[Music] All right. [Music] 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. Roll call, please. Mrs. Balado. Mr. Eftikar here, Mr. Pico here. Mr. Valardo, Mr. Yagnum here, Mrs. Herald here, Mrs. Shariffstein, we have a quorum.
This is to advise the general public and to instruct that it be recorded in the minutes that in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act stanh hope board of education located at 24 Valley Road Stanh Hope New Jersey has caused this notice to be posted at the office
of the Stanh Hope Board of Education mailed to the New Jersey Herald the municipal clerk of the Burough of Sanho the Stanh Hope Post Office and posted at the Valley Road school and on the Stanh Hope public schools website setting forth the time date and location of the meeting. The Stanh Hope School District in partnership with the community
commits to provide a quality comprehensive education for all learners with equal emphasis on academic excellence and citizenship through values, respect, and service. Our vision is to inspire and cultivate a community of innovative, curious, compassionate, and globally minded learners equipped
with knowledge, problem solving skills, and the ability to persevere to make a positive impact on society and shape a better future. An executive session will be held tonight for the purpose of student confidentiality and personnel. Formal action may be taken. They are on to
presentations. Okay. Um thank you. As we do every year, multiple times a year, uh I would like to report on our district and school grade for the HIV self assessment. Um so just briefly on the process at the end
of every school year um we take the the resources that we've used uh in in order to train our staff um educate our students follow HIV laws conduct investigations report out to parents uh and we score ourselves on on the
practice uh engage in involving all of those activities. Um we then submit our self assessment score what we believe our score should be and then at the end of the following year the state comes back and they typically affirm the score
that we that we provided. Uh so when we submitted the self assessment I shared that we for the 2324 school year um we scored at 77 points out of 78 points. Uh and we had an official release within the last month where the DOE confirmed
that that in fact is our official score. It's not our self- assessment score anymore. Uh so we are required to post this onto our website. It already has been posted. Um and again it goes through the core elements that are rated are HIV programs approaches or other
initiatives training on the board approved uh HIV policy other staff instruction and training programs curriculum and instruction on HIV and related information and skills HIV personnel school level HIV incident
reporting procedures HIV investigation procedures uh and HIV reporting. Um, anybody have any questions? Thank you. Okay. Excellent. So, the second presentation I have, and I I added late because we weren't sure
whether or not it was going to get done in time. Um, some of you may be aware that we have a small group of middle school students uh who entered into a uh hate the hate competition uh where they were to create something to uh to
demonstrate uh the schools um beliefs, efforts, initiatives against hatred in general, right? Hatred because of of race, because of religion, because of any anything under the sun. Um, and these this group of students utilized
our broadcast uh broadcasting studio to create a four-part podcast. Uh, and they wanted to come present to the board and share their their journey, what they created, and why they did it. Um, and then they realized that the board meeting was after school was released and they decided, let's just prepare a
video for you instead because they didn't want to come back to school, understandably. Um, so I don't want to get too much into um what they were doing because I think that they're going to go through it in the video. Um, but Mr. Lama queued it up for us if you don't mind getting us started.
[Music] Hello, we are the Hate Hate podcast crew. Today we would like to present a presentation for our board of ed. But first, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Jack. I'm Ethan. I'm Elia. I'm
Elizabeth. And I'm Pete. We are missing some members who are a part of hate the hate such as Nick, Scarlett Santos, and Sorat. This podcast was made for the no hate in a garden state competition. The way we
started this podcast is we got all together and we discussed ideas and thought of what the students would want and what could make an impact in our great garden state. That's when we came up with the idea to make a podcast.
When we started working on Hate the Hate, it was very hard. We didn't know how to start it. We were confused and lost until all we all got together and started writing scripts, making ideas, meeting up every time we were free. And
when we started, we just kept going. We had to think of ways to compromise. So, everybody felt included in such a hard but amazing thing. But all of the mistakes we made, all of the scripts we wrote, every time we messed up on a recording, it got us to
the end. Although we didn't win, we don't regret moments we had with each other. Sometimes working on the podcast, we had some issues, but even those moments were worth it. Win or lose, we believe we did a great job and all of the work made us stronger.
