Good evening and welcome to the West Orange Board of Education public board meeting on Monday, August 18th, 2025. I would like to thank all of you here in person and those watching from home for joining us tonight. Uh Miss Flowers, please take the roll call.
>> Good evening. Roll call, please. Dr. Bryant, Mr. Stevenson >> here, >> Miss Vera, Vice President >> here, >> President Rock >> here.
>> Thank you. Notice of meeting. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests are discussed or acted upon.
In accordance with the provisions of the act, a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on January 6, 2025. That said notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and by email to
the Star Ledger. That said notice was posted in the lobby of the administration building of the board of education and posted on the district website. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district
website at a future date. Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States to the standy justice for all. Thank you, Miss Flowers. In consideration of the closed and public
meeting of July 21st, 2025, do I have a motion to accept the minutes? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Any comments? >> Hearing none. Miss Flowers, please take the roll call. >> Mr. Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Vice President?
>> Yes. >> President Rock. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Moore, it is time for your report. Please share your superintendent's report with us. Thank you, President Rock, and good evening, everyone. I am looking forward to the opening of schools. I hope that I'm not killing
anyone's summer by saying that, but especially our middle schools. Tonight, I want to remind our students to attend any opportunity afforded to you before the first day. Like the middle schools are having bagels and locks. Locks meaning your actual lock
for your locker. So, it is not the food, but the lock itself. And that will start on that will be on August 26 and 27th. It'll give our students a chance to get familiar with the buildings, figure out where their locker is, review their
schedules. For our new high school students, an orientation is scheduled on Thursday, August 21st. Students can be it's for high school students. So, parents, students can be dropped off at 8:30 a.m. and picked up at 1:00 p.m.
Again, more details for any either orientation can be found on the website tonight. Our agenda in our agenda, you will note a donation that's being accepted by our board. We want to send a
quick a thank you to our to basketball star Kyrie Irving and through his organization who's donating uniforms and equipment to our middle school athletic program. I want to thank Kyrie who's always thinking of his hometown who has lived in West Orange and attended
Roosevelt. So, thank you. Special thank you to him. And as far as HIV is concerned, at this time there was one report of HIV and it was deemed unfounded.
So that concludes uh my report for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Moore. Uh next up, do we have any committee reports from the board? >> Uh no report. >> Thank you. Anything, Mr. No. >> No. All right. Moving right along. I would like to share my board president's
report. uh with all of you now and which includes some good news. Uh one of our teachers, Miss Joy Bernett of Redwood, was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Amastad Commission Exemplary Award in the K8 grade category. The New Jersey Amastad Commission was created back in
2002 uh by a bill put forth by Assemblyman William Payne and our very own Craig Stanley of West Orange. Uh and it was designed to create this commission which would promote the teaching of African-American history uh throughout New Jersey schools. One of the things they do is promote a or hold
host a curriculum institute. When I was a teacher in East Orange, I had an opportunity to go and it was an excellent learning experience. One of the other things they do is recognize some exemplary teachers throughout the state. Uh specifically, they pick out uh two teachers who get awarded uh and recognized for their inclusion of
African-American history throughout the curriculum in their own classrooms. Uh each year that award committee selects two exceptional educators from New Jersey public schools, one representing grades K to 8 and one representing grades 9 through 12. As a recipient, Miss Bernett will receive a monetary award of $2,500. Uh there will also be a
$2,500 award for our school district. On behalf of the entire board, I offer my sincere congratulations to Miss Bernett. Uh Redwood and the entire district is fortunate to have such a dedicated and committed teacher. Mr. Stevenson, you want to say uh go Rockets? >> Go
I was waiting for that. >> I appreciate that. >> Uh go Rockets. You know, it's a it's always great when one of our teachers can be recognized for their commitment to our children to our and their commitment to our community. So, I commend Miss Bernett and the fact that
she's a teacher makes it all that more special. So, but you know, all of our teachers who put in the efforts to make sure that uh issues of diversity and issues of uh things as it pertains to curriculum
instruction which give light to all experiences in uh the country I think is really critical. So, go Rockets. >> All right. Uh and congratulations again to Miss Bernett. Uh and that concludes my president's report. Uh, next we will have questions from the public on agenda
items only. Any community member who would like to make comments or ask questions, please come to the podium at this time, uh, please state your name and home address for the record, then begin your comments. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Do we have any members of the public here in the audience tonight who wish to make a public comment?
