##VIDEO ID:pD9no3Xxwqc## year but we wanted to make sure that we were able to honor our state champion softball team uh from last year we just started um we didn't get an opportunity to do it in the spring because our board meetings were done uh By the time your softball season was over so thank you so much for all coming back uh again I know that it's uh two nights before Thanksgiving and a busy weekend so we really appreciate you coming out so I just want to remind everyone of the accomplishments of this amazing team from 2024 so our our 2024 Warrior softball team led by head coach Mr Brian figorito and assisted by coach and watchong Hills Alum Robin McCabe class of 2018 collectively brought their team to Victory after victory during the 2024 season culminating in three championship titles their 28 win three loss record carried them to the Skyland Conference Championship they clinched both the sectional Championship beating 100 in central 5-1 and the group four Championship a 64 win over vinand winning both titles for the second time in only three years they were recognized as the 2024 number one softball team in my Central Jersey and ranked number six in the top 20 overall in the state as and actually many of the young women here tonight hold two state championship rings how many how many of you have two CH state championship rings you can raise those hands higher very nice as well as we have a couple of graduated seniors who weren't able to come back last night who I'm sure are part of that categorization as well um so we just want to give our heartfelt congratulations on behalf of myself uh and the Board of Education to the 2024 softball team you represent our school tremendously as student athletes both in and out of the classroom and we're really proud of your accomplishments and so I'm going to ask Mr figorito and Mr Root who's also here to help present your certificates and your rings and I think most of you saw these but this is uh only our state championship teams get these so this is pretty impressive and um it's a good thing you guys lift I'm not sure how heavy this thing is but I'm I actually the box is pretty cool so congrat congratulations and we'll call you up is there anyone else who wanted to say anything uh first of all on behalf of the whole softball team we like to thank the board uh for having us here tonight it's really uh an incredible honor to uh to be here and we're in very very grateful that you're taking the time out to honor us tonight after our softball season so thank you very much for having us here tonight um um I think I I just want to mention a couple things about the players that are are sitting here um what a pleasure it was to to coach this group and obviously they are incredibly talented players but I really believe at the end of the day the reason why we were able to have the success that we had was their incredible selflessness to be team players and we had players that sacrificed a lot of different things for us to win as a team and whether it was asking players very very good hitters to bunt and certain situations whether it was asking players not to hit and just play the field whether it was asking players to just be a pinch Runner or courtesy Runner whatever it was the team did it from start to finish and they are unbelievably talented players but at the end of the day I think the success really boiled down to their desire to win as a team and sacrifice for the team and as a coach you can't ask for anything more and at the end of the day as talented as we were I appreciated that more than anything and what happened at seatan Hall when we made the final out there is something I will never forget and these girls took coach mccab and myself on an unbelievable ride so ladies I'm so happy one more time here to just say thank you for everything you did for myself personally and coach coach mcab and obviously for the whole Watchung Hills community so girls thank you congratulations I'm so happy to be presenting these rings that you earn to you tonight and the certificates and it's something again that's going to live with you and the history you made in this building no one can ever take away so one more time girls congratulations on a great accomplishment yeah okay good I I would talk but coach figura did an next job so I'll I'll leave it at that so I didn't want to take much more of your time but congratulations girls certainly an excellent job excellent season I know going talk three seconds going into the season I think most people felt like I don't know if this team can perform at the level that they had two prior years graduated a bunch of girls two division one pitchers right so I think in speaking to coach fig I'm like what's this team gonna be like he had a lot of confidence not that I didn't necessary I just didn't know you I don't know that the people and so to have his confidence certainly you girls had a amount as well so you take pride in what you did you certainly achieved a heck of a lot for yourself so for the community and I'm not speaking into the microphone I all right so our first uh our first recipient here today is Lindsay [Applause] Bennett all right our next recipient is Morgan babaski [Applause] might be someone who's related Riley [Applause] babaski Maddie Camy [Applause] Maddie [Applause] danaro Leah [Applause] Hansen Ariana Hughes [Applause] Payton [Applause] calus Grace [Applause] Keller Leah [Applause] Mia [Applause] Simon Ellis Ella Stevenson [Applause] Katherine [Applause] wigard Co coach mccab and Coach Figaro so I think we'd like to get a picture of the team if you want to bring your rings up maybe and and hold them in the photo that'll be in half and any parents who want to photo up feel free e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everybody we are back from uh executive session this is the Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice under the public excuse me under the open public meeting Act was provided by written notice on January 2nd 2024 for The Courier News the echo Sentinel The Star Ledger tap into Warren the clerks of the barreau of Watchung and townships of Greenbrook Long Hill and Warren the roll call has already been done uh let's do the Pledge of Allegiance please everyone stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all great uh earlier this evening we had a special presentation with respect to the uh girl softball team who won the championship in the spring group four Champion uh an exciting year evening uh an exciting event for them uh and again it just shows uh the boards and the administration's commitment the students and student athletes and the the uh and the extracurricular activities and we're certainly not just about the Athletics even though we spend a great deal of time focus on them in curriculum but the extracurricular activities are almost as important and certainly uh emphasize with the the teamwork and the bonding and the opportunities that all the teams have with each other so we're certainly excited with respect to them and look forward to more championships for the girl softball team as well as some of our other teams we've already had the executive session board correspondents uh do we have any of that we do not superintendent's comments that's you do thank you first I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving uh I am very thankful that I get to come to a place that I love to be at every single day um and I'm thankful for the service of the board members you you know have your day jobs and you still um put in a lot of time for the board so that we can get a lot done a lot accomplished in the district and I'm very excited about the upcoming completion of our Design Lab um which we'll hopefully be able to talk about in more detail in December because we're hoping that uh it will be complete by then just a couple of things we had our fall play uh about a week ago the hope and heartache Diner and it was very well attended and we've started uh holding our fall play actually on the stage almost doing like a theater in the round type of setup um to distinguish that from our our spring musical so that was very well attended it was it was outstanding the students did a great job and for our spring musical uh that is going to be the Adams Family so I highly recommend uh everyone get secure their tickets for that in the spring once they they go on sale uh and we have of course our winter concerts coming up which are always a really nice holiday event and we will have our eighth grades coming up here as well for a little holiday showcase um on December 20th before the break so we have a lot of nice uh events showcasing our our