flag United States of America stand Nation God indivisible withy and justice for all like hearing those little voices doing the
pledge sorry Callie um we're starting off with two um presentations tonight first we'll hear from the bell's chess club and then the future Educators program at the high school also wanted to mention before we begin that um items
20 21 and 20 sorry 21 22 and 23 on the finance agenda have been removed so I just wanted to make everyone aware of that any there are no other changes to the agenda other than that so with that Mr Gerson where's Mr Gerson oh there you
are if you would like to come up to the microphone I can't seem to forget the distance with this problem correct oh I'm sorry Dr Gerson now congrats sorry about that come on up come on up thank you to everyone for allowing
Bells the opportunity to honor our chess club which was part of the Str strategic games Club at the elementary schools led by Mr James Chow chess club offers students a unique opportunity to develop strategic
thinking and problem solving skills in an engaging and competitive environment chess requires higher order thinking skills such as analysis evaluation and logical reasoning which
seamlessly translate into the classroom Curriculum by participating in the club students enhance their ability to plan ahead recognize patterns and make informed decisions skills that are essential for success in math reading
and Beyond without further Ado I turn it over to the students and our chess master himself Mr James sha good evening everyone one of the kids or one of our
our students back out in the hallway when we were practicing asked me how long has Belle's chess club been around I said how long have I been teaching 21 years my first year Belle's school right out of college I had
nothing but I wasn't too afraid to ask parents for hand me- downs and one of the things I asked parents was if you had any games at home you'd like to volunteer for or volunteer to give up to our classroom um I be more than welcome to accept it one of my students I'll
mention his name he's 30 years old now um named Joe he brought in a chess set I said oh you play chess I said yes I was teaching fourth grade at the time he said but I have no one to play with I said well I'll play with you so
one of the days when we couldn't go outside on a rainy day we started playing chess other students in my classroom they wanted to know how to play chess then pretty soon I taught my class how to play then the other kids in in the other classes started asking
about it I went to rpto my first year at Bell School 21 years ago and I said to our PTO and our principal at that time I said we need a chess club I sent out permission slips only for fourth and fifth graders within a week I'd gotten back 70
responses so that's how Bell's chess club started and it was started by a single student and so I often tell them I said one student can make a difference since then Bell school has offered chess club to second to fifth graders this year we
have 146 students in Bell's chess club and our numbers continue to stay at that level I will tell you the thing though I'm most proud of and our students here they're each going to come up and tell you one thing about
chess club one of the things I'm most proud of is the comaraderie and the team work they play for themselves but they play for each other I'll give you an example I had a student who's now at the high school one of the best chess
players I ever had at one of our tournaments he competed he won first place as he always did one of our third graders was crying he had lost all his matches he was with his mother he walks over to this third grader hands him his
first place Trophy and said I want you to keep this and then when I I said to him I said oh you really that was awesome you didn't have to do that he said no Mr choe I have a lot of trophies I just wanted him to have one that's what I'm talking about with
Belle's chess club I think that embodies our program more than any other anecdotal story I could tell you about the most important lesson though that these kids learn is life lessons
our life lessons I should say that we have a motto mistakes are a wonderful opportunity to learn not just on the chessboard but in life these students I would hope they walk out a chess club
not just as better chess players but as better people I'm proud to call myself the adviser and Coach I'm not a master I'm I'm proud to call myself the bell's chest best club adviser I have 11 students with me they're each going to
come up they've all brought trophies as you can see we enjoy a fine tradition of winning not just at at the local level but nationally so without further Ado I'll
hand it over to our first student Joseph Stephanie [Applause] hi my name is Joseph Stephanie and I'm a fifth grader I've been a member of Belle's chess club since I was in second
grade chess has taught me patience it has helped me to wait and [Applause] think hi my name is Landon Walsh and I am in fourth grade Bel chess club competes in tournaments not just in New Jersey but all over the country 2 years
ago I competed with bells at Nationals in Baltimore over 500 schools were there bells came in 10th place with the elementary [Applause]
schools my name is Chris Pig and I'm in fourth grade speaking of competitions Belle chess club competes every month at Princeton last time we came in first place and I won first place
[Applause] individually my name my name is Ryan Doo and I'm in fourth grade Bells also competes for a state championship every year at Brookdale Community College last year Bells placed fifth place in the state of
New Jersey my name is Colton chano and I'm in fifth grade another great thing about chess club is that we are take are there for each other as a team yes we play for ourselves but we all try to make each other better too Al also we we try to boost team morale tournaments and play
with each other hi my name is kathen suas I'm in fifth grade and I've been in chess club for 4 years I've learned so much from being in chess Club one of the most important lessons I've learned is being able to think ahead I've learned to anticipate and think before
[Applause] doing hi my name is giat and I'm in third grade I Love b's chess club whenever we can't go outside for resar chess is a great activity to play inside I'm sure our teachers appreciate how
quiet we are [Applause] too hello my name is Mackenzie tumet and I'm in fifth grade I've been in chess club since 2 grade and I love it it has
helped me to learn that mistakes are a way to learn and grow we all make mistakes but if we learn from them we will become better um hi my name is Teddy Ortiz and I'm in fifth grade chess is my favorite activity because it helps me with problem solving helps to see a problem
and find a way to solve [Applause] it my name is Kyla Skipper and I'm in my name is Kyla Skipper and I'm in fifth grade chess has taught me that no matter how bad something may seem there is
always a way to make it better there's always room for improvement and both of my sisters love chess and would want to stay and be a part of Belle's chess club [Applause] hi my name is Weston maiato and I'm in
fifth grade I'm so glad I came to Bell school because I get to be a part of the chess club we are proud to call ourselves students of the school and Bell's Bears how impressive were they huh are they fantastic and of course through the guidance from
James Cho Bell's Elementary chess club creates a love it creates a level of critical thinking and growth the skills students develop on the chessboard extend far beyond the game strengthening their academic abilities and preparing them for the future challenges as they
strategize adapt and problem solve they build a foundation for lifelong learning one move at a time congratulations BS come on back up certificates guys all right I'm going to read what the certificate says because they're all
the same for these great students um it says certificate of achievement the Washington Township Board of Education proudly recognizes that and your name has demonstrated exceptional skill dedication and sportsmanship in the bell's Elementary chess club your
passion for the game strategic thinking and commitment to personal growth have contributed to the success of the bell's chess club and we acknowledge your participation and accomplishment with great pride signed Dr Eric hibs and Julie cmle so Colton where are you come
on over great J Joseph Theodore [Applause] ke okay this one goes to Brody he's not
here today but we should still applaud [Applause] himada Christopher Ryan Landon Kila Miss McKenzie Kathleen and
Weston and Mr ch [Applause] if you'd like to take the kids in the hall for a photo um for the website they can just go you guys can all go through
that door and I just noticed everyone has chest swag LED shirts and stuff which is really cool actually thanks to Mr B over is that oh oh thank you D okay while they're um getting together we have another presentation with the
high school Mr Anderson and our future Educators is everybody right this is so excited you're going to love it [Music] all right so good evening everybody uh we were very happy to be here with Washington Township High School tonight
to talk about one of our very Stellar programs we have many amazing programs at Washington Township High School of which we are very very proud and we are very thankful to our faculty our staff and our support staff for doing such a great job to put these programs together and to support them so tonight we are
talking about something called future Educators all right are there Educators in the room many many Educators in the room and we are certainly excited to start that excitement with our students at the high school and we're doing so by having a program where students are have
the opportunity to have a class and they get to go on a field experience and the field experience is very rich so I'm going to go back a little ways I was principal of Whitman Elementary School for 9 years and I Believe Miss Mason you can correct me I believe we were your pilot school or one of your pilot schools the as we were getting it going
because I was always passionate about having students come in and and work with our with our youngest Learners and uh so the program has flourished and we have a presentation for you tonight we have our adviser Miss Mason and we also have a group of our students who are going to tell you a little bit about
this program we need teachers we always need great teachers we have many and we will need more as people continue on their careers and and we continue to educate you know the youth for the future so I'm going to turn things over to miss Mason for a presentation and of course to our amazing high school
students take it away hi my name is uh Britney Mason and I'm honored to be here today to share the impact and evolution of the future educator program what started as a program primarily focused on preparing students to become classroom teachers almost 10 years ago um has grown into a
dynamic student- centered initiative that guide students towards the many different Pathways of Education whether it's teaching counseling Speech Pathology admin educational policy this program equips future Educators with the skills knowledge and experiences needed
to shape the Next Generation since I've designed this course to be fully student centered I've brought some of the future Educators this year with me tonight so that they can show you firsthand what we do in class and I'm excited for you to see their passion creativity and dedication to the field of education and
shout out to our previous future ed students that I see as teachers in the district which is awesome all right right program overview the future educator class is the final step in the early childhood Academy pathway this
class allows students to explore what it's like to be an educator examining educational philosophies deepening the students knowledge of planning lessons observing classrooms or practicing teaching skills this curriculum aligns with Stockton University's Pathways to education course students have the
opportunity to receive four college credits from Stockton University our learning goals we explore diverse careers in education various educational philosophies and Global education systems we experience various
teaching methodologies clashroom models and best practices by participating in real world classroom experience and we reflect and examine experiences goals to develop a teaching philosophy that prioritizes empathy inclusivity and
lifelong learning exploring through problem-based learning activities student centered instruction and expert testimonials and providing educational background knowledge students are given the opportunity to explore various Fields within education learning opportunity
examples include research colleges and University programs and requirements tracing significant historical legislation Trends and statistics in education conducting research of various Count's Educational Systems and creating and presenting lessons on various types
of educational philosophies experience along with exploring various Pathways into education students are proving many way many opportunities for real world application learning opport examples include one-on-one interviews with educational professionals education
Roundtable discussions classroom observation guest speakers q&as with District admin team and researching and immersing students in New Jersey school report card data so just some about our district field experience so future educator students must complete a 30-day field
experience in a district school prek through 12th grade during the school day replacing their regular course schedule this allows for Hands-On teaching practice like cooperating with working with the cooperating teacher observing the classroom procedures assisting with instruction creating materials and
delivering at least one lesson all while applying our coursework in real world settings by the end of our experience we will have a portfolio built based off of a series of assignments that we complete throughout our experience this serves as a valuable resource for college applications or even just as something
to look back to in the future throughout our future Educators program in our field experience we have 33 students representing every District school a teacher testimony says thank you for allowing that students to be a part of my classroom this is a great opportunity for students to get a
glimpse of what it's actually like I love this experience for our students thank you for letting me be a part of it and a student testimony says I had no idea I had no idea I would enjoy teaching as much as I do there are rarely a chance that you get to apply everything that you learn in a classroom in real life setting it makes the
