##VIDEO ID:qct5MtP6H4o## e 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 12 2024 this notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in Township office sent to The Courier News and tap into Warren and filed with the Township Clerk of the town ship of Warren all in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of America to the repic Roll Call Mrs Dalton here Mr Desai Miss Keller here Mr moletta Mr Otto here Mr tour Mr Valentino here Mr Weinstein here Mrs Zan here we have a quum Miss Keller whereas the open public meetings act njsa 104-111 permits the Board of Education to meet in closed session to discuss certain matters now therefore be it resolved Board of Education adjourns to close session to discuss a matter rendered confidential by federal estate law a matter involving the purchase lease or acquisition of real property with public funds action will be taken upon return to public session the length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 30 minutes and be it further resolved the minutes of this quose session be made of it public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists do I have a second second all in favor I I opposed abstain the board is now in exec session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e she yeah letting you get yourself situated okay good motion to return to public session second all in favor I opposed abstain the board is back in Open session miss Keller resolve that the Board of Education approves the public and private session minutes of the September 16th 2024 board meeting do we have a second I gu roll call Mrs Dalton here miss kellerer yes Mr Otto yes Mr Valentino yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs on yes motion carries Dr mingle correspondence and information I have no correspondents to report on the Hib report we had four investigations in The District Two founded one at Mount horb and one at the middle school and two not founded one at Central School and one at Woodland School on the suspension report there were four independent suspensions one out of school and three that were a combo of in school and out of school so they show up on both t always there and that's it for that section okay thank you Dr mingle hello good evening and welcome to the October 28th Warren Board of Education meeting on behalf of the Board of Education I would like to thank the Warren Township youth commission for its Grant in the amount of $6,000 to be utilized for a team building conflict resolution program for sixth grade students the grant appears on tonight's agenda for approval as item B8 I would also like to draw attention to B9 which recommends for board approval a shared services agreement between the Warren and watching Hills High School boards and represents another example of cooperation and collaboration between the two districts also appearing on tonight's agenda is the acceptance of the retirement of our Mount hor of nurse Doris selli she will be missed and I wish her a wonderful retirement after her many years of service um big reminder on on November 4th now that's next Monday everybody the Warren Township School District will be holding two strategic planning sessions for community members to attend um that means the entire Warren Community not just the school community so whether you now or ever or never um had children in our schools you're still invited and welcome to participate and your involvement is very needed um you will be asked for your feedback about the current state of the district and the vision for the future sessions will be facilitated by expert Consultants who are gathering ideas from staff students and all of you out there in our community to advise the Warren Township Board of Education on the Strategic plan development the meetings on Monday the 4th take place at 1:15 in the afternoon that is during school being in session and if you choose that option you do need to bring identification and 6:30 in the evening morning information about these sessions are available on the town on the um District's website please please please spread the word um we'd really like to see representation from all key stakeholders in our community now I have a couple of really cool things I want to share so bear with me each year the most Innovative programs in New Jersey schools earn recognition in the New Jersey school boards association's annual School lead leader award program the school leader award showcases creative and effective programs that New Jersey schools are implementing to enhance student achievement now this year congratulations is due to the Warren Township school's Capstone experience the Warren Township school's Capstone experience is an Innovative educational program designed to engage students in critical thinking problem solving and realworld application ations of their learning the primary goals of the program are to encourage critical thinking and problem solving Foster collaboration and teamwork develop oral communication public speaking and media literacy skills and promote goal setting and personal accountability and it's a big ask and these kids knock it out of the park every year they provide students with the opportunities to Showcase their Knowledge and Skills through interdisciplinary projects focused on the United Nations sustainable development goals a set of universal goals that meet the Urgent environmental political and economic challenges facing our world focused on grades five and eight students have shown significant improvements in critical thinking problem