e e e e e e e e e e
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like to call to order the February 20th 2025 public meeting of the Vernon Township board ofet can I get a motion motion to oh one minute oh sorry I got the
thumbs up so I went okay so now we want to call to order February 20th 25 meeting of the Township Board of Ed need a motion can we
dooll can we just do I to because last time we rote called twice so that was coming back so when we come back uh from close session we should do favor um but we did the initial roll call to establish quum great yep thanks no problem Miss
Brock Mr samaga Mr cantino here Mr fiser Mr Krauss here miss pellet here Mr Sweeney here miss beell here Mr
Zimmerman here we have a quorum it's recommended that the board enter closed sessions for the purpose of discussing legal personnel and student matters then I need a motion so move second uh we can do an all in favor okay
all in favor I we are in closed 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 can I get a motion to return to open
session so moved second call in favor say I great um do the roll call no still right that's bu email usually do we know if Mr fiser was going to be joining
virtually he did not inform me that he would be joining for Chie this one to double check yeah Miss Brock Mr samaca here Mr Cino here Mr
fiser Mr Krauss here miss pellet here Mr Sweeney here miss Vell here Mr Z here miss chanella here we have a quum Mr slam reading of the meeting
notice oh I'm sorry of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands Nation indivisible andice for all I'm now read to get the order straight
sorry the New Jersey open public meetings 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 provisions of the ACT bur and Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published and adquate
notice has been provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting law just a couple of quick notes uh our next work session is Thursday March 13 uh 2025 um that's also when the preliminary budget will be
presented um and then we have uh our next public session which is March 20th 2025 thank you uh item G approval of the minutes um the minutes of the reorganization uh meeting January 2nd 2025 and the minutes of the closed
public session from January 6 2025 and the minutes of the public session meeting from January 16 2025 can I get a motion to approve the minutes so moved thank you second second thank you one
call Mr cantino yes abstain we're noted Mr Krauss yes Miss pet yes Mr Sweeney yes Miss Vell yes Mr Zimmerman yes Mr samaga yes motion
carries thank you um item H president's report it's me um I want to thank our board members Administration and staff past and present for their work on issues impacting student achievement we've had a robust schedule of committee meetings and I appreciate all the time
that people have put in um I want to particularly highlight the ad hoc committees on cell phone use and reducing chronic absenteeism those are two areas that we feel will really make a difference over time for our students um it's obvious of course that to teach students we have to have them a show up
for school and B pay attention to their teachers not their phones so the work being done in committees is important and I want to recognize the time that people are putting in um we've also been working on organizing board resources including background materials committee minutes and related documents in one
place in order to make information more readily accessible to board members I'd like to thank Charlie saglia Nick lasso and our board secretary Nicole Valente for their hard work on that effort um and finally we received a query or two about what the recent executive orders
by the president mean for a district I'm not going to get into depth on that but I do want the public to know that the board has consulted our attorney and been advised to continue our to follow our District's current practices and policies which align with current state mandates and laws this is a fluid situation and decisions on these issues
will be settled in the courts over time so it's not prudent to make changes in advance of that eventual resolution we will as always PRI prioritize the health and well-being of our students and staff while operating in compliance with the law that's all I've got um public
comment Mr slam your favorite thing I was like I'm practicing my like Auctioneer voice you want my sold uh during the course of the public meeting of the buron Board of Education the public has offered the opportunity to address the board on agenda items and any issues regarding
the school district the board reminds those individuals who take this opportunity that they must identify themselves by name and section of town and limit their comments to agenda items and are issues that directly relate to the operation of the school district issues that are raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board or administration at the time
of the meeting or at any time all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board requests that members of the public keep their comments to a limit of five minutes be courteous respectful and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the Board of
Education should be thoroughly considered by the speaker and may or may not be responded to by the board of or Administration be advised that students and employees have rights of confidentiality and other protections under the law student name should never be used unless it is your own child the board Bears no responsibility nor will
be liable for any comments made by the public during the portion of the board meeting members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for the comments that they make to the board
