to half item B and E.
>> So moved. >> All right, and Brian here. This is a voice vote. All in favor? >> I. >> Any abstentions? >> Wonderful. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> I am not seeing that we have had any correspondence uh
as you know. >> Do you know whether we got anything from the LAF or >> No, I'm not to my knowledge, no. >> I don't think we have had that uh I don't think we have had that either. >> Yeah, I don't think so. We did not have that a half hour ago.
>> Did we have anything from the LAF or the PTO? >> They They They deserve the summer off, though. >> Uh So uh we also need to ask our minutes from the last one.
So can I get a motion for items A and B? >> So moved. >> Done. >> Second. >> All right. Okay, all in favor? >> I. >> Any abstentions? >> Wonderful. Okay, let me move on to the
Superintendent report. Thank you parade of excellence. >> All right. So it's been a busy summer. A lot of different things that are happening that I'm going to highlight, many of which obviously are on our agenda this evening. But, as Michael mentioned already,
on July 17th, we closed on the sale of the West Amwell School. I did put some information out to the community but and also on social media, but it's kind of one of the reinforce that. First, the message that hopefully by now everyone's heard loud and clear.
All along the board has committed to taking the proceeds from the sale from the school and using it to pay down 2021 referendum debt. So, basically the breakdown was as follows. When it was all said and done after closing costs, the sale price was
890,000 that we walked away with as far as proceeds go. If you recall when we went through the auction process, we did have a buyer that unfortunately couldn't follow through on the sale and as a result did lose 145,636.51 with their deposit. So, all in, final
proceeds you can see there. So, just now the next step is what does that mean and how does that all work and and what are our next steps? So, there you know many of you and the board knows this already, but school financing is a bit different and can be very complicated
and they don't make things easy at times. So, first off, the original deposit of the 145,000, we received that, you know, way back when in January. And that was technically received during the
2025-2026 school year. So, as we have our audit, which will be at the end of August, that will actually count as surplus excess surplus for the 2025-2026 school year. With the sale of the 890,000, since we
closed after our fiscal year, our fiscal year ends on June 30th, right? The sale is on July 17th. So, that will count as excess surplus towards our 2026-2027 budget. All right? Just so kind of
everyone understand that process and what it looks like. So, after our audit is complete in August, we'll obviously take that 145,636, it will put it be put into a special account. When we have our audit this time next year, right? And the additional 890 is
considered excess in next year's budget, that will get put in that account as well. Um and those funds, as I had mentioned, will be earmarked for the referendum, you know, to pay down that debt. Um as you see here, basically they'll be removed into a separate account and held as a reserve until the
district is able to to use the funds to pay down the referendum debt. Um so, although all the proceeds, in essence, will be available after the 2026-2020 school year, uh we do have a call date. So, I gave a little bit of an explanation, and this is not uncommon
with municipal bonds, that there is a call date, which means that the first date on which a district has the legal right to pay off all or a portion of the bonds before they're originally scheduled to be paid off. So, our call date on the bonds, because it was a 2021 where we got the bonds, is
actually 2029 is the first time where we can actually make a payment of this little over a million dollars. So, from the finance committee side of things, we've been doing a lot of work with our financial advisor as far as what's the best way to go about this and what's
going to make the most sense. And in essence, what's going to save our taxpayers the most money. So, what I will say to you is we'll talk more about that as we get closer to the date, and we can we'll show you the options that we looked at with our financial advisor. Um it doesn't make much sense to do that
now because, obviously, we got some time until the end of the year of our audit now and then our next audit for the following year. But, regardless, this money has been earmarked will be utilized. It's just that we have to follow all the purchasing laws and finance laws and and school law in order
to make that happen in in the proper way. So, I don't know if there's anything more that you want to add based on our discussions in finance as far as how we're going to go about this. >> Yes, but the finance committee has had a lot discussion about this already. And the
law and procedures that go with it. I am very glad that even though this board of us cannot deal with the fund, that so many of us will carry over next year and have a basic understanding of this so we don't have to start the process over.
And but there is a a full commitment that these funds be made out of our budget. >> All right, so more to come on that. Um just a couple other things I wanted to share up here. Hopefully, you've been seeing some of the visuals I've been
sending out, but there there is going to be a lot happening as we get into the August. Um tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. all parents in the district are going to receive an email from us about the fact that our annual registration is opening
up in OnCourse. So, this is a really important process where we ask you to verify that all of your contact information is accurate and up-to-date. And then we also ask you to acknowledge a variety of different things in reference to policies, some of which we're going to be talking about this
evening. Um so, look for that email. We'll send out reminders. It's really important for number two because right now our date for when student schedules release 5:12 and then classroom teacher assignments in elementary will open up
in OnCourse. However, that will only happen is if the annual registration process is complete. If that process has not been complete, and trust me from the parents' perspective, you don't want to be on August 14th when the text messaging starts flying around about
schedules and then your child goes to log in and there's a message that pops up that says the annual registration has not been completed. Um so please do that. We'll remind you over the next several weeks. Um so student schedules and all that information will be available on the 14th.
