okay all right good evening everyone thank you for joining us tonight we are going to call the meeting to order and we'll start with our um Pledge of Allegiance that's right 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 okay get signed I'm good okay thank you okay all right go ahead roll call Mrs Harold here Mr Pico here Mr Valley here Mr vardo here Mr yagnam here Mr moscatello here Mrs sharpstein here Mr Hagman here okay 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 Stan hope Board of Education located at 24 Valley Road Stan Hope New Jersey has caused this notice to be posted at the office of the Stan hope Board of Education mailed to the New Jersey Herald the municipal clerk of the burough of Stan hope the Stan hope post office and posted at the Valley Road school and on the Stan hope Public Schools website setting forth the time date and location of the meeting our school's mission statement the Stan hope school district will provide a diverse and challenging educational environment that encourages individual initiatives Fosters Success Through teamwork promotes accountability demonstrates a passion for educational excellence and ensures student achievement related to the New Jersey student learning standards the Stan hope district is committed to the development of our students and staff so that individual aspirations can be achieved through their lifelong learning uh quick announcement we'll have an executive session for the purpose of personnel formal action may be taken and so with that we are going to jump right into the first presentation of the night that everybody is here for which is our honorable recognition that's what I'm talking about Qui I love it all right good evening everyone thank you for joining us tonight um as most of you are aware because so many of our kids here achieve honor role status every marketing period I apologize for sounding like a broken record um but students in sixth seventh and eth grade here students in sixth seventh and eighth grade here in Stan hope can achieve honor rooll status if they earn all A's and B's for the marking period uh students who achieve high honor rooll status uh achieved all A's during the marking period Straight A's um as much as we're here to congratulate our students uh I want to take a moment as I always do to thank the parents and the family members who also are there to support them um as a a parent of a eighth Sixth and fourth grader I know it is exhausting it's exhausting when you think that they maybe can or can't manage it on their own right you don't know when to take a step back you don't know when to take a step in um but whatever you're doing um keep it up because your kids are doing a great job and we're very very proud of them uh I have Mrs sharpstein um with me to my left so when I call your name uh I'm going to start with the honorable students please carefully walk up mind the chords on the ground uh and give a smile and a shake of Mrs sharpstein if parents feel free to come on up and get a photo opportunity okay um first I'd like to call up Daniela [Applause] sampa Dominic erti Linda FR Dylan Kelly arth kapi Amelia milanovic Christopher Thornton around for a bit camera there you go y Donovan vergano Kennedy badog Aiden Bruner Audrey Davies [Applause] pirano Amy desas Isabella diod Den Eliana [Applause] divis Jack [Applause] Gada [Music] yes Morgan Copic Cena [Applause] OS [Music] Emily Perry Joshua Perry Kathleen [Applause] Pano Tess [Applause] Roth Isaiah Sanchez Lucas Sanders Demi [Applause] small John banini [Applause] Zachary bourette Alysia [Applause] green Kylie [Applause] Hoffman Sadie [Applause] Morales Scarlet [Applause] Stansfield Olivia [Applause] yo that's a lot of names feel like every marking period they're growing which is usually the opposite um so the next batch of students whose names I'm going to call achieved high honor role this marking period uh which is straight a uh first Charlotte [Applause] Harold Abigail [Applause] Andrews Claire Frank work in progress Braden [Applause] light Kylie McDonald Tabitha Mueller Caitlyn ok' Conor Angelina [Applause] [Laughter] roblas magic back stand next to thank you Alina twam Sienna zap Faith [Applause] Anderson Jacob [Applause] Campbell picture look cute from the weekend thank you scamer none of those were my kids little Juliet hindes Hannah [Applause] sharpstein okay go take a picture from a TIA thank you and last but certainly not least Grace [Applause] wisman thank you everybody please get home safely okay on to our next [Applause] presentation so we have um lots of good news presentations today uh I'd like to I guess informally recognize uh two special staff members um that are here today uh one has won the governor's educator of the Year award uh and the other is our Ed specialist of the year um first I'd like to recognize uh Miss Courtney Piper if you don't mind standing no I thought I saw her she's there oh there she is Miss Piper has served uh so many roles in our district throughout uh throughout the years uh she's been an elementary teacher she's been a special education teacher a math teacher a science teacher and most recently she's been teaching stem and she works with our students in the gifted and talented program um she continues to build wonderful rapport with not just her students but with her colleagues um and she provides so many opportunities for kids to be creative um to push themselves she pushes pushes them herself in a figurative way uh and she really allows them to reach their full potential um I don't have anything tangible to give Miss Miss Piper but she'll be invited to a lunch in later this spring uh where she'll receive her her plaque for this award congratulations Miss Piper and our Ed specialist of the year is our uh School social worker Mrs vesa Milan if you don't mind standing Mrs Mrs Milan also does so much to support so many um not just within our district but within the community uh she is a go-to for so many students that are in crisis uh and she seems pretty much willing to do anything if it helps somebody um whether it's a colleague whether it's a student or like I said a parent or anybody else in the community uh it's been a pleasure to to work with Mrs Milan and again she'll also be at at the lunch and where she'll receive her plaque congratulations and thank you for your continued [Applause] support and I'm very excited for the third of the four presentations that we have today um the board has created just this year here for the first time student positions uh that we title student Advocates to the Board of Education um and as part of their first initiative uh we've been working together Dominic Lama and and Charlie Harold and I um they really wanted to get the voice of the student body uh and communicate that to the board of education so they developed a survey using Google forms um and developed some pretty thoughtful and creative questions and and they recently surveyed students in sixth 7th and eighth grade um I'm going to let them discuss the categories that they survey and some of the results that they received uh but I'd like to to welcome them to the board of ed meeting uh and I appreciate if you guys can give them their uh your full attention so take it away guys Dominic pleas got so this these are the responses to the student survey uh the first category surveyed was based off of respect um from the sixth graders we found out that most of them feel as if the respect in their grade and of the overall respect from students to students is fairly good um under 10% of students uh said that the respect levels were poor um some ideas that they gave that may lower the respect include having strict dress code re uh restrictions um changing for PE and then sometimes they mention that teachers will cut them off when they're trying