##VIDEO ID:G3jpbXuPRHY## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we're ready to go you ready ready y okay we're going to call the Monday October 28th meeting of the Board of Education to order I have a roll call please Mr slam Miss Ahern here miss Brock Mr samaga here Mr cantino here Mr Krauss here miss pallet here Dr Ross Mr Sweeny here Mr Zimmerman here we have a quum okay please rise and join the Pledge of Allegiance please to the flag United States of America and to the Republic one nation under God individual libery and justice for all thank you item C reading of the meeting notice 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 buron to board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published an adequate notice has been provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting law uh just a couple quick notes our next work session meeting is Thursday November 14 2024 and next public meeting is Thursday November 21st 2024 i' like to go over old sorry I'd like to go over old business before we go to public comment a question was asked at the last board meeting regarding State scores can we have a goal per category that we're shooting at um superintendent goals as well as school goals are focused on targeted areas of opportunity last year superintendent goals were third grade ELA and math and high school algebra this year is fourth fifth and eth grade ELA and math each respective grade level monitors their students growth year-to-year to identify areas of opportunity can we compare this against districts of our size and geographic location We compare scores with like schools using percent economically disadvantaged students in surrounding schools or like schools we will compare local schools when the data is released in April we also look into new US News and World reports rankings for the high school our Vernon Township High School ranking increased in 2021 was 209 in 2022 was 194 out of approximately 426 uh New Jersey high schools and in 2023 we we increased our SAT and NJ GPA scores so we're eager to see the results of that um looking at top districts scoring the best to see what they're doing to get those results in the past we have noted that several of the highest performing School schools use the same programs as the lower performing ones we are currently Gathering data from this year's past High performing districts the strongest correlation to Performance is socioeconomic we're also looking to compare to L so like social economic schools and results as well um question was asked the purpose of school is to prepare students for after school no stats on how students do in college although we don't have the stats on how they do in college we do every year have a post high school and what what uh what schools uh students are attending what military uh institutions they're going to and what occupations they're going to as well and that's for two and foure colleges as well can we take the 2% of students over the summer to try AP courses to see if they can handle it ask guidance to guide students to select proper High School classes before they start High School uh we currently have over 15% of our students taking one or more AP exam all students take the PSAT in 10th and 11th grade which helps counselors and students identify their AP potential uh we we share with on a on a yearly basis our AP exam results and participation as well uh again we this year we have uh 15.1% and if everyone takes the course this year it will be 18% but that's yet to be determined as everyone has not registered I believe that's the first week in November someone asked about the scores in aftermath of covid and how they could be attributed to a specific program we believe scores are not directly attributed to programs what factors influence math test scores or teachers supplementing in other ways or strictly using certain programs particularly in grade three where scores went up it is best teaching practice and and all teachers supplement their teaching as they reflect collaborate with colleagues and adjust their teaching accordingly to meet the diverse needs of their students that happens in all of our classes how will questions be answered will this be a policy even though the board did not not vote on this we will never answer questions for any member of the public uh board meetings will be run according to Robert's Rules and these were the answers to last last week's uh board meeting and that is uh it for uh old business Russ can I ask a question about that the data that you're talking about being released in April is that that we we have the data for our school so is that the data for the other schools all the other schools when they're released for the performance data report is is in April we don't have that yet no as we anxiously await for all the other board Mee all other boards to have their meetings and and release their data because you're not allowed to release that in April is when we get the uh it's it's a spreadsheet from the entire state of New Jersey uh when I was at school boards last week too uh I asked how to compare like schools I think some people somebody was with me at that uh training and with what they do is there's a direct correlation between a percentage of of economically disadvantaged students and results but I'd like to compare like schools to see what those like schools are doing and how we're doing in comparison as well as uh schools that are close to burn it as well great thank you Russ is actually I think I'm supposed to talk to you right Joe okay I just learned that last week I had to talk to Joe a lot of things heard uh anyway is that would that data be available to the general public off the State website or as soon as it's as soon as it's released Rel to that and that's what I people are asking for results a lot a lot of times to compare when it's released and what will happen is you'll see other news agencies release bits or parts of data instead of the whole picture and they'll just do just test scores or just certain uh uh data on schools whereas when when that's released