learning so much more meaningful after our field experience we will reflect on our growth by analyzing classroom observations instructional strategies and personal development we also connect our Hands-On experiences to course materials deepening our understanding of educational theories
and practices some learning opportunity examples are portfolio assignments creating a professional resume and reviewing educational law policies and current trends the future educator program offers numerous real world applications students develop valuable transferal
skills that benefit them even if they choose a path outside of Education as a student who can't decide what they want to do after high school after college um no matter what I choose I will take the skills I learned from this experience and carry them with me here are just some examples of the skills I've learned
during this time communication and collaboration public speaking working with the community/ parents in building a strong resume and portfolio professional and personal growth resilience problem solving empathy inclusivity and professionalism in diverse educational settings time and
task management organization and time management to balance responsibilities effectively hi my name is Anna bchi I'm at Bunker Hill Middle School with Miss westerby's 8th grade math class and Miss westerby's class so far has been very insightful she has taught me her tips
and tricks on how she keeps her students engaged in what she's teaching she has showed me how teachers never really get a break during the day how they're constantly running around and preparing for the rest of the day or the day to come by observing Miss Westbury I've seen firsthand how much teachers care
for their students by her reminding her students about assignments staying after to help students and by creating a classroom with an inclusive environment my name is K gregoria and I'm at Bell's Elementary School with Mr Cho he just talked a few minutes ago and some of the students who are actually up
here know me as Miss Kaye um he teaches fifth grade and not only has this experience been completely full circle for me because I had Mr Cho when I was just a fifth grader at Bells and um I've done a lot of observing so far and I have already gained such valuable
Insight in such a short period of time of the qualities that make an effective educator this experience has given me a deeper understanding of what a classroom is supposed to look like what how a teacher is supposed to be how things are supposed to run I'm already so beyond
inspired and something that I've already held very close to me is just seeing the impact a teacher has firsthand on a student whether that's a change in a mood or going from not understanding something to understanding something I it's just completely eye opening and
inspiring and I want to thank Miss Mason for giving me the opportunity to have like to be a part of this cuz it's such a great program and yeah thank you hi I'm Annabelle cigliano I am at Orchard Valley Middle School with Miss
campanini in her seventh and eighth grade classes and I also had her for 3 years when I went to Orchard Valley so I have loved every second of my field experience from the first day I walked in and was introduced I remember one of the students saying OMG I like her which
may seem small but honestly it meant the world to me I love being in a choir class because one I love music and two I love seeing the students in their element you can tell that the choir room is a safe space for them where they are free to exist without pressures or limits my favorite day that I observed was singing Valentine's Day a select
group of choir students sold Valentines at $2 each and would go into classes to sing a 30second excerpt of a love song for whomever it was purchased for this was a huge fundraiser and promo for the choir program and the kids had a blast I can't wait to see what this experience has in store for me and I'm truly
thankful to miss Mason for the opportunity hi my name is Arabella sacko I'm at bires elementary school with Miss Fuller and Miss mallard's first grade class I had Miss Fuller when I was in second grade my field experience has truly deepen my understanding of the teacher teaching profession I've gained a strong appreciation for teachers
workload and efficiency and I'm grateful for the chance to assess working one-on-one with students I've tailored my approach to their individual interests connecting on a writing assignment with a student for um the passion for their fire stickets I was told to go and make sure he was on task
and he was really just having a hard time like getting to figure out what he wanted to write about and I had asked him what makes him ex excited and he told me that he was really excited when he got these Flyers tickets so it's really cool to get be able to get that out of him and have him start working um it sparked hit their creativity and
willingness to start working observing the entire class has highlighted the students individual creativities and thinking this experience has broadened my understanding of teaching and increased my my appreciation for the profession hi my name is giovana DeVito I'm at herel elementary school and I've
had the opportunity to work with two classrooms I'm in Miss Babino and Miss aio's fifth grade ELA classroom and I'm also part of Miss gak's ER classroom um if you see the pictures up there I had all the students in Miss gak's room pick their favorite spot in the room and their Emoji they used to cover their
face so that that was all their decision by the way um so up to this point in my experience at herel elementary school I've gain learned numerous valuable lessons I've been able to gain A New Perspective on what it's like to be in a classroom and a new appreciation for the student teacher connection from the teachers view in my fifth grade
classroom they are piloting piloting a new curriculum so it's a lot of observing for me and I've been taking lots of notes um and in my downtime I've had the opportunity to be a part of Miss gak's Elementary ER class this class has opened to my eyes to exactly what I want to pursue After High School in this
environment I've watched students learn to identify and understand their emotions and I've had the ability to make and have the ability to make decisions on their own I know that many things in this class will stick with me throughout college and my career things like zones of Regulation special rooms when the students feel that they need an area to focus or to calm down and their
reward charts where students complete their tasks and learn the system of rewards I've been able to W witness many different academic levels how these students are able to effortlessly work with the general education students and have I I have learned to insert myself into the students learning overall this program has given me so much and I
cannot wait to continue to learn and [Applause] grow hi I'm Janine spec and I am at Thomas Jefferson Elementary in Mr Ring's first grade classroom I had Mr ring as a
first grade teacher in his first ever class that he ever taught as a teacher so it's kind of you know a nice nice moment so my my um experience so far in this field experience has probably been
one of the best things I've ever done in my entire life I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher and this only has solidified it more for me I being able to see like the kids get excited when you come in the classroom and being able to see them learn new things every
day I'll come in one day and they'll just want to tell me everything that they learned if I wasn't there the day before and just be being able to create those bonds with the kids it's an undescribable feel feeling like I can't even I can't even explain it so I am beyond grateful for the opportunities
that I've had and I so excited for the rest of the field experience hi my name is Brianna Elliot I am following Mrs walls at orcher Valley Middle School she teaches sixth grade ELA special education during my field experience I gained valuable ins
into the classroom and deepen my understanding of Education I learned that all children have the potential to be great kids and it's the reactions to S situations that matter the most a highlight was when I was teaching a lesson on emotions where
students connected the material and realized it's okay to feel different emotions they also learned the importance of mental health and taking care of their emotional well-being this experience reinforced my belief in patience empathy and the need to adapt teaching methods to meet each
student's needs while fostering an inclusive and supporting learning enironment thank you so much lastly we just want to say thank you to the building principles cooperating teachers and secretaries at every school for warmly welcoming our future Educators your support guidance
and generosity have provided invaluable learning experiences that will shape their journey in education [Applause] we have certificates for all of you I'm just going to read the certificate and
then I'll read off your names it says the Washington Township Board of Education proudly acknowledges you in recognition of your exceptional dedication hard work and commitment to the Future Educators program at Washington Township High School your passion for Learning and future contributions to the field of Education are truly inspiring congratulations on
participating in this program and for taking the first step towards becoming a positive force in education your efforts are commendable we look forward to seeing the great impact you will make in the future presented February 25th 2025 Dr Eric Hib superintendent and Julie kmle Board of Education president so
Kaye Kaylee Kay Annabelle congratulations Arabella Brianna Janine Anna and Gia we also have a certificate for Mrs
Mason um it reads yes in recognition of your outstanding leadership and dedication as the leader of the future Educators program at Washington Township High School your guidance commitment and inspiration have played a key role in shaping the program's success and fostering the next generation of Educators your passion for education and
unwavering support for the participants have left a lasting impact on all involved we thank you for your exceptional contributions in leadership presented February 25th Dr Hibbs and Me Love You So if you'd like to go out in the hallway in front of the step and repeat for a photo that would be great and
thank you so much thank you thank you oky do um just a a really quick comment um as a retired teacher it really makes me feel really good inside to see that these
young people have the experience to work in a classroom see what goes on and maybe decide that's what they want to do it just made me feel really good inside thank you I just wanted to to
mention that anyone wishing to speak uh address the board you can take a yellow card from the corner if you haven't been here before they're in the corner there's pens over there and just if you could just give us your name and what you want to discuss the first public comment section which begins in a couple of minutes um is just for agenda items
and then there's a second comment section where you can talk about whatever you would like and there's a five minute timer so um next we have just open discussion items is there any discussion items okay um Mr dilia would you like to give
your report and excuse my voice it's coming and going thank you m thank you Miss kmle um just want to highlight a few things um first of all congratulations to Miss Mason's crew and Mr Cho's crew
everybody was outstanding thank you for everybody that came out tonight um also want to talk about we had a successful preschool Lottery on February 20th um I apologize for not having the ability to get everybody into into the preschool
but the lottery was successful and we were able to pull a lot of students and um it's a very robust program I want to make a special thank you to Mr pacina Miss Sims Miss McMahon Miss Sullivan and M and Miss Gerber for all the help they
gave us during that time um also want to highlight our uh Education Service professionals and teachers of the year uh tomorrow at the Town council meeting at 6: p.m. um Town Council has asked that um they honor them as well so a
handful of those that can make it will be there so if you're able and would like to celebrate um 6:00 tomorrow Town council meeting at the municipal building and then uh finally we'd like to highlight uh Mr
jedwabne um and as a basketball coach and students mateline Cole coralina benu and Olivia trebos they were uh published as uh we are Township leadership podcast uh number seven so they're on the
website now they're also on Spotify and on WTV uh they did a fantastic job uh Mr linstead and I finished filming yesterday our last um episodes we were at the high school yesterday talking to coach shatsman uh Calvin Spencer and um
coach fraction Mills and and their student and so um want to thank Mr linstead for all the help he gave us this year but please tune in every two weeks a new one will be released and there's 15 total episodes about a half hour piece so thank you to all those students and we'll do something at the
end of the year to celebrate all those students that were involved but that is my report for this evening thank you Miss kazmo thank you Mr destio any items for old business oh sorry I skipped correspondence can I get a motion to approve correspondence items
one and two second all in favor I I um can I have a motion to approve the minutes from January 7th January 21st and January 28th both um public and
executive motion second any discussion on this no we roll call this no okay I I'm I don't want to approve these because there's things in here that are are not correct so how do I do that if we're not roll calling it let can we just do a
roll call okay roll call M speaker we're roll calling the minutes January 7 January 21 January 28 do we need a discussion if there's an
issue with them uh I didn't remember seeing them on here until today so I haven't looked through them but the first few I looked through and there's incorrect information we could table it to next meeting we don't need to approve them right make a motion to table motion okay I make a motion to table them until
February motion second I already had a motion to roll call it though I know we send the motion to roll call and vote and the motion is to table them to the next meeting so that we have a chance to review them them or just is
there other particular I got through I I did not even see these on here until tonight I got through three of them and already found like wrong info so also a motion to amend you haven't had a chance to I I need more time I don't know I
guess so Steve you motion she just made a new motion so I'll motion her new motion because she resented the old one that so I'm going to motion her new motion yes thank I resed the roll call okayi I was