[Music] So, for anyone interested in listening in on their podcast, if you go to our website, um right on news and announcements, uh there's a a post. If you click on that, you can either listen on, um Spotify, and I believe it's also
posted to our YouTube channel. Is that correct, Nick? It is not. Spotify. Okay. So, Spotify works. I know because I tested it out this morning. Um, and there's also a spot if you go to the scroll down to students, there's also a link uh for the hate to hate the hate the hate podcast. So, it was four
episodes, really nicely done. They did interviews. Um, and like they said, although they didn't win, uh, it was a really nice opportunity for them to work together, use our technology, and and spread some good word. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, one item for correspondence from the New Jersey
Department of Education, Division of Early Childhood Services. questions, comments on that? Done. Okay, that would bring us to executive session. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Be it resolved that the Stanh Hope Board of
Education adopts the following resolution. Whereas the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231 of 1975 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances. And whereas the Stanh Hope Board of Education is of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Stanh
Hope Board of Education, County of Sussex, and State of New Jersey, that a closed session of the Board of Education, where the public shall be excluded, will be held at this time for the purpose of student confidentiality and personnel. Be it further resolved that the action of the board with regard to the above entitled matter shall be
disclosed to the public at a later date and to the extent that the same is not prejuditial to the interests of the parties involved and would not result in a possible invasion of their right to privacy. Can I have a voice vote, please, to enter executive session? And all in favor say yes. Any nos? Abstensions.
Okay. All right, that brings us to the superintendent report. All right, so we had one confirmed HIV since we last met and one student serve two days of inschool suspension. Um, I want to take
a moment to thank uh Mrs. perpio again for uh her her monthly uh the flowers that she puts monthly into the entranceway. Um I don't know whether or not that's something that's going to continue um next year. Congratulations to the Percarpio family. They've now had
both of their children um graduate from the Valley Road School successfully and and you know we wish them well. Um but I was want to thank her for all the years of of doing that while she was serving on the board of education and and then even after uh we had two very successful
field days. Our elementary was held on Wednesday, June 11th. Our middle school on Thursday, June 12th. Um both of these were held on early dismissal days, which is something that was new. Um what one of the things that was nice is that they
were on days when all of the academic expectations were done. and teachers didn't have to worry about finishing up tests and doing grades. It was just really um it was very loose, right? It was it was an opportunity to have fun and and compete and the kids really seemed to have a good time with it. Um
special thanks to the HSA uh for all the help um that they did. Um uh Mrs. Yo to um for creating all the t-shirts for the kids. Uh it looked really cool seeing them all in unison out there. and Machios for putting it together a nice uh barbecue lunch for the kids on their
field day. Um we had four teams compete in the Battle of the Books competition. Two sixth grade teams uh one of which earned first place, the other earned second place in the competition. And we had two teams consisting of students in seventh and eighth grade and one of
those teams uh took home second place. So congratulations to them and to Mrs. Far and Miss Piper um who led the Battle of the Books team. Our eighth grade uh Washington trip was held on May 28th through May 30th. Uh despite a little
rainy weather at the beginning of the trip. Um it was a great success. All the students behaved. Nobody had to get sent home sick. Um enjoyed the tour guide that they had. Um and uh it was another really nice trip. My intention is to, you know, I know I know there's always
questions about what we're doing next year and years beyond. Um, my intention is to continue with this trip for our eighth grade. I do think that it's something that's that's important and as long as we can sustain it. Um, I'd like to keep it going. We do have a very small eighth grade class next year. Um,
looks like our last really small class uh that's in the 20s. Um, so we're going to have to do some work to make sure we get as many as kids as we can to go, but I feel confident that our eighth grade adviserss will be able to do that. Uh congratulations to our concert band uh
for earning a rating of excellent at the Dornney Park adjudication on May 23rd. Um kindergarten orientation and preschool orientation were both well attended and held on June 6th. Uh the end of year activities, we had
our administrators and teachers of the day for eighth graders on May 27th. That was a lot of fun. got a lot of great photo opportunities there that um that they showed at the eighth grade uh eighth grade graduation. Dinner dance was held at on June 4th at the coach
room in Hacketttown. Uh kids had a lot of fun. Honor roll ceremony was held on June 11th. At that ceremony, we honored students who earned honoral status all four marking periods for the year. uh and and notably our eighth graders who
earned honor roll status, all four marking periods for all three of their middle school years. Uh which is really impressive. I think we had seven or eight of them uh out of our eighth grade class, which is great. Uh graduation was uh wonderful on June 13th, although
inside we beat the rain. We didn't walk out to a storm, which is what I was concerned about. The air conditioning this year was wonderful for those of you who attended. Uh thank you to to the board members who did attend. Um it was uh it was a really nice celebration of a really great group of kids. And on that