students talents coming up and that is all I have I too would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving uh certainly this time of year unfortunately we don't always take a moment to be thankful and to appreciate everything we have and the opportunities we're given uh certainly with respect to the education which is what we're here uh what we really do is give the students uh the tools and the opportunity to succeed and to move forward and that's really what my goal always is is is to enable students to be the best they can be again whether it's uh in the academic world or the athletic world or the extracurricular world and I think we do a pretty good job given the resources that we have to uh make better people uh Mr sty thank you Mr pres thank you Mr President um I did receive the certified unofficial votes not quite official yet for Somerset County um and as you all know congratulations to Dan Gall from Warren and Katherine Lee from wat young and also I did receive the official votes uh or the official um vote uh vote tally for um lill Township and Susan obber who is not here tonight also one so congratulations to all three uh for being back on the board you get uh cookies and cold coffee so two nights a week so um and the other thing just um to the board's attention I do have we had to have a walk-in agenda item tonight uh it's item number D12 actually very happy to put on the agenda the shared service agreement that we have with the burough of wung for a a transportation coordinator and that has been working out very very well they approved it at their meeting uh and so far it's been good for both schools uh and I think both I could tell you we're very pleased and I know they are as well so that is number D12 uh they the Wang burrow pays approx us approximately $25,000 toward that salar position uh thank you great now we have our student Representatives Sophie and Juliana who are going to tell us even more about our great district and our fellow classmates this month's student achievements are as follows the National Honor Society induction ceremony was held on Tuesday October 22nd there were 78 seniors who were inducted in a ceremony led by executive board members saana corana Julia moley Caroline Roberts and Alex moley Christina dartolo was recognized as a National Honor Society teacher of the year and spoke at the induction ceremony the math team had their first meet of the year in mid- October currently the team is fourth in the county and sixth in the league interesting data from the first meet is that no team in New Jersey earned a perfect score which is unprecedented Junior student Aiden Desai participated in the 2024 wsman Institute summer experience an intensive academic science program conducted at the Ruckers University wman Institute in piscato New Jersey 51 students representing high schools from New Jersey Virginia and South Korea were selected using a competitive application process these students learned about and contributed to an authentic research project in molecular biology and bioinformatics focused on DNA sequence analysis of genes from the duckweed plant duckweed is a freshwater aquatic plant that is of interest to the scientific Community because of its use in BIO remediation and potential use as a biofuel the five analysis conducted by Aiden during the twoe program resulted in five Publications which can now be used by practicing scientists worldwide school events student volunteers gave up their personal time to serve their Community for the annual 19th Somerset County Journey Through the past event held on October 12th and 13th the Greenbrook cultural heritage and historic preservation committee and the Greenbrook Historical Society were privileged and very honored to have their assistance they noted that the students were punctual engaged enthusiastic and were so intensive which each of the approximately 300 visitors at the Washington Rock State Park the organization went on to say that the students deserve recognition for their efforts and dedications to their community and they were and our students to be very proud of as they represented Wasing Hills with the utmost respect and dignity of young entrepreneurs of the future continuing on on with our student uh with our school events yeva sadina and Katarina borisenko volunteered on Saturday October 19th at the John vermal open house there were tours as well as a special guest cat krippin Who provided a demonstration for spinning yarn and dying cloth with black walnuts Mr Murray civics class facilitated the voter registration drive that took place from October 15th to 18th Mr Murray's students helped their classmates determine if they were already registered to vote canvas students registered to vote and made a what elections are coming up pamphlet the students urged those who are eligible to vote to please do their part and vote not only in the presidential election but also in their local elections reminding them that their vote makes a difference many of the social studies classes are participating in this year's New Jersey mock election the 2024 mock election was open for voting from October 21st to November 5th this year is an important federal election for President the Senate and the House of Representatives Michelle Peta is spearheading this year's holiday cards for our military letter writing campaign in addition to her us2 and social justice classes many social studies teachers and clubs will be participating the New Jersey Department of Education is partnering with the New Hampshire Department of Education through the holiday cards for our military challenge the goal is the collection and delivery of personalized signed expressions of respect caring and gratitude to to the United States troops veterans and service families during the winter holiday season the students will be shipping out over 8 pounds of cards this year Greg Krueger's human behavior classes are interning with Woodland School and Gillette school by helping the elementary school students with reading math and specials such as art Etc they go during their human behavior class every day two of the schedule now moving on to our sports update The Fall season has successfully ended with the girls volum team winning the Somerset County championship and the competition cheer team winning the conference County and Northeast Regional Championship giving giving them a bid to Nationals all of our fall VAR City teams qualified for the state tournament of which we are very proud of we recognize our October athletes of the month on November 12th and we recognized seven student athletes for our fall College Signing Day on November 13th and finally our Walt Warrior athletic leadership team um meeting had a great turnout and we look forward to our next meeting on the next Flex day and that is all for our soon announcements thank you great thank you I appreciate that uh again you're more than welcome to stay or if you want to leave and get we have school tomorrow right so there may be some homework tonight get to jump on that okay this is the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topics all comments are limited to five minutes do we have any public comments you go be seeing none we will move on to board discussion we have two items documented but again we can talk about almost anything but I know later start time has been a discussion for several years and it's time we talk about it yet again I think that most of us have no issue with a later start time due to all the science and studies that have been performed and what has historically held us back well what historically held us back was people just saying you weren't allowed to do it because of the after school activities then we found that that was really not the case uh and what seems to be holding us back now is more Transportation related issues and uh orchestrating uh the busing with our sending districts and uh figuring out a plan with them or if we do it on our own what it would be um that's what I sense had been the issues but I open it up to for discussion and go from there Dan I know you're want to hop right in a couple things um had some antidotal conversations with u some students uh over the last two weeks uh talking about like what potential start time time would be I assume they wanted to start at noon turns out they don't they actually want to start at like 8:15 so it really wasn't that much it's about what it starts at 7:30 now is right so it's like a 45 minute difference was what they identified as a different that what would make a difference so it kind of gives um some at least some idea of what we're shooting for in terms of if we need