solving and communication skills so congratulations are due to the administrators the teachers the students of our district who make the Capstone experience program happen and thank you to the New Jersey school boards Association for recognizing out of all the programs in the state of New Jersey that our Capstone project is one of the best and most Innovative so congratulations to all now I have something truly special annual ually the Dr Ernest L Boer outstanding educator award is presented by the NJ ASC to an educator who has made a major contribution to the field of education and who exemplifies the vision leadership qualities and the commitment to the Improvement of Education that characterized the career of Dr Boer Dr Ernest L Boer had a remarkable career that spanned four decades as one of the most articulate and well-reasoned voices in the history of American Education he was highly regarded as an instructor director educator and most influentially A Gifted leader whose impact on education has been formidable and Lasting as United States Commissioner of Education president of the Carnegie foundation for the achievement of teaching and Chancellor of the State University of New York Dr boer's profound influence of shaped and reformed National and international understanding of Education the award bearing his name serves to recognize and honor Dr boer's accomplishments Inspire the recipients to embrace the qualities and characteristics required to advance the profession and encourage other Educators to Aspire to make a difference in the education of Youth to shape a better future nominees for this award must be actively involved in the field of Education in the state of New Jersey demonstrate the vision the Courage the leadership and the commitment to Improvement of the educational system in the state of New Jersey that has resulted in the active promotion or adoption of fundamental change or changes in Statewide policy and or practices in the field of education they must be a person whose contributions and reputation is widely known and respected in New Jersey and a person whose engaging and inspiring leadership motivates and impacts colleagues and Community the njcd annually receives many nominations for this prestigious honor and the list of past recipients is an impressive list of the most influential Educators in the state it is with profound honor that on behalf of the Warren Township Board of Education I congratulate this year's recipient of the Dr Ernest L Boer outstanding educator award our own Dr Matthew mingle superintendent remarks I like the parts where we recognize the students a lot better which we'll do in just a minute so thank you that for your kind words it's um it's an honor to be considered in the esteem of the people who have received that award before and I appreciate the board support for sure and and everybody in our community it's hard to then transition into my comments but I just want to reiterate a couple of things that Mrs Z shared tonight uh first the Strategic planning Community input sessions uh as Mrs Z mentioned November 4th if you're looking to to RSVP which is not required in advance but if you are looking to rsup tinyurl.com waren strategic 114 that's very easy to get on the website and also to to reiterate and congratulate all of our staff and students involved in the Capstone experience uh Mr Kim couldn't be here tonight but under his leadership and many others that's really been something that we've been proud of uh going back to 2018 and so we're happy to see it recognized by the New Jersey school boards Association I think that's it for me for right now okay then um we do have um two presentations listed only one of which is proceeding tonight that's the second one and I will turn that over to who am I turning turn over to Mr V I'm going to turn that over to Mr Val uh good evening Dr mingle members of the board thanks for having us here tonight in a moment I'm gonna bring up and introduce uh K finina who is the representative of the American Heart Association uh in total we have a great story to share with you tonight something that um just we watched happen last year unfold here within the school for a student who's brand new to us Brendan bisav who came to us from Hillsboro with an idea and he said I want to raise money for the American Heart Association and he partnered with Lisa lantai and our student government to to create this experience uh and it just wound up being absolutely spectacular for for him for sgaa and for the whole school uh in terms of the net result of what occurred um so I'm going to actually have Katie come up now and uh do thing perfect timing I thought that the doors were locked so I was patiently waiting to get in um let me see I could lower this a little bit or take it off you know what I will take it off because this is what I do during the assemblies well good evening I want to thank you all for allowing me to be here with you tonight um like principal V said I'm Katie finina with the American Heart Association I'm the local representative for our school engagement team um and to kind of recap what principal Valar had said and what led us to this moment here at the beginning of the year nurse lantai and um Brandon student here at Warren Middle School reached out to me in hopes of bringing a new and exciting program to the school where we could also Spotlight and highlight one of the amazing teachers here who had undergone a heart transplant while also promoting heart health within the school Community we met a few times