[Music] I have to use my classroom voice evening everyone um welcome to the meeting on WE thanks for being able to reschedule and come to the meeting up next is our student Representatives report how are you tonight you joined the day off of school yeah I did um yeah so um ga's on her way but I'm just going to start with my part yeah okay so um first of all the National Honor Society started a service project um on like menstruation and it's called the period project and basically what they're doing is we're hosting fundraisers and we're collecting donations on feminine hygiene prod products all over the school so a lot of class classes and a lot of like places in the hallways are accepting donations at this point and this is just to like like raise awareness and help women out and it's sponsored by the National Honor Society and then also on the 17th we have our junior college night presentation and this is very important because it allows Juniors to have a head start to um an early exposure to the college application process and this way they can learn about like what college colleges they want to apply to if like um how to do college essays things like that and then so around this time people or students would be studying for midterms but because of the new policy we don't have midterms this year and um also there's a new policy that students with semester courses don't have to take final exams or seniors don't have to if they have above a 90% so I think a lot of seniors are liking that if they're in semester classes because they don't have to study for the classes and it's really easy for them to be Exempted from the final and then so college applications are over for seniors now like they're done applying apping and early action early decisions have started coming out um I think most of the results will be out by March or April so now seniors just have to wait and figure out like where to go to after they start getting the results and then another thing that happened was FAFSA opened up their form so students can apply for financial aid it was a little late this year because usually comes out on October 1st but this year it came out the beginning of January and even after it opened it opened on January 1st but they were having so many problems that students weren't able to log on to the website and fill out the forms and a lot of parents were getting frustrated because it wasn't allowing them to apply for financial aid um and it was saying the U website wasn't working but now I think in the past few days people have started filling out their financial aid forms and um like for me I filled it out a few days ago and it was it took a long time like I did half of it and my dad did the other half and it took a long time but the website was working it's working now it was just having a few minor problems before so it wasn't working yesterday I think they have times like I think it works from like 11:00 p.m. like after 11: p.m. because no one works on at that point in time it's on the it's on the nighttime hour yeah they called it a soft launch and it didn't launch yeah the soft launch it's it's still like a lot of people are still not able to fill it out but yeah I haven't done it yet yeah I mean I think you have until July to do it so it really doesn't matter yeah um and then should I start on J parts or should we wait for sure she can I ask you a question real quick yeah sure um uh what was the benefiting organization who benefited from the um the feminine project the um so this is sponsored by the National Honor Society I'm not sure like I'm not a part of the National Honor Society so I'm not exactly sure where it's going to I just know they're trying to help out women like there there has to be some organization but it's it's like our school is taking AP part of it essentially yeah if you want you can do anything else going on you want to tell us about that's not in the report yeah I do have yeah there's more so basically the auditorium opened after the renovations and um it's the first part of the reservations that's the first St there's more coming yeah but um staff is starting to get trained and students are starting to get trained and um we already had our winter choir concert there and they're having the the play soon um and then we have a few competitions that are happening not in the auditorium just in general so we have the Poetry out loud competition tomorrow and then there's a model un competition on Saturday um and then so like I said the junior college night is the presentation is on the 17th but there's also an eighth grade orientation on the 18th and this is not just like a tour of the school I think they're making a little different this year because there's a presentation on the experience of the school and brtv got involved because they made a video and and they're just showing students what it's like to be a part of our school so there's going to be um high school students and High School staff that are presenting on this like a lot of counselors just to show eighth graders what it's like to go to our high school and um also a few days ago there was a survey sent out to students and parents asking to describe the experience of our high school and a lot of like parents and students filled it out and this the information we gain from this survey is going to be presented at this orientation for eighth graders and then um our program of studies is being finalized so there's new programs and the new programs will be published around the beginning of February so this so there's been new courses that are adding on so the eighth graders incoming eighth graders or incoming nth graders can Ben benefit from the new courses we're adding and then something new we're doing this year is an elective fair and I think the point of it's kind of like the club fair but it's so students can see what the electives offer and they're not just blindly going into these classes so this will help out the incoming freshman as well this is going to be in the second week of February and then another new thing that we're doing is before the um the criteria to take AP classes was you had to had a certain grade in an honors or academic class but now we're also using the data from our PSATs so um they we're using the AP potential to see if students who might not have an A in a class if they have a good AP potential they can still take AP classes and this will allow students like a lot more students to take AP classes because we have a lot of like a huge group of students who might not have straight A's but they still have good AP potential and this will allow them to take AP classes and hopefully be successful in them and um yeah that's pretty much it so you're done with your application process have you heard are you did you go anything early or did you go how did what what are you waiting to hear from others so I didn't early decision anywh I just did early action to like five schools I only heard from like two of them and um I'm waiting for the rest are he batting 100 H are he batting 100% so far yeah great job thank you great yeah so you didn't have to answer it either if you don't want to answer anything please don't so did you want to do her her report yeah I just did I just did hers that was okay all right any questions I just wondering I don't know if you know with the elective Fair who's putting it on who's going to be explaining the electives um I'm not sure but I'm I I'm assuming it's the teachers who teach the electives but I think a students who already take took those electives might be playing a part in it but I'm not too sure about that one um thank you for the wonderful report so that we know you know know what students are uh going through and they thinking or feeling glad things are going pretty well um I want to follow up on one of the uh points that you mentioned that's a FSA report or FSA filing right do we um have support for the students or the families to do that I know it's kind of like a long form how our our is our school