to tackle something like Transportation what does that mean obviously you know we get have more discussion of what next actual start time would be but I was actually surprised that you know it seems very reasonable actually we have students right here what do you think about 8:15 yeah they're both shaking yes yeah sure you don't mind one one's ready for 5:00 am the other [Music] one um so to that end then um and as um our board president mentioned this has been a topic for some time I think we just need to at least give a really good effort as to solving the transportation pce um my suggestion was to create a an ad hoc committee to kind of research what was possible what is allowed by law what do we have to take care of in Terms of U what our requirements for each student is and um so that was my thought I don't know if the board uh thinks that that's a good idea at least as a starting I don't I haven't really identified any other reason why we can't have a later start time other than transportation I agree with you totally but money is the the unspoken item if we have to oh Tim I could just turn it right to Tim we have to double bus and we have it could cost quite a bit of money and we have to know that or at least tell us where where we're getting that money yeah it all depends on the coop if you can get the elementary schools on board because if we have to do our own busing it it increases our cost and theirs so collectively it would it would hurt each of the Town it would be more there's no question about it because Transportation companies don't look at a single route they give you a bus and you're paying for that bus for the day really that's what it is so that that's the trick is that you really want to teer it with the other schools that's that's the best way to do it um so if we can get some cooperation from the elementary schools then then we have a much better shot I I think oh I'm sorry I was going to say I think we this was something we discussed about having with the regionalization group that that was something they were going to look at and we're kind of waiting for the plans when that's presented and have that as part of the discussion Bob's not here so I can't no that is true there was discussions in that we are waiting for the report from uh ver blank on who's running the report um this see where we stand on that among other items but certainly a transportation but given that is there another District we could piggy back with a bus because like you say we in effect we buy a bus but is there a a um District that's nearby that we could cooperate with is that something I don't see that I geographically you would have to use the four that are here I I don't know if there's anybody that's close enough you know and they have their own tiered systems anyway most okay I'm just throwing it out I figured they were all doing it already yeah to that end I would just like to just address Carol first there's I think there's a point where I believe the money while it's an important aspect to it may not be the reason we don't do it so if it increases students scores and creates a better atmosphere in the school etc etc where the kids aren't falling asleep or they have a little bit better life then maybe it's worth the cost and I'm I'm not saying it is I don't even know what the cost is but I think the first thing we have to do is take a look at what the cost is but that but that requires and this goes to Heather I'm sorry board member Trump por um uh it goes to the fact that we need to do a little research on what we're required to do so for instance is there a way we can um have parents drive the kids and then if if that's agreed to do we need to have that seat on the bus anymore what are the rule I don't know what the rules are we need to just know what the rules are get like a so that the board understands what the cost is how much and to the to the point of the um the the um the group what's it called the U the real regionalization plan that's nice but that's going to go on for a long long time and I was kind of hoping to get this well we hope to have it report by early spring right so hopefully it's not going on for a long time well that would include a a new busing plan those incl right so we can put in a for a later start time correct yes we did so has anyone talked um to basking Bridge how they were successful I know they have their own buses but how they presented it to the younger par the parents of the younger kids to I know it was a lot of complaining but they they just did it and how how they worked doing that have we been in touch with basting Ridge to find out what they did after after our last board meeting I actually had my Morris Union jointure board meeting a couple of days later and I happened to sit next to the um basan Bridge superintendent and the chadam superintendent so I was asking them a little bit about it and they gave me some insight into it um you know their their geographic area is different than ours so that helps them a lot because they don't have the same distance we have to cover um the other piece is you know it required them to make changes K12 so in order to make it work so it's not that you know they didn't just all of a sudden go to one tier to change the high school they were able to still use their their same tier um some of the things that they talked about I one of that the districts was talking about elementary starting a lot later uh you know so when they have things after school they may be there till 4:30 or 5:00 but what they did is they flipped faculty meetings to before school um so they've started to make accommodations to to figure that out but it was a K12 coordinated change in both those places which you know is something that we don't have in terms of just talking about it ourselves meant that you could go and talk to the boards board members of the k through eight how they present presented it to the young to the um elementary school kids what did they what did they say to the parents how did they get the parents to go on board with that even though it's all one I know K through 12 but something must have been done you know well one and I can I'll ask them for more nuances with that but the the difference between a K12 going to it and us going to it is while there well there might be some high school folks that aren't thrilled with it for the most part I think if we started school later I don't know that we'd get complaints so in a K12 District so for us to do that if the KH change I think they're definitely going to get complaints if you're a K12 you're one board balancing the complaints it's hard if our District's really happy about it the k8s aren't I don't think their boards are going to say that's okay we'll deal with the complaints because so it's a little easier and I'm not being fous but in the K12 it's okay we know that some people are happy about it some people are unhappy about it but we're balancing that for what we feel is best for the district when you're separate boards I don't think other people are going to tolerate complaints to make our community happy if does that make sense like every so it's just a little bit different when you're dealing with separate populations than when you have everyone together so that's where it's a littleit were caring if they really were caring about the students in the high school um would you would think that all the districts would want what's best for the students especially their students are going to be here at some point so I car Katherine I agree with you it's kind of like when you have a referendum for full day kindergarten I mean I'm a big believer in full day kindergarten um there the research shows that that that makes a big difference historically when you look at referendums for full day kindergarten they fail because unless your kid is going to be in kindergarten even though parents know that's what's best and it could potentially raise their home values they're not voting for it if their kids are already through kindergarten so as much as you'd like the parents of the younger kids to think forward to when their kids are in high school I don't know if you know they're focused on figuring out their own schedules and okay if my kid's going to school so much later what am I going to do in the morning for child care now I think those are all solvable problems but those are the things that come up where you know they're not necessarily thinking eight years into the future when their their child's going to be in high school just from the different conversations in the different districts that I've had when they talk about balancing the um you know the different