It's delivered. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Welcome to the Winsow Township Board of Education regular board meeting, Wednesday, October 8th, 2025. Public notice of this meeting was given to all board members and associates in a notice
stated January 9th, 2025. Adequate and electronic notice of this public meeting has been provided specifying the time, place, and manner in which this meeting is being conducted. It was advertised in the Courier Post, hosted in all schools, the administration office, the municipal
building, the library, Bud Dougal Center, Edgewood Acres, Elmtown, and the Winsslow Township Post offices. Our mission statement, The mission statement of the Winslow Township School District, a large, diverse, and growing community, is to educate all students to become
independent, lifelong learners, critical thinkers, and caring and competent members of their community. The district in partnership with the community and a climate of cooperation and mutual respect will provide an academic environment which values excellence and diversity encourages students to strive
for personal excellence and assist them in acquiring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to contribute positively to a rapidly changing world. Roll call, please. Mr. Clark, here. Miss Dreton, here. Miss Glaude,
present. Miss Martin, present. Mr. McManis present. Miss Peterson present. Miss present. Mr. Thomas here. And Mr. Shaw present. You have a quum. Can we please stand for the pledge of
allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Mr. Clark, can we do the 2025 2026 district goals? 2025 2026 district goals. Number one, student achievement. Continue to implement research-based best practices for delivering instruction and accelerating learning for all students,
including all subgroups. This shall include conduct weekly administrative walkthroughs to monitor teaching and learning. utilize the district diagnostic assessment platform to analyze student data to inform and guide instruction to monitor and track
measurable growth in ELA and mathematics in grades one through nine to implement creative ways to accelerate student learning by providing additional supports throughout and beyond the school day. Number two, promote a positive environment for students and
staff. Enforce the code of conduct to ensure safety for students and staff and compliance with district policies. Incorporate social emotional learning opportunities for students to celebrate positive behaviors. Develop strategies for students with significant behaviors
to reduce the interruption of instructional time, decrease negative actions, and improve school attendance. Number three, increase stakeholder engagement. explore and expand innovative opportunities to increase parent communication. Create parent
learning opportunities with a focus on how to support their child's learning. Continue to share the accomplishments of Winslow students in all student activities. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Moving on to our next item. We are going
to go into executive session for How long do you think it will take, Mr. Long? probably about 15 to 20 minutes, I would think. Not terribly long. Would you like me to frame that? Yes, please. Mr. President uh will be going into an
executive session on October 8th, 2025 at 7:03 p.m. Of the nine exceptions, we'll be utilizing the exception which permits conversations relative to employment, appointment, uh terms and
conditions of employment, um promotion, hiring, things of that nature, uh with respect to uh our curriculum office. And I would anticipate us being 15 to 20 minutes in the executive session
and um there possibly may be action taken coming out of executive session. Thank you, Mr. Schul. Thank you very much, Mr. May I have a motion to move into executive session? Peterson move for approval to go into
executive session. And I have a second. Second. Any questions? Want to take a roll call? Roll call, please. Mr. Clark, yes. Miss Dre? Yes. Miss Glo? Yes.
Miss Martin? Yes. Mr. McManis? Yes. Miss Peterson? Yes. Miss Pitz? Yes. Mr. Thomas? Yes. And Mr. Shaw? Yes. The motion? Miss Terry? Thank you. We shall return.
Thank you everybody for your patience. [Applause] I have a motion to come out of executive session. Peterson move for approval to come out of executive session. I have a second. Second. All in favor? I
Okay. Uh, can I have a motion to untnel item from our September 24th meeting? Item A1 for the uh 2025 to 26 staff appointment.
Um item Peterson move for approval to untend recommendation for approval of the following action item 2526 staff appointment that occurred on the 24th.
Second. All in favor? I uh moving on to uh Oh, no. We don't have to do any. Oh, no. Oh, no. Okay. Um now, can I have a motion to approve um the
superintendent's recommendation on the personnel matter of the staff appointment for the uh of item A for department of curriculum? Peterson move for approval. Uh the superintendent's recommendation for approval of the following action item
2526 staff appointment of the director of curriculum and instruction. Second roll call please. Mr. Clark yes missing. Yes. Miss. Yes.
Miss Martin of Mr. McManis. Yes. Miss Peterson. Yes. Miss Pittz. Yes. Mr. Thomas. Yes. And Mr. Shaw. Yes. The motion has carried. Moving on to
correspondence. Mr. President, we do have a piece of correspondence I'd like to read. It's addressed to Well, I'll just read it. Dear Winslow Township Board of Education, words cannot convey how touched I was to see the outpouring of
love and respect you showed for my daughter Nicole during a very difficult time. Thank you for the proclamation. She was a very impactful person. Thank you again the family of Nicole Nichols.
And that concludes the correspondence. Thank you. Moving on to our board minutes. Can I have a motion to approve our the following meeting minutes from our board of education special meeting of September 4th, 2025 open session?
