everyone and welcome to the Board of Education meeting uh April 30th meeting we had closed session and we're now going to open session we're up to item six the student represent representative Park IIs and I mean how are you all welcome thank you guys thank you okay so I'm going to start by talking about how College commitment day is tomorrow May 1st which is exciting for a lot of seniors but since tomorrow is also State testing for the underclassman this means that seniors aren't coming in until 11:39 so our senior class decided to move up our College decision t-shirt day to Thursday that way we can all show the t-shirts that we're wearing for an entire school day right we also wanted to highlight um that AP exams are coming up starting at the end of this week right and into the next two weeks afterwards um students are already studying hard I think they can't believe that they're already here um I have I have four I'm like oh I didn't know but I think at the same time I think everybody's more live because the weather's been nice so it's as less stressful than than usual honestly next uh we had the student advisory committee meeting today with the underclassman student Representatives they had a lot of really great feedback but in particular they talked about how based on their own experiences some of the academic courses they took felt more like honor level courses because of the difficulty and then the amount of work along with that and also because their academic level courses they felt that the course itself brought down their GPA when instead it should have brought their GPA up because of its difficulty they mentioned computer science too and human anatomy but I'm sure some other courses are applicable to this and then again I guess we just want to highlight the fact that school's winding down um students are preparing for their final exams their exams um like I also noted the weather um definitely people have been taking advantage of the picnic tables that we' put outside um for unit lunch and also the new covered space near the small cafeteria I know in my study H I went there every day the whole class and I think it's just better than being inside um for class um I also have seen more class trips going on around this time um last Friday I took a trip with brtv down to NBC Studios in New York City it an incredible opportunity to get a tour of NBC and kind of like I dream of being a journalist and you know possibly um having a career at one of those major News St did you the background of Good Morning America or anything the we could not take any pictures there it was very sad yes know I Wasing very yes it was very cool it was very exciting um to see how you can um make your way up to um the top there and I think it's also to highlight the importance of going on these class trips the opportunities that we have to go on them to focus on our careers you know I think that we need to take more advantage of doing so um people are also excited for prom coming up um this is Thursday Friday and Saturday the final musical of the school year is happening High School Musical um and a lot of seniors that are in the musical are graduating this year so it's sad to see their last one but we're excited to see it um senior Awards coming up and then we're also getting ready for the big day of Cong graduation yes we're very excited at that rers and then you know tickets have been sent out people have purchased and we're all very excited and that's the end of our report thank you so it sounds like uh students are enjoying the new patio area with the sales I know in the fall the sales hadn't come in yet but it up okay they're nice yes little shaded area during the study hall was really nice rather than the sun down excellent I just wanted to make a comment about the trips that was nice to hear about the trip that you recently went on because you know during Co we had no field trips for probably 2 years and then it extended and I can tell by the volume of forms that I review and sign that we're back in business so it's nice to know that you know you find it a valuable experience I had one more question just for them because I was curious does it feel different as a senior to take an AP test than it did as a junior or um does it feel different I I think honestly there's Les less pressure I feel like it shouldn't be but I guess as people have committed they're kind of like I signed up and you know I spent the money I kind of have to go through with it even though a lot of colle don't take it but I'm putting my all in it at the same time right good luck as much College as I can get yeah great thank you and and I know as we get into the month of May we start to to really give thanks to you know all the things everyone has done throughout the year and and ladies I I want to thank you so much for the efforts you've put in I know there are a few more meetings to go but you've definitely raised the bar as far as the student reports and the way you're organized and and and what you share with us every uh every meeting so I want to say thank you there'll be more to come but but your work is really appreciated can can I ask t-shirt for for me I came as George Washington University program um I think for me thank you me majoring in journalism I think it's a great opportunity election year um to be able to go and study in the city and I'm very excited for it it's great yeah nice I know that may 1 is tomorrow but I'm still facing a lot of turmoil with my family um we're in between Emory and yish right now University of Michigan and those schools are vastly different in terms of their culture but I think both have really good Premed program so we still have to decide climate so climate too Michigan is really cold from Midwest all right and you know George is just climate concern it's okay I can sacrifice good weather they're both good luck on your decisions and thank you guys so much like I said you've been wonderful additions of the board I mean we have had student board Reps for the time I think it's fantastic you guys are here and you represent yourselves and your school Community well so thank you and um enjoy your late entry to school tomorrow all right study or do whatever so thank you guys thank with that the super report the presentation of the budget okay thank you so good evening and as Mr Walker just said tonight's presentation will focus on the proposed school budget for the 2024 25 Academic Year but I want to start by thanking the members of the fft committee for their work in this critical area when we when we look at the Bridgewater RIT Regional School District as a whole we know that the system is built on people and programs right and and in order to support those people in programs we need a budget that's going to enhance and support those things so and as we know these are exciting times in our school district as we're embarking on major changes to our academic programs facilities which includes the opening of full day kindergarten in 2026 as well as the shifting of grades in every school throughout the district except for the high school so and as we embark on this we've got to remember that every single 10 out of 11 schools are going to change in in a rather profound way as far as Staffing and and the grades that that are being taught within those facilities so the budget that you're the 2% State cap so with District ref projects moving forward simultaneously this budget keeps on track so thank you Mr star kick it and opportunity to ask question comf St good evening St employes employes take milon buildings we trans 100 students um this is inclusive of out of District placements and nonpublic students and our current budget is at 178 and with this budget we see the budget goals these are essentially the same as our district goals so when we headed into this year and and and these really stay with us throughout we want to optimize conditions for learning by implementing effective instructional practices that's support all students and and as we know there are a lot of prongs to to that goal we also want to ensure a healthy and safe learning environment by refining our operations and providing opportunities that Foster student and staff social and emotional well-being and finally we want to ensure Equitable allocation of District resources to support our mission and goals including the access and utilization grade level materials resources and programs as Mr beers referenced earlier we are uh at the 2% tax levy cap and the challenges we Face are the same challenges uh many districts and individuals are facing with inflation and costs that exceed that 2% level um personnel and benefits make up the large portion of our our budget and both salaries are you know in excess 2% and benefits are close to 8% Transportation costs are significantly higher with bus contracts and with out of District placements and transporting those students and utilities is uh not not decreasing either so they're all put a squeeze on the budget um but what we have presented here we are confident that it will serve the the district well and meet the goals previously spoken to so we look on the revenue side um as we indicated the tax levy that were're proposing is a 2% tax levy uh increase um we did get additional state aid and we're also increasing our expectation for Extraordinary Aid extraordinary Aid is the aid that is um we have to apply for on an annual basis for those students that um we uh educate in District for that cost over $4,000 and those that we educate outside of the district over $55,000 those costs we apply for and um generally speaking we get a pration of that money back from the state in the form of extraordinary Aid it's called Uh the proposed budget continues the uh goal of reducing our Reliance on fund balance um so there is a $250,000 decrease there um from the current year and uh the next one is are miscellaneous this cover is the catch all for um all the other miscellaneous income that we might receive um a particular note here um and which addresses one of the goals is the elimination of activity fees so with the passage of this budget you would see at the next uh in May the uh elimination of um the activity fee policy in regards to uh charging students to participate in whether it be uh Sports uh band or activities at the intermediate level um that policy um would no longer be needed because we're uh absorbing that fee within the budget um so as a total we're at 2.59% um increase from uh current year at $183 million so how we how are we spending the revenues um as indicated salaries are close to hundred million a 6% increase as we are um uh being wise to make sure that we are um there'll be a slide here later of what we are doing is with with salary and when um vacancies occur and handling those types of vacancies and with enrollment decreases uh benefits uh this is all benefits including medical um prescription uh benefits like workers compensation um that's a manageable 2.61% this year our maintenance and operation budget is going up .6% uh that's a total of $15.6 million transportation is the big one uh for this year uh that is a uh a significant increase of 9.42% um again this is uh for both in-house and contracted Services uh we probably