feelings about it so and I'm not saying these are reasons not to do it I just know these are different obstacles that have come up in in districts looking to do it not to put you on the spot but how much do we spend on Transportation now approximately so it's probably closer over to $2 million But it includes special ed includes everything else uh Athletics co-curricular that kind of stuff and how much do you think think if we went to that so-called one tier where it's not just us and I and I I couldn't really give you I could tell you what I would tell you to do we we would make some changes on our end it was just us right for example what I would tell the board to do is okay you have a bunch of seniors who are not going to be on that bus so I would try to get some uh maybe a waiver program where they can wave we can wave their parking if they give up totally give up that seat on the bus and that can go to some Juniors as well uh and then I could go from like you know 35 buses to like 30 so that you know from that perspective you you'd get some it would be more uh probably more expensive but not as bad I can't say the same thing for the K to eight because if they take our tier out of that triple tier uh there's nothing they can do to make that up so they'll they'll get hit with a little more cost it it's I don't think it'll be as bad as us but for them it will be so what I'm hearing is that there is some desire for us to do this a strong desire right in that either Ka gets on board or they don't we provide them with the option which we have I know it's not going to go over too well but there comes a point where like others have said we have to really do what's best for our students we try to do what's best for the district in general you know for all this you know for all the towns uh you know for KA included but at some point you know we are the board of ed for the uh high school and uh what's best for the high school students if we can do it we have to do it and at some point you we've been kicking this can down the uh Road for quite a while and at some point the bandaid has to come off because that's what I'm hearing if there's support for that then we just got to do it and and then the next question is if we're committed to do it what's our timeline and when do we have to in effect make that final decision so that we would be ready for 25 26 is that fair yes not necessarily looking for answers right now but these are just general comments and I think Bill I'm sorry perhaps the first step would be to see if we get some buyin from the parents if we do like a survey which we've done in the past do a survey to find out maybe even on a scale from 1 to 10 how much would they want this and and if they're willing to you know make sacrifices in order to make it happen that might be the first step and in the ad hoc committee sounds like a pretty good idea to put that survey together maybe and then the other thing I was wondering how would this affect the teacher contracts they do have start times and stuff on that right yeah that that is an issue that um is a factor we do have the ability to adjust that um the and actually that is one of the things that I talked to the sups about as well a couple of weeks ago and I know that in chatam they actually ended up shortening the high school day a little bit so that um they're starting later but they it doesn't really make the day go that much longer because they just took a couple of minutes off of each period so it adjusted the day a little bit so it it didn't um extend it to too much so there's you know different workarounds for that we you know we've talked about creative ideas of the contractual time that teachers required to stay after school we could flip that to before school so that it doesn't it might affect the instructional the start and end of the instructional time but the impact on the actual day for the teachers would be minimal because we'd you know like I said flip the time from after to before again same thing with like faculty meetings we could have them before school instead of after school so there's ways to to deal with that for the 2526 school year which is yeah that's that is a bit aggressive especially if you want to gather information like Bill suggesting it's gonna that's going to be a tough and we're all starting our budgets like we literally just start2 is out maybe Christmas if you were going to do make a change like that you'd have to go to the following year I would I would suggest that because I think 20 25 26 that's that's going to be an a pill climb that's a tough one to plan one other thing just to consider with this too that again in talking to other districts going through this now that our buses would be doing their routs later it might affect the travel time for the buses because there'll be more traffic so just one of the things we want to make sure is that if we're let's say we're trying to push start time later a half an hour um or 45 minutes but the B your bus pickup time is only like 15 minutes later because now they have to make up for the traffic time I'm I'm just saying one of the districts brought that up as a concern so you want to make sure that the students are actually getting that later time by being picked up later and getting to come to school later not you know school starting 40 minutes later but their bus pick up is only 15 minutes later because of the the change in The Roots just because of the different traffic patterns that happened in another District in New Jersey where they didn't consider um the changing traffic pattern because of the different time of the school so again just putting all those considerations out there that you want to make sure you study as part of it as Dan mentioned we are fortunate to have two students normally I wouldn't necessarily open it up to comments but Sophia Juliana if you have any comments or ideas or thoughts on this subject at this point I'd be only too happy to hear what you may have but I don't want to put any pressure on you but I think they told me they wanted to school to start earlier actually an early okay so again I know that Dan has requested an ADW committee with respect to this issue uh I'm not prone to creating that hoc committee is creating additional work uh so my first glance obviously this would be handed off to well the question would be is it really educational or operational part of me really believes it's an operational type issue car Carol sorry Carol I withdraw the request just for the sake of Carol sanity Carol wanted this I understand um there's such you and Dan mentioned it there's a lot of background information before this committee could really start to work um could we start on accumulating that there's Financial considerations timing considerations so before we could actually sit down and do the work we need information from the professionals I'm sorry the so I guess just to get a little clarification too maybe we can find out from the the um folks doing the regionalization study what they're going to be providing us so that way we're not doing double work so we can ask them in a little bit more detail what we can expect from them um and then we can maybe Circle back with the board of this is what they're giving us what else do we want want to get and Liz hate to put more work on you but is there any way you I really don't I really good to be Happ here right now Michael oh go ahead piging backing on what Liz just said with the realization study can we find out if one of their transportation kind of um questions or suggestions would be so the the little nuggets they're really up and RAR and go really early so can is it possible for the tiered busing to not be push time maybe not change but have the the routes change and have elementaries going first middle stays middle and then so we could pull up what we actually did a couple it might have been two years ago now we I met with the K8 soups and what we did so we decided to come up with a starting point as the high school and said okay here's some different scenarios I I'll look back in my files to find that because we did try and look at this the issue with that is like right now our kids are waiting in the dark at the bus stop so for the and even though because little kids they they are up earlier however getting them dressed and fed and all of that and at their bus stop by six something that's a different ball game than them just being up in the house and you know kind of right so but but that is one of the options we brought up and then realized okay in the winter it's dark and cold that they'd be waiting outside so and again I I'm not saying this as reasons not