The adequate notice of this regular meeting as required by the open public meetings act was provided by the posting mailing delivery and filing of this notice on January 9th, 2025. This notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the township office sent to the courier news echo sentinel and tap into
Warren and filed with the township clerk of the township of Warren. All in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Right. I will now call the role. Mrs. Dalton here. Mrs. Granholm here. Miss Keller here. Mr. Metta here. Mr. Otto
here. Mr. Tour. Mr. Valentino here. Mr. Weinstein here. Mrs. Zan. We have a quorum. Okay. Mr. Weinstein.
Resolve that the board of education approves the public session minutes of the August 25th, 2025 board meeting. Second. I will call the role on the minutes. Mrs. Dalton, yes. Mrs. Granholm, yes. Miss Keller,
yes. Mr. Mfetta, yes. Mr. Otto, yes. Mr. Valentino, yes. And Mr. Weinstein, yes. Motion passes 70. Okay. Dr. Minger, correspondence and information.
Thank you, Miss Keller. Only thing in this section is there was one HIV investigation at Central School. It was not a confirmed incident of HIV. Uh nothing else to report. Okay, welcome everyone. I am filling in for Mrs. Z. So she is the board
president. This is the my first time doing this so bear with me. Um I wanted to this is our first board meeting since the opening of the school year and I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome back all the staff and students. Um, I had the opportunity to attend the staff convocation along with Mrs. ZH on
August 26th. And one of the highlights of that meeting was the keynote speaker who is a former student of our school district. Her name was Julia Deatonak. And she spoke about her struggles with uh being a student with dyslexia and um
how her experience motivated her to create a nonprofit support organization called Coloring Confidence. uh she did a phenomenal job presenting. She's currently a student at Princeton University and uh just really a very impressive young woman and it was uh her
story was just a really great way to kick off the 202526 school year. Uh we have a lot of kind of community events that happened since the last time we had a board meeting. So I'm going to go through those first. Uh on September 9th, Warren Middle School was honored to host a delegation of educators from
Taiwan during the 2025 Elon County International Educational Visit. The visit aims to foster global collaboration in education, giving teachers and administrators from Taiwan the chance to explore schools across New Jersey and the broader region. Um I
would like to quote Mr. Velar who kind of offered commentary on the event. Um, this visit not only allowed us to share our practices with our colleagues from Taiwan, but also to recognize our highlights through the reflections of those guests. As always, the stars of the visit were our students and staff
who make up this dynamic community. I can I was also in attendance and um I will I was a witness to this delegation saying that our students were very well behaved. So officially I witnessed that. So I want to thank Mr. AR the middle
school staff and the students for pulling together this event. Um they did it very quickly with with very little notice and it was it was a a real success. Um lastly in terms of community updates uh the district was honored to be present at the September 11th memorial ceremony. Uh we'd like to thank
the township committee and Mayor Lai for the invitation. Uh the middle school choir sang and we had student reps from each of the elementary schools present. Uh we also continued the tradition of having an eighth grader speak uh to
represent the middle school. Uh this year the speaker was Ava Bala Christian and she did a wonderful job. But all eighth graders were invited to submit their speeches for this and we had so many candidates this year that we have invited them to share their speeches
with us later on and that's why we have people present at this meeting. Usually it's a sea of empty seats. So thank you for coming. So, we look forward to hearing from them later. And I'm going to shift gears a little bit to uh the agenda for this evening
and some um board business. Uh we usually have a section on the agenda of uh retirements and so today is no different. On item C4, um we have several people who have about 20 years of experience working with our schools. Um so I'd like to acknowledge these
staff members. uh Joyce Picarski, Susan Klene, Paula Williams, and Hildigard Jackson. Uh we are grateful to have so many members of our staff that stay with the district for most of their careers. Um and we'd like to thank these staff members for their dedication to our
schools and wish them the best in their retirement. And then board members, we have some we have some homework. We have some asks from you. Um two ad hoc committees that we have to spin up. One is the ad hoc
calendar committee. So we have to start planning for the next two years of the calendar. So for those of you who feel very strongly about Labor Day, I encourage you snow days handling. Um we need volunteers to serve on the
committee. We're going to start meeting um that committee is going to start meeting very soon. We have the high school calendar. So now we have kind of that framework to work with. Uh so please anybody interested in being on that committee email Mrs. Zan and myself by Wednesday at noon so that way we know
who's interested and we can start getting that scheduled. Um the second ad hoc committee is about the high school regionalization study. Uh Mr. Weinstein and Mrs. ZH have been attending those meetings. Uh we need to create an ad hoc
regionalization committee to discuss the findings when they are available. Uh, so if anybody is interested in being on that committee, please again email Mrs. Z and myself by Wednesday at noon. That is all for my opening remarks.
