e e evening everybody I'd like call the meetings of order can I get a roll call please this Chini here isent Mrs Simons here Mrs St here Mrs Malone here mrsy here Mrs here Mrs torella here we have a car please join me in the FL IED Ali to the flag of the unit un States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with this provision of the act the Sussex Mage Regional School District board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the school building and notice of said meetings sent to the New Jersey Herald and the Star Ledger the Sussex swage Regional School District is a responsive caring child- centered Community our mission is to educate each individual to become a confident competent lifelong learner and productive responsible citizen by providing challenging opportunities in a safe environment through a partnership with families schools and communi thank you Mrs wiy at this time we will move on to the report of the superintend of schools thank you and I'd like to invite M tordella up to recognize some of our retirees this year I'm going to go in ABC order and I'm going to try to not mess it up so first up is Miss Janelle cam menis Mrs cam menis was a member of the sus qued Regional School District for 35 years in her years of service Miss Cal Menace had the opportunity to share her passion for music with thousands of students families staff and our community Mrs K developed relationships with individual students as well as groups of students and worked with many of them for consecutive years she supported them as they became experts with their instruments explored new instruments and collectively performed all over the state as Mrs Kay worked to schedule her lessons and reever rehearse for performances she established some wonderful relationships with many of her colleagues throughout the years they described Mrs K as patient flexible understanding determined smart considerate thoughtful and kind she became a staple of Sussex Middle School and taught students so much more than how to play an instrument she instilled values and skills that many of her students took with them as they moved on from middle school I would like to thank Mrs k for all that she has done over the years and tell her how grateful we are for the impact she has had and shared her passion for music congratulations on your well-deserved retirement all of our retirees with a plaque that reads you have helped to shape the hearts and minds of so many thank you for your years of tireless dedication love and devotion toward the students faculty staff and parents of Sussex wner school and in the uh uh procedures outlined by Dr is bigy former superintendent we have your first contract here oh my go congratulations you want to say uh I don't want to put you on a spot thank you everybody I appreciate it I appreciate all the support I've gotten over the years through Administration and also my colleagues so thank you very much next up is Mrs Reese Mrs Reese began her career as a special education teacher in the susex wers Regional School District she had a great interest in ways in which students learn therefore she completed her coursework to become a licensed learning disabilities teacher consultant or an lbtc while Mrs Reese was a teacher to the core she soared as a finite member of the child study team in the wage Elementary School Miss Reese demonstrated tremendous knowledge of special education law and always referred to the data to discuss student progress Mrs Reese was a stickler for documentation and solid effective IEPs while miss Reese advocated for the least restrictive environment she modeled for the general education teachers best practices in order to follow through the with mandates and differentiation of instruction additionally Mrs Reese was an excellent team member who could be rep relied upon Dr B and Miss Tremont State Miss Reese is a lot of fun to work with as well the three were a Dream Team to work with and work together as they often finished each other's sentences and undoubtedly began to read each other's minds they all worked together seamlessly as they de into scheduling and programming to meet the needs of students at West high expectations were consistently communicated to all the students teachers and parents and when conducting evaluations and teaching about the the three prongs of eligibility in special education it was not uncommon for M Reese to leave work from West at 5:00 p.m. at night well beyond contractual hours because she honed an unwavering work ethic in which she conducted herself during all of her years in service to our community Mrs Reese is a professional Advocate and most importantly a friend to all of West we will greatly miss her contributions to the child study team and her love of teaching students how to read we wish you well in your future Endeavors and we most definitely still would like you to complete evaluations when we need assistance on a personal note when I became princi Le school I was a young new guy you know you reflect on uh the notion of hey they they just put me in charge of this you know I'm going to have to live up to this expectation and it was about five minutes it took about five minutes and I was taking orders from Mrs re for basically the duration of my time at w School uh so I personally appreciate working so closely with thank you congratulations thank you and it's been an honor and a privilege to work in t all these years and very grateful for the opportunity that I've had and you'll all be seeing me because I will be here thank you next up is Mr tuer this Ro tuer was a member of the susex W Regional School District for 32 years in her years of service Mrs twer demonstrated her dedication to all of her students along the way each year she strived to teach them not only lit literary content reading and writing skills but about life life skills and character this came from Mrs tw's passion to help children become the best version of themselves they could be she never settled and refused to allow any of her students to do so instead she set high expectations and work to support her students and their families in achieving them as one might imagine her students Val her approach and her