in a roll call okay and we're voting to table it until we can look at all of these okay okay am I am I nuts I don't remember seeing these on here yesterday like I read everything so I didn't I don't remember when they were maybe they were put up late and I just didn't have an opportunity to look at them more were
they put up late no oh that's me then I must have just not seen the attachments oh you did see them oh okay well I mean that I'm the only one that there question should wait so we have to roll call this to table yes roll call
please Mrs Baker I just want to double check what what everything under minute approval of minutes number four okay I mean number F letter F letter F still getting over the flu a month
later Mrs Baker you got it she said yes she didn't say it loud enough she the mic speaking to the mic Mrs Blom yes Mrs Clancy yes Miss Chilla absent
Mrs Hartong yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Serano yes Mr Ross yes Miss kazmo yes motion carries anyone have old business Julie K quick question yes um I just want to
make sure that we know exactly what our task is on that so we don't know what to correct if things need to be corrected I just need to read through them and send my corrections perfect but if anyone else has them obviously okay great items of old business anyone on the board have
an item they want to bring up no Okay can sure motion to open to the public so move second all in favor I I Randy Ford
good evening uh just three items the the first one no one uses their microphone I'm in the second row I can't hear it I'm sure people in the back can't hear it there's things being talked about resending
motions other things there's a microphone um I've asked a couple times it's it's really just people want to know what happens and we can't understand understand if there's a bunch of side conversations and things like that I don't know opma with respect to
side conversations while having a meeting but that's just I ask that please use your microphones um the second thing is those presentations were amazing but they started at
7:45 I know you have executive business before the meeting I understand you get here at 6 you spend a lot of hours it takes 2 minutes at 7:20 7:25 to adjourn come out of executive session if you
need to go back in have the elementary students come up present then they can go home cuz it's you know 8:25 I'm not saying that my kids go to bed before 9: but you know again just something the
meeting should start on time uh just the last thing is on agenda item I think it's N24 this is uh RFP 25-29 I went through all of the materials that were provided to the
public I would just ask that before everyone votes if there's some type of presentation there's a lot of hard costs in here what first year annual Services means um you know just all the numbers that are being involved because there was a lot of disparity or a lot of
different numbers um with respect to 14 million 16 million first year costs some had 500,000 some had 40 uh different percentages in terms of I guess the
amount of the projects financed so it's kind of difficult to understand what all that means just with that information so if there's a way to provide more information about that before voting on it uh that would be awesome so thank you again and have a great night thank you Mr Ford Miss weter is going to respond
about the um R RFP um the items on the agenda is for us to approve at this time um an energy services company which is a professional service um we have been going through an energy audit we've gone through the
process of um each building being walked and projects developed where um it would there would be an energy savings that um would help us pay back money that we would borrow for the projects it's a
it's a tax neutral borrowing um that so the next step in the process after doing the audits their preliminary audits now we work with our engineering professionals and the Energy Services Company to develop um a more
detailed plan a larger scale audit is done um once once we appoint the professional we actually work with the professional to develop more of a plan so the cost that you see mapped out is a preliminary plan of what they think that
they could do for us based on their assessment of our facilities once we pick um the Energy Services Company they work with us to develop um all the projects that we want to get done so all the projects are geared towards energy
saving so it would be um a lot of lighting projects that would do we could get HVAC work done to make um you know some of our units more efficient um you can also build in other projects that
you know would save energy just maybe not as as long term um as some of the HVAC and lighting um the some of the other costs let me just go to that that item so I can speak
to it okay okay um the total Finance project cost that again is an estimate based on the plan that they developed prior to having our input and doing the Fuller scale audit so right there a higher
number would be better um because the that's the number of projects that the company identified that could save us money um the hard the percentage of hard cost financed the the lowest number is the best um for us which is basically um
cost that we would pay professionals that would be outside of the Energy savings project um again this is going to fluctuate depending on what our final plan is um and you can see the company that's being selected is the second to
the lowest the percentage um that is listed there is insignificant based on um our interview with the companies the the last item also can vary it's the
first year annual services so that is um projects that they put together that can be done in the first year and provide the energy savings right away um again this is a competitive Contracting process so it's similar to
RFP um the uh proposals are accepted and we interviewed all four of these vendors along with our um insurance carrier I mean I'm sorry with our engineer um and ask them very detailed questions ranging from their experience
to other projects that they have other schools that they work with and then their specific plan for us and what it could be um after we get done with the audit and develop a fullscale plan and possibly include um options that are
available to us like solar projects um we could end up with up to $30 million in in Energy savings projects for the school anything else thank you missor okay April Ren
edti I'm going to try really hard to stay within my 5 minutes I know that's a problem for some um but if I don't I'm going to need to come back okay cuz I have a lot good evening Dr hibs and Board of Education I am here tonight as a taxpayer a Community member an
educator of almost 30 years a friend a colleague and the high school vice president for the wtea there is so much that needs to be discussed fixed and brought to light I'm going to do my very best to get through as much as I can in my a lotted time I'd like to begin with
what I call call the ripple effect Financial cuts the ripple effect safety the ripple effect the educational process and success of our students and the ripple effect at the board meeting last year specifically May 21st in the 1112 Auditorium I asked if the rumor was
true that the substitute service was being eliminated while your response was and I quote we are absolutely not cutting the subservice he didn't clarify or explain that while you're not cutting the service you were drastic Ally cutting and reducing how many Subs each
school would be limited to have semantics Dr Hibbs all classes will be housed in the RB Pac at the high school and a holding room at the middle level by the way has the communication gone home at the middle level that this is new practice if we are lucky there would
only be about three to five classes in the RB Pac at the high school however on any given day it is much more than that with typically only maybe three substitutes to man behavior bathroom usage and exit doors this is an accident waiting to happen let's not
forget the kids that will attempt to sneak out to leave the building I mean they are high school kids after all what would these parents be told if something happened to their child who couldn't remain in their classroom to work on their academics because you cut
substitutes when exactly are we going to be proactive instead of reactive a theme a question and a statement that I state every time I come to this Podium we are on the doorstep of major problems okay my favorite saying is
we're on fire no one cares how will you handle the parents and the community knowing this is one of the areas you cut to save money yet you are looking to gain a $20,000 merital we don't have a budget problem you have a priority
Problem the ripple effect since you came on board everyone you hired including non-unit employees have received aggressively High salaries and raises yet you cut programs and substitutes if money is that bad and if we are that broke if we have nothing as you desperately are trying to convince this
community how do you explain the exorbitant amount of salaries you have given out since you have been hired how does this board of education knowing that approve those salaries if we are in a so-called financial crisis it saddens me after being here for almost 30 years the people always wanted to be here
simply on our reputation alone no longer the case unfortunately teachers and families are now running out of here at rapid speed we appear to hire administrators with very little experience in the educational process and today's culture of kids resulting in
candidates not best suited for the jobs the ripple effect the educational process and the expectations of academic success have been drastically dropped who gives a floor of 50 for half a semester knowing full well that mathematically students at the high
school can do absolutely nothing for semester 2 and still pass the ripple effect we have students that are actually telling teachers at the high school I don't have to do anything nothing I'm good for the rest of the year thank you Dr Nathan for giving the already overworked teachers continual
discipline problems now to deal with the ripple effect by the way these problems do exist as I do come here and speak it I do come do not come here and speak in hypotheticals or assumptions but rather in facts I'm a valued member of the high
school community and to this District I am often looked at as a source of help by many my people are drowning and we are on fire you have given us a very unnecessary and unrealistic situation how does this get our students prepared for life and for the future it doesn't
you are setting them up for failure do nothing get nothing do nothing still pass it's not how the real world Works last week our liaison committee met with Dr hibs and his administration to go over issues in all of the buildings the WTA would like to know if those issues
are ever shared with the Board of Education Board of Education members are you aware of the issues the WTA brings to Dr Hibbs one of the issues brought to you because of your substitute Cuts was if there is a building that needs coverage but not enough Subs are available the IC
special education teacher is being pulled to cover those classes so your decision to cut substitutes is more important than a teacher providing services to our students which we are legally ban to provide and as our educational responsibility the ripple effect please do not devalue our worth
and our responsibility to our students we are on fire the changes you are making are not for the best educational purposes uh that was that was 5 minutes a sorry I'll come can I come back second yeah okay yes hold
on okay thank you happy to address some um Mr Anderson you want to come up and address at least the safety concern piece please thank you I'll be happy to address other other portions so uh in regard to the safety concern couple things so we were asked
to start uh consolidating our substitutes which we did and it began last year um we have done it a total of 12 days so far this year it's not a common occurrence uh we do the best that we can to make to work with what we have um I would say as far as safety concerns go we do have
administrators and teachers that go in and out all day and do check in um is it is the most ideal do I love it no but we're making it work to the best of our abilities and with the restrictions that we were given with the parameters we were given so any other questions any concerns
security wise I do not no I I feel like we're we're in and out of there enough to to thank you control it as best we can thank you Mr Anderson yes no I'm saying thank you I don't think that you should be need I don't really don't think you should be responding to this question and put you in a really bad
spot so I um thank you for your comments um Dr hibs as you know I have raised concerns about this issue and other board members have raised concerns about this issue and the fact that it's
done as a cost savings measure instead of in case of an emergency which is my understanding of how it should be used is a problem I think safety wise so can we look at another way to deal with this other than putting kids in a holding room you know sometimes up to 150 kids
with two adults that are substitutes and it's there are other ways we can save money other than that in my that's my opinion but I'll let you finish your response yeah sure um I mean board members I think you've received I think
at this point it's four times I responded did everybody get all of my responses all those times yes okay so um just you know I I I respond when when I'm asked to relate concerns um and I did you know that day
particularly on the 30th uh I received multiple emails from you I responded to the whole board I believe twice that day one at around 9:30 one at 8:23 I think at night uh letting you know that we had no safety concern so you know there's times for sure where
it's it's plausible to to bring people up to have conversations to ask their opinions and I think Mr Anderson is very suited to do that Mr Anderson was in the room that day um and Mr Anderson just with a nod three to five is is is
typical three to five classrooms that day was right in line with what we had correct gotcha um you know it's it's it's really no different in that way than an assembly so what we did and and just so everyone's clear and and Mr sendy can
certainly attest to this guys hold on Mr Sweeney can can certainly attest that I gave no order to cut substitutes what we did was is that we're taking a look at the amount of money we had budgeted for substitutes and we were when we're
looking long range we were going to have way less than what we needed so we had to do a stop Gap measure to try to save money that's what we did we did not sacrifice safety um to say that we're on fire I I absolutely do not agree with
