[Music] good evening the February 20 2025 meeting the wber Township Board of Education will please come to order roll call Mr secretary M Anderson here miss bouran here Mr deletro here M Perez here
Mr Mohammad here uh Mr treaser here Mr valz here and Mr Harris here uh Mr secretary is required by the Sunshine Law please read the notice of meetings thank you Mr President the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have
advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies of which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted as follows on January 21 2025 emailed to
the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the municipal clerk's office posted in R Street School number 11 and the Board of Education administration building also published on the school district website thank you very much Dr mamino please introduce our student representative darana sha from JFK
Memorial High School thank you m Harris D sha is a very ambitious well-rounded student who exhibits a confidence and maturity not often seen amongst high school students during her junior year she was inducted into the National Honors Society National English Honor Society and science National Honor
Society the devotes her time unselfishly to JFK by participating in various student organizations including the keni Cancer Society Heroes and Cool Kids and the superintendent student advisory ccil which I will say she's a tremendous contributor and it's a joy having her as
a member of the following student groups she holds leadership roles in student council senior class president future Business Leaders of America vice president of marketing model un president and dance exchange choreographer darana serves as captain
of the varsity volleyball team as well as being an integral member of the Spring Track Team outside of school she volunteers at the local public library and John F Kennedy hospital and is active with the American Legion auxiliary Jersey Girls State program it is evident that darana is a passionate
student who has been a great asset not only to John F Ken Memorial High School but to her community as a whole Dar looks forward to continuing her education and pursuing a career in political science dasana thank you for being with us this evening good evening and thank you for inviting me here today
the Woodbridge Township School District hosted their first title one family night for this school year on January 28th the first night was focused on kindergarten and first grade ELA activities students got to spend time with their teachers and families working at different Ela stations our second
title one night will be held on February 25th and will focus on Steam many of our elementary schools celebrated their D grad graduation ceremonies where students learn strategies to say no to drugs Mobby Street School 1 will be hosting science family nights for fourth
grade students and parents to participate in fun and educational activities school one collaborated with Woodbridge High School saffron Alliance and Woodbridge High School's Chinese Honor Society for a funfilled multicultural visit at school 1 is also participating in the American Heart
Association kids heart challenge our school goal is 10,100 $ the challenge ends on February 28th students at Indiana Avenue School 18 will be learning about important African-Americans during the month of February for Black History Month the
Island Middle School Dance Club visited Indiana Avenue School 18 and taught an indic Heritage dance to our third graders at school 19 our MPT students showed impressive growth in their Link at scores for both language arts and math to celebrate their hard work in
progress we hosted a grow in glow party on February 7th as a reward on February 11th menow Park Terrace and the Ford's Library teamed up to host a library family night offering all our students a fun and engaging opportunity to participate in Reading activities in
celebration of indic Heritage Month dancers from the dance exchange at johnf Kennedy High School performed for all our MPT students showcasing a vibrant cultural experience at school 26 JFK High School's indic Alliance Group group held an all school assembly to celebrate
indic Heritage Month our grade 2 students will be visiting the Woodbridge town hall and our grade 5 students will be visiting the Woodbridge historical Association Museum our student council organized an all school assembly with reading activities for World read aloud
day at school 29 the Isen Middle School Dance Club visited Oak Tree Road school and taught an indic Heritage dance to our second graders in observance of indic heritage month they performed together Ford's middle school Honor Society and Landscaping club collaborated with
presenters from J GP Stevens High School to learn about American bitters as well as build habitats to be placed in the brackish marshes Ford's middle school's annual blue and white challenge basketball game was held on January 31st to raise funds for two scholarships to
be given to a student at johnf Kennedy High School and Woodbridge High School our students celebrated and learned about the Chinese Lunar New Year and finally at JFK Memorial High School on January 13th we hosted our second annual indic Alliance Heritage Month
celebration on February 3rd we inducted 24 students in into the trim musical Honor Society and on February 11th we hosted the districtwide Black History Month celebration where secondary students from around the district showed off their talents in the areas of dance
song poetry and instrument it was an incredible night of bringing students together thank you [Applause] thank you D sh for your detailed report and uh thank you to Dr Parry for joining
us this evening principal of JFK High School um tonight you're you're welcome to stay but judging by your resume you probably have about five or six things you got to get to so uh you're welcome to stay but if uh if you need to excuse yourself feel free to do so thank you so much but I do have a lot of work today
so unfortunately I won't be able to stay understood thank you and good luck thank you you miss bouran please read the Clos session statement Please Mr President in compliance with the Sunshine Law the board must go into closed session in order to discuss subjects Exempted from the public portion of our meeting the
discussions to be held in closed session will be regarding Personnel matters and the board will receive attorney client advice any information regarding the Clos session discussion will be released to the public when reasons for discussing these matters in close session no longer exist thank you I have a motion by Miss ban do I have a second
I have a motion by foran seconded by Mr tree waser all in favor I any opposed no Carri board will retire to close session and we'll be out as soon as possible thank you please rise for a salute to the flag in a moment of
silence I pledge aliance to the flag the United States of America to The Republic from which it stands one nation under God indivisible [Music] okay do I have a motion to reconvene all motion okay do I have a second second
okay I have a motion by Mr Tree waser seconded by Mr Sedana all in favor I any opposed carried Rollo Mr secretary Miss Anderson here miss Bordan here Mr deletro here Miss Perez here Mr Mohammad here Mr Sedana
here Mr treaser here Mr valz here Mr Harris here will someone make a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting a motion okay do I have a second do I have a second second okay any additions or Corrections seeing none I have a motion
by Mr Del pitro seconded by Miss Perez all in favor I any opposed it's carried roll call excuse me Mr secretary please stay for the record any notices of bids received by the board thank you Mr President on January 28th 2025 ifb 25-17
for student transportation services thank you very much Dr Mato please State for the record the superintendent reports for the month of January 2025 thank you Mr Harris I present to the board the following reports student registers and fire Dr report suspension reports for elementary and secondary schools bomb threat
reports and reports of the attendance officers right excellent thank you Dr mmino public session here the wber S Board of Education welcomes and encourages active productive and respectful participation by members of the public and seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of those who
engaged in the exercise of free speech at this Board of Education meeting members of the public are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of those whose legal rights may be impacted the budget excuse me the public is now invited to speak regarding
the agendas being presented this evening when you come to the microphone please provide your name and the section of the Township in which you reside along with the specific agenda item you wish to discuss as per regulation 1100d comments must be limited to no more than 5
minutes no responses will be given until you have completed your opportunity to speak anyone wishing to speak on tonight's agenda please come up to the microphone okay seeing none we will move on to the
superintendent agenda Dr masino do you have any recommendation for us thank you Mr President I have 24 items to present to the board this evening thank you Dr maso do I have a motion on the superintendent agenda okay