same day, the HSA sponsored the middle school barbecue outside where they grilled up some burgers and dogs and salads and candies and cookies and all the other junk that the kids consumed and probably got sick before graduation. Um but it was it was tremendous. It's a great opportunity for the kids to get
together one last time before summer. Um and as has been a tradition now for over 10 years, uh we we our entire school and the community clapped out our eighth graders um for the last time as they left. So we wish them well whether it's Lenipe, Sussex Tech, anywhere else where
they're going. Um we know that they're going to do great things. Uh next reminder for our summer uh board meeting schedule, we do not have any committee meetings scheduled this summer. Um, the only reason we would is if something comes up that's that's urgent that we
need to get together and and meet. And if that is the case, I'll reach out to you. Otherwise, our July meeting is on July 16th and our August meeting is on August 27th, the week before we return uh to school. And lastly, the reminder that petitions for the November
elections are available on the Sussex County Clerk website, which is linked on the agenda. Any questions? Hearing none. All right. That would bring us to personnel, curriculum, school climate, and culture. But Mr. Valardo is not
here. Um I don't know if you are okay to go over it. I think most of it is reflected on the agenda, but I can I can take a look real quick and see if there's anything that's not reflected on the agenda. Um approval of fire professionals, cafeteria, playground aids. Uh we have the movement of two two
staff members on the guide. um one to MA plus30, the other to BA plus30. Um uh we retroactive approval of uh Mr. today as a part-time custodian. Um and
again approving him for next year. Um but we have a few substitutes. Yeah, I just pretty sure it's all on the agenda. Yeah, it's all there. It's all reflect. It's a long one, which is why it took me a minute to get through, but yeah, it's all reflected on the agenda. so we can go over any questions so that
we can get to the agenda if there are any. Okay, that would bring us to business services. Um, special thank you to Dan, our RBA for this year. Our cap reserve, maintenance reserve is exactly where we want to be at the end of the year. Both is higher
um than it was when we last spoke about it. They started looking into the possibility of addressing some of the parking issues we've had here. So, that's in the infancy stage, but I'm happy to hear that they started thinking about it. Um, and then it's summertime,
so you got a lot of projects going on. Underground storage tank, uh, science room, all starting soon. Uh, desk and chairs are in order. Hopefully, they'll be here uh before the beginning of next year. And then finally, the courtyard can use some upgrades that I
think they're going to be focusing on after the science lab is complete. The science room demo started today completely gutted. It's all in the hallways and the underground storage tank uh I believe Monday they're coming out to begin that project. Great.
That's it. All right. Questions? All right. That would bring us to policy and communications. We had no policy that needed to be reviewed. We did talk about code of conduct um being gone through in conjunction with the administration this summer. Uh Mrs.
Dicatoo is looking to set up a meeting with members in the school as well as the board to go through the code of conduct because it's always good to get a review update um see what needs to be changed if anything. And this way everybody's aware before the start of the school
year. We talked about your evaluation. So, that was taken care of there and that was about it. Okay. Um, Miss Baldo is not here, so we'll keep skip services update for this month. And for my board president's
report, I only have one item to report, which is as of about two days ago, our grant was approved for a regionalization study. So, it has not been funded, which means we don't actually have access to the money yet. So, the work isn't started yet. But, we did get a note from the Department of Education that the grant is approved for the full amount,
which is around about $124,000. So um what will happen next is we will start to set up meetings and establish a committee if anybody has interest um to go through what that process will look like. So we had a committee in the beginning to do the actual application.
We'll form a new committee now to do the advisement of what actually happens during the study itself. Uh but like I said it hasn't actually funded yet. So we don't have anything on the schedule yet but it was approved. So that's what I are you anticipating in
terms of that committee. How much room room? Yeah. Well, we can't have a quorum, right? So it's it's going to have to be the superintendent, myself. Um I don't know if the other schools are going to stick to the uh board president, uh the vice president. Um I don't think they are. It's usually going to be one other board member and then
potentially, you know, community member because we want the community engaged as well in driving what the study looks at. Um and again this isn't really anything where nothing is nothing gets formalized. There's no voting attached to any of this. This is just to set up and structure the study which the Rowan
Institute for Policy will come in and they will spearhead the study. So thank you. If you have interest let me know. Okay. [Music] So that's all I have. That would bring us to public session number one. But
seeing as there there is no public we will move on. There was one travel and workshop report from Mrs. Herald and uh no questions on that. We will move on to the minutes for approval. Can I have a motion please? Motion. Second. Second. So this is the minutes from the last regular meeting and from the executive
sessions. All in favor say I. I. Any extensions? One abstension. Thank you. Administrative action items 1 through eight. Can I have a motion, please? Second, please. Second. Thank you. Take a quick moment there. Anybody have
any questions? Um, item number two, the approval of the updated framework. This is just me being picky. I don't know if it matters. Page nine still shows that it's reflecting the 2324 school year. Okay. And again, that it's not content.
