yes pursuant that was me pursuant to the Sunshine Law adequate notice in accordance with the open public meetings Act was filed on January 7th 2023 of this meeting's datee time and place the agenda was posted on the township bulletin board sent to any requesting personal notice and filed with the municipal clerk thank you roll call Joanne charwin here Dr Jen dler here Mike Owens here Sasha Weinstein here Ria benero here anelie Joi here alternate Erica shman here alternate number two Mish Kumar here thank you okay and it's time for the reorganization meeting we did not have a meeting in January so at this point Kathy will run a a reorg reorganization meeting which will indicate who's going to be the chairperson and the assistant chairperson moving forward like [Music] first uh nominee for chairperson for 2024 for the municipal Alliance does anyone have any suggestions I nominate Joan Charon I'll second that thank you very much uh do we have any nominees for assistant assistant chairperson for 2024 I would like to nominate Sasha Weinstein Sasha Weinstein for assistant chairperson thank you second that you need a second yes thank you and all in favor for all in favor for chairperson and vice chair I I thank you hi okay so um the adoption of the November minutes if you've had a chance to read the minutes would anybody like to make a motion to approve the minutes the November minutes I make a motion to approve the minutes the November minutes thank second okay Ria and Dr dler all in favor say I I I I I I I okay before we proceed with our agenda I just want to mention that we have a new member with us today and we're very happy to have you U Mr Kumar um could you tell us a little bit about you about tell us a little bit about yourself sure thank you Joan and uh thanks Kathy for having me over here so happy to be a part of this wonderful organization and the township close to three years in Clan Granary I was in South brunwick and then to Colorado but this was the place we I was destined to be looks like so I'm here I'm my background from the it right uh I am a portfolio director for some of the my my clients into search provider side of it which is on the technology Media Group keeps me busy and traveling and then the second part is working with the kids over the weekend or after hours when in town I have a 12 year 7eventh grader in primary school and a ninee daughter po grader in Primary School under Miss Dr dler so it's it's awesome to be here and amazing we see the changes I see how the things you know changes with the us as a family the kids are enjoying so happy to be part of it and then since I always inclined to give to society what I can contribute from my side in community that brings me to here so thanks for having me here and happy to be part of it well thank you we welcome you to our committee and you will be an asset thank you I look forward for thank you okay we're going to move on to the student representative report very excited to welcome our students today because they have some really great news to share with us please tell us your name before you begin Petra stopus um so we have a jamfest um that's uh this Friday um and we also the drug free New Jersey Middle School PSA challenge the the cranbery school partic participated in that and uh we made a the PSA okay thank you and I have the PSA I'm going to show it two times because it's on my phone once I'll show it in this direction and once I'll show it in this direction and then once I'll show in this direction so I'll do it three times okay because we don't have it connected to the TV and it's a a middle school public service announcement contest through the um partnership for a drug-free new New Jersey and I'm so glad that the three of you put this together this is how many people died of Tru attacks last year this is how many people died of just school shootings last year this is how many people have died of the United States military in the last 10 years and this is how many people have died of just drugs in 2022 alone if you are struggling with drug addiction there is help available such as a national helpline 1 8006624357 and overdose prevention centers excellent okay this is how many people died of shark attack last year this is how many people died of just school shootings last year this is how many people have died of the United States military in the last 10 years and this is how many people have died of just drugs in 2022 alone if you are struggling with drug addiction there is help available such as a national helpline 1 8006624357 and overdose prevention centers this is how many people died of shark attacks last year this is how many people died of just school shootings last year this is how many people have died in the United States military in the last 10 years and this is how many people have died of just drugs in 2022 alone if you are struggling with drug addiction there is help available such as a national helpl Line 1 8006624357 and overdose prevention centers whoever made that did a pretty good job well I agree with you I I think it's a very powerful message and tell us how you all put it together and who did what um so we had the demonstration um we poured one piece of rice or um Bean or something in for however the number is and the powerful thing was you know we poured in all the all the rice for um for for drugs only in last uh 2022 but um a Elizabeth who's not here right now um she was the one that did the the demonstration