Yes. Thank you, Miss Keller, for stepping in. It is it's it's it's hard from the audience probably to appreciate that you know when you're up here all of a sudden things when you change seats or change roles it changes everything about the way that you prepare for the meeting. Um you get a gavvel in this
chair. So thank you for stepping in for Mrs. Z on tonight. Um and as always we we always love when we have student guests at our meetings. First it it it brings people out which is great but also it's a way to highlight the wonderful work that our students do. And I just want before I kick it over uh to
Mr. Velar to to to start that process, I want to thank Mr. Velar and Mrs. Sarat who pulled the student competition together for these speeches with almost no time. So the the challenge with the timing of when the memorial service is is that a
new school year starts and to do it in a way that is fair and provides an opportunity for students to put together their thoughts, audition, be judged in an objective way in just a few days is really quite a lot on everybody. So thank you for for making that happen. If you've never been to the township 911
memorial ceremony, I would encourage you to try to go in the future. It is quite a nice event. Um and it's in my opinion um been made even greater by the fact that our students are the highlight because that's the way we really remember and pay forward the messages
that come out out from that event. So I encourage you it's um in the morning on 911 every year. So I don't have any other announcements to make uh today. So I'll kick it over Mr. Velar to to get us started. Good evening members of the board of education. Each September, the Warren
community gathers to remember the events of 911 and those lost that tragic day. As part of the ceremony, a student from Warren Middle School is given the opportunity to share his or her reflections on what the events of 20 years ago mean today and how they shape
our contemporary times. Four students elected to craft speeches for that event and of them Ava Balak Krishna was given the opportunity to share that day her speech. Uh tonight we have the three additional students presenting to you. Uh before I I welcome them up to the
podium, I'd like to thank Miss Christine Serati, our E2 teacher at WMS for her part in helping those students prepare their speeches and be prepared to present to you. I first welcome to the podium Disha Cadri. America's America's Greatest Threat by Disha
Chadri. I was walking past the town center this summer when I noticed it. The ginormous flag in the center of Warren had a huge tear in it and I could see the sky through the rips. It had been described with pride within our community, but not
anymore. so massive, so majestic, so magnificent, but so destroyable. In fact, when our entire country seemed to tear apart on September 11th, 24 years ago, we thought that it would never be repaired. We did not have time
to fix such a minor issue when America's greatest threat was much bigger. And that troubled us. How could a flag so big, so strong, just get caught up like that in the wind? How could it rip? Will it rip into shreds? Perhaps it would be
permanently destroyed. We hated the sight of that flag because it seemed like one big tarnish on the fabric of the sky. And that, my comrades, is how every empire falls. Welcome and thank you for being here. My name is Disha
Chadri and today I will be talking about the fateful day of September 11th, 2001. The physical sight of that flag being torn was not nearly as hurtful as the anguish of the disaster that tore our country apart. 911 was only one of many.
When those planes crashed into the tower, it started flames in the buildings and killed the flames in our hearts. Survivors were covered in ashes and so were their souls. The air was filled with piercing screams that you cannot get out of your head. and the
whispers of the firefighters and first responders just before their downfall. It left a stain, a hole, a missing piece on our flag. It lit alive 2,997 innocent people. It buried 2,997
innocent people. It esphyxiated 2,997 innocent people. How could anyone feel normal about our country of after that? Even after all these years, we can still feel the events presence in the air strangling
us. But let us for a minute travel back in time to right after that tragic date. That is when the world flew into a panic and began to search for America's greatest threat. That begs the question, what is
America's greatest threat? What is the catastrophe that can so effortlessly crumble all the hard work we put into the soil beneath us? What is the calamity that can undo everything the founding fathers, the soldiers, the politicians, even all of us regular
people did for everyone? Is it a song from the list of music that got banned that date? Is it a day of the week? Is it a certain group of people? Is it just bad luck? Well, I will tell you it is none of these. America's greatest threat is each
and every one of us. I can hear what you're thinking. What did I ever do to harm this country? But it's not about what you do. It's about what you never did. When we looked at the times our flag tore, do we believe that it could be repaired? No. And look
what happened. Within some time, it was billowing in the wind once again, looking fresh and thriving. I am not in any way saying that all experiences will progress at the same pace as that flag. Healing takes time and patience. As with
everything, I am also not in any way saying that everyone here is guilty of something, but ponder my words. How many times have you lost hope in your country? because of its leaders, because of its people, because of the news you hear, because of the disastrous events
it births. If there is one thing that every being here needs to take away from this speech, it is what I am about to inform you right now. There is still hope. Hope for the present. We will learn from
our mistakes. Hope for the past. We will preserve our rich and diverse history. Hope for the future. We will create a better world for us all. And most importantly, hope for the United States of America.