that in any way shape or form nether to Mr Anderson in numerous conversations um you know I understand that people can have absolute opinions and I respect your right to have so I I think the administrators we've hired are are incredible people just like all the
staff we hire we try to hire the right kind of person um I know you mentioned the floor we are absolutely happy to assist with any teacher in this District if they're finding a child that's lacking motivation in that way to have personal conversations just reach out um
and we can have conversations happy to do that um the liaison concern that was shared with me um I will I will say my can my response and I you know we we safety and and supervision is Paramount
so we seek to pull any form of a special education teacher dead last and when we have to pull we try to pull fairly and appropriately uh but supervision trumps everything but we obviously try not to pull from special education classrooms
this Miller anything else you want to add to that um Dr Nathan is there anything you want to talk about with the floor thank you um just as far as um substitutes you know we really value being able to conduct professional
development know it's a learning organization all of us are always learning and growing in order to do that we have to be creative with solutions for having our students be able to um have asynchronous
assignments much like a study hall uh these strategies have been tried in other districts for years and and utilized um for years so they're not they're brand new here but they're not brand new um and the goal is that we're able to be able to have our students
have that substitute coverage so that we can have our professional development um and teachers of course have sick and personal time as well so you know looking for solutions that are going to keep our goals um clear and professional development being one of those main
goals in being able to conduct that um as far as the floor I have a lot of confidence in our staff I I saw the presentations tonight I see a lot of students who are highly motivated they don't want to just pass a class they want they want to get an A they want to
show colleges they want that dual credit um they're working hard and there are individuals who may be disengaged that's an opportunity to build a relationship we talked about with the grading team building strategies and toolkits that can help us with students who who feel
um that lack of motivation now and truly kind of digging into what strategies are available because I have faith in the talents of the teachers within this District to motivate all of our students and that's not an easy task and you heard from our future Educators already
valuing the challenges of the profession but I I know you change lives every day and if we can affect those um students who are now disaffected that that's a that's a great opportunity to help build our tool kits thank you thank you Dr Nathan
yes Dr hibs not to throw you a curle CU I didn't know this was going to be a discussion sure but if our admins have teaching certifications why can't they step in and sub during the day so admin would step in and sub if we
were at a level of absolute need in that moment devaluing what an administrator does is is not the administrative call in that moment um so that was that was not a call that I had to make in that moment if that was the
case then what what would have happened is a building principal would have called me directly like Mr Anderson and he would have he would have shared I am dramatically under staff today and I need help that did not happen uh in any way shape or form so that question was asked of me and you know I I explained
it multiple times that that poll what should happen in extraordinary circumstances that was not an extraordinary circumstance we were we were honestly trying to explore explore ways to still cover children and and
still save money on substitutes in that in that in that realm but it was it was framed as it was unsafe it was you know it was framed you know in a lot of ways you know I I asked for information on you know people that that specifically complained I was not provided that
information to reach out so you know I think I responded numerous times to the Board of Education I I know everyone said they received all of my correspondents whether you agree that's totally your call but it was they were fully informed well we were informed but we're not allowed to read anything from
the emails to the public but you know would you consider this I'm asking you now a cost-saving measure would you consider this a cost-saving measure sh yeah I I've already I I mean board members you already received my response on that correct just want to make sure
everyone has it so when I responded very in in in depth to all the board we were we are looking for cost-saving measures across the board that still that still supervise children and and that's exactly what we did there you know okay
for anyone you know to talk about you know whether or not a child is walking the hallway if you've ever walked in Township High School kids are walking the whole way all time so so I have I have full confidence you know and and Mr Anderson and I have had numerous
conversations about this um and you know there there were no security concerns in that moment you do not have to like the fact but it was an administrative call that that was made Dr jump in real quick too I I think
the one question that came up was why haven't uh community members at Middle School level um been notified of this because it hasn't happened at the middle school level that's news to me Valley yeah so that was not a direct of or conversation we've had at the
middle level so that's something we'll have to look at but that's news to me um at the high school level too you know Mr Anderson I think we have what 13 building based Subs that report daily um so we still are supplying a a good number of um Subs who are reporting
every single day to the Middle School in addition to other subs who were brought in um for daily purposes and you know as we talked about when we're looking at financial data from September to December last year compared to how much was spent September through December this year the the amount that we have
spent on Subs this year has been astronomically much higher than where we were at last year um so we're trying to be creative to find ways to save money but still Provide support but I just want to say too like causation and correlation are two different things and to miss Ren's point about the ripple
effect you have more needs for Subs because you have way more PD because they have way more technology that they need to learn it's not like they're just calling out of work for no reason they have to leave to do professional development as Dr Nathan stated so when you do that you need to know we need
more subs not we're putting the kids in the rbac to do this it's just as a parent I have a problem with this and I don't know if I'm allowed to say that I'm going to get ethics filed against me again I already have it now for bringing it up the first time um file away okay
Briana Elliot wait hold up okay can we finish the public comment too when when you guys were done in Z okay my personal opinion um coming from the teacher perspective um and I know I've had a
couple of discussions with Mr Sweeney which he's he's answered you know really wealth but my concern still is too many children not well supervised just personal opinion I got got just a question why is
it well go ahead thank you thank you um am I recognized Mr President yeah yes oh thank you sorry so just a couple comments I mean to think we're going to be able to keep doing the same thing we've been
doing for all the past years is not possible it doesn't take a genius to look at we are capped in how much revenue it can raise it is a 2% cap on taxes we know that that's approximately $ 1.8 to $1.9 million right if the governor lets us go higher we'll have
the ability to go higher if the board votes to increase above the cap but that's it we don't have any other way to make money the costs are going up and going up Transportation costs are going up salary raises all that stuff it's going to exceed 1.8 so the
administration has to come up with some creative ways to save money or we are going to cease to exist and cease to function some of them are going to work well some of them are not going to work well but we don't have a choice of doing things the same way that we always did and to say that the superintendent is
not being proactive he just went out and found a way to get us potentially $30 million that we weren't going to do before which is going to hopefully fix a lot of the capital needs that we have here um uh as far as not caring about
administrative salaries you know as a board member myself every time I vote on an administrative salary I asked the question how's this going to be funded and it's usually funded with the cut of another position so it's not like these things are just being added there's a lot going into this and there's a lot to
juggle but you can just look at any other District around in New Jersey they're all going through the same thing and we've got to get creative or this you know we got to figure out the best way to provide an education to the kids with what we have it's unfortunate but it's the reality of where we are I got I
just is it why is it devaluing to an administrator for them to roll up their sleeves in an emergent issue and step in to help the people that they're supposed to serve as Leaders I don't understand that that's the epitome of leadership I don't understand why you would why why
anyone would take that as being devalued [Applause] Rihanna Elliot and my student is standing here we can't every single day I am in the hallway you asked a question about administrators and what we do I am rolling my sleeves up every day I am out
there with my students taking care of I understand but I want to say that because I don't understand where that comment came from CU we're constantly constantly out in the public constantly that comment came from the superintendent who said it was devaluing to the administrators I mean n that's I
don't want to do it Ray I don't want to do it Ray please put a I have it so then that wouldn't apply to you that wouldn't apply to you it would apply to the administrators who feel devalued when they have to step into a classroom all right Steve so here's the answer the
answer is this you know if the call needed to be made and listen I have I understand that that everybody has opinions and I understand that everybody is is heated right now the reality is is that we have to focus on what's best for kids period individual decisions can
always be picked apart and not liked period right but we have to be respectful to each other so here is the answer what was that that's yeah I was in the middle of talking and actually talking about
respect in that moment so who is that that keeps interrupting I don't know but can we let this girl speak well I I I want to be able to finish but we're not going to have that so the reality is if it was an emergent need we would have pulled
administrators administrators all over this District work tirelessly 100% and you could see Mr Anderson's passion back there they do there's over 2100 children in in that high school and there is you know there's six administrators not counting supervisors that ensure that we
run effectively so had I had any supervision concerns I would have gone over to substitute a classroom we did not need it it is it is okay that you don't like the call that was the call sorry hi I'm a future educator um I'm
picking backing off of Mrs renetti as a former student from my sophomore year um as a student and as a member of the future educator program I really do see that the rbac is a problem and
um I so I go to orch Valley Middle School two to three days a week and our cafeteria alone is as just as bad yes honestly a little better it's
kind of sad to see because you would think younger kids would act out a little more but um so this past week I was in the RB Pac two days in a row and as a and I'm not in there as much but I
don't I don't really know but I have seen kids walking out and as a future educator I kind of wna I look around and I see is anyone going to do anything and I just stay seated um
the rpac really isn't a good learning environment because kids in general when there isn't a substitute they don't like to do the work and I will be honest I am a victim of that vot motivation isn't always
there but there are no Chargers no outlets in the rbac which is a key problem um they the seats aren't as you know not Everyone likes to seats are not comfortable but that's not really the point it's not a
good learning environment just because of us sitting in rows divided by classes isn't as great and I I'll see kids a period before and they won't be there the next period so it's all about
motivation but as a student in the future educator program I see that it is a very big problem and I feel like people were saying like kids want to reach for the A and the B and everything as a senior I've been in that school for
my whole life not like in the school district I've grown up with my friends I have seen the motivation decrease and decrease and decrease and as a senior I work a part-time job and I'm a future
educator as well so I don't have the motivation I go to Wawa every morning and get my big cup of coffee that's my motivation but that's not the point I do really see though that the RB Pac is a very big problem I physically can't
learn in there I can't focus on my assignments when a substitute is yelling across the room to a kid acting out and I see it and I can't do anything cuz I'm not a I'm not
staff but yeah thank you she said exactly what I was going to say oh okay I'm sorry I thought Callie wanted to speak what she said she was going to say exactly what you said um Connie did you want to go yeah I just I
just want to ask a question maybe that Dr hibs or someone kind of educate me on this I know uh each month there are a lot of transfers that occur uh in the b in the in the finance and uh when I'm
hearing that we didn't budget enough for substitutes um how come we're not doing a transfer putting more money in because if if if if the concern is the focus on kids that
they need to have someone in there and our substitutes are are educated people that uh you know provide an education and I'm just wondering if why that's not a priority if we don't have if we didn't budget enough money and it cost him more
why aren't we looking at doing an account transfer because we do that regularly now I could be wrong that's what I'm saying just educate me why we can't do that yeah and and Mr Sweeney when we did our