in the entire State um it's out there and you'll start to see articles and newspapers Etc but you could go go on there and click on different schools to compare uh detailed information on each school okay and one of the things that they've added is is uh growth not necessarily to achievement as well and I I I take um you know I've always looked that growth from year to year instead of what you're achieving achievement is the is the end result you want to get to but it's you want to show growth from year to year absolutely yeah so by the end of this month all the districts should have released all of the test results should have presented them presented them the state releases yes then we can look at everything we can we can other districts from last that's in April though from last year in April from last year okay yes got because we don't take our tests until the NJ GPA I believe is in is in April and the NJ SLA AP testing is in is in May any other questions about old business okay good we're going to move on to item G public comment there's two people in any of you gentlemen like to make comment how about anybody online yes sir zero no nobody online okay that being said we're going to close the meeting to the public and go on to the superintendent item e sorry it is recommended that the board approve the following faculty staff appointments Etc a lot of these are directly related to the uh preschool that is starting on December uh December 16th so it has the Pea afterward it's it's directly related to the Pea and then the will oh I'm sorry um may I have a this in the form of a motion please some move by Mr cantino second second second by miss pet uh questions or comments I do has a pea afterwards that is related to the Pea but there is a Walnut Ridge preschool teacher special ed and that's related to somebody who was transferring over uh yes so a lot of times we're back filling so to speak correct okay a lot there's a lot of requirements for paa into what we have to do so there there's positions that we need to fill with with the paa and then then we'll hire the teachers that we need accordingly can I just ask one more question how are we doing in terms of the Grant and how much money we have left have any can we get can you get that yeah so I'm tracking it as positions are being hired so we won't know the total picture um until every position has be hired because there's a lot that goes into it the salary that comes into it and then also health benefit elections is a large portion of what was budgeted for the Personnel sections um and then other areas of the grant um will be dependent on the quotes that we get right right um and then additionally we have a meeting tomorrow so our first meeting with the state we finally have a meeting with them uh after receiving our letter that we received the funding uh where we're just going to find out some more financial information uh just because we didn't get the full amount that we requested uh so we should be getting details on that tomorrow right so is there a way for you to give us an internal amount like we hired so many people already how much do we have left after we've made all of these uh offit of deployment yeah I can I can provide that okay yeah yep thank you yeah no issue and and just for The public's information that state aid that we got that we're getting will next year be included in our regular State a right or it's not Aid right uh it is a so um it's a special uh category of state aid uh it'll come in uh monthly with our state payment and uh that will be included in our state a next year as well it's a preschool expansion Aid is part of the state aid um there's maybe like six different categories you receive things like Transportation Aid special education Aid um things like that right okay Charles so does does the state a go up next year I'm it's got listen if I have 2.8 more this year right because we're gonna next year is 200 K which part of no no no no I'm sorry not the state the p we're supposed to expand our universe every year right yes uh yeah so basically it's based off of the number of students that you could accept so each year when you go to do the paa budget it's actually basically kind of a sub budget that ties into your districtwide budget it actually has a portion that you have to enter into the state software as part of your budget um but it's based off how many students so as you are able to open more classrooms uh you get a per student amount for every student you accept in District and then there's another per student amount for any um student that you have located at you accept but then is located at a provider site did you ever I know we have this is our first year so you might not know this answer but have you looked in the in history and and seen that the aid per student has gone down over I don't know it's been around for five years right this program so have you noticed or heard that from other ba so I have had this in other districts and I believe the aid has gone up a little bit I'd have to go back and check though okay um just because I usually I think I think I remember looking say hey it's a little bit higher than you before but I I would have to double check just to be sure um because I had it in um two of my other districts anybody else may I have a roll call please Mr just so it's actually the so for the last answer it also is calculated by the state and given to us that amount and it's based off your region okay Miss Ahern yes Miss Brock yes Mr smackle yes Mr cantino yes Mr Krauss y Miss pellet yes Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeny yes Mr Zimmerman yes motion carries slam uh item U one recommendations uh it is recommended that the board approve the resolution regarding the group insurance carrier selection as noted below uh letter B is is recommended the board approve the software license and services agreement between American time and the Vernon T School District in amount of $1,668 22 fa of 1029 2024 letter C is recommended the board approve the agreement between tools in the mine and burning Township School