It was just it caught my eye. I'll take a look at it. We'll get it fixed. Okay. They should know I read it. Any other questions or comments? Roll call vote, please. Sure. Mr. Epicar? Yes. Mr. Pico? Yes. Mr. Yognum?
Yes. Mrs. Herald? Yes. Mrs. Sharpstein? Yes. Motions carry. Personnel action items 1 through 21. Agenda items 22 and 23. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Thank you. Okay, so this is everything Steve
briefly mentioned for the committee meeting. Um, take a moment, read through. We'll see if anybody has any questions or discussion. just I mentioned it in uh executive but wanted to take a moment to look at
number 14 and uh thank Mrs. Plo for 14 years of service to the Standup School District. Uh she's been a wonderful employee. She will certainly be missed and uh we we wish her well um with her
family and her and her future endeavors. Okay. Can I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Ear, yes. Mr. Pico, yes. Mr. Yagnum? Yes. Mr. Mrs. Herald? Yes. Mrs. Shariffstein? Yes. Thank you. Skip it. All good. Business services 1- 15.
Addendum. Adendum item 16 through 18. Can I have a motion, please? Moved. Second, please. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Um, breakfast and lunch. You want to briefly go over the changes there? I
think they were minimal, like 5 cents if I recall. Number 11. No change to student breakfast. I don't believe um I think that for students there was a a range of five to 10 cent increases uh for lunch and milk prices. Um, and I
believe it was, correct me if I'm wrong, if you remember, Chris, like a 25 or 30 cent increase for adult lunches. I believe it was 25 for adult breakfast went up 25 and adult lunch also went up 25.
Yeah, I have it here. Adult breakfast 25 cents, student lunch 10 cents. Um, adult lunch 25cent increase and a 5 cent increase for milk. Um I think obviously we are all aware of the reasons why everything's increasing. Um but in in
terms of uh and compared to the rest of the world, I think the increases were minimal and and Mosios has put out a quality meal for the kids. The only thing Go ahead. Not bad. I'll call attention to is number 12. We finished our first year with the Bush Law Group. They've been great. So number 12 is on
there to approve the retainer agreement for the next year. On number 11, do we know when the state's going to decide if they're going to subsidize reduced this the the state or the reduced portion of it? As of right now, no news is good news. Okay,
that's what Mios and I are are pretty much leaning on. Any other discussion? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Eftar, yes. Mr. Pico, yes. Mr. Yagden, yes. Mrs. Herald, yes. Mrs. Yes. Motions carry. All right. Next
section is annual adoptions and appointments items 1 through 26. Can I have a motion, please? Second, please. Second. Sorry. So, again, we do these every year. I don't think there's anything new on this list.
Not when I read it earlier. Um, but I'll give everybody a minute and then if there's questions. No. Okay. Hearing none. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Esakar. Mr. Pico. Yes. Mr. Yagnum.
