##VIDEO ID:Z3QSAkCT4tY## I had to be official because my my daughter is in the audience and she was very excited about the gavel um good evening everyone we have a lot of really wonderful exciting uh programming for this evening so I am going to jump right into it um pursuant to the open public meetings ACT public notice of this meeting has been given by the board secretary in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the Vorhees Township Public Schools administrative building on July 8th 2024 sending written notice to The Courier Post on July 8th 2024 filing written notice with the clerk of Vorhees Township on July 8th 2024 and posting on the Vorhees Township website on July 8th 2024 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all will the board secretary please call the role Mr Bryce here miss Kover here Mr Rosen here Mr Rosner Mrs Rudder here Mrs Stewart here Mrs stuper here miss verie here Mrs Watson here we will not be going to Executive session um for the first session we will be doing the second session for a very brief meeting um so we will move on to approving the minutes of the October 30th 2024 regular meeting can I get a motion to approve the minutes so moved second second online voting is open [Music] motion unanimously passes I have a couple of brief comments um first and foremost I want to thank the entire Thula family for being here to celebrate such an exciting um and wonderful achievements of such a bright talent in our district and I can't wait to hear all about it shortly but thank you all for coming um I want to thank Chief bardy um for being here and April for for joining us this evening we are very excited to partner with you but more importantly we're excited to share some more information with the district so they understand how investigations go um as you all know we are a technology driven district and sometimes as with all technology we all keep iPhones and and iPads and sometimes those those don't work the way that we would like them to and I wanted to call attention specifically to our last meeting unfortunately the audio portion of our meeting um was not captured and as soon as we learned of this we actually did a pretty thorough investigation and I want to thank um Bruce and Ashley and Chrissy for being so diligent and trying to uncover what the problem was um as with many things in technology you don't you can never pinpoint exactly what the issue is but we think we've put a lot of um good steps in place and a remediation plan and one of those things is that Chrissy is joining our meetings live to ensure that she hears the meeting um and that there is audio as well as Video available and that hopefully we capture it um but if you do happen to join our zooms and you see any issues please make sure you notify us so that we can try and rectify the issue as quickly as possible um with that I am going to move into the rest of the information items uh we have fire drills and safety drills as shown on the attachment um harassment intimidation and bullying report is also on the attachment we have suspensions also included on the attachments uh we have a couple of we have one two three four Oprah requests that we received um that have all been closed out and now board secretary report thank you um I just wanted to give an update on the work that was performed during the days that we were closed on November 7th and 8th uh Mr math Mr higs and the whole buildings and grounds department they were on site working uh some of the big projects that were finished during those two days were the epoxy flooring that was poured in the new Middle School vestibule so the vestibule is 100% finished now um and it's really great has more safety features and um took a little while to get it finished but it's it got finished that weekend but the epoxy had to dry over three days the other thing is uh at the Performing Arts Center uh the windows that we had there before were like the subway type windows and they were there for many years they were starting to um break apart and leak they've all been replaced uh so there's new windows there that look beautiful uh there was also uneven pavement over at oage and that was corrected the uneven pavement was was corrected also the damaged sidewalk there were other repairs that are done we always take advantage of when the schools are empty um HVAC work and other maintenance on different alarms and fire extinguishers and so forth but one thing that was was really nice for the community is unfortunately there were a lot of forest fires during that same time period and there were First Responders over near The Signal Hill School uh we were able to open the building for them so the firefighters could use our restrooms while they were over there um working on the putting up the fires but they're always our guys are always busy guys and ladies are always busy on our time off and I just wanted to make sure I thought thank them in public and let you guys know what's going on thank you okay moving to hey thank you very much good evening everyone I'm going to start my report off with something really really special we have a very special guest here this evening his name is Trish shab theola and he's going to present a wonderful presentation for us and we are so excited to have you here and your entire family so thank you all for coming I'm going to introduce Mr krammer and he will come up and present our amazing student right all right good evening Board of Education and Dr hackit Mr moscowitz Miss Haley and community members tonight we are incredibly proud to celebrate trab Thula a remarkable fifth grader at oage his dedication and achievements in history geography and spelling Inspire us all and he truly embodies the spirit of curiosity and Excellence that we value at our school tab's love for history started at age three with an early interest in maps and navigation which evolved into a deep love for history and geography by age five he was navigating Google Maps and soon after his parents encouraged him to enter academic competitions his talent and dedication have led him to the finals in National competitions and to sign significant achievements internationally for example at the third grade third international geography championships in Vienna Austria he won six gold medals including titles in multiple categories trab success is a true family effort driven by incredible support he receives at at home his mother plays an integral part role in balancing his academic Pursuits while his father has inspired his love for maps and history his achievements reflect not only his own passion for learning but also for also the encouragement and dedication of his family tonight Trish shab has proudly brought