e e e e e e e e e e e everyone we're now on Open session for the Board of Education meeting this evening and next up on the agenda is our student represent reports how are you gaan good how are you I'm doing well okay um late schedule ual I guess going into the middle of the marking period was today which is crazy we're almost through my last year of high school um so that's going on um our theater program put on their last show last weekend which was also sad a lot of seniors was was their last show um they performed High School Musical which was very fun and it was also our first show in the auditorium um since the new sound system and um audio was put in place so if anybody here went it was amazing right um very a noticeable Improvement yes yes um prom is um coming up this Friday um it's also the last official day of AP exams although there will be makeups next week um spring concerts um music concerts are also coming up um this or last week the Google form for the commencement speakers for graduation is already being you know put in place for students to vote for um last week was also the FBA um hosted they hosted a comedy show um which was very I think the people that attended thought the comedian was very very funny um so I guess we're hoping in the future for more people to come and join the comedy night um and then I wanted to talk on um last week's meet or two weeks the last meeting um two weeks ago um where you presented the budget for the activities fee being waved um and the sealed by literacy fee was waved too correct correct yes so I was very excited to hear that um I I guess I to talk about my personal experience um I took academic French all three years my first three years of high school and then I'm taking AP this year and I still took the Seal of bil literacy I passed it so um thank you I think a lot of people I hear them not take the Seal of by literacy just because either they think that they won't pass even though they've taken honors all their years and they don't want to you know spend the $45 to pay for the exam and then not pass possibly um I think me going into it I was kind of hopeful um but I did pass and I think it's to say that people should have more confidence in themselves you know I came from academic and I pass and I'm hopeful for the AP exam tomorrow um so I think that's incredible and I think more people will really take the seal by ly especially open to Juniors so I was very happy by that I just didn't say it at the meeting but um now that I've talked to more students too about you Cameo on TV about that though yes and the activity fee news to New Jersey interviewed me um yes I think that it is amazing and I and I really appreciate what the board has done for students it is very well received and it is noticed although people don't come here often and talk about it so thank you that is the end of my report well thank you very much we appreciate you coming it's been a delight having you this year I thank you for speaking out that way you did and it's been the best best thing I distg our our students and you represent them well so thank you so much next the superintendent report thank you Mr Walker so tonight's superintendence report is going to focus on our strategic planning and and the culmination of our strategic plan 2024 if you just bear with me for one moment here while I get it up on the screen and we can begin okay so when we started the Strategic plan planning process at at the beginning of the year uh I think it's important for everyone just as we take this walk down memory lane so to speak to get to that that initial objective of of what is it that we're actually trying to achieve right and and and essentially what we were trying to do is to create an action plan that that can be utilized in creating our annual District goals and the objectives both for the Board of Education and the district Bridgewater riton Regional School District is truly at a crossroads right now and and we believe we're heading in a in a very positive direction we passed multiple referendums we are are also ready to reconfigure our grade structure and add full day kindergarten to our district so we thought this was the the uh the best time to move forward and really hear from our constituents invite folks in and and get some feedback as we develop this plan that hopefully we can utilize for the next five or so years so when we set the stage I gave a uh state of the schools presentation on on our first meeting which was February 6 2024 this will be linked to this pres presentation which will be on the website tomorrow we're also going to send this out to the community so as far as our process we we partnered with New Jersey school boards Gwen Thorton who our rep took us through the process and as a public we gathered on three separate occasions so there were two meetings in February and there was one in March and all of these meetings took place within the span of four or five weeks we invited Community uh members of the community actually there was an open invitation to the entire District so we had some admin ators we had some teachers Brea members um students we had some members of the public with children in the school and we also have members of the public who did not have any kids in the school so we tried to get a real cross-section of our community to provide us with some feedback so during the first few meetings these Community groups developed four goal areas with statements and objectives as Administration we took these goal stat statements and created strategic plans for those statements these were run run past the Board of Education in uh during our Retreat which occurred last Tuesday we took some feedback made some adjustments and now we'll give the final at least I believe the final presentation to the board of education and Community tonight so again the board of reviewed the plan on May 8th and we took some of that feedback and and put it into into this presentation so look there were some common themes that developed after the first two meetings and and they centered on elevating this the uh student experience creating a positive School culture and climate enhancing financial and Facilities operations and finally strengthening Communications community outreach and engagement so when we look at each one of these themes The Next Step was for groups to to really create a more robust goal statement and then with those goal statements to figure out what are what are some areas that that uh you know basically to explain that that goal statement in a little more detail so goal statement one centering on student experience we want to create a culture with an emphasis on student achievement diversity inclusion and cultural competencies Bridgewater riton is a diverse District and we want to make sure that that everyone feels welcome when they walk through our doors we also want to promote opportunities to a enable students to become active uh citizens and contributing members of societies and then as part of those goal statements what we brainstormed was to provide Equitable programs and services Across The District academic co-curricular Etc we took the first step towards achieving that by waving fees just a couple of weeks ago and and when we look at at um diversity and inclusion again I've I've explained this many times and I think it's so important you know for us to continue to emphasize this what what this means is that every kid who walks through the doors of Bridgewater ritan High School no matter what their background no matter what part of town they live in no matter what primary school they go to should have the same opportunities and access to programming as their their cohorts on opposite sides of town right and that's what we want to ensure happens on a regular basis and obviously we we have to to work to make sure that this does occur so we also want to provide opportunities for interdisciplinary interdisciplinary and experiential learning opportunities across the curriculum provide a rigorous curriculum and diverse challenges that match our student abilities and and this was something that really came through over and over uh a lot of folks at these groups wanted us to to start placing a a higher emphasis on life and social skills I think a lot of us older folks like me lament what we feel are the lack of social skills amongst our kids um we can blame cell phones or the pandemic or or what have you but to really really work on these soft skills so to speak uh with our students and then finally to to recruit and retain the high highly qualified staff who will call Bridgewater RAR in their