uh handle about 30% of our transportation with in-house staff and 70% um from contracted staff contracted vendors uh there's a other category which includes our legal uh phone services contracted service providers um software softwares is a big um is a big number as we are uh continuing to be uh use the technology and different types of softwares within the classroom and administration that's at $6.2 million tuition is out of District tuition this is again special education cost this is going up 15% um those uh educational school tool that we send our students to have the same issues um with uh salaries and benefits and costs associated with uh meeting the needs of these uh special education students so that's a significant number um supplies and text um that's going up 15% that's uh part of that is a $500,000 increase as um from the uh $2.4 million that was previously raised uh in the separate question in November and our equipment uh projects in fund 12 is 1.7 $1.8 million um this includes the addition of new new buses um a vehicle for maintenance and um possibility a couple roof projects that we are getting uh funded for from the rod grants this does not include uh does doesn't speak to the referendum referendum is completely separate from this so the Appropriations uh has to equal the revenues and it does 3 million and 2.59% uh increase another way to look at how we're spending the money uh business functions is listed as 20.5% that's included of of medical um the benefit line item uh the instruction is about 40.2% that's uh direct regular education instruction uh support services for um whether it be guidance counselors child study team that's 11.6% equipment and projects that's a a mere 1% Administration this is all both School administration and central office administration at 6.1% operations is U the facilities uh custodial uh maintenance utilities um that's 8.6% transportation is the 7.6% and then we have tuition um for the out of District that we spoke about that is 3 % uh we mentioned the Staffing um some of the funding that we previously got from the federal uh government uh is going away and those uh some of those positions that were previously funded through that are being now brought into the operating budget um five positions there uh we have two new guidance counselors at the high school that we are um have added and then we have um some reductions of staff du to attrition and enrollment as you can see here two positions at the 56 level five positions at the 78 grade level and four at the 9 through 12 grade level I'll turn over to M Jones for curriculum okay we have a permanent allocation for curriculum and this would really be four areas that we look at in curriculum every year one is summer curriculum projects that's when we're writing new curriculum or making revisions or creating projects such as assessments fun stuff like that um supplies and materials would be another area and then textbooks and resources and finally professional development and and the waiting of each ships back and forth depending on what it is we're emphasizing and whether or not we're buying a textbook for K12 um for summer projects that would be curriculum writing it's revision of of of curriculum perhaps that we wrote last year or or the creation of projects which you know could be creating activities or additional resources or assessments this year the big change is that we need to realign all mathematics and English language arts English curriculum curricula um to new standards because the state has given us new standards and a couple years ago we had all the other areas but we did not have math and English so that's this year um for those of you who paid attention to board meetings you would know that we've been working on our K8 counseling so we're working on our character education program creating more consistent consy we have new courses with new concentrations and Pathways so that's robotics engineering our Capstone courses will be starting in September and we're realigning we kind of re-envisioned or Mr McCarthy and his staff re-envisioned the visual arts um course offerings and then finally we have special education and ESL projects in addition to um writing curriculum we have supplies and materials so supplies and materials include anything that wouldn't be a textbook so when we're using when we're doing testing or Universal screening that we use for either gifted and talented programs or to identify kids for intervention um that would be something that would come under the supplies of materials also very excitingly next year we're going to be paying for the Seal of biliteracy for students in Junior and Senior year we're going to be offering it so that was something in the past like PSATs families had to purchase themselves so we'll be create you know offering that to make it more Equitable um the K8 um character education program we've been working on uh foundational Literacy for multiple years now so it's our phonics resources those decodable texts that we talk about manipulatives for math programs novels actually do not fall under textbooks they're under supplies and materials so this would be for our Spanish Heritage course um and then the work that we're doing with gifted and talented we are excited that we are expanding out our cluster group re our clust group so they're going from fourth grade this year to third and fourth grade now next year um we're also expanding our um small group investigations finally when we're putting in robotics and Engineering we're going to obviously need new resources and I mean supplies and materials textbooks next year there's not a major adoption but you can see with World Civ um we're going to be looking at new textbooks in social studies 612 in our AP site class we are going to continue with our Health Resource that we adopt it last year in K8 um science is TCI it's an online platform that we use and it's it's we have to renew it next year and then finally the last part would be professional development and that is you know any of the initiatives that we're rolling in anytime we buy new resources any new curriculum that we write we have to provide professionals we of course have to provide professional development to support teachers so as a district we've been shifting our literacy practice towards science of reading and this involves training people in general education special education intervention Specialists ets's who are Elementary teaching Specialists and our coaches ESL as you know we expanded into all schools last year so this is an ongoing initiative too to make sure that all teachers are trained um anything new we create Robotics and Engineering also AP training is done every year because we're um constantly growing the capacity of our staff so that more staff can be AP teachers and as we expand our gifted and talented services and programs we're also providing professional development next up is our uh technology allocation there's approximately $1.5 million allocated for technology next year's budget this includes a uh Chromebook cases and license for students in grades five and grade nine as our um replacement and re uh replenishment of that uh new laptops for staff in grades 5 through 12 we obviously continue need to do uh annual work on our Network infrastructure um cyber security as we all know is a big issue these days so we continue to do evaluations improvements with our cyber security um and we have managed services for um and backup as a service from professional uh technology people uh contractors that uh handle those services for us and as mentioned we have a bunch of online resources that we we now use uh for libraries and classrooms in regards to facilities projects um these are projects that were approved earlier this year um and are uh going to be taking place this summer uh the grand stands uh as you might see if you go over to the high school are basically down and they're uh going to be reinstalling uh new ones with nice storage underneath it um the hillside gym um is going to be have its floor replace uh Turf 3 field replacement has a question mark here but that is good news because it's on the uh Township agenda for I believe it's Thursday evening for them to award the contract for Turf 3 field replacement and we share the cost with the township for um that replacement project annual painting projects will occur over the summer and then we also have obviously the ton of referendum work that is going on secure vestibules at all School except the high school window replacements will begin at JFK uh um van Holton and Hamilton if I got that correctly uh the Middle School toilet renovation projects uh bassone Fieldhouse and parking Renovations are all taking place this uh summer as well in addition tonight on the agenda is the award of HVAC projects for um JFK van Holton and um Hamilton so it's a busy summer next we get to the never easy tax impact calculation um first one here is for Bridgewater the uh average assessment on the unequalized level is 564 th000 for the average homeowner in Bridgewater the general f excuse me general fund School tax rate is 1.27 this is off of an equalized uh value and what that would equate to was say $46 63 increase per 100,000 of assessment in Bridgewater Now The Debt Service is what was previously approved um in March of last year uh and the sale bonds that occurred in December this comes out to roughly a $23 uh increase per $100,000 assessment and that should then level off um for the future years because this is the first year that it's um we have the payments for those to begin next is raron the average assessment is in riton is $322,000 uh equates to a equalized tax rate of 1.24 um and this is showing a decrease of $975 cents per $100,000 assessment um this is because the ratees of uh rare tin increased um as opposed to Bridgewater which went I think decreased slightly um and there's also a annual annual ratio that comes from the state um that prates the uh uh the percentage of tax levy to the to the two communities um and this year it shifted um uh between Bridgewater and Ron The Debt Service uh again the referendum piece of this is uh $951 on the um every $100,000 of assessment in Rarity so with that we will open the floor for questions from the board and then the public I I would just like to add one one uh comment at the end something that we we didn't highlight as we should but this budget also eliminates Student Activities fees right so one of our goals as a district is equity for for all students right to reduce barriers for participation Etc so as some of the seniors who are here tonight would know you know probably throughout their career if you wanted to join a club there was a fee if you wanted to join a sport there's a fee that's eliminated right because the last thing we want is is is uh you know a family's ability to pay for something to get in the way uh of student participation so it it doesn't eliminate the fees for senior parking and things like that but but again for for activities and Athletics there are no more more student fees and and I want to commend the board for taking that on and supporting that initiative because it'll have a profound effect on our student body next year thank you