[Music] hello and good evening everyone uh we called our meeting to order earlier in our Clos executive session so now we are ready to begin the public portion of our meeting um so we're about halfway
through the school year and I just wanted to take this time um as a good uh reminder for for parents and and caregivers that uh when you do have have concerns or questions about something specific to your child's experience um
uh it's highly recommended that you uh and your children go directly to their teachers um learning to advocate for yourself is a a skill it's a very important skill that will set up our students for future success and of
course if um um you know if you if the teacher cannot address or answer your questions at that time they can also direct you to uh someone else who can be an appropriate point of contact such as a counselor a nurse or um any of the
principes at your schools so I say this as a reminder because it can be difficult uh to figure out who to turn to especially when we have all of these communication channels available to us um beyond the the school channels the official ones like the
website or the weekly newsletters um um there's a ton of social media groups out there which is great for keeping us all connected um however it is quite overwhelming to keep up with with all of these so I do caution on relying on
these avenues for um answers directly related to your child's uh unique situation so we highly encourage that you maintain open dialogue with your children's teachers and staff um and if you're unsure how to reach them uh the
email address format is first name. lastname at wwpr rsd.org and um and having these open lines of communication will just um be great and Foster more productive discussions so um I'm going to turn it
over now to Dr aderhold for any reminders or comments uh good evening everyone uh just uh two different reminders uh we are closed on Friday for a professional development day for staff and we are closed on Monday for President's Day so I know parents have
already received Communications about both um but for students that's a 4-day weekend uh for staff and um for staff it's a three-day um so again we do have a a wonderful PD day planned uh thanks to Dr gold and her team uh and then just
with respect to weather um as we have snow flurries outside and I know that there is uh questions as our surrounding districts are starting to delay uh for tomorrow but you know delay with the reassessment uh so just to talk through my thinking on this over the last uh
decade plus of making these calls um I do not like what's called double messaging so I do not like uh calling a delay and then changing something in the morning I actually like to see snow if uh possible before making any kind of calls so I will always air on the side
of hesitating until the weather starts um if possible and then to um not avoid to avoid a double call or double messaging which means tonight will most likely be uncertain going into the evening unless the forecast shifts to heavier snow um but I'll be working with
building and grounds and other others throughout the evening um we have a 4:30 a.m. snow call with other superintendents um and we'll be making a call to either delay Andor close uh tomorrow a singular message um I'll always air on the side of safety when it
comes to uh making sure that our buses can safely get uh come through and uh deliver our students uh to school but I also have to be mindful that our staff comes in from over 90 different municipalities um and that as our staff is coming more than 50% of our South
staff is South H West Windsor Plainsboro or south of us um and as such I have to be mindful do we have enough individuals to actually operate a school district safely um and to meet our students needs so um yes I have to look at what the weather is here in uh West Windsor and
Plainsboro but two I have to be mindful of can I safely get our staff here to be able to educate our children um the other question I get around this is can we move to Virtual and the answer in New Jersey is no um while we did virtual instruction um during the co time period
that was under executive order um in New Jersey the current law is there has to be an emergency closing for three consecutive days and then you can petition based on um a public safety reason to move to Virtual after that the challenge then is the next storm you
start over the clock at zero and you have to go three days of closure before you can do it again um so right now that's the current rules there's been bill after Bill after Bill over the last decade with around this idea and uh I know there's some pending right now but
right now the law does not pro prohibit us or prohibits us from moving to a virtual day even a virtual half day it gets confusing in this area because the private schools are not held to those same laws so sometimes you hear the private schools are doing it and then people say well why not wwp also in
Pennsylvania we have a lot of folks that travel across um the laws are different in Pennsylvania um and then we do have a handful of New Jersey districts that actually have more than 180 days of instruction so they they will use snow days or they'll flip to a virtual day
but it doesn't count as one of their 180 mandated days so it's basically like practice instruction virtually so that're they're prepared in case they move to it so just because you're hearing other districts doing it doesn't mean it's it's um allowed or that it's counted as a legal day so we're we're we
continue to have that conversation and and fight for the uh right for virtual um but uh but I am a believer in snow days when appropriate I think it's a it's it's a right uh that we have granted during uh covid as well we had
you know snow days during virtual days then because I do think there's something um appro you know something about childhood and snow days uh but I'm always make them when there's actually snow so right now I see a lot of wet out the window here um and I see Windows of cars covered but I don't see snow on the
ground it's way too early to make a call at 7:40 uh in the evening and we'll keep them monitoring throughout the night to make the right decision um um to to uh get the staff and the students in here safely thank you all right thanks Dr
ater hold and it's a good reminder too to make sure you check in Genesis that you have an updated and current email and phone number so that you get that message tomorrow morning about school if um there is a decision um so next we're