thank you any members of the public present who want to make a comment seeing none do we have anyone online we have no hands raised online great um item J student representative
report Mrs CNL you're you're up all right hi everyone I'm back now that my swim season's over um I have a few updates to give tonight um first off winter sports are coming to a close boys and girls swimming girls swimming which I'm a part of has come to a close um
girls swimming won The Division champion for the title since for the first time since 2017 and we made it to seon states which hasn't happened since like the 90s so it's pretty big for us um girls wrestling just came 12th and 12th Place at 12th Place at States and varsity had
a tremendous season as well indoor track has come to an end with some of our athletes heading into Nationals and boys and girls basketball are wrapping up their season with boys senior night is actually tonight so wish them luck um for seeing they're having a great season a great season too and I hope that everybody wishes our winter athletes
still in season good luck as they come to a close um spring sports are right around the corner and hopefully some warmer weather too um in the world of Performing Arts our theater Department showing up into the woods is right around the corner you can watch it on uh Thursday March 13th Friday March 14th
and Saturday March 15th um midterms were success and our high school students especially the seniors are ready for the second half of the school year to begin um for any parents out there especially those of seniors the SDA is bingo night is tomorrow which will help benefit the senior students as the money raise goes
towards scholarships for our seniors um if you're a Chipotle fan and you're looking for an excuse to head to newon um the sophomore class of 2027 is having a fundraiser March 4th the not March 1st from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. I think it's a Saturday so it's a good excuse to get
out there and a portion of the money will benefit them in a fundraising effort for their prompts and field trips and things like that um that's all I have for now but I hope that in that the update was informative and I'm happy to be back so thank you guys all for being
so understanding of my athletic commitments and I'm happy to see all your smiling faces thank you good luck with your nice report thank you yeah I have to go back to EMT class so say I follow the swim team because my grandson's on the swim team and I did you guys were great the girls were always winning every time I went to it's
all the boys and girls compete at the same time yeah and the girls won every match the boys won some lost some but the girls were really good so congratulations and the next like couple of years is gonna be really good too so awesome stay tuned lots to come lots of
waves thank you be careful going back to the high school too oh yeah gotta get back yeah thank you for coming thank you guys thank you have a good night my report's going to be some of the repeat it's much nicer hearing it from Christina rather than myself schools participated in kindness week
from February 10th to the 14th emphasizing being kind to other people congratulations to Cedar Mountain student Shia corado who won the atonia prek through3 national award for January with his painting of Northern Lights congratulations to Glenn Meadow students
Renee kazor and Leah Jezebel who were accepted into the 2025 North Jersey J region band this is a top Ensemble that students in grade seven and nine can addition for New Jersey Renee made second chair tuba and Leah made first chair tenor saxophone 2025 vths academic
the cathline team the cathline team competed competed on February 1st at the regional competition in in Clifton this year's topic was climate change the team qualified for the state competition in March congratulations to the following students who earned medals alejandr
Roman Trevor Pratt cat dorsy Noel Hernandez Quinn Manon Elise jro Austin Douglas Ashley Geo and Darius zobos the vth girl swim team had an outstanding season this year for the third time they were co-champions of the
division brought home 10 medals at the susex county Championship meet and were the only Public School in the county to qualify for the state tournament boys basketball completed the regular season by beating hacktown and and earned a share of the conference title they will host the first round of the state
playoffs on on February 27th girls basketball will also host a first round State Playoff game on that same Daye the bowling team won its first round State playoff match against Northern Valley old tan and will travel to pasak Valley on February 19th the boys and girls ski
teams are completing their schedules and await the state finals on February 23rd and 24th boys wrestling will compete in The District tournament on February 22nd and girls wrestling competed in the first ever state tournament Duss at Howell High School this past weekend only the
top 12 schools competed they lost to Morris Hills and defeated Northern North hun so we had a lot going on over the winter that we some of us were indoors and didn't get to see I do encourage you in the future to reach out to the vths Athletics and events pages to see what's what's occurring if you want to come out
and support uh our students feel free to do so we're pleased to announce that the district art of the month for February the vth students artwork is being displayed at the board office and the lsbury holl students our work is on display at the municipal building we have no old Business from
