All right, everybody, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> Dr. Monaco, >> here. >> Mr. Balado, >> here. >> Mrs. Donahghue, >> here. >> Mrs. Balado, >> here. >> Mr. Pico, >> here. >> Mrs. Herald >> here. >> Mrs. Sharpstein. We have a quorum.
>> Sunshine Law Statement. 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 Bureau of Stanh Hope, the Stanh Hope Post Office and posted at the Valley Road School and on the Stanh Hope public schools website
set forth the time, date, and location of the meeting. Mission statement. The Stanh Hope School District in partnership with the community commits to provide a quality comprehensive education for all learners with the equal emphasis on academic excellence and citizenship through values, respect,
and service. Vision statement. 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. And that takes us into presentations where we have four this evening. Yep. >> Uh thank you. So, our first presentation tonight um is uh to recognize our governor's educator of the year for uh
the 2025 2026 school year. Um having now taught here for four years uh physical education and health. Um Mr. Dudo has in such a short period of time um as our our front crossing guard as well become
one of the faces of of our school district and of our school. Uh the kids adore him. uh the staff love him. He's one of those he's one of those people that is the ultimate team player and will literally do anything he can uh for the greater good and and to support his
colleagues and his students. Um even prior to to teaching here uh Mr. Dudo was a paraprofessional. He worked with some of our our most uh challenging students and some of our most challenging classroom. Uh and when we uh we knew we had an opening for the
position uh we couldn't think of anybody um more deserving than Mr. Dudo. Um, we I don't have anything to present to him tonight uh because that'll be uh at our uh banquet in in May at Perona Farms. Uh I look forward to it. But I do want to congratulate you and thank you for
coming. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Um, also very fitting, um, our, uh, educational service professional of the year, uh, is Miss Grace Schmeidhouser. Um, she was, um, awarded this position
or or I'm sorry, this, uh, award prior to anybody knowing that she was, uh, leaving um, for the semi purposes of semi-retirement. Uh so this was not something that was just a token of of goodbye. Uh it's something that she's
earned. She's been here uh for I want to say 13 years, about 13 years. Uh has worked in our child study team. Uh she's worked in our main office. Again, another person and one of the things that makes this school so great, just another person who will step in whenever you you need something. Uh won't ask
why. Won't ask um you know why somebody else can't do it. She just steps in and does it. and uh we're going to miss her tremendously. Um but we know that she's only a phone call away and and if it's not too early, I'm pretty certain she'll take that call. >> Yeah. >> But I think she's planning on sleeping
in. Um so congratulations to Grace and and just wanted to thank her for all of her hard work throughout the years and dedication. >> Um the third presentation is uh a quarterly update from our student council representatives. I'd like to welcome up Jacob Campbell and Deacia
Green. Jacob is our treasurer. Alacia is our secretary, vice president. >> All right. Um, and they have a brief update for us. Just make sure you turn that mic on so they can hear you on YouTube. >> Nice and loud.
>> My name is Jacob Campbell. I'm the treasurer of the student board. >> Um, my name is Alexia Green. I am the vice president of the student council. We are here to provide support to the board of education members for what we have done with the student council and what we plan to do and the overall plans
for the middle school. We would like to thank our HSA for donating to events like our upcoming middle school dance and the student first staff events. So far, our student first staff events has nearly raised $500.
Uh, our pop and popcorn fundraiser was a success, but we fell short of our $1,000 goal and we made uh $660. Also, we have a or no, this event ends Friday the 23rd.
>> So far, we have an upcoming movie night for the K through fifth grade where parents can drop off their kids to watch movies at the school. We also have a spirit week on the first week of February so students can express themselves and have a little fun during the school week.
>> The student council agrees that our school climate has not changed and is a positive environment. There has not been any acts of bullying or anything of the sort that has been brought to our attention by the middle school students. Our goal as student council is to make a fun and safe environment for the middle
school students and leave a good lasting impact that helps other students in the rest of their years here at Valley Ridge School. Thank you for your time. Does anyone have any questions or concerns they would like to bring to our attention? >> What do you plan to do with the funds that you're raising?
they're going to towards the eighth grade um trip to DC and also towards other uh events like the middle school dance that for things that weren't like um donated or Yeah. >> Thank you.