actually um we've because of the the weather um we've asked the student representatives to come on February 25th instead um hope so they are home and safe and now we can turn to our first opportunity for public comments the
board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to 3 minutes in accordance with board policy 0167 all statements shall be directed to
the presiding officer this public Comon period shall be limited to 60 Minutes um do we have a public comment seeing none I will close this public comment period and um next on the agenda we don't have any Board of
Education committee reports so we can actually move on to the V voting portion of our meeting can I get a motion for administration items numbers 1 through 5 uh plus the purple addendum uh Dana and
Liz um any questions or comments okay uh so miss Cheney we are ready to vote okay great um Miss Krug yes Miss George jera yes Miss malga yes
Miss Shaw yes Miss Shetty yes Miss bonsel yes and Miss mchan yes uh we don't have any curriculum and instruction items to vote on this evening so moving on to finance can I get a motion for finance uh items
numbers 1 through 11 uh aanta Anda uh any questions or comments okay okay um Miss Shaw yes Miss Shetty yes Miss George
tanera yes Miss Krug yes Miss malga yes Miss bonsel yes and Miss mccuan yes and now can I get a motion for personnel item number one plus the green and pink addendum uh ly and um
TAA uh any questions or comments okay okay Miss malga yes Miss Krug yes Miss George chanera yes Miss Shaw yes Miss Shetty yes Miss bonsel yes
and Miss mchu yes and before we move on I do want to acknowledge we have several retirements that we just voted on we have eight actually so um I'll list out our our retirees um Diane choka French teacher from Grover retiring after 24
years of service to the district um Rhonda dwit Spanish teacher from Grover after retiring after 25 years in the district uh Deborah goodkin language arts teacher at High School North retiring after 35 years Linda scanland
teacher res resource specialist for instruction and intervention uh who works out of Grover and Community Middle School is retiring after 35 years uh with service to the district um fra anarie Wick German teacher at Grover is
retiring after 26 years Angela Frasier um our High School South instructional assistant is retiring after 24 and a half years Arvid Allen a math teacher from High School North is retiring after 28 years and Lee Patron uh secretary at
woff is retiring after 27 and a half years um what uh an accomplished distinguished group of retirees so we just want to thank you for your many many years of dedication and service to our district and we wish you all the
best in your retirements so thank you next we um are going to approve the Board of Education minutes uh can I get a motion to approve uh not only the January 28 uh minutes but also the uh closed executive session minutes from
December 10th 2024 which was provided via email um uh Pua and uh ly that um any questions or I'm sorry all those in favor say I hi uh any
abstentions I abstain from uh January 28th A and B yes I also abstained from uh December 10th and okay um great so now um do we have any board ladies on reports this this evening thanks
Dana good evening everyone um just going to give an update on some um news from New Jersey Schoolboard Association I'm as a Mercer County um delegate to the New Jersey Schoolboard association's board of directors which is the governing body of the New Jersey
Schoolboard Association I just wanted to share some um key points from our board of directors meeting which was on January 31st um the board of directors unanimous ly approved the um njsba 2025
2026 budget and this budget includes a 1 and a half% overall increase in members dues um and there's V variability um based on um each member's size and um District uh well the size of their
District operating budget um our district is at the the top of the but there's a limit on that there's a a cap um and there's a continued increase in contribution of non-dues revenues um no increase in budgeted head count and of
course that they are dealing with the same things that our district is dealing with which is um higher than inflation increases for certain um non-controllable expenses such as health care costs insurance and and employer contributions to Pur retirement plan um
there also if any of you have looked at the um gotten the email they're debuting a something called a cap the the capital watch it's a brand new quarterly online newsletter and it provides critical updates on pending legislation that could significantly impact New Jersey
schools students and communities um their government relations team is tracks is tracking nearly 1,800 pieces of legislation in this at the state house and uh Capital watch provides concise summaries of pending bills updates on their progress and
information about njsb njsba official position in one one uh easy access source for it's going to be four times a year quarterly um there's a few upcoming training programs I it was one of our board one of my board colleagues is going to the um women's leadership
conference um on March 31st and there's a couple of other um things um coming up public relations forum and an equity Expo um and the board of directors will next meet on March 28th thanks perfect thanks Dana um do we have
any other the ason reports go ahead Liz just want to mention also that uh the district uh uh the Board of Education and uh superintendent we had attended the Lunar New Year celebration which is really nicely done it was so nice to see the different performances by the
children of the community and the attendance so it's a very nice celebration as well as that black history month so recognizing that as well awesome thanks Liz and uh I know a couple of us went to Maurice Hawks uh sign sence fair I think it's science fair season for our elementary schools
as well um do we have any other these on reports nope okay this takes us to our second opportunity oh nope it does not um uh do we have any new business nope okay now it takes us to our second opportunity for public comments the board invites comments from
members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name an address prior to making a statement which will be limited to 3 minutes in accordance with board policy 01 167 all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 15
minutes do you have any public comment tonight nope okay seeing none I'll close this public comment period and move to adjourn uh can I get a motion to adjourn uh Liz and scha uh all those in favor say I I stay safe and warm everyone
thank you [Music]