com out I guess thank thank you everyone for coming this evening it is greatly appreciated uh there has been adequate notice well that's it's actually for it's for the computer for the computer but we'll just I will speak up sorry about that thank you everyone for coming today it's greatly appreciated I'm deeply gratified for all the people in attendance there has been adequate notice of this meeting provided by the Board of Education in the December 28 2023 notice in the asur Park Press the co-star setting forth the date time and location of this meeting similar notice has been posted in the barow hall the brial school website and the Barrow clerk has been notified Mr Becker present Dr de brosio here Mrs mcdevit here Mr Milano here Mrs re here Mr Mr starky here Mr vital here Mrs wal here Mr waler than you I ask that you stand [Music] and to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the May 15 2024 meeting make a motion [Music] second thank you Mr Becker yes Dr D brosia yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr milanich yes Mrs reain Mr starky yes Mr Vitali same Mrs Walsh yes thank you there is not a formal presentation uh under this heading this evening correct that's going to be part of the administrative report all right awesome all right uh we are at the point where we have visitors business at this stage visitors are permitted to comment on agenda items only at this time uh is there any comments sure [Music] request the report that was put [Music] in so in terms of process the board just receives it tonight and reports on it you'll receive a letter tomorrow that will give view um the directions for how to take next steps for any information you want regarding the report or you can call the office tomorrow and we can work that out I'm sorry I I can't I can't obviously speak to a specific case in public right so and I don't know to which case you're referring um so we'll have to again I and we can't speak about hibs in okay real quick I'm sorry and this is my bad truly for anybody that speaks uh I just asked your name in your street W and you're on uh not Woodland I know it 69 sorry sorry I knew it agenda items anyone all right thank you uh Diane are there any correspondences there were emails regarding the uh fall teacher Staffing Staffing thank you awesome acknowledged right we uh we come upon the committee reports uh the first one is District Operations Mr vital please no report representative to manisan Mr Milan uh last week myself and Miss pestre attended the high school graduation uh in addition to some board members that are uh parents Mr starky that graduated and some uh employees that work for the manone district thank you congratulations Mr start thank you I uh it was a very nice event for in so far as how graduations go so awesome curriculum and programs Mrs Walsh yeah so um I'm the chair chairwoman of the curriculum committee all right I'll speak very loud I'm the chairwoman of the curriculum committee we met on Monday virtually June 24th at 12: PM the meeting was attended by Mrs postra and Mrs Pearson from the administration Dave D Ambrosio um Liam starky and president Kurt Becker from the committee and of course myself first we discuss a lot of items the first thing the administration wanted to report on how we had a great end of the school year with a lot of exciting activities there were field trips for the grade levels the eighth grade got to attend their trip to Gettysburg in hery park the field days were awesome and outstanding I attended one myself they were a success based on all the hard work from our physical education teachers the Middle School participated in the battle of the Blazers the award ceremony happened and of course the eighth grade graduation for another topic we discussed the incoming sixth or eighth grade students had math placement letters mailed out to the parents the criteria and the flowcharts and course progression were all shared with the families also all summer work um and suggested school supplies which I appreciate is out already for the upcoming school year um they will be linked on the website so if you haven't you'll have access to that at any time some staff began some curriculum writing for their summer work they're updating the standards for the state they have changed and updated the New Jersey learning standards for language arts and math the guidance department is also being proactive and working with Mrs Pearson to write scl curriculum stands for social emotional learning and they're going to include character strong programming and their morning meeting to streamline everything um let's see also the teachers have been even in the last few days of school when we have half days and they have an extra day the staff had been attending um bunch of different trainings one was on grubba on Atlas that is our curriculum platform that houses the entire District's um curriculum this year coming up they're going to use that platform for also lesson planning this will allow for so they were trained on that it will allow for them to align all the curriculum curriculum updated standards and assessments that are utilized for a more cohesive and authentic planning process for the teachers another great training was the entire staff and I see some of them here today attended uh the zones of Regulation over the last few uh school days that was a presentation that our B we had one night this um school year we had heard from Amy forsight who runs and uh trains trains on zones of Regulation this provides the entire staff with common language and understanding of how to work within school for a whole entire schoolwide approach to help students navigate and regulate their emotions um another topic we discussed was extended school year it's going to begin on July 8th and run through August 8th um the real Rec program successfully started on Monday and will run through August 2nd and the last topic our curriculum committee programming committee discussed was at very great depth the incoming fourth grade and current enrollment across the whole K through a and the administration's plan moving forward in the fall and Mrs pure will be giving a um an update in her she will be speaking in her admin report and sharing about their plan and address all the Staffing and enrollment for the upcoming school year so thank you to the staff at BS for all your hard work and training and planning for all the programs for the students one thing I did forget it was old business we had um a class of 8th grade that was their 30th year reunion they came and attended and worked with the student council and they dug up a time capsule with the former teacher so that was pretty exciting for the students I mean the stuff inside to them was kind of not as exciting because we could really relate to it but it was fun the um anticipation and having former graduates come back and the students see that they they did really appreciate it so thank you for that thank you Mrs Walsh any questions from board all right uh moving along HR Mr mway uh the superintendent provided information regarding the agenda items to the committee and we never met formerly but we just communicated with each other uh Dr D and berio is there anything to re own policy no we me since last month there was no new items from stra that comes to uh CR Community relationship um I don't have a formal report uh as things slow down a little bit in the summer months but um I know that the uh bef has new leadership and um the PTO I'm sure has a lot going on as well so um in August I'll be able to to share what's what's going on for the new school year it goes too quickly way yeah czy all right thank you everyone appreciate that uh that brings us to the administrative report Miss psra yeah I just want to Echo some of what you heard here about a very positive end to the school year so many great events planned for our students and I really want to thank um our parents uh for coming out and supporting so many of those events and making things possible we had an array of great field trips um great Field Day events we sponsored the First Wellness week for our seventh and eighth graders um the graduation the dance was beautiful um so there were so many positive events at the end of the year that really um left things you know on on such a good note um and speaking of planning for next year um I have already met with the leadership of the PTO to start to sketch out dates for next year along with the foundation so you know even though it is summer we got a head start on some of that planning um as far back as you know a couple of weeks ago even before the end of the school year uh one piece of information that I am uh reporting tonight on is our Hib self assessment from the 2223 school year that is before um my time here and this is the time the state is always kind of like a year behind uh but we report out on our own self assessment um so obviously I did not have a hand in this but I can explain a little bit about the report uh the report requires us to look at our practices in HIV in a range of areas from How We Do trainings um to programs that we provide to our investigation procedure and in order to be compliant uh with all the regulations that are outlined in the anti-bullying um law which was enacted in September 2011 um you have to earn 52 points um Belle Elementary School in 2223 scored themselves as earning 