along the trophies and medals he earned this year at both National and international competitions it's a true honor to see his incredible accomplishments on display and they are all of his Awards and trophies that he's gotten over the years I would also like to share a slideshow showcasing his competitions and Adventures beginning in first grade both home and abroad with the international academic competitions and North South's foundation for their regionals National and international competitions all right there we go all right sorry guys the clickers kind of you have it go to the second one yep thanks this past summer tasab was recognized for his outstanding accomplishments in the August 14th and to 20 edition of D'Or his son some of you may have seen it and in first and second grade next slide please first second grade tab placed first and second in various Junior history geography and spelling competitions by third grade trab was participating and placing in online Regional and National competitions by fourth grade trab took on an even greater challenge by competing against students from fourth through 8th grade rising to the occasion trab showcased outstanding knowledge and determination securing first place in senior geography competition in May 2024 Trad participated in the international academic championships in Orlando Florida where he placed as Champion seven competitions in July 2024 trab had the incredible opportunity to travel abroad and participate in the IAC third international geography championships demonstrating exceptional skill and dedication trab achieved remarkable success in both individual and team competitions and now there's also two pictures that we wanted to share with you trab had the privilege of meeting the founder of the international academic competition on the left and on the right trab is leading the medal table with takeaways for six individual performances tab's competitions have allowed him to enjoy the local flavors of Austria Hungary and Slovakia while exploring the rich culture and stunning Landscapes of these countries trab also embraced the opportunity to explore local culture in Budapest Hungary taking time to visit iconic landmarks such as the Liberty Bridge and the hero Square Millennium Monument all right and the last slide tab we are so proud of you now that you've learned a little bit about chab his exciting competitions and his adventures he wants to share some of that experience with you to do so he's prepared a few thought-provoking questions for the group so without further Ado let's see if you are up for the challenge are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader come on up buddy firstly I want to say thank you to the board of education for recognizing my me for my achievements and inviting me to this event I would like to thank my papa for teaching me maps during my kindergarten and my mom for sparking my love for competitions over these no over the years I have enjoyed going to these competi itions and there is no doubt that I'll continue going to them in the future now do you have any questions or may I ask you some questions to make this night more fun for everyone okay okay let's start this City's used hill hill contains an exhibition Hall that contains a replica of latra Europe's largest bird Cliff this city is served by keflavic International Airport and contains a a church with distin distinctive side wings called Hal Grims kiria the world's northernmost n national capital this is for the point what largest city of Iceland raic correct rikic oh my goodness [Applause] this company formerly ran properties called Westgate and Flamingo in Las Vegas this company's namesake Beverly property host the Golden Globe ceremonies and the Conrad waldor Waldorf atoria and Double Tree are Brands run by this company founded by a man with the first name Conrad this is for the point what American Hotel company correct Hilton Hilton Hotels and Resorts okay now this Chinese Province includes the cities of yushu shaan and janang this province includes the late Joe Peninsula this province is home to tech companies like Vivo and Oppo name this most populous Chinese Province based on the Pearl River and the U and the U languages which has cities like dongan fan and its capital guango or Canton I don't know you got usong dong this city was founded by King Rama the first this City's founding site is found on the koof frier river's right Bank on Rua nson Island this City's name is guin's world's longest place name with 168 letters and has a song that repeats its full name by asani wasan a Thai rock band name this city known in his country asahan the capital of Thailand correct Bok oh yeah this Royal house was included um no this Royal House included Frederick the burgrave of Norberg this Royal House included the 37th Grandmaster of the tonic order Albert I for the point named this famous former Royal House Of Prussia and the German Empire which name which is name comes from the county of Z and in and includes Frederick the great Kaiser wilham II and queen wiel minina of the kingdom of the Netherlands no okay House of hen I think that that was excellent all right good job buddy well I'm glad I'm not the only one that uh fifth grader smarter then so all right good we're we're in good company here all right before we end our presentation celebrating the incredible achievements of trab we would also like to acknowledge his parents um your dedication encouragement have been key to tab's Journey on behalf of the o school Community we wanted to extend a special thank you for being such a vital part of his success you have shown us the incredible possibilities that come from believing in and supporting our students dreams congratulations to you all all right thank you Bor thank you for letting us share this [Applause] [Applause] moment than we just have a little gift on behalf of the board of education for your dedication your commitment keep up the great work you are fabulous keep up the great work we are immensely proud of you and thank you for making our district look so incredible you are a remarkable example of hard work and dedication so thank you thank you once again and just to all of our community members each month we do have a presentation from each of our schools to showcase the talent that we have in this district and it's is just one example of the amazing talent in our school district so again I thank you and your family thank you very [Applause] much yes please of course little jacket cute you are more than welcome to stay for the rest of the board meeting but we will we also understand that that this may not be everyone's Jam so you're you're more than welcome to leave if you guys would like and we'll