Then we have kindergarten camp. Um you can see the dates and the times. I don't think we've stressed this enough. We probably have should have said this more. It is free, right? Which is awesome that it's free for our kids. It gives them an opportunity to get a a jumpstart with their kindergarten
teachers and you know, we have one in the room that does an amazing job acclimating our kids. So when the first day of school comes around, you know, they really have their footing under them as far as starting out kindergarten. The registration link is on our elementary website right in the main box on the homepage there. So if we
have any parents that are out there that are watching that have not registered their child and would like them to participate, which we highly recommend, please do that cuz it'll be here before we know it. We have our preschool orientation program. So on August 24th, for our students who will be attending
preschool at the elementary school, it'll be from 9:00 to 10:30. And then for our students who will be attending preschool at St. John's, it'll be from 11:00 to 12:30. We have our grade five orientation as well as any new students to the middle school. So if we have any students who
are coming in in grade six, seven, or eight that are new to our district, August 24th at 12:00 p.m. will be orientation at our middle school. Our PTO, which obviously does amazing things for us, will be doing a break the ice social on August 24th later that
afternoon at 4:00 p.m. for all of our elementary students. Um in the in the morning by the way for our preschool students, we'll have a little mixer at the end with some ice cream and all kinds of different things for our preschoolers. Then middle school's going to have an ice cream social the following day on Tuesday, the 25th at
4:00 p.m. So, we invite all of our grade 5 through 8 students and families to head over to the to the middle school that will be sponsored by the PTO again. And then number eight, I'm really excited about. This is something we have not done before. So, on Friday, August 28th, we are going to have a
back-to-school barbecue for all of our 9th through 12th grade students and their families. So, um it's also the same night that we kick off our football season where we play New Hope at 7:00 p.m. So, the plan will be August 28th, 5:00
p.m. food, plenty of different activities to do for our kids from like 5:00 to 6:00, 6:30. We're going to give each one of our students um a free ticket so they can get food. Uh parents have to pay, sorry. Um but the kids will all get free uh a ticket for a free food
that night. We're working with our PTO and also Jim Troutman who does a ton of stuff for our football booster club. So, they're managing the food and all these arrangements. So, we're really excited about it. I think it's just a great way for all of our families. In the past, we've done more of a 9th grade uh
barbecue, but we decided why not We're small enough, why not invite everyone? Just to kind of get to meet folks, hang out. Hopefully, folks will stay for the football game. We are doing a salute to service that night. So, we're saluting all of our service folks, EMS, police, um fire, all that stuff will be um
honored as well as part of that event. So, uh you know, more information will come out about each one of these events from our building principals. Um but a lot will be happening as we end, believe it or not, the month of July this week. All right. So, I wanted to just again,
uh we know we talked about this last month. I've been sending little blurbs out every other Monday about our new student use of internet-enabled devices. Obviously, when we give our I'm going to be giving our policy report tonight from our policy committee. We have first drafts of these board policies on our
agenda tonight for review. But, just a reminder how it's going to work, you know, our middle schoolers and our high schoolers are going to turn in the carts or turn in their phones each and every day. We have colored storage carts. I brought them in last month. I've sent them out. That each student will have a
labeled slot for their cell phone, watch, or whatever else they may bring with them. Um that's really important. We'll check them in. We're going to have them designated in different areas of the building for each one of the grade levels. Kids will drop them in as they come in. They'll be there secured the rest of the day. We'll lock up the
carts. And then at the end of the day, they'll be able to grab them on the way out. Elementary students that we don't we don't anticipate as many students obviously at our elementary. But, for those that have a device or maybe a watch, we will be asking them to check it in in the main office, which they've been doing in the past. Um so, just
again, we'll continue You'll see blurbs that will continue to come out every few weeks leading up to the school year. Just little reminders with a link in there of our actual FAQ. Uh just a couple of things I wanted to stress. Just staying connected like it talks about it in the FAQs, but I wanted to
acknowledge it again. If you need to get in touch with your child at any point during the day for any reason, they have access to you and you have access for them. Right? You can call the main office if we need to get a message to them if it's an urgent we need to pull them out of class, we will do that. If they need to get in touch with you, they
can do that through the main office. They can do that through the counselor's office. They can do that if it's a medical issue through the nurse's office. There's plenty of access throughout the day, so I don't want to parents to think that they will not have access to their child if something comes up during the school day. All of our staff members have their cell
phones on them. They have the ability to activate, you know, you have the speakers in the back of the room. That's our emergency notification system with their app in the event there was an emergency. Obviously, they have the ability to do it with their phones. And then we will communicate with parents like we've always done through Parent square. So, you know, safety is still
our primary purpose here. And there are some exceptions that are built in to the new law and to our policy. You know, if a student has some type of medical issue or something that's an IEP accommodation, that's something you want to reach out to your principal about, um who will discuss with you and then
next steps for whatever documentation we need if there's going to be any type of accommodation. So, I know by now hopefully the word's been out. I think from some of the kids I've seen some of the summer, they're well aware. Um but, you know, once September starts, we kind of know
how that goes when the first couple days, you know, just kind of getting students into a routine. But I think like anything else, they're going to get into a routine and, you know, after the first week or so, we'll slide into our normal routine and we'll be in good shape. And remember, the goal of this, right, is A, we want our kids engaged
during the school when they're in the school building, not just in class, obviously that's pretty important, but in the hallways, you know, during passing time, things along those lines, they're really, really important. Um you know, one of one thing that came up and
I'll probably report out with policy as well is like, what about if a student has a non-internet device, right? What if a student has, let's say, just throwing things out there, MP3 player, let's say still you can still get them on, you know, eBay or Amazon, or a
Gameboy or something like that, right? So, we had a lot of discussions from the board level and and policy and a lot of discussions from our administrative team. And what I will tell you is two things we landed on. In the policy for first read tonight, you'll see that we're not allowing that. And the reason
being is A, we just kind of don't want to get in the business to try to figure out what's internet and what's not. But even more important than that, that's something we can work with, but I'm not as worried about that. I want the kids to engage, right? I don't want us to be in a the during lunch time and kids will be on
Game Boys or this or like we want them talking to each other. That's the whole point of getting rid of the phones for the day. And I don't want this to supplement that. So, I'm worried about that. So, we did make the decision on our first read to not allow any non-internet devices. We're asking to keep them at home just to make sure that
when our kids are in spaces together, that they're interacting and they're still not looking on a device even though it's not connected to the internet. All right, so more to talk about with that when we get to our policy. Then today our elementary middle school parents received something a couple
weeks ago as well. Hopefully you remember this from last year, but we are rolling out K8 Character Strong as a social emotional program to all of our students this fall. So, I just kind of want to remind everyone like as much as we talk about academic
achievement and how important that is, this is equally important. We want to develop students who are good citizens. We want to give students the skills to be successful when they're with us each and every day, but obviously when they leave us eventually. So, we spent a lot of time researching Character Strong. We
had a committee that spent an entire year looking at different social emotional programs. That was 2 years ago. They made the recommendation to go with Character Strong. Then this year we had a committee that talked about how we're going to implement Character Strong, right? And made that recommendation. So, now we're at the
point where you know, we will be implementing in September. We've already done a first round of training back in March with our K8 staff. As far as Character Strong, we'll be in doing another round of training during our August in-service days. So, just a couple things to point out. Like we really want to focus with
our kids on how to deal with each other, how to solve conflict, how to build friendships, how to maintain healthy relationships. You'll see some of the character traits that I have that we'll be focusing on each month, whether it's empathy, or respect, cooperation, responsibility, courage, and gratitude.
Obviously this is a research-based program. We just didn't pick it off the shelf. We did a lot of research. It's the reason why we picked it. And I think one of the most important pieces is there's a family partnership. So if each and every month, teachers will be sending out to parents kind of what the focus is for that month, and parents can
reinforce that at home and have those conversations with kids at home as far as the different things that they'll be learning. We're looking at at the elementary implementing more during morning meeting time, and then when we do whole school activities, which we often do where we bring all the kids together. And then at the middle school
we're looking to incorporate during the accelerate period at certain times during the week. And then also more whole school activities where either we bring all the grade levels together, or we bring one grade level together, and our councils will play a a role in that as well. So you're going to
continue to get little tidbits about Character Strong leading up to the school year, and then obviously a lot more information at back to school night, as well as you know, from us once we start the school year. So something else that I want to make you aware of. I told you we've been busy this summer.