analysis it's not as if we didn't budget enough our costs from the the date ranges you talked about were going to exceed what we budgeted it's not as that we undercut what we thought we're just spending more than honestly what we planned correct sir correct and I'm just
looking at numbers here in front of me again you know comparisons from September to December of last year to where we were this year this year we were over I want to say at least I'm I'm just I didn't do the numbers exactly but over $80,000 more spent in that period this
year compared to last year so again trying to to be creative to to reduce those costs and yes it's professional development to a degree it's people are sick people have personal time people are on leaves and we're trying to fill those positions but know that it costs a lot of money I think and the answer to
Janine is that if we didn't have money in the account we would have transferred in correct yeah and so transferring is always an option but when you're looking at the shortfall that we are are the question is you know and we talk about it during the budget process years and
years of cutting and cutting and cutting there aren't lines that we know there's going to be excess every year so at this point in the year we can't sit back and go oh we're going to have a ton of money in that account and we're going to transfer it like those are the dollars
that we're talking about so then it becomes a matter of if there's nowhere else where there's additional money are we cutting a program in the middle year we trying to look for cost savings which is is is what's happening right now so I
think the best thing to do is to put this into committee now that we have committees back I haven't told everyone what committees they're on since last week but um because you're you are talk you're talking about priorities so I would say and you know I don't know if this would go into the business and finance committee that's where I would
put it or Student Activities and Personnel where Sean would be there but I don't want to keep putting administrators on the spot answering these questions I want to put it into committee and do it the right way and I want to address Mr Anderson because everyone up here respects Mr Anderson I don't even think Steve's comments were
directed at you and the administrators in your building we know you're drowning over there and we're trying to help you and and you know you had mentioned that it you're you're going to deal with whatever you're given and we're so I don't think that that was meant to say that you could be doing something more obviously you're you're doing what you
need to be doing so um and we just want to get you more support for that if anything so I'm sorry I had to gabble you but um that I just wanted to say that to you and address that like we know you're working hard we do know that yeah Ju Just One followup uh thank you
for that explanation um what I'm thinking you know during the course of the year there's one place that we do get money after we do the budget and that's in breakage and we know that there's there's breakage I
mean i' I've seen on the on the agendas people that are leaving and they're at the top of the guide maybe maybe the breakage money could go into the substitutes it's all about paying for teachers so you know
the breakage money there's breakage money there that was not budgeted in the budget maybe that's somewhere that we could look at just just throwing that out there yeah okay and just referring to breakage we've talked about this a number of times as well to we budget breakage so we during the budget process
in order to balance we reduce our salary lines anticipating the breakage so there really isn't any again and again years and years of cuts we have less and less left over at the end of every year so you'll see this year when we do our
budget we have less Surplus to budget which is a direct reduction of the revenue and that equals a cut on the appropriation side and just to jump in again we we've spent up as of January 1 we were
$86,000 more this year compared to last year so we are spending a lot of money on substitutes in grand total throughout the district J uh September through December it was over $1.7 million on Subs it's a it's a lot of money being put into Subs so to say that we're not
funding that it's not accurate do you do you categorize Sean um what someone is getting sub coverage for like is if it's for PD or sickness or P that filters through the the building administrator all right great we can analyze that in committee okay Michelle gon good evening um for those of you who
don't know me my name is Michelle gon um I will probably be part of that breakage this year uh after a very long time of teaching here in this District um haven't made my final decision yet uh but things are swaying me in that
direction so good evening Dr Hibbs and members of the board as a lifelong resident of Washington Township and a former three Sports student athlete at wths played with Mr Ross's daughter for some of those years I can confidently
say that I understand the dedication and perseverance required to achieve success after graduating from high school in 1986 and playing two division one sports in college thanks to my coaches and teachers at washhington Township in 1990
I graduated with my bachelor's degree upon graduation I pursued a career in advertising sales however I soon realized that Financial rewards alone were not fulfilling my true calling was in education leading me to become a special
education teacher at wths in 1997 I later earned a master's degree in Reading education which has been instrumental throughout my teaching career I feel truly blessed that my husband and I were able to build our lives here raising our three amazing
sons in the community we love and thank you Mr Cho for teaching all three of my sons to play chess my background in athletics and professional experiences has reinforced my belief in the importance of a structured fair and supporting learning
environment for all students I stand before you today sorry I am going to get upset but not just as a teacher but as an advocate for academic integrity and student accountability in my 28 years of
teaching I have witnessed countless policies come and go each with its own impact on teachers student learning and motivation however I must express my deep concern regarding two policies that
I believe are fundamentally detrimental to our students the lack of accountability for lateness and attention attendance and the egregious practice of implementing a 50 Floor grade in the second semester just today I had a student who
refused to do work and he said I quote it doesn't matter because I already passed all my classes for the year last week he told me he wasn't going to do anything major he said he will do regular stuff but but why would he bother doing a major assignment he went
as far to say that the grading policy is stupid this policy essentially enables a student who earns a 70 or above in the first semester to do absolutely no work in the second semester and still pass for the year think about that a student
can simply disengage refuse to complete assignments skip assessments and ignore instruction and yet still receive a passing grade of all the policies I've encountered this one presents the greatest challenges to effective teaching and
Student Success decisions like these should be made with a clear understanding of classroom dynamics and the real world consequences of academic and disciplinary leniency yet they are being created and implemented by individuals who do not
stand in front of students every day who do not experience the struggles of trying to engage already unmotivated learners and who do not see firsthand the message this sends to our students that effort responsibility and perseverance do not
matter we are effectively telling our students that they do not have to try that they can put in the bare minimum and still succeed we are removing the fundamental life lesson that hard work and dedication are necessary for achievement this is not just an issue of
grades it is an issue of character development of work ethic and of preparing students for the realities that will that they will face Beyond these walls Additionally the lack of accountability for lateness and attendance exasperates this problem if
students know they will pass regardless of their effort or presence why should they show up how can we as Educators instill discipline responsibility and a love of learning when the very structure that should support these values is being undone
I urge you to reconsider these policies with the input of those who see their effects firsthand teachers we need policies that Foster responsibility engagement and a true commitment of learning I ask you to listen to those of us who do this every
day and make the necessary changes before we lose an entire generation of students to apathy and entitlement and I want to thank Mr Anderson he has been more than supportive of me and all of our administrators quite honestly um I
just I don't I think we're disconnected I think somehow we've got to come together for these future Educators I see I'm looking around this room and I see my former students I see parents of my former students and I just
something's wrong something has to change it's not right the way it is it's not working the way it is thank you Michelle thank you Jerry tarashi how do you follow that let me begin if you don't mind by
addressing something that I heard Scott make reference to that the board is constantly looking for ways to save money raise money that's fine so then how is it Justified to give those additional
raises to so many administrators over here at Central why that doesn't make sense you're looking for money you're looking for ways to raise money and yet I keep seeing all the raises being issued to
those individuals I'm confused I was very proud at the beginning of this meeting this evening because I saw the Lans come up Having learned to play chess I love to play
chess to me it's like as a history person chess to me is like structuring a a battle in a war and making sure that you can kind of move in advance play the game three
moves in advance that is amazing what they're been able to accomplish then I see the future Educators come up and again my pride was like overwhelmed overwhelming for those of you who aren't
aware of it this is my 54th year of teaching 37 years in this District 17 in a prior District I would not trade it for anything in the world why because of what you saw
tonight because of the little people that came up and were part of that chess club because of the future Educators that's why I'm still in it after 54 years and I again would not trade that for anything in the world I would not
even dare to ask if there's anybody in the room that I had the opportunity to teach because I'd be embarrassed to be honest with you but I did come up here tonight to try to at least present some kind of positivity
I wanted to come up and thank the members of the Board of Education thank you for each of the following first eliminating the green Club at all six Elementary buildings which would have benefited our
children tremendously at a very minimal cost that would have been another group that maybe might be coming up here to receive recognition for their accomplishments I want to also
thank the board the administrators who made the decision to eliminate the newspaper Club at all six elementary schools again that would have benefited our children at a minimal cost I would
think the elimination last year through budget cuts of the intermural programs at our middle schools that would have benefited our kids as [Music] well and then we look at some of the Staffing
moves the counselors as an example who are now being asked to once again be site coordinators site testing coordinators a job which they were previously two years ago paid to
do now there's no funding for it all these things I thank you for we thank you for since it appears as though we were able to save the district sufficient funds to provide the board with the
ability to pay the additional monies for the superintendent achieving his goals worth and receiving bonuses of over $21,000 before the end of the school
year kind of reminds me of some things that other people have made reference to our grading policy where a young person in our school district can earn a 70 the first semester and do nothing for the rest of
the year and still pass for the year hopefully our superintendent now that he is at that point of achieving those goals will not take the same approach and do nothing for the remainder of the Year thank you
[Applause] oh go ahead Scott yeah since I was specifically called out there so the raises that I vote for as an
individual I ask a bunch of questions I do research I'm a numbers person and try to be common sense I'm going to get a whole bunch of snickering and comments for that but when you sit up here you have a responsibility to be fair to
everyone the raises I voted for for administrators were less than what was budgeted was less than averages I've seen of any of the other groups that were given uh raises and to say that we don't value
our admins and our um non-unit people I mean I don't think that that's right you and I voted my conscience on that and I'll stand by it uh the budget has to be looked at in totality I don't think you can look at it from one sliver
regarding Merit pay and I'm not going to speak specifically about our superintendent but in general that is a contracted item and we should be in the business of honoring our contracts especially when somebody fulfilled what
they were asked to do in a documented metric type goal so just that's it Terry sheer hi everybody um I was not prepared for some of the level of discourse this evening um I do want to thank everyone
who got up to speak all the Educators um the participants in the board um what I hear and observe as a non- educator um is a lot of passion and a lot of frustration on both sides I just wish it wasn't creating this adversarial
reaction I I understand people are doing what they can but I don't see that anything was really accomplished so far this evening unfortunately I had a couple things based on last meeting uh during the working session it was
brought up about pay school lunch problems and the negative balances I wanted to share my experiences there might be an issue with the vendor there um and the site not functioning I have set up the automatic refill for my student it's supposed to refund the
balance when it hits $5 that never happens um and I get no emails or notices so there there might be some issue with the vendor in that case I also was a participant a loser participant in the preschool Lottery
unfortunately did not work out for me um but as I watched anxiously as they drew all those numbers for the three-year-old spots uh I noticed a trend that I think there's an opportunity to pull the lottery app uh applicants about um all