do I have a second second all right motion by Mr treer seconded by Miss Anderson are there any comments or questions from the board any none roll call Mr secretary Miss Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad uh Mr President
I abstain on item number 24 and yes on all others misss Perez Mr President I also will be abstaining on item number 24 in the name of Ruckers yes to all other items Mr Sedana yes Mr treaser yes
Mr valz yes and Mr Harris yes communication policy and planning agenda Mr Muhammad uh Mr President the communication policy and planning committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools presents the following 10 recommendations I move for
the adoption of the forego okay thank you Mr Muhammad do I have a second second okay a motion by Mr muhammd seconded by Miss Perez are there any comments or questions from the board I want to make two this evening just uh highlighting two items on the
agenda here item number one there was a parent who brought to the district's attention as long as well as W of Municipal government's attention a proposal to slow down some of the traffic on Route 35 just outside of this Elementary School uh in in the interest
of students who who do walk and are acrossed uh Route 35 by a crossing guard uh similar to Woodbridge High School there's a proposal to drop the speed limit during the school hours uh this board tonight is uh looking to move a resolution uh uh committing ourselves uh
and urging the New Jersey Department of Transportation to consider that measure and I know the municipal government will follow uh has already done so or will follow suit closely uh shortly and I want to thank the constituent a RW Street School 11 parent for bringing that to our attention and looking out
for the uh safety of our students and then number two speaking of safety want to give a shout out to sheriff Millie Scott of the midle County Sheriff's Department her office uh and her Community Affairs uh Department provides uh free Dare education it's drug drug
education uh to our fifth graders each year so tonight we're recognizing her Department with a resolution so thank you very much anyone else wishing to comment on the policy and planning agenda hearing none roll call Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes M bouran yes
Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes Miss Perez yes Mr sadonna yes Mr tree yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes curriculum extracurricular activities and Technology Mr Sedana thank you Mr President the curriculum extracurricular
activities and Technology committee on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction presents the following 18 items I move for the adoption of the foregoing okay thank you Mr Sedana do I have a second second okay motion by Mr
uh excuse me Mr Sedana seconded by Mr tree Blaster any comments or questions from the board Mr President yes sir um one of the things that I just just wanted to appreciate and congratulate the administration and uh Mr Pino for in terms of curriculum is um um this is
something we'll be discussing in depth later but the coat test that um not only talks about the academic performance of a student but also the cognitives the cognitive ability in in in understanding patterns problem solving abilities
things that are that that were considered at some point um non-academic but have now brought been brought into the fold uh really helps us understand the methodology with which a student learns so I appreciate that that has been put into play um from an
Administration standpoint so thank you guys for that thank you Mr Donna anyone else wishing to make a similar comment no hearing none roll call Mr secretary Miss Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad
yes Miss Perez yes Mr sadon yes Mr treeb yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes finance and insurance agenda Mr treeb thank you Mr President the finance and insurance committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary
presents the following eight items I move for the adoption of the forging thank you very much Mr tree waser I have a motion by Mr tree waser do I have a second second okay motion by Mr Tree waser seconded by Mr delro any comments or questions from the
board hearing and seeing none Mr uh Mr Wolfman roll call M Anderson yes M bouran yes Mr delra yes Mr muhamad yes Miss Perez yes Mr Sedana yes Mr treaser yes Mr valz yes and Mr Harris yes Safety
and Security agenda Mr valz oh thank you Mr President Safety and Security committee and recommendation of superintendent of schools present the following two items and I move for the adoption of for going very good I have a motion by Mr valz do I have a second second okay a motion by Mr valz seconded
by Miss Anderson any comments or questions for the board hearing none roll call Mr SEC Mr SEC yes M Bordan yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes M Perez yes Mr sadana yes
Mr treer yes Mr bz yes Mr Harris yes thank you very much buildings and grounds agenda Miss Perez thank you Mr President the buildings and grounds committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and The Business administr board secretary present the following four items I move
for the adoption of the forgoing very good M Perez I have a motion by m brez do I have a second second second okay I have a motion by Miss brez seconded by Mr delap pitro are there any comments or questions from the board hearing and seeing none roll call
Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr delro yes Mr Mohammad yes M Perez yes Mr sadonna yes Mr trew yes Mr valz yes and Mr Harris yes dining and transportation back to you Miss perz thank you Mr President the
dining and transportation committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary present the following nine items I move for the adoption of the forgoing thank you I have a motion by Miss Perez do I have a second second okay motion by Miss Perez seconded by Mr
deletro are there any comments or questions from the board hearing and seeing none roll call M wolferman M Anderson yes one sec yes Miss Bordan yes Mr deletro yes Mr
Muhammad yes Miss Perez yes Mr Sedana yes Mr treaser yes Mr bz yes and Mr Harris yes Personnel agenda Mr deler thank you Mr President the Personnel committee a recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for human resources presents the following 48
items I move for the adoption of rep going excellent thank you Mr deler I have a motion by Mr deler do I have a second second okay motion by Mr delra seconded by Mr Sedana are there any comments or questions from the board hearing and seeing none roll call
Mr wolman Miss Anderson yes M Bordan yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes M Perez yes Mr sadana yes Mr tree bosser yes Mr bz yes Mr Harris yes Mr Bush do you have any recommendations for us I don't it this
time excellent thank you is there any old business that should be brought before the attention of the board is there any new business that should be brought for put the attention of the board hearing and seeing none I want to make just two quick shout outs here uh this week uh I believe it's this week
it's been a long week uh or or perhaps early last week uh the district opened up kindergarten registration so if you have a son or daughter or a neighbor who's turning five before October 31st of next year and wishes to attend uh full day kindergarten Here in the
district make sure you visit the district website and sign up everything is done online and please have patience uh on the front end as uh the office is very busy but they will get to you and we would certainly urge anyone wishing to register for kindergarten to please
do so as as soon as possible and uh not wait until the summer months it's best for us from a logistical standpoint uh when you do so so thank you very much and then finally um our three high schools have three uh spring musicals
during the month of March uh JFK kicks it off in two weeks with Mama Mia I know we have Sister Act and uh through Woodbridge High School and one other play at Colonia High School I forget the name please check out their websites students work very hard to put on those spring musicals and they're very
talented and the plays are often very entertaining so be sure to check that out and uh and enjoy that and with that any other comments from the board before we turn it over to the public Mr President yes sir excuse me I I do have one comment I just want to uh uh thank
the app the uh the administration uh for working with uh pomptonian oh right uh because the uh the holy month of Ramadan starts next uh next Friday evening so the school uh students will be fasting in in the month of maybe March and uh
the uh uh pomptonian has made accommodations that students can pick up their their uh their breakfast as well as their lunch and take that home with them to break their fasts so I just want to thank the administration for making that possible and I'm sure you'll have a lot of hungry students but happy
students at the same time thank you so much thank you very much right hearing and saying no others we'll turn it over to the public we will now open the meeting for public comment if you wish to say something please come to the microphone provide your name in the section of the Township in which you