with the rice um kenes he did the voice over uh he was the voice that you heard and I uh I did the editing so I I put I put everything I put everything into one video you did a really nice job thank you let's give them a round of applause any comments for for our student reps Petro s Kish I'm really proud of all of you for putting this together are you going to work with your uh your teacher to get it sent out yes okay wonderful so that you can um it could be submitted along with all the other students from New Jersey perfect okay and we'll talk about this a little bit later but we have the national drug and alcohol uh fax week coming up and I thought that would be a great opportunity to show the video to your um Middle School classmates okay and we'll talk about any other ideas that you have when we get to that okay so that the jam fest is coming up this Friday and I know Dr dler had mentioned that the custodian are working hard to gently transfer the equipment from the new storage container to the school did you want to say anything about that yeah I was just mentioning earlier that uh it's great that it's working out really well that the carton is in our backyard and available to hold the items the custodians are able to kind of bring them in peace meal during the week um and Dave Galler head custodian has been able to you know give care to them so that they can you know really last for our students so some minor repairs just to make sure that they are in really good working order so it's been I think a good thing that they're on our property so all is well and we're excited about jamfest for Friday yes thank you I feel like there will be a lot of TLC with the equipment and it won't break down as much the custodians will really take good care of it so I'm so happy that it worked out that we have the storage container and that just leads me to ask a question I know that uh the student council wrote thank you cards to the uh different adults yes they were received and um one very beaming Mr Gallagher was so pleased for the note and I think you know it it it was very kind um to to do that I know I received a note I don't think I deserved a note but I received one as well and it was it was um well written very kind-hearted and uh so they they definitely followed through with that thank you very much to you guys and to the student council for doing that okay so we'll move on is there anything else that you'd like to share okay the police report my report's brief I know our lead officer uh Katie wall and Gant has been uh presenting the lead program to the fifth graders this year her graduation date is upcoming soon for that I I do think a few snow days were thrown in mess with that schedule but she's coming up the graduation date soon for that uh additionally I know we are in planning uh with our National Night Out and our health fair together and I've been getting updates on that as well okay that's it thank you very much you're welcome and I'll talk about that later in new business the combination of the Health and Wellness fair with the National Night Out okay our liaison is not here today so we'll skip that our budget if you could just take a look at the budget this is our budget for last year I think it's good to get a bird's eye view of all the things that we did with our money last year we get approximately $30,000 a year to have programs for our community and I think we really spent our money very well we have several categories student education and Outreach the mental health pandemic support mental health support parent Outreach and community outreach so for the student education Outreach we were able to provide funds for the jam fest for the freshman orientation picnic for the mental health support we were able to provide funds for the Teen Mental Health First Aid at Princeton High School through penm Princeton Health through parent Outreach we had two programs this year and when I go through our accomplishments I can explain a little bit more specifically and the community outreach that was the health and wellness Fair our t-shirts different expenditures for handouts the the other side just many different many different supplies so if you look we had um out of all the money that we had in our budget we had 1, 16777 cents left and that goes back into the main budget that doesn't come back to us so I think we did a really great job of spending the money on very worthwhile programs and materials any comments about the budget so we put in our budget for this year the money is not available for us to spend until March because that's when they ratify the budget and as far as I know our budget has remained the same because we did not ask for any additional money okay old business accomplishments for 2023 everybody has a paper for that yes um do you know how long um cranberry Municipal Alliance budget has been about 30,000 per year just out of curiosity well I think ever since I've been involved which has been a little over 20 years oh W okay thank you you're welcome so we we helped to sponsor the this past year the middle school jam fests and they're held in November and February we provided a storage container purchase we purchased a storage container for the jam fest equipment and a special extra thank you to the for the police department and Chief Owens for temporary sto temporarily storing the equipment while we had a more permanent solution and this is a really a great solution so for National drug