home we have nearly a thousand employees and that's counting bus drivers custodians um instructional assistance Administration and teachers so we want to make sure that that we hire the best and and most capable in every single one of those areas Co statement two climate and culture to develop and cultivate the whole child and diverse nature of our district by enhance by further enhancing a cohesive and supportive learning environment and and there are many facets of this as well and one of these areas that we know especially since the pandemic is to promote student well-being through physical emotional and mental health initiatives for students staff and the community right this is an area that um many schools and institutions have struggled struggled with over the past few years and we want to make sure that we continue to emphasize this area we want to implement healthy school schedules and hours right and and as we get into this yes we're talking about school start times right that's part of this this uh bullet ensure collaboration between between our entire community and then we want to continue to promote celebrate and help students uh recognize multiple avenues for Success right and and um that goes from whether you're in an AP class um a work study program votch or whatever Avenue you choose that we have those Pathways for you to be successful finance and Facilities to create a culture of Pride ownership and accountability in our facilities to provide the best learning environment for our students we know we passed a 155 million referendum to update a lot of our facilities throughout the district and and there's a lot more beyond that that needs to be done now um what the what the public and and what we know as a board and and what folks reflected on was that for whatever reason right our our facilities were really in in a dire need of of some updates and and thankfully the Board of Education and and the community um really put together a package to make this happen over the next few years so it's going to be exciting times and um one of the one of the areas though that the public I don't want to say um show concern about but was interested in was to provide oversight on referendum projects with consistent Communications to the public right they they've uh voted for $55 million in in bonds so regular updates on where we are what we're doing where the money's going um is something that we certainly plan on doing as things kick in but but certainly we receive that feedback from the public another part of our finance and facilities and and it goes hand inand with the prior goal is that next year we're going to complete a district-wide evaluation of our transportation system and and um really the opportunity is now because we're going to shift so many grades in two years so we want to look at things like route efficiency school hours right what's possible what would it take to do what we need to do look at traffic flow and safety in and out of our schools and to to look at these grade changes and demographic shifts that we have throughout our uh our schools where I mean the Board of Education sees these reports but we do have some some schools that are gaining an enrollment such as JFK and others that are losing some enrollment such as let's say miltown or van Holton so we want to make sure that our transportation meets those needs of we need more in certain areas and not as much in other areas in town and finally we want to create and maintain these facilities that are updated and promote the health and wellness of our students covid-19 seems like a million years ago because a lot of us have it in the Deep recesses of our our brain but if we recall just three short years ago there was a major emphasis on air quality in schools major emphasis on air quality and most buildings that were built in the 1950s or 60s like like most of ours have pretty Antiquated air filtration and air movement systems you have an old unit ventilator that would draw in air from the outside um but but nothing um that has the high standards of air filtration that um you know different organizations were were were promoting a few years ago so that was a major part of the referendum to make sure that we have HVAC in all of our learning spaces throughout the district and that we say that that kids have a healthier and and teachers have a healthier learning environment all right and part of its climate control but also its air quality as well right so all of those things are are going to be updated and then finally uh the last goal statement focused on Communications community outreach and engagement so we want to enhance those Communications with our community and develop Partnerships with our local businesses and organizations for the benefit of our students and parents and we want to continue to develop and maintain procedures for our partners to receive Communications from the school district we've done quite a bit this year with Mr Moran really pumps out a lot of information from the school and and people were grateful for that but what people are asking for and I still don't quite know what the definition of this is multidirectional communication methods so we've got to figure out you know how to best attack that by defining what it is that that people are actually asking for um and I guess what what folks are asking for is more of that two-way communication and and finally it's to reinforce these Partnerships with the local community to to enhance our programs so we're talking about things like work study we're talking about programs at rvcc um and and any other entities where our kids can maybe get community service do and and have different learning experiences during their 12 years or 13 years I should say here in Bridgewater Aron so now as we get to the action plans I'm not going to go through every bullet point of every action plan but this information is actually in this this packet that the board of education has one and all there are additional copies in the back on the table if any of the audience is interested in taking a look at it we'll put this up also absolutely it'll be posted on the website so we just pulled one part of of the uh action plan for each area just to give give the public and the board a glimpse of what it is we're talking about but this exact information can be found in this packet as well as the areas for each U bullet point so so when we look at student experience one of the areas when we look at providing Equitable programs and services across the district that that's to really take a look at the Learners from our subgroups throughout the district and and make sure that we have equal access access equal opportunity and and uh results that are consistent with our entire District we want to also enhance and modify our multi-tiered systems of supports in in Gres K to 12 right we want to provide those supports for kids but we want to make sure we're doing it in in the best way possible because the the um the issue sometimes with multi-tiered systems of supports that you want to make sure does not occur is you don't want to have a kid in intervention forever because what you've done now is create a new track for people so you want to see is there a problem with learning here how can we assist this young person and then how do we get them back into the class for tier one instruction right we want to make sure that we don't create different categories of students because that's that's really where inherent bias and things like that can come into play where you say all right this person needs this and then they stay there we want to make sure that doesn't happen so then we're we're going to continue to reinforce and evaluate our district programming so when we look at at programming um that we want to make sure really hits home is special education all right to make sure that that kids with an IEP have have those opportunities they have the access to program whether it's classroom extracurricular co-curriculars Etc one of the great things we've done this year as a as a district is adding the unified really enhancing the unified program stay it started two years ago and and the great part of programs like unified is that it it's not just a net positive for the special education students it's a net positive for everyone and that's really the whole idea that by including folks and getting everyone working together towards a you know one thing it really lifts up everybody you know there there's an old saying that goes along the lines of hey no one ever lost opportunity that's the important part when we talk about access to