to ask questions or give feedback in class um we also have two charts based off of how well students respect teachers and the teachers are respecting students and for the most part the sixth grade says that their respect is well and good yeah okay so then we surveyed the seventh grade hear the seventh grade responses um seventh grade also said the overall respect level is good uh few students said that the respect level was poor similar to last time and the ideas that the seventh grade suggested that lower respect are students making fun of each other and some of the restrictions on going to the bathroom and inside the bathroom and then of course we have our charts on how well the students respect the teachers and the teachers respect the students that's all in the students opinion of course and then on the eighth grade um the eighth graders said that it the respect level is neutral to good um and 15% of the students think that the respect that respect levels are poor um and ideas that they said that would lower it um would be treated differently after missing school um the lack of communication and bullying and then you can see in the High charts that students respecting teachers was more neutral and teachers respecting students was neutral to good okay then we also surveyed the students on the atmosphere of the school like the general Vibe and you know how safe they feel so the response from the sixth grade was generally positive only a few students described the atmosphere as negative and everybody felt generally pretty safe um some ways the sixth grade suggested to improve the positivity of the atmosphere is to include more activities and ways to introduce newer students to the school and also a decrease in tolerance for bullying and harassment and then we have our pie chart up there to show how well people are um like liking the school the atmosphere and then we have the safety chart which shows how safe the students fail so the seventh grade they find the general Vibe of the school to be neutral not good more bad um and only five students said that the atmosphere of the school is less than that um some ideas to make the atmosphere more positive are to have more fun activities a l strict dress code um less bullying and then have certain students show the new students around so they can get to know the school better um the two charts show the general VI and and how safe the students are feeling which in the seventh grade that is mostly like a four out of five okay and then of course we have our eighth grade on their General atmosphere um they also said it was neutral um under three students actually said that the atmosphere was was negative which is a good thing uh some uh suggested ideas to improve the school um they said more student events and more activities and of hor electric dress code we've seen that a few times and students feel generally pretty safe here at school the next topic that we surveyed on was the students personal well-being um the sixth graders feel like there's a neutral amount of support from teachers and staff and under five students expressed that they felt unsupported by the teachers and staff in the school um some suggested resources students said that could improve the overall student well-being include having more water fountains and more nutritious lunches um the students as the chart shows feel neutral to supported um by the school and then of course seventh grade uh seventh grade students um still they feel neutral to supported by the staff only a few said that they felt unsupported about five students and uh the seventh grade also suggested that there be one guidance counselor for middle school and another one for elementary school and improving the way that math is taught in the school some students have been having problems understanding uh the math curriculum and they also suggested that students be able to carry their cell phones on them in case of emergency instead of putting them in their lockers for the school day and then of course we have our pie Cher over on the side showing how supported the students feel at school and then in eth grade um most students feel fairly well supported um only two e grade students said that they were not being supported very well um ideas to um improve support be having a quiet place to study during eha because some of the rooms get very loud and then students using um being able to use electronic devices during lunch other than their Chromebooks so that they can just like have a moment to like enjoy to themselves now there we also as the students what changes and additions they would like to see um the sixth grade students suggested a volleyball team um like a safe room to calm down at the school if you're feeling like sad or angry um and uh use some student devices during lunch periods like cell phones and more fun Friday events per month there we have fun Friday events at the school every month where students can pay tickets vs tickets to participate in fun events and they would like to see more of those per month uh the seventh grade said that they would like to see J Cod adjustments um improve school um lunches once again changes to the math curriculum uh to make it easier to understand and they also said more interactive um a cheerleading team and a volleyball team and finally our eighth grade students they would like to um have their phones during lunch like some of the others have said uh they would like improved student lunches that you can buy from the cafeteria um they would like to see more clubs and a volleyball team and a track team and then we also asked them what challenges are they facing as students uh the sixth graders said some of the struggles that they're facing are making friends getting good grades um a large workload that they're struggling to get done and that there's disrespect and bullying which is causing problems um and then we C we asked how comfortable students are um when reaching out your teachers when facing a challenge and most of them felt neutral when it comes to reaching out okay and we also as ask the seventh grade um the seventh grade said that some challenges were not having enough guidance on projects and tests and then again the large workload and bullying and seventh grade students overall felt uncomfortable asking uh for guidance when facing a challenge from the teachers and an eighth grade student said they struggle with keeping up their grades bullying and once again a large workload and they mostly feel neutral when having to reach out to their teachers so we plan to use this data to uh present to Administration some of the things like the main topics we saw were bullying the dress code um new sports teams like a volleyball team and we're going to start small with the usage of personal devices we're going to try and get uh audio streaming like Spotify or apple music and we're going to collect more information over this year to like take it to like have kind of a snapshot of student wellness and then we will report the findings back to the students to further like see what's felt by the student body yeah thank you okay wait we did add a um is there any questions the board members have yes first off thank you guys uh we've been waiting for this it's very exciting to hear from the students um there's some common themes here and if not today when we meet next I if you guys can elaborate with specifics and I understand that you're speaking for a large group of people so if you don't know that's fine in terms of dress code um can you be more specific a lot of students wanted to be able to wear spaghetti straps or pajama pants or crop tops without being just CED yeah that was like the main thing that's like the main thing that they said yeah and the second thing in terms of electronic devices um can you guys tell us