##VIDEO ID:uXZkrXHWlqc## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to the West Orange Board of Education public board meeting on Monday December 16th 2024 I would like to thank all of you here in person and those watching from home for joining us tonight um Miss Flowers would you please take the Roll Call thank you good evening everyone roll call please Dr Bryant here Mr ifer here Mr Stevenson here vice president Vera 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 body 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 8th 2024 that set notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township Clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and by mail to The Star Ledger that set notice was posted in the lobby of the administration building of the Board of Education and posted on the district website please please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district's website at a future date please stand for the pledge pledge of allegiance pledge allegiance FL the United States of America to The Republic stands one nation under God and indivisible thank you Miss Flowers in consideration of the closed and public meeting of November 11th 2024 do I have a motion to accept the minutes so moved thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr ifer uh uh any comments hearing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you all right and next good evening to our student liaison Nina Davis uh would you please share your student liaison Report with us good evening to open our winter sports season the West Orange Sports media Association held our annual winter media day on Saturday there we were able to take media photos for hockey basketball wrestling bowling track and field and fencing We wish all of our athletes a good luck on their Seasons this past week was our second spirit week of the year which was also a class battle the different themes included Pajama Day Jersey day rolls reversed meaning students dressed as teachers and teachers dressed like students rhyme without reason and West Orange gear day since it's a class battle each class is School spirit will be tracked by a point system meaning anybody who participates in any Spirit day will get a point and the winner of the class battle will be announced at our winter pep rally on Wednesday um the West Orange High School drama club had major Success With The Clue musical their show dates were on November 15th and 16th which were sold out on both nights their new musical coming up was announced being prom their show dates will start on April 4th and the cast list has been assembled and we all look forward to another amazing show on December 5th 9th grade Jubilee Glee BTO and honors chamber choir joined together to perform at this year's winter choir concert some highlighted songs included white winter Himel Oh Holy Night and jingle bells that includes my report thank you very much uh Mr Moore it is now time for your superintendent's report thank you president Rock good evening everyone my report is short tonight um but again very impactful T and uh we will start my report begins with best buddies this evening I we have the pleasure of recognizing West Orange High School par professional Maria naret who has who has been awarded champion of the Year by her best buddies by the best buddies International Organization Maria has Maria has been committed to helping students with developmental disabilities both here at work and during her free time as a volunteer her dedication is an example of the very best here in West Orange this was also noticed by our vice president Maria Vera whom I'd like to share the opportunity to publicly thank Mar Everet and the best buddy Organization for their dedication to our students vice president uh Vera if you would join me in the front I would like you to come forward and we as we present the honor Maria Everet e e I'm proud to admit I was Maria's Dean so I've known Maria quite some time I'm very proud of you Maria well done okay uh before I conclude my report I want to wish everyone a happy holiday and please enjoy your holiday um here in West Orange uh I wish all our students and staff the same um I also wish this board a very committed and dedicated um community members who have our students best interest at heart the same and during this holiday and before I conclude I want to also thank this board and let them know that I appreciate their partnership and I feel that we will succeed together so I wish everyone a happy holiday I wish this board a happy holiday I just wanted to make note so thank you for listening at this time I can present our Hib report which is harassment intimidation and bullying report since our last board meeting there have been seven investigations throughout the district I reviewed the summaries of each and it was determined that none of the incidents met criteria for HIV all seven were unfounded I concur with the findings presented by our anti-bullying Specialists and thank you um sorry Brian thank you president rock that concludes my report thank you superintendent Moore uh next up we have committee reports and comments from the board Dr Bryan do you want to say something sure I'll report out for the curriculum committee um we were able to meet um with Personnel at the district office on November 21st for about two and a half hours is actually a pretty long meeting but um we were able to get a brief overview of the building blocks of the path forward in terms of how we are going to remedy the current math score situation if you will um while the concrete plans are still in development we heard quite a bit about the interventions the supports and the on and off ramps for students in the potential plans um the initial ideas feel promising and we look forward to seeing more concrete ideas in the first quarter of the Year thank you Dr Bryan uh Mr uh thank you just a couple things first of all um vice president Vera and I had the uh pleasure of going to Liberty uh Middle School a few weeks ago and to meet with the principal Xavier Fitzgerald and uh usually we go around the school we have a tour and we meet some teachers and we see some students this time uh it was just the three of us in a conference room for one hour going back and forth about uh successes areas where we need to improve I I have to say I found it to be I was very impressed I mean I think that the uh parents of uh Liberty students should be very happy that the school is under his supervision he knows everything that's going on there and he's not afraid to take a stand I found it to be one of the more uh positive uh um moments that I've had what since I've been on the board uh the second thing is that in in the uh in terms of my role as liaison to Town Council I'll be meeting with uh uh councilwoman Michelle calino in January with the new Council being sworn in and we'll make sure we keep the uh lines of communication open there and then finally I guess to uh follow up on What U Miss Brian said that people should know that math is a a major issue for us and we it it's very important we speak about it at every meeting um if you don't hear us speaking about it in public we're speaking about it uh prior to coming out here so um we know that it's a problem and we're addressing it thank you thank you anything from uh very briefly from a policy standpoint I appreciate the work of the curricular committee um by law we report out the state assessment data uh in the fall of the year for the previous year and uh I think I as a board member in conjunction with our colleagues are committed to improving all of our assessment data and so last meeting was a long meeting where we went through a lot of questions but I think those questions were uh really important and really valid for parents and for the community and to demonstrate our commitment to look at our in place policies and how they can be improved to uh benefit students and families and ultimately our Comm our community so I'm grateful for the opportunity to uh have the public trust to examine our policies to serve families thank you Mr Stevenson anything from vice president ver I would like to say