any questions from the board any questions please feel free I'm gonna open the last meeting first of all to Echo Mr Beer's Point um I agree with that and thank you for for for bringing that to theard board and everyone who bought that to us I think that all at least in my experience that won't just help students who may not have the means but just students who want to try different things and experiment and you know you wait it you're at school you miss the bus you have an hour to kill and you happen across a club and you can uh really make a difference and you're joining up and uh I I I think that's great that um that barrier not just economic but just practical just the Practical thing got to go get a br sign you got to write a check you got to go through a bunch of steps so that's that's great that um that we're taking that step anyone else okay seeing none um at this point I'm open to the public public hearing on the 2425 budget individual Andor groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests only on the 2425 budget proposal to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of 5 minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website Dan really does know what he's doing up here with the technology so um you know what crft president of the bridgew r and Education Association and I don't talk too much anymore um just because I feel like things are going okay and we we deal with the people that work here before I have to come up here and talk to all of you right so it that's the way it should be um but I just want to say particularly about the budget and about what Mr Beer just said I feel like for the first time these last couple years in my 20 almost five years of working here things have not gone things have gone more smoothly the buildings were actually going to fix these buildings you know I started to chuckle when I saw uh Bridgewater Ron Middle School toilets because like literally those bathrooms are not really fit for humans to use anymore in most cases so the fact that we have to do you were there once right I mean and she's a senior now they didn't improve since you left okay so I'm just saying like it really matters to people it really matters to people that go to work here every day and it really matters to the kids to have pride in things as opposed to watching the tiles fall off the walls while you're in the bathroom and you know the the the ceilings fall in you we're laughing but it's like a true fact it's a fact it's a you know and I read something in the paper today somebody's you know commentary about the budget which I understand nobody wants their taxes to go up I think and I'm just you know from my perspective just I live in a different town I don't want my taxes to go up there either but they do and um I you know so I understand the struggle is real like the struggle Financial struggle is real but also like you know the longer we let things go the more things cost and I feel like for many years people that sat in these seats let a lot of things go due to financial constraints or you know maybe not I I don't know I'm not even going to start talking off the top of my head about that but every year we didn't fix those things led us to this referendum these two referendums you know what I mean like if so it's good now let us keep moving in this direction that we don't have to have another referendum in 10 years to fix things again you know I feel like now we're on the right track and I think that will be felt in the pride of the students you know we'll have pride and so will the staff and the part about getting rid of the um the uh fees for paying I think that's a big deal it's it's a huge deal and I think if we could get the buses back to like picking kids up after school that can't get a ride home you know on top of the fact they don't have to pay the fee anymore that's great and I know that's not really in anybody's control here the fact that there's no bus drivers in the United States is nobody's fault in Bridgewater I I understand that but I do think that would make a difference too because having a ride home you know you need that all right thank you hi my name is Joan deala uh I read that article today also um you need to SPL your address also you're telling from oh you need it to be spoken thank you uhhuh I'm at 41 Ash Street in Bridgewater um so I just had I hope I can get back to it um well I have a few concerns uh I also am glad that that's being waved the the fees because some students don't have as much as others um but I also don't understand if the student I'm having a hard time getting my head around if the student enrollment is going down why the budget can continues to increase and we know that um that we have a problem with um not so much you know everything's going up and everything but that's affecting every household that's not just and and in the households we can't repair everything because we don't all have that money to do that because everything is costing so much because of the deflation I call it deflation not inflation because we have plenty of everything but uh unfortunately the dollar is just really being diminished so I don't understand that and I'm I am concerned I read that article and I had heard about that before that right now up in the state is uh possibly increasing that cap from 2% to 99.9% I think it is and so we elect the school board to care for our children to watch over the good of our children and also to be fiscally responsible and and as it said in that article and I had heard this before that some of the nearby districts have been able to actually decrease uh you know not increase the budget as much and been able to actually save money and so I'm not really sure uh why in our district we're not able to do that so let me just see um the other concern that I have that I've read in like maybe the past month actually it's been going on for a while but uh some some nearby districts have had corruption where there have been now of course not everything has been proven and everybody's innocent until proven guilty but I was just wondering what kind of checks and balances not that I'm accusing anybody but that we haven't place to protect everyone and uh to protect the money that is brought in and make sure that it's being used appropriately so that's it thank you thank you any other comments think I'm gonna close that part of the of the meeting and we're moving on to St I just wanted to comment on that the the the budget the idea of budgets going up to 10 up 10% it's my understanding based on my reading of those two proposals that that 10% is only if your budget's being cut you can increase up to 10% to recoup what the state aid is not giving you so like if someone's state aid went down $10 million they can try to increase beyond their 2% to recoup that 10 $10 million we cannot go past 2% to get 10% that's not something that's anywhere on the horizon for a district like ours who's not experiencing that so that correct Peter um I was actually at a county business administrator meeting on Friday and there was no conversation whatsoever of the of that bill so I'm not terribly familiar with it but I believe you're accurate in your statements I'll I'll second that you're you're 100% correct Steve and I'll take so I I I can read right from the draft of the bill which and it says under the program a school district May apply to the commissioner of Education to increase its adjusted tax levy beyond the increases allowed under current law up to onethird of the amount of the school district's school aid reduction in the 2024-25 school year the increase however is to be no more than 9.9% of the prior year's tax levy so the you're right this this law doesn't apply to us in any way shape or form and um without giving credence to what folks are talking about the the uh you know the comments made in in print were entirely misleading uh because it does not apply to us it's not something we'd be considering uh and we wouldn't be considering it because we can't so to your point Steve yes you're entirely correct thanks and then I just wanted to briefly U mention that every year we have an audit of our budget so uh that would be at least one of the checks and balances that we have is that we have a third party auditor come in and check over the funds and making sure that they're being spent uh as we say they are and appropriately I only mentioned this because at fft we talked about looking at other towns and similar to us um and one of those districts was mentioned in that article and something I had pulled up where their state funds um we think get 15 million for next year they have 97 million from the state which is um double what they had two years ago so they don't need to increase their taxes because they have so much more coming from the state than we do so that was the only I what district um Ed and I I just want to I just want to add something was um the word corruption was used um and I take um you know in whatever way it was said like Mr singer said we do have independent audits that are conducted every year it's required and this budget is reviewed by the state and the county it's just not something that we put out there like okay here you go so there are checks and balances and I think every person here that's been elected um would take an offense to that um if anything was done wrongly and Mr star Stars has been in this position for well over 20 years and um you know I'm I'm very comfortable with uh the budget that's presented um uh so I also wanted to comment on um the upgrades to the facilities I I went to high school at the middle school and they're the same toilets as when I went there and they weren't great then um so it's really great to see so many changes happening um and and to be a part of of that change uh I I guess my question is um how does actually let me let me start over um we I I heard a term like macroeconomics as it applies to like teachers and bringing on staff and like how how would that apply to like um our budget as it is I I get the understanding that that just because we're seeing a decrease in enrollment doesn't really have as big of an impact as it might appear because it my understanding is that it's going to be harder to recruit teaches in the future oh no I I I'm I'm more than happy to take that on and and Peter knows some of the the forces at play far more intimately than I do but we know that we're at we're at a 2% cap when it comes to taxation health care costs go up 10% Transportation 10% uh just general costs of doing business know it in our own households right things are getting more and more expensive I think the CPI index for this year is somewhere around 3.7 or 3.8 so with that um we're asking Peter to defy the laws of Economics here to say all right I know all these things are going on but keep this to 2% or less and what that does it puts you in a posture where you're always trimming you're always cutting you're always looking at savings right and and uh the question came up earlier that's one of the ways that declining enrollment is helping us right where if we lose staff through attrition because we don't have as many sections then we just don't rehire for certain positions and we've done that at least