The Last board meeting see the following certified staff members are recognized for receiving tenure in the month of March Stephanie bomgardner and Allison Weber recommendations it is recommended that the board approve the following faculty staff appointments Etc and
there's quite an extensive table I would like to point out on uh row five that that that amount instead of 5,849 should be 6,268 yes 6268 the second table it is recommended
that the board approve the following six per appointments letter C it is recommended that the board approve the following changes of six peras appointments as listed below letter D is recommended that the board approve the professional development travel that complies with
the provisions of New Jersey statutes annotated njsa 18a 11-12 for Vernon Township School District employees letter e it is recommended that the board approve the harassment intimidation and bullying random drug testing and school safety reports for
January 2025 letter F harassment intimidation and bullying report for February 1st 2025 through February 15 2025 is an attachment a letter G it is recommended that the board approve permitting the following
student to attend Vernon Township Public Schools according to the Board of Education policy number 5111 child of employee number 6987 be permitted to attend Cedar Mountain Primary School as a kindergarten student for the 2025 26 school year letter h it is recommended that the
board approve the 2024-25 student safety data system report for period one attachment date letter I our policy committee has been very busy this recommend that the board approve the following policies for a first reading P
5512 PR 5516 PR 5533 p571 e571 0 p r744 41 p8500 p
9163 and PR R 9320 can I get a motion to um to move uh to approve recommendations to a through I thank you Carl second second thank you roll call we have questions oh questions or comments
sorry um I have a question about I noticed the bridges intervention getting started Workshop what's all about I'm very interested in intervention I could go in more detail if you start instead of probably uh
guessing what it is uh that is our interventionist in grades K1 and I'm sure she's train attending training for for her intervention I could be in more detail or if you ask me these questions before the board meeting yeah I'll be able to have them before the board meeting for you as well but I'll get
back to for okay I have a question concerning um the sixth period appointments yes um I I've added it up it's about $62,000 in paying sixth period assign appointments are we also paying the teachers their their salaries
while they're at home correct you know pretty much when if they have a medical issue they still get paid right all I'm saying is that it seems like a lot of money to be covering it depends on a lot of situations some of those are for um positions that we could not fill no I
understand that with the Spanish ones but but I mean the other ones are people that they out right not peoplehip like that you're right right right those are construction that's the construction
um CTE right yeah I don't know I think okay say we're going back too I mean there's other six things that we've approved going previous to this seems like an awful lot of money there's got to be another way to cover this as we head into budget
season would it be help are you saying you'd like to know what we're spending on six definitely would because I mean it's a lot of money and maybe in the different categories right like the ones where we don't have a teacher for that class versus the ones that are someone's out on leave versus like could we it's
deeper than hiring another teach it is yeah I understand that but I mean is it also cheaper than H having a sub in a classroom you know depending on on the class on if it's a long-term leave we would prefer having a a certified teacher in the classroom and in some case you're
required to right after a certain amount of time or no The Substitute can't be in there more than 19 days right I get that otherwise have to have to serve that area so a lot of times if it's a 40 day or in these cases if the we couldn't f a position we
have to use six period because they to teach those classes and you would want a teacher with assert to no I agree with that 100% it just it just seems like we got to have a better way of doing this I mean it's a lot of money to be spend for covering classes that don't have a teacher you know I think John's
right I mean if we if we had more clarity of of what we're you know maybe they are just not no hires so we have to fill them yeah I think we've answered that in past board meetings where we got specifically what they were yeah we answer that and and any one of our we have to find out which commit meeting
you could ask those questions we could go through things in detail for you as well well I think like Miss pellet says that when we get into the budget specifics we can probably talk about it yeah it would just be a a good thing to understand what we're spending on that category um as we go through budget
season I think that makes sense right um I had one thing on a policy it's it's a silly thing it's um the uh 5701 and when you go to
Che PLM um P plagiarism oh plagiarism yeah academic Integrity plagiarism so if you coted tier 2 um academic Dishon dishonesty and sharing the line has a typo in it it's spelled wrong previous is previous so I just thought we
should so that we're you know spelling correctly um anybody have any other questions about yes the U one travel to the Atlantic City for the girls State wrestling championship that's the coach
right hold on I do have it yeah yeah that the coach y not this he's not the wrestler no thank you thank hi anything else everybody appears to be studying
hard okay should we move to a roll call I'm G to go back I I I think oh uh page five line number 12 the information column ba step 14