57 seven points which again goes above uh what the state requires however you know we also recognize that there is room to grow and as we look back at that self assessment um obviously we met all the criteria but we are looking Beyond um you know this this year um we've taken some significant steps in our programming um we've partnered with nj4 s which is a Statewide Services Hub that provides Ides an array of Wellness services to support students to work with our Middle School population on focused topics uh we have broadened our positive behavioral supports and we've started to really dig into a restorative approach as a facet of our discipline process um our dedicated counselors Health Educators and mindfulness instructors are starting to uh deliver diverse components of character education and student wellness on a weekly basis uh we held regular meetings with our school safety climate committee to make sure that we are um moving forward with the initiatives we'd like to enact um we are um also looking to work with um the NJ State Bar Foundation to provide professional development and our district CST and counselors um are working with them at various workshops so we remain committed to improving our practices and training around HIV awareness and prevention so that will continue to be a goal even though we are compliant with all pieces of the law uh the second piece I would like to present tonight um is around the Staffing um decisions that we're looking at for the 2425 school year um first I'd like to say that you know um I understand that this information got out to the community in in a way that um was not necessarily planned um but I am very happy to have this opportunity tonight to share in person the foundation around this decision making uh before I get into the formal presentation I just want to address um some of the misinformation that was spreading on social media today um one was about the administrative U position being add in uh this has been in the works since I arrived here in Brielle and um when I arrived and in this past year we had three 12month administrators um under our new organization we will have two 12-month administrators and one 10-month administrator so we've actually reduced Administration just to clarify that um I noticed that on social media today and I want to correct that um and also um Mr Ed Slater is retiring and we appointed his replacement last month so there has been no increase in Administration in the district so I also want to now turn our attention um to and and give you a little bit of a sense of what goes into Staffing decisions and how they are made um you know each year oh we have to go back okay okay so if we're looking at the numbers for the 2324 is the first number you see on the left and in parentheses is the 2425 enrollment and looking at kindergarten for 2425 we are up to 48 typically we get a few new kindergarteners in the summer a few late registrants so um that is where where we are right now in terms of numbers and you can see the breakdown by grade one major factor that impacts our decision making and how classes are arranged is how many students receive special education services in the state that average is for 15.9% of students on average I will post all these slides so this will be on the website if you you know so you don't have to take pictures but you're welcome to of course um in New Jersey the classification rate is 15.9% on average here in Belle our special ed classification rate is 23.8% significantly higher than the state average for classification okay and so that is something obviously that has a huge impact on our staffing and and decision making now as we move forward I canot not speak to specific numbers in many of these cases because if anytime a number of a group of students dips below 10 I am not privy to share that information by law in order to protect student confidentiality so just kind of understand that as we move forward um I'm Bound by certain protections of student privacy okay so when we look at that um if we look at the rising fourth grade all right there are only two grade levels in the entire school that have a lower percentage of IEP students so the rising fourth grade does not have a very large population of special education students compared to the other grades there are only two grades that have a lower percentage but those classes overall grade size is larger so we're looking at that and in compliance with student IEPs individual Iz education plans in special education our Rising grade four students will be placed in two classes one will have a special education teacher along with the gened teacher one will have an instructional Aid along with the gened teacher so there will be two adults in each of the fourth grade classrooms right so let's look at why with this group of 44 um you know we're moving forward with that oh sorry the other piece is that so forward we have the retirement of one special education teacher this year and as you know Esser funds have sunsetted which means all the covid money that the government had provided is gone now and spent okay we had hired a contracted guidance counselor here at an hourly rate with that covid money um when that special education teacher retired looking at our needs across the building we made the decision to retain the guidance counselor and not replace the special education teacher and I'll I'll explain why in a moment right number one is you know Miss Pearson in particular has worked very closely to um kind of bolster our multi-tiered systems of supports and our intervention and referral services process for atrisk students so there is a lot of time being put into that process identifying students early um giving them some intervention over shortened periods of time where necessary um and so we need the extra counselor for that uh we have seen students in need of Behavioral and social interventions and you know both of our C counselors handle many student situations and given our staff certification many of our teachers are dually certified we are still able to meet um all our special education students needs so this is why um we are thinking about things a little bit differently one of our district goals when I started here in July was to look at English language arts and math programming look at our students achievement in those areas and make determinations about how well our students were getting to grade level proficiency um how strong were our programs to ensure our students achievement and success and as we started to look at that we realized here that there was no special education teachers providing support in grades K and one right we rely on Dual certified teachers to execute an IEP so we have kindergarten first grade teachers now one each one section has one aid but there is no second teacher in kindergarten or first grade and so when we start to look at where we start to offer support it's great to to end up and you know when we go back and we look at that 23.8% classification rate it makes you start to think should we be doing something differently right because we are not providing support at K And1 even from our own teachers this came up twice this year in our association meetings with our liaison committee looking for support in K and one to intervene for ELA for math so that we can catch kids early and ensure that they fit get the skills they need and it is because that window of opportunity for literacy especially at that age you know you have to catch them early so I want to just share some research on early intervention oh let's talk about this first sorry okay so if we're looking at this I am the solo teacher in grade K and one I've got four different groups of kids who have identified in need of four different skills over the course of a week within my what I call win period my flex period to do this small group instruction I can see each of those groups one time if I receive the support of a special education teacher in that classroom obviously I the between the two of us we're going to get to each of those groups two times a week and provide double the intervention and support right so we know that early intervention when it's concentrated it's beneficial for students especially in literacy and that is where most of our students are coming up as needing support so even when we look at you know um some of our older Upper Elementary grains they didn't have this support in K And1 and yes covid was a factor but still with our classification rates being so high above the state average it's clear that we need to do something else in order to provide this intervention so our kids literacy skills are at grade level so if we look at this here's just some of the research about the importance of intensive literacy intervention and catching kids early right many reading difficulties and disabilities can be prevented if students are provided with early reading intervention we know how important reading is in the foundation of a student's education moving forward through all of the grades right um very low levels of initial reading achievement predict later lower levels of reading achievement even when these students are provided less intensive tier two type interventions right um and if we look at what is most likely to respond to interventions its deficits in those skills that are being taught at grades K and one right so that's that