a weakness and a strength to allowing it in other words how do you feel the electronics are going to help the learning environment in school I don't even think we think it's like as much of the learning environment but just that security of having your device on you in case of an emergency or um at lunch so they can use it for fun but there like a weakness that could happen in the classrooms and this happens already when students are on their Chromebooks and still start playing games or taking their phone out but that still happens in class on Chromebooks I think a positive thing that that could come out of this is I know me personally when I'm feeling like unfocused like I can't focus on something I turn on music and that helps me focus better so maybe we could allow like like I said with the music streaming that could help students uh possibly focus better on their assignments and kind of drown out the outside noise from the classroom if there is any any other questions thank you guys you're welcome any other questions no everybody good what did you use to collect your data uh we used a Google form and then we collected all the data into a document and then uh use the data from the document to make this slide presentation that we just showed you and and you sent this out electronically to everyone yes to all the students and then you gathered it back and the two of you work together on on on each grade level yeah and with the help of Mr aan yeah okay great job great job thank you thank you how many kids responded um we had 69 students respond that's a that's a pretty big portion of the middle school so I think think we got a good amount of uh feedback yeah that's fantastic thanks guys 76% we calculated earlier right yeah which is pretty good that's awesome thank [Music] you question any other questions thank you guys thank you so on on a personal note it was actually a lot a lot of fun working with these two on uh developing the survey and um kind of analyzing the data um I thought the analyzing the data part would be their greatest struggle but I was honestly wrong they pretty much got I mean they went they s ed through almost 70 narrative responses and they were able to find themes within those responses and those are the themes that you uh you saw up there so uh very well done and um I certainly will be working with them a little bit more to to go through this data figure out what changes we can make in the school for shortterm and long term um and uh I I think your student body should be proud of the work that you guys put in so very nice job um the last presentation I promise will be very very short uh each year uh twice per year the district is required to submit a report called the ssds which is short for the student safety data system uh we have to um report incidents of violence vandalism substances weapons and HIV confirmed uh other incidents leading to student removal restraint and seclusion HIV um alleged HIV trainings and HIV programs that happen within the school for the first reporting period which takes place from July 1st through December 31st there were zero incidents of violence vandalism and substances uh there were zero incidents of other incidents leading to leading to removal excuse me there was one incident of restraint there were zero Hib investigations that were completed in the first half of the school year and zero that were confirmed uh staff participated in five HIV trainings related to harassment intimidation ability and students participated collectively in 10 different programs related to harassment intimidation and bullying um so we will then uh continue to collect this data uh report for the second report period at the end of June uh and at that time I'll report for the data for the entire year to the board so thank you any questions from anyone on the board no okay um up next on our agenda is our executive session so anybody is welcome to stay we'll be back shortly I don't know about how long we think this will be I'd say maybe 10 minutes so maybe 10 minutes will be an executive can I have a motion please motion second second okay see we need yes Gil second was Gil all right uh we don't need a we need a roll call vote on it be it res hang on I got to do the reading to I got to read be it res OLED that the stano Board of Education adopts the following resolution whereas the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL 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 the state of New Jersey that a closed session of this board of education where the public shall be excluded will be held at this time for the purpose of personnel be it further resolved that 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 prejudicial to the interests of the parties involved and would not result in a possible invasion of their right to privacy a Voice vote all in favor say hi hi hi any NOS any Obion okay can I have a motion please motion second Voice vote all in favor anybody no extensions okay and that goes right back over Steve the superintendent report okay uh we just met as a as a whole group a couple weeks ago so I don't have a whole lot for you um for this month's uh Hib and suspensions list uh we have one founded Hib investigation that concluded on January 2nd um it's actually the first HIV investigation that we've had this year um so that's I think a positive thing uh we had two students that served in school suspension uh since our last meeting one served one full day and one student served one half day of in school suspension um if you as you can see on the agenda or on the addendum I should say uh I am making a recommendation to hire uh Mr Dan Borgo as the district's interim business administrator through June 30th of this year uh Debbie and I have had the privilege of uh meeting with Mr Borgo uh had numerous conversations on the phone and and uh Gil and I because Mr sharfstein wasn't able to um because of work responsibilities met with him yesterday uh he has a tremendous amount of experience over 40 years as a business administrator uh he's done his homework and he feels as though that he can positively contribute to our district and and help us through when we find more a greater long-term solution at in the business office um so again happy to answer any questions about Mr Borgo or that uh process but I'm very excited for the opportunity to work with some somebody who's so seasoned um although clearly we'll miss uh Debbie this is Debbie's last meeting with us tonight um we've uh done some pretty amazing things in the last few years that you've been here things that uh I hate to say I was here for almost seven years without being able to accomplish any of them and then Debbie comes along and we sell a building and pass a referendum and then getting built and yeah and then we start with all this construction so uh it's been it's been a lot of fun um it it's really a pleasure to work with you and um I wish you luck and where you're going is very lucky to have you so um think it's the first nice thing I've said to you since you told me so in three years not in three years just since you told me you were leaving um I am very excited to share that I submitted last Thursday evening the application for preschool expansion um it was quite a process if you have sent me an email in the last 10 days and didn't get a response that is why uh it was all application very little attention to email unless there were uh you know crisis and emergency issues um I several colleagues helped me through this process and have shared their own applications just because it kind of gives you some ideas they give you a very tight window um so I'm very grateful for that uh we are being told that we will know on February 2nd whether or not we will qualify and and are given this Aid uh so keep your fingers crossed