effective 9125 certification yes so next year yes that's sill six periods okay and you'll see the he's he's in a different part of that table as well okay thank you now tyo
then last chance everyone okay roll call Mr Krauss yes but abstain from being SA miss pellet yes Mr Sweeny yes Miss Vell yeah Mr
Zimmerman yes Mr Saga yes Mr cantino yes motion carries no uh so uh couple of discussion SL information items uh talk a little about the uh budget uh provided an update last
week provid another update this week um so we're finalizing uh the PCR uh we should have that complete within the next couple of days um we're anticipating finding out about state aid next week uh which is going to be um
very important to know what the those numbers are going to be uh we did receive a memo from the state uh with a little bit ofation information uh basically just indicating that the largest cut a district could anticipate would be about 3% of the four major
categories of state aid um for us that' be a little bit over $500,000 hours in Cuts so hopefully that doesn't happen right um because if you talk about that cut which is a little bit over 500,000 uh coupled with the cut to um federal
funds in terms of semi- reimbursement um little background information so semi program is essentially a program where there's students that are eligible for Medicaid services uh some of those healthid services are provided through the school uh and therefore the district is able to get reimbursed for those
Services right uh so in the prior year uh Revenue predicted revenue is approximately $117,000 uh and we just received our uh projections from the state I think it was about last week um and the projection is about $111,000 so you got
a pretty significant cut there about 100 Grand uh on semif funds coupled with the potential for about a half million dollars in state cuts so and those are similar cuts across all districts yes yeah so we did look into that and um it
has to do with the unbundling of I guess the way you could report I guess before they would let you report a meeting and you would get a set fee for that meeting now those services are unbundled uh you can't just call it a meeting right um and then the amount that they allow you to get reimbursement on um that factor
has changed and is lower this year than it has been in the past uh which results in the basically large cuts that every district is seeing to semi- reimbursement funds um so those are the those are the the
the main items that we're waiting on at this point uh and we're kind of essentially putting the puzzle pieces together um we have uh a finance community meeting on Monday the third third uh yep and then we have another one on the 10th so yep do you know what
data speech is 25th I believe it's 25th and then within 48 Hours of that they release um state aid through the uh State software it's uh called NJ home room and that'll give us important
information both for our budget the overall budget uh uh but also the um pea budget that we also need to put together and submit which is also an extensive process um letter B uh you said buildings of grounds as noted
below letter C field trips as noted below and then we're on number two which is recommendations is recommended the board approve the following uh Financial reports as noted
below uh letter B uh approval of the board sectors and treasures reports as noted below it's attachment F5 and F6 uh letter C is recommended that the board appr transportation as listed below uh letter D which is sent for 2425
school year whereas the special services department has determined that individual students require special education placement based on their individual needs and whereas the special services department has determined that services are needed will continue till June 30 2025 and whereas special service department has determined that the school/ service listed to blow is the
most appropriate placement therefore be resolve the F town Board of Education approves the contracts as listed below letter e is recommended the board approve uh to accept the following restricted donation of $1,100 from ring Hills Primary School SCA to be utilized
for the Bradley ryr music assembly focused on students uh having fun with music as they celebrate their abilities letter F is recommended the board approved the contract with the Spire adolescent Counseling Center to provide student services for student number 20269 at the rate of $675 hour a week
letter G has recommended the board approve the disposition of the following items as they either obos ear disrepair as noted below letter H is recommended the board approve the design change number one by EI Associates for project for the following two project numbers uh
for kitchen equipment replacement burning Township Schools at a cost deduction in the amount of $7,500 so that's a reduction in cost as we reduce the scope of that project uh as we did not we no longer included Walmart Ridge uh Kitchen in that project with that's
attachment F7 letter I is recomended the board approve the weatherproofing Technologies proposal for the installation of an access hatch on the verd Township High School fire pump roof under the roofing and envelope Services bid under esj 23- 2430 Co-op contract
number 65 mcees ccps and project cost not to exceed $3,465 that's attachment f8 uh this next resolution is related it's letter j reced the board approve the proposal from hering fire protection for the replacement of the turbine fire pump at
the buron Township High School in the amount of $170,000 under New Jersey start vendor ID 2733 95915 D v00 28322 it's attachment F9 letter K asqued the board approved