and alcohol fa week last year we had a student rep who wrote a script for the PSA contest we provided a brochure to Cranberry School parents through the The Weekly Newsletter it was entitled playbook for parents of pre-teens and it was a guide for parents to take actions to protect kids health both physically and mentally and it was for pre-teens and 7th through 12th graders to help take actions to safeguard their health and wellbeing we did student and parent assemblies by Dr Matt B Bellis a better high on the topic of resiliency and reducing Str stress we did a parent and Community Zoom presentation by Dr Omar Abu Baker on the topic of what parents need to know about opioids we participated in Cranberry school's 125th anniversary celebration on April 30th by setting setting up a table with information and displaying drug-free T-shirts from the past 30 years the health and wellness Fair celebrated its 30th anniversary and we created a t-shirt quilt which is actually not ready yet but I have a picture of it look what it looked like so I'm just going to pass the picture around so every next time I hope to have the T-shirt quilt here so you can all see it in person Princeton High School orientation for freshmen in August we provided sandwiches and information on teen helpl line penm Princeton Health conducted Teen Mental Health first aid for PHS sophomores and trained 10% of PHS staff members in Mental Health First Aid in order to support the students and that training is ongoing it will continue to occur in April right okay we set up a table with information at National Night Out cranberry day world Mental Health Awareness Day along with pen Med and the mayor's Wellness Committee in cental state Live Well mobile health clinic and Red Ribbon Week the students did activities and the theme was be kind to your mind and we gave them some drug information giveaways as well as we did for Halloween and we advertised a free virtual Narcan trainings made available through ruers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and there were several per month available that anyone could do virtually and get a free kit so that is those are our accomplishments did I leave anything out that anybody could think of okay at a later time I'll ask the liaison in our committee if our accomplishments and goals can be presented at a TC meeting so Teen Mental Health First Aid that will begin in April right yes we're just waiting for the schedule from this um principal okay and requirement of that is that 10% of the staff needed to be trained in was it Teen Mental Health Mental Health First a youth mental health first aid and they did accomplish that before the school year started yes let's see the fourth grade folder contest this year for the first year the fourth graders and I'll pass these around participated in creating a design for uh the folders that fourth graders are invited to do throughout the state and I'm sending them around now so you can see what the submissions look like from cranbery school and Erica thank you for touching base with Stacy and getting that information to me so I could share it with everyone so we haven't heard anything about whether or not any of our students were selected to be on the folder but we're so happy that this is the first year that the students participated okay we talked about okay we talked about everything in Old business is there anything else in Old business that anybody else would like to talk about did we talk about the meeting Deeds I'm sorry to thank you our meeting dates will remain the same we had talked about it in November and at that point it was too late to change the meeting dates so yes thank you for bringing that up the dates will remain the same and that's the third Tuesday of every month okay new business goals and that's on the same that's on the same sheet they're more generic because we don't have specific speakers for our goals and we're going to be talking about that so General Municipal Alliance goals for 2024 Implement programming for National drugs and alcohol week sponsor middle school jam fests November and February combine health and wellness fair with National Night Out August 6th work with cranberry school to implement programs on drug prevention for students and parents provide drug and alcohol educational mental health and wellness programs for students parents and the community participate in community events and provide resources to the community on drug prevention Mental Health and Wellness through cranberry day world mental health day Awareness Day Halloween help to facilitate eighth grade transition activities to high school plan activities for cranberry school for Red Ribbon Week partner with other boards and commissions on activities and programs for example the mayor's Wellness commission we've done some programs with them the Board of Health and Parks Commission and those are our general goals for the year any questions about the goals okay we it says third grade coloring contest but third grade coloring and activity books the partnership for a drug-free New Jersey in cooperation with PS and are offering a coloring like Life Choices coloring and activity book for third graders and I ordered them last year and Dr dler spoke with the health teachers and they did incorporate them into their lessons and this is what it looks like would we like to do that again this year I want to defer to Erica I know that they were part of Health last year I don't