to discuss and kind of plan out what we wanted this program to be and what we wanted to look at like at this Middle School um it was through the American Heart Challenge and under the guidance of nurse lantai and the student government Association that Warren middle school students were able to learn valuable skills related to maintaining healthy bodies and also the importance of handson CPR this program not only provided assistance and Essential Knowledge around mind body and heart health but it also empowered the students and the families to learn how to take action in an emergency unfortunately there is a lot of Statistics out there that are quite alarming um nine out of 10 individuals who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital will not survive and with that we find that the statistic of individuals who are willing to help in those situations is only at about 35% the number is increasing but it's still less than half of those out there in the United States through this initiative we reached over 220 families to provide them with heart healthy information upon registering not only that but 18 families learned the life-saving skill of hands only CPR we know that it's not just one or two individuals living in the household and so not that number is much higher than 18 um we're extremely grateful to those who did learn it because we know that those might be some families that have already learned that skill and they're now relearning it and retraining themselves and for other families that's something brand new to their household with that being said I'd like to thank the entire Warren Middle School team principal Valar and vice principal Men singer for saying yes to this program and helping us build a nation of Lifes Savers a huge thank you to nurse lantai and to the student go government Association for their hard work and dedication and to Brandon V for leading the way and suggesting that this program be implemented at the middle school level I'd like to present the entire Warren Middle School team with this award as just a few weeks ago I know that some of them were able to join us on our virtual call but they were nationally recognized as the American Heart challenge rookie of the year year on top of that Warren Middle School placed number six in the region as one of the top American Heart challenge schools raising over $188,500 for the American Heart Association and that is a result of the entire School community so congratulations principal Valar um vice principal men singer nurse lonai Brandon V and the student government Association for being recognized as the Rookie of the Year I have sorry I have just a two more minutes because there is someone here that's special to the American Heart Association so just one more award to present despite being the newest addition to the team to the Middle School Community this past year Brandon quickly made his presence known through his passion for making a positive impact on the lives of those around him with the American Heart Association holding a special place in his heart Brandon who was no stranger to his organization's annual American Heart challenge having participated in the event in Hillsboro determined to bring this amazing and meaningful initiative to his new school Brandon wasted no time reaching out to nurse lantai and getting that going in the beginning of the school year and he was able to successfully introduce it to his peers during the 2023 2024 school year recognizing the importance of this cause Brandon went above and beyond personally reaching out to everyone he knows and encouraging them to participate whether it was through just awareness or financial contributions to the challenge his tireless dedication over the years to raising awareness and garnering support for the AHA does not go unnoticed in fact this is not the first time Brandon has been honored for his exceptional work as he had previously received the same award the year prior at his Intermediate School in Hillsboro this Middle School Community is truly fortunate to have a student like Brandon whose passion leadership and selflessness continue to set and inspiring example for all those around him Brandon I would like to invite you and your family up here because you guys and again this was a national recognition he was recognized as being the top American Heart challenge student in the entire nation so congratulations Brandon pictures um we could do it you've got the screen right behind you guys so maybe we let's find a different location maybe in front of the yeah yeah exactly right there yeah much better and did you get pictures of the middle school team also with nurse LTI Mr and know yeah yes exactly volunteers as a final remark on the experience that they all went through last year each year the student government would pick something fundraising cause that they felt was important in a good year if we raised between $4 and $6,000 we were very pleased with the results so to have this this quantity of money raised by someone who's brand new to us didn't know the school community and just absolutely come in and have a a huge impact on us we've learned a lot from it we're forever in brendon's dead so thank you wonderful just all the amazing things that all our kids do and our professionals do and our administrators and our nurses um thank you really really proud of you guys um we do not have anything on for discussion this evening everyone is more than welcome to stay and no one's required to so just say so we're going to move directly to committee