the reassignment of funds from the Rolling Hills full fire alarm replacement to the Vernon Township High School fire department replacement project in the amount of 191,000 465 $1,465 the r Township High School fire appointment replacement project is included in the district's long range
facility plan letter L is recommended word approve the advocate School support Solutions proposal for RFP process manager consulting services in the amount of $9,600 and that will be funded out of fund 60 which is R Food Service account uh fund letter M as recommended
the board approve the planet Network's Master telecommunications license agreement for a 3-year term of service beginning on July 1st 2025 for 10 gigabyte Gab dedicated internet access circuit in the amount of $247.9 per month at attachment
f11 letter N has reced the board approve common lit for 2526 school year for the Glen Meadow Middle School in the amount of $6,500 attachment F12 letter O was recommended the board approve the design change notice number three by e Associates for the window replacement at Glen Meadow middle school project number
es 91790 2 with an increase of $3,500 uh for the cost of rebu the project that's attachment f-13 letter P is recommended the board approve the following resolution whereas it recommended that the board approve an award for the kitchen equipment replacement at multiple Schools project
whereas one seal bid for catchen equipment replacement was received on January 16 2025 from wo Group Inc whereas the Township Board of Education will accept the bid for kitchen equipment replacement at multiple schools therefore be resolved that the Vernon Township Board of Education hereby Awards a contract for kitchen equipment replacement services to walk
out Group Inc inclusive of the base bid allowances number 1 through two and deduct alternative two number two three and five in accordance with the January 16 2025 bid in the amount of $9 contain a material defect and failing to list all sub contracts required by njsa
18 a18 a-18 and whereas it was determined that all their bids exceeded the cost estment for the project as each of the other bids received now therefore be resolved that in accordance with njsa 18a 18-8 njsa 18a 18822 all bids are
rejected doing great I'm telling you I have a a backup career in auctioneering yeah good uh letter r it was recommended that the board approve the proposal from minute and security and safety for the upgrade of the district door access control system in the amount of
$83,900 Co-op Number 103 M csss DCPS attachment F14 letter s is recommended that the board approve the proposed renewal agreement from educ educational data services beginning January 1st 2025 to June 30 2026 in the amount of $
23,25 as attachment F15 letter T is recomended the board approve the proposal for the six County Ed Services Commission to provide a school psychologist two full days a week beginning December 2024 through June 2025 in the amount of 23876 86 letter U is recommended that
the board approve the proposal from pay schools for 2526 school year in the amount of 26248 that's attachment F-16 okay um can I get a motion for recommendations uh to a through U Move
second questions or comments um first yes okay so on page 20 items i j and k about the um High School fire pump and the access hatch and also it
says it is recommended the board approve the reassignment of funds from the Rolling Hills full fire alarm replacement to the Vernon Township High School pump replacement project in the amount of 191 465 the Vernon Township High school fire pump replacement project is included in
the district's long range facility plan but we're reassigning funds from Rolling Hills to ver in high school but that's in our long range facility plan I'm just a little confused about that and also just a bit about the access hatch did we not have an access hatch to the fire
pump on the roof before I'm just very curious about it was installed before the building was built yes that's why there's no access that's really interesting but how come we're reassigning funds from Rolling Hills to something that was in our long range plan just a little confused about that I don't mean to no it's okay so the
long range facility plan is just the plan of basically every single project that would have to happen in the district there's a dollar amount associated with it and it is significantly more than we could really ever afford yeah um right so a project does have to be in the long range
facility plan in order to have this resolution right so because it's in our longrange facility plan and because we have a project that was approved in our budget right we need a resolution approving the transfer of the funds from
the project approved in the budget to the new project which isn't in the budget but was in the long range facility plan right so if it wasn't in the long range facility plan we would have had a good to the county whereas because it's in Long plan it can just be a Bo resolution to transfer the funds and how come so did something how come
this has to be done right now did something break or did it reach criticality so this has actually been an issue since so last year uh so this had gone out to bid at least twice uh and this actually this project actually predates
me um so went about the bid twice we got zero bids both times um essentially what happened um was that we had routine testing that had to be done with fire pump uh and because of rust the vender essentially said I don't feel
comfortable doing this test uh so then we are no longer uh um essentially we need to have that test in order to be in compliance with with the fire marshall right because it needs to be tested to make sure everything's good yeah so we need to replace it so then it can be tested okay so it reached a point where