District for the 2425 school year letter D is recommended the board approve the agreement between burning Township Board of Education and Educational Services Commission of Morris County for the 2024 25 school year rates uh for services are included in attachment a and then letter e is working to the board approved Varsity Tutors or bedside instruction in the amount of $540 P October 29th uh 2024 through October 29th 2025 I have this in form of a motion please so moved moveed by Mr Krauss second second by Miss Miss Brock did you is that you miss Brock all right comments questions I have one yes I just don't know what American time is what is that software agreement time yeah so basically when we order clocks in District instead of each clock needing to be set you know separately um when we use the software they'll be set to the time of our other clocks before they arrive here oh okay just a little bit of efficiency there you know taking a job from away from a timekeeper making sure all the clock are the same followup question so is it in one time fee one clock one fee or we gonna have to do this periodically yearly periodically yeah periodically Charles can't we um do this off of the the the um time servers in house now we're getting into it territory um so I could look into that or if we have anyone in the crowd that wants to I can jump in jump in the the current system we have runs to a centralized location that's actually not a server so it's a it's a centralized location each building kind of ties into the PA so the new this is going to be a joint venture between facilities and it so as the clocks get you know as the clocks start going we're going to start replacing Wi-Fi clocks and then there'll be a centralized cloud-based system that we can control it all from okay so this is pretty inter term yeah this is so this is a this is trying to be proactive so instead of going back and trying to get parts for blocks that are already outdated this is slowly moving so that we can kind of um you know just replace as they go and then just kind of upgrade as we go instead of just trying to get parts for the old ones and then do a mass change so this gives us a little bit each time just a little bit easier to SW there thank you um have some questions about Varsity TS um this is is that the amount that we will be paying them for bedside matter how much we use um I forget the exact amount it's limited at but it's a certain number of hours I don't remember off the top my have the number of hours but that's the fee for that in the P I believe we've use them for we them for tutoring not necessarily bide instruction I can jump in on this one as well um so tutors has two Wings we currently use their free tutor based software that our students have access to that we've been rolling out at the high school at the middle school and they'll be Communications that are sent out in the next couple weeks all of our students um this is the other Wing that can provide bedside instruction for our students at um we first have to put it out to our teachers within the district um but we do struggle with getting bedside instruction so this is a solution to that problem so that we are in compliance about delivering instruction to students so the it's roughly about 80 I think it's around 84 hours total um I've been negotiating with this company for about a year to drop keep dropping their prices and I finally got up to a point that's somewhat reasonable so we do have to utilize these hours within a year's time frame but they could be used not only for bedside instruction but also if we deemed uh a special circumstance for individual students that do need intensive um interventions or intensive support at home they can do this could also be used as as well for that So the plan is to still we still have to put it out to the school district for our teachers and then um instead of us waiting and waiting and waiting and hoping to find somebody now once we hit that threshold we can link up with Varsity Tutors and they can assign a tutor depending on the subject matter within four days and then it's uh it's online live virtual tutor that is set up with the families and the organization um it just serves a purpose for us instead of one being out of compliance with our students uh not trying and not not being able to find a tutor this gives us another solution to be able to to give them that thank you very much and it's a minimal number of hours at 80 80 some hours so sure we're we're trying to see how it how it how it works when we first have a minute that was that's the last option right it goes to teachers and then then by default we get okay anybody else have any questions roll call please Mr smca yes Mr cantino yes Mr Krauss yes Miss pallet yes Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Zimmerman yes Miss aern Sor tostain abstain at item a I'm sorry yep no problem sorry I got I got rolling pretty quick on thaten sorry see um Mr zimman I believe you said uh yes right I mean you okay good um misson yes and Miss Brock yes motion carries going to item G Clos session it is recommended that the board enter in close session for the purpose of discussing legal personnel and student matters when we come out action may be taken I have a motion please moved by Mr zerman second by Mr Krauss Perfect all in favor I hi post we are retired executive session in the other room 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 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ready go okay going to recommended the Bor return to open session all in favor iOS we back at Open Session I want to make some uh recommendations on the addendum uh if you look in the addendum e1a recommended the board approve the following faculty staff as listed in lines 10 and 11 and 1B it is recommended that the board approves suan mcgall is a walner wige school principal for the 2024-25 school year effective 1216 2024 at a salary of 133,00 prated prated from when to when I'm sorry let me get a motion me get a motion move by miss pet second by Melissa Brock all right questions or comments