reside for the record again members of the public are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of those whose legal rights may be impacted please limit your comments to no more than 5 minutes in accordance with regulation
1100d no response will be given until you have fully completed all of your comments so as not to interrupt your five minute opportunity to speak I will also add in recent meetings I'm uh generous when uh when you reached that five minute I'm I would ask that you
please in the respect for everyone and and following the rules that that you please stick to the five minutes uh Miss overberger has a a timer here you'll hear the horn go off and I'll I'll be uh enforc that strictly to the best of my ability if you want to finish your sentence when it goes off I certainly
respect that and uh want to be respectful everybody in their time so thank you if uh I'm sure we have guests uh wishing to speak this evening please uh feel free to line up I won't be five minutes uh my name is Michael Han I'm from Island hi I am a
lifelong resident here my mother was a resident lifelong here she moved to Florida recently my cousins uh went to JFK my other cousins went to Woodbridge I went to Colonia my other cousins went to Colonia uh the reason I'm here is the
information that I get I don't have kids so I get no information from any neighbors kids or anything I don't know what's going on with the Colonia stuff I was just told by Al the guy who's doing the the brain cancer stuff with Colonia that it's a dead issue that the school
district and Township is over it it's remediation of the soil and that's it and I just as a former Colonial high school student I'm just a little concerned about is that it is that all we're doing like JFK and Woodbridge isn't affected by this it's just Colonia
and we're just going to leave it that it's a a coincidence we're not going to look into the fact that 120 or more teachers staff students have brain cancer specific um ailments my cousin just got diagnosed with cancer she was a Woodbridge High School I don't think
it's cancer all over the place place it's breast cancer it's just a concerning thing for someone when so many people from a a small area uh you know have a very similar illness and that's why I'm here I love what you're doing doing a great job haven't
complained in 41 years and keep on doing great stuff it's just that one thing is uh concerning to me you know sure sure and uh I'll just kick it off and I know Dr maso spent a lifetime of time on this so it feels like a lifetime right uh
thank you we saw the article recently and it was uh concerning that it was it was re brought up uh but uh Dr mamino has been working with our environmental environmental engineer tnm Associates who is working on this waiting for some paperwork we'll have Dr mamino Who I
know is prepared to speak to the specific thank you for coming tonight uh so when this whole started and I'll do my best to try to be concise but I want to offer you a full explanation and then if you'd like to talk afterwards I'm happy to answer any questions you have when this was first brought to our attention um
it started on Facebook so I I uh I'm not on Facebook I'm not on most social media things so it came to the mayor's attention my attention the primary um issue was that they thought there was something contributing to brain tumors
um I will tell you in the time that I since since the investig investigation started we have worked with uh at the time it was commissioner larette from the Department of Environmental Protection and commissioner pile from the Department of Health so they were
with us literally from Jump Street um because obviously we wanted to talk to the foremost leaders of of these agencies Regulatory Agencies oversight um to talk to about what what they saw fit um the in everybody we've spoken to from both the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental
Protection was if you were looking for an environmental cause of primary brain tumors the and and Mr lupiano said this himself you would be looking for ionizing radiation now I'm I'm not a scientist and I'm not an environmentalist so everything I'm
giving you I'm giving you from the from the experts that gave it to me we did a complete and and this was done the mayor's meeting council meeting at that time and we're going back to 2022 was before our Board of Ed meeting the mayor graciously moved money to make
sure that we could immediately start testing and and figure out if there was an issue and and what we should be doing the plan that was agreed upon with the D the do and the experts that we had consulted was to look for ionizing radiation so we did a complete canvas of
the 28 Acres uh we hired tnm Associates uh Dr kak was our lead they then brought in a company that spe specifically had equipment looking for radiation um they looked like baby carriers they pushed them all over Colonia High School
for weeks um we put raon canisters in the room everything that we've thought we should do we made sure that the D and the do signed off on it to say yes if you were looking for this this is what you would do the test came back with no sign of ionizing radiation or or any
kind of radiation at that point at that point we then said okay is there anything further we need to do and the answer was no because if you're looking for an environmental connection to primary brain tumors or Central Nervous disorders you would be looking for
radiation that was not discovered so at that point the case was considered close from that point we did simultaneously work with the Department of Health to look at and say what would the number of brain tumors be in a naturally occurring
sample size and I recently I I spoke then and I two days ago spoke with the gentleman that I had spoken to who was the former uh chief of neurosurgery from the Princeton Medical Center been operating on the brain for 40 years uh I would say
he be considered an expert in any room he went in and and he said you're looking for radiation if you don't find ionizing radiation then there is nothing in research that you would say could be connected to primary brain tumors or central nervous system disorders of that
kind when commissioner pacelli's office ran the numbers and the we had outside people from the the WTA had an uh epidemiologist from ruter look at it when they ran the numbers the numbers fell within the same numbers that the
gentleman who started the Facebook came up with somewhere between 98 and 108 that would H that would be the natural occurring numbers without any kind of and we don't know you know why people get different kinds of cancer that would be the the in a general
population we're going to grab a random sample those numbers were consistent with what you'd find in a in a given population when I spoke to the neurosurgeon and I called him after this article ran just because I wanted to touch base with him and make sure there was nothing that we were missing you
know what you think it he said no you have no greater chance of getting a primary brain tumor Colonia than you do any other spot in the country based on the data of a randomly selected sample size So based on the fact that the numbers did not exceed that of a random
sample size and that we found no traces of radiation or nothing that would contribute to uh primary brain tumor at that point the the case was considered closed that was in the spring of 2022 in the
fall of 2022 now we're in the 2223 school year we had a parent ctiy take samples um without our knowledge did not ask for us we did not see or collect them but took samples of CA and soil from outside Colonia High School and the
samples came back positive for pcbs and historic pesticides which anybody who was in construction and I'm sure there's people here that could talk about what was in C in building materials in the 70s they we know they contained pcbs the the Department of Health and the D gave that
to us that being said because an open File was created we hired Dr kak he is our lsrp and he said we I will work with the G and the EPA much like taking a uh an oil tank and it was the example given an oil tank out of the ground you would have to remediate the soil around it
whatever they delineate and say okay well the pesticides run to this or the uh chemicals that were put on the lawn however many years ago they start here they stop here we're working with the D and the EPA to delineate that and and the goal is to have that remated this
summer we it's hopeful this summer this fall the D and the EPA have to sign off on that plan so where we're at right now is our t uh tnm our environmental uh Consultants have finished the delineation they are now working on the remediation plan with the federal and
state agencies once they sign off on the plan they will execute said plan which should close the case so um and just so you know any letter that I ever sent out to the community is still on our web page if you go to our website underneath uh superintendent notifications I've kept up the Colonia High School