programs no one ever lost Opportunity by letting someone else sit at the table right no one ever lost Opportunity by letting someone else in all right and that's what's really important because there there is a thought process up there that okay if you let X Y and Z kids into this program you're dumbing it down no we're not we're letting people in to these programs all right so that's was important no one ever lost Opportunity by letting by including others so that's what we want to take a look at and we're going to continue to evaluate messed this up so again the entire plan can be found on the strategic planning document uh which is going to be on the district website I'm sorry following uh slides highlight one action plan from each area I I apologize my slides were a little out of order it's my mistake so here's the other action plan climate and culture um implementing healthy school schedules and hours we know as a board this is going to be uh a Hot Topic over the next year to two years right and we had said over and over that this is our opportunity to take a look at this and really analyze this issue so it it starts with an analysis of bus routes creating options for school start times and decision- making we want to look at healthy and effective schedules at each grade band right meaning this we it would be silly to do something for high school kids at the expense of someone else right and that's what we want to make sure that that we're not doing and there there are other factors in this as far as our employees our operations things like that what goes hand inand with this is is we're looking to develop a full day kindergarten schedule best on based on best practices we're not just doubling what we currently do to make it a full day we're really taking a hard look on on what is the ideal kindergarten schedule for kids coming in and and finally when we look at climate and culture is is to really continue to Bear Down on phonefree schools right where students can focus on learning without interruption from technology this is a growing Trend throughout the country and we know that uh cell phones when we say they're they're uh Weapons of Mass distraction and anyone who's ever been in a group of kids and they're on their phones or what have you we know that they're really not learning anything right so we've got to we've got to make sure that the learning environments are focused on learning and we've got to take away distractions that we know are detrimental to kids and learning right and and it's a growing Trend honestly I I can't see this slowing down I think if anything it's going to continue to intensify and become a larger issue throughout and know a lot of us have teenagers I'd appreciate any help I could get with with my kids and their phones and and it would make me incredibly happy if I knew that those phones were tucked away and not coming out during during uh learning opportunities in school right finance and Facilities we had said we're going to look at the at the uh transportation and during the the 20242 budget cycle we're going to propose an RFP and we're going to look at Transportation really with a blank sheet of paper so to speak and one of the scenarios that we're going to ask the firm to take a look at is a proposal for later school start times and then at that point we feel we have the information to present to the public and have a real discussion and debate when people see the facts that are in front of them that that hey this is what it would look like and then we can make a better decision and uh we know it's an area of tight of tight budget so we want to look at our transportation operations through a policy review focusing on on the variables that that could optimize our budgets right there we we transport 8,000 kids a day and we want to make sure we do it in the best way possible right and part of that is bus stops right bus routes all of the all of these things and I believe this is the last one final action plan on Communications community outreach and engagement we talked about creating local Partnerships and again we're we're beginning work on this now but internships work study community service while leveraging our community and and there are plenty of opportunities around Bridgewater ritin the surrounding areas uh to provide these opportunities and and the other part is is to enhance dual credit opportunities so that means students as they're enrolled as a senior in high school that they have the opportunity to enroll in a course that can provide them college credits if they complete it this is a growing Trend um throughout the state of New Jersey we're we're a little bit behind the curve as we talked about uh you know there are other states in the country where where kids can gain college credits more readily than they can in the state but again it's a trend that that's just gaining momentum as we move forward so we want to make sure that we offer those opportunities to kids to potentially uh save a little bit of money on their college um experience by offering them some credits up front next steps we're going to adopt areas of the Strategic plan for uh 2024 25 school year and Beyond and and as we talked about at our last meeting this this document shouldn't be set in stone this should be something that each year we take a look at maybe we look at it at a more regular interval than once a year but we definitely should utilize this in our goal setting for each year we set time frames and and really get more direct action items so we can gauge our successes or failures um with this one of my earlier slides what was this so so we're really at this area here with goals and plans so as we create our specific goal for let's say the 2024 school year we'll have a more detailed action plan and then we'll have measures where we can determine you know where we are if we need to continue with it or if we've uh succeeded or if we need to tweak things a little bit but these deadlines as we go through these items it can be one year three years five years Etc and and we just continue to update and evaluate where we are with this plan and finally I I want to thank the public want to thank the Board of Ed a lot of our employees who who uh came out and joined us in this process I I think it's a document that we can definitely utilize so I'll open it to any questions just one thing on the uh the cell phone free zones I think that's great is there an emphasis on you know with younger grades kids are less likely to have phones on them on moving away from working on Ono one devices a little bit and and and screens as well because I know that's come up in the past just see if this on now Mike that's a that's a great question and and you're right it one of the areas that schools including our school are really looking at is the role of technology in instruction not to say that technology is all bad because we know that's not true but we know from the covid pandemic that there are certainly limitations to to using technology for instruction especially in grades 1 through four we we know that there are certain areas um so so we're going to continue to look at that but you are correct is to really evaluate right what are we use in technology for what's the return on investment here and is this a best practice because uh I don't want to steal uh Miss Jones Thunder here when it comes to English but there's there's research that shows the tactile part of reading and annotating on a piece of paper helps you comprehend far more effectively right you can comprehend the text far more effectively than if you just read it on the computer right so so there's evidence that shows those are best practices and and look some of the things that aren't even in this strategic plan as kids get older um we all know how effective AI is in writing it's it's a pretty powerful tool so what that means is we have to question the authenticity of anything or everything so I I don't want to get on my soap box but I know if I were a teacher I'd probably make sure that kids started writing things out in front of me in class vers is utilizing the device because it's really hard to uh detect and and the AI systems keep on getting better and better so thank you I know it was longwinded I'm sorry do we as a board need to adopt this strategic plan or is that not something that we need to do as a resolution let me check on that I'm not his question was do the does the board need to adopt the Strategic plan we probably do so we can do at the next board meeting we have it done I I will double check on that I was it's a good question Steve thank you that is a