the grenlock spots including the wait list was filled up before even like five seats in the Kindle location was filled up um so I think there's an opportunity to understand and and maybe it just happens to be the weird selection of the the wheel um but I think there's an opportunity to understand why families
were electing grenlock only which meant that they were like having their chance right so they if they selected gr loock only that meant they weren't going to accept a spot at Kindle um so I think that's an interesting result that I noticed while I was participating in the live and I think um emails went out to
participants who were selected um but I think there's an opportunity to pull parents who participate in the lottery to understand better um design the program going forward thanks thanks hermany thank you um some of the issues can't get
resolved tonight but we are putting them I have like a ticker list um we're putting them into committee so especially for the um kids that were here for the future Educators I know Mrs Mason gives them assignments where they have to watch our board meetings and I really want them to see us following up on this stuff so I do have a running
list okay and Nicole Ludi hi um you mentioned committees a couple times so I wanted to uh just speak briefly on that I was watching the board meeting from last week um I was completely baffled why most of you have
um voted to go back to committees over having a full board committee especially going into budget and after hearing all of the concerns tonight from these students and Educators um committees for this group
unfortunately um seems nothing but counterproductive and Shady um I'm not sure how many people continuously watch the board meetings but all you guys do is argue nobody trusts each other half of you have done Shady things to each
other and the district um if I sat on a board with this type of dynamic I would never trust um that any of you meet alone and then have the Integrity to bring it back to the superintendent or other board members without it being um
overshadowed or skewed in some way um there's been so much that came out tonight between students and Educators that they are the things that need to be talked about behind closed doors and especially
sitting up here that's where your conversation needs to go not arguing with each other um there's been so many wasted minutes and hours at these meetings blaming each other for things that you do to each
other in trying instead of trying to fix all of these problems at hand um how you're going to pay AIDS better how we're going to fix the problems that all of these Educators and even students are addressing your breath isn't going into
that and it's not just moving forward because they were addressed tonight this has been since last year um I'm really shocked that any of you how you feel about each other and knowing the dynamic with each other
voted to go back to committees after watching the way that you treat each other and the lack of respect and the lack of trust that you have in each other I would think that having committees private committees creates a pathway that leads to more problems it
opens the door to arguing more it's not transparent it is not trustworthy you're literally segregating yourself instead of making a conscious choice to work together in front of the public while everybody has a say and everybody
has an opinion when you have a committee with just three people what gets to the superintendent or what gets to the rest of the board may never get there if you want to be more open and you want to be more transparent and you want to address
everything that these people have been fighting for over and over and over I would think as a parent and a resident that having an open committee and having a full board discussion on these important topics is going to give you
the best result it's going to instill trust in each other where you're not going to have this one left me out of this conversation and this one did this behind my back and this committee met without us and that's all you spend these meetings doing is blaming each
other for what you weren't included included in and now you want to separate yourselves I I'm asking you that as a board it is reconsidered at this point until you can work better
together because there are some Hefty Hefty problems here in the district that need full attention they need Focus they need everything out of you to fix it and
from watching what is unfolded the past year I would think that the most transparent way to do that for us for them and for each other would be to have a full board committee instead of
private committees um and just a side note I really loved how Mr dilio last week talked about the hogy sale it's one of my most favorite um events this town does it is fantastic
um I know you guys all have your own opinion on Ron however I do think that every time there are thanku that go out about hogy sale it has to go back to the Cal project and whether you like it or not that was the root of it it's like telling Pete Rosie Can't Be In the Hall
of Fame he deserves a thank you and the Cal project deserves a thank you every single time nocole umie I'm gonna explain I need to explain committees to her first because she didn't she the entire all of your remarks were based on the premise
that these that these are like private meetings and they're not so let me just explain for the public the way committees worked for time in memorium you have these three standing committees it's an opportunity when we get together nine of us we have to publicize that it has to be an open meeting we have to
take public comment so by having a meeting of just four board members and administrators you're able to talk about ideas and then at the work session have that public conversation nothing has ever died in committee I guess things could but that never happens because the administrators can just continue to
bring it through but for for example let's so one committee is um Student Activities and communication and the type of stuff we would talk about in there were like you know like the equivalent like Mike dilio it used to be Katherine Carrey was the administrator the superintendent is in every single meeting the business administrator is in
the business meeting um HR is in the Student Activities meeting I mean there's more than one administrator in each of these meetings and it's a way to to get information earlier discuss it vet it out with the group and then have a work session where
you talk about it because there's there are a lot of I think in from my experience live working that way and now working at looking at the way things work now items are put on the agenda and like people are like can I talk about that can I talk about this because if it
affects Personnel or legal we can't talk about it so for instance if you're if somebody were to bring the sub idea you know cutting down the subs as a cost-saving measure to this body you know some of us might want to say well look at the P why we have so much PD that's why the teachers need to be out
of the classroom or you know is this a legal issue that conversation is completely shut down in public by him Ari because it's legal and it's HR whereas if you're in a small group with administrators you can ask those questions it's a first pass so it was
they were re they were implemented again as a way to get us more information earlier so that we can be educated so that when we talk in public we can have educated discussions and there's nothing to stop everybody gets the agenda for the committee meetings so like if I can't go to a meeting I can say hey you
guys are talking about this in IIA here are my comments and suggestions on that issue and that person brings it to the committee and that's always how it worked um and that's why we went back to that elain yeah I was just going to reiterate what you just said that there's always an administrator there
and that it's a chance to talk about about it and then bring it forth at the work session um and also if somebody can't make it somebody else can volunteer from another committee to sit in so it's not always the same people locked into a committee so you get more
more done rather than arguing I guess you want to say it's just a chance to talk maybe work better together learn to work better together which is something that we need to do that right there I think elain is like the soft um like one of the soft
skills that we we have when we had committees I mean people that typically didn't like each other in the past had to sit across from each other in a small room and talk about important issues they were forced to talk about the issues and you put these things aside and you also create relationships with
these people because let's face it when we're in public like this one person can derail a conversation one person can set things off and when you're in public I mean when you're in a committee like that and you're working with other people you think a little bit more about
do I really want to eviscerate this person in a public meeting when I just sat and talked to them about my dog and my kids and all these things in committee so it's just a better way I think to have more collegial conversations as Elaine stated so I'm just going to quote something that we used to always tell the kids in a
classroom you don't have to be best friends but you do have to learn to work together thank you Raymond was that's the last card I have by the way so some of my questions are related to this so I know you said we make budget
cuts to certain things um I'm just curious if we did budget cuts for like Central administration at all because it seems like we do a lot of cutting at the roots where it exists within the school district and our teachers our facilities and many other people that deserve a lot
more praise than just saying yes Central Administration administrators do that but the work gets done by teachers and make them get educated and help them so this is a comment to you guys so for those teachers who had me and everything else and so forth and everything else thank you and you deserve that praise because you got me somewhere that I
wanted to be at to be a educator a future educator in this District wanting to do things and make things better so thank you for that however my other question is is that we have on the agenda that there are requests
within um in finance and facilities and it is from 2122 23 um so what metrics are used for that to be rewarded because um that was never explained and honestly um is
it himself evaluating himself or is it you guys evaluating it to make sure of it because if he doesn't meet that why does he deserve it so that's a lot of things to be concerned with and I think that's why it should be addressed and figure out that so
yeah to to address add the the Miracles the three items under N I think they were 21 22 23 those were pulled you might have missed it earlier in the meeting uh the president pulled those there of board members to actually vote on it so it can't be dealt with tonight
that's going to be pulled that will be put on an agenda at a future meeting as far as the specific metrics we can't have that discussion in public they relate to Personnel items um as Scott mentioned earlier you know there are contract the superintendent has the contract there are goals that were were approved by the board that
were approved by the executive County Superintendent the board has the ability to review the evidence or the data provided and make and have those discussions and make their decisions we can't have that discussion discussion publicly unfortunately
though and I'll just T in when you look at Central admin too uh we eliminated two positions up here this year so far I think too and definitely one in the year prior uh three is what it's ringing my Bell right now but we we definitely
have okay can I have a motion to close to the public second second all in favor I I okay moving on to voting um can I have a motion to approve items 1 through three
under the report of the superintendent motion second who's second Ralph any discussion seeing none roll call please Mrs
Haron yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Ross Yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Clancy yes Miss
Chilla absent Miss Kaz yes motion carries nothing under instruction three items under policy for second reading District seeking approval of three policies eligibility of residents and non-resident students Food
Services and uh school security program can I get a motion to approve items one through three motion second any discussion yes Scott yeah so thanks for making the updates on uh number three I
think that that puts us in embarrass spot that we're pointing to an authoritative standard rather than specifying that ourselves on number one though policy 5111 uh I had a comment about the way that it read
regarding students that are transferring or moving out of the district mid year it to me reads as saying that we will definitively charge tuition for that I don't know if that's how everybody else reads it as well but and and if that's
our intent that we're going to charge every time do you read it is that or is the May up front does that mean that it's which page are you on for that page five five I think it's page five yeah it was supposed to be changed yeah
both CH may it changed the may but I think the way that the May is in there I don't know that it it says the board May approve it it but then we're going to charge like the May is to me referring to what the board approval may or may not approve so that you're talking about
a student who is in grade 12 and in their graduation year of the school and whose parent has moved away from the school district during that that that paragraph corre during the course of the school year may with board approval be permitted to finish the school year in school district with the payment of a uniform tuition amount as approved by the executive County Superintendent wait
I'm confused that's just senior privilege they they they've always paid for senior privilege no so this is making them pay for senior privilege that's what I'm that's what it sounds like do you think that that may I guess Ari from your legal opinion is that may mean
that it has flexibility or is it don't want Char Scott without policy is I responded to one of the emails that you and Sean sent me Sean was this that email yes so the word may
directly so Sean just so people could hear I I respond resped to the email that you guys wrote about this and the word may is used directly from the statute which is why ultimately I recommended that it remain in there yes statute uh ET 38-3 that you specifically use the word