what what is prated me uh because the school year for the 12 month of Poli starts on uh July 1st so it'll be prated from 1216 to 6:30 okay thank you that makes S I just didn't understand it okay did anybody else have any questions but I just want to make so the the salary starts she's her salary starts on the beginning of 1216 1216 okay that's the start date of the preschool okay um and just to be clear with everything this salary is completely paid for by the expansion Aid right that's sorry that's correct thanks uh without any further questions we will have a roll call V Mr Krauss yes Miss pellet yes Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr ziman yes Miss Ahern yes Miss Brock yes Mr samaca yes Mr cantino yes motion carries okay gonna open the meeting to the public uh we gonna have any please identify yourself the section of the municipality that you're from or entity that you represent and you will have five minutes I apologize I thought the meeting was at seven um so here I am I know that you voted tonight so I just want to kind of give you the union side of the healthcare I am Colleen ranan and I am the Vernon Township educational Association president tonight you voted uh to change the employe healthcare uh whenever health care and prescription changes are mentioned it causes a lot of anxiety many employees may have prescriptions and benefits in their current plan that they fear they may lose in their new plan I want to tell you about the timeline and I found out about this change on October 14th I ran into Russ Rogers in the hallway who mentioned literally almost bumped into and mentioned that there might be a change in our health care but not to say anything and if anything changed he would let me know the next day I received a Google chat or Google uh meet to me about a insurance discussion uh I called him to to tell him I could not meet him that day due to another conflict and he told me that the vote was go on the healthcare Cham was going to take place at your public session October 17th there was no way that I could get all that information to my members in just two days and to think that many that they thought that that was okay on the central Administration part still bewilders me luckily thank you the vote was extended until tonight on Wednesday October 16th I sat with my healthc care chair Kelsey pulowski and a representative from our Healthcare broker Brown and Brown Russ and Ray to hear about the new plan I had less than two weeks to get out crucial information to my members the timeline invokes suspicion in the leadership of the district that is a gotta moment and employees would be left with subpar Healthcare I want to remind the board that the employees contribute to their Healthcare prescription plans although we cannot control when you make a change I I as union membership and a stakeholder should have been bought to the table the moment you thought that it was going to you were going to move the plant I believe that was in July or August I do not appreciate being blindsided by Administration I hope the next time a big decision like this is made I'm seen as someone that should have a voice don't talk at me talk to me I think that if things were explained to me and included me in discussions that I could have saved many of my members the worry of whether a life-saving medication would be covered or if they could still have that surgery that they been waiting for could still be performed both of those conversations I had in the last two weeks so the next time something happens I I am a voice I'm a very loud voice and my members count on me to be the represent the representative and that was kind of taken away from me so I just wanted to kind of tell you the timeline and how I just didn't really appreciate how it was handled thank you thank you thank you we did not intend to cause any anxiety to any member of our staff for that we'll try our best in the future anybody else in the public anybody else on line do you have one person online but their hand is not raised very good then we're going to close it to the public and open it to open board member for any board member have any items that they would like to discuss um I do have a few questions Mr cantino you go ahead so I have heard from multiple um staff that I know that there is an issue with the bathrooms at the high school and I've heard that sometimes it takes upwards of five or six minutes for some staff to get to use the bathroom and come back and that there's some situation where only one bathroom is open am I hearing that correctly believe we addressed at the last partnership meeting Mr swe yeah we you did hear that you are probably hearing that correctly there are there is an issue up at the bathroom and I believe within a couple days of that meeting the PO went out for the new grinder to uh replace the grinder in one portion of the building um I'm not sure about the number of bathrooms but we did explain that they would be inconvenience until until that grinder is fixed which I believe is why you saw at music in the mountains and the last several uh last several sporting events uh several P of John's outside yeah so instead up serviceing them through the gymnasium they're being serviced outside by the por John's but uh it's been it was a a top priority especially to move forward to get the part um we're hoping that before Thanksgiving it's done but that is a very aggressive time period but that's where we're hoping they get it completed by the Thanksgiving break okay I was just wondering if there was any updates or if we like you said we had a timeline uh Mr vankirk has talked worked with Mr slam and he's as soon as anything's being done with in that process he's notifying the uh the building principle um to keep them updated on where we are in the process awesome it is quite an inconvenience no question is p Bey nice um one of the questions that you followed up from last uh week was um having to do with Student Success um in career and academic After High School and I just wanted to share that at the new jerse Schoolboard Association