environmental page just because there are parents that may have had kids in elementary school or middle school and I understand as years go on things go articles pop up everything we have is has been published because I want the public to see what I sent out I want the public to see what I received the
testing results are up there because there is nothing there's nothing I would share I will say this on a personal note my two children attend Colonia High School so when this study was taking place and I bought a house in Colonia there was nothing more important to me as a father and I I know I'm I'm wearing
my superintendent hat tonight but I I don't take my father hat off ever there was nothing more important to me than making sure that that school was safe for everybody else's child as well as the two of mine that were going the principal of Colonia High School who was a student there and worked there his
children have come through it so I I say that with the idea of when it's personal um which most of these things are because I am a resident here and it is personal to me because this is this is my home too uh it it did put a little extra um importance on it to make sure
we exhausted every possible resource you know we worked collaboratively with our teachers union um who went to an epidemiologist at ruter no attachment we didn't please check these results please check the protocols is there anything you think we should be doing different
nope we agree with what your your experts said we agree with what the experts at the D and the do are saying so at this point we are waiting for the federal agencies EPA D to give us approval for the remediation plan and then once that's done I'm hoping it's
this summer or this fall they will excavate that put the new fill in and then we will have done everything that the experts both agency wise and those that we've gone to in the private sector have have agreed upon that sounds great
you put that on Facebook posts no problem if you have any other questions um the article ran I will say I got one or two phone calls um the parents I talked to were great the staff at Colonia High School has been tremendous you know a lot of us like you family that have lived here for years
ISL Colonia so it is personal and it is it's scary um you know I have family that lived in that area that had cancer and never went to Colonia what I what I like to know why I I don't think there's a person alive here that that has not had an experience with it
it's always personal it's always devastating and we always want answers as far as this is concerned we we've talked to everybody that we can talk to in terms of having an expertise and and being knowledgeable about it to make sure that we've gone as far as we can go with it
excellent sorry sorry for being longwind oh no that was terrific thank you Dr mamir there anyone else wishing to speak this evening good evening Paul lond hope La uh first I want to acknowledge that uh the five minutes that you allowed us is generous by comparison we've been to
other school board meetings where you get three minutes and your response you know a lot of times there's very stoic response they're very quiet I know they're limited by ethics Clause what they can comment too but you guys have also been generous with your feedback
and often times not even holding back at all and I I want to let you know I do appreciate that after all this time um last time I was here there was a report out I appreciate the transparency I want to make sure I got it right but it it appeared that 11th graders in Woodbridge
were at 5.5% in proficiency as far as the proficiency they need to have to graduate am I is that a correct interpretation of that data yeah is that the conclusion below the St average by a few points as well
okay as per sort of my reading uh I'll answer your questions at the end this way not to take up your five the clock is still running got it um but and I'll listen I I uh I'm here as a taxpayer between my property tax about 62% of my
property tax and all of my state income tax I think is still dedicated to to schooling I pay about 7,000 a year and as far as return on investment I would say it's very poor and I don't lay that all at your feet there's a lot of things
been going on for a long time that have contributed to poor outcomes that put us number 40 in the world as far as education is concerned and if we're supposed to be a leader in the world I don't think we can afford to be number 40 now I'm excited at the prospect of
getting rid of the Department of Education on the federal level I would imagine that you guys would be excited because the less oversight at that level the more I think you have uh uh probably
latitude in what you can accomplish I'm wondering if you've anticipated the possibility that there's block grants of federal money back to the States and maybe less mandates of of clever ideas like No Child Left Behind which Any teacher will tell you was a disaster
filled with unintended consequences have you anticipated things you would do differently if the handcuffs were off and maybe if you had two or three ideas that'd be great lastly I'd like to bring up Dei seems as a concept is falling out
of favor in a corporate it's falling out of favor with the current Administration they're pulling funding over Dei and we could discuss the perception of the eii versus the reality I'm sure you have a perception I have a perception and then be in between somewhere there might be
some actual reality around it but have you guys looked at instead of looking at disparities and outcomes let's say academic and IND discipline referrals and maybe seeing a possibility of racism or cultural insensitivity behind it have
you looked at the folks let's say the 35% of kids who are reading proficiently what they have in common regardless of race what are they doing right how much time are they spending in homework what kind of family stability do they have you know what's what's the structure
there do they have support at home and I imagine there was a lot of surveying done for a while and I wonder if those kinds of questions were asked as well and I I think I'll leave it off there for now thank you Mr Lun uh try to go through a couple of your questions here U I think the first yeah first one up
was on data would you address that Mr Pino Mr L I don't I don't know which um testing data you're looking at I'm assuming that's one of the more recent ones that we talk it came out and it was actually available for us uh last month so I can speak to you know the overview
of what that test is um and I think the important concept is that we are one of the few districts um in the state that have a block schedule meaning we have a fall and spring semester okay so the students that were tested in that
particular um testing window are students that did not meet with um High School Proficiency in the first go around as an 11th grade student okay or they could be new to the school district
we have an obligation to make sure that all students are provided a pathway to meet with the state department requirements for high school graduation um so I can you know certainly take a look at that with you um but that that number that's a that was a pretty important piece of context that was
given when we talked about the numbers of those students okay um and the students that were testing there so there's room for plenty of growth between now and the end of the school year for example absolutely and we do meet with proficiency I I want to say by the end okay I think the district does a pretty good job if I may Mr Pino just
for clarity sake so all the students that took the 5% all of the students who took the test were students who did not previously passed the test so all the students who did pass that assessment were not counted in that okay does that
help I just want to so yeah it was it was a specific group of students so all the students who passed were not tested in the second cohort of of that window okay that that is accurate yes that want to try to give
you better context y y because that was a shocking number and I knew there had to be a little bit more to it yeah it it's it's shocking when we see it okay and and then finally just your your point about the doe certainly we're following day-to-day what's going on in
Washington U the latest I've heard is that if the doe were to be broken up by an act of Congress the pieces wouldn't simply disappear they would simply be shipped off to other departments so it would remain to be seen what level of handcuffs if you
will regulations would continue to exist in terms of reporting I think anytime money is provided to a local agency whether from the feds or from the state there's typically strings attached reporting requirements just to ensure that the money is spent appropriately so
I think we'd be getting ahead of ourselves if we start to dream that uh the cash will will simply be uh without uh without strings uh would be nice to some degree but uh accountability is important as well and uh they are other people's tax dollars so we'll see what
we'll see what comes of of Washington there so but um want to thank you for coming on as always thank you thank you my name is Gerald Mago excuse me from the Dolores turov foundation and um we uh protect children from abuse