good question and and I think I think what Gwenn had said is we should right there's no because we didn't have to do a strategic plan right so there's no there's no requirement for boards to to go through the process and implement it it's something really where as a as a unit we went above and Beyond but it's a best practice to approve it so my suggestion would be if we all take a look at it read through it if there are any adjustments we would want to make before before approval we can go through that and and then we could get it on the agenda before the the end of the year somebody T in June me the June meetings were packed pretty much the June sometime meeting would be good sure if you that's okay so everyone please take a look at it feedback is important you know Miss Lee I think during our last meeting we talked about roping the vision and Mission uh from our last strategic Pro process um looking through this file I don't see that portion I feel like we should carry through with that to add that in this document as well yeah that's a great question it appears right in the first paragraph uh we we also have that uh vision statement um that's it I think there were two paragraphs that was shared ear earlier which um we read through last meeting that's one paragraph there's another one that's missing I can email the board afterwards it's in the one of the emails that that you shared before okay last board meeting try to get that together anybody else have any questions I would like to thank Mr beers I think that and just real briefly on this the the community and everyone involved that it took a village to get this done and we had many people in many meetings so and as he said with any strategic plan it just doesn't sit in the shelf and say we checked off the box and did it it should be Revisited and it's adjusted as we need to so thank you very much Mr Bish thank you Mr beers um next up the president's report I'd like to we had a group seren this this evening some of our students PV they are a small Ensemble from the high school we had them here this evening I think they're I think Mr Jones says they're going to try to come once a month which is or Mr beers that's delightful I mean we you know like I told earlier we have amazing students in our district it's just another another ways to show make the evening much more pleasurable sometimes so thank you very much for them coming um again I want to thank every I think we had a good Retreat last week so thank everyone I have something to address in new business there so that's good um we didn't have I want to thank the bua for celebrating the governor's teachers of the the year and the Educational Service professionals last week in a ceremony and want to thank all the teachers and staff in this District the the of the the engine that makes it work every day and I know it's there are good days and bad days but I I appreciate what you all do and we're almost to the end of the Finish Line we have what 30 days how many days left Gian till graduation not counting but it's getting close so 19 till finals so that's that's nobody know he's County I just figured somebody might so that um I'm looking for this you're finishing strong we have a busy time we're coming with the CSA evaluation coming the staff is getting a lot of stuff done too you guys are wrapping up and then you have a hard summer the work is a lot in the summer so I appreciate what you guys do um at that I'm nothing else to say vice president report Miss laughren is not here tonight so we'll move on um next on the agenda is the academic reports Mr Joshi is not here this evening um his next meeting will be May 23rd I'm not sure the time but I'm sure we Mrs Jones will let us know 5:30 on May 23rd Communications Miss kalist um our next meeting is June 4th I don't think we did set a time yet but it's virtual okay we'll figure it out thank you Miss clri yeah Finance facilities and transportation Mr singer the finance facilities and transportation committee met on May 7th at 6:30 p.m is uh in attendance was myself Miss Asuna miss lockran Mr Walker Mr Stars Mr be with special guest star Mr Leto up first on the agenda was uh the uh business agenda review the business administrator re reviewed the draft business action items for tonight's meeting with special specific attention to the purchases and use of contract allowances uh all of that is on tonight's agenda the recommendation was uh there was consensus to move the uh to approve the action items if there's any question about that that can come up during the business agenda next was the projects update in which Mr Leto shared a handout and provided a status update to the committee of all current projects the updated handout is available to the board in the meeting material folder for the fft committee and in light of Mr Beer's presentation I am going to expand a little bit um on referendum projects the uh the windows uh projects phase one uh for seven schools is moving forward the windows measurements and drawings are done and the windows are in production and uh we they expect to start uh at JFK in early August uh in terms of the uh secure vestibules as the board knows it was bid out to two different uh contractors and the permits have been issued and demolition work will begin uh as soon as the school year is over and finally the Middle School uh restroom Renovations similarly the the permits are ready and the demolition work is going to start at as soon as school is done uh so a lot of work being done by by Mr stars and Mr Leto and their entire department and really appreciate all of the time and effort that they're putting into it and and making sure that everything is being done uh appropriately and as effectively and efficiently as possible any questions on that seeing none next we had a policy review uh the committee was informed of the activity participation fee program policy policy 2436 uh which is on the agenda tonight for abolishment pursuant to the recent budget adoption in addition the committee discussed uh the following policies uh policy and regulation 6220 budget preparation policy 6230 budget policy 6421 purchases policy and regulation 6422 budget transfers uh it was determined that no changes were needed for both 6220 and 6230 the committee uh will discuss further uh 6421 and 6422 at the next committee meeting with uh the SMA model policies uh to compare to and the committee endorses the abolishment of policy 2436 regarding the activity fees any questions seeing none lastly the other matters uh discussion uh the uh committee was informed of bids for refug removal and the Orton Gillingham training that will hopefully be awarded on the 28th uh at our next meeting uh the committee was also informed of the rfps for transportation consultant that was advertised uh we also had a brief discussion of the whiteboards at the high school uh the vendor received documentation from that that that was necessary and the project is moving forward any questions seeing none our next meeting is on June 3D uh presumably at 5:30 [Music] right that's it thank you not on geez sorry I was moving around the agenda I lost my place I apologize for a moment getting back back to where we are um Personnel committee Miss Freelander thank you um our upcoming meeting is being held virtually on May 21st at 5:00 pm thank you any Le leaz onor Del get reports all right I got a couple I'm going to try to be as quick as I can uh first from the burrow of ridan uh the last meeting I mentioned that there was a ordinance in front of the burough Council to rezone the area on 206 by the Ron Mall potentially to residential which could lead to somewhere in the neighborhood of 225 to 250 Apartments um that has been uh that has not moving forward for the moment that remains uh zoned for commercial use there's also not much there um so that that's uh TBD what that's going to become in the future um also from the burough of rtin I just wanted to acknowledge two people who are leaving uh the municipal building uh the first is ridan Chief of Police Ray Noti who's going to be uh retiring on June the 1st uh he served in that role for seven years in addition to spending 30 total years with the police department I I haven't met him personally but I've heard so many uh positive and great things about the RAR and police department's involvement at johnf Kennedy School uh and how much the students enjoy seeing the officers they Patrol JFK and also St an school as a regular part of their uh beat when they're on patrol so thanks to the uh entire Ren uh police department and chief Noti for fostering that relationship and best