meetings I attended a session where a couple of different people um from different districts said that what they do is collect student person email addresses and do a followup with them a couple you know a year after and then 5 years after and then 10 years after you know to sort of check in and see how they're doing what they did and you know how things panned out for them um and they just collect that data and I thought that might be something we would want to try to do so very interesting yeah did they show you some data or no it was a discussion of of different board members sharing what their districts were doing and the person who brought that up did not uh have her data with her but but they said they've been collecting it for about 5 years now and she said that it's been very useful so and they bring some of the students actually are invited back to uh talk to the board about their careers or to um talk to the student body which I thought was really nice I think our guidance counselors did that um I want to say two years AG two years ago they brought a bunch of kids who had gone through their first year of college back and they had them in front of that you know in the auditorium and they shared what their freshman year was like what kids could expect what surprised them and that was uh really wonderful so that kind of thing I think is something we could do um and the other thing that they also did which I guess we'll be doing with the preschool um program is um the for student achievement apparently it's really helpful if the district starts working with parents long before they show up for kindergarten because reading to kids you know all these kind of educational things that people do at age three and four is really priming the pump for learning so if you can get more you know if you can get more of that in but as we do the preschool they they actually said the districts that are lucky enough to be in the preschool expansion Grant are going to be you know kind of getting a jump start because of the way that that program is run so thought that was really exciting for usbody else I was fortunate enough to participate in the the TRU or trail with some remembers the other day and right after that I got to go up to the football game in the fourth quarter and watch the football team uh beat West Milford which was uh highly uh they thought that West Milford was going to be the favorites and I wanted to congratulate the team on their win uh as we come to we're winding down on The Fall season starting to transition into the winter season and I just want to I I believe uh the band placed at a certain uh level at the last band competition they have one more competition left the national competition so the fall season's coming to end as we transition into the winter season I just wanted to thank everyone for their support it's a great time if you want to come out to any of those events at at the at the high school there will be some State Playoff games not for football but for well it might be a console but be some other state play game and I also attended the the play which was phenomenal as well Charles I I just had a question about um I I know you've been giving us updates constantly because we also had to vote on a bunch of stuff for the PA I just want to say it's a big project I know you guys have been working diligently for number of months now how close are we to being complete to opening those doors I know we have a date 1216 but are we are you scared about anything or from the Geto it's it's quite quite a process to undertake to to get that many classrooms ready I want to thank the people who are involved in the process administrators and teachers um they even worked on it last year to to to try to get ready for the process of if we did get the grant thankfully we have um there may be a couple projects but we have we have um other scenarios uh we're very confident that we're going to be able to open up um a large percentage of those classrooms from day one on the 16th uh it may be a week or two depending on a teacher or two here or there but we have other teachers that are very capable and and can can help us uh with the transition as as we as we take all those preschoolers I think the the the next the 14th we're having our Lottery correct so uh so I want to encourage everyone who has registered to make sure that they fill out the registration completely right now we have a lot of people registered but they haven't completed the registration process the deadline for that is November f 1 is there anything you like to add to that process uh Mr G leaso I know we're we're looking just that uh there's two parts to it so when you registered in Genesis at the end of the registration there is another form that for additional information it was a Google form it was pretty clear most people saw it but if you did not fill out a second Google form you need to do that to be part of the lottery that has your transportation information and uh things of that nature free and reduced lunch uh very important information that's needed so uh if you need that link please reach out to me and I will gladly send it to you but if you go back into Genesis it's at the end of your registration form should people have receive some sort of confirmation that they can check to know if they finished uh we have been calling people who uh let's say they registered in Genesis but did not complete the Google form uh so we're going through that but there was quite a bit of registration so okay yeah thanks thank you by this Friday oh jeez okay have the FL I'm you're good I'm good thank you anybody else okay that was my question about um could we send out a follow-up email to those folks that hadn't completed the thing but you're doing you're doing phone calls yes we're doing emails but I think it's important to talk to someone on the phone so even when we we record it that we've left it left a message left an email we still try to call that person back that's awesome motion to adjourn so move seconded by Mr zimman all in favor I thank you all for coming in