>> Do you guys know uh have any details on the dance yet? >> Um >> do you know where when >> Okay, it's January 30th next week on Friday. And so far, the HSA is donating
to pay for our DJ. And we have some volunteers that are helping decorate the dance. >> Anyone else? Thank you guys. Appreciate you coming out. Thanks for the update. >> Thank you. >> All right. That leads uh to the fourth
presentation, which is the most boring of all four. Uh it's the SSDS report. Uh this is uh something that needs to be reported um twice per year. Um our administration reports incidents of violence, vandalism, substances,
weapons, weapons, and HIV confirmed. Um and M principal Dataldo submitted the report for the first half of this school year. Uh we had two incidents of confirmed HIV. Um we had one incident of restraint,
one alleged HIV which was not founded. Uh nine trainings for HIV, seven programs for HIV. So the trainings are uh faculty driven and the programs are student driven. Um and we will then
report again at the end of the school year uh once June 30th hits. And at the July meeting, I'll have another report for you. Um, does anybody have any questions on uh the report? What SSDS is? Why we report?
>> Nope. All good. All right. Excellent. Thank you. >> Correspondence. >> Yep. Sorry about that, everyone. Uh, so on correspondence, New Jersey Department of Education parent survey. Uh, was everybody able to access that and take a look? >> Questions or comments? No. Okay,
right back to you, your superintendence report. >> So, it's funny. Chris and I were were when we were developing the agenda, I think this is the shortest superintendence report I've ever had. So, you're welcome. Um, for HIV and suspensions, we've had zero suspensions since our last meeting. Uh, we have had
one investigation. Uh, and that investigation was not founded for HIV. Um, and I also wanted to recognize and congratulate uh our seventh seven eighth grade students uh who were nominated for the superintendent roundt award. Uh this
is I believe um our more prestigious eighth grade award. There's several that are given at the end of the year. Um but this one is is really um the one where stu our our top most well-rounded students are nominated uh at this time this year. Um, Alacia, who who we just
saw, Colin, Hannah, Sadi, Faith, Jack, and Olivia were nominated. Um, outstanding group of students, such good friends, too. Uh, and so the process now that they've been nominated is they've uh drafted an essay on on themselves and why they feel as though they are
deserving of the award. Um, our teachers of eighth grade students are now reviewing those essays and they have until next Tuesday to vote uh on the essay. Um we'll tally those up and we'll determine who our award winner is for this year. Uh that student and their and
two members of their family uh will also be invited for another banquet at Perona Farms uh later this spring where they'll be recognized um with uh all of the other students who have won throughout the county. Um it's my understanding still that Sussex is the only county
that hosts a banquet like this. Um the other counties have their award winners uh but they they don't really do much else. Uh it's something that's really special. So the K8 districts uh nominate um their eighth grade students, K6 their sixth grade students and the high school
districts uh have 12th grade students. Um so to hear the accolades of these kids uh it's it's really remarkable um what they've accomplished and I'm I'm looking forward to uh identifying our person and sharing them with the rest of the county. And that's all I got in terms of my
report. >> Thank you. We have a curriculum update >> just briefly on curriculum. Um for those of you who have been a part of our uh our I would say re-imagination of our specials programs in middle school. Uh before this year um students had in
sixth, seventh, and eighth grade had two days a week of their special whether it be art or STEM. Um and then the other three days were world language. Uh the board has worked hard for a number of years to try to allocate funds to expand
on these programs um to offer uh a more middle school like experience where students were not in these specials for just one or two days a week which is what they've been traditionally uh by making our art, STEM, and music teachers full-time this year. Uh our middle
school students now have four days a week of of their special. uh they've been rotating quarterly. So quarter 1 a student may have art, quarter two a student may have music, quarter three STEM. And the plan for this year is to
allow for a level of student choice in the fourth quarter. Uh so we are working with those specialists teachers to identify the course and develop curriculum so that students at each grade level will have a choice of three specials for quarter 4. So they can
choose uh a course in this the area of STEM, the area of art or the area of music to wrap up the year. Uh and the overall goal whether it be next year or the year after is to provide students uh with a level of choice throughout the
entire year uh in their specials. Um so it's a lot of work. It's definitely a heavy lift. It's a lot of curriculum to develop, but I do think that our our people are up for the task, and I'm excited to see what we're able to offer uh at the end of the school year. >> Um hopefully to have a a more
comprehensive um update for you at the next meeting. >> Thank you. Questions on curriculum from anyone? >> No, it sounds great. >> Yeah, it's a lot. Um >> No, I I get that it's a lot. We're excited about it. >> But I mean, I'm excited for the the
students to have this this level of >> I am too. And I'm hoping once we get a taste of it uh and then we can exhale this summer will be hopefully really productive for curriculum development so that we can really establish what we want to do for next year.