give you some time to do that thank you for sharing this special occasion with us thank you I thought they would hand it out also like to say thanks for everyone who came here today to celebrate this with me [Applause] yeah you're welcome you too okay thank you again at this time we have a Wonder another wonderful guest here uh we have our very own Chief VY of the Vorhees Township Police Department and he's going to come and talk about our the partnership that we have the wonderful partnership that we have with the Vorhees Police Department so can we give Chief b a round of applause is very busy man but he came here tonight to speak with us so we appreciate you so much G40 evening evening good to see everyone thank you so much to the board for having me and thank you to Dr Hackett for inviting me to discuss school security tonight not nearly as exciting as what we we just had I'm sure uh but what what an amazing young man yes um so just to uh I have a few notes just to try and keep me on track here uh and uh brevity is is going to be our friend here and I'll answer any questions that you have um I I want to start by talking about the working relationship that the vor's police department has enjoyed with the local school district and even even the Regional School District at the high school that does not happen easily it happens from a long history of uh collaboration together I've been chief for 14 years uh that consistency at the top always helps I know that uh Dr uh or uh Ray Brussel was the superintendent for a long long time uh we had a great relationship uh W with Ry and the board uh when he was here but I can tell you Dr Hackett has not missed a beat the the sometimes it can be difficult when there's a change at the top did not happen here uh we had a meeting very early we discussed uh Safety and Security vision for uh our school district your school district and uh it became a shared Vision with the new leader uh for the school district um just to talk a little bit about the history like I said I've been chief for 14 years the chief before me was Keith hmel he was chief for 14 years also so and we've had we've been integrated and worked on the relationship with the local school board uh for uh Safety and Security at all of our schools I will tell you that uh we enjoy uh the uh we we've been leaders in school security I'll say locally that doesn't happen without the collaboration that we have together and the shared vision uh our program has been shared I can tell you all over the state of New Jersey uh and people try to emulate or copy it uh I'm proud to say we're always ahead of the curve when it comes to Safety and Security again that doesn't happen by mistake that happens because uh I have dedicated staff in the police department that works uh uh tirelessly uh towards school security uh I have a deputy chief a captain a lieutenant a sergeant and uh police officers all dedicated to school security as part of their uh areas of responsibility and and they're very good at it um so uh the positive working relationship has been in place it's been fostered and it continues under Dr hackett's leadership for sure uh so I'm I'm glad to uh report that to you and the community um the next thing is uh collaborative projects that we've done so we have integrated into our schools there are police officers that work for the police department in our schools every hour of every day that students are on campus in every one of our local schools uh the collaboration happens daily right but some of the projects I'll say that we uh that that uh were born out of the of of our partnership was the static communication boards that we recently did that the school put up at every school uh that that came from we learned learned about that at a key Communicator meeting that we attend every quarter uh I have uh members of my staff that are there along with the mayor uh with Dr Hackett and her staff that goes a long way we learned about it then we have those boards in every single one of our uh parks in in the township so that's just one way that we collaborated and shared ideas and worked together uh we have uh the leadership coin at Crescent school that was born out of one one of the school security officers who thought it would be a good thing came to came to the police department with the project after talking to uh the principal at the school uh it was a very easy uh project to say yes to and I find I I I have really good people and I say I just say yes to a lot of really good projects that my staff brings to me uh a lot so I'm I'm proud of that but that program we've been doing about six or seven years uh we're proud of that program I think think they issue the leadership coins or medallions at every graduation so that that's a nice project that that we share together uh I know recently we did a collaboration with the Camden County prosecutor's office for first and second grade reading event uh this is just the these are things they happen all the time and that's because we are in the schools every day uh I time doesn't really go by when I don't hear from our residents about their school security officer they know them by name uh they they see the kids in the morning they they know the kids in the hallways um so uh that's an encouraging thing uh and most of those uh all of our school security officers our retired police officers uh either from Vorhees or other towns uh that's part of the agreement that we made that we've been we've shared with the local with all of you about uh sharing costs uh to help uh hire those people maintain those people in our schools all the time um so that's some of the collaborative projects the uniform State memorandum agreement uh we could be here for like three hours if I really want to talk about that document it could be like a hundred pages right it's there uh you know if anyone wants to see or or discuss that we we comply with it for sure every single year we're aware of it we we always talk about the changes that happen every single year in that uh so but we we definitely uh continue to have that conversation all the time um talk a little bit about threats that happen and communication right that they're always difficult uh for everybody uh and they normally involve one of our students or multiple students so the communication about those investigations if we're involved it's normally criminal in nature so there's very little that we can say and we would not want to violate the sanctity of the children or their families that are involved in that uh I can assure you though and we communicate uh with with Dr Hackett and the principles whenever we have an incident like that but communication will normally happen from me Andor the school