it's pretty much at the end of its life and we've been working on trying to get this through but we had two no bids um and then what happened was after the second no bid because it was in last year's budget those funds had to get redeposited back in a cap Reserve because it crossed years right uh and
then in running out of cap Reserve at this point we're just going to transfer it from the Rolling Hills um fire alarm project because some of those funds already had to get transferred from the Rolling Hills fire alarm project to the change order for the high school fire alarm project which happened earlier that transfer happened earlier this year
okay and then one other question about it says it's recommended that the board approv the proposal for the Sussex County Educational Services Commission to provide a school psychologist two days a week beginning in December of 2024 this has already begun what school are they at I really happy that we're
doing that uh I'd have to go back and check off the top M I can't remember I do I believe it has to do with the leave replacement though okay thank you that's question yeah John I have uh just two quick questions in letter i on page 20
um the the changing uh the for the proposed for the RFP process they have a timeline on in the paperwork right and it said it's supposed to start in January and which should be ready by July 1st according to their timeline I'm just wonder if because we're approving it tonight is that timeline still
available to us will we still have this done by July 1st yeah it'll it'll still be done that was just their proposed timeline but I spoke to the vendor um letting them know that it would not get approved till tonight um the request to the state has already the request to the state has already gone out essentially
uh basically because we are going out to RFP a year early so out a cycle so when you do that you need to have a request to the state and get approved to do so okay and my other question was um W with the window replacement project the design change notice is that just an
increase of $3,500 or we have to do that $25,000 twice uh it's just the $3,500 hours to go back out the bid again okay I was confused the way it was worded in the paperwork I thought maybe we had to pay for it twice and we've already done the bid you know wouldn't have paid that much no I know that's I just saying I'm
just curious thank thanks for clarifying yeah all right appreciate it um I have one for item uh T which I'm also happy about but um why why are we approving it now if it started in December 2024 uh we'd have to look into that
because this just came to me recently um I don't know if it was I know this person was already let me think about this person was already approved the fill in for another um another person that was on leave so I'd have to go back and see if maybe that's why is connected to December
2024 I don't I don't know if I knew about this a couple months ago but I will definitely follow up and get answer that next there okay thank you um any um I just want to clarify letter K
when we took the fund from noling hills fire alarm does that that we still have a fire alarm that there that is working yes okay it's not we prioritized the fire pump over I I just yeah just in case anybody was worried about that and then um the joint ventures I just wanted
also clarification this is we approve this every month this is not additional students every month right this is like pen time or uh no it's it would be additional but students joining us okay yeah so each each one you see on there will be a a different student that would
be joining us which is helpful though because it's a it's a joiner so it offsets our costs oh let me see I have some notes on there a great deal of that in the chart for you yeah yep yeah so there are different
students each month uh and offsets our cost for the route okay by uh accepting their students onto our route great any more questions comments question item R for the proposal for the main and
security and safety for the upgraded the district door access control system is that for all the schools yes and this was part of the yeah it's all it's all schools it was part of the uh revised budget so it
got as that it did come in uh a little bit higher but I had a realate funds from another line so can you tell me what they're do what the improvements are GNA what are they going to do now that they after this is done that we're not doing that that we don't have now uh
so it's something like that CU it's security related uh I can definitely touch base with you but I don't necessarily want to talk about about it at a public meeting security related we can cover it in executive next yeah definitely um anyone
else okay call Mr Krauss yes Miss pallet yes Mr Sweeny yes Mr peell yes Mr Zimmerman yes Mr samaga yes
Mr cantino yes motion carries item M public comment do we have any one from the public oh could you sign um yeah you know to sign the sheet right thank you a familiar
face that's good or bad bad bad so Martin O'Donald Sussex section of Vernon um first I'd like to thank all the people who uh on the board and came back to the board and all the newly elected people um I firsthand how timec consuming and difficult your job is and
want you to know that it doesn't go unrecognized and it's greatly appreciated um two things I want to talk about tonight is one your International exchange student program um I have the pleasure of having an international exchange student with me this year she's
from Brazil she's amazing um I think I've learned more from her than she's learned from me I know a lot about Brazilian cultures and the differences now and um we've done a good job of taking her around and helping her to see some of the Northeast and learn a few things also um she was supposed to stay