since since I've gotten here as well um but there there's a lot of play here and and um there were several things brought up and and and again uh T your question Mrs L about recruiting and retaining teachers it's it's very important that as a public body we take a stance to say we're going to I believe to support the budget and our teachers and the operations because think of what we're doing when we're recruiting teachers we're asking them to commit to us right if we're if we're one of those districts and they're out there that you know you don't know year to year if you're coming if you're coming or going chances are in this market you're going to go right because it's more of a a uh buyer Market these days for uh for uh uh teachers but finally what what I would like to comment on multiple references were made to Edison State Aid increase in 2023 24 was 24 million state aid increase in 2024 25 was 20 million so when we have the those those comparisons we're not comparing Apples to Apples uh this school district Edison it is gets 26.4% of their budget from State sources while Bridgewater receives approximately 8.5% so comparatively when we address for differences in scale and size of schools uh this state aid would be the equivalent of Bridgewater receiving 9 A5 million in additional funding which we did not get all right I just want to clear that so if we did receive that amount I believe it would have been the stance of the board and of me that hey there's no need to raise the tax levy because of this wifall that came in and I have direct experience with that where prior to uh being the superintendent here at Bridgewater I was at Manville and I was part of the group that fought for the S2 legislation and S2 funding so there are a lot of calculations that go into this and part of it is local fair share Etc it's actually a complex formula so there are communities like the one we've mentioned before and was mentioned in the article and I know where I used to work in Manville where the tax levy hasn't gone up in seven years and the reason for that is because the state aid was coming in really at an exponential level over those seven years um and and they were able to lighten the the uh burden on local taxpayers so I think it's really important to compare apples to apples when we look at this um and and reference was made to another Local District and I know the struggles they're going through by having a zero doll tax increase two years ago guess what they're doing tonight they're approving a 4% tax increase all right and and that's public knowledge so a lot of times when you look you want to make sure your budget at least this is my two cents I don't want to speak for the whole board as a superintendent I think you're the that the board of education is doing an excent excellent job where you want to keep things consistent and steady so you could predict your outcomes meaning your Staffing your your construction Etc so you have a predictable uh uh basis for your budget that's all thank you on the topic of consistency I just wanted to make it clear for the public because um I only learned this as a board member if we don't go to the 2% cap then what is it over the next three years you can add that I don't know what that's called but that other amount endcap okay thank you Bap thank you um but you can add that to in the future so in terms of consistency I think you know we have to think about like what benefits the community if we're not raising taxes this year but then we raise them twice as much or less than twice as much next year is that going to have a big impact on families because then they're going to have a a much larger increase in their taxes in a future year last thing again because I was comparing to two other districts um one of them right now is considering because they can only increase their 2% they are reducing the number of AP classes they're cutting some of their music programs they're cutting some of their Sports um and we're talking about having more teachers ready to teach AP classes we're talking about letting more kids join programs so if I have to choose between two schools this is where I want my kids to go another thing we often get put on us unfunded mandates by the state and legislation Mrs Jones knows that all too well what needs to be covered in curriculum areas and what things we need to do so some of those areas coming to us that okay you got to figure out how to do it they get put there um all these are governed by Statute the audit every year things that happen the statute Administrative Code guides them every day this district and administration I thank them for what they do it's a it's a tremendous job that they have to do and get there um I was proud of the administration we have been able to manage our Healthcare cost better than most because we moved to Self Insurance three or four years ago Mr stars and that has has been enabled us to to keep those in a in a appropriate manner so that we're not getting hit with the 15% that's coming from the state other plans that are out there and our experience um I think you know and what they've addressed in this budget is you Equity issue I think putting forth the students first or making sure that we give everyone opportunities they didn't have before um there are a lot of areas that you know the the raw grant funding we now have the ability to do that so we're catching up we were underfunded and Mr Stars knows my questions about state aid many years ago we were underfunded this formula got held Harless we were underfunded the state aid for probably 10 years so we were we were behind in what we may do and we we prioritized what we to do and that's what boards have to do it's it's based on the munication recommendations so I'm proud of what the administration's done I'm proud of the passports and I'm really proud of the community this year for passing the referendum all three questions that was a we we we went out and asked the question for the district to borrow money we have to go to public vote and we did it and they said yes in all three so I'm very proud of the community so we we both as a community and as a board and administration I think have been very fiscally prudent and effective in what we're doing and stewards the community with the I just I'll be quick this time uh I wanted to piggyback off of Mr Walker's comments and also Mr Jo josi's in in terms of like Integrity because uh I I remember my first year when I was on fft I was in the audit meeting and the Auditors I've worked with Auditors they're never glowy uh they were very glowy about the quality of work that um our business administrator had submitted and having submitted it before everybody else I believe if not early um so I just wanted to share that because I have full confidence in the administration when it comes to the work that they do around this topic any other comments All Right Moving on uh president's report I have a report this evening thank you guys again you're more than well you can stay or go if you'd like please so I just don't want to keep you here um Jen vice president report um so Mr Walker I'm not trying to uh Mr Walker's made my job easy because he sent out an email so definitely if you haven't saved it save it it has a list of all the upcoming dates um some of the dates for May uh May 8th we have the board retreat and the discussion is uh strategy plan and CSA evaluation expectations May 14th is the Strategic plan presentation uh May 28th is um the B meeting where we will be discussing District goal presentation May 29th is the CSA evaluation that we're submitting and then there's a couple dates in June related to the CSA evaluation and finalizing it thanks Mrs lockran and um I just wanted to to add to your report if I may I I will forward the entire board a rough draft of the U strategic plan action plan so you could take a look at it you have a few days at least to take a look you can make some comments and then hopefully we can we can focus discussion um beforehand but I'll encourage everyone to make make comments on the documents so we can organize our thoughts when we get there thank you moving on item 11 Community reports academic commit Mr Joshy yes so we met on April 18th at 5:30 virtually and in attendance where my myself Mrs kist Mr peepy Mrs Jones Mr beers and Mrs Maia uh first item was policy review and this would be policy 5410 promotion and retention and policy 5514 student use of vehicles on school grounds the committee discussed two policies and agreed uh to the recommended changes the first policy on promotion and retention was not closely ass signed to the Strauss smma version which made it difficult to be appropriately responsive responsive to the needs of individual students particularly multilingual Learners the restrictive timelines uh negatively impacted practice uh causing situations where principles were forced to make retention decisions too early and or forced to promote students who may benefit from additional intervention or retention especially esally for our youngest multi multilanguage Learners um it's hard for me to say um the language was also U amended in policy 5514 which is the student use of vehicles uh on school grounds uh specific to non-motorized skateboards scooters roller skates Etc as previously discussed and recommended by the Board of Ed uh at a board of ed meeting uh any questions on that um first thank you for for reviewing uh the transportation policy uh I was wondering if well I know that there were events in the district where um there were skateboarding events and BMX events in the district and I was wondering if there was any other um any other opportunities where um where this policy might you know help students uh you know organize um events or clubs Etc ETA I mean if it's an event um you know like a school assembly or something I think they can that that hasn't changed but as far as clubs go I think they would have to go the same route as any other club that uh the students would have but then it would revert back to this policy I'm assuming Mrs Jones am I correct for the uses yes you're correct so there there are no immediate plans to change anything however what this does is it opens the door for those discussions and that possibility so yes yes maybe I'm not reading it right does the new policy say that they can use all these modes of transportation to get to school but then they can't use them on school grounds unless they have principal's permission during school hours that that is correct so originally the policy read that they students weren't even able to use use them at all to transport back and forth so when we recently well whenever that was maybe last year beginning of this year we revised it so that students would be able to take them back and forth but there wasn't an option for a principal to make a decision about use during the school day or as Jen just pointed out if there were an assembly or some kind of um program so now that's changed um it won't it will not change practice immediately but it opens the door for that possibility and and take a look it's for first reading this time so we'll be back next uh month any questions oh can I just quickly say AJ too that because we are trying to