supporting families to fill that form and our students having difficulty or families having difficulty yeah F absolutely we assist if anyone needs help we we certainly do yeah so can you uh can you kind of uh take this platform to tell people how do they access to that if they don't know well I can't I can't go through that because fast again you're you're you're putting in your personal information I so how do families get support if they need it where do they go what's the point they could go to their guidance counselor guidance counselor I see so families who need a support can go to their guidance counselor to fill out this for there's the program I think and it's comp it's free for parents to attend I know I went when my daughter was in 10th Grade where they had an outside speaker come in and talk about applying to college and he put a lot of time into FAA right and what to do so I want to ask uh like uh from what you hear from your peers um are they having difficulty with it or they're fine um the only difficulty is because of the website it's not because you need help from like other people it's it's actually really easy to do even though it's long it's pretty straightforward to fill it out it's just just technical issues it's not like the for the website itself okay and I do think it's like you don't really need anyone's support to do it because also it's a lot of personal information about like your taxes and your salary and things like that so it's it's it's really easy to do once you just follow directions yeah so I want to make sure that families who needed that would have access it's also a federal requirement it's a federal document it's not required by us it there is was a bill to say it was required and for those who are doing it it is timec consuming it's very personal you have to blow your taxes you know all that information so it might not in help areas I mean there's there's a lot of help online too so I mean I know the guys department has the ability but those you get into personal matters we have to be sensitive in those areas absolutely and and that's not a requirement because there was a push at one point to make that requirement I believe I think that bill in the new year is is sunsetted because the new new legislative year is sunset that bill did not make it make it to the governor's death for signing yeah yeah the fast was not fun any any other questions Mr be the superintendent report thank you Mr Walker so uh as you all know we've had a a busy few days here in the Bridgewater ariton Regional School District so um we experienced quite a few flooding issues from Tuesday evening into Wednesday and we ended up calling calling school late late on Wednesday for for the following reasons and I I had shared this with the board of education so so typically in a in a scenario like this we do an early morning check Steve Santoro comes into the buildings early as do the custodians maintenance Etc so they do they do a check of all the buildings Steve goes around I can tell you that on this day being worried of flooding I drove down Route 22 just to make sure that some of the roads were open you know before we went and made a decision so I mean things were clear early in the morning the unfortunate part is some of the rivers crested from my understanding in the Hillsboro area you know really around 7 o' 8:00 and the situation continued to get worse so one of our bus companies could not provide busing for for that day and um we also had trouble with getting some of our people in as well so I mean at that point we made a decis decision to uh to go and and close school for the day and um look it's it's not ideal to to cancel school at the last moment like that but but unfortunately sometimes things happen that are are a little bit out of our control not a little bit totally out of our control and and speaking of things that are out of control uh we have a power out of our control I should say not out of control um Hamilton School experienced a a power outage and there's still a power outage at Hamilton school so we're waiting for Cruz to to come in from what I understand there was a a brown out or some power outages in the area so this happened I believe sometime around 2:30 in the morning and um again Steve Santoro came in with a few of his guys to check out the scene but um we're still waiting for a crew to get there so Mr Stars has some feedback from from was it jcpnl Cru over there or is it psj jcpnl jcpnl crw who and about an hour ago they were out there um they're going to take down some take down the power and they have it they expect to have it resolved um this evening perfect and and one of the reasons why we had to close school is that there when power is out there's no heat in the building right you've got little kids and and certainly in the winter that's not the time to bring them in never mind that you don't have things like fire alarms intercoms phones all of those things as well so hopefully tomorrow we are we are back online and and good to go but certainly we will send something out if that changes um so as far as what's going on in the school obviously we're back from break and and uh as we heard earlier the auditorium is now fully usable the sound and light updates have have been completed and it's a matter of just training people to to get the full functionality of the system so so we know that that project was delayed a few months but but when you go in and see a performance when you see how it looks um how it sounds I I think you'd know that that it was money well spent so I want to thank everyone for their patience I know the uh the fine arts department has been been very flexible in moving moving locations and pushing programs off until we had this uh this fully installed so we know we've got activities in full swing Athletics are in full swing there's a lot going on and with that we're starting our planning now for 20242 as we heard earlier we're we're going through our review of the program of studies we've got some interesting coursework and things like that interesting offerings for for students so that's going on Bruce just posted the information I believe today related to kindergarten signup up and first grade sign up so we're starting that registration process we we pushed that out I think before break but now we're going to continue to bombard people uh so they get their paperwork in on time and we're starting our budget process for 2024 25 as well and in our committees we're going to be hard at work on that over the next couple of months and then lastly the the exciting part is the uh strategic planning process is ready to to kick off and I want to thank the board for the additions to the the list of people where my office is going to send an invitation to these will go out tomorrow and um and then we'll we'll also include the link on the website on our next Constant Contact uh uh on our next Constant Contact that we send out to the community and and as we know strategic planning or long range planning the these three meetings are going to provide an opportunity for for us as a board um to really listen to the community and and and get their feelings on on the uh the strengths and the needs and Views uh that they have on the development of a longrange plan so I think it'll be a useful exercise and we look forward to uh working towards that and and it's just a final reminder if you have any any U names uh emails that you would like uh added to that list of people who are going to personally invite please send it to me or uh Suzanne CL as my admin assistant because we're going to push that out tomorrow but I mean if it's a daylight we could still push it out to other people as they come in but I mean right now we have I think there's right around 40 people who have signed up that's what it looked like last night so I don't know about today as far as community members who are who are going to take part so that's it I have a question so is it just Hamilton school or is it that whole area that's out from