to do it just all the considerations but what I'll do is look back in my file from when I met met with the K8 soups of the different options we came up with um and you know and looked at kind of because what we what I did is I collected from them all of their start times of all of their schools because that differs obviously across all four of their districts um and then we looked at that and tried to come up with some different scenarios and different considerations so I'll pull that together as well to share with the board so the additional work I was suggesting was for you to call the the four other soups and to see is there resistance to this number one if they're really hard and fast saying we're not changing this is the way it is this tough or or is there flexibility on their part number one and then number two again look at whether the concept is just to map just again just start everyone 15 20 minutes later just map the whole busing system or flip-flop move the busing situation you know flipped the tear um I'll pull together what we had looked at so that everyone can take a look at that we can maybe discuss that at the next board meeting or at a committee meeting even because we did look at some of that and you know one of the other things that came up was we talked about um okay well we can push you know 15 minutes later well is that really worth it is it worth disrupting this for 15 minutes we felt it really should be an 8 o'clock or later start for the high school to really I mean ideally you know 8:30 would be the ideal time that's a big difference um but so I'll I'll pull that up and share that with everyone I and in terms of your question not to speak for them but we' I've brought it up I bring it up all the time with them and I don't believe that any of them are resistant to it I think it's number one they each have their own board that they have to would have to talk to I think they're all open to it it's just figuring out what a cost effective solu feasible solution is um so it's not that anyone you know was said I'm not talking about that it's we're open to it we just don't know what a feasible possibility would be so are you now putting the work back back on me that I should be calling the other presidents of the boards to find that is that what I'm now hearing I I think actually everyone is open to it it's just I think everyone's fearful of what the the cost effect will be um partly and and also then what the impact on their parents and their kids will be and their you know there's Solutions in terms of the before care because that's another concern um so there's a lot of those little logistical pieces that would have to get worked out that that are can certainly get worked out but again pieces that we'd be putting on them you know we're not the ones who need to worry about before care for our students so when you're talking about the cost are you're talking about the cost for the individual people or the cost for the districts the cost for the districts so if we just in effect map map it everyone just moves a half hour later Tim do you think that would change the course if you if if everybody moved yeah well if everyone if we just everyone just half hour whatever if you flipped one of the schools two questions yeah I don't I don't know if either of them would amount to a cost I don't think that would be your biggest thing because you're still it would still be the same routes you're just flipping them yeah I mean I I can tell you the Trick's going to be if you put one of the elementaries you put the elementary schools first or the middle schools there's generally more kids on those buses and they take more time so the then we might struggle getting here in the morning that's the that is going to be a trick I will tell you because those those buses will tend to take their routes are going to be a little bit longer and a little bit so it's going to be a little tougher to make it work um they still can it's just going to be I just it's going to be more challenging um so if there's going to be a cost it might be because you may have to split a route here or there because you might have to have less kids on that bus to get the kids in on time that would be the only trick um the high school kids going first is we're so fast getting here uh that we almost allow for everyone else everyone else's issues like they'll get to those kids a little earlier and that whole cycle will go smoother because we're first you know it it does make it does make a difference with us being first because we're just quicker and it's high school's going to be quicker because the kids there's fewer stops because the little ones are closer you know so that that's the trick it'll be a little it'll be a timing issue so that might be the only cost issue if that makes sense what I'm suggesting at this point open for discussion is that we gather some information we have a meeting in December but we'll do in January get an update with some of these questions and we'll do some homework uh in the interum um I think we should look into the so-called senior waiver or Junior waiver because we could certainly do that in the short term with respect to actually if Tim why don't we do that anyway so we tear with all the schools now we can no but why wouldn't we offer the senior waiver anyway no we we can that would save us money it would lose six buses right well you may or may not I'm using the words against you now no because because you're still tearing with those other schools oh so there are buses there anyway correct gotcha another reason why we should figure out on yeah we could I mean if we did it we'd hurt the other schools because they would be instead of having that triple they would have a double and they would be taking all the cost as opposed we're getting a third of that um could I could I add as part of the I guess rization study or maybe it's easy to pull these stats what are artaries like in first period like our kids come and ah there it is there it it is I I can tell you Lisa I have that conversation once a week with my junior so perhaps it'll lower our tardies if we get so if could we know stats of tardies um obviously not including seniors if they have like late arrival but maybe that will decrease if we go to like a15 a30 and maybe that is why our routes are quicker because the kids aren't there because they're going to be late to school because the bus is coming too early because their brains don't produce melatone until 10 o'clock at night so they're up later and then not have I don't know if the tardies are from the bus I think they're they're either driving in or Mom and Dad are driving them in oh no no the is also from the bus absolutely 100% I have a radical thought I'm not sure if I shared it with it unrelated if we're done with this just having to do with the Darkness issue in the short term could everyone just delay everything a half hour because the darkness is a potentially a nightmare for everybody and if we even in the winter if we could just uh push the starting time if we can get just on a shortterm basis for the next two months just you know again people waiting you know the bus stops and Pitch Black waking up in Pitch Black trust me I know you know when sun's out because you we get four or five extra hours on June 21st then we get on December 21st it really changes everyone's perspective except for Count Dracula or whoever but uh I just bring that up if that's a possibility just in the short term and because if we can get that to work in the short term and then just say never exactly that's right the the issue and not to be the Debbie Downer the the issue with us changing our schedule for our because I if we were just to look internally we could shift things and and make that work our staff doesn't have that flexibility with their own kids schools and changing their schedule for okay so for these two months this is when I need child care or before care or this is what so that's where that becomes difficult it's just like our calendar I've been begging you know we ask the state and the county like can we do a countywide school calendar because it makes it really difficult our most of our teachers who work here some of them live in the community most of them but a lot of them live some of them live out of state some of a lot of them live in Somerset County so if we could at least get a County calendar where when their work closed their kids are also off and vice versa um so that's the only issue with um making changes it might work for our students and our families but the staff would have an issue making those arrangements temporarily it would be easier for them to