may yeah but the do you feel that the may I see the may as having two connotations right the board may or may not approve the student to stay in the district for the remainder of the year right that's the first part the second part is whether or not they're going to
going to be charged I don't necessarily read that that may applies to that but you're I don't read that it applies to that either I read that they will be charged they will be Char read it right now yeah that's Scott what if we what if it said um be permitted to finish the school year in the school district with
with the option of a payment or can we just take that out it's in the statute though so we have to leave it in you're going to want you want to leave it in the policy right this could be I mean just pull it we'll take it take
it no it's a good pickup you want to put it in committee yeah 100% I think so yeah thank you that was a good if everybody agrees I think we should decide as a board what we want to do with that then make sure it reflects senior privilege is not something we want to go away well right I I don't think no I think we want I think the
question just is pull it and we'll get it get to you give them that option to stay but are they going to be charged or are they not going to be charged that's the question well and it's something to talk about whether or not we want to charge them like it's we do not charge now based on the way it's written they will be charged so yeah pull it in then
talk about it if you want to you got that Lori so we pulling it yes yeah okay so Revis oops revising the motion it's motion to approve items two and three tabling number one for second reading any other
discussion on the other two okay roll call please Mr Sano wait do I have to make a motion to she made a different motion you have to motion that new motion we're just roll calling it I just rev I just all right yes Mr Ross
Yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Clancy yes Mrs Chilla absent Mrs Haron yes Mr Li
Liberty yes Miss exle yes motion carries motion to approve items one and two under Student Activities and Communications District seeking approval of homeless Charter and Foster student placements and the spring athletic
schedules motion motion second second any discussion seeing none roll call Mr Ross Yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs bloom
yes Mrs Clancy yes Mrs Hartong yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Sano yes Miss kazmo yes motion carries under Human Resources can I have a motion to approve items one through
24 make a motion thank you Pat the second Ralph Ralph any discussion I have discussion I I have discussion under A5 the last the last
one um two two things uh this is asking for money for a a a person to go as a u i guess Advocate two questions is this it says the start date is
62225 and the end date is 6625 so it's a TI definitely yeah definitely not right we missed the two in front of the six Sean okay so it's 622 to
626 um the second question on that it it talks about the fact that we hosted the New Jersey state Lesbian Festival and several students qualified to go to Bloomington Indiana I'd like to know how
many students the ones that presented last week he said it last last week they were they presented it last week but I I don't recall I don't recall how many people that qualified Dr Nathan or Mr
Sweeney certainly get that to you or we could table that piece of it until you have it then then then the other question I have and solicitor will have to guide me on this with a situation like
that where teachers being pulled from a class would an administrator be able to go in that in that in that place how how how is the answer to that question is entirely on the administrator's contract so that's something I'd have to look at and then we could talk
about it's during a pretty pricey amount of money too it's after summer break starts so there won't be kids in the school June 22nd the kids are already out of school yes and I and I also believe too that without going in into
Personnel sometimes we want the person who leads that initiative to to go as opposed to just an administrator who doesn't directly lead that initiative so right now I can't get an answer on how many students we're talking about I mean I could message John if you want me to
and get an answer are we referring to how many students qualified for oring we're sending we're sending someone to chaperon to Bloomington Indiana and it talks about there were several students but it doesn't say how
many was it three was it 20 actually yeah it was less than 11 because only 11 students participated so it's less than 11 he said that last the last meeting if
you want us to pull that piece and get that information for you a good time it's yeah you want us to pull that pull that piece so we can get that information for you that's an easy question yeah I mean it's not so not till when June yeah that would I'd find that appropriate problem which item is
that what number was it well it's not a number it's just for some reason there's no numbers it's just and you can't go by initials because the one right above it is js2 well you're in the A5 though right A5 the last A5 the last one oh okay so
but the question about the students isn't anything on here this is just administrators this is just profession in it's in the body of the description the purpose that's what I'm trying to find oh okay so you're just it's not like we're voting on the kids to um pay I
just want to know okay all right how how many students are involved in this I'm just trying to see if we're pulling something from the agenda but we're not really it's just an inquiry just also are the are the students paying for this themselves the Bloomington Indiana r that 11 qualified 11 qualified
11 okay 11 pieces qualifi okay 11 okay 11 people qualified less than 11 kids going we can find out the rest of the information I I I just want to further clarify we do have a we do have an academy I think we should pull this piece pull this one and then let us get the
information and we'll bring it back through the committee okay okay thank you all right so that's fine go ahead go ahead that no that that's it that's the only one so on A5 the last item is coming off on the professional
development so you can vote Yes or no you don't have to give initials or anything right it's coming offs right yeah say the student is that a student or that no that's the teacher you have to say the name because there's no
number she use the initials FJ it's the last one on the agenda with ini but there is another person right above with the same initials that's fine but she's referencing the last person on the W okay well I already read it out
so so what uh the motion is to approve items 1 through 24 under um excuse me yeah 1 through 24 under HR
but on the in the A5 um the last item initials JS is coming off yes what Ralph that yeah it'll be back it'll be
back okay roll call please Mrs Baker um abstained to number four 8 and 10 yes to the rest abstain you're abstaining Connie to
number abstain to number four8 and 10 yes to the rush Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Clancy yes Mrs Hartong yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr
Serrano yes Mr Ross yes Miss kazmo yes motion carries thank you under finance and Facilities motion to approve items 1 through 20 and number 24 so move
second any who second Pat seconded it any discussion you said 1 through 20 and 24 right 21 22 and 23 were removed to be revisit visited at a later date any
discussion seeing non roll call Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Clancy yes Mrs arong yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Ross Yes Mrs Baker
yes Miss kazmo yes motion carries motion to approve items one and two under special ed motion second any discussion seeing none roll call Miss Clancy
yes Mrs Hartong yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Ross Yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Miss kazmo yes motion
carries negotiations yes so that that conclud clud the voting uh do we have any items of new business from anyone on the board I'm going to ask again yes I know that we were saying we were going to make wait until May for goals I just
don't think we should be waiting till May even if we have a special meeting goals are supposed to be part of what we're doing up here goals are supposed to be part of when we're saying yes to things as far as the district goals and
we've been without goals for much too long yeah so I did speak to our field service rep from New Jersey school boards and I expressed some of those concerns um because she is not available until May and she sent me and we were
supposed to have a conference call but I got stuck in a meeting at work um we're going to reschedule that it was supposed to be Monday um but she sent me like a board action goal plan that um we can we can work through everyone did send ideas
for goals so I have all of that in that document that we've been updating and I can put that in the board packet this week so that you can all look at it I cleaned it up um and so we can I mean I think this is a good plan she felt in Li of her coming that using this document
which I Al I'll also send you was a good way to get going with that okay and I also think that we shouldn't necessarily not have her in May but I'm sure there are a lot of other top topics that the board could use about MH I'm trying to
get her sooner than may but it doesn't look good we've always done goals when I've seen them before there hasn't been a rep here yeah and also we have to keep in mind too that the board goals and the district goals are different and then the superintendent has his goals and and his district goals so
what um and so some of what she was going to go into was that you know what is an appropriate board goal what is an appropriate District goal like some of the things that people submitted are great ideas but they're not appropriate board goals so that's what she's going to you know um help us work
through okay thank you any other items of new business okay can I have motion open to the public so moved second all in favor April renetti okay uh first and foremost Bri are you
still here I am so proud of you you're going to be amazing I'm very proud of you right very proud student 12 represented very proud I own that um getting back to where I left off
um in the past Dr Hibbs uh it has been said sometimes that the financial hole that we are in is on the past administration and how they cut and saved and try to cut and save and so on and so forth but since you have been here every person that you have hired you have hired at the very unnecessary very
aggressively high end of a salary guide how do you answer to that that claim we are in such Financial turmoil how does this board approve that Scott you just said that you vote appropriately your numbers guy we all have come to learn that however how are you okay with the salaries coming in on the high end of
the spectrum being in such dire Financial need there is nothing conservative cost-saving or budgetarily responsible about the money that is being spent on the administration of salaries coming out of this Administrative Building nothing non-unit employees were giving an absorbent
amount of raises meanwhile supervisors and principles have unsettled contracts support staff you're not settled yet correct right the teachers are getting ready to go into bargaining and I'm very nervous about that as well as being a member of the WTA negotiations team that
we will be too for a long time unsettled and without contract I'm sure morale is going to even get better with that however thanks to our friends at nja your numbers are wrong and I'll just leave it at that we get the cuts are a part of the workforce and we're expected
that to happen however you are spending unnecessary and cutting What Hurts the educational process you don't have a budget problem you have a priority Problem and the priority clearly appears to not be the educational success of our students or their safety sadly what is
being done in chared is not always accurate interpretation is very finicky it's a funny thing I have lived here my entire life I grew up in a house with eight kids proudly one hell of a blended family all different ages several different friend groups numerous numerous different
teachers and all graduates of Washington Township High School the reason I share this is because I know an incredible amount of people in this town most refer me as the mayor needless to say because of this I hear more about things that I would like to know numerous people from this community reach out to me all the
time with questions and concerns about this District the decisions that are made rumors what teachers are in support of what we're not in support of what we think is absolutely crazy and yes I give my opinion and I give my truth the fact that there is little to no transparency
from this Administration from this Central Building from this curriculum department is unprofessional to say the least what is presented to this community and these parents compare it to the directives that we are often given not only don't align they're not
even in the same ballpark two questions e-hall pass what does it cost the district why are we still using it and isn't a feature in Genesis able to do the same lav uh part that e-hall pass can do
because I know that wasn't a cheap buy the website Dr hibs why are we hiring that why are we advertising that we're hiring why is it on the flash page confused an issue that came to me a few hours ago before I got here this evening
and I was asked to speak about um andette I do apologize because I have not had a time to call you so that we can talk about this privately but I was asked to bring it up publicly I have to do my job so uh in dealing with a resignation at one of the Elementary School nurses fellow nurses are being told that they're going to need to cover
that school on a rotation basis how is this working how is the rotation happening are all the nurses going to cover and not just to select few are they being paid for mileage are they going to be paid for after contracted hours for example if a high school nurse is pulled to an elementary level our
contract is 235 the elementaries go to 330 340 how is that being build who is that bill who does that bill need to go to are we looking to hire anyone have we looked for a replacement are parents going to be notified that there is times possibly that their child school will be
without a nurse um has a nursing facility like they ought have been notified and we' talked about this in the past I know that at some point there was but I don't know where we stand now I believe that is it finally for me this evening however I do look forward and
appreciate a response to all my questions and my concerns thank you um we'll be happy April would you mind that was aot whole lot of questions could you email them to uh Annette and we'll be happy to to get some responses to you tomorrow perfect awesome thank you