dedication she taught them that being a student can last a lifetime Mrs tuer continues to be greatly missed by her students their parents and her colleagues she should know the tremendous impact she had had the on the lives of so many thank you I'm surprised you're not a Disney World I've been there twice already [Applause] congratulations want to say a few words thank you um thank you for all your support over the years and thank you to the community and I was always a pleasure on my part pleasure um yeah last but not least is m s Sue Winfield Mrs Winfield was a member of the susex swage Regional School District for over 25 years in her years of service Mrs Winfield proved herself to be a confident flexible demonstrating her ability to handle a variety of situations with great judgment and professionalism it has been evident year in and year out that this Winfield was an educator with a passion to make a change to influence and to educate all of her students ensuring that each one of them understood the necessary math skill when she was unable to do so on her first attempt she tried another approach and continued until she was successful this determination never left Mrs Winfield and could be seen on a weekly monthly and yearly basis she developed relationships with individual students and was a mentor to many teachers along the way many of the teachers with whom she has worked with over the years describ Mrs Winfield as understanding conscientious intelligent sympathetic creative and helpful Mrs Winfield was fully committed to her students and her craft every day she set foot in the building and she will surely be Miss by all congratulations on your [Applause] retirement it's been a pleasure when six years it's been a pleasure miss my kids miss my colleagues so I'm really grateful for the opportunity thank you the only thing I else I would report out on is the front steps of wed school and the side steps that we were hopeful to get uh redone both import and concrete the forms are off the front steps so I think the only thing left to do with them is it will be the rail installation the forms are still on the side entrance of the auditorium so those will be pulled off in the next couple of days so they're both you know essentially I don't know 80% 90% completed be completed for the school year uh and I don't have anything El for the audience members we always encourage and love when you stay for our board meetings if you didn't want to stay for the duration of the meeting now would be an opportune time go out and enjoy enjoy your retir [Music] so next up we have a number of candidates for an open uh board seat we go all right so at this time we're going to conduct our interviews to fill the wage vacancy um just to kind of make it fair this is how we're going to do it we're going to pick a name out of the Hat uh whoever's pulled out first we'll do their interview first we're just going to kindly ask uh the other two candidates to just step out of the room while they do their interview and then we'll just we'll come grab you the next person okay all right so first one up no sweat I'm sweating Joseph is first do you want me to pick them all you guys have idea everybody has an idea all right so Joseph be first second R got Miss leam Morocco and then we'll do Mr jenin forone on third so if uh Miss Morocco and M Jam you guys just step out hang out for a moment and then we'll come grab you as uh as we finish up here your fine or to the [Laughter] podium all right all right so if you just want to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to be a part of our board um so J G um I live in wed with my wife Den now um as far as other community things that I've done I am the middle school wrestling coach for the grade school team um and that's through the winter once a week um reasons why I want to be on the board is because I'm a big believer service um I want to make a difference well collectively make a difference in our community and um just set a good example for some of the kids I know some of the kids on that team look up to me and just show them that this is important what you guys are doing um because you guys are ultimately helping shape the future and then um I guess lastly would just be taxes are a lot so just kind of seeing a one of the things I do agree with is education and seeing where those taxes are going so just get a better understanding of that and seeing how um the tax money is spent well is okay if we ask you a couple questions yeah absolutely right uh so I'll just start off um with one question I have uh so could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of why or why not yes if it's for the better of the children I even if I don't agree with it if it's a mutual decision that we think it's what's best for the children then yeah I would get behind it my colleagues have any questions um so how would you handle a conflict of interest or disagreements with other board members um I think just having a conversation with that person understand where they're coming from um that helps you solve a lot of it and as far as disagreements go um it is what it is I might not always like everything happening but that's why there's a board of us it's not me making decisions it's a collective group of individuals here who are trying to make our school better place for children any other questions yeah last one what motivates you to want to become a board member um ultimately it's um providing children with the best education because they are our future um so most kids are too young to understand what's happening so just laying down the blueprint for them um to make themselves better so they can learn and obviously help community and um teachers as well sure I'll do um how do you envision working with teachers parents and administrators to improve communication and collaboration within the school district um just being uh transparent about whatever it is we're doing uh explaining what we're doing why we're doing and ultimately I just I think the best interest of the board is always doing what's best for the children so just open communication being sorry being welcoming to anybody that needs to have a conversation just explaining it to the