um there's lots of benefits that the district uh could gain through this and one of which is being having free preschool for all eligible three and four year-old students that live in Stan hope um so just a brief explanation on on on um how this process goes uh we have to determine what's called our preschool un IE when we fill out our application that is the number of eligible seats that we need to provide to students within a 5-year period uh that number is determined by doubling your first grade enrollment we are at a number at 46 there's other factors there where they they subtract special education population um and 46 is a really good number for us because you have a Max of 15 kids per classroom um and in 5 years you have to fill 90% of your Universe well we currently have um 14 kids in our current preschool classroom here uh we have a waiting list for our preschool program and we know of at least six or seven stanh hope kids who are already enrolled in the First Impressions preschool who is who we're looking to partner with so we are already at probably 30 kids that we can fill roles for uh which is what we're aggressively looking to do for the rest of this year and next year and then it's just a matter of building one more preschool class uh which I believe we can do within our own building um so there's no reason as long as the people are there and are interested in having their kids participate in free preschool I don't see any reason why we won't be able to reach our our universe quota within the first two to three years so fingers crossed that it happens does a quota stay the same for all five years or do you get to recalculate if you have a small class or two come in I don't know okay um I don't know if anybody knows because we've had some years where the the incoming grades have been very small we have and to be honest with you I do think if we if it did increase uh First Impressions would have room and the ability to open a fourth class for us I don't see it going to 60 especially if you consider that the formula uh subtracts the special ed population yeah I meant if it decreases and we can't hit the number 90 um if it if if next year's first gr class 25 people if it decreases it then then it'll be easier to hit the 90 right so it does fluctuate with each year if it does I don't know if it does I'm happy if we're locked in at 46 forever because I think three classrooms is is the perfect amount for us and your number 46 which that's the number that would be here the other number would be at 46 total 46 total students I thought you said the universe the universe is 46 I need to get to 90% of that Universe within a 5year period okay so if we currently have 15 here 15 there that's 30 opening one more class would get us to 45 which is more than 90% of the 46 number yep got it okay um questions on that I just want to know who who in Town's making this population happen because there's a lot older population in this town well it's on us and and and it and it clearly outlines it in the application process proc you it is on us to advertise to contact families to send out flyers to put up Billboards to you know realistically speaking does the does the 90% of the universe have to come from Stan hope or okay so it can't we can't pull from like so we are not we are not in a position to offer free PRI preschool to anyone who lives outside of town all right that's true it's all good I honestly I that's the one thing that I'm not concerned about because I think we already have almost 30 um other districts are not anywhere near that and and the the number 46 is lower than what I was anticipating I was expecting a number in the upper 50s okay my son's right in that age bracket I know firsthand from parents that you know um they'd be excited to apply so so beyond the free preschool um in this program so our current preschool for threey olds is two and a half hours our current preschool for four-year-olds is 5 hours it is a requirement that all preschool kids are here for the entire length of the school day that everybody else is here for so they follow the same seven-hour day fantastic um which is great for the parents who need the child care absolutely right um it will create uh uh some structural changes here um which is okay we're required to also incorporate nap time um which sounds ridiculous but have to find ways to get my teachers a break right so nap time lunchtime things like that um but uh but yeah I think it I think it'll be a really great thing for parents uh it'll be an adjustment for some of our three-year-olds for sure that are used to being here for two and a half hours um and if approved this has to start this year they cannot wait till next year to start that is one of the requirements and I would shoot for probably a a mid April change where we'd have to notify the current parents get communication out and and purchase some resources we don't have CS for nap time we don't have you know some things that we would need all of which was budgeted uh in the application process do you foresee any parents withdrawing from our preschool because they're not interested in their three-year-old going full day um I believe I have some ideas on how we can work with parents on that how about the five day a week has to be five days a week okay and we only offer five days a week now uh years ago we used to offer part partial weeks we had we had three four five days and it was honestly it was re it was really a challenge um because you'd have kids you know you have kids there five days and then kids who were coming Monday Wednesday Friday you know when you're scaffolding on instruction and you're building from the previous day but that child wasn't there it created some issues and when we really had a wait list it was hard to turn people away because other kids and other kids were only coming two or three days a week right so it was if you want to be in this program it's a it's a RI I mean i' say rigorous it's still preschool but it's a 5ay a week program and and we expect them to be here and um I I've seen firsthand you know because these kids go through school all the way through 8th grade um the benefits of our preschool and the the magic that Mrs mcneir works with them it's it's uh it's pretty remarkable so if we get approved do we have to hire another teacher for the additional students um based right now I we will not have to hire a teacher uh there are several roles that I think we will fill internally because again the this is initially designed for huge districts right so there's let's just say there's a role of it's the pur the preschool Interventional referral person and they tell us well this person can only work with 20 preschool classes we have two here one here and one at the other school um so that's something that can be absorbed internally um there is there is one role called the uh I don't remember exactly what the term is but it's an instructional coach and pick the pick the preschool instructional coach they have to have a P3 CT they cannot be a teacher they have to have multiple years experience in preschool they have to have either a special ed background a background in intervention referral services or a background in multilanguage learners it's impossible to find that right it's it's a rainbow unicorn um for the amount of time that we would need that person which is like three hours a week so that is the the one the one person that we'll either have to contract with or share Services I know sucks as Ed Services is looking to expand and provide uh that role for districts I actually budgeted um when I filled out the application when I did the budget I budgeted at Sussex Services rate for 3 hours a week um so again those that's an added expense but something that would be covered within the preschool expansion