So we are you know, we we we've taken a step back and really tried to evaluate what's the type of learning environment we want our kids to be exposed to on a daily basis in our district. And I think the board has been loud and clear. We've
had conversations administratively that we're looking for more hands-on, more human interaction, less of the devices, right? And more real-life authentic experiences for our kids. We know from being in school the age-old question is why am I learning this and
when will I ever use this in my life? Right? So we are we've been working on this since around February. We are embarking on what's called project-based learning starting in September. All right? So some of you may have heard the term PBL or project-based learning, you
know, in in the past. Um we are partnering with an organization called PBL Works or the Buck Institute. So, if you're not familiar with them, feel free to Google them. They are well-known nationwide. Um they are the cream of the crop as far
as PBL goes. It's the reason why we decided to establish a partnership with them. And we're really looking to and I think in the middle of the slide where it says the PBL model, learn, apply, revise, present, reflect. So, we're really looking to develop those skills
with our kids. It's not just about learn, test, and forget, right? It's more about how can we apply these things and how do I get messy in my hands-on things to learn the different material. Rather than just learning about fractions, how do I utilize that in some type of project? So, as you look at the
bottom there, some of the different things with, you know, the different skills, which we all know are important, you know, that I've listed there. Um we have 10 teachers in cohort one. Um they will be doing what we're calling teach units. So, there'll be a project
uh based for each unit. The projects typically last a month in time and we are teaching standards through projects. So, if you look at the bottom, I gave an example of a sixth-grade math, it's called Pack Perfection that we're going to be doing. We're And this gives you
example of what a PBL unit looks like. Students take on the challenge of designing a custom backpack for a real client. They gather insights through interviews and market research. They apply their understanding of area and volume to ask you all right, to standards, to create an efficient
personalized design, right? So, they're not just going to learn about basically, you know, area and volume. They're going to learn about it, design something that they actually utilize to know this is how I use area and volume and how it applies to my everyday life. A backpack, which we know for all kids is pretty
important each and every day when they come to school and for all kinds of different things. So, that gives you an example of the different types of projects that we're talking about. Um we have a this group of teachers will be trained on August 27th, which is one of our in-service days. Our administrative
team just went through two days of training last week on the 20th and the 21st with PBL Works. Um we have an implementation plan, a support plan that will support our teachers. Uh we're really excited about it. It's all about authentic
work where students are going to be able to work with each other, interact with each other, collaborate, problem solve, use critical thinking skills. And at the end, they're going to present to some type of public audience. That's really important. So, that just doesn't mean the teacher in the classroom. Depending
upon the project, that could be the Board of Education members, that could be the administrative team, that could be people in the community. So, for example, this project that I just listed, it could be people in our community who are in the marketing business, right? And they're going to come in and they're going to listen to
these presentations and then give feedback on what they like, what do you think of this, right? It could be the mayor, it could be all kinds of different things. With a authentic environment that students have to present to, and that's so important, right? Public speaking skills, the ability to take an idea, put it into a
presentation, deliver that, and then be able to field questions. All right, so we're really excited about this. This is not a one-year thing. This is something we're going to be embarking on over the next several years with with the support of PBL Works. You're going to be hearing more about it. You'll hear more in
Gina's report tonight about, you know, some of the grade levels and folks that are involved in the pilot for year one, and we'll continue to roll that out as we move forward. Obviously, we'll be updating the board throughout the year and updating the public about how that process go as going and even hopefully
being able to share, we talked about in some capacity with the community of of what this process looks like. Because I think it's really important for folks to understand. This is a big shift in what we're trying to do from an instructional model in our district. And then as Michael mentioned before,
the last thing is so we we started this process last September, really last summer. Um it started out first with a group of folks of a committee that I meet with on a monthly basis, um called Superintendent Staff Advisory
Council, where we meet and started this process with the goal mind of eventually we want to develop some type of guidelines on generative AI. So, the reality here is is that you know, and I think it says it best and I'll move this up just so you can read it. I think this is an important
statement right here that the board's intention with this it's not intended to promote or discourage the use, right? But we know that it's here. You know that it's here. The adults in the room know that it impacts your everyday lives now and
perhaps your job as well. So, the reality is is that we can't just put our head in the sand, right, and pretend that it doesn't exist. We know that our students are going to need AI literacy skills as they get out into the workforce eventually. So, how can we take a balanced approach to develop
guidelines so we can put guardrails in place because we know it's happening, right? It's it's it happened last year. We know we surveyed students. We know students told us that they're already using different generative AI tools, right? Even though we didn't have any parameters in place. So, we worked all
year long and then the Board of Education has worked for probably the last 4 months intensively on bringing tonight a document that we know is a living document, right, and could be changed in the matter of days because this technology changes so quickly. So,
this is not something tonight that we're bringing that's set in stone. We know that it's going to have to be examined, you know, throughout a school year, throughout multiple school years moving forward as the technology changes and we know that it's going to change depending upon, you know, what happens in this in this world. But a couple things that
were kind of a core foundation of when we developed these guidelines. First of all, we wanted to make sure that we protect data privacy, right? We evaluate the risks of different generative AI tools and we keep human connections at the center of learning. So, AI does not
replace human beings, right? It's a supplement that could be utilized depending upon the maturity of our students, but it does not replace the adults. That's really important. We know that there's issues with academic integrity, right? That's already reared its head in some capacity, so we wanted to make sure
we're aware of that and we want to make sure, and this is really important for the board, to focus on human originality, yes, best fit tools when they can apply, but never ever remove cognitive offloading or productive struggle, right? For our students. We
don't want AI to do the thinking for our students. We want to make sure that our students are doing the thinking, that they're working with each other, they're collaborating with each other, and there may be AI tools as they get older that they could try to utilize to enhance that process, but there's foundational
pieces that have to be in place before that's even considered. And that's really, really important. Um, we trust our teachers, right? As Michael said before, now this is going to go in the hands of our teachers and obviously we'll be collecting feedback along the way as part of that review process.