align things with the Strauss Esme policies that was an option in the Strauss Esme policy the policy on the policy itself I don't know if this is a permanent practice but I noticed that the uh that the colors have changed a little bit looking at the document where the new language is in blue and the eliminated language is in in red which strike through I don't know if that took much more time to do but thank you for everyone who makes these in general at least for me that was a lot easier to read and kind of follow along and then go back and see what was replaced so I don't know if that's that's permanent um but I I definitely vote vote for that was done specially for you thank you well look I I got the idea from the not the idea but the New Jersey school boards Association does it and at least for me it was a little bit easier to follow easier on the eyes so thank you to everyone who who does this in general and okay uh item two was um K4 shifts in reading practice Mrs Mia uh direct the director of Elementary education provided an update on the district's progress regarding uh foundational literacy instruction which included the following signs of reading curriculum implementation which is explicit systemat systematic phonics instruction uh instructional resources professional development timeline shifts in njsl standards and next steps um and we adjourned at 7 o'clock our next meeting will be May 23rd at 5:30 any other questions Mr Jos thank you AJ community relations uh Miss kist we met on April 11th at 3:15 and attends was myself Mrs Freelander Mrs Asuna Mr beers Mr Walker and Mr Moran the first thing we did was we reviewed the new website um all board members signed into thrillshare to review the website which will be live on July 1st uh we reviewed all the popular buttons that parents use and how the homepage should appear to make it more user friendly um all the committee members are asked to review the uh Boe section to provide feedback and the committee needs to examine um the order of the links and suggest edits to make sure it's more user friendly for when people use it any questions that's on the be correct R tab yeah so it's we we're oversight over R tab just R tab that's it yep and then and then what we'll do you know once this goes live over the summer before the new school year starts this is something we can incorporate into one of our Retreats just to do the final review one thought there in the website is you know have we ever thought about asking like our student reps or some students to give us some you know bright ideas because that we have them just maybe I just throw that out there because I mean as a parent we look at it differently than as student I don't do you use the website yourself a lot you know how just just be to ask probably not me personally honestly um I'm not sure about the other students I think I'm an outlier possibly um I do see some students but not not a lot maybe during class when they should be focusing they the when they scroll through the prowler I get really excited but um yeah sometimes but I don't think many great thank you sorry to call you out on I I appreciate you guys being here uh next we discuss the um we will be having a strategic planning presentation in May um well then I wrote we're going to be planning our board retreat which we have already done and we're going to have two presid presentations during our May meetings the first meeting is going to be about strategic planning results and the second meeting will be to present our district goals uh next we discuss school star times um we have money set aside that's going to do a transportation study to review all of the options any questions okay next we discussed um consistent notifications and reminders ahead of delayed openings the district is now going to send out notifications of delayed openings in order to have consistency um between all the schools and lastly we reviewed policy number 9561 which was climate and educational program surveys and it was recommended that we abolish this policy any questions ask about the U delayed openings you talking about for is that for like weather incidents or no no like the like those the ones that are already planned uh we found that some elementary schools were sending out notifications and others were not so we just wanted it to be consistent across the district that makes sense thanks yep can you expand on the committee's uh reasoning behind getting rid of policy 9561 would refer to Bob on that one okay sorry wasn't it one that we wasn't it no it's it's not a stress Esme but policy 9561 is uh is one if you look at it it it's outdated it refers to committees that don't exist yeah yeah the policy committee and and also we discussed how right if if the Board of Education wants to do a climate survey we just put it as one of our goals in the beginning of the year and we do and we conduct a climate survey and then we can go through the parameters so after discussion was really that that the policy isn't really necessary and it was outdated so it was something that could be addressed through goals Etc versus we in a nutshell I think it was too far gone to be saved so to speak as a policy where we would have to um was more than a couple of minutes I also have a question regarding that that policy uh does Justice may have a u policy regarding the survey that we can maybe change into no okay all right so we we could have the the climate survey is just based on you know Retreats and we say okay in two years we need another one we can just go ahead and do it absolutely we covered a lot of it we did that the Strategic plan is kind of like a climate survey in in the way so it's sometimes it's doing at appropriate times maybe Midway through something think way we we did one but yeah but the strategic planning sometimes maybe so you're covering them different areas too so it's more of a thing to bring bring up during conversation like I said not always a mandated policy so and then finally it is one of the things I I know in superintendence training I think board training you hear a lot that you don't want to have a policy that constrains future boards right who may have a different view on climate surveys Etc so it's best to do this through goal setting and and through a retreat and and decide if we're going to do it that way on a year-to-year basis and and then we go ahead and do it okay there's nothing else uh we adjourned uh at 4:25 and our next meeting is going to be June 4th at 5:00 P PM virtually thank you em Finance facilities and transportation Mr singer our next meeting is May 7th please note the change in time uh we're going to be meeting at 7 o'clock uh after having our bua recognition dinner uh so that is that was the best time for the administration unfortunately in order to have a meeting before the next meeting thank you Steve um personal comme Miss Freelander I think subbing would be Dr fonder yes that is correct uh the Personnel committee met on April 16th at 5:30 we met in person at the Wade building um present at the meeting were Miss freedlander Miss Lee Mr Walker um I was there and in addition to Mr beers uh the first item that we talked about was the draft of the Personnel addendum uh we always review that first at the Personnel committee this meeting was uh two weeks before the board meeting so there wasn't that much on it at that point but we reviewed the items that were there and the committee supported the action items any questions then we did uh the non-tenured staff review which was the bulk of the meeting um Mr beers and I reviewed the evaluation procedures used by the administration to observe staff members in accordance with the achieved New Jersey law and the applicable District policies we also reviewed identified non-tenured staff members and uh the committee supported the action items any questions all right uh next we moved on to the policy review the Personnel committee is reviewing the 1,000 series of policies so we had identified at the last meeting five policies specifically that we were looking at 1230 1240 1260 1330 and 1331 the committee discussed and completed a review of these identified policies uh there was no recommended changes and so no action was taken any questions uh next we talked about a uh potential new job description which uh would be um brought to the Personnel committee for the May meeting um so we talked a little bit about that and about what would happen before that uh this would be expected to be reviewed by the personal committee at the main meeting and then would be brought to the board after that uh so no action was taken at the meeting any questions all right uh the next thing uh is after we uh the board approves the calendar for uh a school year the employee holiday calendar this is primarily for the secretarial staff and for the administrators uh is created and so the board recently approved the 2025 2026 school year calendar and so this uh sub calendar identifies which are the holiday days uh those are noted the number of days and then they're designated through uh through an employee holiday calendar and so that was discussed and is on the agenda for this evening uh that's not something that impacts teachers or students and families it's really just for uh a smaller subset of the of the staff any questions about that I just didn't realize that our buildings are all open between Christmas and New Year correct all all them are staffed all the time so the these uh these there's 15 the 12-month employees have 15 holiday days 14 are designated and one's a floating holiday to allow for people who have a celebration that's not captured in those and so um for instance Christmas day is always identified as one of the holiday days and so that would be a day that the whole district is closed uh which is fairly typical in the in the Work World um and then but the other days uh would be open uh unless somebody's using their vacation days and so certainly lots of principls assistant principal secretar supervisors would be using vacation time at that time but they are work days otherwise and uh the last item is um I spoke to the Personnel committee about the uh the United States citizenship and Immigration Services UC USCIS uh H1B visa requirements and um we the board of education does have uh someone employed who's looking for that um visa and so I we talked about the responsibilities for the Board of Education as a petitioning employer for an employee and so we reviewed what that would look like there's no action on for tonight's meeting but um potentially there could be for a future meeting um the committee supported pursuing the H1B Visa uh at the committee we talked a little bit more specifically but you uh there's a confidentiality so in the open meeting me we wouldn't identify the an immigration status of any employee any questions on that all right uh we adjourned at 6:47 pm and our next meeting is scheduled for May 21st thank you Dr f um I'm adding one committee report the negotiations committee on February 28th the uh the bo the board negotiations team which consisted of um Miss Lee Mr Joshy M kist myself um in attendance also was um Dr fonder Mr beers and our our board attorney and we met with the brta um we had a very