neglect and uh uh exploitation and and today I'd like to talk about meaning and values and how the lack of it relates to an epidemic of loneliness and unhappiness among young people and what we can do about it now some of the reasons why young people are unhappier
than any time before is because of increased Jud drug addiction less human interaction due to cell phones and fear of the future um this nation has been the freest and most affluent in the world history because of its judeo Christian and American values the first
American value was to keep the government as small as possible and non-governmental organizations such as churches to provide Americans with friendship and help the neediest the second value is middle class Valu such as marriage before having children
family job self-discipline and delayed gratification the third American value was patriotism until the 1960s Americans grew up loving our country admiring our forefathers valuing our Liberty what made America exceptional was not its
flaws which are Universal but its virtues um and this identity provided roots and optimism and community and meaning meaning but unfortunately a lot of these values are being attacked um and the results are pretty devastating
the majority of births to Millennials are unmarried women and yet single mothers are the loneliest of All American people Victor Franklin in his Masterpiece Man's Search for meaning found that aside from food the greatest human need is meaning and nothing's
given people more meaning than religion and the decline of religion religion is one of the biggest reasons for loneliness I realize we cannot promote religion but Public Schools can teach values and they can ALS o teach self-discipline delayed gratification to
avoid risky behaviors research shows that if students graduate from high school get a job get married and then have children there's only 2% chance they'll end up poor and this is known as a success sequence I mentioned last time that married couples are the happiest healthiest most prosperous and have the
best sex life but as a part of a poverty prevention program the Delores Turco Foundation brought these optimal standards coupled with tutoring and mentoring to baringer High School in Nork which has one of the lowest graduation rates in the State uh highest one of the highest poverty highest teen
pregnancies and STDs and violence but as a direct result of this pilot 100 students were accepted to college and 58 maintained a 3.0 uh average GPA or above our curriculum relationships under construction has proved very effective
in Ohio where 500,000 students have been trained over the past 20 years resulting in a Savings of over a billion dollars uh from costs such as uh from Risky behaviors such as pregnancies STDs addiction Etc the motivation behind this
initiative is love for kids not only to protect them from harm but to see them flourish because if they're given the opportunity to flourish they're less likely to uh participate in harmful behaviors parents are the most important factor in influencing children and
protecting them but education is also important if kids are engaged in meaningful activities if their minds are challenged to higher standards if they feel good about their accomplishments and have hope in the future they're more likely to graduate and succeed if you
give them Excellence they will rise to the occasion if you dumb them down that's exactly what you can expect how can we expect better performance well here I just wanted to say if they're failing it's because in some way we're failing them but I've
come to believe that failure is the unwillingness to try something new if at first you don't succeed you can always try again because it's not the one with the greatest Talent intelligence or ability that succeeds but the one that never gives up and I encourage you not
to give up on these kids by dumbing them down just try new standards try something new and you may see them rise to the occasion may God bless you and bring success in all your endeavors thank you
good evening everybody ja wood you know uh last couple of weeks and um myself I've been traveling all over and I couldn't get over it whatever you go there is a security you the town hole they got three people at a
me detector you got St Trooper over there you come over here you got a People security people must be really important over here my question would be how do we have a security in the schools when the kids go to schools before the
kids enter the school do we have a same kind of security in the school before kids go to school and after school all the time that's one of my one of my question because again uh there's a lot of we know new kids come in and out from
different schools from different places so do we have a security when the kids go to school in a classroom that's my question second thing when we talk about this uh stuff in in the colonial High School uh I know a lot of people that went to Colonial
High School one of my friends as a matter of fact he was detected to months ago with same thing and it's not just what's happening why is only Colonial High School most of those schools who build Isel Colonia build same time I don't say it's something wrong
now what happened 20 30 years ago when they build schools what was built around that school since then and before and if you look at a friends of mine the Vietnam my age they didn't get agent orange 20 years ago they get it now they
dying from it because it is it's not was there now what was there 20 30 years ago I think they should be look into it again but again we talk about the uh a lot of stuff over here with the schools and I said even a town hall we know how
good town we are because we good people we care and Mr Man said it's a personal interest for people because we are same people but let's take it more seriously nobody blamed each other or people over
here we have to know when they build those schools what was there before not was there now and I don't think we look into it we just get locally get some export not just uh talking to people that are soal
maybe have interest in the thing and get the exports from a country I mean if you go other stuff it happen to the federal government or something like that would close the school that would close the university chickens are dying they kill all the chickens they close the thing
you can't do what you going they say well wait till the next months two months 3 months look into it because it's got to be the answer it's not just a coincidence or it's not just uh or people die yeah people die from everything but why is only
Colonia and I tell you I wasn't kind of a interested before because I didn't know anybody personally that was the ti from that and I have a friend of mine that's got it and it looks like there's no quue for the kind of cancer it's only certain
kind of cancer that's taken so let's get help nobody's going to believe you I mean blame you uh we have to find the answer because what does it to the families of those people look around I'm sure you know somebody what are they
really aware my daughter went to school my son went to school my my husband went to scho I to the school let's find out don't just wait until you know something comes out of the sky and my question question would be again do we have a
security metal detectors when the kids go to schools because I think it's important like over here it's important and I think very important if you got every school has a metal detector or want to qu see what they're bringing in and what they're bringing out so that's
that's my question thank you Mr forar on uh school security defer to our princip on that I'm just I want to jump on on on two things uh Mr one when we did look at Colonia High School the agencies do do a his uh a historical research that they
go back as far as they can with records to see what did exist there before that that is part of the process are the experts right tnm and and I I'm going to push back on your little when you said we're just talking to people I'm going to say that a somebody with a PhD in environmental science that that does
this for a living for 20 years has an expertise I'm going to say that a a neurosurgeon who operated on the brain for 40 years I am going to call him an expt expert so I I I'm going to push back a little bit on these aren't just people I'm talking to and an epidemiologist at at ruter nope I'm I'm going to say that
those are the experts that I'm listening to regardless of what media or or anybody on on uh social media Outlets will call themselves or I'm not here to say who or who you know who isn't an expert that's everybody can debate that I am going to debate who is an expert because I do think we talked to the
people that we needed to talk to and they did take a look at what existed before in the report that was given it was explicit the pcbs found in that CA were building materials where they estimated tens of thousands of schools across the country were constructed with the same
materials during that time the historic pesticides they said you should expect to find them what we did was look for a connection between what they said caused primary brain tumors which is ionizing radiation and we did not find that we