reports um thank you very much congratulations for your hard work very inspiring okay chance to get out we will not have a report on curriculum and Technology this evening that will be carried to the next meeting so Finance operations and security committee met Monday October 7th um the uh committee focused a considerable amount of time on discussions regarding property uh potential property acquisition the committee discussed the need for additional space due to anticipated student enrollment increases and other specialized student needs and strategies for addressing that need um the committee also discussed the impact of the 2025 Health Care rates there will be a December or January update on those rates once open enrollment has been completed we discussed the um ongoing uh talks about a crosswalk across from Woodland School um and the township engineer is pricing the project and there will be a follow-up meeting regarding cost sharing Dr mingle provided an update on District security procedures and the committee um uh agreed that Communications regarding the referendum next year here would be handled by the Personnel um and Communications committee and that is all the next meeting is the 11th of November moving on to Personnel negotiations and Communications committee Miss Kelly yep the committee met on October 7th the bulk of the agenda was focused on what Mrs Zan just alluded to Communications around several key initiatives that we have going on in the district um that we want to make sure the public is aware of so the first and for for most is strategic planning which Mrs Z covered in her uh opening um that is the the initiative that helps plan the next five years um there is a series of community workshops being held on November 4th there will be um some additional opportunities for public input after that but we want to make sure that we are uh doing a good job of making sure that we're communicating that out to the public uh again what Mrs Z just mentioned the second big initiative is the zero debt referendum for Capital Improvement projects um and then our ongoing needs to address growth and potential gaps in our facilit facilities that we anticipate having as our enrollment increases um so those are sort of the core three that we know we need to have some um good focusing on in terms of communications out to the public um we also discuss the importance of making sure that not only parents and family members of households of kids in the district are aware what's going on but also people who may never had kids in the district who still live here who also will care about you know future decisions um and then we briefly spoke about uh District events and board member attendance at them and the different schools um this came up during the board retreat conversation at the August board meeting and the committee suggested that having a single list of all the events that board members may be interested in attending having that uh for all the events that happen throughout the year would be a good way to make the different board members aware of what's going on thank you Miss Keller um that completes committee reports um we are now moving on to the first opportunity for public commentary this is the first of two such opportunities I ask that anyone interested in addressing the board please raise their hand or use the raise your hand feature on Zoom each speaker is asked to limit their comments to 3 minutes please begin your comments by stating your name and address and by directing your comments comments to the presiding officer that's me please know that the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the Public Public commentary is intended as an opportunity for the board to receive such input but it is not intended as a Q&A session following public commentary if appropriate the presiding officer or the superintendent May provide some response for this first opportunity we ask that your comments be limited to items that appear on tonight's agenda there will be a second comment opportunity for all other comments later in the meeting so looking first to the audience do we have anyone present who would like to address the board on agenda items can see none do we have anyone in our Zoom audience that would like to address the board on agenda items see none do I have a motion to close motion to close the first opportunity for public commentary second second all in favor I opposed abstained the first opportunity for public commentary is now closed moving on to agenda items Dr mingle the only thing excuse me it's not on the business agenda but just for the benefit of the public uh this the student achievement report which was on tonight's agenda has been present provided to the Board of Education it will be publicly presented at the November 18th board meeting I don't have any comments on business items okay does any board member have any item for board consideration that they wish to PLL for discussion or a separate vote seeing none Miss Keller motion to approve items for board consideration A1 through A5 B1 through B10 C1 through C20 and D1 motion and roll call Mrs Dalton yes Miss CER yes Mr Otto yes Mr Valentino yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs Z yes motion carries we have no unfinished business or new business on tonight's agenda so we will move directly into the second opportunity for public commentary this is the second opportunity and it is open for to any topic you wish raise to the board's attend again I ask that you raise your hand or use the raise your hand feature