>> Sounds good. All right. We did have a brief negotiations committee. Um I'll let you provide the updates, please. >> Um yeah, so mostly I was getting up to speed. Um you guys were kind enough to try to go over over everything with me. Um as far as the update, I know Mr.
Hagman was talking about um covering the 42 minute uh prep period and some other compensations as well um that we could do um instead of the 42 prep 42minute prep. Um I'm just not sure how far you want me to go into the
>> That's fine. So, are there are there questions about that? I can explain in a little more detail if you need my I have it on my email. It >> was a tough ask for your your first regular meeting. >> That's okay. No, I just um I don't have my actual written notes in front of me. That's why I pulled up the email.
>> That's okay. Th this is really just making about a uh a sidebar agreement through the end of this year until the next negotiations period so that the teachers get their full 42 minute preps because our periods are 41 minutes currently. So that's what this is about and we have a sidebar agreement here in
order to execute on that through the end of this year and then we come into negotiations in the following year and we'll red discuss the items. >> Yeah. And there's a second sidebar also um that provides language compensating staff uh who spend time on field trips outside of contractual time. So, if we
have a field trip, let's just say to the city, and students get back at 5:00, uh 3:00 is the end of the workday, there's it's establishes a an hourly rate to pay them for the two hours outside of their contractual time. >> But just to clarify, it does not cover overnights. Correct. That's a different
>> There's a separate overnight stipen that's outlined in the contract. >> Okay. Any other questions on those? Okay. Ed services. Um so um they are beginning recruitment for
the next round of project search and the the big news is they continue to explore purchasing the building next door to expand their services. They did have to take a step backwards because they got a letter from the department of education that they had done it out of order. Um
they had not followed the proper order that apparently they have to follow in order to look into purchasing a building. the fact that they had they had brought the architect in and they had already started exploring finance before they had officially declared that they wanted to potentially purchase the building. So, they got flapped with a
letter from Department of Education, but they don't receive funding. So, I'm not quite sure like they they weren't overly concerned about it. Um, so they officially declared that they are are are researching potentially buying the building next door. Um and then the
other thing was that they have expanded their staff for their preschool um instructional coaches. They've added another person. So they are now covering 19 programs um in seven school districts.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions on Ed services? Is >> their superintendent still both principal and super? >> Yes, she is. um for the time being um they the board passed a a special resolution that through this year at
least they're probably going to continue to operate with the super a Mrs. Romano um performing as the superintendent and the principal they want to wait and see what happens with the building
before they figure out that next step. >> Just one more note if it's okay. Um we do contract with ed services for our preschool instructional coach and it's uh been a a wonderful partnership for these uh this year and a half that we've been running the preschool expansion program.
>> Great. Thank you. Uh as far as a president's report, I don't have much. I know we just met a few weeks ago uh with our full uh committee meetings. Um and other than the negotiations committee, we didn't have any other meetings. So I don't have anything new to report. That would bring us to public session
number one. Any public like to speak? >> No. >> Okay, then we will move on. Travel and workshop reports. There were one. Anybody have any questions? >> Okay. Uh that would bring us to minutes for approval. Can I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second.