best of my abilities and obviously there's a whole board here so if I'm not able to do that I ask somebody else for good hway one last question you growing out the mullet or what good Mrs Wood's gonna ask one more question okay okay we'll I know she can't she's smart um if you were to be selected to be on the board would you um have a desire to continue being on the yes more than short yeah so obviously I'm new at this I've never been on a Boe but um I would love to continue that if you're not selected would you think about I'll [Laughter] be I'm done okay all right all right appreciate that you can have and um was next do I you can hang up oh okay thank you welcome welcome step up to the okay all right so this is your time to introduce yourself tell us why you would like to be a part of the board sure uh my name is Le Morocco I've been a wage resident since 2019 um I currently work at High Point Regional High School as the guidance secretary I think that the reason that I wanted to do this is I have a perspective of being in a school um I have a background of being in in a spart of school district um so I kind of get the community side I get the teacher staff side um and I think that my experience would be beneficial um we're gonna ask you a couple questions if that's okay sure okay so I I will start um so could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of why or why not I support a board decision I um it would have to depend on what the um topic was um I believe that my opinion and my morals and beliefs should stay with me and just because somebody else votes differently doesn't mean that I should question what motivated you to um take a seat um I think that like I said my experience and my um kind of desire to I'm seeing the kids in the school district and what they've gone through and I think that my morals and my beliefs and my um experience can kind of help shape and contribute to the school district how do you envision working with teachers parents and administrators to improve communication collaboration within the school district lots of patience and Grace because I do it every day all right I was GNA ask okay then I'm gonna ask go ahead uh how would you handle conflicts of interest or disagreements with other board members um I think everybody's entitled to their own opinions and I can't I can voice my opinion and um I'm happy to hear other opinions but um I'm not on and of forcing my beliefs on to others all entitled and if you were selected tonight would you want to continue on for a longer term I would you would and the next one right if if you're not selected tonight would you still like to r i will anybody else all right thank you you can have a seat the rest of the public hello hello please step up to the podium when you're ready ever you're ready just introduce yourself and just let us um let us know why you would like to be a part of the board okay um I'm Deborah Jenkins foron and I have been teaching for over 38 years a lifelong educator I have a passion for being with children since since my I worked in the nursery and during um summer vacation bible schools and my dad's church I love being with kids it's my grandmother my mother and my daughter are all teachers I just it's in my blood I guess put it that way when I retired I wanted to be more a part of this community um I tried a few things I did literacy New Jersey tutoring I was a PO worker giant jewelry but it's too long a day I would cut it in half I would still be doing it um Library I've been involved with a library our local library and I ran last fall the and came in for it and I just heard this opening was available so I I just with my background I I feel like I might be able to be a helpful voice to the Boe um the committee as it deals with its responsibilities and challenges so I threw my head in one here and I appreciate you for your consideration you we're g we're gonna ask you a couple questions that's okay um could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of why or why not oh yeah because it's a quum and and I know that we talk about things together and if that's the decision was I would certainly accept [Laughter] [Music] what attributes and behaviors are essential for school fir members I think you have to really have an open mind to the different people's points of view um and really listen and that's I think ke to any group that works together on any any kind of difficult especially if they're difficult decisions and so yeah I think listening and really thinking not just saying something to say it but to really add what you think deep down and what your experiences have been I'm I'm a a parent and a grandparent and I think that piece I I try and look from a child's point of view or or administrator's point of view these things are hard to understand always unless you've been in some of those shoes and that's where I think I could listen and be actually understanding in a way that would be helpful to to the group but I think the number one thing that I feel is missing in a lot of groups and a lot of um jobs is people not listening to each other and that I mean I I don't get to listen to you because you're always seested so that you know that's a piece that I think needs to be done well and I think I can do that and I can go along with understand I didn't know everything subject so that if you're talking about something about even like business wise I I might not have as much Sai about that as some of you and I I just feel be a good team player on the board a passionate for supporting our students I've been here since I've been here a long time I've been teaching and I'm very I'm always looking at what's going on so I feel like that would be my major attribute listening and learning from you all and then helping make a good decision on whatever it is how do you envision working with teachers parents and administrators to improve communication and collaboration within the school district would you repeat how do you envision working with the teachers parents and administrators to improve communication and collaboration within the district yeah I that's something I again I would need to I would need to be involved to see how that happens already