on Zoom remember that comments are limited to 3 minutes and please state your name and address before beginning looking first to the room go to the um Podium please yes please yes and please um your name and address first please good evening my name is Nea can you hear me I can yes Patel I decide on 54 briwood Drive East uh my child goes to the younger child goes to the Mount orup School uh I just have a general this thing like U uh just on a general observation feel like uh at elementary school level uh isn't it we need to be really um uh focusing more on reading and writing uh I think I know that this this year we have been updated by parents that school is using some new curriculum for reading and writing but I do feel like if I just sit down and I my child is in a fourth grade is a fourth grader but still I don't see like he's in as an on an adequate standard of basic reading not reading I would say writing like if I just tell him to go and sit sit down and lay down yourself and write a decent uh for on any topic three paragraph or something I don't see that you know what you expect from a fourth grader does I don't see those results so I just would like to understand or want to emphasize is school is putting any more major efforts on improving those because Elementary is a very basic Foundation to you know and suddenly when they go to the Middle School the expectations are you know much more so I would like to understand the school strategy or the Board of Education okay thank you m Patel do we have anyone who else here yes please go to the podium thank you hi Kevin brby 8 snd Road um I've got a couple of topics I wanted to address that aren't on the agenda but you guys have touched on them in uh at least last month's meeting first is moving the board uh elections from November to April um um you know very cogn of and respectful of the I think good reasons to do that um but I also think that there are counterveiling reasons that I think are even stronger not to do that and I'd like you guys to consider them when you make your decision um first is uh fiscal responsibility um I've asked for the cost the projected cost of the uh the El I'm sorry the elections um I know Mr heagle is out and I haven't gotten a response I did read online a um an article that suggested that the cost could be up to $30,000 to do that for the sake of today's argument let's say it's half of that let's say it's $115,000 um my question would be isn't it better to spend that money on our children than moving the election to April um I'm sure and I certainly would hope that everybody on that day is could think of a boatload of things that that money could be spent on instead of a an a ail election um I don't know and I'd like you to ask yourself when you eventually vote on this and I all of you will because you'll all be here in January um could you explain to one of our students that you're going to spend $15,000 to move a Board of Education Election to April rather than spend it on something that would benefit them educationally um and I know it's a small fraction of the $50 million budget that we have a cynic might add ask if you're willing to waste $115,000 on that what else are you guys wasting money on I'm not quite that cynical but I would ask you to really think hard about the decision to spend that money I think it's an unnecessary expenditure and the money could be spent better um and I sat back in this room in March with the finance committee so I understand the financial constraints that this board is facing um and I would certainly suggest and submit that you guys should think hard about spending that money again I know it's not a lot second reason disrupting our school schedule um the moving the board election to April would present two options and I think it's a catch 22 for the board um option one is given the recent policy changes regarding um closing school on elections which I will tell you I personally disagree with and by all accounts the June primary election showed that it can be done safely while keeping schools open but that being put aside um it's a catch 22 either you have to close schools in April on the third Tuesday of April for for no valid reason I I know I'll wrap up although I'm gonna ask to come back um that's fine so uh unless you just want me to forego that um so you either got to close schools in April um and I think that based on the parents that I talked to everybody's sick of getting additional holidays at this point I think if we keep getting new days off we're going to have the kids in school on August 1 soon um so you either have to close schools or you have to um as was mentioned by Miss Zan I think it would be before school and after school hours and I think there's a real concern about um about red ucing voter turnout um and I don't think it's to our benefit now it was mentioned that it's expected that 10 to 20% of the citizens would actually show up to vote in an April election and that keeping that limiting the poll hours to before and after school would even further reduce that so I think when you guys are voting on this should really consider whether or not that's worth it um and then finally on this point I would also submit that we may be trying to solve a problem that really doesn't exist um this year this election next week we've got two seat we've got two incumbents that are going to be reelected one new board member last year we were three incumbents for three seats it's two it's two years ago the last time we had a contested election for the Board of Ed is this really