um so just just a couple quick things I I really don't think it's accurate that I have hired on the the aggressively high end for every person that I've hired um that's absolutely not true I have hired people at the low end there's people that were given credit for steps so it all depends on a case-by casee
basis but I definitely don't hire all the way to the other end that's just that's just not accurate non-unit I want to make sure I'm speaking accurately because I think Scott was right I I think non-unit their percentage and they were there was a range in there all receive less than than every other unit
Janine am I right on that yes all receive less than than every other unit um just for clarity sake principles and supervisors are out of you know expired on June 30 and the board is negotiating with them now um you know WT sspa and
wtaa will be this June so they are they are not out of contract yet just just for clarity for everybody um the fact that we don't prioritize the educational success or safety totally untrue you don't have to like the rbac poll totally resp respect your opinion we don't agree
and I also there's there's a ton of things we could talk about not here right now at 10:00 but we've done a ton over the last few years to really focus on educational success and safety um uh e-hall pass um I I think we are expl uh and it's Genesis Turn Style I think that
we're talking about we are exploring website why are we advertising because we are hiring there's definitely people that were hiring um and I I think the last one was Annette will be happy to get back to you on your your nurse questions I actually would like to get back go ahead um I just want to I have
to be I just don't want to alarm people that's why I'm going to I'm going to respond um we actually do have quite a few sub nurses who are hired by the district we also use agencies um I have an amazing secretary
who works tirelessly Way Beyond her contractual day to make sure we have sub coverage we have one building where we had a vacancy and a candidate a great principal who did hire um that didn't work out so we have Subs who have been
filling in the only time our nurses who are in buildings cover for each other is when we have exhausted every other option because our first priority is the safety of the kids so I just wanted to clarify absolutely I just don't want to alarm families to think that they don't
have a nurse thank you Annette uh Mrs Watson but yes my name is Mrs wson and I've been coming here for over 25 years maybe maybe longer can you speak a little closer to the yes my name is Mrs Watson
and I've been coming here for maybe 25 years and it's always been about entitlement and that is one of the issues because entitlement is what they really are being trained to think that
they are entitled like right now you're having a raffle there's only one of me if you did a raffle right now how many chances would I have to be in that raffle that's unfair for the so many
children that not going to get that preschool who really need it that's really unfair and I didn't the governor allocate money so that there would be money for preschool but you look at that that's
like all of you will be able to get in but I won't and I'm more likely to need it so when you're talking about entitlement that's entitlement did you notice also when I came up up here you didn't take my card and you
closed me out entitlement I've been talking about trying to end racism because it has to come with the Educators you all of you so I'm going to do my Italian joke cuz this is what I learned
from an Italian when I was very young never let a vicious man on your land because if he does he'll take your land telling you to job 300 always guard your ad dominant man
because your ad dominant man keep what you are as you are so if you're Italian he's keeping that Italian language that Italian beautiful look you know that Maserati Italian 6'2 man he's keeping
that then the next attack is 500 women because if if you attack the women then you attack the next generation of children right of course we all know
that change starts with someone speaking out whether you like it or not and these are from Italian men pure breads right okay right now you have a war in Ukraine he's standing because he understand that
joke if you attack the men then you put the women in a position of lowering level so when I told it I told it because I'm an African versus Italian but really this is a joke where they call it the musolini joke where it's Germans versus
Italians if they let those Germans then all of a sudden you have a German Italian woman trying to look and walk and talk like she's German over being a beautiful
Italian she's going to change who she is that's entitlement now they're going to say blight lives matter maybe 17 generations for that perfect German you change to talk like a German walk like a
German act like a German instead of being the Italian that you truly are when I told that joke which most Italians know that's how they say who they are that's what Ukraine really fighting they don't want to be that
Russian they want to be Ukrainian they want to look Ukrainian talk Ukrainian for you you might think it's funny because you want to play entitlement but there is no such thing as entitlement all of you are the
children of God when you try to do that entitlement and separation that proves what God you truly love Char thank you Nicole Leni I just wanted to uh two notes real quick um after uh Julian explained
everything about working together and the Committees uh none of you work together um and that's the alarming part um you need to work together because everything again that was talked about tonight needs a fix um there was a
discussion about committees with other board members and not everybody felt comfortable changing back to committees um that had to come from somewhere and even though it wasn't a majority um it really should hold some
weight um and the reason that they didn't feel comfortable should be addressed before proceeding with I guess going back to committees um it seems that a lot of you try to
spite other ones or maybe that doesn't always end up offering the best solution um so even though something might not die in a committee it may be construed in a certain way when other people aren't present or have an immediate opinion or
feedback also it was addressed last week that Julie you held a committee meeting with no admin so um not everything you said was accurate which proves my point so how are we supposed to know going forward that it is guaranteed that that
won't happen we just heard from somebody about students being held accountable for not coming to class or leaving early um our board member is going to be held accountable moving forward to make sure that these committees actually function
in the way that they are supposed to because at this time it doesn't there's no confidence that um that could happen um or that it could be trusted to work productively um every person sitting
here and every person that spoke and every teacher and student at home um really depends on you so I'm hoping that moving forward there is no more committees without admins or keeping things from other board members that we have heard repeatedly over and over and
over thanks Randy Ford uh hello again so I just before I ask my questions um I just wanted to call out policy 0167 which in part says responses to
questions posed by our participant Dorian AG public participation session of the meeting shall be provided during the course of the particular public participation session at the direction of the presiding officer and I just say
that because miss kmle this was actually an email you wrote to the board as a member of the public on March 21st 2024 um and in that I think Mr Ross or somebody didn't answer your questions
and in there you said how is not acknowledging questions at a public meeting transparent if I allowed that to happen at a meeting half of you would have crucified me do better so I just give that as sort of the the preface my questions are we have the three
committees that are I guess back so who is on those committees or who are the members of the board that are on those committees and were anyone's preferences that were you know at the last meeting told those will attempted
to be honored or I'll honored as many as I can um who makes up those three committees were any preferences not given and then also if that's not available when will it be available and will it be posted to the district website uh my second
question is someone mentioned I think it was Ari about the Merit goals tonight and they not being a quorum for this particular piece of action because of the conflicts involving I guess the Merit goals themselves or Dr hi's contract so who are the board members
who are conflicted uh and then at the last meeting I think Miss Baker gave an update on negotiations committee uh there's no update tonight I remember from her last update there were going to be some meetings there were I think two
scheduled two coming up in March any meetings that did occur is it possible to just give an update on which unit met who from the board and administration were there and just how long the meeting lasted not interest in back and forth
and all that but just sort of how long did each last so those are my questions thank you okay I'll take the first one which is committees um I mentioned the Committees earlier so it's Student Activities and communication which we call Sac it's business and finance and
Facilities that's all in one and then there's instructional Affairs and I didn't I don't know that I heard back from every single person um but everyone's getting whatever they ask for that should be up within the next couple days on the website who's on which committee and then I'm going to have Ari
answer the conflict stuff Randy there's four board members with legal conflicts uh Pat Linda um Julie and Delan uh being that we only have uh eight board members here tonight obviously that leaves us with four that can vote that's the
issue and then the last item was um negotiations Connie did you want to update on negotiations I I I gave the I gave the dates last board meeting okay nothing's changed same well he he
asked um who met who who met which which groups did you meet with was just support staff right we haven't had any meeting it since since last week we have not met okay okay uh
um I I think that I I'll make sure that Connie has these which unit met who was there from admin and how long did it last those are the three questions which I think you would just in I don't have my my notebook here tonight thank you okay uh Patty Su
Callis hello my name is Patty sucis I am a um wtaa executive for the high school um first this wasn't part of my original plan to speak about but I just wanted to comment cuz I am the numbers girl for the union um when you talk about that the non-unit raises were lower than all
of the unit contracts I just want to clarify that you may not be aware and this may be the public as well that um in the public sector we are the only public sector for the teachers the administrators that have to pay what's called an increment load so when someone moves up a step on a salary guide that
comes out of the settlement first before any money is applied now someone that's a non-unit contracted person does not have a salary guide so they just get their raise so when the CU I did look at the the non-unit raises that were approved um they were all between the
two to three 3.15 somewhere up to three and a half% raises um just to give you a point of reference the teachers guide from um the first year or the second year of our contract the top of the guide saw 1.49% increase and from last year to
this year the top of the teacher scale guide saw a 1.54% increase so all of the non-unit raises were higher than that amount because they don't actually pay um for those increment loads so just keep that in mind as those things get approved
that those are accurate numbers um all right so back to my point so I'm here tonight to follow up last night's Board of Education meeting regarding the elimination of the green club and newspaper Club I just wanted to check to see if there were any updates regarding this matter we continue to be told that
there's no funding for these clubs yet we've seen to proov raises within the district the total cost to support both clubs across six elementary schools would be approximately $177,000 were you able to determine where the budgeted funds um for these
programs were allocated to instead these clubs have been valuable to students by fostering environmental awareness and providing opportunities for journalism and student expression you heard firsthand the impact that our clubs have on our students tonight many of our students and parents remain concerned
about their discontinuation would appreciate any information regarding the decision-making process and any potential alternatives to keep these activities available any transparency or clarification on this matter would be greatly appreciated I look forward to your response and any updates that you
can bu that you can provide and I just wanted to thank you for your time and your dedication to all of our students thank you thank you Pat I'll be happy to email you a response Harry Sher hello I am asking if there's an
update on the uh creation of a community outreach group with the board um I know that um there was some several board members who were disappointed that were not in the elementary school tonight rather than being at this building
um kids ring through and that was my daughter she doesn't know I'm here can you repeat what you said at top sure sure so um I'm here to uh find out an update on the community outreach group I have had um communication and support from other board members I know that
there was some disappointment from several board members about not having these meetings in the elementary school um to encourage public engagement um from my perspective the problem with engaging the public is not the location of these meetings it's uh to be H like your comments like I I have no idea what
any of that meant so as people are watching YouTube meetings and trying to engage support where they can um there's just not a lot of opportunity for us to as parents and community members to understand the facts so I think there um
I I'm happy to participate and volunteer but I think that we need to do a better job of consolidating and informing parents and I think that there's opportunities for the board to create a committee that involves the community need to do so and I think that would make a much stronger impact on
engagement than the location of the meeting thanks thank you motion to close all in favor and I have a motion to adjourn second all in favor thank you
for coming out