wishes to the chief on his upcoming retirement uh also uh before the last council meeting councilwoman Joyce malitzky announced her resignation from the buau council uh councilwoman msky was a or has been and is nearly a lifelong resident of ran served in the council for five years I did not know her personally up until very recently but I've known the name Mrs blitzky for a long time because she was actually a teacher at at my Elementary School triangle School in Hillsboro uh where she served as a third grade teacher for 33 years she had a reputation as a somewhat of a tough teacher uh but it's clear how much she meant to her students uh especially with the many conversations we've had and social media posts she showed me she regularly keeps in touch with a lot of the kids that she uh worked with so it's a good Testament to the impact that teacher that art teachers make and teachers everywhere make and in raran she's worked closely with the police the B the basilon committee the recreation department and was uh is always at events um that have to do with kids in town and she was the leaon to the board of ed here in for the year of 2020 so I thank her for her service to ran and to education in the area um also have some stuff first the dell the the delegate assembly it's a little bit long as Barry knows so if anyone else wants to go first I can use a breather and I I could Breeze through it I don't want to to turn into a long thing yeah let's Breeze through any other Lim reports to go in I'll give you a break um talking so U the Bridgewater master plan Workshop coming up May 22nd uh 7 P.M in the municipal building yeah the Bridgewater master plan they does sound much louder um 22nd May at 7 p.m. at the municipal billing building uh I think it is a workshop that's similar in my understanding to our strategic planning on our school district as a big presence in in the town probably should consider uh and if you would consider come that's my report one other thing I'll say from the Town Council the um turf fields were approved so the turf 1000 field was going to be redone this summer I know they're coordinating with the St Administration and staff to get that done so thank you to the Town Council for using open space space funds to do that the fields were getting to the point where they were needed to be refurbished and that's what they're doing so thank you to them to to that get your drink there you got your breath so there 14 Grand Solutions again this is the njsba deciding what they want to advocate for in Trenton and we don't need all 14 right I'm not no I'm not going to read the entire thing I'll just give a one less than one sentence summary of each one so Clinton is proposing assistance for the state for fa for districts facing litigation um from uh um cases from long ago um mainly about child abuse um which the njsba supports uh there's one from Denville uh asking to use capital reserve money for electric school buses and infrastructure that the njsba supports from planfield there are requesting that uh the njsba advocate for instructional days be used virtually um the njba supports it I'm a little bit on the fence so i' take any comments on that uh planfield wants a 2% cap on on uh private districts that charge tuition to public districts on the njba opposes that uh they also want some flexibility on Dual language immersion programs which seems reasonable um some of these right I I definitely don't think we need 14 there's one to create an AI task force along the lines of what came up before uh Tom's River has some things about pilot programs and uh a big one not a big one but I know what affects us is uh Tom river is advocating that a board of education would decide would be able to decide if their schools are used as public voting places on election days right now that's up to the uh by state law that's up to the district I'm sorry to the County Board of Elections um so there might and the njba does support that um I'm going with that one Mike okay we're good they're 14 if anyone wants to take a look and has any questions yeah yeah we'll be here all night so thank you the link for the delegate assembly it is Saturday correct it is Saturday at 9 a. County yeah you can attend attend virtually members can attend virtually if you're voting if to be present to be a voting member you need to be present do you have to register to attend virtually or uh it's possible you might need to to send the you should because it's a swo link so you are I didn't see it's all I I I think when I've gone to things virtually I think I needed to register just to attend in person so most likely any other Del L on reports I was just G to say I have some thoughts on some of the ones that he mentioned but we could talk about that later on in new business or I could talk to Mike about it directly we'll figure that let's go new business will till then so thank you we going that way appreciate it any other Lea reports seeing none um open to the public individuals and groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following actual aims to the board of UC 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 the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be post on District website anyone interested this is actions only so if it's something there's another public comment Dan for non-action items so there's two two public comments so I didn't mean to steal your thunder there I'm sorry but yeah so anybody else for Action items only what thank you I'm going close that um item 12 approval of minutes um April 10th April 30th 2024 regular regular session and April 30th 2024 close session is there a motion so second is there a second any discussion Mr Stars can you call the RO Please Mr singer yes missa yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander abstain Miss Lee abstain on two yes on one Miss K Street yes Mr Walker yes motion passes approval of action items Personnel 24-31 is there a motion so moved the second second any discussion okay gotta Mr Stars can you call the roll please see no disc discussion Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kist yes Mr Walker yes motion passes okay with that I wanted to take a moment to uh acknowledge and congratulate Mr Damen story who's in the uh in the room with us tonight who's on the Personnel agenda to be uh approved as the new assistant principal at Bridgewater Ron Regional High School so again I I want to congratulate him and welcome to the team welcome him to the Bridgewater Arington family thank [Applause] you now you have to take the obligatory picture with me and Bruce in the back but sorry about that welcome and thank you um we're going to keep continuing moving curriculum 24- 64 through ccum 24- 66 is there a motion so moved second I don't like to be the only one doing it any discussion see none Mr star can can you call the role Please Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes M kri yes Mr Walker yes motion passes business 24- 134 through business 24138 there's one item on the last one I want toate there's no nothing in that line for panoramic windows so that is there's no action to be taken on that this evening in 24138 in business 24138 Panic windows and door systems there's nothing in the change order on there so there's no action to be taken out this evening so it's it's coming we just haven't finalized the amount so it'll be export meeting oh you can't hear me I'm sorry I could use Bob's mic to try so move second any discussion um can't understand uh 24138 what is that change this one there's no action being taken on it because there's no the change order amount has not been issued it probably become at the 28th most likely okay more discussion Mr Stoll role oh first I like to say thank you to the PTO both the the primary the PTO at JFK Primary School um for the Mrs Cook's classroom and also for the Hamilton Prime Hamilton PTO for the um admission of the Redmill in thank you so much for helping our students Out Mr Stars can you call the rooll Please Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kri yes Mr Walker yes motion passes special services 24-35 through 24-37 so moved is there a second second any discussion for 36 and 37 would have to be done closed session Mr Stars can you call the role Please Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kri yes Mr Walker yes motion passes other 24-40 through 24-42 is there a motion so moved second any discussion I had a question on um on the New Jersey Department of Ed district and school grade report so I don't know if Dan or Karen do you know about that report or not or is that it's not something