district or the police department or the township if there's some kind of ongoing threat where there's a threat to the students or their families or the teachers in the school that's when we'll make a public comment about something we we will not make comments about active open ongoing investigations we're restricted uh because the prosecutor's office is normally involved in that so I I would be uh violating the rules if I was out talking about it and if I was going to talk about something I would have to actually call them first and get permission to actually talk about it and run the statement by them uh if if you didn't know every chief of police in New Jersey we have more than one boss right I have a public safety director locally uh that's on on my Township committee that's my boss the cam the prosecutor in our case the caming County prosecutor is actually my boss and can give me orders and tell me what to do uh contrary to what even my boss locally says and then the are the New Jersey attorney general is also my boss and has a lot of say about what I do and what I say and when I can even talk to the community right so there's a lot of people involved with those kind of notifications I can assure you if there is a threat to the community or or the the kids or the teachers we're going to be talking about that and and we'll be working on that I'll give you a really easy example of something that that you probably wouldn't think is a threat that we make notifications for all the time right a snowstorm right there's a threat to the kids and the buses coming to school stuff like that we communicate that with everyone about whether school's going to be open if roads were going to be opened or closed if there's going to be bus service stuff like that we'll always communicate that it's just not that there's a lot of rules when you're talking about a criminal investigation and and so my my when I speak to the the superintendent I normally say if you're not sure if you're thinking should I call the police on this one or shouldn't I call the police just call and then we'll let you know we have that communication we've done that uh we'll let you know if it's something that uh touches something criminal and then the school has to step back and then the police department uh and all of our rules will will have to operate in that space but we'll always communicate with the superintendent there's there's just times where we can't give information to the community and that's really the they they guard rails set up for the protection of the kids and the families that are involved right so just to reiterate if there's an ongoing threat you'll hear from me and the superintendent about what we need you to do uh and and in order to keep everybody safe right but I think that was an important thing to talk about because there's always ACC accusations uh nobody's telling us anything uh we want information we don't know well a lot of times we just can't tell you right until there's a Time eventually that that information may be Rel released but a lot of times when it has just happened there's there's rule rules for us about releasing information um I actually uh just talked about the limitations um consequences for unauthorized information all right we live in New Jersey there's there's uh three attorneys for every five people right the consequences are are uh we're aware of what the consequences are for making a bab release that's why I have to call the prosecutor first I may talk to our solicitor before I release something I certainly talk to the superintendent before I release something so the consequences there can be many right and the last thing you want to do is release something about a child uh or a family that gets out there I don't really have to release anything social media will tell you everything you need to know right that's that's just the way it is uh and we look we monitor social media I always say that that you know I tell my my committee and my bosses I can't let social media manage me right I I will use social media I will make sure I know what it says but I I can't respond every time someone makes a statement on social media that the example I always give is did anyone hear that loud noise like 81 comments later and the 81st comment was that was thunder thunder so so you have to be careful about social media and and how much you respond to it or react to it uh but we we definitely keep our eye on it and try to manage it we don't let it manage us so um I'm very proud of our program again we share I've shared that program uh all over New Jersey uh We've enjoyed uh locally here a fantastic relationship with all of you uh with with the uh school security as as our focus and how we do it and try to stay really ahead of the Curve right I I stayed away tonight from talking about our tactics and things we have in place because it wouldn't be proper for me to have this great plan with everyone and tell everyone what it is right or the things we have in place to protect everybody right but I can assure you that we we have uh plans and mitigation plans for incidents and issues uh that were very confident uh that we can handle uh you should have confidence in the fact that you're uh your superintendent and the police department are in lock step when it comes to uh school security and safety we're proud of that I go all over the state representing Chiefs of police I see when uh CH police departments and school boards are not in lock step and and it really creates an unsafe environment uh in that community so uh kudos to all of you for uh for for keeping that alive and well with us and thank you Dr hacket a great advocate for that's kind of all I have about school security I'll answer any questions anyone has oh let me just say this I apologize it's No Shave November I normally clean shave but uh I participate because it goes to a good cause so any questions I have a question sure um I brought this up to the high school and I didn't get much response but you guys do a great job protecting the kids during the school day but my issue is after school with sports I it's probably applies more here to the Middle School um and that the high school I could tell you there could be hundreds and hundreds of kids out there with no protection um and that's a big concern of mine as a parent um and I'm sure you know you have people playing sports and not paying attention and God forbid something happens I mean is there anything that could be put in place for after school sports and activities to protect these kids that's a it's a great question and and we have identified that uh as an area uh of need it it comes so what what you have is there I think at the high school at least there