that I agree with the board members regarding the situation that we have and you know with disc scour in the M area and definitely you know as board members we are going to work together in order to improve this situation and make um you know everybody accountable with the kind of uh position they have as supervisors as in every area either you know mad and Ela with um in order to improve the scores ER you know we want our community and um all the parents community members stakeholders to feel accountable for that uh as Mr Dr rer mentioned uh we visit uh Liberty Middle School and we have the same kind of agreement like uh is the parents participation parents involvement is critical they usually go to the elementary school but once they get into the middle school and high school the participate is not the same this is our priority especially for me as an educator uh the parent has to be accountable for that it's not only teachers that's everybody we as board members teachers and parents what is the you know the major major concern in order to improve our scores I recognize we have wonderful teachers but at the same time as we work together with the teachers and parents and the community um once again this is uh December and that's my first year as a board member I always say as the learning process definitely you know next year I will be more involved with the community in order to promote parents participation and recognize you know the kind of community we have in different areas and thank you Mr Mor thank you president br for the opportunity to serve as a vice president this school year all right next I would like to share my board president's Report with all of you the St Cloud PTA diversity committee is proud to announce that the American Water charitable Foundation has approved their Grant request in the amount of $2,500 Grant is intended to assist the committee in achieving its Mission honoring diversity and implementing inclusion and Equity initiatives at St Cloud Elementary School congratulations to the St Cloud PTA diversity committee um also mentioned that the we've talked about school funding before the New Jersey Department of Education started this week holding public hearings uh and accepting public comment in order to improve the the school funding Reform Act formula moving forward uh there are a couple hearings scheduled in January and I intend to attend one of those and testify I will put some thoughts together and circulate them to the board beforehand just to make sure we're all you know of one mind of that um but I'll probably do that over the holiday break and get that to everybody before the new year um and that's it for me next up 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 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 public any members of the public here in the audience tonight who wish to make a public comment all right seeing none we will move on to our resolutions may I have a motion to approve the Personnel items A1 through A6 so move thank you Mr Stevenson there a second thank you vice president ver want to congratulate the following retirees Elizabeth Ramos a school nurse at Edison Middle School for her 16.5 years of service FAL Khan a night shift custodian at Hazel Elementary for his 30 years of service and bettyanne sugy a clerical Aid at West Orange High School for her 15.5 years of service thank you all for your service to the West Orange students and our school Community best wishes to you on the behalf of the Board of Education and welcome to the club where every today is Saturday is there any discussion on Personnel no hearing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Bara yes president Rock yes thank you next may I have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction items B1 through B4 so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr ier any discussion seeing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you right next may have a motion to approve the finance items c special services items a 1- two and business office items B 1-9 so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr iar uh any discussion seeing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you all right finally may I have a motion to approve reports item D1 through two so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second yes thank you Mr ier uh any discussion right Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifo yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you all right thank you very much to my board colleagues for that um did want to actually point out one of the resolutions we approved had to do with the appointment of teachers to the tutorial program so as we spoke about math earlier and the need to improve our math scores and to help students who are struggling in math last meeting one of the things we did was approve the creation of those positions through tutorial program starting this meeting we've approved the actual implementation of that so to Dr Brian's Point some evidence that we're moving in the right direction and look forward to seeing more action in the new year uh next up we have petitions and hearings of citizens for any agenda or non-agenda item that you wish to discuss you will have three minutes to speak please approach the podium at this time state your name address for the record this public comment section great hi hi good evening I am Jane part my address is for MC chzn Court West Orange so um good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak at this public session um thank you for your service to our town and to our children I'm here today for a general purpose um I had met four and a half years ago with then superintendent Scott cascone um and we also met with Miss eony dandes about a districtwide one-day training which would in incorporate nationally recognized principles in anti-racist training a professional development day was scheduled for May 18th 2020 to sample this training but the pandemic hit so it was cancelled now I've watched Mr Moore and his team develop their Dei initiatives and viewed the November 11th Board of Education presentation from W the West Orange way I've been involved in anti-racist work work for 30 years and I do not represent any group in West Orange I support many of them and I was chair of the West Orange human relations commission several years ago I would like to support the West Orange wild team as 2025 may be a year in which increase bullying and calling out the other is likely to happen maybe even increase um the West Orange way team acknowledged the complexity of our Town's challenges and I applaud them for their strategies and the work thus far to best support all students to achieve that's what we're all here for right I've been in touch with Mr Moore and miss Liz use and would like to attend the meetings of the district diversity Council and assist in recruiting parent ambassadors from the schools to the district diversity councils at last month's board meeting questions from board members such as Eric Stevenson's question about how have parents been engaged in supporting the academic success of their child are great his question made me wonder how to support getting busy parents to math or other online tutorials sessions and becoming involved in their child's success I hope to contribute to that effort I am currently tutoring through the West Orange African Heritage Association at Redwood school and I look forward to helping connect interested parents in this effort thank you thank you is there anyone else for public comment any closing comments from the board before the end of the year happy holiday all right well on that note I'll take a motion to adjourn our before that our next board meeting will be in the new year uh 5:30 p.m. on January 6 2025 for the purposes of reorganization the me meeting will be held in 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 now may have a motion to adjourn so moved thank you Mr I second I second his motion thank you Mr ifer all in favor I all right thank you for joining us tonight our meeting is now adjourned we wish you a good night and happy holidays