important I I was just curious there's language on the bottom that says uh it counts the number of uh things that are outside the scope of Hib uh review and I didn't recall seeing that last year but I have a faulty memory so it could have been on there and I was just interested to see how that developed uh but that's something that we can discuss at another time I think that may be new I think it might be I don't know if it's that or if it's because principles can now um have the discretion not to pursue an Hib investigation if they've already investigated so something to consider for later on this is a the self assessment too right so this is actually a self assessment which is it it looks a little different format than I've seen in the past so something may have changed there so you know we can ask that question that's a very good question any other discussion Mr Stars can you call the role please I I actually wanted to make a comment about this uh 2442 uh FR Lucy you really need to get in the mic sorry I do too so um 2442 from the name of it it looks like as if it's a district and school grade report looks like something about student grade uh I wonder if uh uh our um Administration can comment about what this report actually is um for public information from what I understand understand it's related to the Hib uh assessment right so if you can provide any insight or information about that so this is the report that comes from the district self assessment that we do where the each school does the graded grades themsel on these areas and comes back so this is just the official report I think report approving by the board if I'm if I'm correct you can sure it's more process oriented to to say that we did go through evaluate our Pro our practice uh schools provide a a grade it's it's self-graded and then we base professional development on the feedback that we receive from from our people thank you Bob I'm sorry just while Bob's here Bob the question I had is that there's a new um or it look looks like a new line at the bottom of that report talking about um uh items that fell outside the scope of Hib some had number some's don't there's are zero and one scho out a number SCH of number something that's a new it's a new data point that we had not seen before outside the scope of HIV that's the um it's the pre-screening is that where the principles have the the discretion not to pursue an HIV because they've already investigated correct thank you I just wanted to make sure my terminology was correct it's a pre-screening so it's rejected pre-screening thank you yes any other discussion Mr stles the rooll Please Mr singer yes on other 2440 and other 2442 for other 2441 no on 262 715 and abstain on 26347 mruna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kist yes Mr Walker yes motion passes policy 24-27 through 24-28 is there a motion so moved any discussion right yes uh real quick I just want to thank the administration for the um their work I know that we've been thanked a number of times on the activity participation fee um but I thank everyone who's been a part of that from fft uh Mr Beer on down because I think that can make a big difference to our district and I'm um very happy to be able to vote on that tonight because I think it's been in place for far too long uh I I did want to make a comment on um the promotion and retention policy 5410 um I know we talked about this a little bit last time I think this is a much Superior policy than we had before which was uh offered far too much criteria from our end on what administrators should be doing in the best when they needed to be uh focused on the best interests of uh the students there there is one thing that I bought up a few times and that is the 150-day attendance Mark in that policy and uh I was referred to some other districts I looked at some other districts and those numbers where they have them are a little bit they're all they're all over the map to some degree there are districts that have 150 days where you is the minimum that a student has to be in attendance to be promoted um that's still 30 days out of the school year uh that's every sixth day and that's a total of entire six weeks of the school year and uh this number of absences or really anything approaching that harms the students and places a real burdened on teachers and other students who were in those that students class or classes and I know the administration at the district level and the school level is going to be working with those families and developing plans to to fix that but as far as policy I I would love to see a slightly higher number than 150 so just for the board to consider I don't know if anyone is interested I'm going to make a motion to amend policy 5410 to uh change 150 I believe in the fourth paragraph to 155 days during the school year just to give a little bit more immediacy to that number for any students who are falling behind on attendance just so they are just so uh so teachers principes and everyone has a like a data point to show them hey you're getting close to a number that's not okay I just think 150 might be a little bit too too low um so I submit that to the board if anyone wants to discuss it is there a second for the motion I'll second it now we'll be discussing the motion to change from 155 days 50 days to 155 that's what the disc is there a discussion I have a yeah I have a a comment or a question on it um and I'm sure uh Bob and Karen can probably answer this is there a different attendance standard for younger children versus the older children I know at the high school you get pretty much uh an email letter as soon as your kid starts to even approach halfway point um because of the semester courses um but uh at the lower level what is the what is the process if a you know a second or a third grader is suddenly out so at the high school and and so this policy doesn't it won't impact the high school in a new way because we already have the attendance policy that's in place for the high school where students lose credit for courses so this really is more talking about K8 in this um example and up until this point the way way our policy was written as you know it really focused on other things that were not necessarily specific to um retention or motion and they didn't have any days in it so really kids could be I mean there still parents are notified that they're missing this many days but students were not being retained for missing days at all and so the shift in this policy kind of goes to a default which is how we came up with 150 to begin with and I'm certainly open to the discussion um 10 if a student's absent more than 10% of the school year that's considered chronic absenteeism and so you will also find districts who have higher numbers such as 163 because that gives you that 10% um but really the language of this policy it becomes your default that if a student isn't there for this amount of time they would be retained unless there were extenda circumstances and it doesn't mean like okay well now we're considering it's it's the default hence the reason we kind of went a little lower with the 150 um so it really is more specific to the K8 and and it is a shift in our practice so the only way that a younger student then would not have those absences counted would be if they had excused absences letters meaning that if a parent just decided we're going to go on vacation for 5 days those absences will now affect that child's attendance record that is correct there would need to be extenuating C circumstances and that's not defined in the policy got so yes and look it without belaboring this topic you you bring up an interesting point everyone does because we just had a a district principales meeting last week and when we looked at areas that we really need to to work on and focus on to a te every school said attendance if if you take a look at any right there have been several articles written in National Publications about post pandemic the issue with with School attendance it's it's gone downhill not just I don't want to Pink gloom and doom but it's gone downhill across the country and and there are a lot of reasons for it there are a lot of theories but it's certainly something that we want to pay closer attention to and and and work towards because we know there once a student right there's a reason why the state tracks chronic AB absenteeism because you can tie it to Student Learning where if a student misses x amount of days well they're not going to they're not going to progress the way they should in in a given school year yeah right you know that