my understanding portions of the neighborhood are out around the school as well and it's weird it's kind of a a brown out so to speak that they're experiencing in that that neighborhood where the power isn't totally out to Hamilton school but I don't know if my terminology is correctly correct supposedly there are three feeds that come in two out of the three are out so I think that whole area has some type of issue going on that hopefully will get resolved um for the strategic planning I'm sorry if I missed it did you have a um a location in mind or was that going to be done here sure the location will will be at the middle school we'll have the kickoff meeting at at least for the first night it'll start off in the auditorium and then we will be able to have our groups in the cafeterias that are right next to that area it's kind of thing thank you oh it's not at all it's good to know and and we should know the reason why we chose the middle school is there aren't as many night functions going on there that's one but then two is is just just the way the school is set up you could go from the auditorium right to those cafeterias and you have two large rooms where you could put people in different corners and do a variety of exercises thank you correct anything else thank you Mr beers um U president's report uh a couple things today I'm going to report on the Committees on the board committees and leison I emailed it after out to everybody but let me report out on that for academic um AJ will be the chair and Emily and Mike will be the the members and Mr and Steve will be the alternate um Personnel um Stacy is going to be the chair with Jen and Lucy and Mike is the alternate Finance facilities and transportation um Steve singer will be the chair with Jen and and Rebecca and Emily is the alternate community relations Emily Emily is going to be the chair Rebecca and Stacy are the members and Lucy is the alternate negotiations we'll have four members it will be myself I'm going to I appointed myself chair so just because I've done it before and you know been through it so it's a little more guides there Emily with Emily Lucy and AJ um CSA um it's a daytime event so um Jen and I are gonna tackle that during the headlights over here uh F found it's an easy Mon it's four times a year we're good they bring donuts to coffee so you're sad they're very nice um and Ed foundation will be AJ and Steve and I'll be the alternate and there'll be some conversations I'm going sure it's one or two members there so they're more than married they love to have you so that's going on um something else I want to bring up this is uh Schoolboard member recognition month you know and in New Jersey there's over 5,000 School members and over 560 school districts public school districts um for those who don't know I mean we have a large audience tonight but for those who don't know we are highly compensated in our position and we actually have to go through unlike a lot of other elect officials we get fingerprinted and background check to sit here so kind of you know we have a tight re on them we have many staff members parents who have done in the past Mr F's father was one so he was very kind to me when I came he understood the the roles that we have to put but so he's gone through it we have many staff that do it also so I'd like to thank everyone for being a school member it's a it's an it's a wonderful job you really get to FOC on focus on student achievement it there are a lot of meetings as you know and I thank you for taking the time away from your families and other commitments you've committed to this and you've committed to the kids and you're you're in what you're doing you're really focusing on stent team so I just want to say thank you and that's all I have thank you any questions I'm just learning this job so um I'm just going to review the January calendar planning calendar um the board recognition a reorganization and ethics an acknowledgement we did that at the last meeting um board members review training requirements in-house orientation for new board members public hearing of the ssds report policy 8461 and review superintendent contract renewal January 10th uh of final contract year um and that's all I have other than to say congratulations uh and thank you for being our President thank you Jen there's a lot going on up here you don't realize sometimes and it's like wow kind of have tunnel vision the first meeting so I'm getting a little wider now it's like driving first time driving a car Alone um next commit reports academic committing academic committee our first meeting will be this coming Wednesday the 17th thank you community relations ours is still pending we trying to figure out the exact date finance and Facilities Transportation committee Mr singer our first meeting will be Tuesday the 16th at 5:30 Personnel committee meeting um I I gu Dr P can you help us there sure yes uh since Stacy Freelander the chair is not here our first meeting is is 5 o' on Tuesday virtual thank you any starting any Lea onelic reports I want to go first um soab sounds good so um at the Bridgewater Township there is a reorg meeting uh on January the 4th uh Mr Walker Mr Lan was also there in person at Miss K street. in at a meeting the township government had a reorganization uh mayor Matthew MCH uh councilman Timothy ring and Michael kers had their swearing ceremony for another term of four years and I want to point out uh the that the national anthem at the ceremony was actually performed by a group of brsd students um they're called their group is called the Sensa sordino band I hope I said them right the members are Anna G goo wh Ling EV and Brian Z it was a wonderful performance of national anthem I would like to recognize our school district contribution and uh uh recogniz this group of students for their musical achievement as well as their civic and Community engagement and importantly uh councilman Timothy rain is there on to bad next meeting is January 18th at 7:30 who's the president this year Tim ring Tim's president thank you um okay thank you for that one on the meeting too y you missed that part well any additions good thank you all right the uh bur of ridan uh I I may uh also held its reorganization meeting the exact same time and date that we held ours so I wasn't able to I think any of us were able to make it uh mayor Nicholas Cara was sworn in he's been on the council for a number of years and uh he's looking forward to getting to a a meeting soon he also has a background uh professionally in uh nonprofit public sector uh work so I know he's committed to bringing a lot of um a lot of opportunities and services into the citizens of ridan so I thank him him for that um there are two three new members uh sworn in to the raran burough Council uh councilman Michael patente and councilman Don tazy who had both served previously non-consecutive terms um so we're very happy to have them back they're both uh Bridgewater ridan uh West I'm sorry Bridgewater High School West gr gr graduates uh I don't know if I'd say the exact same years but 70s 80s a little bit older so I look forward to reminiscing with uh learning about what the schools were like back then and seeing where we can go from here uh with with both of them uh Nick Cara also a uh Bridgewater ridan Regional High School graduate and finally uh UMES agrawal was a appointed to fill uh the vacant term that um now mayor Cara left and he is um also and he was also designated to serve as our liaison and um look forward he's a great guy I look forward to working with him very much we're fortunate to have him so congratulations to everyone ran and um I think it's said also at the uh the the previous incarnation of the council um has always contributed towards some environmental efforts at JFK it's kind of a year L support I don't know exactly where the money is going to this time I I can find that out for next time but uh we thank them for helping out with that again I find it remarkable how polite you