just make a change for the whole year than for the you know never know if you don't ask I I agree again just throwing that out there to be the deut no putting that out there as a consideration not as a reason not to do it just as a consideration so what I hear is we all agree that we're pushing back 30 minutes well we've agreed to push 30 minutes whether we're doing whether we're doing it or not it's another story but we all agree well the irony is we actually have a presedent of doing this it's called daylight savings time we actually pushed the clocks back and I wonder if we actually see a uh any improvement with that hour when we have that that time change because technically we do it every year so with that in mind it should the grade should be better after those clocks shift and then the other thing is technically just moving everybody back an hour we we already did it last month what if we did it again I mean it should not affect the price at unless there's of course that traffic uh issue but apart from that share this with everyone this a we looked at this was um November 16th 2022 I just pulled up a document where we looked at um I would the the K8 with our team and then with the K8 soups we looked at different possibilities one was status quo one was flipping so um because it goes us the middle school elementary school for the most part in terms of the start times so we looked at flipping Elementary from last to first so it would go Elementary High School Middle School in terms of the start times um and then option three is just pushing everyone a half an hour later half an hour 45 minutes later um but the issue with that is then the you know the elementary schools don't get out till 410 and again if we're looking at it for everyone we might say you know what we're okay with that but to convince the k8s to shift their whole days you know because they they again we do have the ability to change the time of the day but there are still contractual considerations so that those are things that all the districts would have to consider and then the other one we threw out there actually um because this was shortly after you know we had dealt with um hybrid instruction is making our first block of the day asynchronous where um that you know so we wouldn't actually the school day wouldn't start until about 8:30 because 7:30 to 8:30 we'd rotate every day so every day would be a different period that is meeting asynchronously meaning you'd have you know that would be when you'd work on a project whatever some kind of work and it wouldn't have to be during 7:30 to 8:30 it would just be that period that day is you know asynchronous instruction and the issue with that so bus so this wouldn't affect the buses because so buses would still come in at 7:30 but if you could get a ride to school on that day when you had you know you could come later that that just divides kids in terms of who's actually able to get a ride to school and who needs to take the bus so again we were just kind of trying to come up with all sorts of different options I mean imagine if everyone every parent chose a waiver and every parent just yeah I'm just dreaming here for a second well that gets into legality of what's on the onus of the district which is why I wanted to do a research beforehand because I have no idea if everyone got 2500 $2,500 to bring their kid to school I'd say most people were driving school because they're already doing it most of them yeah I don't know either that's why I suggested we do our research Tim's going to get there there I mean we're required to provide busing and there's a lot of people who need it um so more than you would think and all you have to do is say you're going to eliminate busing they'll be here they'll be hearing droves telling you what but no no legally we have to provide bus and we all understand that the question is would there be a significant number of people who would sign a a waiver if they were given a certain dollar incentive just like we do that right with insurance that or some sort the question is what that number is and uh whether that would tip the needle to reduce our bus number significantly enough that we can make our own choices that's really the issue so part of what here you're saying though Tim is if we take away from no yeah there's a chance sorry I know right um is that we we have 36 buses because the elementary school needs 36 buses and therefore if we start taking buses away again the argument is we're hurting the elementary school I just I'm reacting to that to say I'm not sure I care so much that's an elementary school issue and and they need to tackle that I don't think we're here to provide six buses for them or whatever number of buses for them I think that's a I think that kind of yeah it brings up a whole another issue if we get our buses down to 12 are we still going to have 36 buses if you can get it down to I don't think it get down 12 no but I'm just saying like is that because why even go down that road if we're subsidizing the K through 8 Transportation well but keep in mind it's all your it's all the taxpayers of these towns like we don't do greenber at all so I'm talking about the three towns talking about Long Hill Warren and watchong those three right so whatever we do here and it affects them it's still the same taxpayer group so you I mean you're not it's you can't split it like that because they're all paying the same taxes so if they pay more and we pay the same then everybody pays more logically speaking so that that's what I'm saying it's not now you can it no what I'm saying is if you're a taxpayer in in one of these towns whether we pay less and they pay more if we if our budget goes down and it goes up they're not getting a tax break they're well theoretically you'd be doing for all three you would have to do it for three so I don't I don't know if it helps you financially to do that I I don't think it does and it hurts your efficiency secondly too which kind of matters because the state looks at that your busing efficiency it's part of um usack know that probably is not as important but again that's why I wanted an ad hoc so that we present this in intelligent way because you could run around and around circles looking for facts but we just need some hard facts and if if it's part of the regionalization study okay I just don't want to kick that ball down the proverbial Road Forever This is a this is a real issue this affects our kids like uh grades and how they do with testing Etc so I'm throwing out there 515 is too early for some people to get up to get to the bus on time to drive that okay that too you okay so again uh a lot of questions have been asked we've gone through a bunch of the qu some answered some answer uh those who need to do their homework will and we'll present some answers in the January meeting is that fair and um and what I'll do is Al I'll reach out to Bob because he's our uh in effect our Lance with the regionalization and have him reach out to uh uh those running the show and see if they've gotten anywhere with that and if they haven't to try to light a fire under them to get us some answers in that respect and I will uh reach out to the presidents of the other boards and trying to take their temperature maybe have a a meeting with all them unprecedented but I will do that and we'll go from there okay great uh Liz comments on the Warren historic sites committee so this is something that I just wanted to share with the board uh Michael franois he's the vice chairman of the Warren historic sites committee reached out to me uh about their conversion of the former Town Hall uh hoffm house so this is in Moren Township he's been reaching out he's been tasked by their committee to reach out to various um organizations in the community including the schools um to basically uh get input from us if we have any requests for um how for their design of the community cultural center that they plan on turning the hoffm house into uh and so one of the things you know that I'd said to him is I'm we we're very fortunate that we have this facility so we're able to have large groups Gatherings you know events and things um so I think some of you know the elementary and and middle schools may have more of a need um but one of the things I told them is you know we're always looking for places to display student work so if they're looking for artwork uh to to be displayed there when they start decorating it he also said they may be looking for dosent for student dosen uh because they do want to have some historical artifacts there and then and I mentioned this to our leadership team as well in case they have any