Peterson move for approval of board minutes of the special meeting for September 4th, 2025 open session. Can I have a second? Second. Any questions? Roll call, please. Mr. Clark,
yes. Miss Dreaden, yes. Miss Glaude, yes. Miss Martin, yes. Mr. McManis, yes. Miss Peterson, yes. Miss Pittz, yes. Mr. Thomas, yes. And Mr. Shaw, yes. The motion has carried.
And I have a mo a motion to approve the meeting minutes from our regular meeting, September 24th, open session and close session. Peterson move for approval of the following minute me meeting minutes of the board of education September 24th 2025 open and
closed session I have a second second any questions roll call please Mr. Clark yes Miss Dre yes Miss Gloss
Martin abstain Mr. Mcmanis, yes. Miss Peterson, abstain. Miss Piss, yes. Mr. Thomas, yes. And Mr. Shaw, yes. Motion has carried.
Moving on to board committee reports. Mr. Thomas, athletic committee. Yes, I do have some words to say. First and foremost, let me say and congratulate our marching band. I had the opportunity to witness their greatness not just in Williamstown but in Washington Township and the student
population and and their enrollment look like it's increased and they are the big gunners when they come on the field. Everybody is is waiting to see Winslow is right into the tradition of what we doing. So I like to acknowledge them. Um and just giving you some some details on some other things. Our boys soccer team
has 18 varsity people. Uh 23 JV. Girls soccer has 16 varsity. They're six and three right now. Our uh girls volleyball, which is really I didn't know that a girls volleyball. This is the first year for that for that activity. They they had 15 people on
their team as well. Our field hockey is still uh looking to do some things to try to recruit to get some people to be able to join that that venue. Our wrestling team, we do have a girls wrestling team and then there was a a policy that that was just put in play for 256. The girl and boys must wrestle
separately. Now, girls will no longer be allowed to wrestle with the boys wrestling be. So, that's some new news that's going on. Of course, our football team is still winning. They they had a great event over in Canden High and that one of the highlights actually made the ESPN
real of a play that they made with one of our own uh uh Julian Peterson. So, our cheerleaders, we have 34 varsity and JB cheerleaders. So that that that is still going on and that is my report and my uh athletic.
Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Thomas question. Yes ma'am. Mr. Thomas, Mr. Thomas does that starts up in the spring and that's still going on with the spring. Uh and also I one more thing to that and I did get a followup on the actual uh
division alignment. We will we will we will be moving into that next year for the girls basketball where we align it to make it more competitive and more and in in a conference and live reliable to where we going. So we're going to monitor that and make sure that everything goes with that. But we are moving forward with them.
And I just want to thank I believe it's the AD or maybe Mr. Thomas for giving the board members the schedule of the various games and events that was very very impressive. Right. And then I believe that has something to do with ad name work and trying to make
sure that the community is involved in everything we do here. I'd like to add something to the athletic um committee. I'm on the youth side um for the recreational um um sports. So we have the Winslow Eagles and the Winsowite boys. Um they usually
play at Albian Park and at the Danio Park. Um their games are Saturdays and Sundays. Those are free games. just go out and see our little youth um athletic club. Those are the kids that are going to be coming up to the high school pretty soon. So, come out and support those kids too um from the young young
group as well. So, um they're doing great things um at the field. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Mr. Thomas and Miss Claw. Moving on to our citizen advisory committee, Miss Martin.
Yes. Good evening, board members. Good evening. Uh so the CAC met uh October 2nd via Zoom because schools were closed that day. Uh we began our meeting at 6:32 p.m. ended at 7:15. Present were myself,
Miss Martin as board leaison, Jennifer Moss, Marcy Thomasello, Gregory Wa, Rosemary Hoffman, and Jerry Lamola. Uh we had multiple items up for discussion. Mr. Evans, if I could just at this point with regards to your attendees that are
listed, I see Miss Martin is listed as the board leazison. She's the administrative advisor and there is a difference. Okay. Okay. Uh so administrative and board updates. Uh we discussed the fact that there is a
new interim superintendent. So welcome Mr. Peas. Um and how appreciative we were of the YouTube messaging that went out about the middle school updates and that was very well received by the community. Um some ongoing board items that the CAC is still pondering is the
visitor policy review. I know that was going to go to the policy committee as well as the academic and arts hall of fame and an update on the technology audit if there was anything new in regards to those three items
with regards to the um specific the visitors. Yeah, I believe the policy committee said they were going to review the visitor policy and look into policy about the academic and arts hall. Well, we did review the visitors policy and the recommendation is that it remains
the same. Okay. But we did not discuss at all or review the uh the um academic um policy of things. And any news on the technology audit and how that's going? It is underway and once they conclude
their surveys and their audit, a an official report will come out and we'll make that public. Thank you. Um and there was some connectivity concerns too. I don't know if it's just Winslow Township wide or the school cell reception even in school parking lots has kind of been spotty as
well. So there was some safety concerns from the community there as well. Um so for our second item it was staff morale and the jeans Friday policy. Uh there was discussion from staff concerned about the abrupt cancellation of weekly jeans Friday. Previously staff could
wear jeans every Friday and pay a small fee towards school club fundraisers. Uh the new restriction is only the last Friday of the month. Um this reportedly came as a directive from the board. Miss Martin had clarified that she had not heard of any such board action. Um the
consensus of the committee was that the change negatively impacted morale and eliminated a fundraiser revenue source. Um so the recommendation to the board on this item was to reinstate this weekly deans Friday policy to support staff morale and student club funding.