and lastly you know as we look at this research as a whole the impact of reading interventions provided in the primary grades report higher than average impacts on reading outcomes than interventions implemented in the upper elementary and secondary grades so we are being reactive and not proactive and we should try to be more proactive in order to address the needs of our students so that that's what was considered as we started to look at Staffing as our district goal around English language arts and looking at our programming was examined so you know again there's so many research studies that talk about the importance of students reading by grade three right by grade four we start to transition from learning to read to reading to learn and if those early skills are not there students will really struggle well on into their academic career right so we want to take a little bit of a different approach um and and think about how we're using our resources so that we can get more of our students reading on grade level by grade three so you know there and I understand there is research about small class size and you know there is you know a positive correl but I think this research with where we are right now um and looking at all of our data is more compelling and something that I feel like we need to take action on so we look at multiple data points over the course of the year we meet with our teachers we meet with our child study team you know we ensure that we are meeting students needs and their IEPs right we take all these factors into account as we make these Staffing decisions um you know and that should be done annually you know um every year we should be looking at our students needs and our resources and our staffing and how we can best meet our students needs uh we should make adjustments to our program and so that we can advance grade level proficiency for all of our students we certainly recognize that early literacy intervention is a research-based effective practice towards building our kids reading skills and hopefully decreasing the number of students who are going to need remedial reading in the future and just to kind of emphasize the rising grade four will have a special education teacher in one section and an instructional Aid in the other section and this was made you know by looking at our total population of the grade the percentage of IEP students and the students would be heterogeneously mixed across the two sections so I hope that provides a an explanation um to explain the shift thank you Miss Pearson that's appreciated P Miss Pula I apologize that's Miss Pearson this is Miss p uh okay moving along HIV reports we did have there are a few in your folder today um actual all right that brings us to action items we're about halfway into this uh Joe asked that uh we present out of order D1 individually and then I will go back to curriculums and programs and present uh according reason we're doing D1 first is because D1 affects other items throughout the agenda to summarize D1 it's the contract with the Board of Education and the teachers to give them a contract uh for their working uh for salaries their working conditions so on and so forth it's been a pleasure to work with the teachers over the last eight and a half years I've been a board member on their contracts this is a four-year contract and they are fantastic we can't do it without their assistance and the administration M uh clle Mrs blra uh board me all the board members especially the committee M mcdevit was on the committee uh Mr Walman everybody it was great uh you read in the newspaper and you hear you know into other districts it is not such a great working environment so it's not not that like everything was perfect we didn't have a hiccup here or there but when the day is over we all got along and here we are approving a third contract in a row before the current one expired thank you so with that I'd like to move D1 for approval [Music] second Mr Becker yes Dr de brosio yes Mrs M yes Mr Milan yes Mrs re um I believe I have to abstain Mr starky yes Mr Vitali yes Mrs Walsh yes she's conflicted she's comme uh I just want to really quickly Echo uh Joe's comments uh I've been saying for years that the positive relationship between the Board of Education and the teachers are a par Paramount component to this and uh we are deeply grateful to it uh it it is not like other places and uh we are grateful for it thank you okay moving back to curriculum and programs that is uh W yes I'd like to make a motion to move the following items for approval A1 A9 second Mr Becker yes Dr de brosio yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr milanich yes Mrs re yes Mr starky yes Mr Vitali yes Mrs Walsh yes motion thank you uh Mr Vitali District Operations of course um the district District Operations I'd like to move agenda items B1 through b19 I'll second that Mr Becker yes Dr de Osio yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr milanich yes Mrs reath yes Mr starky yes Mr Vitali yes Mrs wal yes motion thank you uh there is nothing under C policy which brings us back to d uh Joe can you present the remaining yes Mr so I also just want to once again emphasize how appreciative the board is or as a committee chair I am of Human Resources to all the employees especially the teachers with that I'd like to move D2 through D21 second Mr Becker yes Dr de brosio yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr Milano yes Mrs re yes Mr starky yes Mr Vitali yes Mrs Walsh yes motion carried awesome thank you everyone it's a big part of the meeting okay at this point 7:35 we come to visitors business uh visitors are permitted to comment on agenda and non-agenda items at this time we just ask that for the viewers at home you approach the microphone and you please clearly state your name and address um by privilege I'm going to be the first to speak and uh I just if you could indulge me for less than three minutes uh it would be appreciated uh there are some components to public speaking uh we simply ask that everyone be respectful regardless of how you feel internally emotionally we ask that you uh keep in check your emotional I IQ um there is a time limit on comments it's roughly 3 minutes we can be liberal but uh I'm guessing on this evening there'll be a lot of people speaking and uh we might have to hold people to three minutes uh technically speaking this is not a Q&A uh you are welcome to make comments you're welcome to speak on any agenda or non-agenda items within your time frame and uh we will respectfully listen and uh acknowledge them we may not have any or all of the answers that you ask this evening uh but again you can speak on anything you'd like agenda or non-agenda uh with the exception of the draw bridge no one can bring up the draw bridge uh I don't know I'm guessing a lot of people want to speak I don't want to make it a free-for-all but please feel free to approach the microphone please go thank you my name is an is this on uh it's not proed computer my name is an nner 636 Park Avenue um first I just want to thank you for your presentation uh I do not believe there's anyone in this room that would argue against special education support and kindergarten first grade um however it should not negatively impact other students and tonight I'm here to address our Rising fourth grade students my husband and I bought a home in Belle 14 years ago long before we had children it took every penny we had from our down payment we cashed in our savings bonds cashed in our coin collection but we did it because we were excited to have the opportunity to live in Belle a small town with a small school district at that time my husband and I were both teachers and we have experience working in much larger school districts we could have chosen to live in the town we work in or at least even closer to it but we chose Belle because of the school in hopes that our children would attend it one day we were looking for a small town feeling where our children would get personalized attention that all children deserve Unfortunately today I stand before you with a heavy heart and a deep concern for the future of our children's education at real Elementary School the recently revealed plan to eliminate a fourth grade section effectively increasing the average class sizes from 14 to 22 students is a decision that strikes at the very core of our community values and well-being of our children to the members of the B Board of Education Miss polstra I must express my disappointment and frustration it is deeply disheartening that such a decision would even be considered let alone deemed acceptable miss polstra you quoted in a recent email replying saying that a larger class size would Foster relationships among our children shame on you for not knowing our community and how well we know each other here in Belle relationships among our children have been murt nurtured and cherished for years they are not built on the numbers of students in a classroom but on a shared experiences friendships forged on playgrounds of Briel Park and tight-knit bonds that extend far beyond our school walls these relationships are not merely incidental they are the fabric of our community W through years of mutual support share traditions and a genuine concern for one another they do not need to be fostered in the academic setting of our classroom