feedback one of the other pieces that would actually be useful to us that I believe the library mentioned uh to him a lot of tutoring is set up that people use the library for that location and we've actually utilized that for home instruction rather than sending our home instructors to a student's home so they're going to put some um tutoring spaces in there so that actually could work well for us for when we set up home instruction with students and are looking for a a central location that's not at an individual's home so he had asked me if I could just share that with the board uh so that's what I'm doing and if anyone has any feedback that they'd like me to share with him uh please do so uh but it's nice that they're trying to create another space for the community so that's all any other items discuss yes no I move I'll move the Motions if you'd like you're ready to go no no no I have I have sorry Carol I'm Catherine you have another my bad um I want to talk about um our cheerleading team um a lot of the the kids I mean let's they're going to National now and it's pretty costly for these parents for the families it's about $2,000 for the families they have to have a parent or a guardian and the child going um and they're and plus the parents are taking five days off of work so what happens if you have families that cannot financially afford this where where do they get this money to be able to do this to be part of this uh competing team and you know the team is competing under watching Hill's name I mean it's not like it's a different name it's they're competing for the school and I don't know if it belongs maybe in the ad hoc that I think Dan Heather and and Carol are doing with the booster doing something with that but I just think it needs to be addressed um because it is a lot of money I mean you know and it's happening during the school year it's not happening during the summer uh with this so I don't know if people knew about that do we pay for any of it the parents pay for it totally we pay for the team registration we pay for the registration but not Transportation um this is for the so for the wrestling oh this is the Pennsylvania people go to atantic City so what did we do for that how is that different from the chle how do we distinguish amongst the well the different the one is njs AA sanctions for it um the wrestlers have to um essentially win to go down there but on average there's maybe three four kids that will go cheer will be about 40 something uh that will go the cheer is not a recognized sport it is not an njs i AA so is that one of the distinguishing features with respect to spons pain so to speak versus not correct oh sorry so if the football team so the women's softball team that had the championship for the state championship so if there was a national tournament for them and they qualified and they had to go to Oklahoma let's just say did we pay for that that's a good question that's what I'm asking since there's not one no no other team goes out of state for anything that they qualify for so we don't you know other than wrestling that's very unique and it's only a few students um we we wouldn't be able to afford to fund you know 30 students going somewhere you know flying staying overnight um that would be a lot I think Brenda did the numbers it was something like 60 some thousand I'm like okay I would be a little tough but I'm not even saying paying for the whole thing you know they're all out there they're fundraising I think this weekend they're canning which you know is where you stand in the middle of the warville road probably and have a can getting money um but just giving a portion of or a percentage 10% do something because it's just it's the money and then the time off from work that that's a lot of I'm I'm I'm I wasn't aware that the parents are required I that something me parent you're saying that every parent is required to go they need a guardian they're supposedly you have to have a guardian with each child I that I was never aware of I don't know if that's that's I I'm not aware of that so have to look into that but I it's always just usually coaches that you know are required to accompany them let me ask this question with respect to the cherle they compete in within the state yes no just confirming um I think they do but I think the even the regional I think is outside New Jersey might they're going to we have on here they're going to Pennsylvania Pennsylvania right e that them or that's the bowling team bberry yeah that's A5 okay great and then the national one is usually either is it Florida I I know it's it is okay I I think it's this comes up all the time it's a worthy discussion to have I think we're gonna settle it here but that's definitely a worthy discuss but it's also weird that it's not part of the nji when you know there's a lot of D1 D3 schools that these kids go and play for so it is technically a sport in the college level it's not an NCAA sport though I don't believe it's not considered div like it's not considered an NCAA division one two or three it's its own category I don't know the history of that or why but that's so I don't that might be partially why it's not you know so why njsa has never adopted it I don't know so for the bowling A6 that's on the agenda we're paying for that for transportation yeah where if it gets approved is A6 that talks about the the B team going to going to Pennsylvania going I know right so a drivable event I I think I'm not disagreeing I'm just trying to if we're gonna because this may be a policy type issue I just want to make sure we're all the same page I'm not arguing one way or another and just clarifying we're talking about State we're talking about out of state we're talking about how you get transported there's a bunch of different moving Parts I just want to you know that one's not overnight but that's a weird one too because that's billsburg and they happen to play their games across the river that's why so I'm not questioning I'm just trying to but that's also a sanction sport correct I'm just asking I'm not sure is it okay it is no I'm not disagreeing I'm just trying to I live in a world where you try to be consistent so you have a set of rules so you don't try to have too many exceptions I'm just trying to get all the parameters I'm not saying one way I'm not arguing one or the other I'm just trying to understand yeah no I think it is I I think it would be helpful if we can come up with some policy parameters because we've always struggled with this issue and some folks who uh in the past if we have other clubs and we're not paying for them that always came up as an issue like how come you're playing paying for this one and not this one would that would be help ful to have a defined as best we can a rationale for why we're paying for one and not the other and to come from the board level would even be it would be the best thing because it would give us guidance as to what to do because it's always tricky because should we should it be Just njsa Sports should it be you know maybe a percentage for each thing you know I don't know the answer to it but I think obviously it would be helpful if we had some guidance that we can kind of establish for once in all and then future boards will say hey we did it 20 years ago it's all good but it's a tricky one it really is I mean a part of me you know there's all sorts of different ways to approach it one approaches you just say every student is allocated x amount of dollars as a credit as a voucher and they get to use it as they see fit whether it's to be in a tournament whether it's to register whether it's to pay for their part of the transportation I'm not suggesting that's the way it is but that is an option you go on a voucher system and that's one you know whether that's the fairest way I'm not there's just so many different ways to look at it and I think it's it's a valid concern Katherine we had spoken about it I apologize I didn't bring it up tonight and put it on here because I forgot I'm I'm curious do you know wasn't like I was ignoring sorry I'm curious if she if you know how other towns handle this the cheer going maybe that's one way to look at it I don't know I mean I find every time every time I ask the other other schools it's always I get like 15 different answers I I and I can I can go and ask them all too I don't you know we do that all the time and but I'm just telling you usually everybody does something differently I'll I'll do a survey I I'll ask all my Bas and see what they say it's a good question I mean it goes back you know something I've said with respect to they we spend a great deal of money