and maybe make maybe I'd have an idea about what could what could be done I know one thing I've already wondered about and I was so like when I was running but you can't do that when you're um not on board already it's like ask teachers for suggestions ask administrators for suggestions um and and really reach out on some kind of regular basis and maybe they you do that already since this is a piece I'm not sure what you do um but I I think we need to listen as as a board we need to really listen to and try and get teachers and administrators to to whether it's through a um some kind of questionnaire to find out and those things change over time so it would be like kind of on a a cyclical basis and it could be anonymous comfortable asking for about something but yeah I think it's critical I think it's really important how would you handle conflicts of interest or disagreements with other board members well I don't I don't think any conflict I think you can have for opinions and you can State what you feel and why you feel it um and if someone else is not going toe with it and they say their reasons um then it's a then you have to get a I mean I don't know how else to to you're not going to it's not I don't want to be rude or impolite about someone else's very different opinion because that's so common around the world and but I do think it need you need to chew bone together with respect and vote figure F out what what you know what the quum says and if we need to or or if we feel it's not we haven't had enough time we need to shove it and talk about it some more until we decide what that's that's enough this is's V and if selected would you want to continue for a longer after this term sure yeah and if not selected you like to run I would I throw my hat in again yeah I I don't like running I'm not I'm not a politician of any variety I I'm supposed to be nonpartisan but I don't I'm not that comfortable going around running running running any other questions thank you you can have a SE the audience thank you time thank you everybody so at this time we're going to move on to audience remarks uh members of the audience are invited to make brief comments about items on this agenda and matters of interest to the district are there any public comments to seeing none we're going to move on to the board secretary certification please pursuing to NJ AC 6A 23A 16.10 C3 I certified that as of June 30th 2024 no l item account has incumbrances and expenditures which in total exceed the line item appropriation and violation of NJ c6a 23-10 thank you Mrs rer at this time we will move on to the approval of board minutes for June 27th 2024 regular and executive session can I get a motion I'll make a motion thank you can I get a second second any discussion call please Mr Chini yes Mrs SP yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs bone yes Mrs wiy yes Mrs lar yes Mrs tordella uh yes minutes are approved thank you so at this time we will be going into executive session uh for approximately 30 minutes I know it's we always we always say it's less and then we always go over so today we're just going to say to be3 hopefully we'll be done sooner okay uh we will discuss uh our candidates and we will come back and um you know who it is okay so uh again about 30 minutes and we'll see a little bit thank you resolution where is pursuant to NJ 10412 the suspect wanted Regional Board of Education May exclude the public from that portion of a public meeting at which the board discusses any of the matter described at njsa 10412 1-9 now therefore be it resolved that the sub one Regional Board of Education shall enter into Clos session to discuss personnel and legal matters now therefore if be further resolved by the ass want Board of Education at pursuant to njsa 104-1 13B the time when and the circumstances under which the discussion conducted in Clos session can be disclosed to the public is one the need for confidentiality no longer yes sorry for rushing it guys we're so excited here can I get a motion to go in executive session all the say hi say no all right 30 see you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e doie we are back in public session thank you for waiting um I just want to say to all the candidates we couldn't have three better candidates tonight like you guys are wonderful said everything right thank you so much for for coming um so at this time can I get a nomination for the vacancy I nominate can I get a second I'll second any discussion roll call M alone yes Mrs space yes Mrs Chini yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs witty yes Mrs lar yes Mrs torella yes M Morocco is approved thank you guys congratulations you okay so we're going to move on uh to the presentation of agenda items please thank you under Personnel like move items 1 through 25 can I get a motion get a second second uh any discussion roll call please yes M Chini yes Mrs bace yes Mrs boneing from rer and Stephanie on line 22 yes Mrs Wy yes Mrs lber yes Mrs tordella yes motion carries under policy I'd like to move items one and two I get a motion motion thank you can I get a second I'll second thank you any discussion roll call please Mrs alone yes Mrs Stace yes Mrs Chini yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs Wy yes Mrs yes Mrs torella yes motion carry under Finance I like to move items 1 through 25 we're administratively pulling 4 five and six because I have not received the treasures report thank you um can I get a motion a motion can I get a second second any discussion pleas Mrs S yes Mrs yes Mrs Chini yes Mrs yes Mrs baining number 15 yes Mrs yes Mrs Pella yes motion carries under brick item number one can I get a motion motion thank you can I a second I'll second thank you any discussion yes yes yes Mr s yes mrsy yes Mrs yes Mella yes Mo carries and moving over to the agendum under Personnel I like move item through can I get a motion motion thank you can I get a second any discussion real call Mrs Al yes Mrs face yes Mrs Chini yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs alone abstaining from number five yes is he ready yes and Mrs to yes motion carries under Finance in theum two can I get a motion I a second I'll