Next time you fly over New York City at night, keep your eyes out for the two beams where the North and South Tower used to be. The memories and lessons they carry will always touch the sky, maybe even further than the towers used to. While the past may have died, the passion for the future is still here.
For our flag is still here, right within every single American. You just need to find it. And America's greatest threat will be no more. Between the stars and stripes of that flag, I see the future of a nation. And it looks beautiful from
here. Thank you. Next we have Hanzi Chintapali. Yeah. Good evening everyone. Today we gather here once again to remember September 11th, the day that forever changed our nation. My name is Hansi Gentapali and I
am honored to be here on behalf of my school and my town. I have grown up hearing the stories of the courage, sacrifice and unity that came from that day and I feel privileged to share a few reflections with you. What stands out to me the most is not
only the tragedy but the way people came together. Firefighters, police officers, doctors, and everyday citizens rushed to help each other without thinking about themselves. Neighbors supported neighbors. Strangers became family. Out
of such a dark moment came some of our brightest examples of humanity. September 11th reminds us that courage is not only found in the big heroic actions that we honor today, but it's also in the choices that we make every
single day. To show kindness, to stand up for someone who's being treated unfairly, and to offer help when it's needed. These are acts of bravery, too. The legacy of 9/11 challenges us to live with compassion and unity. We honor
those who we lost not only by remembering them, but also by carrying forward the values of resilience, strength, and hope. When we choose to respect one another, when we lift each other up, and when we refuse to let fear
divide us, we keep the spirit of that day alive in the best possible way. I also think about the future. What kind of world do we want to build together? The answer lies in how we treat each other now. If we treat each other, if we
create communities filled with empathy, inclusion, and kindness, then we are building a straafer and stronger tomorrow. So today, let us promise to continue building a community where we look out for one another in our school, in our
communities, and in our nation. Because when we stand together, we are stronger and that is the greatest tribute we can give. I would like to end with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. You gain strength, courage and
confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. So today, let us carry that strength and courage forward as we honor the memory of September 11th. Thank you.
Finally, we have Farah Hibi. Hello everyone. My name is Farah Himi and I'm an eighth grader. Thank you for letting me join this occasion. I am here today to commemorate the almost 3,000 lives lost in the 9/11 tragedy, but also
to honor the heroes present on that day. Although my story of 911 differs from yours, I still feel the impact pressing upon us and the pain everyone around me must be experiencing. There are four major enduring lessons from 911 that I
honor and want to speak to. These lessons include the importance of empathizing, listening, learning, and participating. First, I honor 911 by empathizing with those affected. The guilt in my heart
feels for the victims in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania. Innocent people were living their everyday lives, and it is so sad to think that when they left for the day that morning, they had no indication of what tragic event was going to occur. Their families had
anticipated that their loved one would return home that day. However, when they did not come home, I can only imagine their devastation. I want every person who is hurt by 9/11 to know the lives that were lost are not truly lost, but rather are distinguished as innocent
souls who will always be remembered. Next, I honor 911 by listening to the stories of those who were impacted on this day. My aunt talks about being present firsthand during the scene in New York. She watched the unfortunate
event of the Twin Towers collapsing and was covered in dust frantically running from the buildings and being evacuated to an underground shelter where she had no idea was occurring. To this day, when she retells the story, I can see she's right back there in time. My mother was
in Washington DC where a plane crashed into the Pentagon, which was next to her apartment building. She vividly remembers taking the bus home and being devastated from seeing the smoke. I know from my relatives that the New York Times covered the passings of the victims through something called
portraits instead of obbituaries. They wanted to focus on the human stories of the victims rather than their deaths. It took over a year to cover every victim, but those personal stories were a unique and special way of remembering them.