um always refer to your U the people that you've run against in elections Mike's got that skill well thank you for those reports anybody else Steve I just have that the Somers County School boards association meeting is mon Day January 22nd at 6:45 and it is virtual this month I think it's about your role as a board member in student achievement is the topic for that one the 22nd 22 any other liaison or delegate reps open to the public individuals or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and and requests regarding the following action itams 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 of five 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 go once right so close that um approval of minutes do I have a motion it's all moved discussion uh I sent the last minute email to uh to Peter I wonder if that was received and I didn't get a chance to look at it before did receive it okay it was it reflected just for the accuracy of record I don't think it really matters that much but uh do you want um do you want me to read that or if if that hasn't been incorporate that um so I I looked at the minutes for January 2nd meeting um you talk about the the close session your not the close session an open session where you know nominations for stuff I think item G uh Steve nominated me and uh and Mike Pepe second so that's only a change that I had proposed after I go back and look at the meeting again and so one item believe it or not you do not need a second for nominations when you do election of officers by the way in our bylaws I just was going to share that information it went through that way I didn't didn't catch it to afterwards I just so next year when it happens you just need a one nomin you just make a nomination no second need that'll be so anyways just that'll be bylaw information here right you know but whatever the rules we go by that's the accurate reproduction of the you know so you need to make a motion to change the minutes I make a motion to change the media minutes for Adam G do we have a second second any more discussion you just do a voice Peter all those in favor I I all opposed motion passes any more discussion on the minutes Mr Stars can you call the RO Please Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joi uh yes to both December 12th regular and close and abstained on both January 2nd reorg and close session Miss K stre yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes action items Personnel I have a motion I need to read in uh approve resolution personnel 24-20 approval of cybar agreement motion to approve cbar to the of the to the agreement between bridgew Ron Regional Board of Education and the bridge of Ron supervisor Association attachment Personnel 20-20 24-20 one one do I have a motion I'll make the motion second any discussion any discussion on Personnel 20-24 we'll have to done close session which we had already anym I had a i a question just for clarification for myself I noticed on the substitute teachers there's two people that were listed that don't have any hourly wage and I was just wondering why and I know one of them I think is a current teacher at vanon so I thought maybe that has something to do with it pull up I would be the person to answer that question let me uh pull it up so I can uh take a look not y do we have to go to close for this or it's uh no this is an okay thing for Open Session are you referring to student teachers no um oh I see yes see their dates areed all right looking at now it's l item 16 and 21 yes thank you that's an error in there I appreciate you noticing that uh the the correct rate for substitute teacher is the 155 so uh I'm not sure how that got zeroed out but um our substitute teachers do a great job we wouldn't want want them to work for zero dolls and so those individuals and anybody else will be paid the the the substitute rate thank you and my other question was just about the yoga person it it was for two weeks and it was $2,000 and I was just wondering is that like a a gym class implant for two weeks or is this a we have at the middle school Min courses and so they run either two weeks every day after school or they run um the equivalent the 10 days over longer span of time and so that's the rate of pay that's in the contract for those mini courses and so this is one that actually was part of uh a series of them that already happened and that the person wasn't uh submitted for approval previously to it usually it's part of a longer list for that one and that's that's falls under the interal um inter mural um right at stiens in the contract so at the middle school basically we have the travel teams which are kind of more like the season like at the high school and then these are more intramural and for for a shorter duration and U not competing against other middle schools thank you thank for that for that question any anybody else Mr Stars can you C Please Mr singer yes Muna yes Mr Pepe uh yes on the personnel addendum 2419 and no on 2420 that's correct the other motion I'm sorry abstain abstain not no abstain Pardon Me Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes curriculum curriculum 2437 through 2439 so moved any discussion I think it's neat they're going to the Princeton plas plasma physics lab I think that's at the bottom of the physics building I think it's at the bottom of the physics building of the Princeton any other qu discussion I'm a physicist okay I'm Mr Stars can you call the rooll Please Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes business business 2476 through business 2481 so move second any discussion I'd like to take a moment and thank the the people bring the gifts the panther Athletic Club and the P the BR brhs softwall parents for the mini super pack bat packs backp bat packs sounds like a you know a um used in Marvel the Marvel movies but anyways van Holton PTO for the classroom enhs enhancements the van Holton PTO for the two two School assemblies and also margarite Weiss for the donation to cover the unsatisfied B bces the Middletown primary school okay I have a question about that actually I don't know if anyone has an answer um off hand if if how does that get applied when it goes to one school if students have or families have different amounts of balances would it is that spread out equally if someone has like a $100 balance and someone has $2 is there a is that just kind of determined at at the school level or no that's what we we it'll be done equally it'll be done equally okay thanks question Mike I don't think about that I had a question too and I'm sorry I didn't ask in advance um the bridge for the middle school that's the bridge that goes from the campus over to the um the athletic area correct and I'm just curious what is so extensive about that project that um it was to well there there's two Bridges and one was uh totally replaced and this was all a result of flood damage from Ida okay just took a little while to get some approvals got it think you had to deal with the EPA correct we touch the stream D yep D so there's a lot of lot of any more discussion or questions Mr Stars Mr singer uh abstain on business 2477 yes on everything else Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes special services special services 21 24-21 through 24-23 actually 24-24 um I'll read that in resolve the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves the settlement agreement for student id10 16599 confidential ss-24 d24 thank you Peter I'll make the motion second any any discussion Mr Stars you the rooll Please Mr singer M Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes other 24- 21 through 24-22 so moved I'll second any discussion Mr sty color rooll Please Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr pepy yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joi uh yes to 2421 abstain on 2422 Miss kri yes guess to um 2421 abstain from 2422 Miss lockran um same yes to 21 and abstain from 22 Mr Walker yes motion passes we're up to the second time for public comment