We put parameters in place for academic integrity and processes in place, so we're very clear with students of what's expected, what's allowed and what's not and a process for that in the event that students unfortunately go down the road where they plagiarize with AI or
whatever it may be. Um, human oversight, so again, our teachers will make these decisions, right? They're on the front lines, they're providing the instruction, they're assessing our students. They will make these decisions and as I mentioned before, these foundational skills are really, really important that
we develop with our students. It's It's a long document, so I obviously I advise you to read it. I will send it out tomorrow, but just a couple things that I want to highlight. If you can see this, um just to kind of share our approach with K-4 is that our media specialist will be
using what's called Common Sense Media. They have a curriculum built in. It's phased in by grade level starting in kindergarten. AI is a component of that, but it's not all AI, right? It's digital citizenship and how to be, you know, positive online, all different pieces. That's going to be the primary focus for
K-4. Our kids at K-4 will not be using AI tools individually. All right, that's not going to happen. Um so that's important for you to understand. 5A, so again, we know, and it says clearly in here, how important all those
foundational skills, right? Our foundational skills, writing, math, reasoning, critical thinking, independent thinking, right? It's really important that the students have those skills. In fifth and sixth grade and seventh and eighth grade, students are going to be learning about AI along with other
things in reference to digital technology, again through our media specialist. In seventh and eighth grade, there may be a time where teachers, based on our guidelines and the district approved AI tools that we have in those guidelines, which is very clear, may want to try to
utilize to help supplement, but not replace. All right, again, a teacher's decision. And we put a process in place for teachers to be able to utilize that. All right, in fifth and sixth grade, that's not going to happen. They're going to learn about AI with the media specialist, but as far as using
individual AI tools in fifth and sixth grade, individually, that's not going to happen. All right, we put in processes where things will be blocked on the Chromebooks, right? Obviously, our students in K-4 and 5-6 will not be taking home Chromebooks next year,
[snorts] so we don't have to worry about that at home. Um and we've set up the guidelines that you'll see with age restrictions based on tools. So, like for example, ChatGPT and Claude will not be utilized by any of our students, even at the high school level. There are other things that we'll
be able to utilize based on the age requirements, but those don't meet the age requirement, all right? That's important to understand. And then grade 9 through 12, we have our new pathways elective, right? All of our ninth graders will be taking this year, which we're really excited about. Mr.
McManis is our teacher, new teacher. There will be an AI literacy component to that course, all right? That focuses on AI literacy skills, what they need to know, the ethical implications, all those different pieces. And then as our students progress through the high school, there may be times where
students want to or teachers want to utilize AI tools that are district computer approved with our students, all right? For a variety of different reasons and capacities, which we spell out in these guidelines. Again, teacher autonomy, knowing where their students are and how that can be utilized, and
the teacher's really put putting out the students day one for each assignment, crystal clear whether or not no AI, maybe a little AI, and I'm talking more 9-12, a little AI, and this is how or we we're going to utilize AI in some
capacity, and we gave some examples in the guideline. All right? In the past, we really haven't done that, and I know it's been a challenge for our teachers because then it's always this like did they use it? Did they not use it? I think they might have, but I'm not sure. We want to be crystal clear so our students have a
full expectation of what the assignment entails and what they can and can't do. This will be taking a lot of time in the beginning of the year to go through this with kids, all right? From a whole grade level as our grade level meetings, as well as from the teacher perspective in their classrooms. So, it's really important.
So, the last thing I'll just share is that, you know, you'll notice in these guidelines that tool usage increases gradually as students develop digital literacy, critical thinking, and most importantly, academic maturity. We we felt loud and clear on the board that elementary
students, early middle school students are not at the academic level and maturity level to be using AI tools. There's too many foundational skills that are so important later on in life that we have to focus on. And knowing about AI is important, but those skills
are important to focus on within our classroom settings. And that's how these guidelines are set up. So, I encourage you to take a look at it. They will be posted, um, you know, on our website. I'll be sending them out to the community. Again, I want to thank the board cuz we spent a lot of time, put a lot of effort
into it, you know, a lot of different opinions to kind of all bring it together tonight. Um, but now at least we have something to be able to give to our staff and our students so we're not kind of just in essence living in the wild west which that's kind of the way it's been in the past. And we're not different from any
Most school districts have been doing that. So, I know that was a lot of information. Any questions or comments from the board? >> Danny, I have a question. >> [clears throat] >> Um, related to the internet enabled devices and you talked about them
they're not being permitted, you know, wanting them during lunch and that those times. I mean, throughout the whole year. Yeah, for example, but I'm I'm curious about Chromebook usage during lunch. Um, at the middle school and high school. And then also, um, for all for
the elementary school and the middle school during the year of recess. >> I would say no, no, and no. Um, again, we're like I don't What I don't want to do is replace one thing with another. So, we're really going to push our kids I
mean, elementary is easy, we'll handle that. Middle school is even easy, too. We you know, I don't really want Chromebooks at lunch tables when the kids are eating and drinking and cuz that could be a disaster. Um I think the high school will be the biggest challenge, quite honestly, with that. So, that's something we're going to have to work with here
to promote that we want you talking to one another, right? We want and we'll help with that and navigate that process. Um it's really, really important that, you know, we just don't replace the phone with something else. I I wanted to make a comment about the
about the document. I just want to stress that it it's a living document. I mean, for example, I read a story on Friday, I believe. We had the um this was after we had the uh curriculum where we we brought it
up and um it made me think, you know, that I need to take a look at this and and it's revising my thinking of kind of the standards, like, is it is it appropriate even in early high school? I mean, this is something that's kicking
around just based on the info of information that's coming in. Um so, something that obviously I know we're all focused on and extremely dynamic situation that we're all aware of. >> Yep. >> I I do want to just kind of go back and
this was a long debate, I know, and it it really shows just how busy that uh administration and the board have been and uh I think that we are really moving towards creating very, very environment at South Hunter and that
really reflects the small-town community that we have um and it you know, it as Tony was presenting, it just said to me, we we are not a learning factory here. We are are really stressing that we are a learning laboratory and I think
that that is coming to fruition in all of these programs that are being being pulled out. >> And one of the things I want to say, I think I think that it's really, you know, the the PBL works and some of the other things that the district is starting to embark upon is really in
line with something that I think is important and I think probably many of us do, which is you know, focusing on developing the more analog skills. Um you know, like uh um reading, writing, mathematical reasoning, critical thinking,
development of the handwriting skills, not just at the elementary school level, but at the middle school and high school level because I think that a lot of kids their handwriting fades and um you know there's a requirement now that kids
learn how to write cursive in elementary school. There's a whole cohort of middle school students who have no idea how to write in cursive. And you know, I think that even trying to teach them to do that would be a really important thing
because there's a lot of research and evidence that, you know, your ability to write it it engages the brain in very different ways and helps with thinking and and um reasoning and everything else. So, um I'm I'm very happy to see that we're
starting to focus on some of these more analog skills more. Um and to to Paul's point I think everybody here knows I I still have an issue with the middle school AI. I I I really do. Um
I'm not going to pontificate on that. I'll stay in the guidelines. >> Um so, let's move on to public comment and uh so, we're going to ask members of the public to are invited to address the board uh for a matter of on any matter
for a matter of 3 minutes. Um there are procedures um outlined for this, but um if you would like to address the board, please come to the podium and state your name and municipality. Public comment is now open. >> Hello. Does this work? Oh, it does work.