there's someone on staff so there's school security officers and we have 14 of them that cover all of our schools and then there's three school resource officers two at the high school and one at the middle school right so um after school is difficult it's hard to have uh I know Eastern High School will have things up until 11 o'clock at night right so you're talking about outside because even oh no I'm I agree and I'm talking outside that they they have they've given me the number of number after school programs that they have with people in the school and Athletics it can go it goes up to almost 11 o'clock every single night so if you look at the hours and and I have someone till five o'clock there you're looking do the math someone do the math for me right right there 5 to 11 times five days a week times Saturday there's an expense with all that what I will tell you is we have police officers that uh during our roll calls they know what what school events are happening and they during their regular Patrol uh while that every you know there's they all get sections of town that they have to work uh there's two very close to the high school or you know everyone covers one of them and they'll go through during regular patrols and then we you know we can't we can never do the job policing without the community we depend on the community that's there if something happens that they call us and we have a very quick response what I'll tell you is our local uh our school security officer program it's what I identified really after uh not yaldi not Coline um we identified the the Gap in our response right the time it took from when the call came in when something happened horrific at a school to the time the cops got there right that time is is is what we tried to eliminate by having uh police officers in every school during the day when they're most vulnerable right when the schools were most vulnerable that's why we did that because the the trauma was happening in four and five minutes you can do a lot and hurt a lot of people in four or five minutes and that's great response time if you're not in the school already I'm happy to report that we have someone in every school every day so there's someone there immediately going to where ever that is so we cut response time to zero during uh the the school day right after school it's it's another thing you know I I'd be remiss if I didn't say that uh monetary is is a consideration for us right you have to look at what it would cost and and how many other people I would have to hire to cover them there is police coverage in the whole town 24 hours a day 365 days a year we do depend on the partnership with parents and and uh visitors to the school that may see or hear something and call and let us know that's that's kind of the you know the answer for that it's a long answer sorry about that but but we've you know we've recognized that it's it's a really good point but you know it's a consideration yeah and and look the schools uh the schools actually pay for after school hours depending on the event as a side job so you'll still have uh officers there for bigger events stuff like that so yeah good question I thank you any other questions thank you so much um again your partnership means a lot to us as well um and we appreciate you coming and sharing this information it's it's really invaluable for the community to hear thank you so much for having me have a great night and I want to thank you as well thank you as it's a pleasure working with you I just also would like to acknowledge deputy chief Harrington do she leave she okay she's back can you just wait I just want to public acknowledge her as well because she is my 3 A.M partner uh when it's time to talk about school closing she I call her at 3:00 am she answers the phone very nicely so I just want to acknowledge you and thank you as well for everything that you do for the Vorhees Township Public Schools thank [Applause] you okay so I would now like to respond to a few questions that was asked at the October board meeting the first question was can we post pictures of board candidates on our website and the response to that is school districts do not participate in campaigns or promotional activities can the community view Grant applications Grant applications may be available for public viewing upon request through the open public records act but are subject to redaction of confidential information and how do we ensure our secretaries are safe during lockdowns um we believe our current plan effectively addresses the role of secretaries during lockdowns however in December a representative from the New Jersey Department of Education Office of school preparedness and emergency planning will conduct a walkthrough of several of our school buildings the walkthr will provide valuable feedback and suggestions for enhancing our safety protocols to ensure optimal safety of both staff and students and the Vorhees Township Police Department will join us on that walkth through in for our partnership we have a parent workshop on Tuesday December 10th at 7M and the the title is navigating social media for parents so parents please come out we always send a reminder for these workshops virtual workshops you'll receive the link as a reminder but all links are on our website so I'm hoping that our parents join us this is our most popular Workshop uh again navigating social media on December the 10th at 7 o'clock and as I end my comments I want to say Thanksgiving is a time of reflection providing an opportunity to express gratitude for all that has been bestowed upon us in my role as superintendent of schools I am deeply thankful for the talented and dedicated staff members of the Vorhees Township Public Schools these individuals consistently demonstrate unwavering dedication and commitment to ensuring that our students receive the best possible educational experience this expression of gratitude also extends to the committed and dedicated members of this board of education who invest countless hours to guarantee an optimal education environment for our students and I'm equally appreciative to all of our parents who have entrusted us to with the education of their children as we approach Thanksgiving I extend my heartfelt wishes to the entire vast Township Public Schools family for a Time filled with an abundance of joy peace and happiness Happy Thanksgiving than rep president that ends my report okay excellent we have a couple of committee reports um oh I'm yeah no I'm I'm I thought I skipped um Miss Branch Stewart can I get a policy committee report certainly the policy committee met for over an hour on November 20th we had a very productive meeting for first read the committee