at the school boards this has been a major issue and even if you have a student who is you know learning a lot at home even if there are other things going on you're still missing things you're missing social time you're missing you're missing something the class talked about one day that becomes important the next day you're missing sections of a novel um that prepares you for later I mean we all know that being absent is is is never the best um yeah no no I I I agree I think it is an issue Nationwide and U and look this policy is is uh I think it's a good starting point definitely if we make the amendment I'm in favor of it I I don't see one issue with it either way and then it's something where where when we look at our goals for next year I know as an admin team this is going to be an area of focus do we have any information about how many kids this would actually affect based on like last year how many kids didn't hit that 150 threshold I I do not and again this this would not apply to students who have an illness or or you know one of those extenda circumstances it's it's very important to to understand that if if your child's on bedside instruction for for uh something serious this policy does not take effect or or those things are taken into account I can just picture and there are a lot of scenarios where you have fam just fall off a little bit just just like with anything and uh I think having a slightly higher floor would send the signal maybe just a little bit or a little bit sooner that this is something that you as a family you was work and again working with the schools working with teachers just need to work on a little bit so that's why I'd prefer to see slightly high higher number there and thank you for that feedback Dr beers and Mr Jones it's also something we can gra data on over the years so if it's a starting point a policy needs to be interactive so if it is working at 155 grade if it's not maybe we need to go60 so it's something we look for the administration to give us feedback on maybe over the years and I mean it's great that we're changing the policy and I'm making it more effective so you can actually administer we we actually did discuss that that we would be able to Monitor and make an adjustment to if we found that we needed to so certainly I that's why I wouldn't want to go to the the 18 absences the 162 threshold just because I this is it's a it's a significant topic moving on to the next grade or not is not um trivial by any means and I don't think that this board or at least I or anyone up here wants to uh hold anyone back on a gotcha I have a question here what has been our practice in terms of this threshold before we have this policy what have we been doing like what how many days are we using effectively really when it comes to attendance there's no hard threshold what the goal is for young people is to get them back into school and develop those those habits with a family to ensure that attendance becomes regular because we have to balance this right anytime we look at at a policy we know how detrimental it is for a student to be held back mhm right especially as you get into older grades um so you've got to balance everything and and principles and supervisors teachers work incredibly hard to work with families to ensure that that attendance improves and gets kids on the right track to learning so to say is is there a number that's hard and fast no there isn't one um seem to be we're trying to introduce one now why wouldn't we continue to do what we've been doing it's a number it still wouldn't be a hard and fast number it's still open to to interpretation but I mean and that happens whether it's even a high school kid let's say for instance if a high school kid goes over there a lotted absences see with with any with any person you have to then offer them a pathway to regain that credit so we've got credit recovery options for kids at the at the higher level so they so they're not removed from classes now it requires extra work to really make up those instructional hours and that's what we try to do at the younger levels as well there's a lot that goes into it no that's okay um and also just keep in mind that this is part of how when we're looking at policies we're trying to align to the Strauss Esme policy so this was an example of one of the policies that had been um very beard yes beard was a creative complex um and it didn't address attendance at all which was surprising because there Isme absenteeism so you know that should be addressed in the policy right so that's the change really the policy we currently have is if you were to read it is quite detailed for a policy and in making a policy you want to have a policy that gives the ab the administration the the 30,000 Viewpoint or the guidelines but not the particulars in this case I think in the policy said you know student team s people great retention not caus to undo social emotional adjustment retention is a reasonable chance benefiting your child totally there's a lot of other factors into it which they're going to reason anyways this is setting up a certain point where that can be more a misra done versus Board done and I think this policy we C previously that we're trying you know changing was more the board administering versus setting policy for guidance and governance so any more discussion on the motion on the motion yes on the motion yes that way we're discussion Mr Stars can you call the RO for the motion Please Mr singer yes mruna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kri yes Mr Walker yes motion carries now we're ready open to the public individuals Ander groups that's motion to amend we have oh we have oh sorry about that yes now is there any more discussion on the POL on the motion for the policy my apologies thank you for reminding me Mr Stars can you call the rooll for the for policy as amend as amended for 24-27 24-28 Mr singer Mr sunna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Miss kri yes M Mr Walker yes motion carries second open to the public in individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters in accordance with the board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for maximum five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advis be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website anybody public comment going once and now your turn you speak there please um state your name and address and is the microphone on Dad my full will my full address be made available in the public uh recording I think it's SP just St your name in town how's that we can do that you should write your address there's a sheet there to write your name and address down thank you sounds good yep you're welcome thank you for coming good evening to the board my name is Aisha Williams and I'm a resident of District 13 in Bridgewater Township I speak tonight to highlight the need for increased education and programming in our school district in the areas of diversity and inclusion with the goal to help every student feel accepted valued and respected for who they are I highlight this need as the mother of children who have experienced repeated disparaging racially charged remarks across their experience in our district in schools at the primary Intermediate Middle and High School levels I speak as a professional leader in the realm of diversity and inclusion with a deep commitment to offer my time and expertise to support inclusivity in our district I also speak on beh behalf of exper of behalf of parents with experiences similar to those of my family who likewise offer their support I've been encouraged to speak tonight by the principal and counselor of my son's school who say they see the need for increased inclusivity and seek support from the board on how to do it I bring inspiration from districts around us like the Woodbridge Township School District that is moving with purpose and action to create an inclusive environment for all students and involving all stakeholders for example for parents they've established a Dei council at all of their schools for parents to meet monthly to support these efforts in their District staff they have launched School Equity teams comprised of staff to Monitor to Monitor Trends and promote an inclusive culture in every school for students they host an annual District Dei Showcase of projects that students work towards all year to embody Multicultural education and for the schools themselves in the same showcase each School presents a research project aimed at making their Community a better place their action demonstrates their value and