All right. Hi. Hi, my name is Grant Falchino. I'm from West Amwell, and um I just want to raise a possible concern about the um middle school playground. I It's a very nice playground, and I like playing on the
swings with my siblings. But um there's there seems to be like this like mold or like this growth on the mulch. And when I go over there, it kind of makes me feel like I
I would use disgust as the word. Cuz it like like it's it's looks kind of nasty. And I don't I just want to be safe and make sure that it's not going to like harm me or my brother if we like fall on it or something. And um I want to be
able to use the playground. So yeah, that's that's my concern. Yes. So all all I'm asking is that you guys just like check in on it. All right. Thank you. >> Hello. I'm Lauren Braun Strumfeld from
Lambertville. Um I wanted to mention something that's um uh Uh, it seems like very simple, but but I think might be an issue um that I'd appreciate the board taking up um and if there's other members of the community as well that might be um interested in supporting this, but I'm I had a
conversation with uh a few different parents at East Amwell School, so a neighboring school, right? That's uh I've been recognized for excellence and um and in its reputation. I said point, you know, what do you think what do you think makes us a better school? Is this you know, I was kind of pressing uh these parents on some different issues
and they were parents of different grade level students. And uh cuz what it it's a school where we want to be like as parents, as uh members of the community, we want to be involved. We want to events and activities. We want to volunteer and
participate. There's things happening um in which we are welcome um and encouraged to be a part of. So, it was really more, you know, it wasn't actually, oh, my child or my children are getting a better education there. I I didn't really feel these parents in particular and then, you know, just a
anecdotal group, but didn't feel that it was the you know, that the um curriculum or the uh instruction was so top-notch. It was this broader feeling of the school community environment um that was obviously supported and cultivated by um you know, parents, volunteers,
leadership. Um and that's something again that I think is a is maybe uh quite a simple, but yet uh a potentially piece of this picture that we're we're especially as the we're developing and and and investing in um student relationships, right? That the
parent community is another area um that's ripe for um uh investment, development, um and attention because I think that also has so many um implications for the way in which our schools are perceived in our
communities um and as I think all of us in this room know, this is a an area of constant concern and um uh improvement that that an for us. So, I just wanted to raise that as something maybe a thinking point um you know, just coming again from our
kind of local neighborhood, local environment um and something that I think potentially we have the resources here to uh to cultivate. So, thank you. >> Okay. So, um the curriculum and technology
committee met on July 15th. And I'll explain that in a minute. First, we received a number of technology updates from Vince. Um of note, new devices are being distributed to the teachers and the old devices are
being collected um to this adult cell phone um for somebody I'm not sure who, but I'm sure there's a market for that sort of thing. Um the senior uh Chromebooks have been collected and are going to be given to the incoming fifth graders.
Um one of the things that I wanted to note is that and I think Bonnie might have said something out to all the parents already on this, but fifth and sixth graders will not be bringing their Chromebooks home um this upcoming year. So, the district is going to be keeping the Chromebooks
in the carts um in the hallway so that students can access them when needed. Um additionally, Vince mentioned that the district is purchasing a special uh projector which is called an extreme short throw projector and that's
going to be used in the black box classroom which is um for the um, performing arts students that are coming in this year. Um, it's going to be used to project scenery or backdrops on the stage like the main act space, which is a regular
classroom size. So, it needed to be a special timing for the actor. Um, also the district is purchasing speakers for the dance studio. The uh, administration is participating in a cybersecurity tabletop on August
11th, which is focusing on a ransomware scenario. Um, Tony covered um, course and the new school year. Um, he will be updating his uh, superintendent and update. And then also the phone system is being
upgraded because there have been issues related to voicemail boxes becoming full. Um, so then um, we talked about the uh, items for approval. Um,
there was a revision to the curriculum uh, development that Ms. Mont is going to be doing. The Roman numerals were put in initially, so it's 20 additional hours for elementary ELA and math with the
standards update for PSSA. Um, and Stephanie Group who's the new art teacher at the high school and at the uh, middle school, um, she's working on he said I do 15 hours for uh, high school art.
That's based on recommendations made by Mr. Monaco, who was the art teacher who she is replacing. Um, then we had a discussion about some of the new curriculum that the district is going to be doing. Um, Tony mentioned
and went over some details about the PBL um, project-based learning. Um, it's called PBL Works. Uh, so we see the presentation on that. It is linked in my minutes for the meeting if anybody's
interested in looking at the uh presentation that Mrs. Lennon did. It was very interesting. Um, it's on the agenda for approval with the finance committee tonight. So we're going to be entering into a contract
with PBL Works. Um, I think this it's called a partnership. And so as Tony mentioned, there's going to be the first cohort this this year. It's going to be 10 teachers. That's going to be broken into three
teachers at the elementary school. So it's one um K through two. One teacher from third and fourth grade and the STEM teacher. There's going to be four teachers in the first cohort from the middle school. It's the two
science and the two math teachers. That's all of the science and math teachers in the middle school. And then three teachers at the high school which are the bio, chem, and physics teachers. Um The result of this is that I I think we
figured out that every every student will end up being able to do two PBL projects uh this first year throughout the entire district. Then also we received presentation on the um I forget what it stands for. The PLTW
Gateway. Um, it's a STEM program with this >> Project Lead the Way. >> Project Lead the Way, thank you. So um it includes four pathways. They are design and modeling, light and space, building for the future, and then medical detectives.
Um, it uses a process that includes students. They define the project problem, generate concepts, develop the solution. They do constructing and testing, and they evaluate the solution, and then present the solution to the problem. So, I think it's really great that we're going to
have a more structured curriculum for the STEM classes at the middle school. And it sounds like they're going to be interesting and varied. And then, additionally, there's going to be a new G&T program that's used at the
middle school. It's called TREPS. Um it's an entrepreneurship education program. And um they the students that are participating in it get to learn the essential skills and um build a business essentially, and then
they do a uh a big It's almost like a not a flea market, but like an open market expo where they all have their different businesses, and parents and community members can go around, and students can come and sell
whatever whatever the business is that they have come up with. Finally, there's going to be a new chemistry curriculum. It's um Open SciEd. Um there's also a link to that in the minutes, and it's phenomena-based
curriculum where students investigate real-world phenomena first and then form their own explanations before uh receiving the more academic um analysis of of what they're learning
about. Um it tries to model learning and teaching based on the way scientists actually work when um when they're doing their science stuff. >> [laughter] >> And then, um we didn't we didn't discuss
the generative uh AI guidelines that Tony went over um after the curriculum committee this this past month because um we had discussed them in May, and then, uh, as Tony and Michael mentioned, there was a public work session at the
beginning of June where the whole board went over them. So, by the time we had our committee meeting for July, they were already be trading and had a voice, so it's not proper for them to be discussed in detail at the meeting. So, with that,
I think I'm still I'm moving the curriculum that I mentioned, and then also the AI guidelines, or no, and also the AI guidelines. >> Second. >> Second. >> All.