individual or groups are invited to present their concerns and comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matter in accordance with the board policy members of the public you allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district website see now I'm G to close that um is there any old business I have old business it's not that old though um I have an answer to the question about the Personnel addendum so um the names of the two people are very familiar so that's why I was saying oh there must be something different about them and then I figured it out so I apologize I didn't know when you first asked the question if one of our teacher assistants uh covers a class technically they're supposed to be approved as a substitute teacher um our sub our our teacher assistants our regular teacher assistant they're daily rate is higher than the substitute rate so they can't be paid both so they're paid their regular rate which is their higher rate but technically they shouldn't be the substitute for the class if unless they've been board approved as a substitute so the two individuals who are paid zero dollars it's because we're already paying them um and they've agreed to be the substitute of the class that they usually work in if the teacher's not there so that's why they're approved at zero dollars to be The Substitute Teacher so that would come in with the answer to the question wow impressive any more old business new business I'll just go real quick um so on January 4th 2024 Governor Murphy signed s333 a515 which requires curriculum that provides students with coping strategies and resources for dealing with grief and loss um I fully confident that we already cover those topics but I do um just want to say that I'm really happy to see this issue highlighted um and that the stages of grief often apply to more than just loss um the same tools can be applied to adversity and Trauma such as when a parent goes to prison when a friend turns on you breakups abuse betrayal substance abuse divorce and even C current world events and alline bullying so I just wanted to make the board aware of that and I'm done I do have a a motion I need to read in so also we have the discussion should I do it now or have the discussion of the motion so I do have a motion U motion to approve confidential sment and release agreement attachment new attachment NB d243 so just so that we can if we need to we can can we vote on that separately or should we the two together can vote on two together all right so that's I need to read that motion in do I have a a motion for that I just read for what for those two 24 do we have a motion for those two and 24-02 and 24-3 do I have a motion motion to do what motion to discuss action make a action motion to approve motion to approve approve them yes we so we have two two attachments right now new business 24-02 and 24-3 that are on the agenda the second one was a what's called a Walkin because it's because of the nature of it is those three on on there I I don't see it we discussed in Clos session say Clos session Oh I thought that was all right I'll make the motion second right do we have discussion on the motions yeah I have a just a question yeah a question or just a discussion on 242 with the uh the contract with Taylor Bon core Consulting um don't we have this as a free training through njsba governance one governance two reading from the uh proposed that uh was sent in it just seems redundant I'm not sure if um you know we don't take this as first year or second year board members so I I don't know why we need to do this training isn't it offered by school boards the school doors does offer similarity but may I mean the Mr beerus has recommended this it came out of a a session at Workshop from descent to consent excuse me what's the somebody help with it consensus consensus thank you sorry so I I was actually not allowed in because they had filled the room so a couple more members came so that's where it came from I feel it's probably different than what school boards offers they do offer similarities but in this case I think it's done at a different level Mr beers can speak to it some more he had the the conversations with Taylor so do you wan to I know you talked about you've talked about closed session you give us information you just give a little more of overview well I I wouldn't be able to comment on what New Jersey school boards offers okay I think board members would know if it's redundant or or not and look there you know I put this on here and had multiple discussions I believe shared it you know and a as transparent away as possible um because this issue as far as you know relationships Etc H has certainly come up it's been reflected towards me it's shown up in the Board of Ed uh self-evaluation it's certainly shown up in mind and um you know I know some of the standards that that I am you know rated on judged on what have you I mean one of them in standard two governance ethics and professional Norms one of my responsibilities in number three is to actively and continuously encourage board ofed development by seeking and communicating opportunities this is one I saw and uh also number two as far as promoting a culture of mutual respect and professionalism in a working relationship with the Board of Ed so I I'm not trying to push anything it's up to to the board to decide what they want to do with it that's the reason why it's on the agenda and um I think I think I did bring it up at uh at Retreat as well and I don't so I I mean whatever the board wants to do is no it it was brought up at the The Retreat I just didn't think that we were going to you know move forward with it but I you know I was reading the proposal and right off the bat you know the goals that um and I can pronounce your last name bonor go three um is outlining in here where you know it's it's pretty good that uh she says that we passed um the referendum and uh let me just read this you know that this was a pretty good achievement that the board did and in my opinion I don't think that would have been been uh possible if we were not communicating if we were not collaborating um if we were not cooperating with each other I don't think this huge referendum would have passed so if we're doing all of these things and then we're able to pass a referendum then we must be doing something right to do this so I don't know what the training is is going to do for us and secondly I mean that's a huge time commitment I mean six weeks you know 20 minute chat here 45 minutes there hour and a half here two and a half hour workshops I don't know about the rest of you but I I can't find time for this I mean yesterday I got home at quarter to 7 I I don't know if I'll be able to do this um so that that's all I'm saying I mean I know we have new board members but I think governance one and two captures a lot of this that she's outlining I mean I'm sure she gave a great presentation but that's I guess that's what I heard this this presentation got rave reviews they were turning people away at the door and and I looked over some of the presentation that Bob and this has been in front of us for a while so thank you um I'm wondering is it possible and I don't know if again I'm sorry Taylor Taylor B would would be interested in in coming in to do that presentation for us uh so we all have a chance to see it in the public and or in Retreat or whatever setting it happened and then maybe we can kind of move forward from move forward from there because I think that Bob's right there's definitely something to be gained from this but like you said and maybe the the time commitment and the fact that I mean it's also a new board starting off a new year so maybe we give everything a chance to roll for a little bit I mean it's seems like it's it's a worthwhile thing but if it's not for everyone I I certainly understand that that's odd or at least not for everyone at this Exacta time we also have strategic planning which will take up some time I know it's not