successful meeting in negotiations and came came to a successful memorandum agreement which is on this evening which we voted on I want to thank the brta our our Administration and the bo members of the committee for a successful and think um one which will help us move forward in our with our bus drivers and that will be all reading that into the agenda and the personal and we was we Jour was about an hour long this probably my shortest negotiations I've been through kind of fun any questions see none uh liazon or delicate reports I one inter uh on April 15th the Somerset County School boards Association held their final meeting of the 23 24 school year the meeting was held at the votek and uh Karin Lori the Somerset County Teacher of the Year from North planfield Middle School was honored uh additionally several of our board members were recognized at this meeting so I just want to talk about that really quickly uh Lucy Lee Jen lockran Mike Pepe were all recognized for receiving their new board member certifications to achieve this certification Lucy Jen and Mike attended governance one uh earned 10 board member acade uh Academy credits attended a Statewide a regional professional development program as well as the annual Workshop conference and attended at least two County Association meetings all within their first two years of board service so congratulations to them Iowa was recognized for achieving the level of certified board member which uh is offered to board members who have served at least three years earned 20 credits attended four meetings and a delegates assembly that was the final hurdle uh among the other requirements and finally uh Mr Walker was recognized for his 10 years of service to brdw uh and in addition to recognizing Barry for his 10 years uh Barry was elected as the County's delegate to the uh njsba board of directors so thank you for your 10 years of service and congratulations on this next additional thing to do that's all as my wife would say another non-paying job thanks any other delegate Lees Imports I have uh two uh one staying on the njsba theme the delegate assembly is coming up on May 18th it looks to be uh we don't have the handbook yet it's looking to be a very full agenda with I think 15 or so resolutions going on 15 15 resolutions they actually extended the meeting two hours okay it's not surprising I will have them Friday I'll get them to you soon so if anyone wants to look at those I'd be happy to because I think we only have one meeting shortly before that so if anyone wants to offer any feedback you can let me know or we can talk about it at the uh about it at the next meeting and then from the burough of ridan um there was thanks at the last committee meeting for uh JFK school and the principal Mr Russo for helping to get the word out and working with the recreation committee for starting a new soccer pro program um there were 80 sub was a great turnout 80 or so kids at a uh at the soccer fields participating in a brand new Pro program uh that looks to be off to a really strong start so thanks to all the kids all the families and everyone at JFK will make that happen thank you Mike any other delegate reports I have a question regarding the the delegate assembly if I can make one uh I wonder when we have those uh resolutions can we take us to the boards so we as a board vote on it or how do we handle the situation usually I mean we don't normally get 15 this is the first time I've seen 15 usually it's like three or four um yes usually they can bring to the board and get a board decision on that if you'd like so we can bring them forward I I think I'll have access to them soon I will get you as soon as I can get Mike okay the board directors gets in first that's the reason I know that so I'll try to get them soonam soon and we have we could talk about it at the retreat because when's the one's the delegate assembly delate assembly I believe is the 18th yeah so we have 19th I think it's no the 18th weekend after Mother's Day okay yeah gotta so we we'll do our best to get that weight Loosey and circulate so in comments yeah I I I I think that's correct I haven't heard of boards that to take formal votes on how they will vote I think it's the part of the reason that there is one designated voting member but I'm certainly happy to take any feedback I know most for the most part they tend to be not particularly controversial and we uh the njba also publishes a recommendation that for the most part uh board members have been on board with but I'm happy to take anyone's feedback or yeah the usually public oration then actually suggested language change we need to so they come and I'm not sure how how many they received so I can find that out any other delegate laser reports thank you I'm going to close that seeing none um this is the time for the item 12 open to the public action items only individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following action items to the board of education at this time in accordance with the board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum five minutes during this period of meeting during this period of meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be post on this website going once going twice okay again 41 Ash I just want to turn on the microphone if it's not on please if the light's not on is it on it was on okay it was on thank you I didn't know maybe I'm too short okay I did want to just say I was remiss in in thanking you all for volunteering your time as you said it's an unpay job and I certainly did not mean to sound accusatory and what I was saying I just wondered you know how it how it could happen you know that was all and that and thank you for answering my various questions thank you anybody else seeing none I'm going to close open public comment item 12 approval of the minutes from the April 9th regular session is there motion second any discussion Mr STS can you call the role Please Mr josi yes M kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries Personnel 24 through 30 and I'm going to read in you sure Mr starles will read Mr number 30 in please resolution number pe- 24-30 resolved to approve the memorandum of agreement between Bridgewater raron Regional Board of Education and the Bridgewater raron Transportation Association brta from July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 with corresponding salary guides and authorize the administration and board president to take the necessary measures to implement its ratification do I have a motion so moved any discussion seeing n Mr Stars can you call the RO Please Mr Joi yes M kri Mr singer obain on personel 2430 yes and everything anything else missa yes Mr Pepe abstain on Personnel 2430 and yes on the rest Miss Lee yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries curriculum 24 days60 through curriculum 2463 do I have a motion second there any discussion did you see all the field trips on there CA Mr Stars can you call the role Please Mr josi yes M kri yes Mr singer St on curc 2463 yes and the rest Mr sunna yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Lee Yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries business 24- 121 through 24 d133 is there a motion so mve second any discussion yes yeah oh anybody go I just want wanted to thank um Edison Fernandez um of Eco landscaping for donating um his services to Crim School uh the PTO Rel landscaped the whole school it was a gift that they gave but then he donated his labor of over 207 well actually $2,700 so I just want to publicly thank him for that was greatly appreciated discussion um I want to make a comment about the budget item which is 24124 um might speak speaking of the mic I have shared a sheet to all of you and I have emailed to you all I think that's some additional information uh maybe uh I would I I think I would like to bring to the for board's attention um then in the email there's also reasoning uh about why uh this uh um the street house the street was made and uh I want to um ask that the full board will take a look at it um as a followup from our last budget discussion I would like to know uh what is the uh use of the uh food kindergarten refer money for 2023 to 2024 year as well as for the years going forward uh I have uh asked these questions to our fft committee and I have forwarded that email to the full board in including this sheet of calculation so I'd like to hear our um our uh the answer for those items thank you so I'm gonna just respond really quickly because you emailed the fft committee after the fft committee had met so the fft committee did not have the opportunity to deliberate your emails uh and the email that you referring to today uh you sent while this board was in closed session so we could not deliberate that as either uh moreover the 23 24 and 2526 use of the F day kindergarten uh operations budget would not be applicable to this business 24-h uh whatever the budget is uh so just wanted to note that the uh the 24 to 25 uh year budget does include a for kindergarten money in there though can we comment down how that's going to be used sure um $800,000 of it $800,000 is in transportation um $500,000 is in curriculum and 1.1 is in the uh facilities allocation can I ask a question as well what was this same information when an email was sent did did you receive that information I wasn't certain if this for 2425 or is it for 23 24 I think it was pretty clear but did you receive a response from Mr Stars I have okay is it similar to what he said this evening I don't remember the numbers but okay thank you what what um year are we talking about now it's the one on the agenda 2425 okay is this uh related to uh for the kindergarten or it's used in general found as a general purpose in those accounts that's it's going to be used for those different items in that within that c in those account are they related to for the kindergarten the transportation certainly is the curriculum allocation piece I'm sure is going to be impacted by the kindergart and the facilities uh is uh I have double check it's the it's for the roofing so at those schools sure and and please remember that even according to what the the attorney's advice was it's not just full day kindergarten but it's all projects related to that that that includes shifting shifting students to different schools throughout this District it also includes the middle school edition that's all part of the package so but I just I I mean this information has been shared though I know prior to this meeting yes I have emailed I think this meeting also serves the purpose of public information so yes all these questions I have asked to our committee or to our uh administrator yes any other discussion I I do have something on on one item and uh I I know we we always thank everyone who uh you know who provides a gift to the uh you know to the uh district and and we want to thank everyone on this list but I do want to draw attention to the recess supplies um this was a really generous donation on on behalf of the family of Mr Amin who was a longtime Aid at Hamilton School and who passed away in the fall of uh 2023 and um it it's really a nice gesture from his family to think of the kids at Hamilton who who