This day has left a mark in my relatives hearts and so many others. And hearing their stories leaves a mark on mine as well. Next, I honor 911 by learning about the impact through the lessons my teachers have covered in class. We spend
multiple days learning about 911 because it is not about the single day, but more so about how it shattered our country and world. The first responders and people within the cities willing to help were true heroes to our nation. The first responders showed everyone what
true selflessness is. I now would like to share an example of this heroism that I learned in my social studies class at Warren Middle School. Sergeant Sassville and Sergeant Penny flew out of Andrew's Air Force Base on September 11th, 2001
with a single mission to identify United Airlines Flight 93 and intercepted. Sergeants Penny and Sassville had anticipated they would not make it home that day. However, they knew their sacrifice was worth everything. As there
is no time to waste with arming their aircraft, the sergeants had attended on ramming into the cockpit and the tail, but they did not make it in time. The intentions of the sergeants were truly courageous and heroic. But not only did first responders leave an impact on that
day, so did everyday people who united as a nation to support and comfort one another. Lastly, I honor 911 by participating in events such as this. I am here to support and mourn with those who were forever scarred by the attack
and honor the lives that were lost and the heroes who saved numerous lives. 911 the first responders and everyday citizens leave an impact on every generation and this tragic event will always be recognized and honored in history. Thank you.
Thank you all for coming, for taking the time. You did a wonderful job. Um it was very um moving. Uh if you all want to stay for the rest of the meeting, you're more than welcome to. Most people leave, not going to lie. Um so, uh we do have
another presentation and just our regular board business, but now would be a good time if you want to get home, now would be a good time to take this opportunity to lead. Thank you. Thank you guys. Well done, girls. How do I follow these wonderful students
we have here? Clicker. Let's see if that works. No, clicker is not working there. Okay. There we go. Okay, that's better. Maybe we'll see. Everybody hear me?
Yeah. Good. All right. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share with you all a little bit of what has happened this past summer, as well as I want to look ahead over the next 12 months. So, for those who may not be aware, summer cleaning starts by emptying
everything out of our classrooms, mostly into our hallways. This is followed by scrubbing our floors, remove the old floor finish, and then new wax is put down. This gives our rooms and hallways the wonderful shine that we see as our students returned in August. And now,
all this cleaning and beautifification is done with all our in-house custodial staff. and we get some assistance from some summer help that we hire. While the cleaning's happening, our maintenance staff take care of many other projects around the schools. Seen here is a new kitchenet they installed uh and a wall at ALT that's being
prepped for a new touchscreen TV. Here you can see Mount Horb's gym this summer that was half full of classroom furniture. All came from Central School as we relocated three full prek classrooms from Central over to Mount Horb. Then as we finished getting these items into their rooms, we had a section
break and our staff had to swap and move another group of entire classroom items across the school after the rooms had already been finished and teachers were setting up. Now, I'm going to change the tone a little bit here from work that kind of happens behind the scenes to some of the larger construction projects that were
completed this summer. Our buildings and grounds and transportation office had an old leaky roof that was removed. And new rolled roofing was installed on the flat sections with new metal roofing on all the pitched roofs along with
metal sophets and gutters to match. Woodland had a 30-year-old wheelchair lift that was no longer used that we removed after securing a permit to do so. We had brick repairs to do seen in the middle. We're still waiting on the custom railing to get installed. Um, and now we have a new ADA entrance kind of
hidden behind the little the little uh screens there on the right. Uh, that ADA entrance is now over by the flagpole and it has communication to our main office. New copers were installed at Central and Woodland as well as the board office and buildings and grounds. And that
completed our switch over to Canon copers district 1. We applied for the 2025 local recreational improvement grant through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Little bit of a tongue twister there, but this was to have new mulch
installed at the Mount Hora PreK playgrounds. We were awarded the full amount we put in for just over $21,000. And we're able to remove the old mulch, which as you see on the left, it actually turned into some pretty nice top soil. And then we had new border installed as
well as new mulch installed. Now, while we are planning to budget for parking lot replacements over the next few years, we're still maintaining our lots by filling potholes annually. As you see here, this is the light gray section. It's actually a mixture of aggregate and tar that we put down to fill in the potholes. But now, I want to talk about our
largest project from this past summer, our middle school science room renovations. These science rooms were original to the building, which makes them over 50 years old. We got started the last day of school with our custodians emptying and storing all the items that teacher had packed up in
these four classrooms. We made the decision to take two small adjoining rooms that had a folding wall between them and turn them into one larger room, but this required all new utilities. So, we had to start with cutting through the concrete floor. I