>> As well, too. >> Two. >> Oh, discussion. Sorry. >> So, for the, for the science instruction, what we're using at just is it for chemistry? >> Chemistry this year, we'll eventually use it for biology and physics. >> Okay. >> We just had to phase it in financially with the costs.
>> Okay. And is it Is there books to it? Or is it a workbook? >> Workbooks. Yeah. >> And it sounds seems like it aligns >> It PBL very well. >> Right. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> So, Jen, I just want to say one of the questions I asked at the committee was,
um, how much of this is based on, you know, computer That's kind of one of you know, it's become one of my standard questions, right? Like, how much of this is based on use use of the workbook, and how much of it is going to be uh, actual
experiments or, you know, back to my point about kind of all the learning, right? How much of it is going to be based on that? And so, um, the answer was it comes with it comes with kits, and they do a lot of experiments, and there's the workbook, which kind of
doubles as as a textbook {slash} a place for them to write notes for the experiments that they >> All three of these are kind of offshoots from the yellow. So, they they all end up flowing together. >> And that'll be like our honors and CTE
every year. >> How many other school districts in the area went through something similar to the one in >> Focus I had? >> Yeah. >> I mean, right now I think it's it's actually recommended by the Department of Ed. But there's a lot of I mean, the J Now will be more >> Yes, and it's um it is what the
Department of Education has already said, recommended. Um and it's actually developed by one of the developers and a lot of the um rationale came from a professor at Merced College who's done a
lot of professional development at Merced College for science um for, so um there's a lot of information online. It's rated green with Ed Reports. Um and uh they they If you If you go to the website and then
you type in Ed Reports, and then you can go to New Jersey Department of Education's website and it'll share with you all of the information you search and obtain. >> They'll try to tell you about the large able professional development We'll see what the >> Our neighboring high school districts,
I'm not sure there are neighboring districts not in any county but in other counties that have used that I've done. Uh I don't think I don't know. But I can find out for you. >> It sounds like both trips with the marketplace that provides
a good opportunity for community based um they want to I'd say just based on our public comment um that I think we something that we can look to uh address with our um upcoming
board retreat and our goals, um just to like kind of examine how I feel like we had pre-K to 6 in one building. It was a long time. So, you you had more time to build that type of connection. And now we have a little bit of a shorter window and middle school is so
different with being able to do that. Um but I I think that's something that we can look at and incorporate a lot of these PBL projects, demonstrations by students. There's a lot of opportunity there. I think to build um community
connections. So, these programs that you just talked about I think sound really um really cool and kind of working towards a different feeling of our district, like you were saying, Michael, with what we're we're kind of going more hands-on and laboratory and experimental. And and I
think it's good to bring in um opportunities there. And then just since we're also moving the AI document as well. Um and just where we talked a little bit about tech in the Chromebook usage at at um
lunchtime and and indoor recess. And I think tying this also in, if there's materials or things or things that teachers can tell us about that they want to bring in on the rainy days, especially at the middle school, you know, to tie into
some of these um project-based opportunities we can, you know, limit. And I think as well at the high school, I think we blocked YouTube, right, on the Chromebooks. So, even if the kids have their Chromebooks out at lunch, hopefully they're doing work. They could
be doing school work, right? Or um I think some of this stuff it sounds like could I I don't know. Give kids different things to talk about, right? Like projects, maybe they're working in teams. And and hopefully we'll we'll see that come out as well um in in
the lunchtime. >> I'll give you a real life story. I have I have my Tina and probably knows. I have one table I would give a hard time. I felt about sports thinking committing any high school table that I'd give a hard time cuz there would be eight of them every day they'd be I'm not and I go
what do you Well, we're all playing the same game again whatever. So I said listen tomorrow no phones. Don't bring them in. Okay, fine. So they came in. They were playing cards. I'm like what are you guys doing? We're like we're playing poker. Which was a way I thought it was
hilarious just to see eight kids around the table. But like playing poker on their phones. What's that? No, no, they were playing real poker. I mean it was the table before. No, no, no. They were playing it wasn't poker it was something else. I don't know what game it was. But but I mean so that
that's just an example, right? They improvised. They were talking to each other, you know, they And they were you know, I hadn't seen cards in a long time. Anyway. >> Well, I I think there's a lot like it just I get a good like that we're going to
feel very different in this upcoming school year between the the devices, project based learning and hopefully just giving kids some different things to talk about and opportunities to work together and work in teams and have that to relate to. Um
So it sounds great. >> I'll see you at the end. >> Um so I just wanted to make a comment about the guidelines which is that I I think I would I I echo what you said Michael. I think it's great how
everybody spent so much time and and energy looking at them. I really appreciate you know, Tony all of the work that you did on them. Um personally, I still really do have I'm not comfortable with the middle
school and so I just want to say I'm going to be voting no on them. Um it's and it's really just because of that one piece. It's not because I don't think we should have librarians because I absolutely do. Um, so I just wanted to let everybody know that that is why
we're going to have that one. >> Well, when is when would it be appropriate? Maybe this isn't I don't know if this is the right forum, you know, to get the answer, but I at least want to pose the question. When is the right time to revisit these guidelines? >> Probably at the end of the first marking period for future feedback.
>> That's what I was hoping. >> I think it was that same I mean that's yeah. I mean obviously I have my committee so we'll be getting input we need every month starting in September, but I think it would be reasonable which is usually around mid-November and kind of take a look and see where we are. >> Okay, yeah, cuz I'd like to stress again
I'm not going to I'll spare you guys details of the story, but it was around the chat GPT breakout at the end of last week. And um, just understanding how that happens like it just hit home the importance of of
students and and adults understanding how we interact with this and the importance of the instructions we get it. And just how if we're going to be teaching it like to me that's extremely important. I mean they're going to be getting, you know, students will be getting
ideas and instruction from their parents, what they hear online, but just if they hear it officially from the school district will be massively important. Especially at the end of the marking period. >> I have a question before we vote. >> Okay.
>> Could we pull out the A and >> you want to vote on item A and B separately? >> Yeah, you can. >> Do we vote on A and B? >> Uh, there's a couple curriculums in there. >> Oh, there's curriculums >> Yeah. >> I >> Well, >> No, there's not. >> There's no movement
>> No, that's personnel. >> So, we can just we can just be able >> Yeah. >> Voting on B. >> You're right. >> I mean project we didn't even look at all the >> I'm I'm you know, I'm supportive of whatever the city would be having uh, the We can do this. Jennifer Backler?
>> Yes. >> John Brunetti? >> Yes, but I don't know the others. >> Robert Van Allen? Paul Paul Signal? >> Yes. >> Daniel Machado? >> No. >> Ryan Keith? >> Yes. >> Aaron O'Leary?