for extracurricular activities and I'm all for it because my view student yeah I am I'm all for it the however push comes to shove football's God I know the uh so I know historically per person like hockey is one of the most expensive things because we have to rent the rink football we probably spend the most total because there's so many more people involved but if you look at it per student and that's where that voucher concept that I banter around and you know you want to try to get the biggest bang for your buck might say get the you know kids get involved and you know certain sports are just more expensive than others whether it's uh registration fees equipment uh rental of uh facilities that sort of thing and so there's always this disproportionate and some might say it's not fair in general why does this sport this activity they get so much more whether it's robotics you know even the non-sports whether it's robotics or debate because I'm sure that cost money because we're taking kids to uh the debate meets and stuff like that and there's Transportation cost and all that sort of stuff and it's something that has to be looked at and you know I'm certainly not averse to having some sort of policy but it's a challenge to have a one- siiz fits-all with respect to it and even I know the work that you guys are doing with the boosters is certainly a challenging one not a an overnight fix so to speak because certainly in the booster world there's money that there's there's a disproportionate amount of money that comes in based on the sports I mean we certainly see that at the college level with the Nils and the different sports I mean there's just some wealthy donors who are donating a boatload of money to specific Sports and not that that necessarily would happen in our area but uh it create some sort of inequality and I know that historically I've tried to create some sort of equality and we try to balance the playing field even where one group is getting uh supported more than others we then try to fund all money into the other so that they're not really disadvantaged completely that's been certainly one of my focuses make sure that's true go ahead just to kind of recap um so Katherine suggested being part of that ad hoc committee with the booster group and trying to add this topic on there if if that's okay um because that because we had our internal meeting about the boosters and I got I'm going to bring some suggestions to that group but maybe if Katherine you're willing to join that group we can set up a committee meeting after Thanksgiving sometime and then we can kind of start working you mean not before Thursday unless you want to have it on Thanksgiving I'll bring the turkey we do struggle with this topic all the time Katherine so you bring this this is um you know something that we talk about constantly so I I I think we both would appreciate the the conversation yeah so so I should then I could set something up a after the holiday and uh we can tackle we try to tackle both as best we can it may take a couple times because this is a lot of stuff to digest yeah it's certainly not easy because it's if it was easy it would have been done other boards would have figured it out but I think other boards have pushed it because it's again it's difficult because again you're trying to balance equal equities and you know if you set rules hard and fast rules going to alienate a lot of people and some yes Heather and a group how many years ago wrestled with exactly this tell me how many years just for some background I think 2018 2018 old I I want to say it was about 2018 when that's when we were really going hard at it and it just spend de 12227 I think is when I have the okay 2017 I think your point of view it's something that's yeah it's it's and we struggled with it I apologize because I don't remember who's on that can I not to you right you chair it I chair it probably do put it on my list Carol you're on as well so it's just a three you right now all right so then I just want to make sure there's a spot all right so for you and I'm the chairman all right I got I just have one question would an earlier start time help so interestingly enough that was the reason why I was always told you couldn't start school later because they couldn't get to the sports in and everyone has we so I have to say that one we at least debunked that a number of years ago so we did start this conversation years ago where we actually had a county meeting of superintendent and ads so that we could talk to the ads directly and like really because that was the number one issue of why we couldn't start later and so we finally got past at that point of that's not the reason to not have later start time we can figure it all out like that's not and then we followed up with a meeting with board in the county our County really was trying to make some Headway with this with board presidents and superintendents that we host hosted that here um and then I think the pandemic happened and everything kind of uh stopped yeah um but we did have a meeting with the athletic directors to basically debunk that uh obstacle okay uh any other items thank you again Katherine I apologize uh I we had spoken the other day and I should have put it on the agenda forgot maybe any other item all right Carol now we're ready for you sorry Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A9 we have a second any comments discussion roll call Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr manek yes M pra yes yes M tror yes Mr Burber yes motion Carri after all my comments about curriculum instruction we have no we have nothing tonight on that okay moving on Personnel items I'd like to move items C1 through C9 second thank you any discussion roll call Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Mr Lee yes Mr manek yes rasa yes trur yes and Mr Burber yes motion carry I'd like to move items D1 through D12 that's right that's right no but that doesn't matter because we have a second second great comments discussion roll call Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Lee Yes command Check Yes rasa yes shour yes and Mr bber yes motion thank you everybody uh second opportunity for public comment again this comment period is for any item not necessarily those on the the agenda seeing none I will close the second opportunity for public comment do we have any other business any other items that people would like to bring up besides wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving yest yeah no I do have a couple things oh great yeah I know you're thrilled um one question that came up which um I thought would be good to have a formal answer for is how come we're not using the gravel lot up the road um for student parking and all the there's like the lower gravel lot and then there's a mid gravel lot and no one's allowed to use the mid gravel lot for some reason is that right when you say mid you mean upper gravel the yeah yeah I believe so that is for I believe believe that's for the senior overflow but I know we're looking at changing that too and freeing up more spaces cu no one parks there so I think I think actually um IID asked Mr Leber about that and I'll I'll check with Mr Shay I can get an answer I I just had some Juniors who just got their license ask why they weren't you know no one's parking there they would like to anyway um is it locked no it's not no it's not locked off but if you park there you get like fined and towed and your parents get told uh get suspended um yeah I had two other comments from parents over the last two weeks one was um that the parking I mean the drop off situation in the front of school is still not fixed so I'm just leaving that it's not a discussion item not just it's still an issue um the other one's a little bit more serious and I don't want to get too far into this other than to say that there was a concern brought up to make sure that uh the Jewish students and the education of those Jewish the Jewish U subjects around October 7th in Israel are being uh taught there was some concern that it wasn't being taught properly I don't know anything about it other than the the uh comments uh that I was asked to bring up that's all all right other than that and I I have yeah I I went to the play again it was fabulous and I loved how they did you could buy the little uh Apple things which were fabulous I've never had them that good and I hate apple pie um and then they served them at intermission it was just really nice thank you pass that along motion to adjourn so mov second all those in favor thank you and again Happy Thanksgiving to all Juliana and Sophie Happy Thanksgiving