increasing class sizes by nearly 60% in one school year is unacceptable personally my son was in a class of 13 this year and with this plan he will be in a class of 22 next year this is a drastic increase this drastic increase disregards the importance of individualized attention and support that our children need to thrive academically and emotionally research consistently shows that smaller class sizes lead to better academic outcomes and enhance student well-being by sacrificing these benefits we are doing a disservice to our children and their future a 2019 study published in the international Journal of educational research found that in a smaller classroom environment students exhibit better behaviors and engage in more learning than their peers in larger classes the same study states that it is the smaller classes that increases the sense of classroom community and a Foster and caring classroom environment where students feel appreciated a study cited by Temple University Center for research in human development and education as well as the US Department of education sites smaller class sizes helps teachers reduce time spent on disciplinary and classroom management matters and consequently they are able to devote more time effectively on instruction learning activities and individualized instruction also cited is that students in smaller classes had on average significantly higher mathematics and reading and achievement than students in a typical siiz class and let us not forget our teachers I am curious to know what the current third grade teachers thoughts are on reducing our students to only two sections as each school year comes to an end our teachers thoughtfully plan for the following year as they know our children and their academic needs what do they think about our 44 students being divided into two classes and what about the teachers that will be receiving them according to a 2021 article published in education Sciences entitled the demographic transformation of the teaching force in the United States 54% % of The observed teachers who left their jobs CED their number one reason for leaving was due to the larger class size in the long run keeping our class size smaller may help retain our experienced teachers we are entering a time in education where teacher candidates are dwindling and colleges and universities are stating the percentage of Education majors at an all-time low let us do our best to not only keep the teachers we have but draw teachers to our district by having the enticement of small class sizes our community expects more from our Board of Education we expect decisions that prioritize the educational excellence and personal growth of every child in Belle our children should not have to bear the burden of decisions that compromise their educational opportunities and diminish their chances for success I urge the Board of Education to work with Miss polstra and reconsider this ill-advised plan let us find alternative solutions that uphold the educational standards we cherish and Ure that our children continue to receive the quality education they deserve let us not sacrifice the very essence of our community with increasing the class size at such a dramatic rate we are not larger neighboring towns that are accustomed to this class size we are not brick we are not Howell we are not Ridgewood we are Belle and our children deserve to benefit from living in a small town with more personalized opportunities in their classroom thank you [Applause] thank you Mrs thank you for going first I'm sorry lner I apologize Ashley um Kowski 501 Oldbridge Road can you guys hear me back here too um I was going to talk about communication but before that I just want to say um never mind I'm G to start with communication um according to Mrs polster's uh cont cont she is supposed to communicate with the community under performance and responsibilities number 10 she needs to develop guidelines and direction for monitoring the effectiveness of existing and new programs I asked for this information about the plan to increase class size in the fourth grade and Mrs polstra ignored my phone calls emails and requests for meeting under Financial man Management number three communic Ates the educational and monetary impact of the budget to the community Mrs postra said she had to reallocate resources away from the fourth grade I called emailed and requested a meeting to discuss the educational impact of this decision on my child's education Mrs poer ignored my requests school and community relations number one promotes Community Support of the schools solicits Community opinions regarding school and educational issues encourages broad Community participation in the Affairs of the School Mrs psra has failed to communicate this entire school year starting with the drop off and pickup schedule a student tragically lost their life this year communication failed surrounding that event there was an incident with an alleged gun threat to the school she failed to communicate that in a timely fashion to the community finally after a year of ignored phone calls emails and meeting requests we have come to this significant restructuring plan where once again phone calls emails and meeting requests have gone unanswered under board responsibilities number eight she's supposed to provide a communication system to keep the board informed of District issues and critical information needed for decision-making whatever communication system that is in place um it seems to be failing I spoke with the board president Mr Becker who seemed confused by the plan or pretended to be confused and said nothing is set in stone he asked that I give Mrs P until Monday of this week to answer my questions I am still waiting to receive my answer to those questions can I ask the questions now and get an answer no response Mrs poer what will be your response time to phone calls emails and meeting requests going forward so to be clear I sent an email out to the entire parent community of this grade level informing them that I would be sharing information tonight which I did correct my questions were not answered so I'm asking going forward when will my questions be answered for email same day phone calls 24 hours can I get a meeting request I can ask the questions I can ask you the questions here if you would like to answer them they were not addressed in your presentation do you remember my questions I can ask them again I will I will go back and look at your specific questions if they were so one question in specific was um what data supports the academic benefit to increasing class size in fourth grade I can provide several scholarly peer-reviewed studies that support a negative impact on education especially in fourth grade which often suffers from the fourth grade lump so what I presented to you again is a priority of needs right this is a fourth grade class that will have two adults in a class of 22 students each one to 11 ratio what I'm saying is that the literacy issue and the small class size here has not produced a reduction in special education needs so therefore my concern is that small class size in and of itself is not been effective in meeting our students needs to get to grade level proficiency especially looking at how high above the state average we are that should be a concern to parents so the correct the you know the response is that if this is we look at multiple data points and the other data point that was really taken into consideration is looking at how we provide early literacy intervention so that we can better prepare students to develop their reading skills so that we do we can get closer to that state average and do not have so many students requiring remediation I am all for that I think that's wonderful my concern is your presentation did a lovely job of addressing the needs of K through3 and completely ignoring the needs of fourth grade K through fourth grade fourth grade has two sections with two adults in each room with one of the lowest percentage of classified students in the grade across the school what are what were their testing scores what were their testing scores on the state test that they just took we don't have those tests so this was done without looking into their their test scores to see how they're failing and what support they might need next year this is not a back and for so if you have specific questions you can write them email them whatever we can't share any individual information you should try to refrain from personal uh comments because the board will not be able to respond respond to them in terms of any employees issu okay so when when can I expect a response to the questions that I emailed um last week and my request for a meeting I usually respond within 24 hours and given the number of emails that I received I sent a an email to the entire parent group I have I know I have specific questions okay send them to so all year I have emailed of various things about various things dress code policy drop off policy and I have never received any but I'm excited that going forward everybody's um communication will be redressed within uh 24 hours you said for emails 24 hours yes depending upon the circumstance okay 24 hours okay good I'm I'm glad and and thank you for noting that you are on social media because one of our parents has been waiting almost two weeks for um transcripts for