think the joke this summer was uh middle school stone hedge. And then we had to trench the ground as we continued to prepare the new space to be outfitted as a science room. And while most of the schools had furniture in the hallways, the middle school hallway had flooring protection
for almost all the summer. And why did we need floor protection? Well, not just the normal dust and debris from construction, but the mini excavator that they had to drive through our school and get into the courtyard so that they could tie in the sewer from the courtyard into the new room 11
with new plumbing as they prepared for concrete to be installed. By mid July, new cabinets were being delivered. There was actually three truckloads of cabinets. Installation started the very next day
right after it was after delivery. And three weeks into July, countertops are starting to go in. A ceiling installation also began. New rooftop HVAC units were craned onto the roof while multiple trades continued to work in the rooms just so we could
stick to our schedule. Two weeks before school starts and we're starting to get flooring installed. One week to go and we're right behind the contractors getting everything cleaned and shining before teachers return. It was down to the wire, but furniture
was moved in right as teachers returned to their rooms. And the teachers did a great job of organizing and putting the final touches on their rooms for the first day of school. Now, I want to transition over to some upcoming projects that we plan to start
this school year and this coming summer. Here they are listed out, and I'm going to give everyone a little more detail on these next slides. Interior corridor door replacement projects going to be happening at ALT, Mount Horb, and the middle school. We're currently out to bid. We bundled all these together with the hopes of getting
the best price due to the economy of scale. It's actually totaling out to almost 300 doors across the three schools. Just as we did central school recently, the new doors will be fire rated, have new hinges and other hardware.
And with this door replacement project, we plan to add new swipe access locks allowing staff to open interior doors with their ID badges. We'll then be budgeting to upgrade Central and Woodland School to these same swipe blocks so that we're consistent across the whole district. We're also out to bid right now for a
replacement PA system for Central School with Mount Hor being the next school and then the remainder of the district is planned all to be completed by the summer of 2027. We're also starting to upgrade cameras throughout the district. seen here are some examples of what's available and we're purchasing with our
technology department as they've partnered with Rhombus. Playgrounds are going to be replaced this coming summer at ALT and Woodland. We're currently working with a manufacturer that's helping us get student input by voting on a theme for the playground. Here are just two of
those themes that may be voted on. And then we'll be further voting as the students pick a structure for the playgrounds. And then we have our budgeted projects that are planned to start in June of 2026. Planning has already begun for all this construction. Uh this work will be
at Woodland getting new asphalt parking lot, sidewalk repairs around the building, adding a pedestrian crosswalk on Sterling Road, and adding restrooms near the main office. So, I'm going to leave you here with our mission statement from my department and open it up to any questions.
Does anybody on the board have any questions, comments? Nope. Looks like a lot of the stuff we went over. Thank you, Mr. P. Awesome. Yeah. So, I know the board knows this because they see through the finance committee,
but um just want to thank Mr. Pate and and please pass along our thanks to your department as well. Think for the general public's knowledge, we have a lot of skilled workers on our own staff who do a lot of this work in-house as opposed to us having to contract out for all of it, which allows so much to
happen. And Mr. P kind of he mentioned it, it's on the slide, but I think maybe gloss over the fact that we have referendum projects from the last public referendum, regular budgeted projects, plus all the ongoing day-to-day uh work. So, thank you to you and your team for
all that. Thank you. you. Okay, moving on through the agenda. There is uh no items for discussion. Next section is um external assignment readouts. I believe we have one of the
watching hill shared services regionalization study and that is Mr. Weinstein. Yes. Uh meeting took place on Thursday, September 25th. Um there's a final report that will be ready in a couple of weeks and then you can expect more uh in
terms of summary on that report in a uh November board meeting here in terms of readout and discussion. Thank you. Were there any other assignments readouts? No, I don't think so. Okay. Uh committee reports. So there was no meeting for curriculum and
technology. There was a meeting uh for finance operations and security on September 15th, but we'll have um Mrs. ZH do the readout in October. Uh personnel negotiations communications committee met on both August 25th and
September 24th. I will do that readout. Um, so the meeting on October uh August 25th, we discussed uh after hours communications and having an auto reply on messages sent to certificated staff between 6 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on
weekdays. So, uh, anybody who emails a staff member, they'll get an auto reply with what they can do in the interim, when they'll get a response. um and also on weekends. We have been discussing for a while the idea of community outreach uh in support of our communication