didn't find it so I I think we were very careful to speak to the right people I think we were very careful to take the right action um I'm going to disagree with you and say we have to find an answer then I need an answer for how a 2-year-old gets diagnosed with cancer because I don't think there's an answer for that and and I wish there
were I'd like an answer for the family members that I lost that live in island that didn't go to colon high school I'd like an answer for that and and I'm not going to have one because that unfortunately I think we can all agree sometimes there's just there's not an answer I we would love one right cuz we've all lost loved ones and I don't
think any one of us would would be at fault for wanting some kind of explanation because when you feel that loss it is devastating so to say it it was something that you know we need to I don't know that we could have exhausted I've had more sleepless nights over this than anybody will know when we were looking at it
because my concern for the community couldn't be higher right and my kids weren't in the school at the time but I wanted them to go there so I I see it a little bit differently than you I would say you should probably go back and and look at some of the reports they did and some of the the things that they did
share with us in terms of what we did what what is there what we didn't find what is connected uh that this story keeps jumping around not all of the people on that list lived in Colonia there were people that went to Colonia
High School for one year that were on that list so I I now have the question of so you could go there for one year and 40 years later get something and we're going to tie that back to Colonia that that's a tougher connection the the
article that ran okay I I would ask the question did they did they live in Colonia or did they work in colonial high school for a time and you the one thing that we don't talk about is is lifestyle and other factors of where did you live where did you work what did you do so I I think there's a lot that goes
into we've looked at all of the we've looked at at every detail every variable every entity that we should have looked at Guided by experts that we reached out to the the neurosurgeon from the prince Medical Center reached out to me two and a half
years ago because he had written an email and an oped piece to several media Outlets that wouldn't publish it and he said you should know this because I did the calculations separate from the do and came up with the same numbers this would be the number in a naturally occurring population anywhere so I
I feel very strongly about that it is it is personal um this is my community that I share with with you know 100,000 others so um in in regards to the security in schools we had a president's council
meeting um last week where that's a a PTO organization that that kind of oversees um things that happen throughout the district and and really works with building PTO and I said as I've said to the the board president and and members of the security committee I think we we are at a point where we can
leverage the technology I'm not looking for metal detectors I'm looking for weapons detection systems why if they're smarter and they're more effective and they're more versatile I I'm in why I I don't know that there's a cap on the amount of things you can do to make people feel safe I will tell you in the time here U
my Administration and and the board have worked hand and glove to make sure that the cameras were upgraded the phone systems were upgraded we in upgrade infrastructure all the time we've hired security officers that didn't exist before this Administration to be in the buildings at the high school level we
have security officers when the kids leave because we know I have ath coming in out of there so from 7:00 in the morning to the time those kids leave and and pack up their soccer bags or we have a security officer at that school safety whether it's health
related or whether it's physical it's never a secondary concern so what we have in the schools we do have security officers in the schools I am Tuesday or Wednesday taking part in a in a webinar where where a uh vendor is
going to show us one of the new Cutting Edge and and I don't have to understand all the technology that they're leveraging I just need to know that it works tell me that it's going to identify weapons or anything that could possibly hurt our students and that'll be a conversation that that I continue to have with the board I have it with
the you know the uh teachers union I've had it with the administrators Union I've had it with parents why I I I want to know their input everybody seems to be supportive of it um and it's something we'll continue to look into I I I don't know that there's an amount of security you can have where where people will say up that's too much Mr M talk to
Mr you know you're right there's the technology you know go to airports you go to other Federal buildings things like that but again right now what you saying you do not have a you do not have a uh you do not have a metal detectors at a school do you no not at this point
Thank you thank you and then um Mr verar we've we've known each other a long time and I think we respect each other but to suggest that only at Colonial High School do cancer cases come from as
that's patently false and sadly you know and and our hearts go out to the families impacted anywhere unfortunately cancer is is is everywhere in every community so it's to to suggest that you know there's some prevalence of cancers Dr mamino has
alluded to twice now that it happens everywhere unfortunately and and there's nothing unique Uh u in a negative way oh well any kind of cancer is negative but there's nothing unique about Colonial High School relative to cancer Sir Mr bars yes thank you uh good
evening to the council and president um and just following up on what you said I think we all agree it's it's this is not a political issue it's a it's a concern for the whole Community uh and for anybody to lose anyone U or have to deal with medical costs because
of something like this is is horrific and uh hopefully it will be absolutely minimized um that said um I thought earlier on I heard Dr mamino talking about soil remuneration coming up okay
uh so is there an indication that there is contaminantes within that soil and if so whether it be at Colonia or any other structure under the ownership um of either the township more specifically to the school board is
their liabilities attached to that um should anyone come after after the school and I get I'm sure that your lawyer Mr Bush is going to probably respond to that question that's one of my questions um there was something this evening and
I missed it I I forgot the procedural and I'm not sure it would have fit in right at the time you were doing it anyway but in tonight's agendas uh and I think it's on page two which would probably be under Financial but it re
speaks to audit requirements and $750,000 a more um in federal FS um requires one type of an audit less than that requires something different typically how often do we see that we
are getting 750,000 or more in federal funds let me Al I'm sorry all I'll let you finish yeah yeah I'm sorry um so that's one of my questions and how are those it's connect I know you have to do uh an annual report and you have
an outside firm that comes in and if I can um and I don't mean to make this sound political but doge is in right now so uh they're really diving in and doing in-depth reviews not just audits in the sense of are you complying with
the current regulations but really looking at how is that money being spent and I don't think your Auditors are mandated um or chartered or paid to to do that they're looking at um did you
spend it correctly does it meet state federal requirements uh without really looking at the real purpose of how that money was used and following it down as we're seeing on on TV right now so that's one of the questions and I I think it's going to become very relevant
in uh in the days to come especially what's going on with Washington DC there again there are a lot of changes is coming down right now are you anticipating any impact to the funding to this school from the federal government cutting back on a lot of
educational programs that may affect state and local uh governments as far as funding for schools and then finally um my question goes back to Dei and I know it was address addressed earlier and you know we have done a review as you may
well know uh I got a lot of information about salary and this is again nothing to do with Mr Ali I think he's a wonderful man he's got a great education but I'm looking at the position that he holds now uh at a approximately 179 thou
well it is $179,400 per year which is a pretty hefty salary and is that department is that particular job still required in light of the fact that we've gone from C the Dei and and then if you will student
access and engagements if we want to play semantics um we have an assistant superintendent we have principles we have Vice principles why do we need one individual at that salary level whoever it may be um to do that position at this
point in time we're done with Dei uh we have we we got along for many many years I grew up in this town I was educated in this now fortunately and U we didn't have that so why do we have it today and those are my questions sir all right