reviewed and recommends for board approval the following regulation as revised regulation 5600 student discipline code of conduct for second read the committee reviewed and recommends for board approval the following revised policies policy 8454 manage management of pediculosis and policy 8600 student transportation the committee also discussed policy 0167 public participation and board meetings um which after much discussion and consideration the committee has decided to not revise at the current time policy 2365 accepted acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence the committee will review this policy again in the new year data dashboard reporting to be provided by Dr Hackett to the board on a regular basis um we received a very thorough update by BMS principal Miss in regarding the cell phone ban pilot program recently implemented at the middle school for the second marking period we discussed board committee engagement and involvement and lastly the committee discussed a pitch a policy pilot program say that fast three times in which we review polic suggestions from Key district and Community stakeholders and the next policy committee meeting will be scheduled for January thank you you uh can I get a Personnel committee report from Miss Kover sure so the Personnel committee met on November 5th 2024 Dr Hackett was there as well as Sue Donnelly myself Mr Bryce Mrs Rudder Mr Rosner and our attorney Alicia denella we held this committee meeting to address a an Hib appeal from a Vorhees student with an out ofd District placement we were provided a summary of The Facts in advance of the hearing and during the hearing the p parent of the alleged Target who is the Vorhees resident explained the situation and the impact the committee recommended to affirm the outcome of Yale's investigation and the committee's recommendation was provided to the full board and that is my report thank you very much um technology committee report Miss verie thank you thank you for that sorry I turned it off instead of on um we met the technology committee met on November 18th uh at six o'clock for about an hour um we discussed a few things uh including the AI District uh plan uh the committee reviewed the revised plan uh and agreed the revised plan addressed many of the concerns that we had in the original draft um and that it is a comprehensive document the committee asked for several minor revisions including a process for how to document and address ai ai technology issues and feedback that might arise when staff and students are using AI tools uh we also requested a clear statement of what level of changes to the plan would rise to the level of board approval we also addressed um uh tasks of AI oversight and who should which committee should be tasked with that and there was agreement that the technology committee is the appropriate Committee of jurisdiction for um all AI related um work we addressed a couple of answers to questions about General technology plans um we addressed uh briefly addressed attendance tracking for student clubs satisfaction surveys the issue of the recording within October 2024 board meeting and after school tutoring um we also discussed the possibility of recording parent workshops in the future and whether or not that would be possible um the committee is planning to meet again on January 27th virtually um but but if there are no agenda items to discuss we'll postpone that meeting so it's to be determined thank you thank you um audience participation anyone wishing to address the board please approach the side table on the right and write your name and address on the login sheet while the board is limited in its ability to respond to the public on matters involving Personnel litigation negotiations and attorney client privilege the board will now hear comments from the public relating to items on the agenda for this board meeting comments are limited to 3 minutes the board will not take action this evening you will be notified at some later time by letter electronic mail telephone or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take all right we like our regulars good evening Happy Thanksgiving also and congratulations to the board members and reelection um also wanted to congratulate Connie Bitner who is inst structural associate retiring uh the end of the December I believe and I just had a um just a couple of not questions but uh just points um for the discipline uh five 660 the discipline 560 5600 for the discipline I just hit a couple areas that I think we might want to look at so like on arson assault um like the superintendent's not notified on arson now I'm assuming that would probably go up to them but it just I went through all the the things and that one wasn't listed for salt um I would think by the second offense maybe just be standard practice and sold on a staff member um and I know we did we did a nice job of doing K through two 3 through five and middle school but as a middle as an elementary after the third offense they're still not notified so I would just feel even though I know the superintendent would be notified I figure we should probably put it in there so make sure it's not overlooked um and the falsifying of um fire alarm or or a uh system so I know sometimes there's extenda C circumstances based on students IP and stuff however the superintendent is not notified till the third offense I would say by the second if it's the same person falsifying a um fire alarm and I'd also put in there that they might have to pay the um the money back for the false call they come so I think after we get one freebie and after that the district gets charged um once again years ago um we had issues that we were on lockdown and stuff like that a lot so I figured just add that in there um you know to make once again I'm sure there's extending resources on disability but um it can be a pretty scary situation and I figure since we're looking at the policy might be a good time to St that in there thank you thank you seeing no other comments board M comments okay moving um on to the agenda so after uh much discussion and our board meeting last um last month we did some benchmarking against other districts to talk about um our process and making sure that the community understands the agenda and how we work through the agenda so we have added the following statement to our board meetings um and I'm going to read that now um and it will come at this point of every meeting as we move into the business portion of our meeting we want to recognize that it may appear as if the board takes action with with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote before an item is placed on a board agenda it is Thoroughly reviewed by