a board activity per se but there it's a busy uh it's a busy winter in into spring for sure I think you make a good point I'm certainly in favor of more training for the board as much as we can and I think that we do take a lot of training uh at Workshop uh and we take advantage of the other opportunities that njsba uh provides to us but that being said I'm not against having further training on uh working in a more collaborative atmosphere um my concerns are AI haven't this hasn't been before us for months this we've been talking about it but like this document has not been um and B it's it was shared on December 22nd oh I don't okay that's fine I don't remember seeing this document bu them but that's fine um and I'm concerned about the amount uh the cost of it I mean it's it's I'm sure that there's a lot of value in it but that's a lot of uh cost as well one difference I've seen between school boards and this training is Schoolboard is more individual training and this is a group and I think some you know when you go to Workshop you're there in you're as an individual we don't go any group sessions where the whole group is engaged in those Siberians and when I first started the board about this time nine years ago the ice storm Peter had the best bagels and muffins you got from the place you brought after we finally make it I mean it was really bad we had a consultant come in to work with as in a team building in the little time we had it but it does develop a better interaction on the board um Karen Dan and Bob can talk about you you do type thing these type things with your professional development you know you bring people in you bring Consultants to speak about different areas very similarly so it's it's part of our growth and I think you know there's been one theme I've seen is communication and interaction I think we all know where that's been discussed so I think it's an area that we should reflect on and think what what do you know how do we move forward and this is a plan put forward by our superintendent you know is individual and you know I know the individual works with but the other individual that was in the presentation I I know well and he's a good you know facilitator motivator and and some of those areas I'm going to use a cliche you don't know what you don't know and I think you know we don't know what we don't know here in some areas and I think it's good to learn set a Baseline and move forward and and having a professional do that is a good thing because I'm not a professional in that area and I I like that the cost is what the cost is and uh you know if it works it's worth it and I I'm I'm behind it and want to make it work it is some time involved but as an anything it's time well well suited is I mentioned earlier with the you know School Bo recognition month you're it's going to take time that you know when you do it there's extra time that put in and it might save us time later too okay um so I attended that particular seminar at um and jsba is that it's called yeah um it was it was I definitely wouldn't say it would be redundant um I think her experience working across multiple organizations in multiple countries um that all operate differently sort of gives her a perspective that's wholly different than the perspective that you would have when you are talking more about school boards and and stuff um I would I would love to to uh be able to utilize a resource like this um but I certainly understand you know the concerns um I just wanted to just add context to the fact that it's I definitely don't think it's redundant I think it's something that um our board would benefit from because it's I mean I did read the original materials and the impression that I got from the act from actually attending and and participating in the workshop um it's a little bit different it's it's more interactive it's it's more team building um which is something I don't think is as prevalent in in njsba but I'm not in school boards which I love their programming so I'm not criticizing but I just wanted to add those comments um I think at the nsba meeting I was uh attending this from descent to consent I think the title of it is very attractive because I feel like um a board has different with with with members that selected from different perspectives are going to come together with different ideas and opinions and trying to work better I think reaching consensus is a technique that that is good to to have however I do also recognize that um I think our board is supposed to be representatives and not the team um we are uh working supposed to represent um the community represent students represent the whole stakeholders of our school district um I don't know whether the the asking in this resolution the sense of team building is really supposed to be the goal and but going off of that I want to just say my concern first however I want to to acknowledge some things first first of all I actually agree with AJ I feel our board has done great I feel like there are disagreement there's are dis consent or uh I forgot what the word was from I sorry I lost the word however I do think that our board had worked wonderfully um I think I also want to acknowledge all the time that everyone here is putting in every meeting that we attend and every hour that we spend prepare for a meeting I also want to um mention how much training we have gone through already I think our new year member have already gone through a training before coming on board a three-hour training right and then soon you will as we all have go to a weekend of training that's two days that you stay there for a night it's intense like 10 days 10 hours a day training and then beyond that we go to our uh School Board convention we I mean the the convention is like four day convention I think I think the school board members are the most highly trained elected office I don't think all the other like the councilman mayor assembly any other elected office require training or go through training as much as we all have I think we're um we're also going to have continued training right so I think each of us doing our thing have start the training that we need last year I want uh for the school Finance training because on fft I feel like that's going to be helpful I feel ngsb has been very on top of providing training to the members um for example like this particular one that we're talking about tonight um there are aspects that's already covered in the other trainings and I feel like working together definitely is a goal more training is good and we're getting them um so I I think u i can concur with with AJ on uh the necessity considering the very many priorities our district is working on right now I think I agree with with Steve on whether this is a high ticket number priority at this point they does take time as AJ has mentioned um so I think um maybe at the later time when our priority have shifted to where we can you know with not knocked out a lot of those high priority items we have the Run forun projects going on we have our strategic planning going on we can't perhaps uh reconsider uh and reevaluate well I I can they will say they can make think think everyone's making some points I see the value in in all of this I think one way that this is one benefit of this is that it doesn't just seem to be training like you can attend as many trainings as as and it's very valuable trading the nsba gov one was wonderful um I I think what we're looking I think this proposal was a little bit different is that someone is would be coming in and offering advice to us specifically and and and how we specifically could do better uh whether or not we need that um I'm not speaking to but there is some some added value I think there is some some added value in in in that but at the same time I see the concerns about moving forward at this exact time given the cost and the time time commitment and I would also like to add the fact that we are a new board we do have a new member maybe we have a chance