thank you Mr Maris uh we'll take uh each question one by one here uh you had asked about remedial action yes it does need to take place at Colonial high school and I Dr m i correct if I'm wrong it had to do with because of the soil disturbance that took place we became
aware of it we needed to act as a result correct if if did you want to explain look at the um the letter that was sent um to the mayor in March of 2023 um from the Department of Health um the conclusion is pretty clear based on the indoor air quality and
the other set the I I'll cut that a good stuff harmful health effects are not likely for students staff of Colonia High School from indoor air exposures to pcbs and pesticides PCB levels were below the US epa's Health based guidelines for pcbs and schools chloridine concentrations were below
levels were no harmful effects no harmful health effects were observed in toxicological studies finally there is no concern for increased theoretical cancer risk from exposures to pcbs and pesticides in the school the whole data set precedes that I I I don't want to bore you with the details it's an eight
Page Letter um the D and the do would not allow Colonia High School to be open if what was found in the soil which I'm going to go out and a Lim and say if we tested anybody so Hill you're probably going to find an herbicide or a pesticide um you were in construction so
I'm probably preaching to the choir you're probably more familiar with it than most with the sense of that stuff is is put down every time you're doing a foundation so that there's no termites and you know uh no intrusion of pets or animals into into your foundation so um yeah once the test happened and it was
Disturbed that triggers the um process for it to have to be remediated the same way as if I never know I have an oil tank and I don't touch it I don't have to do it the second that I start poking and I pull it out I have to remediate the yard um I'm kind jump on the liability
question here I can Mr Maris nice to see you again I I I think that the issue um there's this presumption in the public in general that entities like us don't necessarily want the truth you know I I
I mean that in terms of our cynical Society but but the reality is from a liability standpoint one of the most important elements of an organization is that if you have any sort of knowledge or Reason to know that
something even could exist especially something as serious as what we've been talking about tonight cancer family members right community members neighbors um it's it's it's an it's almost an over-the-top response you know
we have a burden to answer a question that's very difficult to answer so we go out of the way to make sure that we could never be accused of leaving any stone unturned and this District whether it's a response to this or any
allegation in any other case from a liability perspective has to make sure that we consult the best experts right the most qualified people um coverups don't exist the way they used to and that's a great thing and as much as Society is cynical and the media drives
this narrative overall that there's issues or waste for example as you've mentioned and you talked about Doge for example that the school district is is is one lean machine school districts in New Jersey in General are particularly lean and that's because they're forced
to be not just as a result of the the rigorous audits that they have to conduct the way they do but because they are generally two-thirds of the taxpayer property tax in in each community and it's a it's it's it's something where
every single line item is really carefully addressed and essentially we've had it's like doge is like old for us we've been doing Doge for you know as many years as the school district exists because you know every time there's budget cuts you see it I mean this year the governor is giving his address on
Tuesday I think correct and and from what I understand there's going to be some I don't know if that's how it's going to affect this District but you know our firm represents 98 school districts throughout New Jersey and there's some freaking out going on understandably because the budget isn't going to be as as as large as it normally is and some districts may have
to have Cuts so school districts are really careful because at any given year that could happen and so they have to be lean and mean to prepare for years that may be more difficult uh but from a liability perspective I would say that this district has gone over and and and in coordination with our office and with
Insurance Council and everybody else to ensure that there is not a specific knowable concern at Colonial high school for liability reasons and and many others if ick ethical reasons Beyond liability ethical reason before you
answer my third question is and totally agree with you and my question was not to raise public fears but to hopefully through your answers align allay I should say public fears about this because I think you're doing an excellent job to point schools five
and six we're going to be built somewhere else we found that was contaminated soil you didn't go there so I think that's that's a real precedent and and speaks to the sincerity of this board at all uh how you treat these types of things so I think you are
presenting us with the facts as best you know them and we proceed accordingly thank you thank okay and then my third question again sure yeah we're going position get to them uh there was a question on the finance and insurance agenda I couldn't identify it specifically but uh I think in general
you had you had to asked the question 750 million 750,000 or more does each one get audited Al oh okay yeah that's so actually four questions that number on your audit questions which is the part I can fill you in on so first to
know what our Auditors do they follow a state mandate dated requirement that's what they're auditing um in terms of how the money is spent is it spent properly um things of that nature um also we have a budget you're asking a little bit about efficiency so we have a budget which you've seen um they're making sure
that everything that's within those budget uh lines that we gave to the public and and the board voted on are being um met that we're not buying something that's outside of the budget lines with the funding as far as your question about the
$750,000 um that's called the single audit and we do have two grants that I can think of off the top of my head Esa idab um both of which have been well over this 750 well over a million for years those get audited um on a regular
basis um for that reason so we do have them um and I think uh as far as preparing for potential Cuts I have spoken with the administrators at this table in preparation of whatever scenario comes along we're prepared for
you know flat increase decrease you know we've we've gone through all the different U possibilities make sure that the budget um can come across properly thank so I think I answered all those a questions you had and the last one is the position on the um sure and thank
you Mr wolferman for addressing a number of those I will put an extra point on the the the Doge question I know uh annually and throughout the year this board we we have committee meetings where where we ask what I would think are are sometimes hard penetrated questions show us the math uh
demonstrate uh examples Mr Tre waser and other members ask for reports and we want to know every contract that we have I signed you can see uh every contract uh you know for special education or Transportation here so we're we're constantly looking and you know uh don't
get us wrong you know there's things we probably miss there's things we could probably be better and sharper at and we certainly have members of the public who are are welcome to ask good questions that that we could also when you have your budget hearings you allowed the public to come in and speak so we have that opportunity to address anything
that's going on thank you yeah and then finally you know Mr Ali I don't I think you were your here last meeting but you know myself and Dr masino we rattled off the the different forms in which Mr Al's position has taken and and where it has
landed at this point he's doing a tremendous amount of of data collection surveying you just this past uh week we talked about his basically what he's working on now and for example you know CTE programming and course trajectory
analysis basically what he's doing is collecting data with uh vendors to identify what are the courses of the future and education that our students need to be competitive in the 21st Century Wonder and then of course you know really from the beginning sort of
the the you know the Dei became sort of just the a new term for character education something we were doing for a very long time and something he's going to continue to work on and uh hugely important he makes salary of course and what I would point out Dr mamino I think said it you know in my ear quickly I
agree with him I was going to say it myself was the fact that we're actually a district that's light on administrators we're we're light relative to some of our peer districts so he's a part of our team it's a bit of a Swiss army knife similar to a couple other employees I could think of so uh