Uh third action item was after school and evening events policy. Uh current rules by the district require an administrator to be present for all after school events limiting student activities such as talent shows, fairly decorating and evening programs. There
was the suggestion to allow certified staff, those with their administrative certifications who may not actually be an administrator to supervise when administrators are unavailable. and of course review past practices where certified teachers could supervise. Um
so action items there were to review the policy on supervision and compare with other districts. Uh recommendation to the board was amend after hours supervision policy to permit certified staff to oversee approved student events. Um item number four was reviving our
home and school association. It's been something that the CAC has been trying to do for the past year. Um and many of our HSAs are struggling. So, there was some discussion about having HSAs moved to a PTO or a PTA format. Uh, there was some concern. We did speak to some HSA
members. Um, being part of a PTO or PTA does require dues to be paid. Um, $7 per person and you 25 paying members per school's PTA. Um, so there was some discussion about how funds could be raised so that we could, you know, kind
of cover those PTA costs. That way there's kind of a guideline for every school to have policies to follow so parents who are volunteering their time don't feel like they're making it up as they come along. Our fifth item was the marching band equity and transportation discussion. Um
it was noted that some band members do feel almost kind of like second class uh sports teams here in Windsor and we don't want that. Um, and it was suggested as a, you know, kind of goodwill faith to have our football team maybe attend a marching band concert.
So, kind of organize a field trip so they can support um or any other sports team. Doesn't have to be football, but you know, just some kind of um equitable things there. Uh, there was also some concern that we heard from parents about safety and fairness. There's a a
competition that we attend in Wildwood where students have to be bus back and forth for four days throughout the competition and we're wondering if it's not more cost effective to just have them stay for those four days. So there's recommendations to the board were equitable transportation, explore
overnight accommodations for multi-day competitions, and encourage cross activity support. Um, another concern that was brought from the community was about uh birthday party invitation. Um, I think the unwritten policy as it stands right now is that um, if you
bring in party invitations, you either have to give to all the boys or all the girls or the entire class. Um, parent, you know, because of financial constraints, some of these party venues are kind of expensive and to invite the whole class, you know, would be an undue burden on the parents. Um and there is
no written policy on that right now that we can find currently in the district. Um so recommendation to the board clarify whether a formal party invitation policy exists and if not standardized communication to the parents.
And lastly we talked about the Chromebook roll out the updates about the Chromebooks being purchased and now being delayed due to some unresolved logistics. Um there was some concerns that because the roll out is taking a little bit longer that the equipment would be obsolete by the time they are
deployed. Um I know Miss Martin said she was going to follow up with some questions we had on that. Um and as far as other notes, we talked about pep rallies, school spirit and morale. Um, a lot of things we've heard from other
members about restoring traditions like spirit week and decorating decorated hallways to improve student engagement. Um, discussion regarding the lack of classroom celebrations, ways to make the learning environment fun for students, which would in turn increase student achievement. Um, and the last thing we
discussed was that about the CAC membership renewal. Uh, current CAC members do not need to reapply. Only new members need to be submitted. and for the community. Um, those applications are due October 31st. I know there's applications in the back as well, so you
can turn it in attention to Mr. Peace and we would love to have new members. Just one brief correction on that with regards to the membership renewal, the CAC members do not need to reapply and that is correct. However, if you going to remain on it, you do need to at least
Yes. So that we can have a current and updated list of who the members are. And that concludes my report. Were there any questions for me? I'm sorry that was a long one. The only thing I ask is with Mr. P's
just coming on board. Yes. You give him some time to look at your minutes and to get back with you so that way he can digest what he what he got in front what he has in front of him.
Thank you, Mr. M. Martin, you want to comment on the chromosomes? Sure. So, just to uh follow up on Mr. Needz's uh topic of Chromebooks, right now the middle school
actually had all their Chromebooks and used to deal with the uh what situation in the middle school. So, that kind of expedited the process of looking at you know rolling out rolling out Chromebooks
to our high school students. So, uh, the administrative team has been working diligently to come up with a roll out plan to make sure that we have things in place to maintain the devices that are already out with the middle school students and to make sure when we do
roll out with the high school that we have all the policies and all of our procedures in place so that parents understand uh the instructional uh use of these devices are used in the way that we expect and that when it's time
to return them, we return return them the same way that they receive them. So, we'll we'll have more information uh pertaining to Chromebooks as we uh continue to work through this process. Thank you, Mr. Muc.
What's that? CBA. Mr. Mcmanis, marketing committee. Yes, we have a uh there was no meeting since the last board meeting. However, there's going to be a meeting this Saturday, 9:00 a.m. in Elmtown. Um, Miss Dre, operations.