>> Yes. >> Ryan Tom Marino? >> Yes. >> Michael Shaw? >> Yes. >> Uh first time. >> So, personnel committee met July 22nd, 2026. We discussed several topics. So, currently we only have two open
positions, a paraprofessional at high school level and a paraprofessional due to leave of absence at middle school level. Several upcoming things, um events. This has been mentioned several times already, project-based learning training for admin team happened July 21st and
July 22nd. The admin team retreat will be August 12th and 13th. New teacher training will be August 18th through the 20th. And staff inservice will be the 25th of August through the 27th.
Um regarding district goals, Tony would like to get input in August from all the committees so we can finalize this in September prior to um the start of school year. Something just to keep in mind. And then we discussed and reviewed the following appointments, a resignation, an addition
of two substitute teachers, a substitute nurse, and the extra curricular appointments and all others prior are up for approval. Thank you. So, with that I can move items A and B. >> Can we do a vote on A and B separately, please? I'm a little confused myself
today. >> Okay. Anything >> The reason why we don't have a second actual >> Oh, actually. >> Um any discussion on that? >> Okay. So, let's vote on uh item eight numbers. >> Okay. Um John Borani?
>> Yes. >> Uh Martha Dennis? Uh Paul Fontanow? >> Yes. >> Tina Fersetti? >> Yes. >> Uh Brian He? >> Yes. >> Uh Aaron O'Leary? >> Yes. >> Jennifer Batchelor? >> Yes. >> Ronnie Camarero? >> Yes.
>> And Michael Ferraro? >> Yes. >> It'd be Um Um John Borani? >> Second. >> Um Martha Dennis? Paul Fontanow? >> Yes. >> Uh Tina Fersetti?
>> Yes. >> Brian He? >> Yes. >> Aaron O'Leary? >> Yes. >> Uh Jennifer Batchelor? >> Yes. >> Ronnie Camarero? >> Yes. >> And Michael Ferraro? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, Miss Dennis, uh we we passed her in the airport, I
think, here, right? So, uh she is on vacation. Uh she loves. You know it's with Tony, though. >> Yes. >> So, first read tonight, uh we have a few uh two policies and a regulation. First policy and regulation 5516,
student use of internet-enabled electronic communication devices, which is a mandatory policy based on on the law that was passed in January. So, the committee reviewed policy 5516, which was developed to implement the requirements New Jersey recently
enacted. Um if you get into the regulation, it's really the meat and potatoes of, you know, as far as what processes and procedures we'll be following. The committee reviewed the available options and reached consensus on the district's proposed approach. So, if you've been following along and have
looked at the FAQs that have been out for a while now, really this regulation is representative of the FAQs. Um storage and how we're going to store the devices is included in this, but I already talked about in my update. Um before and after school day, so students may use internet-enabled
devices while on school grounds before entering the school building and after dismissal. Um So, for example, as soon as students are leaving for the day for practices, games, all that extracurricular activities, they'll be able to communicate with parents.
Students are able to use or permitted to use um internet-enabled devices on the bus. Um field trips and sponsored activities, depends on the situation. It really will come down to the building principal, but for example, if we have students that are going to New York City for an extended day trip, more than likely
we're going to allow them to bring the devices with them, but obviously not utilize them unless there was a situation where, you know, God forbid an emergency or had to contact parents or things along those lines. Um Not We talked about the non-internet-enabled devices, so that's
something we're not allowing. Um the committee discussed enforcement expectations. So, you'll notice in the FAQ and in the draft of this policy, it talks about what happens if a student violates this regulation with the first, second, third, and fourth offense. Um
And then we got into after that policy 2361, which is acceptable use of computer networks and computers and resources. So, this is something we had not really looked at from the district side in quite some time. We made revised uh revisions that were minor to update
just to modernize the policy and also a new section addressing the AI, which is in line with our AI guidelines. Um the committee also reviewed, although this is not a policy, um we do have a computer technology internet and use
agreement that actually you'll see tomorrow when we open up the annual registration process that we ask parents to acknowledge that they've read and reviewed. Um so those are all first reads and then second read will be uh on our August agenda. So obviously if
any board members have any comments or anything, I know we've received a lot of input already on these, but if there's anything that comes up between now and then, um please reach out to Lorca. And then second read is policy 1230, Superintendent's Duties, which is a mandated policy, which just talks about
um it's focused on the relationship between the policy and any board-approved superintendent job descriptions. Draft SFA notes that districts with locally adopted job descriptions may rely on those documents rather than the model language. We decided to rely on the model language in the draft SFA policy.
Um policy 2411, Career Education and Academic Counseling, which is a mandated policy. So the committee reviewed the proposed uh proposed revisions. Um basically this is really important right now because of our Pathways program and the fact that beyond our counselors, who
also play a huge role in, you know, counseling our students as far as career education, we now will have Mr. McManus, who will be [clears throat] playing a major role in that as well as far as our Pathways program. So we wanted the policy to reflect that.
So that is that. And then the last two is viol 0162, um Notice of Board Meetings, and then 10162-01. That's basically just memorializing that we no longer have to publish um our
meetings to advertise in newspapers, that we are now able to do that on our website and suffice for all the requirements needed. And that is it for the first and second reads. >> Thank you. I'll make a motion. >> I'll second it, Amy. >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Eric Stone. >> Uh any discussion on any of this? >> I just have a couple of questions with the um enabled devices The intention is for non internet
enabled devices like a flip phone or a >> Game Boy MP3 player. >> Um The intention is not for the regulation to be stricter with regard to those that it is with flip phones. Okay. >> We're basically saying internet is not
allowed just like the internet devices. >> Okay, I have a I have a suggestion. I'll make it to Martha. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And again, I just wanted to say that there was uh we've had a lot of discussion on this. We were waiting on on Star that he said
with our our policy provider to give us some clarification. Um but that's why it is still in first read for this month. Um but there has been quite a lot of floor discussion we get into this. Um
which is why the the ethic users or RBM. So >> Don't worry. It's just It's just that the way it is at the end of number seven or whatever, it it makes it seem as if they're not ever permitted whereas internet enabled devices are permitted in certain situations.
So the effect is that >> Yeah, that's it. >> or past practice, they don't get their MP3 player back but they do get their their flip phone. So >> No, I just wanted to clarify to make sure that they they were like a cart before the horse situation.
>> It's just I think it Yeah, I think it's >> Uh okay, so any other discussion? >> Uh one last thing I'll just say before we vote. Um just realize and I think this is a good thing. I We are going to probably be one of the only districts that collect the lightning in the
county. So at least I know at the high school. So um I think that's a good thing. >> Uh Paul Paul St. Amour? >> Yes. >> Uh Dina Sherry? >> Yes. >> Uh Brian >> Yes. >> Carol Leary? >> Yes.