to just start off on a the best footing we can to to to start start the new year and maybe after the Strategic plan has gone through um if maybe something comes out of there that's relevant to this I know it's not a board initiative maybe we look at it then and say okay what what can we do whether it's finding a way to um and thank you for sending that presentation getting more information about this proess process maybe seeing a presentation here um I know Bob's proposed some book clubs some different things maybe we could do something to see if we really really do need this or if we um because doesn't sound there's consensus right now on it I don't know if that makes sense at all but I agree things maybe this year in November when we or that end of October one of those days I think this year I think if we think this is a good uh session to go to we can all sign up to that one go early then you can get in because I I was able to get in and I think uh it is a good topic but perhaps try that to begin with that one's free as AJ mentioned right okay right and it's not like hours and hours of commitment again try that first um then maybe there's a consensus but to go back to the superintendent's point I think that this is an issue to some degree I think we need to do something whether it's or we we should be proactive about it I shouldn't say we need to do something because I know everyone's doing their best but I I think moving forward um it has been reflected in the board um self-evaluation in a different areas so I think it would be good to do something just to keep this front of mind and look for opportunities even if it's not this one right now I think this is important like Steve said I think most people agree with um I'm not sure what what that is I I I wish I had like like a plan Plan B ready to go and I apologize for maybe not asking earlier but uh yeah that's that's where I at not totally opposed but I do I can see waiting a little bit so Mike Mike um hit on the I'm sorry um Mr Pepe hit hit hit on hit on um one of the things that I'd wanted to I wouldn't even say push back but that I had wanted to um sort of comment on which is that you know we one I think we are a team um I think yes we are Representatives we all have individual mindsets but I think we're a team that has to get a job done and I don't know that I agree that our job performance is the best I do think that we've done great work but I do think that there's always room for improvement um and I think that is also reflected in our um thank you I'm always losing my words um and and while I I can certainly the points that everybody is making here I I think that we should really consider um addressing this if it's not this way that we should look at how we are going to do it because um I think we could do better and also I'm going to bring this up and I'm not going to look Steve in the eye when I say it I have always wondered why we did um open session or open to the public at the end and I I've had several other questions related to that and I was always curious how other boards worked and I'm not saying specifically school boards but how many other boards worked and that's why something like this was appealing to me to um to to be able to have somebody with a professional experience to have a wide variety of uh boards and how they work I do have some idea why um it's not in the beginning but that that was one of the questions I had had and I thought it would be interesting to like examine like how our meetings run and expectations and and that's it that's that's I had I just want to clarify that I did not set up that order of the agendas in terms of when we meet with public comment so that's been that way for years well before I think any of us were involved so I I go back to that the SCU associ iation are individual opportunities where they're not focused on what this Board needs and I'll go back to our self assessment that there was a lot of the individuals doing great but the group was not kind of look at that versus the individual versus the group and I think we need to bring that together where the group does well as well as the individual so look at those scores Steve in those areas and we did well to pass the referendum I have to say we did well but it there were were some we had some challenges we had some maybe misgivings in areas uh conversations with lack of trust and transparency that came up and all those are areas that I think we need can be addressed um I I look at this as I always look for improvement you know wake up the morning how what can I do better today you know what can I learn today and and um I think it's no better time than the present and I mean our superintendent wouldn't have brought it to us he didn't think we needed it that's I think the point is and I don't want to chime in but if we're divided on this it's it's not going to have the desired effect so I mean that's the other thing also I I do have to say and we brought this up a couple of times if I had known some of the reactions here and if this were shared prior to the meeting we could have avoided this that's another conversation for another day but yeah if people aren't United on this they're we really shouldn't move forward AJ question you want goad no anybody else Mr Mr Mr can I make so we have am I correct there are two motions on the floor right now there's one motion for two correct for for two items uh make a motion to table new business I think it deserving more discussion down the road um new business hold on not usual motion to table new business 24-02 second discussion as I said before I'm all in favor of having training and I don't have an issue with this sort of training and I do see the value in it I'm just concerned about the cost of it but are are we in agreement that this was Shar with the board both at the retreat and on the 22nd in writing because earlier someone did someone did state that this was I did state that and I have gone back and looked at your email and I've have seen the attachment to the link that you put in there yes thank you any more discussion Mr Stars can call the rooll on the OT table the motion table please yeah go ahead um so if we're tabling this is our goal to have discussion in is can can it go to committee can it I don't know if it can be t i I don't know it's a question that I have I think that the people I think that the question people maybe want to know I know that I had talked to Barry to be fair I did go to the president and have a conversation I wanted to know if we could hear talk to the woman as well find out like maybe put some collaborative goals into this plan and then go from there which we spoke about so and I know that that couldn't be done in time no big deal I understand I just that was my question I had so is it something that can go to committee to be spoken about maybe to have a call with this woman a committee and ask questions because I'm not not opposed to I think training is a wonderful thing so that's my opinion I think to some small degree this is on on on the board like this has been this has been bought up numerous times we're having this discussion now I think there are a lot of times over the past not a lot of times there have been times where we could be a little bit more more proactive so maybe in a small way this particular motion and this particular proposal is a good example of a way that we could be a little bit more on top of things and a little bit more proactive and maybe this is the kind of thing that uh training like this could could help with but then like Bob said if not every if it's divisive it might be best to wait and to wait until there is more consensus sure and the whole thing about discussions with people I I would think in in committees and it and it doesn't have to include uh you know Taylor or whomever it's I think as a group you've got to discuss well what is it that we're actually trying to do right what is it that we're trying to do and how do we get there um and and that's it so you