expectation of an inclusive culture within their District across race ethnicity and all other areas of student diversity and having seen the plan tonight I would offer that in the climate and culture goal number two when it talks about promoting well-being through physical emotional and mental health initiatives for staff students in the community cultivating a culture of service respect and Outreach promoting an inclusive and healthy culture for learning throughout our schools that as you reconsider this at your upcoming board meeting that it could be more specific to include an appreciation for the diversity of our students and then action plans to help to drive that given limited time I close with an ask and an offer for Dr Beers I contacted your office last week to request a meeting with you to discuss opportunities to help our students better relate to one another and to create a positive learning environment and experience for all students supported by all stakeholders in a district I ask for your acceptance of that meeting and ultimately for commitment from this board to take definitive action to increase education and programming in the areas of diversity inclusion for our school district beginning this fall which I believe is an important time where these instances can escalate in our school district I offer my time to support the board with ideas with content content through bringing parents together to help to make this happen for our students in any way that I possibly can thank you thank you your comments anyone else like to add public comment this time seeing none I'm going to close public comment um item 15 is business is there any old business to be discussed I guess it's old business because I talked about it before I just uh I I made up just a little sheet of U the 14 resolutions I went to the the the the delegate handbook and just kind of wrote them in my own language except for the small text when I couldn't uh and that is directly from there so if anyone wants to look at that doesn't feel like reading the 14ish page document you can look at that even shorter um cheat cheat can can you share that with the board could you email to the board so we have a oh you justor I believe I shared the document with everyone everyone is just a viewer my any feedback just let me know yeah I just wanted to talk about resolution number nine which is the one that uh asks from Tom River Tom's River uh that the use of school buildings for polling places while schools in session should be prohibited uh the njsba kind of changed that language and said that it should be made on on on the local board of education level and I didn't have the opportunity to read I'm sure that there's a large much larger explanation of it that I didn't get to read but I would like to see this uh I would support it at a at a larger state level than at a board level because the the problem that I I found that we've had and we've had this discussion many times as a board about uh our using our schools as a polling place uh is that we don't have a choice uh it is State policy it is not County or local policy it is State policy that school are the first place that districts can go to uh so for me voting districts like yeah counties yeah so for me that would need to be affected at a state level and not at a at a school building at a local board of education level so that was one of my issues yeah I'm looking for the full resolution I'm looking at the full handbook now I I imagine it's in there somewhere if I could locate it I will uh if you can find with the one page and the 174 page yeah yes need a shot clock on me that that that was just one that I thought we should bring up because it it's one that has been discussed at this board a number of times already and that is on the original resolution can be found on page9 of the delegate handbook uh at least everything about it so it's a more full discussion if you if you go go to the njsba website and search delegate assembly it's the first thing that comes up on Google and the handbook is now posted but we're not going to do that now so I just right I want to bring up and they have that's it thank you for that comment yep anybody else with old business yes Miss Le about this uh delegate assembly I think uh there's that virtual dat of resolution three um I think if we um support that uh there's going to be more flexibility for the school district when we decide on our calendar uh I don't think any district is going to abuse this flexibility but when circumstance needed I think this is a good option to have that's why I think that's why I definitely look forward to hearing the discussion at the assembly because I'm not 100% one way or the other I have a few reservations but there are some pluses obviously so thank you for your feedback and I look forward to hearing the discussion there and what the resolutions do is they put the um into the district into the njsba policy manual it's not law it's just what they advocate for you have to understand that so there's still advocacy on your own majority of these are legislative type items so our Senator and our representatives and ultimately make the law I know there's been several for addressing the using the schools with polling places that comes out every year there might be reup again there is always usually a bill on that it's also effectively saying hey we have 5000 thousand board members in New Jersey we have an active voice so that's otherwise this Schoolboard Association has direct access and and lobbying services that way but we also have that active voice too but that's what this does is put it in the languages that the Schoolboard Association group actively advocates for this any other old business again I would be remiss if I didn't although you brought it up talk about High School Musical and how much of a success that entire weekend was because having been there all three nights I know that it was a near sellout um the first and third night and I believe it was a complete sellout on Friday night um so it was a tremendous success for everyone involved I was gonna piggy back off of this and I know that we've been getting feedback but I have to say um you know Heather day was new to this um process coming from the elementary schools up to the high school to do this and man she blew it out of the water so uh kudos to Heather day um one of our fantastic um music teachers and I wish her much success next year I taught at a summer camp or worked at a summer camp 2006 20 2007 and it was hard to to I'd never seen it but how uh how wrapped up in High School Musical and that whole universe the kids were so see a lot of young people a lot of Elementary Middle School age students at the event it took me back to be about you know 15 years back that was great to see any other old business moving on to new business any new business I have something I just passed one along you we had a good Retreat last week as part of that Retreat we talked about board norms and um and as part of it as M Miss Miss thoron said is that we sign it and we all agree to it so this evening I have passed you a copy of it and I have a my signed here and I will circulate it for around every else to sign so you have a copy of the Norms we set up and now we're all going to agree to sign to it correct that's what we said last week so I I have one copy here I'm going to circulate where I signed we'll go down this way do you want to talk about this at all or anything Peter caning pass that down that way then just sign I'm I'm just going to note that I thought one of our Norms was that you arrive at least five minutes early and right I know and um and I don't see it on here um so I don't know if we could write that into your part but uh we can add that in there I I thought that that's an important thing that we again if you're on time you're late so you seeing five minutes or just arrive early what is the five minutes is what we talked about all right yeah I can you can add that on top and it before the meeting silence all right so is there anything else that we need to what is there anything else we need to talk about no I have everyone sign so it's going around get it all signed then we're good to go so so can we make a motion sure if you'd like motion to adjourn second all those in favor I all those opposed all don't leave before you sign that board members and Mr Beer you're on it too yes you are by the way thank you are actually a board member there's there's one copy I have one copy for this your copy for your reference what I just gave it so you know what they are so you can help us enforce it e