>> Thank you. This one is a voice vote. So, uh all in favor would say yes. >> Yes. >> Any nos or abstensions? Recusals. Okay. Thank you.
uh administrative action items one through five. Can I have a motion, please? >> Motion. >> Thank you. >> Uh in here you'll see the sidebar that was discussed both of them. Give everybody a minute if they need it
on those. Okay, this one is a roll call vote. >> Dr. Monaco, >> yes. >> Mr. Batalado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Donahghue, >> yes. >> Mrs. Batalado, >> yes. >> Mr. Pico, >> yes. >> Mrs. Herald, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shariffstein, >> yes. Motions carry.
>> Thank you. Uh, policy items one and two. Can I have a motion, please? >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh we did briefly discuss these at committee last week, so I don't know if there are further questions on them, >> but happy to take any questions here.
Any discussion? >> I was just curious the next step. So the AI policy, you said the next step was then to present to the parents. Was that >> So I now that we've uh the board hopefully will approve the second reading of this policy. Uh, my intent is
to share the AI plan with the community. >> Oh, great. >> Um, I have a really hard deadline for our special ed audit on Friday, so I don't think it'll be this week. Uh, I would expect it to to be shared out probably next week. Um, we've uh,
Principal Datalo and I sat in um with uh a call for an organization. I don't remember exactly the name of the organization um but their CEO is Amanda Bickerstaff who's who's one of the AI education gurus in the east coast uh and
they've tentatively uh reserved the afternoon of our first inservice day to come in to work with our staff uh and also to do a parent presentation uh early next year. Um we have another um
meeting scheduled for Monday with Give me one second. I forgot her name. Uh Liz uh Gonzie who's another very reputable uh AI for education um individual and we're going to see who we feel as though
would be a best fit and um you know we're going you know full steam ahead uh on AI integration into uh into the school. Well, the policy is really well done. >> Thank you. >> Because I know it's not easy to write AI policies.
>> And we have a policy alert uh that I need to review. So, we'll have um policy committee meeting in February. >> Great. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none. Roll call vote, please. >> Dr. Monaco, >> yes.
>> Mr. Balado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Donahghue, >> yes. >> Mrs. Balado, >> yes. >> Mr. Pico, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Herald. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sharps. Yes. Motions carry. >> Thank you. Uh, education action items. Can I have a motion, please? >> Motion. >> Thank you. Just one item, which is the
trips for 2526. >> Questions or discussion? >> Can I jump in? Yeah. I'm sorry. We have a lot of new people. I just want to give as much as we can. Um, so if you look on that sheet, you're going to see a lot of trips for our ASDRI programs. Um we do
uh what's called community- based instruction where we take some of more are more disabled students who um uh don't necessarily have as much of opportunity with support to to be in the community. um so the restaurants, post
office, um municipal building, uh plays, movies, um where we bring them into the community uh with the support of their teachers and paraprofessionals to help them develop those appropriate life skills so that they can become more independent once they leave us. So you
you see a whole bunch of those uh of those field trips. That's the purpose of those. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Dr. Monaco. >> Yes. >> Mr. Batalado. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Donahghue. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Balanado. Yes. >> Mr. Pico. Yes.
>> Mrs. Herald. Yes. >> Mrs. Sharpstein. >> Yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. >> Uh, personnel action items 1 through 10. Can I have a motion, please? >> So move. >> Second, please. >> Second. Thank you so much. Uh, give everyone a minute to read through there.