uh he loved and and looked after and um I just wanted to to uh to uh acknowledge their generosity and and kindness uh so thank you again I like that we have many donations this evening from the Hamilton PTO the Crim school PTO Edison Fernandez the panther club and I again Mr Amin's Family which is wonderful I I did a little research on him he was actually retired as a um Bell Labs engineer so kind of interesting second career and he was helping with the kids so the commitment we have from the the staff and our community are we're very grateful to that I know everyone does it so I want to say thank you to all those groups any other discussion what constitutes supplies snacks and things like kickballs all kinds of things I I think because of their donation now Dr Fond could tell us with more more Authority I think the kids at recess they're going to have plenty of things to play with that Hamilton school for while sure yeah and it's not like an art room necessarily where the you know art rooms are uh financially intensive because all the materials get used they get used up but at recess they're well-loved materials and so certainly um you know no one likes playing kickball with a flat kickball and so making sure that like all the the equipment is uh in tiptop shape will will be great and there's always you know ways you can make the experience even better for the students and so I'm sure the the gift will be well used that way again what what a great idea for his family and again thank you to the generosity any other comments thank thank you thank you um Mr St you call the RO Please Mr yes Miss K stre yes Mr singer obain on business 24126 yes and everything else Mr sunna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee no to 124 yes to rest okay Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries special speci Services 24-33 through special services 24-34 is there a motion second any discussion Mr Stars can you call the RO Please Mr josi yes M kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries other 24-38 other 24-39 is there a motion so second there's any discussion it would need to be done in close session so discussion Mr St can you call the RO Please Mr Joi uh yes to 2438 abstain on 2439 Miss kist yes Mr singer uh yes on 2438 abstain on 262 319 from other 2439 yes to everything else mruna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries policy 24-25 through 24-26 is there a motion so move second thank you any discussion I I would just like to make one comment um I'm going to abstain from this vote uh on um the policy because I've been advocating for for skateboarding for a long time and one of one of the things that I wanted to say and the reason why I want to thank you for again hearing my thoughts um is that for a long time laws and policies have been discriminating against particular kids from being in specific places because of a perception of both liability and the type of kid that they are so I just really appreciate that you guys have considered my thoughts on this and thank you again had a comment on the promotion and retention policy I think overall it's it's a great policy that puts the puts the uh flexibility back with the administration at the building level and and at the district level to give students what they need um in terms of which grade is best appropriate for them and whether they should move on this is usually the case uh and thank you for the response Mr beers and Mrs Joe and for the one question I had was if we're looking for flexibility to setting a number like a like a floor for the number of days that a student has to attend uh which I think in in this proposed policy is 150 I just look at that and I think okay 30 days of school for an elementary or middle school student that that's a lot of days would it might be easier if we just left took out that number Al together and left it to the building level principal and the administrators from there so I just wanted to toss that out to to everyone or if the administration had any feedback on that um I could certainly see a number if it were a little bit bit higher but I think 30 days one out of every six days and then certainly the administration at the building level would be intervening at that point if that's not met with uh receptively by families or by students um is that 150 I I just wonder about that 15 about that 150 number I think it was discussed the community me right yes okay just double check it was discussed I I was just sure why theone so if there's not an answer that's fine I think it's if you miss one that every six days in a school year you're it's a problem it's hard to I think that would be hard to have a student promote and and certainly I'm setting aside serious reasons that students are out of course of course there are reasons kids need to be out sometimes for an extended amount of time or on and off so it's not a hard F side right it's still the principal still has the option to promote if it's still a discussion right it's still a discussion there still could be extenuating circumstances what it does is it kind of creates like Mike said a baseline a default because right now that doesn't exist and so you can have kids who are absent for 30 or more than 30 days not at the high school level once you're up at the high school level there's an attendance policy where you can lose credits you know by being absent in certain classes but this creates some kind of Baseline in K8 the way that we came up with 150 at the committee and is that um looking at other policy this is Strauss hme policy and they give you a choice of days and considering other districts around us what people basically did was they looked at um chronic absenteeism which is basically defined if you're over you miss over 10% of the school year so some districts actually chose that number and it's slightly higher than 150 it's 163 and many just went with 150 the reality is is if a student's really struggling and there is a reason to retain them we can still retain them without them missing you know this many days but this creates kind of a minimal Baseline so it's still as that flexibility and the problem really was that our policy was so restrictive before and had so many different steps to it that we had some principles uh who felt rushed to make a decision about a student much earlier in the year than they should be because at that point we still should have been developing like plans for remediation um and then conversely you could have people who at this point in the year feel like okay this really is in the best interest to review this student and they feel like oh no I missed the first step of this so now I can't do it so the intention in aligning it is to really allow us to be more responsive to kids and make sure we're making the correct decisions for the correct reasons and the 150 days just provides that Baseline so I thank you for that and and it was you did cover that at the meeting and explain how you got to that number it was really on reflecting on some of my own experiences after that I thought maybe a number that's a little bit higher um might be more appropriate or just taking the number out and leaving it to discretion as a lot of districts do still having flexible policy and and leaving that flex and having that flexibility um you think of like this time of the year when students have had a trouble with as they get back on track and so well we have through we have a month left to go and I have 10 absences to play with um you could start taking days and and finding days pretty easily not that that's on on everyone's minds but there are families and students who don't completely understand the importance of being in school just not for I mean obviously for the student and also for our teachers and the other kids in those classes you have a kid who's out a lot and and there's not a great reason that takes up the teachers time that takes time away from the other students and one of the things that I've seen that gets the message across or can get the message across in some cases is if you don't start getting into school and getting here on time and participating even if your kid is doing okay they might not be going to fourth grade with their friends suddenly you see I in some cases you might see a uh a shi there and I wonder if the 150 number is maybe working if we're working against ourselves a little bit with that I want to thank the administration this is a an area where policy was reviewed and operationally need to change I think it's great you brought it to the board you change you know working the policy that what works effectively so the administration can do their job better and impact student chiat program so thank you I have one more question about 5514 and only because it seems like it's half of a policy is there a stess estimate that about what they do when they get to school student is this say that again it feels like it's half a policy because it only talks about them getting from home to school but not what happens once they get there so is the St may have a like the finishing of that that's recommended and that's something that we'll be able to easily manage I mean we do it now so I feel like it's in there it does say that the principal thought it was in there yeah so it's really in the student handbook as far as it would be just like it should bringing a bike you know you're going to put it in a designated area so if you bring a skateboard put it in a locker if it fits or you know put in the main office or something right if the principal says it's okay well yeah so if they transport themselves to school with a skateboard they can bring it in and lock it somewhere based on where the principal says the the the kind of flexible piece is what happens beyond that is it locked up all day or is there the potential that the principal is going to allow them to use it for some purpose like an assembly for example on school grounds that's the change my confusion yeah the pr each principal is going to be able to decide okay you got here but you they they might decide where a student could keep it so maybe there'd be a central location if you're not going to use them at all during the day or maybe they would allow students just to keep them in their own lockers so yes so consistency of the implementation across district is what can we asking okay I just have a comment on 9561 I understand your uh your reasoning Mr Beer and and I appreciate that um I'm just a little concerned about getting rid of this because I don't want to go three four five years without another uh climate survey I think that they serve a good purpose and I'm concerned that in four five six years uh we're going to forget that we can just make that recommendation at a board meeting during board goals um so while I understand your point about you don't want to constrain boards in that way um I want to I want I would think that this would also give future boards the the ability to to use it so that's why I'm concerned about the abolishment of 9561 any other discussion I I want to second on that uh I feel like having a policy give us guideline there is still flexibility of how that's done I think having a policy give us a reminder of this is something