her student and again you you address shared it with me and not on social media okay wonderful I'm glad that there was um somebody you know finally checked social media and I'm so sorry you're getting frustrated I'll it's okay thank thank 24 hours thank you so much thank you so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] much I'm willing to uh open it up to anyone else thank you oh Brian you can wait behind you can stand behind bro so my name is Margaret spaziani and I'm here tonight as a mother not an attorney my address is 714 Schoolhouse Road in Briel New Jersey um so I was coming here tonight to to hope I can get facts on what's going on with the fourth grade class it's been a rumor mill um unfortunately you know the slideshow was a disappointment um you're using ie PS and I have a huge concern that there are children with the resource room right now in the upcoming fourth grade class that need that resource room that don't have an IP that have legitimate doctor's notes so what are you suggesting to those parents that we either need to find a different school or to go get an IEP this summer and order to keep that resource room open for them because if you're combining the classroom and it's going to be a bigger class I think you're going to have more and more parents putting pressure on that resource room to have those services so miss matters Miss printer gas you know what about the burden to them um I don't know if you guys have considered that I requested a child study evaluation for our daughter in October I had doctor's notes I fought with the school um we did a complete physical evaluation of her with doctors there was nothing physically wrong with her starting in second grade but she was getting called out of school a lot for tummy aches um we spent a year trying to find an answer uh we had therapists produce doctor's notes um Mr s we requested the child study evaluation with they had all of our doctor's notes um saying she needed to be broken out into a smaller room when we walked into the hearing we were told we're denying your request this is just a formality um we emailed all year long and finally got her in in February to miss matters and Miss printer gas so you know my huge concern is what's going to happen to students like this that don't have an IEP but need this CL small classroom setting that have doctor's notes you know what are you what what's your recommendation for us to prepare for the school year because you're going to have a flurry of fourth grade parents trying to get into the smaller classroom there's such thing as performance anxiety in classrooms it's you know kids might be socially fine they might be at your benchmark but you put them in a math or an English room and you know they freeze and they can't process and they can't learn because there's a huge classroom or there's you know 13 students so they need those breakout rooms and I will tell you as soon as our daughter got into those breakout rooms all of her physical symptoms stopped um you know so I just urge you to think about how you're going to handle the overflow with the resource room and give us some guidance um I also you know I'm disappointed with the notice requirement under New Jersey Law I know Mr Becker you said you gave us adequate notice but what about the contents of the meeting you know I'm hearing it through the rumor wh there's no contents included in that notice um and off topic what about your hi reports you guys have to post them online they're never posted online so that's all I have to say thanks thank you [Applause] Margaret uh Brian Bassman 811 Schoolhouse Road um thank you everybody and good evening I apologize in advance uh to the teachers in this building because I've tried unsuccessful all year to meet with the superintendent struggles with my son treatment of how he's been treated by some of the teachers in this building this is the first time we've ever met I've tried when she just said she responds to emails in 24 hours cannot be called anything other than a lie I am sorry I did not intend on saying that but that is a lie and I have the emails to back it up and I will sh I'll share them with all of you my my wife tried to get in touch in November regarding an eighth grade fundraiser no response reached back out a month later because she never heard back ultimately was told no then another leadership person in the building said to me she thought it was something for the high school well my wife runs Key Club and she runs santhon happily the other night at graduation all the manisan graduates that received awards at graduation here both referenced those two activities at graduation we were here for that but then regarding our son we tried we tried because there were staff problems there are things going on the way these kids are being treated can't can't in touch no response first for a week then the emails finally we get email responses that went South fast but still no communication here are so many examples I'm going to give you back to school night a teacher openly tells us our kids are going to hate her well both my kids did oddly enough isn't that a shame had no interest in that story where's this one there's also it also refers to gender there is a lack of tolerance for the Adolescent boy in this building Miss poer says no but how would she know because she's never heard any of the things I'm about to tell her okay we got a nasty email home from our teacher well not nasty but it wasn't nice okay regarding our son we saw the teacher later because our son couldn't believe it he said he had such a good day then the teacher when we saw her you know she said to us he actually did have a good day we were told by Administration to let the parents know no matter what the boys do now you're going to hear things I'm sure later understood my directive things like that all all administrative garbage okay but that doesn't sound like you're reacting to a student that sounds like you're building a case against a 14y old I've never gotten any calls regarding my son and he's not maybe he's not the greatest kid in the world but I'm not getting calls about vandalism cursing sexism none of it it's eighth grade adolescent stuff I'm an educator for 24 years and if I went to my office with the things that these kids are disciplined for I would get laughed out of the office because they're not administrative they're not disciplinary they're just eighth grade boys being disciplined for being eighth grade boys okay our some was also falsely accused on multiple occasions by staff members and disciplined and disciplined being falsely accused how does that sit with a 12 13 14 year old not very well ultimately he was disciplined because of how he reacted to being falsely accused wow how would you react as a 13 14y old to being falsely accused the video proved it and you know who called me back on that nobody my son's words were they can watch the video I didn't do it when I pushed back I had to call to follow up and when I called the followup I said did he do it they said no no but the email that my wife got and I got from that teacher see seeing all the administrators shows the attitude in the building towards these boys the teacher had no hesitation to share it with Administration even though it was false even though it was false because he believed the administration would be supportive because that's how these boys have been perceived the number of times that these kids him and his friends have sat at our table and said I hate Briel over and over or too many to count and lastly some of us might not know this we have another son who's going into sixth grade next year who doesn't come here we had to pull him because of Co understand right a situation presented it I understand all that stuff when presented with the possibility of bringing him back here my wife and I talked for about five seconds we're not bringing it back to B Arby no way that is a red flag we are both Educators within the sending district and if that doesn't tell you something okay you can think whatever You' like me I know most of you and that is fine but when you have two educators telling you the same thing we had absolutely no intention of even considering bringing our son back to this building and it's only worse now because you're dealing with someone who is I'm just sorry is dishonest unresponsive unprofessional I think any way you slce it the most basic form of professionalism now would be you respond to an email and to sit here in this meeting and tell people you respond in 24 hours is a joke Mr bman again we're we can't discuss students or employee issues as you're well aware so if you have issues regarding your child you can bring them through the chain man whatever comments you want to make make but you can't you're not going to get a answer or question I very much appreciate that segue thank you um in our communication I know we're three minutes I'll be quick beond I understand but she brought this up so I'm responding to exactly what Miss Adam just brought up if you truly understand then you'll see way to the fact that I've been liberal in the time Fair we know each other very well I personally know Davis I'll come back I'll come back next month that's fine but I'm still waiting for the chain of command that she says she has thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] Mr good evening be katania 611 