>> Hello, my name is Emily Peas. I live at 8 Harvard Terrace. I'll let you start the clock. I don't think I'll take all three minutes. Um, first I wanted to thank um, Mr. KFER setting up uh we're working on dates to set up a meeting to discuss details about the budget. Our
West Orange parents for education woke group is really excited to engage on a community involved process on the budget. Um I had a secondary question actually um after last meeting Mr. Stevenson I sent you an email asking a question for clarification about the vote that was taken on the new
graduation requirements. It I've looked back at both meetings. It was raised both times but never discussed. And I was looking for clarification as I indicated in my email to you about what the changes were after looking at was unclear and it seemed like there was no discussion about what the change of the new graduation policy was and some
clarification on that would be helpful. That's it for me. >> All right. Good evening. My name is William Dano. I live at 84 Corbane Terrace and I'm part of the West Orange Parents for Education Group. Um, I know our numbers are smaller tonight. It's the end of the summer. The school year is right around the corner. Families are
squeezing in their last vacations. So, but I want to be clear. Our concerns still haven't gone anywhere. Parents are still coming up to me asking about the budget, asking what's ahead, asking what this year and the next year will look like. And on beaches and at barbecues around the state, they're hearing from
family and friends in other towns about how their districts are grappling with the school budget challenges, too. The difference is many of those districts aren't as large or as complex as ours as we all know. And we know that the next budget cycle is already looming and we can't afford to keep reacting year-to-year. We need to envision a
district that isn't just surviving but planning for the long term. That includes facing our facility needs head-on. We're a growing town. There's that new development that's coming up very soon that's going to add additional students whether they want to tell us that's true or not. And our schools are aging. We need to talk about what it would take to build new ones. Just the
other day, I spoke to a dad at the town pool. He told me about energy incentives that from PSNG that he knows for a fact that our district are not taking advantage of. That's just one small example, but it speaks to something bigger. The families here care deeply and want to help. I know I'm ready for
the fall, and my kids are already itching to meet their new teachers and see their new classrooms and their classmates. On my block alone, severally several families are sending their children to West Orange schools for the first time. some entering kindergarten, some excitedly enrolling in our expanded prek program. So that says something
about how much people believe in this district. That's why we're still asking for a meeting. Parents are ready to support this district, not just in a moment of crisis, but in building a stronger and sustainable future together. Thank you very much. >> Just to answer the question, uh on
credits, we just aligned our credits with the New Jersey uh standard of credits. We had more credits we were asking for of students or allowing students to take and we've now just aligned with what all our neighbors as well as New Jersey standard for school
credits. So it's not any less than any other requirement. It is the requirement and that's just the difference is we had a school with it was many years ago we used to do a school within a school then you had to take x amount more credits than you normally would and we were able
to just we just for some students you know that just doesn't work and they feel like they're short when they're really not because they have enough. But um we just aligned ourselves and made it a little simpler for everyone to understand. Um with I I don't know if I
should answer that Mr. Ifer will but I believe we are very motivated to get a meeting together so that we can all look at it and talk about it. So I know Mrs. um our BA uh I just in case you didn't know is planning to do that and she's
working with our assistant BA you know as I talked to other superintendents and across obviously this isn't New Jersey issue this is an issue um that's very serious um we have great teachers you know we don't want to go through that again no one wants to go
through cutting and and uh losing staff and and really trying to reorganize programs so that there, you know, we can figure out a way to keep people in district. Um, again, we we think that we did a good job of trying to keep as many
staff members as we possibly can. Um, but in any essence, when you lose staff, it's critical and it's a disadvantage for us, it's a disadvantage for parents, it's a disadvantage for our community. >> Thank you, Mr. Moore. Thank you all for
coming tonight. Uh, seeing no one else, we will move on to our resolutions. May I have a motion to approve the personnel items A1 through A6? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Iker. I want to congratulate the following retiree, Mary Burn, along aid at Washington Elementary
for her two years of service. Thank you, Mary, for your service to the Western Orange students and our school community, and welcome to the club where every day is Saturday. Uh, is there any other discussion on personnel? Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the roll call. Mr. Stevenson,
>> yes. >> Vice President, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next. May I have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction items B1 through B3? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Uh, any
discussion? Hearing none. Uh, Miss Flowers, please take the roll call. >> Mr. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Vice President, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. Thank you. >> All right. And next, may I have a motion to approve the finance items C, special
services items A 1-5 and business office items B 1- 23, including addendum 24, 25, and 26. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ker. Uh, any discussion? All right, Miss Flowers, please take the
roll call. >> Mr. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Vice President, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you. And finally, may I have a motion to approve reports item D1 through five? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second?
>> Second. Thank you, Mr. Uh, any discussion? All right, Miss Flowers, please take the roll call. >> Mr. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Vice President, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much to my board
colleagues. It is August and it is a light agenda. Um, I think we got through that in record time. Uh, next up we will have petitions and hearings of citizens for any agenda or non-aggenda item that you wish to discuss. You will have three minutes to speak. Please approach the podium at this time and state your name and address for the record.
>> Oh, seeing none. Uh, Mr. You wanted to >> I did. I just wanted to uh mention that uh I just wanted to commend Miss Flowers. She without going into it, she had a little surgery and we expected to see her sometime after Labor Day and
here she is. To come back early in the middle of summer is, you know, commendable and it's rare and we appreciate it very much. Thank you. >> Yes, we appreciate you and wish you a speedy recovery. All right, thank you all very much for
coming. Our next board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on September 15th, 2025. This meeting will be held in the West Orange High School Library Media Center. We will not be going into executive session after the close of this meeting. There will be no further business discussed and no additional action will be taken. May I have a motion to adjurnn?
>> Motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Kurt. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. All in favor? >> I. All right. All opposed. >> Thank you all for joining tonight. Uh, our meeting is now adjourned. We wish you a good night.