you know to date he's he's proved his worth and uh you know his job I'm sure will continue with evolve over time if I can Mr just for the sake of I don't we don't have a deputy ba right and we have a we're the eighth biggest District in the state I we don't have a a deputy uh
assistant superintendent for HR we have over 2,000 employees so I I say that with the idea of when Dr jck R's out and there's an HR issue I I handle it I don't know superintendents of districts comparable to my size do that um I have
looked at their chain of command and their hierarchy um I probably have harassed the board uh because I I always will take more help downtown the the days get long and we we we do wear a lot of hats um but I do think Mr Ali came in at a time you know after the pandemic
where we were looking at a lot of things uh in terms of instruction and and need transiency amongst our our students um and he has F filled a lot of roles we we'll probably always agree to disagree on on how we each Define Dei or its purpose or its intention and I you know
I respect that um the the reality is we have a lot of students in Woodbridge from a lot of different backgrounds that have a lot of different needs our goal is to meet the needs I don't care where the student comes from what religion they practice what race they are the the goal is and and and Mr Ali and and and
central office have this conversation a lot it's a it's definitely a new demand there are definitely different changes i' I've been doing this for 23 years what I'm doing now and what you know teachers are are is completely different than when I started and what it looked like and I'm sure people that were at
the end of their career when I was just starting would say oh you have no idea when I started yes things are changing and moving and and I wouldn't disagree with that I do think Mr Ali has become um an asset in the sense of he Services all 24 schools so uh as I said y doing
if I say I've been doing that for quite a while with you as you all know but obviously he is Roi return on investment and it's a good investment and I thank you for that I agree thank you thank you you you remember the old rules about the back and
forth on all right I I I just want to conclude uh this evening's uh meeting with some prepared remarks uh as it relates largely to uh some of the previous public meetings um so I'll start here
I'll start with my frustration uh our meetings have somehow become a forum of political and ideological speeches are matters that stretch the truth or are just false as it relates to what's happening in the wers Township School District last meeting I heard accusations of indoctrination
sexualizing children chemical mutilation and Performing surgery on children and my new favorite Den denying inalienable rights these were things that were said I rewatched the meeting last uh last night uh I've said this
once and I will say it again again because it I suppose to some degree it Bears repeating this board has discussed the transgender policy 5145 numerous times after countless conversations with legal counsel the board continues to stand by the model policy because it
exists to guide the district and its staff from a legal standpoint as I've said numerous times our school counselor's number one job is to facilitate conversations between students and their parents on any matter including the issue of gender transition
only in the most extreme circumstances in which students health and well-being is jeopardized by their own parent will the district act the best interest of the child as as per the policy reasonable parents know that this District does everything it can to
facilitate lines of communication between the school parents and students and that's why after two plus years of this policy actual parents are not protesting this policy last meeting one speaker suggested the policy was done in the darkness of night and with no
transparency I'd remind wers Santa residents that our board policies are voted on twice by this board over a course of two meetings a month apart could always be found on our transparent school district website furthermore even if this policy were to be rescinded as
many members of the public uh well I trck that memb some members of the public have advocated many of whom are are out of town as well we would still need to abide by New Jersey state law if we were to violate our policy or the law itself we would be subject to lawsuits
under the state's law against discrimination as well as defend ourselves against the state as other Rogue districts have learned as president of this board I have no interest in wasting taxpayer dollars defending such a position on the health education
curriculum specifically the issue of sex I continue to cringe at some of the incredible misinformation by shared by members of the public for starters and has been Statewide policy since the 1980s if a parent wishes to remove their children from any lesson in health class
they may do so without penalty despite recent updates the state standards on the matter it could be surmised my own opinion that our District's parents continue to trust this board and administration that the material taught is age appropriate by virtue of only a
handful of parents seeking more information from our Central Administration and of of course any requests to be dismissed from class have been honored uh in recent meetings I have sat by and listened to adults none of whom are Educators in our district and none of whom are parents of our
current students with access to our curriculum who have so assertively opined on our health curriculum the following has been said and repeated at multiple meetings that uh at this board of education about our district that we are teaching sex for pleasure teaching
kids from an early age how to pleasure themselves teaching that reproduction of children is to be avoided at all cost no surprises here wrong wrong wrong on age appro on an age appropriate basis we teach things like consent
marriage child birth abstinence choices and consequences of engaging in sexual activity such as STDs along with the correct definitions information that is factual and age appropriate by a licensed teacher and not learned on the internet
or from students peers it was said at the January meeting that we teach our second graders that there's 77 genders to choose from funny I read the health textbooks this week and found no such reference why because
there's adults who wish to instill fear in the reasonable parents as well as so Division disinformation and distrust within our Public Schools finally last meeting was suggested that the school districts I I presume ours since it was brought up here at a board of education
meetings needs to stop dwelling about slavery I think that's wrong as well we teach in this District American history the good parts and the bad we teach that our country has done amazing things served as a beacon of religious freedom created millions of jobs and
opportunities for immigrants from near and far defeated fascists and Nazis and advanc medicine and science saving millions of lives here and around the world just to name a few just like the good we teach about our mistakes slavery forc
removal and relocation of Native Americans Japanese interment camps and a legacy of Jim Crow to name a few it all happened and I think our students need to know that we don't teach victimhood we teach how painstakingly slow prog
slow progress can be and how far we've come we don't teach guilt or oppression we teach character education how every person deserves dignity and respect the weers Township school districts educates 14,000 students coming from incredibly
diverse backgrounds including on the basis of income national origin race religion and so on approximately 11,000 of those students had their education disrupted by covid accompanied by fear and anxiety maybe some of them lost a
parent as lost parent or another loved one or a source of income or their home some students have joined us from war torn countries like Ukraine Haiti and Palestine or relocated here due to natural disasters in Puerto Rico today
dozens of languages are spoken by our students homelessness throughout the state and country has surged since pandemic Aid has dried up and the cost of housing has risen as a result we Face innumerable challenge challenges to help our students and their families prepare
for Life a career and a high education our challenges are real and serious I would kindly ask that all parties to please consider putting the students of wber Township first this board wants to know how we could serve our students parents and taxpayers better let's focus
on the things this board can control and not the things in society that run counter to your personal beliefs political speech is permitted here as as anyone from in town or out of town wishes to come here and speak their mind but I promise you our time can be better
spent our kids are counting on us and I thank you for your consideration thank you may I entertain a motion to adjourn motion okay do I have a second second all right moot motion by Mr chw second by Mr Dela Petro all in favor I I this
meeting is adjourned we'll see you at next meeting on March the 13th thank you that was [Music]