No, at this time it's the person. Um, Miss Pit's policy. Yes. Um, Mr. President, the policy committee u met today um here in in district uh in attendance was uh Mr. Peace, um Mr. Davis, human resources
director, um board member Michael Clark, and board member Wanda Glo. Uh we met specifically and focus on um discussion uh and we reviewed the policy number 5573 which addresses the care of school
property and also the regulation that goes along with it and it is the policy committee's recommendation that that the board accepts that uh in place it next uh next board meeting for a first reading.
Uh in addition to that we also discussed the school volunteer policy number 9180 and again uh the uh policy committee is recommending that that particular policy stands that is and that will also be out
for first meeting and um ending up by advising and informing that the policy committee we will meet um it was decided that we will meet um um on
the uh first at the first board meeting of each month. Uh prior to that board meeting, we will meet at um 6:00 in build in building. So our next um policy committee meeting uh will be in November.
M that's 5513. 5513. Oh, I'm sorry. 5513. Thank you, Mr. P. And that concludes my uh policy committee meeting, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Miss Pittz. Um, Mr. Thomas, the Economic Development
Council and the Drug Alliance. No, no report at this time, Mr. President. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, as far as the planning board, our next meeting is next Thursday, October 16th, at the municipal building at 7 p.m. So, at our next board meeting, I will have a
report. um something that's not on our agenda, but I myself and Miss Glaude attended the NJSBA legislative committee um meeting on Saturday, September 27th virtually.
I'm going to try to breeze through this as quickly as possible um because it's three pages. So, I don't want to be feel like I'll quick shout out to Missy Evans, but I don't want to have a long report like her real quick. Um, this
meeting uh um dealt with a lot of school funding and there was some cell phone policy stuff that's coming out from the state. Um, so, Assemblyman Christopher De Phillips from Legislative District 40 and Assemblyman Al Baras uh from also
from Legislative District 40 were our guest speakers for that. Um, they ga engaged in a robust discussion for over an hour outlining their legislative priorities and responding to questions from committee members. Some of those issues and legislative uh items were that were discussed were their
positions on public education mainly on focusing on improvements that the legislature can make to both school funding and budget process. They highlighted issues with the timing and transparency of the state budget process. Weighed in on the opportunities to rep prioritize state funding so that
schools have the tools to serve the state to serve the state students. the pros and cons of relaxing relaxing the 2% tax levy cap and the rising costs of special education healthc care for districts. They also discussed the cons
consistent topic at the committee meetings naming concerns over municipal pilot agreements stating school districts should be able to share in some of the revenue generated from these agreements. The importance of the CI civil civily in today's political
environment and wide respectable dialogue is essential for democracy. Additional discussion topics can be f found in schoolboard notes. This is for the board members. Um some other governmental relation uh staff updates
um updates on the proposed uh fiscal year 2026 state budget promotion of the NJSBA capital watch newsletter. um education related legislation that has been considered by the legislature since May of 2025.
um laws that have recently been been enacted, including those concerning expanding early childhood education S3910 and A5717, public notice reform S4654, A5878,
IEP meeting guidelines A5492, S3982, and labor movement instruction A1682, S1054. noteworthy bill movement including those concerning SFR reform S3917 and A5966,
pension reform reenrollment changes A1675, S2078 and other instructional mandates S 2335, S396, A 3871 and S2818.
upcoming issues including upcoming govern g governanatorial and assembly elections and the issue of cell phones in schools highlighting the recent guidance issued by NJ DOE and recommendations released by the NJ commission on the effects of social media usage on adolescence a preview of
the legislative panel and state panel board panel discussions and scheduled panelists at the NJSBA whose upcoming workshop 2025 event Atlantic City the panel discussions will be led by the governmental relations team and this year's state board panelist includes the
third current student representative. In addition, Mr. Bushman provided a comprehensive update on the NJSBA's 2024 2025 legislative advocacy agenda and explained the NJSBA bylaws concerning it. The committee develops an advocacy
agenda every two years that coincides with the two-year legislative session to be recommended to the board of directors for adop adoption. And as the current legislative session is nearing its end, the committee has begun the process of reviewing the current agenda to make updates ahead of
the 2026 2027 legis legislative session. Mr. Pushman highlighted the progress made in each of these six key advoc advocacy areas outlined in the agenda, including student achievement, school funding, finance, special education, staffing, labor relations, student
health and well-being, and facilities and construction. and he emphasized the importance of the advocacy work committee members complete in their own communities and behalf of boards across the state and encourage feedback as the association will prepare to make draft updates ahead of the committee's next
meeting in December. A copy of the slide deck has been provided as an attachment of the meeting summary. Detailed information can also be found on the governmental relations update handout that was provided. Um, a copy of the 2024 legislative
advocacy agenda and action plan was also provided to all of us. Um, in case anybody wants to see the governmental relations update, I can forward it to you because it's 57 pages. So, um, if you like to read, I can make
sure you get it. Thank you very much for I tried to get through it as fast as possible. I stumbled on some of my words, but I wanted to make sure I read that to you. Mr. was much more professional. Thank you. And I appreciate here. May I make a comment?