for half the year um however she liked it so much here she decided to stay for the full year okay and uh in Brazil their school year goes from September to December so her senior year started in January she had to get special permission from her school to stay here
and has to make up four months worth of her senior year when she goes back so hats off to her and um her uh her parents were in New York City over Christmas and New Year's they ubered to my house for dinner it was a great time we've spent uh that evening with her parents and her brother and sister and
uh we're probably going to Brazil in December for her graduation so great program I wish more people would be involved in it I think we have four or five exchange students right now and um the people who are doing it um uh Miss she I she's doing an awesome job and uh
just just a great program so I would urge anybody if they were thinking about doing it to please do it but um know that it's a lot of work but it's a lot of fun so that being said I just want everybody to know that I'm here tonight not to trash anyone or attack anyone okay I'm here to create an awareness
about your special Deeds program and the people that manage run and teach it okay I'll start by telling you a personal story that deals with one of my daughters she gradu graduated from Vernon last year okay so we moved to Veron when she was in sixth grade she
had an IEP in her last school and when we moved here they reevaluated her and decided that she would also have an IEP here since the onset of our daughter's enrollment at burning schools my wife and I made it very well known that she had issues in both reading comprehension and math these the special needs group
at Glenn meow were amazing and she started making progress in both areas between Sixth and eth grade she made many advances and was moving forward with her learning she moved up from Glenn Meadow to the high school and that's when it all fell apart as she entered in high school as a freshman she
was reevaluated and it was found that she was still in need of an IEP at this time we shared with everyone involved that one of her biggest issues was that she could not add subtract multiply and divide Noel is a very high functioning special needs child we were
assured that they were going to dress it with extra help Etc she made it through her math class that year and was enrolled in algebra the following year we again discussed with the special needs team that she still could not perform these four basic math functions and express concerns about her taking algebra we again were assured that they
were going to take care of this and all would be fine she was cons she consistently received good grades in algebra algebra 2 and then geometry not geometry I'm sorry algebra algebra and then Algebra 2 okay after multiple meetings with the special needs teams we insisted on
getting her a new new adviser which the school finally complied with after much push back we insisted that they send her home with some type of homework so that we could help her at home and do our part at home that was a joke it lasted a week the only person that looked for a
solution was your principal Miss Young she got her into basic math class in her junior year but they quickly moved from basic skills and it didn't really help in her senior year I got a bit suspicious regarding her Stellar grades she was getting in her advanced
math classes I started to do some of my own research and by some miracle this child that can't add subtract multiple multiply and divide was getting a on quizzes on things like square roots and adding radicals now anybody who knows anything about math knows that you can't do square roots and radicals unless you
can add subtract multiply and divide okay you might ask yourself how could that be I did too I asked for a copy of a makeup test she took because she failed the test three days earlier after querying her and looking at the writing on the test it was obvious that the
teacher actually worked out the problems and gave her the answers further it was my daughter's IEP that she was supposed to get extra time and be in a quiet place this makeup test was actually taken in between classes okay hardly the extra time and a
quiet environment that she was promised I had a meeting with the administration regarding it and not only did they they not investigate it they provided me with no feedback she continued on and was now ready to graduate we had our final IEP
meeting and I explained to your team that they had failed my daughter there was no way that she could successfully go out and get a job that required anything to do with math or even manipulating time and money your special needs team don I'm sorry to interrupt you but we we have a
five minute limit in your your edit now just wanted to give you a heads up if you want to wrap it up a little bit oh boy ways to go all right so your special needs team spent the entire time filling her head with the idea that she could pursue College what planet do these people come from when I asked her math
teacher who was in the meeting how did this child pass advanced math our es when she cannot do basic math functions the answer he could give me was we use calculators all those years of schooling Advanced degrees and years teaching in that meeting and that's the only answer
I got from that team so I'll just paraphrase this real quick I appreciate you give me another couple seconds here okay um basically the school does a lot of things to prepare children for college