second any discussion roll call please Mrs Alon yes M Chini yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs space yes Mrs ready yes Mrs yes Mrs torella yes motion carries and under special services on the agenda my let move item number one thank you can I get a second you any discussion roll call please M yes alone yes this Chini yes Mrs Simmons yes Mrs St yes this yes yes at this time we will move on to unfinished business does anybody have any unfinished business they would like to discuss all right uh so we'll move on to new business does anyone have any new business you would like to discuss I bus okay um I would like to entertain the possibility you know open to discussion this but moving this tangible packet to something more environmentally friendly so yeah the history of the district there was a period of time where it was all laptop based digital that yeah board was they were given laptops the night of the meeting and the packets were sent shared digitally and that's evolved you used to have the hard copies then it transitioned to the digital then folks were like n I want the hard copy back so yeah anybody else have any business okay was that a question now I mean how many F would seems crazy to me do saying that's crazy maybe a happy meeting because every always thought about this too I like my Pap too right but could we maybe do away with like the bills yeah yeah like for the finan a digital copy of that and then board can direct us to do whatever you want I mean I'm all about taking the trees too it's a lot of work it's a lot of work I do like having the minutes and the agenda what about the agenda for audience yeah we still we still we still provide but all this is on the computer also so yeah we could do away with the financials I guess you call it we can initiate that for a yes so now do you want laptops available to view the stuff at the board meetings or are you just going to look at it at home andbody so you only want the agenda the minutes the minutes what about the the anything on the left hand side yeah anything on the no they probably shouldn't do that anything on the left hand side okay so you also want the policy and hit yeah not financials okay so we can try that next month and then if somebody isn't happy we can tweak it right you okay that right I mean NE good suggestion I love that any other new business okay so we will move on to audience remarks members of the audience are invited to make brief comments about items on this agenda and matters of interest in the district any public comments I have a question do I it's just a brief question are preschool classrooms going over to Wed school that's what we're trying to finalize oh really yeah that's the only option like can they play on the playground over there can I yeah so there's a lot of things happening concurrently we're seeking to get the stamp of approval from the state County's kind of approved that process for two rooms to be located over there we did a walk through they there's all kind of regulations about the size of room square footage purchasing uh purchase orders for furniture and supplies going through like that exploring with Mr petski can we fence in there's two areas I'm looking at to have that long term you know hopefully you think it's just a temporary solution but basically what it comes down to is you have this pool of people who want to come into the 3K program I want to say it's 80 90 something like that we talked about it with the board um we work with all those outside vendors we're opening up another vendor um and then you still have this pool of people who want to come here we got the funding for it the idea was can we accommodate them in some way and that would be the way can't you move like a grade level though like take all of second and move them to West or take all of Fifth and move it to the middle school instead of like so those are things that we've all brainstormed throughout the time and it doesn't come without challenges uh you know I'm having to review on some of the challenges more extensively but the gist of it is that um to move a whole grade level to wanted school you have to move a whole grade level from wed school to Middle School right and that's an idea I originally conceived it also does some things with with Charter School with me um and and the competition element that's there but the uh the most challenging part is providing all those groups with specials so the Specialists here are committed to the school you know the logistics of accommodating all the kids here um and then I'd have to find time for uh Specialists who already are shared between warrs and Wantage to come up here so there's a lot of moving parts that this was the most straightforward we could get it done and accommodate another approximately 30 kids um not completely concrete finalized but um it's looking very very good good and the idea was you know other things being equal that's the best option we have to get folks in there and I think most folks who want to be in that program um will take advantage of it and we're comparing it to you know it's it's a great idea to compare it to like all the classes that are at lawren school right now and people you know some negative negative brainstorming even of my own was like well they're not going to be at the Lauren school but I'm comparing it to you may be at this outside facility you may be at that out facility and wanted schools within our campus so right logistically we've got control of the the the you know or more direct oversight of the kids yeah great question and if you want to talk about it more detail I can share some of those other things yeah all things we thought thought about over time yeah any other public comments or questions seeing none uh we do not need to ex okay we do not need to go to our second executive session so can I get a motion for adjournment motion I get a second second all in favor say I I any oppos we just wanted to say that it was really hard making a decision tonight and everybody that didn't that didn't you know get nominated that we would like you to you know continue to run and keep your you know keep your head up everyone did a fantastic job thank mry we thank you