Um I was on the call as well and the biggest takeaway that I got from this was the first meeting that I went to. The biggest takeaway I got from listening to um both of the uh people on the Democratic side and Republican side. Didn't matter what side you sat on. What's most important is the education
for our children. And that was that was impressive to hear them both speak on the importance of educating our children. And hopefully that became very infectious to all the people who were listening and infectious to anyone who else is listening. So if you're interested, please go on board and
listen to some of the great things that they're talking about for our children and our and state of New Jersey. Thank you. Both of those assembly uh men were from Bergen County. So they uh they did a great they did a great job with speaking
to the committee um and there's representatives from school boards from all the districts throughout the state of New Jersey. So it was it was a lengthy meeting but it it definitely was very important and for advocacy from
across the state. So I'm glad Miss Claw was able to attend the meeting. Moving on to our superintendent report. I have a motion to approve our superintendent report as the superintendent recommends it for
approval from the middle of page four to the middle of page nine. Peterson move for approval of the superintendent report found items A and B found on page four through nine. Can I have a second?
Second. Any questions? I do. Um, in the policy, the first reading of the policy, uh, policy number 0174, legal services, uh, if I read that
correctly, we're just going to have a single point of contact as a board to go to, uh, for council. That would be the board president. Okay. Yeah, I saw there were a couple options in there, but the board president, so that the board president will be the single point of contact for that.
Yes, sir. Thank you. With regards to this motion, I think it was it goes from page four to page eight. Um, there was a if you look at the agenda that they handed us, I called everybody and told everybody that there was a revised agenda.
The revised agenda goes from the middle. Yeah. You have a motion to second. If there's no more questions, we'll take a roll call. Mr. Miss Clark. Yes. Miss Dre. Yes. Miss Glo. Yes. Miss Martin.
Yes. Mr. McManis. Yes. Miss Peterson. Yes. Miss P? Yes. Mr. Thomas? Yes. Mr. Shaw? Yes. Motion has carried. Moving on to the business administrator board secretaries report. And I have a
motion to approve the business administrator board secretaries report as the business administrator board secretary remen recommends it for approval from the middle of page nine to the middle of page 16. Here is a move for approval of the business administrative board secretary
board item A and B down on page 9 through 16. Can I have a second? Second. Any questions? Yes. Yes, Mr. President. Yes, sir. More Steve. I just want to thank the board for the continuous support uh supporting
of the WTA meeting the candidates night. That's a that's a great event uh and the continuous support of the board is evident there. Besides, it's such a great day. That's the day that little Joe was born. So, just putting that out there. So I just once again thank the
board for continuously supporting such events that bring us into the to the public's eye to answer questions and any concern once. Very good. Mr. Thomas, I was also going to point out to make sure that uh once this is approved. Um but let's let's do
the roll call first before I do that. Um any other questions? All right. Roll call, please. Mr. Clark. Yes. Miss Dre, yes. Miss Lloyd, yes. Miss Martin, yes. Mannis, yes. Miss Peterson,
yes. Miss Pit, yes. To everything except page 13, item number 23. I'm excuse myself. Mr. Thomas, yes. And Mr. Shaw, yes. Motion has carried.
Now that that all been approved, um, make sure everybody goes out to school number five for the meet the candidates night. When's your birthday, Mr. Thomas? October 14th. 1975. Meet the candidates night.
And make sure you ask all our candidates uh the important questions that you'd like to know about them. All right, moving on to our personnel uh section. Um, can I have a motion to approve our
personnel section as the superintendent recommends it for approval from the top of page 17 to the bottom of page 19? Peterson move for approval of the personnel report as recommended by the superintendent. Item A 1 through nine found on page 17
through 19. I have a second. Second. Any questions? Just one. Um on page 17, section A number one, uh new hire. I think I already know the answer
to this, but that money has already been done for that. So that's not an additional expenditure. Is that correct? Correct. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. McManus and Mr. Davis. Um, roll call, please. Mr. Clark, yes.
Miss Freddy, yes. Miss Floyd, yes. Miss Martin, yes. Mr. McMan, yes. Miss Peterson, yes. Miss Fitz, yes. Mr. Thomas, yes. And Mr. Shaw, yes.
Motion has carried. Moving on to the addendum. There is no addendum tonight. Um moving on to open public records act. Um Mr. President, there were um none completed in this time period.
Um moving on toformational items. Mr. Keys. Sure. Good evening everyone. Like to provide an update for the school district. Unfortunately, I received a phone call this morning indicating that there was a
shooting last night and a juvenile was uh uh injured in the shooting. Um this was not a student of Winsow Township. I spoke to uh Deputy Chief Oor and he informed me that this individual was not
a part of our school district. So uh I send my uh my prayers out to that family so that that young man is uh okay and safe. Uh I also you know send a message out to our young people to uh make good
choices uh in school and out of school. Uh also the police department provided a press release that you can find on their website about the event and uh speaking to the police department. They
will conduct an investigation and who knows where that will lead them. Uh an update on the middle school. Uh the middle school has completed the extraction of all the water demo of the
areas damaged and cleanup and also the storage and relocation of supplies in those areas. Uh we are in basically what we're calling phase two which is basically additional demo in areas to deal with uh damage to the floors.