program for our par professionals that currently work part-time in the preschool program does that then mean we need to hire more Paras versus making somebody full-time because question might there might be a slight increase in need but I don't anticipate having to make anybody any par professionals full-time hopefully we get approved um I don't think it's appropriate for me as a board member to ask some of the questions that I have as a parent but we yeah and okay thank you certainly and if we talk and if we're like hey these are really appropriate questions for us to share out then certainly the next meeting we'll have that discussion you know we could do new business old business um but we'll we'll we should know knock on W the department says we should know whether or not we're approved before our next board meeting and if that is the case we will be doing everything we can to get the word out for people to get involved we can we can bring that as a topic at committee you know what I mean for know one on the second thank you and and just to clarify too just for the record this is a grant so there's no impact to any tax basis anywhere in the town because I know there had been questions floating around about that but as a grant it has no impact on our so you're 100% right but it's not a grant okay it's it's not a grant in that you don't have to apply for it every year once you get it you keep it keep it okay that said it was a political move yeah right and who knows if that's something that's sustainable I think that the second round is to make sure that the money is being spent to districts um and I and if if we can benefit from that I'm 100% in um but it should be something that should be available year after year great so and then the last piece that I have uh is I just want to congratulate um mayor Jee Ronco uh for his recent appointment uh I was unable to attend the the reorg unfortunately uh I know I think Gil went right no I was not Mata was able to go and uh I I I love actually going it's nice to get all the the community stakeholders together just unfortunately had a conflict that night but uh I reached out to him today um I'm hoping to hear back in the next couple days just um give him an opportunity I mean he's here he comes for Veterans Day it's not you know he's always welcome but I wanted to give him the opportunity uh to to take a look at the school um share some of the ways that we collaborate with the town um and uh see if he has any other ideas um to get the town involved uh I got to thank our people their people um for helping us out they always it sounds in insignificant but it's not but when they run their salt trucks through our uh parking lot when we get ice and snow it really takes a lot of the burden off of our custodial crew uh who who really did a wonderful job uh in this last couple storms so that's all I got okay uh that moves us so any more questions anybody from the board no all right business administrators report um mine's nice and simple the budget software just opened up which is great because I was getting nervous because it gets later and later every year um but the process has started we we have had a meeting um it is a big year I know that um Steve has talked to everybody about moving forward and and what that looks like budget wise and I know he's spoken to The Faculty um but but that that's the time of year that it is so uh we're moving into that it's not on here but if you don't mind me talking about it for a second I just want to bring up alphabest again at our last meeting um in the in the last year it was brought up that with the time change in the schedule um maybe we can have a pro-rated schedule with alphab best uh we reached out to them I know we've been having these conversations and um they you know uh agreed and they already Steve already put out an email today for anybody that needs that with the rates on it and everything so I'm glad that somebody asked the questions because if you don't ask you might not you know you don't sometimes the answer's no but we got really lucky this time and they said yes and it's available for people now and that email went out so if anybody is that you know is looking for that and brings it up feel free to let them know that they offer that uh pro-rated you know drop them off a little later if you if you want to schedule the rates look very reasonable yeah I thought so too I thought the rates looked very reasonable the only thing that I couldn't see when I opened it up and I'm sure it's an alphab best question not an us question is if parents for example wanted to do it over the winter months and maybe as it gets warmer I'm not I'm saying they should do it for for the entire time but if they didn't are they locked into if they did it now to be there till June or I if I had to guess I'd say that the answer is no as long as is you're communicating with them what your plans are but I can't answer that for them and that's what that's certainly I think a question for them but that was the only thing I thought of was if parents are looking to do it for a winter Thing versus a longer time thing but I thought the rates were great I thought they were great and I thought it was I thought it was wonderful that they were so willing uh to do it so quickly and with a you know with the quick turnaround time they were just like yeah we have people in place let's let's do it so I was really happy about that um and last but not least I I am not good at thank yous and and goodbyes and all that other stuff Steve is very good at that stuff and I just get all sorts of emotional so I'm just going to say thank you um very simply I I have been in well I guess I'm not just gonna say thank you here we go um I've been in education for uh 20 plus years I'm not someone who I'm I'm not somebody who gets overly attached to things you know what I mean like but I am very attached to Stan hope I'm very attached to this school and um the the board the the community itself and I've really had an amazing time and and I'll tell everybody that asks if you guys were closer it's I I would I wouldn't even leave it's the only reason so thank you very much for making these last three years really fantastic you will be missed you would be missed thank you thank you anybody have any questions that's your words but it's okay thanks anybody all right all right that moves us to a curriculum update I'm not sure if you have one just um the the long awaited writing and uh Spanish curriculum for K5 uh are uh in the agenda uh for approval tonight um Alicia and I are preparing to do one last really thorough look through uh through our curriculum before we have our qack meeting which we don't know when that is yet um so don't be surprised if in the next couple months you see some other curriculum pop up it's probably just because we haven't moved it from Rubicon to Google uh and we just want to make sure that we're compliant so um apologies if if you do see that but it's uh it's a work in progress and we just there's a there's a lot of there's a lot of random mandates that have happened over the last few years uh that in a K8 are really hard to infuse into your your programs um and I won't go into details from there but um fingers crossed that will be in good shape I really want to say I like the new format it's really user friendly and makes a difference when you're looking at it to be able to search or find things far more easily than the other that and we don't get charged $1,000 a year just to put it on the website that's once we're ready because that's what Rubicon wanted to that $1,000 a year to put on the website on top of the $3,600 that we pay them just to maintain it um so you have a savings there and I think that the teachers find it a little bit more user friendly too EXC looking at the