Ranken Road I wasn't planning to speak tonight I was really just here to see the big picture um I have four kids we recently a couple years ago had to take one out because the school is not meeting his needs as far as challenging him um so it's interesting to see the different perspectives um regarding the special education and for a long time um I felt like Belle just wants to push everybody along and we don't really see the both other sides I I don't have anything official prepared tonight but I think that is something that has definitely come to the Forefront today I'm an over 20e teacher in a large district and to hear that kindergarten and first grade teachers are expected to teach the general and special education population is appalling I work with an in-class support teacher she works rigorously with me we co- te to the point our students don't know quote unquote who's the real teacher one of them asked us um to hear that one person is expected to play the role that two of us do is very concerning and to that point um it's concerning that it's taken this fourth grade situation to figure out a way to rectify that and that that didn't come up during budget um meetings so that Staffing wouldn't be an issue at this point in the year um going along with that I do have two younger ones that will event reach that fourth grade year and so I'm wondering is fourth grade always going to be a two classroom will that two classroom follow those fourth graders what happens when the IEP population does go up and another special teachers needed what will happen when they get to the grades where they switch classes and there are multiple teachers and there has to be more than two sections so again I'm not sure if all of this has been thought out but again definitely something that needs to take place at Future budget meetings um a couple of other things that I was thinking sitting here listening to other people um in my large District where I teach we've recently actually decreased our class sizes and as a teacher I have been able to effectively feel like I'm meeting the needs of more students the students have been able to um work together in smaller groups and I do feel that it has made a difference um and it is something that was considered in such a large District uh the parking lot situation is a tremendous Gan to my husband and I because we both teach 30 minutes from here for a long time I've tried to get on the on the bus um when my first did start here there was the pay bus um I don't know what can be done about this situation I know there was a committee but our oldest does attend private school now and they have a parking lot the size of this table and they are effectively able to get people in and out in much less time than I have to sit in this parking lot so I think that is something that has to be addressed again again I don't have an incoming fourth grade student but I do feel feel for those parents because I am happy that my children do go to a small school in a small town for a long time we thought about moving to a district where we teach or another place and it keeps coming back to Briel is such an amazing Community with a small town field and um small class sizes and you feel like you're in a private school but again I think there are many things that have to be taken into consideration throughout the year in these meetings um those are just a few of the points but thank you for taking the time and I appreciate everything that everybody said because I know at the at the end of the day we are are all here for the same purpose but as real taxpayers and as parents and many Educators um I think that the big picture is not clear in the decision for next year [Music] hi I'm Lisa Hawk I live at 526 Long Street Avenue um I was just wondering if anyone could elaborate on the um new roles that the three administrated positions have now I saw that the new hire was um dean of students and not vice principal is there a reshuffling of their duties yes so we took what had been director of special services viice principal and um supervisor of curriculum and instruction and looked at all the responsibilities of those two roles and put um director of student Personnel Services SLG guidance as one administrative position that is a 12-month position that will look at um everything related to special education inrs 504 plans um Counseling Services all those intervention pieces for students um mainly and then the dean of students is a 10-month position that will be looking at um code of conduct attendance more student centered issues things like co-curriculars and the Athletics oversight um and then the curricular piece will fall a little bit more Under My Umbrella um and of course working with the two other roles thank you you're welcome thank you Miss H take this out here can I take this out it doesn't no okay I want it's hard for us to hear back here it only goes to the computer it doesn't amplify this room I'm Cara Murphy I live on William drive I have a rising fourth grader a rising second grader a rising kindergartner and my oldest is actually um privately placed at hawkswood elementary he's severely autistic and blind and um I've been working with Sabia and Lisa Kenny since we moved back here my Lisa had asked your question who is going to spearhead the new special needs service I didn't know if that was Pearson or if that was going to be somebody new missar so miss Pearson will be special education okay um I've gone through I have 20 plus years of accounting Financial experience I have gone through this budget diligently I just want to know if we have exhausted all measures of raising funds applying for Grants [Music] um just it if it I realize that you know to increase School funds you could do a tax levy on the town I don't know if there's been any research in that and how much that would actually bring into the school I see that we are like dollar for dooll on our budget every year I also looked and saw previous administration I realized that the covid relief funds had Sun have Sunset they're they've expired um like what was put in place to replace those funds that we got like how was that forward thinking about forecasting our budget going forward um another thing I love how everyone's showing up here we need to show up to planning board meetings it's we have no commercial real estate or commercial taxes coming in and that will really help give money funding our education um there's a lot of different things going around a lot of rumors high density buildings things like that I just want everyone to like also get involved with the planning board and you know if you're for more commercial property especially on greos was and things like that there are people coming forward with plans that I think would increase a lot like at least tax commercial tax sales tax money that can go towards the school um let me see what else I had here I don't know my phone just died um but I would like to know like who researches our grants federal grants we have to apply for and get approved for but those are usually set amounts based on demographics and other certain factors you know districts across the state have seen the um the end of those covid funds and it's a challenge across state and there are not funds to replace them and I do feel like here in B you know there would it the fund money was managed very well that we don't find ourselves on a cliff right where hired a lot of teachers with that money and now they have to let those teachers go um you know so here I think the money was I and I was not here for it so I can't 100% but um we don't find ourselves on a cliff where we've had to reduce staff or lay people off um and I think that is a reflection of very strong fiscal management you know with Mrs Quigley here and and on the part of the board so you know we I think it's a uh Testament again to to really good planning that we don't find ourselves in a position with all of that money being gone that we still are able to maintain the staff that we have um I just want you to be well aware like there are a lot of grants that I was wondering if we have applied for there was a suicide prevention grant that allotted $550,000 over three years and the deadline to apply for that was this past April I don't know if we applied for that we would qualify for that a lot of Grants we don't qualify for because we don't have 25% of students under the poverty line I realize that but we do have and I this comes from a I've been doing IEPs now for 13 years for my son we have a high rate of special needs students there are grants out there that can get us a playground I just find it like I can't understand how you are now asking parents to fund our playground that we have nothing in reserves for equipment or anything like that there's grants for that I know we have an incoming student in a wheelchair we qualify for grants for adaptive playground I just I'm hoping that people are looking into this I don't know who does it I don't know if it's board members or Administration but I I've been in fundraising too for 15 years there's money on the table that I think we're leaving and I just want to make sure that you're exhausting all options that are available to our school thank you thank you m [Music] um hi my name is Ryan Bassman I live at 811 Schoolhouse Road um again I am speaking both as a parent and also as a graduate of a k