Hopefully that gets done as quick as possible. And then we're looking forward to phase three, which would be the install and repair of those areas so that we can one get our teachers back in the building all at the same time and then from there get our students back into the building.
Uh there hasn't been any uh definite timelines. Uh if you're familiar with construction and even construction your own home, you know, sometimes you're at the mercy of your uh contractors and the age of some of the areas uh where
this water uh impacted, you know, the building, they're older, so sometimes you uncover things that you didn't know were problems. So we don't know the timelines yet. uh myself and Miss Bole continue to stay in constant communication with our team and also
with our contractors that we're looking to uh get this work done with. At this time there were no damage to the electronics in our building. U there were no chrome bolts damaged. There were
uh all of our copers uh seemed to be elevated enough not to be impacted. And so we'll continue to monitor that situation and uh make sure that that equipment is still operating uh properly. This was significant amount of damage
and for us to have to shut school down for three days. Uh this was something that we didn't take lightly. We're looking at possibly uh insurance covering one to$2 million worth of damage in our building. Uh we don't know what that's going to look like. Uh
again, we're working with our contracts to try contractors to find find a uh the quickest way to get this work done and also uh an amount that will not drive our premiums up too high. Uh they're going to go up regardless, but uh we want to definitely make sure that we do
our due diligence to make sure we get the best pricing possible. Again, uh I'm asking the board for approval of a makeup day, which I've been working with the WTEA and the building administration to cover
uh the three days that we lost. I tried to have the department of education uh provide a waiver for those days. They denied that waiver. So, we have to make the days up. So, we have options. the options. Look through the calendar and
take uh days away from holidays, take days away from our winter and spring break or tack on days at the end of the year. And what I'm hearing is we rather find the days throughout the calendar because we simply uh we haven't gone through the winter months yet and that's
a possibility of uh losing days there. So we want to protect the days that we have embedded in the calendar to make up those days. So we want to try to find days that everyone is kind of happy with. um willing to take suggestions from our parents, our teachers, and our administration to uh get that done. So,
we're looking at three days and the first day that we uh selected was October 13. So, that will be a half day virtual day for our students and teachers on that day. Middle school, just middle school, just middle school.
Everybody else is on. All right. Uh, also the uh I attended the WTA fast parent night on September 30th and it was a great way for me to meet some of the community and some of our staff and our students just having a great
time. These nights are designed to get students engaged in movement. Other nights are uh topic would be STEM and other activities that the uh program coordinator comes up with. But it was a great way for me to get out in the public and uh get a chance to talk to
some of our uh our students and our parents. I met the uh students from the high school national honor society. Great group of students and I look forward to uh continuing these activities. also had a chance to meet with the township of Winslow education
committee, more of an introduction meeting and looking forward to scheduling more time with them to uh partner with the uh township and develop uh a collaborative relationship with doing things uh together as far as education and what the township can
provide and see where we can be of assistance to each other. So that was a very productive meeting uh meeting Mayor Lawrence. I also met with uh the CAC chairperson, Miss Nedves, the other day, and I I got a chance to uh look at this
agenda that she presented tonight. And I also uh uh plan to uh schedule additional meetings with the CAC to uh just to keep that uh dialogue uh open to uh see what the concerns are and also uh kind of, you know, guide uh some of our
concerns in the right directions. Um, I continue to make rounds at my uh buildings to meet with the staff. I have one more building to uh get to uh for a faculty meeting. I will continue these type of uh visits, not necessarily at
the faculty meetings, but definitely making sure that I'm out in the buildings uh being a part of the fabric of education uh in our district. I attend the uh varsity and JV football games against Camden. I also uh continue to meet with our board members
one-on-one. I'm continuing to schedule the remaining meetings with all of our board members. And lastly, I'd like to uh piggyback on the correspondence from uh Miss Bole regarding uh Miss Nichols. When I got here and I found out about
that uh that tragedy, I it really impacted me not even being uh fully here for a week and I I jumped into action to reach out to a partner with Virtua Hospital, Virtual Health. uh my brother
uh and I worked together and he's a administrator there at Virtua and he uh guided me into a program to bring here to uh Windsor school district and that was their uh virtual health pet therapy program and we brought uh dogs in to uh
just kind of ease the the pain of some of our teachers and students and it has a tremendous impact on uh helping people uh go through the grieving process. So along with that, I I was able to connect with the the the traumatic loss
coalition to uh bring them in to support those teachers as well. So you know, we have partnerships out there that I want to take advant advantage of and make sure that uh you know, we bring here to Winsow and make sure that uh some of the good work that's happening outside of our district is also bring coming into
our district to uh support our students and our staff. So that concludes my update tonight and thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Peas. Um, that's a hard to follow. Um, Yep. Yep. Um, before I move on to
myformational items that I have, can we get an a motion to approve the October 13th uh virtual half day for the middle school? Peterson move for approval of the October 13 virtual half day for
staff and students at the middle school. Second. Any questions? Can roll. A roll call. Okay. Mr. Clark. Yes. Miss Dreddy.