all right but not a lot to prepare these kids to go out into the world which is what they have to do and their life changes drastically in one day one day okay there's a lot of programs in New Jersey I did a lot of research on it there's a lot of programs in New Jersey that provide free assistance for
interviewing resume writing all that stuff and also other ones that provide placement for special needs kids why doesn't our special needs group tell us that in the in the final meeting okay we have I think 12% of our kids are special needs or something like that it's a high amount I don't remember
exactly what it was but it's a lot okay so now what we had to do and I'll just end with this okay than you we had to start my daughter over again in first grade homeschooling her and pay for that okay because the school district
basically failed her okay so my point today was not to throw shade at the school my point was to create awareness for future kids okay my kid's out of the school I have a 16-year-old she's gone in a year and a half but these other kids who are currently in the school deserve to be noticed and deserve to
have the special needs education that they're promised so I would urge the parents to get involved I would urge you new board members if you really want to make a difference look into this because here's someplace where you can really make a difference okay and uh you know thank you I hope it doesn't fall on De ears if some if some if anybody wants to
talk about it feel free to reach out and uh and ask me okay but thank you for listening and I appreciate your service to the community thank you Mr oon thanks for giving me little EXP only three minutes next you're welcome um anyone else in the public
seeing no one uh anyone online uh we do not have any hands raised online oh okay um lost my place because I was taking notes um item n open board member Forum anybody uh want to share anything
Chu I felt like you had something oh yeah I I think I lost my uh my chain thought for a minute um okay yeah that's fine uh no pressure give me a second or do you w
to um I don't I can't remember exactly but oh well you think about it and Joe will go you get your thoughts together Charles yeah um if I could not address Mr O'Donald's comments but we have a monthly cpad meeting uh I'll be happy to
bring that information to the cpad group and that's special ed parent advisory group and we can I could tell them about what you said and maybe we can have something done there as well but I just thought yeah bring that up all right
that's it absolutely um anyone else I don't want to keep putting you on the spot Charlie I just want to point out that there's a sheer of keys right do the kids have to they they have to take that
to drive the school yes in order to get parking permit of Drive is there a sign up for that or the kids can just go about that you always had to register for that in advance in the past that's all I can say I think there's two opportunities to do it yes okay yeah
yeah we know that because Matthew miss the first one and I think if you're a parent as long as it works if you've done it within two years you don't have to do it again child does but she's app parent I think I may before before I say that out loud but
well young to follow up on that as well yeah but that's a a great program for for students to have allow them to to driving point which the school and ensure safety as well yeah it's it's a very powerful presentation for for
parents and and new drivers so I it's a great program I have one quick thing and it might be a point of order with our meeting tonight when we were going over the superintendent's recommendations did we also include the addendum I don't think we did oh there was an addendum
there was an addendum have to reopen Ian we didn't acknowledge it but it existed it was in the agenda because I said I said letter to yeah we didn't go up to those letters
well I don't know because it says a these are things that we've already T talked about the it's in the chart but it's in the letter a and j yeah I said um recommendation to approve Letter 2 a through uh oh or
something like that so we should be okay okay just I just want to point out I Che definitely get to check um and I did want to say that that international student exchange student program is always looking for host
families and given that we just had a nice testimonial about um what that's like to hosted a student um if anybody watching this at you know online or at a later date wants to talk to the school about that opportunity um those families
are always in need in uh demand yes please thank you mron for for hosting much appreciate yes definitely all right uh one more thing can you um that fundraiser for this sophomore class do
they have to say anything when they go to PA oh I mean get credit for the Christina she's I would usually in those kinds of things you say you're there for that school fund run and then they put they
assign you to that okay I'm sure who whoever's there on that behalf to fund raise will get the people signed up the right way yeah hopefully there'll be someone there you're feeling hungry that day huh Charles yeah hey he could he can make a difference if he brings enough of his kids um okay uh anyone
else open board M so I had heard recently I because I wasn't at the last two meetings I had meant to bring this up about the passing of Mrs mner um who she passed away recently I've heard she was a teacher of mine who I had when I
was in second and third grade and I just wanted to offer my condolences to her family um because she definitely left an impact on my life and she was an incredible educator and a big volunteer in the community too absolutely thank
you um okay uh item o adjournment um can I get a motion to adjourn I know why you're so fast second second hey hey who was my second I'm sorry Sean thank you all in
favor hi hi hi you