know at at this point I'll say I'm not emotionally attached to to any of it um but you know it was a proposal because from the feedback I've received from the board both on my personal evaluation and um you know looking at the board self- evaluation this is an area in need of improvement I offered a you know potential solution and and that's fine we'll look for other other solutions to this but I I guess where I get confused is I'm hearing there's not a problem either so maybe there's not and we don't need this at all so I think I I I um I agree I understand what you're saying I think that my only consideration was when a plan is put in front of us from a company to use and she has are goals here written out right and like what we're going to do and I'll admit I wasn't at Retreat that was when my son was sick but I would have liked to have maybe been a part of that plan so I know that this is the training that some of us feel that we as a board need and we can all collaborate on that together and put that into our PL so that because you know you're saying what are we trying to do how do we how do we what are we going to get out of it well the only way to know what we're going to get out of is for all of us to have a say in what how we do that right that's only my opinion but I think the idea of sitting in meetings together the one-onone I think it would be beneficial I just think that the goal is in the beginning I just want to sure I I I understand what you're and I saying Emily and I I don't think it's overly specific I mean I do have to say that I mean there's nothing I I don't think anyone could look at this and say there's something doesn't matter it's okay any more comments I'm gonna I'm gonna say one you know um so if not now when we can push this I'm going to go with the referendum and fixing things we can push it down the road more and more if not now when and if we put it off I think we're delaying things that need to be addressed Now versus later and I'd like to see it happen so that's my question to you all if not now when but but what what what are we delaying I mean this is a democratic process so what you said before you're never going to find a consensus on anything right there are nine people here and you're never going to have nine people agreeing on any one single item there's always going to be disagreements there's always going to be opinions right so if the goal of this is to get everyone to say yes to everything it's not going to happen no matter what you do that's not the goal right exactly that wasn't the goal I I think the goal that's what I'm trying to say right and then one of the things she's writing here is what it means to serve on the board well we're going to go through this let's do it and then are we going to learn what it means to serve on the board and then are we going to agree on everything that we're that's put before us and the answer is no that's never going to happen and that's maybe her proposal should be redone rewarded and maybe it'll be more understandable but it just doesn't make sense the way it's presented here and I understand we need training I I do want to push and I'm not I'm really doing my best here I'm really trying to play it down I don't think we need to to disparage or or anything if we disagree I mean I'd say can we respectfully End discussion on this and we're going to agree to move on I just don't want to so we have a motion to the floor any I'm gonna End discussion I can do that so I'm I'm going to End discussion unless there's a motion continue discussion Mr Stars can you call the roll on the motion please this is the motion to table Mr singer yes mruna yes Mr pepy yes M Lee yes Mr Ji yes Miss kist yes M lockran abstain Mr Walker no motion passes uh the the new business 24 4-2 has been tabled we have a motion on the floor for new business 24-3 any discussion on that would be have to done and Clos session I'm moving call the rooll Please Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joi yes Miss kri yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes item 11 it item sorry item 17 is there any more new business to discussed bar and I went to the Crim school for national law enforcement appreciation day week and I sat in on one of the programs in third grade with Emily son and I just want to say that I was incredibly impressed with the questions that third graders had for these police officers and when one of the police officers said have you heard of the and the push back from 20 kids all at one time saying like of course um because they were fully aware of what the Constitution was I was blown away by some of the things that they had to say so that was very impressive and my other thing and this just came up this morning because I was dropping my daughter off in school and I pick her up from school um years ago it was against school rules to cross Garson to go over to the YMCA parking lot and they freefor all right now the kids are crossing the street and it just was it felt very dangerous like like 15 kids at one time flew across the street um and I know it used to be a big deal where you got into a lot of trouble if you did that and it's just happening well in those areas we I can actually say we haven't we it's a good thing not that we used to have a student incident usually there once they twice a year um please report that to the administration that's where that would go if there's an issue across and that's actually crossing the township because it's Crossing yeah we we do have two crosswalks there and and we have our our staff out there in the morning if this is in the afternoon when there's there was no um police officer there any other new business you know something I you know we're not doing this I think we need to do something so I challenge you all you know to find something if this isn't it sooner than later I will look myself this isn't the right Avenue or something I I think we need this you know and is that something I can do without approval of the board because it's under $6,000 is it if it can be you know a presidential move but I think we need this and it's good um one thing I I I have been through a lot of Schoolboard Association training you know and and and you know and I participate will be participating in the new board member workshops training and and done others and things and we're looking at them it's important that individually you get trained but there is the teamwork of the board is any any group you need to work together and what's our purpose I think that's where the presentation says what did what did it Jen you you said that you got that the Pres when you went to it what's the purpose what's the purpose here you know purpose statement when we do something you know and um I think we do it well but we can do it great and I want to be a great board so I challenge you all let's you know if it's a book it's in action you send me some ideas and with that any other more new business um and I'm sorry that I sound this unknowledgeable um a couple times it was mentioned that the board all gets along and that we're doing a good job the board doesn't just include us board members right it includes non voting members superintendent as a non-v member of the board and I just wanted to mention that because it's a Collective any other new business I was hoping we could just go into private session for two minutes it's related to evaluation of the superintendent and um just to clarify something whereas a discussion by the board is required on matters that are an exception to the requirement that a public public hold its meeting in public whereas the topic is evaluation and Personnel whereas the expected that the details of the discussion may be made public as soon as the issue may be acted on publicly be it resolved the board of ucation enters into Clos session this time do I have a motion second all those in favor I all opposed we're in close session we will make no Act take no action when we come out and we will just adjourn there thereafter yeah