Yes. Miss Glo. Yes. Miss Martin? Yes. Mr. McManis? Yes. Miss Peterson, yes. Miss Pits, yes. Mr. Thomas, yes. And Mr. Shaw, yes. The motion has carried.
Moving on to myformational items. Um, so as we we we previously discussed um when Miss or Dr. Vanlow was going to come in for our superintendent search.
Those dates will be at our first board meeting in November, November 12th. She will come in and discuss this in public in our public forum. And then she will be back in December at
our at our board meeting in December on December 10th. She will go through everything. So, if you hopefully you still have all the materials she gave us uh at our board retreat. Um
if not, I will if you don't, I will ask her to bring more materials so that way she can go through everything NJSBA has to offer. Um going into the superintendent search, my next thing will be board self-evaluation that will be due by
no uh November uh 28th being that um we're coming up on that. Dr. Banlow and I are working on that to get that squared away. It will be squared away by Monday. So that'll be available for every board member to get complete. Then my my final item is workshop 2025
that is October 20th through 23rd. Um the app is open so download it and start registering yourself for uh for training um because training uh sessions will fill up fast. So, make sure you're, you know, ready to
go and, uh, get yourself involved in those training dates because there are some pretty great things. And I do believe Winslow is going to be down there doing some, uh, pretty impressive things like they always do. They always make sure they get us involved. Like last year, we were uh, a hot
commodity for our uh, with Mr. Ingram, Studio 105. I believe he's back down there again, isn't he? Uh, this year definitely performing with our band. Okay. Yeah, I knew I knew that, but I thought he was back down there again, too. Um, so, you know, you never know
what you're going to find down there, you know, especially with our talented Winsler team. So, that's all I have for informationational items. Um, anybody else have anything? Yeah, I have something. I just want to commend the middle school staff um and
the administration here um on the rapid response to the water damage that we had the middle school and getting our kids back on track as fast as they did with the Chromebook distribution and getting them back in school as fast as they did. Um I actually got to speak to a bunch of
the students that are at the middle school and I questioned them, did you have problems connecting? Did you have problems talking to your teacher? And everyone said no. No, no, no, no. So, um, that was a relief for me. Um, Mr. Peace, thank you for all that you did as
fast as you did, making things happen to make sure that our kids did not miss more than what was what what they needed to miss in order for you to get everything out and making sure no kid got rejected from getting a Chromebook when it was time to get their Chromebook um, on those days. And just to let
everybody know, 100% of all of our students have their Chromebooks in the middle school. So, no child was left behind from not being able to get their educational instructions from the middle school. So, thank you to all of the staff at the middle school and to the administration here for making sure that
our kids are continuously getting their education. I appreciate that. [Music] Uh, moving on to old business. Anything for old business? Moving on to new business. Anything for
new business. [Music] All right, you're up. Public comments. Thank you, Mr. President. The Winslow Township Board of Education highly values the input of citizens in making the important decisions that affect the
children of our community. We believe in the rights of citizens to observe board meetings. To ensure that all of our citizens have the opportunity to attend schoolboard meetings and offer comment and to ensure that the board can conduct the important business of the district, we'd ask that speakers follow the
guidelines for making public comment. The board secretary will recognize those individuals in the audience who wish to make comment. Please respect the following procedures. One, all members of the public attending schoolboard meetings must treat each other and the board with respect. Two, please state
your full name and town of residents. Three, please limit your comments to four minutes. Four, in the event we're unable to answer your questions, please submit them and your information uh including your name, address, and telephone number where you can be
contacted and hopefully email address and we will respond to your question within a reasonable time. And lastly, individuals offering citizen comment are not permitted to make personal attacks on any district employee, board member,
other testifier or member of the public. Thank you, sir. Can I have a motion to move into public comments? Peterson to move for approval to enter into a public comment. I have a second. Second.
All in favor? All right. Uh, Bob Pupick. My name is Bob Pupek. I live at NE Road, Cichlerville, New Jersey. I've been a resident in Winsville for 28 years. I've also had the opportunity to sit where
you are as a vice president of the board as well as principal of school number six. So my investment in this community is there's a lot of longevity. First of all, I'd like to thank the board for doing their due diligence in searching for an interim superintendent. I've done
superintendent searches for school districts and I know the amount of time you've invested, the research you've had to do and I'd like to compliment you for that because it is a long process and the community may not be aware of the process. Secondly, I'd like to point out
some information that I'm aware of regarding our your new interim superintendent. Mr. Peace has a broad range and these are unsolicited comments. I did not call him before. I did not talk to him before. All right. He's paying, isn't he?
I'm gonna take him out on the golf course. But I've had an opportunity to work with Mark and view him in many capacities. He's done public relations and uh professional development for my district. So, I've been very pleased. And I've been an interim administrator.