Yes. Mrs. Harold. Yes. Mrs. Sharpstein. Yes. We have motions carry. Thank you. Uh any new business to bring before the board? Anybody want any discuss anything new? Yes. Um you know, we briefly spoke about it in committee. Just kind of want to go, you know, speak about it in front
of you guys. Some parents brought up concerns about possibility of changing recess next year. They're exploring the idea after speaking to uh Mr. Hagman. It makes sense why they're thinking about maybe doing away with the recess
for I believe seventh and eighth grade. Just middle school. Just middle school. So So just real quick, and and I don't mean to cut you off, recess is mandated kindergarten through fifth grade, 20 minutes of recess daily, which is something that we have and will continue to offer. Um we are discussing the
possibility of either um eliminating recess at the middle school level or possibly offering a student choice uh as to whether or not they want to go outside for a recess period um or potentially engage in in something else
during that time. So we're just finalizing schedules for next year. Yeah. And just rumors can spread and it's a long summer. So I just want to just kind of bring that out there and give him an opportunity to say exactly that. You know what I mean? Thank you. Yeah. know schedules are are not final for next year. But I think too one one of the things that it's difficult for
for some people to understand if they really only know the the school setting in a small town like this, you know, most standalone middle schools in larger districts. They don't offer recess for students. It's it's just not something that's considered widely middle school
appropriate. We've always had it here because we're an elementary school and the way that the schedule breaks out, you know, we need somewhere for the kids to go during that time. Um, so although no decision is final, what I will will definitely say is we are no matter what
abiding by the state law um and our kids are active and and we try to get them moving as often as we can. If you're eliminated, what would those uh students do during that period? So it could be a like a study hall opportunity
to meet with teachers if we give them an option. It could be um opportunity to complete homework to stay inside and and ultimately socialize with their peers. Um you know honestly a good for the majority of the school year weather isn't ideal going outside and most of
our middle school kids prefer to stay inside when it's 35 degrees or when it's misting or when there's snow on the ground. Um, so we're just trying to do the best that we can to to accommodate our students, keep them safe, um, you know, but make sure that they're getting everything that they need here in
school. Is there any chance if those any of those students need uh extra help that they could get it from somewhere? Those are those are things that we're we're exploring. We currently have opportunities like that in our schedule now. Um, and uh, yeah, we're trying to
work through some of those. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, it also comes with and I'll just say especially at middle school, right? In the younger grades, they want to eat fast. They want to get outside and play. In the older grades, they take their time to eat and they want to sit and they want to talk. So many of them don't even finish their lunch because they're rushed outside. 20 minutes
lunch, 20 minutes outside. You know, at that age, they prefer to sit, they prefer to talk, they prefer to eat their lunch with their friends and hang out more than just go outside to to recess. So, we're just trying to balance that middle school environment as well. We actually had a hybrid when I went to Valley. like you could eat lunch staying
here or they would open the door, you can go play back there. It was it was more of a choice for us, you know what I mean? So, I got to experience it and it was better for me, frankly. So, I think that's a good idea because back in the day when I was little, we didn't seventh and eighth grade, we didn't have any
either. We didn't Yeah. required. We didn't need no recess. Nope. We didn't have all new things. Yeah. It's all new things. Recess mandated and stuff like that. Yeah. It was a different world then. All right. Well, thank you. Any other
new business? No. All good. Any old business? Yes. Okay. I would like to thank the HSA and especially uh Mr. Valardo. The 5K charger run took place at the end of May. Rain or shine. And it rained. It rained like I've not seen
rain before. But the amount of time and energy Matt put into this was impressive. I mean, I got to walk the trail with him. I saw what he did. It was thoughtful. Safety came first. The turnout was excellent. The administration came and HSA does
everything great. You know what I mean? It was organized. I'm excited for next year. I hope it keeps going more participation. But Matt specifically owes, you know, I owe him a great gratitude. like the families that went loved it, you know, and it was a challenging course and it
was my first time really going back there and I see the appeal that he always talks about and he even renamed a hill Mr. Hagman's Hill and everyone hated it. So that was fun. Um, but yeah, I just wanted to say thank you. Spitting name for a torturous you should I got to
see them come down cuz that's what where my spot was and they were all miserable. It was great. Okay, but uh yeah, I just wanted to say thank you to the HSA. No, I'm I'm glad it happened. and I know he was wanting that for a long time. I'm glad we made use of the space. Can I jump back to what I think is new business real quick? Uh I just wanted to
offer heartfelt condolences to the Kungan family. Um you know, with the passing of uh Mrs. Diana Kungan. Um she is she has been one of our school district's greatest supporters since I've been here 11 years. Uh she's attended yearly our Veterans Day program
as a town council member. Uh she's come in and she's read to our students. She's been a guest reader. um just a a wonderful human being, wonderful family. Um and and in fact, she was actually supposed to come to the to the 5K uh to support us. Uh unfortunately, we didn't
get a chance to see her there. Um but uh just wanted to to offer condolences uh to a wonderful family. She will be missed and obviously a lot of the great things that happened in that have happened in this town are partially responsible um or partially her responsibility. Thank you.
All right, that would bring us to public session number two. No public has joined us, so that would bring us to adjournment. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Second, please. Second. Voice vote. All in favor say I. I. No. Extensions. Good to go. Thank you.