>> Jennifer Batchelor? >> Yes. >> John Borani? >> Yes. >> Mark Gavana, Frank Cavarino? >> Yes. >> And Michael Cook? >> Yes. >> Okay, building and grounds, transportation, finance, and safety. >> So, we met on um
July 21st and uh a couple of topics that we discussed uh the West the sale of West Salem Middle School and the Muscupiski recently closed. Um, Tony Booth detailed uh update in his presentation about how the funds will be
accounted for in the next fiscal year and we will be using another work session when if we have you know new board members uh to loop in on how we plan to apply the funds. Um, the long-range facilities plan is
still continuing. We are working with our US say architect who has a new person in the lead architect and part of that plan will also include officially closing out West Salem Middle as a school in our long-range facilities
plan. The turf uh is with the change order on to approve tonight uh which was um some work that they the company had to come back and do to
level things out and we have uh one other outstanding contract to sign in for them to come back and do. Uh, we talked about fall athletic schedule being able to utilize the turf across many sports including middle school soccer which I had momentarily forgotten about uh
during the course of the month which is actually good news because uh Hewitt Park I think might be under some construction and I was nervous but middle school will be Stanley campus for soccer for practice and games, um which is good news. And we are going to be
kicking school into school and community the fundraising ideas for turf improvements. Uh to have funds that we we keep um in a separate account for that. Um in buildings and grounds, we have a
ton of summer projects underway. Couple things that have completed, the weight room. Um I know there were some pictures shared on social media that looked great. Uh the paving of the parking lot we finished up. And then we're continuing work on the black box theater and dance room,
um which we got a little sneak peek in on our way out of our meeting the other night. It looks really cool. It's It's It's kind of a neat thing to have in our building. Uh so that was exciting. And under transportation, the new radio walkie-talkie program has been expanded
to include the elementary and St. John schools, so they can connect. Um our June, just of note, under financial reports, June financials will get preliminary approval, and then we do have our audit this summer, so they will come back and get reapproved after that
audit. Um the contracts of note, PBL Works for the project-based learning initiative. Um we also have uh transportation handbooks on the agenda to approve, which were updated mostly to reflect changes to equally, like the new buildings and
middle school versus elementary, things like that. Um we also are accepting grants, PSE A grants. Just of note, we were cut by about 8,000, um which we kind of we did more or less plan for. And our IDEA grant remained relatively flat.
And then under the cafeteria, nutrition information for the ala carte items has has been shared with school and community for further review and any ideas on what we want to do with that information. Um and then we did a brief first look at
district goals that we are going to discuss at our board retreat. We have a journey. So, I will move items A through F. Second.
>> Any discussion on that? Take the vote. >> Brian Keefe? >> Yes. >> Aaron O'Leary? >> Yes. >> Jennifer Batchelor? >> Yes. >> John Boronico? >> Yes. >> Mark Dennehy? Bob Fignar? >> Yes. >> Jennifer Schetty? >> Yes. >> Mary Tom Marino? >> Yes.
>> And Michael Cronin? >> Yes. >> We met on July 21st. First thing we did was Adam Wright, the assistant principal came and presented some changes proposed changes to the code of conduct and our discipline
process that gives very clear behavioral expectations and then also sets consistent consequences for problematic behaviors. We'll be looking at that again. We'll be able to finalize that at the next board of education meeting.
Thank you. We took a look at the survey results and Tony's working on a number of initiatives that will address some of the identified areas. One of them would be expanding the way that we do parent education and then we will go into those
details at the development meeting. We looked at the cafeteria upgrade wish list that matched Joe's list and talked about the fact that there are there's capability of restricting what your child can and can buy at the cafeteria,
but a lot of families don't know how to do that. So, Um, a video was developed uh, to to walk people through that. Really appreciate the feedback on that. So, um, that's one tool, but also we'll Tony
will establish a district wellness council to evaluate our current offerings and make recommendations for changes. Uh, Tony mentioned the informational alerts that he's sending out regarding the media and phone telephone ban. Um, those
alerts are going to continue through the new year particularly as we're sending things out to families that explain to families. Um, and it's really wanting to families to understand all that we just discussed in this meeting. There's a lot of changes and a lot of a lot of things that, um,
families are going to have to understand and, um, um, we're excited to share with them about how we're approaching, um, a balance of technology and hands-on education honestly. And then we also look at these goals so
that we can finalize those goals at the time that we're looking at them. >> Uh, and I do want to note that all the committees will be meeting about the district goals next month, uh, so that when we get into our retreat we have a have a robust discussion about
Um, we do have to accept our classified termination bullying report and our hired girls. Thank you, girls. Uh, so if I get a motion to accept that I would appreciate it. Brian. Brian. Third last starting to pair up really
well with the budget. So, um, all in favor. Any abstained? Okay. Uh, district two are saying period of public comment. And as before, members of the public are invited to
address the board on any matter for a matter of 3 minutes. And you are asked to state your name and we can spell it. Option to now >> Hello, I'm Jill. I'm from Lambertville and I'm uh a parent of two high schoolers and stop.
Um I just want to mention about the collection of the internet devices, phones, whatever. Um I'm all for that. I think it's great. I'm glad we're doing this. Um but I I just want to make sure that um
everyone's aware that I uh I feel like the it's still going to come down to the teachers to have to police that the students are not putting their actual devices in the bins. Because I've
heard a lot of crazy stories about the lengths that students in the high school level will go to to not turn in their devices to their teachers. And I just felt bad that that was left on the teachers to do in the past. And there's a wide range of
adherence in the past in the classroom to collecting the devices. And you know, from I mean I obviously hear things from the front lines in the classrooms. And so um from a student that has five phones in
their backpack and just keep putting them in, putting them in. They put battery chargers, they put phone chargers in the pocket, they put in some cases just the case of the phone. They have iPad iPads that are just everything's propped up behind the
Chromebook. Um so, it's you know, I just want to make sure that we're still we still have to have the teachers um police this in the classroom. And I really hope that we stick to the to the um you know, first warning, second warning,
and things like that. So, I just don't It sounds wonderful, but I just really don't think it's going to be as easy as they walk in and pop their things in the in the bins. I wish it were, but I'm just afraid that it's not going to be that simple
just based on the way it's been in the past with the classroom collection. That's it. >> Uh we can have I need to go into a very brief executive session. We are not going to be taking any action when we come out of it. Uh
I get a motion. All in favor. >> I. >> Abstention. Stay. We will do meet up and where are we going? >> Same room as last time, Mr. Chandler. >> And I just need everybody to sign your board >> Really really cool. >> before you leave and get your votes from
me. >> Since we passed it last time. >> If you didn't just sign up