that's important we care about how our school's climate is we care about how students feel how parents feel how everyone feel so I'm also having concern about get realid 956 thank you any other discussion go is there do we have another and apologize I don't know do we have another policy regarding board goals that that could be tied into there's not a policy on board goals I'm fairly certain we do that every year as part of operational calendar we do so it's best practice some boards don't set goals we we set goals as part of the process of the district at the same time we're working on District goals goals we set board goals any other discussion Mr St can you K the RO Please Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes on on policy 2425 no on policy 2426 Mrs sunna yes Mr Pepe abstain on 2425 uh yes on 2426 Miss Lee no to 2426 yes to 2425 M lockran abstain on 2425 and no to 2426 Mr Walker yes motion passes yes thank you thank you all right um item 15 open to the public in individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and request to the board of education at this time for any matter in accordance with the board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on District's website see n I'm going to close open public comment item 16 old business is there any old business okay item 17 new business two things um first one is I attended the njsba first hopefully annual women's leadership conference uh on Friday 19 it's a new program that they're trying out they've been working on it for like 10 years to make it come to fruition and it did it was a great event there were probably 150 of us um which was a mix of principles board members uh administrators the keynote was by Denise Collision who's the senior vice president of shi international corporation my biggest take away from her keynote was she talked about the dream gap which is children up through age five have very lofty goals and big aspirations and they want to be astronauts and firemen and they theyve big ideas and between the age of five and eight girls stop thinking that way and by age eight they have fallen more into gender specific ideas on what they can do and limit their dreams and that's the critical time between 5 and 8 where we need to do something about how girls stop feeling that way um the other one that I attended uh was a mentoring program having mentoring programs for girls in town either through school or through the just community and having a different age groups and one of them is Like Girls on the Run it's a great one for age I think it's fifth grade third or fifth grade um but also having something in high school where maybe older students like seniors Juniors could Mentor freshman and sophomores coming in um specifically girls obviously it's great for everyone this was obviously all about the girls and making sure they're keeping their dreams High you know they're not falling into gender rules and things like that that was that uh Second thing is I just heard on my way here about the affordable connection connecting program which is ending next week which is giving uh 338,000 families in New Jersey a $30 credit every month High internet which started during Co and it's ending for the first time so 338,000 families potentially won't have internet as of May 1 or storting next week I don't know how many families that affects in Bridgewater in Ron but I know we handed out hotpots during Co I don't know if that is still out there or if they were collected or what but I'm just worried that we're going to have some students who may not have connectivity at home to turn in their homework yes we did hand them out yes we did collect them and we still if if a student in need and and um you know often it's the principal or a teacher who uh communicates to the principal and then um we do Still Supply them as necessary so there's a pathway there there is a pathway because we do have that sometimes with students yep just making sure the teachers know so kids suddenly don't turn in home yes and please you know the student or the parent ask you know we need to know we don't know unless you tell us we you know we try to do our best so if there's no need please please ask um I just have a quick thing uh next week is Yum haswa it's a Memorial Day in Israel observed by Jews around the world memorializing the horrors of the Holocaust um I'm going to keep this rather short but this year marks the 30th anniversary of the New Jersey legislator leg legislature voting unanimously on an act requiring education on the Holocaust and genocide in elementary and secondary education the ACT found that there was an inescapable link between violence and vandalism and ethnic and racial intolerance education about the Holocaust is as relevant today as it as it was 30 years ago if not more so as we have lost many survivors of the Holocaust over the years the echos of the Holocaust and the hatred that led to those events can be hurt around the world today there's a reason that I'm bringing this up up um and it does tie into education so it's not just it's not just uh SPO the moment uh ma Dom a survivor of the Holocaust a local resident and a crusader for Holocaust Education will take part in the panel this Thursday May 2nd discussing a trip taken by teachers throughout New Jersey to sites in Poland the Netherlands and Germany as well as providing detail on how these teachers will will share their experiences from this trip with their students uh the njaa sponsored um I want to say 20 5 to 30 teachers to go on this trip uh with the understanding that they would come back and incorporate their learnings uh into their studies uh this is an a a program that is offered online by the Ron Valley Community College uh Institute for Holocaust and genocide studies and it's free uh if anyone is interested in attending please uh you can sign up at the website on at rvcc uh if you want the link I'm happy to send it to you uh it is at 7:00 on Thursday and um it should be Illuminating that's it thank you for for letting us know about that Mr singer um so I had the opportunity to hear a president a presentation by Mr pelicia I hope I'm saying that correct uh the principal of Somerset County votch as well as take a tour of the Workforce Development wing of rbcc I learned that both uh offer certification opportunities that go beyond the idea that we have of vocational programming and votek is expanding and will be offering certification in finance and Healthcare and Medicine um and I also learned that uh while they take students from all over Somerset County 50% of their students that are enrolled there are from the district so this will create opportunities for students in our own District that was all thanks um I wanted to go into a new business we have the retreat next week 7 o'clock here um try to accommodate with schedule so 7 PM we have Gwen Gwen Thorne coming to facilitate so the agenda is let me go through that for a moment right now we have the agenda as a superintendent evaluation expectations uh strategic planning action plan review and meeting Norms discussion the establish of meeting Norms to be developed by the um also timing for this the board to meet for the CSA evaluation I sent a calendar out try to keep everybody it's a busy time of year so I want to keep every up to date somebody had some responses or not but I was thinking we have a meeting on June 11th I looked up doing that Monday Tuesday or Wednesday but I think we could probably do it with an hour and a half before the June 11th meeting accomplish that is that something that way we don't have another meeting night or something else what are your thoughts on that check your calendars you know please feel free to six or 5:30 we'll bring dinner 5:30 we can I mean how how long it take last year Steve I would say an hour and a half two hours 5:30 yeah is that a better then then we don't have to have a second night again and you know that meeting we as Mr beers and I was discussing things are kind of winding down right now it's not this is the longer Mee so we're this is a kind of a in those ways it's we're not having as much presentation wise will be be done by that point right so I thought yeah we do it after we finish it after for two hours so that's a plan I circulated the I mean some people wanted ahead of time wanted the the the PDF format of the CSA evaluation so Mr beers is going to be finished I think the 20th or 20th subm he's close to getting done but we wanted to he had asked for the time to get those in place so we're going to be in place we should be able to accomplish this I I feel everyone's good with that 530 on the um 11 everyone good yeah I will be potentially traveling um but it's due to a medical situation so I don't know for sure so I just wanted to let you know could it could hit or miss on that you you you'll be filling the evaluation so your voice will be heard you know your your input so on nine of us will be filling out the evaluation so apologize you know the timing even if you changed it I couldn't guarantee that I'd be able to make it because that that time period is yeah I mean we need to by Statute we need to finish the CSA evaluation by June 30th or July 1st so that's that's the time you have trying to get it in and get everything done any other new business real quick I was at the day after our last meeting I attended the uh I mentioned that there was a Somerset County governing officials Association uh there was a meeting at advotech actually uh the superintendent Mr Robert Pudo presented some information about a lot of information about everything that votech does and some of the uh opportunities for students and their expansion coming up and some great new building uh I learned that most of their the great not a majority but the biggest chunk of students come from Bridgewater and r so it's great to see the great work that they are doing over there and also hear about some of the challenges that they like every district is facing just a little bit I won't bring them up every meeting but the Somerset County governing officials Association is part of the um uh League of municipalities it's just an informal networking uh meeting there are officials from both parties uh there were um and and nonpartisan folks uh there were people from Bridgewater and from ran and a number of other uh municipalities around the uh around the town I'm sorry around the county so uh if anyone's interested they're always looking for people to attend if you get an email if there's especially if there's a topic or relevant to the schools thank you Mike I know Mike been has been going back and forth many things in Mariton with me so I appreciate that leaz so and what you doing any other new business yes Miss Lee I think that uh uh we B down our budget this time uh the the uh emails that send the issues that mentioned about the appropriation for the kindergarten money I continue to want to bring that to our fft committee for last year's appropriation as as well as for uh years going forward so I want to bring this up uh so that fft can consider at their next meeting thank you thank you anything else on the new new business I want a motion any second second all those in favor have a nice evening thank you told