This my I'm I'm 74 years old. This is my seventh interim position administratively in New Jersey public schools. So, I try to keep a breast of what's happening educationally. But more important than that, Mr. Peas has a broad range of experiences. He's
developed the requisite skills that will require him to lead and then take your vision and make it a daily operation. And that's so so important. Mark's got a Mr. Peace has a tremendous work ethic,
right? He believes every child is a gift from God. Your investment your investment will help every child in this district. I've got confidence in Mr. Peas as a community member. I've got
confidence in Mr. Peas as an educator. I've got confidence in Mr. Peas as the next chief school administrator. I want to thank you for that. I guarantee as you move forward in this year, your vision will be implemented with much success. Thank you.
Check in the mail. Thank you very much, sir. Sir, I just got a note from Mr. P. You have a minute 33 seconds left. It was a great athletic director in Abby Murphy. It's very nice. Hello, I'm Mr. I live in um not
realizing that this was going to come up not once but twice. Um I did want to bring up and thank um not just Mr. Peas but also Miss Clement and the other um administrators at the middle school for that exact thing that everyone has
already mentioned the swift response to the water that happened after the board meeting. So I'd like to know what you all were doing after executive session. Check the cameras. Um, but just the way it was communicated, I felt like the
that um the videos were definitely a different way of providing that feedback to the community that wasn't an email or robocall. There was a lot of information parents had to like pivot very quickly and all of a sudden we're back to 20,
you know, we're back into our co learning cohorts and kind of getting over those things. So, I did want to kind of bring that up. Um, also and then shameless plug for the for the marching band. I've been asked um to just remind to to let everybody know the 4 and0
marching band is performing on Saturday at the their next band competition which is at West Deepford. They perform at 4:45. Um, and they are competing against our rivals Cher Hill West. Um, no uh the
other team the other band in our in our conference. Um, and then if Saturday's too busy, it's okay. We're also performing at 1:45 in Deepford on Sunday. Um, it's just a great opportunity. The kids really have worked
hard. They did finish their show. Um, they performed the whole show this past Saturday and um, again took home another first place win. So Patrick Oats, [Music]
good evening. You guys hear me? Well, I guess it's Mr. Peas for governor. We're president now. Can't stop that. So just a couple questions. Um, one for you, Mr. Shaw. that report. I would be very interested in that. But a suggestion, maybe you
could put it on the website and just have a link we can just download instead of send it out. It'll save your email traffic or something like that. I think that just a suggestion. Uh page seven of this uh report. I just had a question about
page seven. Item number 19, the donation of the fan. I think I remember the fire department talking about a fan and donations and it had to be a certain size or something because kids can get their fingers in
the stuck in the fan to young children. Matter of fact, I have a school a son in school number four as a matter of fact. But I was curious the how do you guys make the determination of what you can donate, what you can accept, and then what is the requirements for a fan?
Whether it has tight windows so you can't put your hands through it or what have I like to know the answer to that. I don't have that information right now, but I will definitely reach back out to you, Mr. coach to uh provide some information for you regarding donations
of fans in our district. Yeah, I mean I'm I'm glad all glad for the donation. I just curious just just say that's all. Right. So I I know there's a policy for donations to the district which have to be board approved to for the board to
receive. But in regards to the specifics of a fan, I'll get more details for you. Thank you, sir. And uh and thank you for jumping in with the therapy dogs and stuff like that. I'm a veteran and um I used to work at VA hospital. We had the
animals come in and for the vets and so it's very therapeutic and and mental health. Um I can think of my son I can't imagine that happening you know he lost it when when Simba died just watched the Lion King you know so he's asking me about death and stuff like that there
you know so thank you for jumping in the welcome kids. Uh the last question I have is on the technology survey. So, the survey is underway. I like to know the status. Are they going to the through the classrooms? They're doing
wireless checking the signal. Um, the other part is I think there's no remediation on the survey. I understand you guys paid for this contract. So, they're going to tell you what's wrong. Then when gentlemen were when they were here, they talked about the status
whether I think it was going red, green, and yellow or what have you. Um, do you guys have an action plan in place once you get that? So, we're going to have to say, okay, now we need to see what we can fix, we can prioritize, or is this going to be inhouse or do you have to hire someone else to
remediate some things? I imagine a lot of things your technical team on board can can fix, but there may be some things that you may have to get another circuit or something like that far as your your bandwidth or what have you. And that's an excellent question. Well,
basically uh once that report is done and our IT team is doing a phenomenal job working with this company and you know we are already uh you know handling some of the situations or issues that may be pointed out and you know some of
it may not be new to our IT team that they've already been addressing. So, we want to wait till we get that report that we're going to come back to the board and present publicly and from there we can deal with any of the concerns that we can address in-house or
possibly uh need an outside contractor to deal with. But right now, we just want to get that information in first and make sure that what we have is still working properly. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. That concludes those that have signed
up. Anybody on? Nobody's in the room. Nobody else has uh signed up for public comments. Can I have a motion to adjourn public comments? Peterson move for approval to adjourn public comment. Second. All in favor? Hi.
I don't believe so. Correct. No need for an executive session. One's a no. With that being said, can I have a motion to adjurnn? Peterson move for approval to adjourn this meeting.
Second. All in favor? Good to see you, my friend. Five.