the superintendent and administration the superintendent then presents the recommended action to the appropriate board committee and works with the committee to ensure that the members fully understand the recommendation once the committee is satisfied the item is placed on the board agenda for discussion and action at a public meeting board agendas are made available to the board members several days in advance of the meeting giving us ample time to review the agenda and have all of our questions answered further we are kept up to date between the meetings on the ongoing work of the administration and the important issues in the district all of these efforts ensure that we are all well informed and prepared to take action at our meetings moving into policy can I get a motion to approve all of the items under policy so moved Stuart second sorry I thought someone said it second online voting is open um how come the board members weren't advised of that statement being read prior to just now I mean I didn't know anything about that and why was it read before I mean after there were chance for comment on the agenda and not before why weren't we notified about it I just want to reiterate I also did not see that statement before it was just read aloud just now and would have appreciated if it's a statement of the board that the whole board as a whole would have been made aware and have an opportunity to discuss who votes Mr Rosen okay I can take it verbally I miss birie yeah it also didn't come up for me I a motion passes moving to corul motion to approve all items under curriculum all moved second online voting is open Mr Rosen I miss verie motion passes motion to approve all items under personnel as recommended by the superintendent so moved Rudder second Stuart I have a few questions on personnel um my first question is 16.2 instructional associate associate observation Matrix um why is this needed and um good instructional Associates are hard to come by and I hope this isn't making their job any harder and I'm just curious why this is a new addition and my other question is under more substitute School principal approvals I we approved a list um I think it's a huge expense for the district and we operated many years without them so um I'm just wondering why we keep adding names those are my two questions okay um 16.2 the instructional Matrix we are just updating the evaluation tool is definitely not going to be anything that would cause us not to um retain our instructional Associates it's actually a better tool that will give them much more feedback and support for the work that they do the previous tool um was not something that I believe provided them with the feedback and support that they need to do their job so we are updating the um evaluation tool to make it more userfriendly and to provide them with the appropriate feedback for is this full-time employees or part-time employees it's for all instructional Associates it's their annual valuation tool and as far as sub subtitute uh principles I know we spoke about this in the past I understand that previously um we did not use substitute principles but times have changed and I do not think that a building should ever operate without a leader in the building or someone who has the principal certification um something can happen in the matter of seconds and there needs to be a certified person in that building to um maintain order and to provide directions on how to make sure that students and staff are safe so the use of substitute principles has already been approved these are just additional people because the list that we had last year one person is no longer um wanting to do that they're going to do something else and then someone else took a long-term um inum job for two years so they are not on the list so we only have one person as of now so we're adding more people um I understand your point you you made it before that you didn't think that this was something that we should be doing however I completely disagree and believe we need to have a certified person in every building when the principal is absent can can I just ask one one follow-up question for 16.2 I would it be possible in the future when there are updates to Matrix like this if we could see what was done before just to have that comparison when we're making decisions to see what we're so we understand what exactly we're voting on that we're updating thank you I don't have an issue is that the evaluation like a template you want to actually see the template well just what was done before so do we understand what's being changed it just would be helpful understand okay thank you online voting is open motion unanimously passes I think get a motion to approve all of the items under transportation so moved second online voting is open motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all of the items under buildings and grounds so moved Rudder second C over online voting is open motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all the items under Finance so moved second online voting is open motion unanimously passes public comment anyone wishing to address the board please approach the side table on the right and write your name and address on the login sheet while the board is limited its ability to respond to the public on matters involving Personnel litigation negotiations and attorney client privilege the board will now hear comments from the public comments are limited to 3 minutes the board will not take action this evening you will be notified at some later time by letter electronic mail or telephone um in the or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take on June 12th I think it was um there's a organizational chart for the district that's always existed except for one thing what was removed from that chart is that on top of the Board of Education it was the public and the community and that's been taken off and I think it needs to be put back on especially after I reviewed the a cursor review of the author authoritarian rant that Miss Kover gave which is a total impediment of people's First Amendment rights thank you seeing no other comments comments from board members I have a few comments um as this is my last meeting um I wanted to share some of my final thoughts um with everybody I ran for the Board of Education to represent the special education Comm Community but once I was elected I realized what I was up against I've served on many boards in my adult life and I've never been part of such a toxic group every one of us is elected to represent our community and we are all equal with the exception of the president who runs the meeting unfortunately that's not the environment that has been created here