writing curriculum it's it looks robust it is I mean it's when you want I didn't do every grade level but I did a couple elementaries but I did all three of the uh junior high levels and it's quite a uh quite a lot of of writing in there which is awesome you know what I mean it is a lot of writing it's it's in line with the reading and and and writing workshop model which we've used and have had such great success with um you know language arts for us has become a significant strength and I think it's because of the PD that we've provided to staff that buyin that they have the B like when I I'm a math person I was a math teacher but when I I actually love observing language arts lessons more because of the engagement that you see in these kids' faces I mean our teachers are like actors and actresses when they're doing that 10 to 15 minute mini lesson you know I saw one recently and it's this the teacher said I remember when I taught you this well I got a brand new book and this is what I did and this is what I'm going to teach you it's like I'm an adult doing this you're in second grade and you're going to do this and they're like eating it up it's uh it's really remarkable to see and if you look through our Middle School language arts scores it's showing that it's working uh and I'm really excited about that it it like I said it was very impressive what each I didn't see one common writing sample between the three grades in other words you know you would run you would have a writing on fiction then you have a non-fiction you'd have an argument you have a historical AR argument you know what I mean that went through all of those kinds of writings through there and uh and and in a lot of detail you know what I mean and it I I I was super impressed as to what the expectation is and just going back through the K the K of fives you could see the scaffolding as to where it went built upon each other and then and then that um how how do we do when they get to the high school uh I've had honestly in the conversations that I've had uh nothing but complimentary responses especially in the language arts and English um uh I've every supervisor and principal and vice principal that I've worked with I've been very transparent in saying if there's a deficit please we want to know right we want to fix it don't be shy don't think you're going to offend us and um we uh we we work with them pretty closely uh we have collaboration set up for all departments in February um Humanities English math where our teachers are going to be collaborating with the supervisors and teachers up at the high school uh Chris kazatsky set that up for us um and we're we're really excited about it yeah and I would just share having had two through it and one in the middle of it right both of my boys are are very good writers and and they are very far ahead of some other students even my oldest in college now he can produce a better essay faster than most of his peers you know learning the structure we teach it and everything from annotation to outlines to notes to citations step by step they really do a good job I mean you could see that being developed as you look through the curriculum I I didn't read every word in there but it was it was very robust in terms of objectives and and meeting standards and and and performance it was excellent Works any questions on curriculum no negotiations anything new to share Gil yes I I do um it's a little bit tied into uh yuk Cab's on the budget uh as you know the the committee for the budget committee is the same as the negotiations committee and we met with Steve and Deb for better part of an hour uh December 29th I think it was somewhere was in December and uh you know from the budget committee from we talking about budget but as a negotiations it's listening to the budget and seeing where do we stand and uh you know us taking light of what the problems are with the buset budget what the issues are going to be and starting to form some kind of plan of what we need to do to be able to uh come up with a fair and Equitable negotiation session with the different with the association um I'm going to tell you it's going to be tough you know things are things are looking tight but I think I think there's some wiggle room right there oh yeah tons tons but you know we have a job we'll get it done and we we we should be starting in the very uh very near future to have at least our first meeting and meet and greet and uh and get moving with that and I I only I say that jokingly but it's it's really to be honest as you guys know it's not it's not something to be made light of it's very serious there's you know people involved in this I I laugh because there is zero uh wiggle rumor and we know that so you know conversations are going to be difficult this year that's you and I differ a little bit about how much wiggling but I that's my job I to say there zero but but there is it's going to be harder than it had been in past years there's no [Music] question any questions there not not a lot of detail I can give you till we get to the table anything to add for Budget uh yeah so like you said just a mirror um we had the pleasure of meeting in person so we got to ask a lot of questions uh with the eser funds running out you know the administration's done a really good job of preparing everybody mentally by having these discussions way in advance but there's going to be some difficult decisions coming up um but I I'm happy to say that we have a pretty balanced budget right now um Debb's had an excellent job of ensuring that um we should have enough time to kind of really make those decisions and think ahead before it really hits home in my opinion that's it questions budget uh Sussex saided we're moving on like at Steve had mentioned one of the things that we're in preparation for and Andrea has already put out advertisements is to fill those kinds of positions for the uh uh preschool programs uh we have we're looking for people in each one of those because there are a lot of small school districts in Sussex that can't afford to have those full-time positions so we're we're trying to get a uh a bullpen of people we can we can uh have available for for local districts uh project search is moving on uh doing well as you all know uh with the weather uh R it's it creates Havoc for for for that for our school especially with kids uh with the disabilities that they have it's very hard for parents to get child care immediately like we have a delayed opening sometimes it it's hard for them to get care for their kid so those are some of the things we struggle with and we uh we have a new principal starting in uh mid-February our our previous principal uh left and uh we hired a person who uh fits the bill Excell it was like a a nice fit for her and for us and we're looking forward for that start uh enrollment is at the highest it's been since I've been there it's at 56 you know we had been down as low as 29 years ago and now we're at 56 so it's it's lot of a lot of services being rendered and a lot of a lot of uh Consultants out in local schools in Sussex County we some schools we have the entire child study team is all from susex said Services some places we just have a social worker a psychologist a lot of people helping districts who are short-handed administratively doing evaluations so that that part of of of our uh mission is is is that full throttle and uh as a school it's humming let's put it that way maybe not at bus time though I'm not sure carman's a bus driver for ask about the principal there is a principal there now no what the one of the teachers told me that they have it's a man he's the principal he left he left I saw him in I saw him this morning coming in at 8:00 at the school this is Northern Hills Academy yeah 10 Gale 10 Gale yeah I'm