to8 School something that the other woman spoke before my husband already kind of handled our family issues um but it was brought up that you are in fact a principal and a superintendent and we have we're shifting around and we're doing administrative reorganization we should say you know of kind of realigning tasks but I think that the one task that we should definitely just friendly reminder um miss pster you are a principal and a superintendent I was a graduate of seagar Elementary School SE Elementary School also has a principals superintendent I think it's important that all the students in the building recognize you they know your face they know your name and that they've had a conversation with you especially prior to the end of the school year or perhaps gradu uating as I recently had a graduate um so that's just a friendly reminder based on somebody else's comment thank you so much for your [Applause] time assist on the back of my knee and it's killing me can I have a chair it's like killing me no just like robbing thank you point it down yeah just you should it should be to pick it up what's that it'll pick you up it'll pick me up okay well good evening everyone nice to see so many familiar faces uh board members and Briel staff thank you for all that you do for our children and our school oh I'm Jill kakamas 22 and a half Lebanon drive I'm sorry thank you I'm sorry I am here tonight to um convince you guys to reconsider eliminating a section or a teacher for the upcoming fourth grade class my husband and I have had children passed through the school for 16 years now I'm going to need a cane by the time I walk out of here by the time I key graduates um that we have five years to go the B Community has always prided ourselves with low class sizes and an amazing welcoming small community school this goes for our surroundings Shore districts as well making our class sizes larger will only hinder our children your students re research proves that smaller class sizes increase student learning and a teachers's ability to reach all the students in his or her class we only we not only have children with I APS 504s in remedial classes but we also have moderate and advanced Learners that we need to challenge it's not easy for teachers to reach all of their students especially as the curriculum gets harder before moving into B to raise our six children I was a teacher in Charlotte North Carol Ina Spanish Harlem New York City and Guttenberg New Jersey all Urban school districts all large class sizes it was crowd control why in the world would we want as parents to do that as Educators a 60% increase watching my daughter graduate last week from madisin high school where I graduated high school reminded me of the fact that people born here and raised here return here they may spread their wings but most come back I knew over half of the names of the graduating students because I went to school with their parents I went to school um or I knew their families it's an amazing thing we aren't Bergen County we aren't a large District so again what are we doing bulking up the administration should and cannot be the school's goals teachers are the ones who are handson day in day in and day out with our kids we want them in an environment that promotes and supports optimal learning for all this class needs three sections just like madisin has they have 16 kids in each class also we need to account for incoming transfer students who are always joining us let's do the right thing for our children and teachers remember these children were in prek and K through the infamous uh covid years we have already been through enough thank you for your timeing for keeping children first thank you Miss anyone else M Kennedy hello Board of Education um my name is Ally Kennedy I do not live in Bri but I do work for B and I am on the board of education in my town which is Brick next door so first and foremost you guys are volunteers thank you so much for your time for all of you do the extra hours the evenings that you're here for your meetings it's a lot and it's exciting to see a full room um I know because we get five at our meetings and then when you have an event that comes up you get a ton of people here um I want to speak as someone that works closely with Mrs postra um in the main office I think that and I'm only here two years I started the first day of school last year so I have one year six months to compare with prior Administration and then a year to to compare with Mrs postra and I think that the amount of work and cleanup that Mrs postra has put into this year to writing the ship that was slowly sinking um she's done a tremendous job and I think that this evening may have been difficult for her to hear because everyone is upset with the possibility of 20 two children in a classroom um I can say and I know I'm from a big town in Brick we are losing funding and we are fighting having 35 kids in a classroom and as a board and a in a first grade classroom and as a board of ed member it's put on us for to raise taxes which is not something that anybody really wants to do um but I digress Mrs postra has had a a ton of things in front of her to do she's been very successful in many many things she's done um I think that the staff is pleased with where the building is is going um like she mentioned in the presentation that there was the liaison committee came to her twice speaking about what was happening in the lower grades and I think that it's important that we remember that Mrs polstra came into these issues she did not create these issues she did not um Foster them she came in schedules were made things were done already for her so she stepped into this school year as it is and now is taking her professional um experience and rolling it into things that is going to make it better for all of the children of Briel elementary school because we we as parents want to think about just our child and my child that's a rising fourth grader or a rising first grader Mrs poer has to keep in mind all of those children and do what's for all of the children and I personally think that she's done a great job and am very appreciative of her hard work and her long hours and her um while it may take longer than 24 hours to respond to an email and I don't understand how one person can be a principal and a superintendent um there is so much to do on both ends and walking into a district that was in the shape we were in I think she's done a phenomenal job so I just wanted to express that to you all thank you thank [Applause] you hey everybody my name is Fred Walther 609 Bradley Avenue um I know most of you guys here as po I do not know you I've had three kids come through the school um and uh I've been extremely dis satisfied with the quality of Education that they have had here um I'm not as educated or I did not uh do my research I have four kids three jobs I wish I could come to these more often but I can't okay so just I'm going on basic personal experience my eldest son for an example he got uh he was accepted to High-Tech high school and he was here I think he was number two three in his class here in math he went to Hightech High School took the exam right the placement exam he I think he got 50% on the exam so which begs my question is how could he Excel get a 99 here do extremely well go to a high- Tech High School and not even get 50% on the exam um number two and my other child left here 8th grade went to madisan high school and quite honestly had a a little bit of a difficult time I don't think she was adequately adequately prepared um even though her grades here were phenomenal um she got very good grades when she went to high school it was kind of she hit a brick wall and she was I believe she was unprepared um my recent son okay uh just graduated so and I face I'm looking at the same fears with him going to high school also looking back on his eighth grade I can honestly tell you he was bored he was unchallenged um he had very little to know homework what homework he did have he did it in school when he came home he had nothing to do um when kids aren't challenged okay they seem to go a little bit astray getting a little Mischief that's kind of what he did okay um and honestly because he was unchallenged okay I'm very nervous for him going to high school next year okay which brings me to my my point here is I hear uh you know we're doing a lot of stuff for special ed everything else what are we doing for the gifted program okay I don't want to answer now but I will come back and I think a lot of other parents will come back for the next uh meeting and I would love to hear what is going to be done for the gifted and talented students and how they are going to get pushed okay because being here for a while talking to other parents I feel that the top uh the top part of the the the classes here kind of get pushed through and you know a lot of emphasis is put on the middle and I think the bottom also get pushed through so I would just like at the next meeting to hear what can be done and what will be done for the gifted gifted students okay um my second question is with the um are all sorry I just got to refer to my notes here um are all faculty trained in HIV every single one okay and how often do they go through training it's mandated by the state that there be at least one annual training one annual training okay and then