in Vorhees the board's priorities are not the children teachers or community members but their own power over what I still don't know as a board member if you decide to question the agenda or anything that is being done in the district which is our job especially when large amounts of money are being spent you were deemed the enemy as most of you have witnessed our president has publicly bered me and you should see some of the emails she sends and she also blind copies other board members to intimidate them to not do the same as I do this is not how our district should be should be run we are elected to do a job to hold the district accountable to our stakeholders what kind of example is this setting for our children sorry I lost my place [Music] um so um we are sorry sorry I'm totally lost my place what kind of example are we setting for our youth my fellow board members you are not here just to say yes if that is the case then why do you sit here every month resign your seat and give that opportunity to someone that will take the job seriously and we'll ask the hard questions I think it is so important to have different perspectives and backgrounds and ask hard questions how will we ever be better if we are too scared to ask questions I feel as I've let a lot of people down by not running again but I could not do it anymore there's only so few of us that are up here for the right reasons and unless more of the community steps up we will not have any change I've been so fortunate to meet so many wonderful people in this community and I know they will remain my friends thank you okay I have a comment as well um just give me one second I pull it up all right again I I feel the need to address the board president's statement um again this is sort of a reiteration of last month um and what Mrs Kover said and again as a parent and elected of member of this board I feel strongly that my role is not to be merely in Rober stamp I believe my role is to ask questions make informed decisions for the betterment of this community at large and to be a voice to the communities who do not have a voice in decision making and the president and the vice president's voices on this board are no more important than the seven other voices on this board and we all have one vote and again maybe I'm wrong but I think that the the public wants to hear us ask questions and do our jobs they want to see us make fiscally sound decisions to make policy and to be a check on the administration when necessary and to understand why we are voting the way we are so I think it's imperative for us to speak and talk to the public about why we are voting the way that we are so I implore my fellow board members to do that um and and not just bend to the will of the board President and Vice President here I also want to say that today is Mrs duper's last meeting and this is really what I had planned to say today and I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge her service and contributions to our district I'm not going to beat around the bush when I arrived at my first board meeting and saw the seating arrangements and that I'd be seated next to Mrs stuper I was less than thrilled coming with preconceived notions of the person she was due to how I'd seen her treated at board meetings and the way the others describe way others described her character I was so wrong I had no idea then that Mrs stuper had so much to teach me and that she would become someone I consider a dear colleague and friend we absolutely do not agree on everything we come from different walks of life and different IDE ideological and political backgrounds we're probably the most liberal and conservative members of the board I stay true to my values she stays true to hers and more often than not those values aren't as different as I thought they would be especially in the context of board duties and with mutual respect and kindness we developed a strong working relationship with a Guiding Light of just trying to do the right thing even if it doesn't necess neily make you friends on this board Randy cares about the children of our district and this community at large and even when we don't completely agree on issues or tactics I appreciate that she does the work she reads the materials she asks questions she takes her role seriously and she's not afraid to make waves when necessary she's never been here to make friends or or be self-important she's been laser focused on doing the work she's been put through the ringer and still shows up despite the personal toll it took on her because again she cares so Randy I want to thank you for your service to our community and for being a great neighbor on this de and for reminding me not to judge a book by its cover or be or by the colored opinion of others I wish you well in your retirement from the board finally with Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching I want to wish the community a whole well may it be a Time full of love light family laughter and good health seeing no other board comments um we will be going out for executive session um it will be short we do not expect to take any action [Music] um so whereas open public uh open public meetings act authorizes the Board of Education to meet an executive session under certain circumstances whereas the open public meeting act requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public meeting to go into private session now there for be it resolved by the Vorhees Township Board of Education that is necessary to meet an executive session to discuss certain items involving matters involving Personnel issues including but not limited to the employment appointment termination of employment terms and conditions of employment evaluation of performance promotion or discipline of any public officer or employee be it further resolved than any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as feasible the minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for for confidentiality no longer exists further resolve that the board will will return to open session to conduct business at the conclusion of the executive session but again we do not expect to take any action um motion can I get a motion to adjourn to a motion to adjourn to Executive session so moved second Rudder all in favor I motion to return from exec session so moved second ruer all in favor hi um I think that's the record for the fastest executive session I I just want it to be on the record um next regular meeting is January 6 2025 it will be the board reorganization meeting it will be held here at the administration building at 7M can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting so move second all in favor I meeting adjourned