there no we don't have a principle really nope I got misinformation then you did nope the gentleman left before Christmas actually left in November and that gave us time to hire and that person had to give their days notice and that's why she's starting in middle of February all right because the principal that was there before was a male correct and he always used to be out in the afternoon when the kids are getting on on the buses you know talking to the bus drivers talking to the kids but after that stopped after a while and then some new guy came and they said he was def princial I mean if you say no hey you're the you're the boss there's no okay there's no interim it's uh it's the superintendent is doing both positions at this time she's doing the superintendent and the principal's job okay maybe that um is he a heavy s guy the superintendent it's a woman okay so I'm off B I better just go like this I'm off balance here okay all right we got it thank you sure any other questions than you I just anybody have any questions about susex head thank you so that would bring me to a president's report but other than the meeting on budget we haven't had any other business uh between our last meeting and now where we had a committee of the whole so we can move right forward to public session number one agenda items but think I don't I don't think our one member of the public here is uh have much to say or even knows that we're talking about she has a question cookies all right so we will uh uh move past public session number one uh to our regular agenda items travel and workshop reports uh let's see here can I my motion section okay any questions on the travel and workshop reports no all right we'll move forward to the minutes for approval uh and agenda items one through three can I have a motion please motion second thank you okay any discussion hearing none this is a voice vote all in favor say yes yes anybody no any abstentions okay on to the next one administrative action items can I have a motion please motion second thank you take a look through here any questions on our administrative action items 1 through three all on this page here they go fast board member recognition month is the third third one uh thank you for the coffee I needed that um just a quick comment um I I'm asked often how I feel about working in Stan hope and I have to say one of the first things that comes to my mind is just how how nice it is to work with a board that's so functional and cares so much about the students and the faculty and the community um and um I truly think that you are one of the reasons why so many people choose to stay here and not pursue other opportunities um so thank you for that and uh please continue the uh the good work that you do thank Youk you wel call when you're ready okay Mrs Harold yes Mr Pico yes Mr Valley yes Mr vardo yes Mr yagnam yes Mr moscatello yes Mrs sharfstein yes moving on to policy action items can I have a a motion please motion second okay uh there is a lengthy list of second readings here um to take a look at quickly and then we have a first and second reading for site selection acquisition gu yes I just wanted to make a comment on that so in our committees we went through and we reviewed site selection and acquisition and uh for whatever reason it was left off of the agenda for the first readings um again it's a lot of policy that's my mistake I just didn't include it um so we have reviewed it uh it's been available for review for both committees um and in order to just kind of keep the pacing with everything else which is part of our audit and prior to our qac it's my recommendation to approve this in in as the first and second reading uh tonight you anyone with questions on bylaws policies regulations hearing none roll call vote Mrs Harold yes Mr P yes Mr Valley yes Mr vardo yes Mr yagnam yes Mr moscatello yes Mrs sharpstein yes okay education action items a motion please motion second okay uh so we spoke briefly about curriculum a few moments ago this is to approve that and some school trips questions comments okay hearing no discussion go ahead Mrs Harold yes Mr Pico yes Mr Valley yes Mr vardo yes Mr yagnam yes Mr moscatello yes Mrs sharpstein yes uh Personnel action items 1 through 7 and an addendum for 8 through 10 uh just printed on the bottom of the next page there can I have a motion please motion second thank you take a look through um just want to make a quick recommendation that we strike item number one okay that was on there prior to having uh an agreement with the interim business administrator uh I wanted to be able to have the opportunity to hire somebody between meetings if necessary but I don't think that it will be necessary and we're good with Staffing so thank you other questions discussion wonder I'm wondering the about the the money for the substitute custodians I I think it's very low I mean I don't know what the actual custodians make but when the substitute comes in he's performing the same duties that the full-time custodian does um so the the rate that's being increased is is the minimum wage rate um and to be honest with you we really don't have any substitute custodians um they cover for each other yeah for the most part like we'll have somebody cover here and there but we do not have a large pool of substitute custodians maybe we should just take that that off if there's no we have we have to have a rate for when for when we do have that need um but yeah for the most part they'll cover for themselves which is which is really great very good y all right thank you any other questions or discussion [Music] no hearing none go ahead Mrs Harold yes Mr Pico yes Mr Valley yes Mr vardo yes Mr yagnam yes Mr moscatello yes Mrs sharfstein yes Business Services action items 1 through 13 addendum item number 14 a motion please motion second thank you um on number seven is that is that to move forward to Mr B to the new ba um they have that business that's for the again the referendum project so that we can get things paid so that's what I'm saying so that'll carry over to yes okay any other discussion or questions just uh number five um is that number for um referendum payments that uh give me one second no that's just for the the first two weeks of January the 414 because there should be a pay roll on there let me look okay yeah there there are some referendum projects on it I'm sorry number six I'm sorry that's that's okay that's number six that is referendum 100% sorry okay I I I was looking at that number but I the eyes crossed over no that's okay yeah um anything under fund 30 you'll find for the referend is where we keep our money for the referendum number nine and 10 is that just moving of from from one category to another so when we approve um it yes it is so some of the fundings when we app when we approve the ARP s funds it came under uh some of the summer programs and we pay them obviously right and then we go back out for reimbursement through the ARP so we basically just transfer from one account to joural to the other exactly got it exactly [Music] okay any further discussion all right roll call vote please Mrs Herold yes Mr Pico yes Mr Valley yes Mr vardo yes Mr yagnam yes Mr moscatello yes Mr sharpstein yes okay that brings us to new business section does anybody have any new business to bring before the board I don't really know if it's new business old subject uh once again thank you to the stud students that presented to us um goes without saying it's always a little unsettling when you hear the word bullying yeah as a common theme and you know obviously we're going to put thought into it I'm excited to hear what information they bring back to us but and you know once again I'm kind of new to this what it's just a question are there are there a lot of outlets for students