strategy goal. So in that meeting we talked about uh creating a list of local orgs and groups that we can connect board members to. I'll have a bigger update on that for the next meeting. Um, but we spoke about how a lot of these local orgs already are sort of connected
to the schools because they might have a lot of parents who are already familiar with uh what's going on in the district and then you have other uh groups like the senior uh organization that or the Lions Club or Elks Club that may be not as connected. So the kind of the
priorities of reach out and um and communicating with them. Um so that was what we talked about in the August 25th meeting. the September 24th personnel meeting, we continued the conversation around community outreach. Um, at the
last board meeting, we discussed, as we do every year, what are the board goals? Um, and we talked about this commitment that we have to engaging the broader community uh about our school updates. So, in that meeting, what we did was we said we think that we should have a goal
around this idea of community outreach. So, in the personnel committee meeting on September 24th, we talked about what that might look like, and the recommended goal is on the agenda for approval tonight. It's item A5. So, it says that each board member will participate in at least one community
outreach activity during the 202526 school year to strengthen two-way communication with the broader community. On Thursday, Dr. Mingle shared the spreadsheet that we've been working on through this committee um that lists dozens of community organizations and groups. And so the
third piece of homework for board members is to take a look at that list. Um it's pretty exhaustive. Uh if you notice any that are missing, if you scan through that list and you say, you know, we forgot one, email I'm going to say to you. Yep. Email Dr. Mingle if anything's
missing. And then the two things we want you to do is take a look at those groups and organizations that you may have a connection to, whether or not you know you're a member of them or you know somebody who is, and put your name in that column. There's two columns that
you'll see in the spreadsheet. And then the second column right next to it is your interest in representing the board at that organization or group. Um, so those are really the asks. Take a look at the spreadsheet. Look to see if any are missing. look to see if you have a
connection to any of those and then um put your name next to any of them that you would be interesting as serving as the representation from the board. You do not need to do anything yet. We're not saying go ahead and go rogue and schedule meetings and start the personnel committee will drive what that
might look like and messaging. Um, but we really at this point just want to get a sense of where board members have connections and where they already kind of have a network of people that, you know, in their social circles outside of of the board that they u would be
interested in representing. And we would like for you all to do that by October 10th. Um, because then the next personnel meeting, we'll we'll dig into that more to see where we have some some representation. And we also in the last uh personnel
meeting on that same September 24th meeting spoke about the personnel committee goals. So we have board goals and then we have committee goals. And we recommended just readopting the same personnel committee goals from last year
and that is item C15 on the agenda. Take a breather. Then there's planning for growth working group which I'll also you're all going to get tired of hearing from me. So the planning for uh growth working group met
on September 4th and September 22nd. Uh September 4th we uh the working group convened at ALT to continue discussions on the district's preschool program. The session followed up on information presented at the previous meeting and
focus on costs, program requirements, and long-term outcomes. Uh the director of special services, Molly Lang, and the preschool administrator at Melissa Solinsky, shared insights on what is required to operate the district district's special education programs, highlighting both state mandates and
district level needs. They were also able to provide valuable insights into the students educational journey from preschool through middle school and how those needs will change in the future. Members also toured special education classrooms to observe programming firsthand. That was September 4th.
September 22nd was um the planning for growth working group met and had just kind of a lot of follow-up Q&As's. Administration has done a really good job of connecting these meetings. So what what did you learn? What do you still have questions about? And then we take time at the next meeting to talk
through them. So we spent some time looking at the Q&A from the earlier September meeting. And then the bulk of that session was on reviewing current space usage. So a lot of what Mr. Pa just went through really digging into how our classrooms are set up, where
offices are, where specials take place, where how the cycling in the elementary schools impact space and usage um because that's really going to be important for this overall um growth uh you know scenario that we're that we're in as a district. Uh all of the meetings
and materials that we're covering in the in the in these meetings are available on the website. So anybody can, it's publicly available. You can take a look and follow along as we're going through this. Um, tomorrow there are people who volunteered to take a tour of our facilities. So that's happening
tomorrow. And then the next working session is scheduled for this Wednesday, October 1st. Okay. All right. This is the first opportunity for public commentary on agenda items
only. Um, for those of you I can't really see how many people are on Zoom, but we basically welcome about three minutes of any sort of commentary, questions, thoughts. Um, this is not intended to be a Q&A. So, it's really just speaking up, sharing your thoughts.