worth it thank you Mr brzp you'll have another opportunity after Zoom if you want okay is there anybody on the zoom audience that would like to speak to any matter I'm not seeing any hands in our Zoom audience okay I'm going to go back to our inperson audience does anyone in person have an additional comment they'd like to make please go to the podium thank Kevin brby a SN Road thanks for letting me go over three minutes on the last one by the way um all right so second topic I wanted to talk about also not on the agenda um but I think it's probably one of the most important topics you guys are going to deal with in the next year or two maybe even sooner based on what I heard last last month is the proposal to expand uh preschool access and build an early childhood education center um I know that it really hasn't been up for public discussion it's it sounds like it might be in an early phase but it also sounded to me like it's at a even though it might be at an early phase it's also a very real thing that has to be dealt with because Dr mingle had said that we're going to learn in the coming weeks whether or not we get that that state funding and we're going to have to decide if we're going to take it and if we take it we're going to have to accommodate all three or four and four year olds in town for preschool um now obviously there are good reasons to to provide preschool access to to Children I'm not here to talk about that um I think it's a terrible idea I'm not going to sugarcoat that and those of you who know me know that I'm not much on sugar coating um I almost fell out of my chair when I was watching that video of last month's meeting because at one minute at 1 hour and 11 minutes into the meeting Dr mingle who I like by the way this isn't a shot at you and I know I'm only supposed to speak to Mrs on um uh 1 hour 11 minutes into the meeting um Dr mingle said that we cannot accommodate the students we expect to get in this District between now and 2035 and not more than not and not even two minutes later proposed building an early childhood education center that doesn't solve that problem um not only does it not solve that problem but it in it adds a host of increased problems that we're going to face and I think and what I want to do is I want to make sure and that you guys really really take this seriously because it's going to cost a ton of money um and I don't know that the public is going to be aware of that it's probably I'm going to guess it's probably the biggest capital expenditure that this District would make in decades um and again I recognize the benefits of providing early childhood education but do our taxpayers really have the appetite in the wallet for that um because it sounds to me like if we build this it doesn't solve the problem of over of increased enrollment at the schools and we're going to be here in a years from now you know two three four five years from now asking to build out the schools that we already have um I don't think it's a cost we should take lightly um I'm just going to throw out a couple and I listen I hope you guys have robust discussion about this I really do um and I would ask just a couple of questions that I hope you guys consider um you know do the constituents want this um why are we spending on some money on something that doesn't solve our current and projected facility problems given the Nationwide and Statewide teacher shortages is How likely is it that we'll be able to staff 20 new classrooms with quality teachers um are we doing and this isn't a shot but I you know I got to ask it are we doing such a great job educating our k through eight students that we can shift our Focus from that from excelling at that to now diluting our Focus to adding um early childhood education and I know we have it now but this would be a massive expansion of it and are we prepar prepared to put our current Community preschools out of business um which I think is something that maybe isn't at the Forefront of everybody's mind um thank you guys for indulging me I really appreciate it have a great night thank you Mr BRP um since we went back to the inperson uh one extra time I'll also give Zoom one extra shot here anybody on Zoom see none do I have a motion to close public commentary motion to close second all in favor opposed abstain second public commentary is now closed Dr mingle do you have any comments just a general um comment so all the public commentaries made tonight I think are the exact kinds of things we'll be talking about in strategic planning and I know one of the public commentators will be very active in that process but for anybody watching the video or anything else please come on November 4th if you can can and if you can't one thing we didn't say at the top of the meeting is there will be a survey for all community members those with and without children in the schools and staff and students actually uh after that date in early December so that we can get that kind of feedback from everybody because uh as you said Mr br's the whatever happens for the next five years in the district has to come out of that strategic planning process of what is it that the community believes are the highest priorities and as far as the the comments about um reading and writing if you haven't already spoken to your child's teacher I encourage you to start there um but I'll I'll shoot a message over there as well but we can connect offline as well thank you all right anyone else okay motion to adjourn second all in favor oppos abstain the board is now adjourned