to um put in complaints or concerns is it oneon-one is there an online uh submission they can do I'm just curious what goes into it um so there is uh a place for students to submit like a like an anonymous you know bullying report um there is access throughout the day to counselors whether it be our guidance counselor who's full-time um often they'll come talk to either Mrs deap Palo or even myself a lot of it depends on the student the report the relationship you know you have different relationships with different kids sometimes gender sometimes program grade level uh Miss Milan uh Miss Harmon is also pretty involved as well a lot of the reports that we will get um are from parents too uh like most recently the investigation that we just that we just had where we had a founded incident it was reported by a parent um there are forms that are State mandated that we use on our website they're called 338 forms I believe um that we do our best to collect uh if a parent makes a bullying complaint we'll say please complete these forms and if the parent says no we're still obligated to obviously follow through with with the investigation and look into the matter um the forms are very helpful though because it gives us as it gives us more information and it documents who do we need to talk to who who's a part of the investigation what kids what's staff what parents um when did it happen um so I believe that there are are ways for students to uh to share concerns there are Outlets uh but in talking to both Dominic and Charlie I think that is my next question because bullying came up as a common theme in that form but yet I just announced that we had zero investigations over the first six months of the school year um so sometimes kids will use that term bullying where it's not the the truest definition of New Jersey bullying term um but it doesn't necessar like if they're feeling that it doesn't mean that there's not something that we need to do to intervene so for me there's some there's some pretty easy things in the data that they shared that I think we can do um that will make the kids feel like like there's a win right like because that's what student government's all about um I want them to feel as though their time is worthwhile and their voice means something um but something like the bullying we need to dig a little bit deeper uh we need to figure out why why you're getting this on a on a sheet uh or on a survey but we're not getting it in the office the parent shared that same thought with me right there she said and she's listening we had zero HIV yet that's the common theme and my brain goes through what meets the threshold of an investig ation because that's not so much documented so whether everything's documented it is everything's documented yes if there's if somebody says my child's being bullied we are obligated to either do an investigation or document all of the reasons why we didn't do an investigation and we're very thorough with that what I what I can also tell you as the parent of an eighth grader and a sixth grader uh my eighth grader especially he's not listening I'm certain will come home and be like I got bullied in school today like what happened he goes Kieran his friend he slapped me in the head with his textbook I'm like he's your friend yeah number one number two what did you do I laughed number three uh did you report it no number four was there a distinguished he then he gets mad at me because obviously School ad Ministry com was there a distinguished characteristic did he make fun of you because you're you're fat skinny tall short blonde blue eyes like Dad will you stop I'm just trying trying to make a so you know like it comes up the kids use that term loosely and that doesn't mean that we're going to make light of it but the way they see bullying is it necessarily the way that we see bullying in some cases well thank you I you know I hope you put some type of more thought into it unless once again I'm excited to hear back from them you know say it's very top of mind for the kids like you shared we had 10 presentations in the first half of the Year about bullying anti-bullying coordinator they do a bullying Summit every year so these kids they hear the word so frequently to his point it's a catchall and you know there's there's HIV and there's code of conduct right and they cover different aspects HIV is what Rises to a certain level but many of these things could be handled through code of conduct violations if the kids are comfortable enough to talk about it and to report it to somebody and sometimes kids are may be hesitant because they know they know the minute they do it's it's paperwork right there's going to not that it's it's it's it becomes uh a bigger issue than what it really is and they they use the word bullying because the it everything they hear falls into that category so the first thing is it's bullying and when they Talk Amongst each other each other they hear that certain times so many often and they're not thinking they got bullied but they heard their friends talk about being bullied and that's sometimes what generates things and if there's if there's issues I'm sure you you'll find it what I'll tell you is with reading their presentation and reviewing all of the submissions that they had it would be negligent for us to not follow up and and honestly that's that's the first level of conversation that I'm going to be having with them and also pairing it with our student government as well there are courses that discuss like you know subconscious bias um you know the way things are perceived that could help this the teachers the students you know what I mean it is how it's perceived not so much what the intent is so if you know throughout the year time can be carved out to talk about emotional intelligence with our students I think they can better Define it so they can explain it better and feel less like you know it might be retaliation against them for even bringing it up so just some suggestions um and thank you one of the things I found interesting in their presentation was the students view of how they respect each other and how they respect the teachers I'd be curious if they wind up doing another survey if they can survey the teachers because that's the other side of that coin is how do the teachers feel do they feel respected do they feel they respect the students because everybody can be doing something but how you perceive it is different um and so so I'm curious because a lot of the kids seem to fall neutral that's kind of how you live through Middle School you you do you do but but I I would be curious to see the other side of that coin on you know obviously if a kid feels disrespected common sense says they're probably not putting a whole lot of respect out to the people they feel disrespected by so the so my thing is is it the child's perception that they feel disrespected or does the teacher equally feel disrespected because that's a different kind of issue yeah and again you're they only they were adamant they wanted to survey the whole school and unfortunately hey we didn't have the time and our younger kids don't have the computer skills just yet to get accurate data so it's important to keep in mind too that these are 11 12 13 and possibly 14y olds right so we didn't get the third fourth and fifth and I would guarantee you that if we did the same survey with them you would get remarkably different results just because of where they are in life right just different ages any other new business no hearing none old business no that would bring us to public session number two but no additional public has arrived so we can move on and have a motion for adjournment second all in favor I anybody not want to go home anybody obstain no all right thank you very much thank you