Uh, this is only for agenda items. There will be another opportunity later in the meeting for any topic. Um, so we will start in the room if anybody would like to. Okay. Uh, anybody on Zoom, if you want to use your raise the hand feature,
we'll give you a minute. If anybody on Zoom, is there anything for those five? Okay, there. Okay. Motion to close. Second. Okay. All in favor?
I. All opposed? Abstain. Okay. The first opportunity for public commentary is closed. Uh Dr. Mingle, do you have anything you want to call out on the items for board consideration?
Not tonight. Okay. Does any board member want to discuss an item or pull an item for a separate vote? No. Nope. Okay. Mr. Weinstein. Motion to approve items for board
consideration. A1 through A5. B1 through B16, C1 through C15, and D1. Second. Were you second, Scott? Yes. Yeah. Right. Without objection, I'll call the
role. Mrs. Dalton. Yes. Mrs. Granholm. Yes. Miss Keller. Yes. Mr. Mfetta? Yes. Mr. Otto? Yes. Mr. Mr. Valentino, yes. Mr. Weinstein, yes.
And that's it. Motions carry 70. There is no unfinished business. There's no new business. Uh, so now this is the second opportunity for public commentary. So, I just said it. I'm not going to restate it. Is there anybody in the room who would like to talk about um
anything doesn't have to be on the agenda? Mr. Broad speeds. State your name and address. Kevin Brozby's 8 Snider Road. Um, first I want to compliment the board and the district on the community outreach
efforts. Uh, I saw that you guys did a a meeting with the seniors club. I thought that was a great idea and I'm looking forward to seeing that continue. Um, I do have a um communication related item to raise with you guys. Um, I'll admit
it's not the most important thing you guys are ever going to deal with, but I I wanted to at least share it with you. Um, most of you are parents of students in the district, so maybe you can um appreciate what I'm sharing with you. Um,
I get a feeling lately that parents are being inundated with mass emails, mass school related emails throughout the day. Um, and just to illustrate this, I I wanted to just kind of give
you my day on September 16th. Um, 8:21 a.m. Middle School daily announcement. 8:59 a.m. middle school HIV presentation email. 10:50 a.m. school nurse medical
note reminder. Uh 11:44 a.m. Middle school picture day reminder. Uh 1:52 p.m. ALT security drill notice. 2:00 p.m. ALT PTO update. Um not saying that
none of the they all contain valuable information for sure. um all at different times of day. None of them seemingly time-sensitive and none of them seem to be terribly urgent or important. Um again, not to say that they're they have
no value. they have value. But what I'd like to suggest is considering some sort of communication policy that can consolidate um these email these you know various random uh emails to make it feel a
little bit less spammy. Um, you know, and I think it in some ways it may kind of counteract some of the community outreach and communication efforts that you guys are trying to put forth because if you guys are like me, you have I have
a tendency to once I start getting spam, like feeling like I'm being spammed, I ignore the communication. Um, and you know, you a lot of you guys know me. if I'm feeling that way about school district emails, I can't imagine what
other people feel like. Um, so again, not like a critically important thing for you guys to drop everything and focus on, but something to to consider. You know, maybe it's like a district policy. And again, like I know some of these are like PTO. They're coming from
different places, but maybe some kind of plan that ties these things together or like requires them to be sent at specific times if they're not timesensitive. That's it. Thank you. You does anybody on Zoom
want to provide public commentary? This can be on any It does not have to be on the agenda. Do I have a motion to close? Motion to close. Second. Public commentary. Second. So, we should do a voice vote on that
real quick. Okay. All in all in favor of closing public comment. I'm so sorry. Yeah. My first That's okay. I'm just helping you along. Sorry. All in all in favor? Opposed? Abstain.
Public comic. Second opportunity for public. Oh my god. Commentary is now closed. I'm going to drag this on. I'm going to drag the adjournment. Go ahead, Mr. Weinstein. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I
opposed abstensions. The motion is adjourned. Well, John, Laura, the motion is adjured. Oh, it's been a long You're good to Yeah. Thank you. Y good point, Kevin. Thank you for coming,
Kevin. Appreciate that.