Item one we talked about in committee last week. That's just delegating authority to Mr. Hegman to hire. Um, and I don't know if anyone has questions on the rest, but I'll give everyone a minute. Yeah, please. >> Since there's two people requesting uh leave of absence, do we have the
personnel to replace those people? >> Yeah, we're okay. >> Okay. >> Um, and Mrs. Yankee is acting as a consultant. I I was just kind of excited to see her name show up on >> She she needed to wait. So Kathy uh was
my secretary who retired at the end of June. Um and in order for her to work again without it impacting her pension, she needed to work 180 days. Um given we had a pretty high-profile um vacancy coming up in the main office for Miss
Shmehauser leaving, um we asked uh Mrs. Yonai if she'd be willing to sit in and assist with interviews. Uh so over the holiday break, December 27th, I think it was, Principal Dataldo and Mrs. Yankai uh did our first round of interviews for the position. Uh recommended three
individuals to move forward for a second round. Mrs. Datalo and I then did those. And you'll see line item number eight is our recommendation for the position. >> Okay. I was just sort of excited to see her name on there, so I was like, "Oh,
is she coming back with us?" >> She'll be here by request. Um and if it's if it were up to her, it wouldn't be a whole lot. She's enjoying retirement. >> All right. And then uh Miss I see Miss Belly is resigning from the fine arts drama coordinator position. Did that end
up actually like get started? I never >> The hope was for it to get started. Um we could not identify a So it was supposed to be a position done in tandem to have two uh co-leads there. Uh we couldn't identify a second. um and she
just felt as though that we're already so far into the school year that we've missed too many opportunities to really get it launched. Uh she does plan on running a summer program again >> um with the intent of of trying it again next year. >> Okay. >> Um similar Mrs. Benadetto uh if you look
at the one above that for the Lego club um just felt felt as though there's a lot on her plate right now and just doesn't feel as though she can >> but we did previously have a Lego club at one point. Right. >> Yes, we have one. Um, so we're we're going to open the Lego up to anyone else
who might be interested in hosting in the spring or facilitating. And the fine arts and drama is something we'll likely try again in the in the 26 27 school year. >> Okay. >> Thank you.
>> Any other questions, discussion? >> No. Can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Dr. Monaco? >> Yes. >> Mr. Balado? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Donahue? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Balado? Yes. >> Mr. Pico. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Herald. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sharpstein. Yes. >> Motions carry.
>> Uh, business services. We have items 1 through 10. Can I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. a moment to take a look through those. Just draw attention to number eight. Um, we spoke about this or we've been
speaking about this for several months now. Uh this is um we're asking to submit the project application for the parking lot that we're looking to do in the back of the building. Um Matia is going to join me tomorrow at Burough Hall uh with our architect and we're
going to meet with um the town administrator and Mayor Ronco and potentially um former mayor Mayo who sits on the land use board >> um to at least just give them information, show the drawing and and
present our idea uh so that we're 100% transparent as we begin this process. Any other questions or discussion? Okay, hearing none. Roll call vote, please. >> Dr. Monaco, yes.
>> Mr. Balado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Donahghue, >> yes. >> Mrs. Balado, >> yes. >> Mr. Pico, >> yes. >> Mrs. Herald, yes. >> Mrs. Sharpstein, >> yes. Motions carry. >> That would bring us to any new business. Does anybody have any new business they'd like to bring before the board? Talk about
>> I got you, Carmen. I'd just like to thank the HSA for all the work that they did last year with fundraising. Um, I was on other private prior school boards and I cannot I can't believe the amount of
work that they do compared to other districts. I mean, without them, I don't think that we'd be as good a shape that we're in. So, I'd like to throw out some kudos to them >> and hopefully it'll keep up the good work. Yeah. >> Um that they're doing.
>> Yeah, we have we have a great team of volunteers. >> Absolutely. >> That's for sure. Thank you. >> They can always use more. >> Yes, they can always use more. Absolutely. >> So, I'd like to just say um well, I wasn't particularly thrilled that our
daughter decided to participate in the um voluntary thank you to Mrs. Smith for World Culture Night last night. Um it was a really nice event and it definitely had more traffic than last
year. Um so it was just it was nice to see the middle schoolers come out and get all excited about like culture and trying foods from all over the world. Um so yeah. So thank you Mrs. Smith. >> I heard it was a great hit. I was sorry
I missed it. I was split in two different directions >> with a medical emergency. heard. >> Okay. Any other new business? Hearing none. Any old business? >> Okay.
That would bring us to public session number two. No public. Okay. Uh very fast board meeting then. That would bring us to adjournment. Can I have a motion, please? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. Voice vote. All in favor say I. I. >> Any abstensions, recusals? >> All right.
That was quick.