what is is there a certain School regulated um outcome of how these I IEDs are done is it through the school is it through the state how has that worked are you asking IEPs or ievs oh how are they H hi hi you mean HIV Nots not not IEPs there is a whole policy and procedures that are set by law and Regulation and I believe are on the website in terms of policy now everything's handled okay okay but as as far as I know all teachers have gone through the training yes okay and then I do believe my wife has requested um the report and when shall we expect to receive that report you'll get a letter tomorrow that will provide you with directions for how to do that directions to have to yeah right all right we've been asking for for quite some time well we have to wait until it goes through the process before we can release the report to you the board has to have it on the agenda first really can't go any detail no no I I know and I completely understand so anyway that's it thank you very [Music] [Applause] much anyone else okay thank you Ashley Kowski 501 Old Bridge Road uh Old Bridge wrot sorry I think a lot of parents are going to leave here um confused after the presentation so does what our next steps for us um to voice our concerns there there is a chain of plan yeah it starts with the teacher it goes to the administration and if you're not getting a response you can always communicate with the board so for this going plan you know time is of the essence it's the plan for September I'm sorry for the incoming fourth grade the two sections who do we voice our continue to voice our concerns to to the administration okay thank you don't apologize please I wasn't prepared to speak but I feel like I have to I'm Whitney Forester I live at 1102 Riverview I don't speak loud and I don't do well in front of people so bear with me okay um I did listen to your reasoning and I appreciate you putting that out there but did feel a little bit like you're taking from the fourth grade to give to the K through two um and if they're having problems early on it does also feel like it's going to travel with them so um I did write a letter and I was going to send it but I figured I'd I'd read it um transparency is essential in any educational institution as parents we rely on open communication to make inform decisions about our children's education the sudden announcement of the class size reduction without prior discussion or transparent process is a little disconcerting presenting the social impact as a positive aspect of this change is misleading while other while L larger districts may follow similar practices Belle has always up upheld higher standards our community expects thoughtful decision-making that prioritizes students well-being over Financial considerations research consistently supports the benefits of smaller class sizes fostering stronger teacher student relationships and indiv individualized instruction why were such significant decisions made without Community input or a vote parents deserve a voice in shaping our children's educational experiences transparency ensures trust and collaboration between a school board Administration and families and let's be honest this change I believe is driven by um budget cuts and reallocation of of what's going on now however it is not in the best interest of our children more Administration administrative positions than teachers rais concerns about the allocation of resources and our students deserve better as a parent who moved to real in 2016 my husband and I made that decision primarily because of the favorable favorable student teacher ratio at real Elementary I'm not alone in opposing this recent decision and I don't know that it's set in stone but I really strongly urge the board to reconsider and engage um open dialogue with parents and just PRI prioritize our children's educational experience let's collaborate to find Solutions and uphold Belle's Legacy of Excellence Hello I'm Ryan nner 636 parav um I want to start by saying thank you to all those that spoke and thank you to everyone that showed up um I counted there is 57 of us here my biggest fear is that we will be ignored that is my biggest fear I know that tomorrow morning gonna go to your office and say oh that thank God that's over I'm asking you please reconsider this and if the administration will not I'm asking the board to please reconsider this no one here can say larger class as is a good thing I'm asking you to please reconsider thank you everyone good evening my name is Julie Robinson Smith um I'm at 11:05 Riverview Drive I didn't have anything planned to say this evening um I know there's people with many different viewpoints I am not in a school system I don't have any exper experience other than being a child of a third grade teacher for 30 years and having my own children here um I have a rising second grader and a rising fourth grader so I have seen what's been going on in Decay and first grade classes the past two years I'm an active class mom um I have been in the third grade class all year long and I just want to Echo the concerns shared here tonight uh about the state that our Rising fourth graders are in you mentioned being on grade level reading I don't think we're there I have concerns about my own Rising fourth grader and her reading abilities I think her math has slipped in the past year she went from being an enrichment math in second grade to third grade not doing is great I want reassurance that her grades are going to pick back up in fourth grade and like the other parents who have spoken here tonight I just don't I'm not clear on how what the plan is ahead how how larger class sizes are going to make that reality for our kids and I share what the the gentleman earlier said you know my child's both I have a child who excels and I have a child who's middle of the road how are their needs going to be met along with the children who need extra help and who maybe aren't as uh excelling as much I think we owe all of our children um the service to make sure all of their needs are met and Mr Becker you made an excellent point earlier about the excellent relationship that I think it was you or Mr milwich I AP olizee I may have forgotten but the great relationship with the board and the teachers I encourage you to have that same kind of open dialogue and relationship with parents of this community because we have a right to have a say to in our children's education so thank you for listening to all of us tonight and thank you for your volunteer time that was acknowledged earlier because we recognize this is a a big commitment for you as well thank you m [Applause] okay like some other people I'm very nervous even though I talk in front of third graders all day long talking front of gr makes me very nervous but I'm Megan Theodore I live at 100 Lake Avenue in bril um and thank you to all our board members we really appreciate your time and your commitment and we know it's a huge task and pretty thankless at that too so we appreciate you guys um I just want to say um Miss polster's letter she commented about the stakeholders being involved in the decision-making process and obviously we know the board's been involved we know administrators have been involved but obviously the parents who are stakeholders as well feel like they haven't been involved I also question whether or not what the involvement is of those teachers who are directly with those children on a daily basis those third grade teachers that saw those kids every single day and those related arts teachers I see Mr y sitting here what would he think of those kids being in a class of 15 or 16 13 going up to 22 how were they in the classroom were they challenging were there lots of behaviors and is it going up to 22 going to make a drastic difference because my hunch is it will and then next year when we decide that there's only two sections guess what when we get to that year and it sucks and it's a disaster it's too late right you're not going to add another section so I just implore you to really really think about this think about these stakeholders who are here and really get some feedback meaningful feedback from those teachers that were with those kids every day this year because my hunches that they're not going to be like oh yeah that that sounds good put them in a group of 22 that's my hunch thank [Applause] [Music] you thank you Miss Theodore anyone else all right at this point I'm going to move on to uh a really important part of the meeting uh a lot of people referenced it earlier and it is the payment of the bills Mr Vitali can you please officially pay the bills make a motion that education authoriz payment of the following June 2024 bills list and that the secretary is authorized warrant of the treasur in a total amount of 1,682 4199 I second it Mr Becker yes Dr D brosio yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr Milan switch yes Mrs B yes Mr starky yes Mr Vitali Mrs yes yes motion car uh there is a board secretary certification on the agenda that is standard and uh which brings us to uh an exec Ive session which is on schedule tonight to discuss uh Personnel matters and legal matters and uh there'll be no action taken uh I ask for a motion to oh I'm sorry make a motion to go into executive session second motion carried yes thank you everyone again for coming tonight we appreciate your comments and uh