know if it was the grade level that you worked with last year is there any thought on would it be something that we would want to have again yeah um unfortunately it was not my grade um but I do think that that is very engaging um for the students and I think that they enjoy activities like this um and so I would say if it's in our ability to do again I would definitely say so okay terrific I will order them and is is it okay if I send them to Cranberry School in your name yes Abol okay and then you can give them to the health teachers that teach the third grade yep I will okay thank you National drugs and alcohol week okay we saw the wonderful video that you guys did and I know that Mrs Grilla was going to be talking to you and the student council about any other ideas that you have for that week is there anything that you'd like to share with us okay well would you be willing to uh would you be comfortable with your video being shown to the sixth seventh and eighth graders sometime during that week okay that would be wonderful Dr dler when do you think would be a good time to show that Health classes I don't know if you still have advisor advise um there there probably be a couple different ways to go about it um one might even be at the start of the day in their like after the morning announcements and then kind of show it um I believe we have box lights it's a way instead of a Smartboard it's a and we can push things out so I could even ask if we could just even push it out so then it's just seen by the school of all of us at the same time um would you like me to find out and kind of share when we're back next time when we did it do you want me to make sure that happens yes okay I can take care of that and Mrs guerillo has the Miss guerillo has the video okay all right I'll check with her and we'll make sure that it's shown the week of March 18th to the 24th okay wonderful thank you last year I talked about that we sent out during that week um information for parents the playbook for parents of GRE teens I found something else that I thought would may be helpful for parents if we can send it out during um alcohol and drug facts week and it's talking to kids about Alcohol and Other Drugs five conversation goals number one show your disapproval of underage drinking and Other Drug misuse two show you care about your child's health wellness and success three show you're a good source of information about Alcohol and Other Drugs four show you're paying attention and you'll discourage risky behaviors and five build your child's skills and strategies for avoiding drinking and drug use so does this look look like something that would be good to send out to parents during the national drugs and alcohol fax week yes Dr tler yeah and the way that um I send things out uh through a newsletter I'd be happy to have this be part of our Thursday newsletter if you wanted it to go out that way we don't really just send separate individual items anymore we try to Cluster them and do it weekly um so if if you get that to me digitally I can make that be part of the communications um I could do it leading up to that week so I can put it maybe two times I'll put it the Thursday before the week of March 18th and then that week as well okay perfect okay thank you you'll get me the flyer digitally and then I'll put it absolutely does anybody have any other ideas on how we could acknowledge National drug and alcohol fact week we've done different things in the past we've had speakers different programs students did programs so so far this year we have the information for parents we have your Wonder wonderful video does anybody have any other ideas on anything we might want to consider incorporating right now we have something for students and something for parents does that sound good yes okay okay National Night Out Diane Stanley who's not here today she couldn't be here Sasha and I met with officer Glennon to talk about the combination of the health and wellness fair and the National Night Out this in the summer the first Tuesday of August and Diane provided her notes so I'll read her notes to everybody she said that um this National Night ad has been historically run by the PBA in the township last year Italian Touch provided Pizza they had hamburgers and hot dogs they had a DJ the police department would like us to contribute towards food we discussed having a healthy snacks table fruit bars Etc and possibly some healthy food vendors and also possibly contributing financially to the uh to the cost of their food because I know I think he said that that's the most that they um most of their budget goes to food I think we also discuss possible vendors the driving simulators the drive program and that is the driver response impaired vision exercise the site impairing vision goggles and cart that was really popular at the health and wellness Fair officer Glennon didn't know if we'd be able to get it because we're in competition with other cities that are doing the same celebration everybody you know all the police departments do it at the same time so he said he would reach out and see if we can get them he didn't think that we'd be able to get the state police helicopter but you know maybe they would fly by Poss possibly we discussed the possibility of an inflatable I know that they did this in the past and they haven't been doing it lately I think someone had gotten hurt and they were concerned about that but he said that it's it's a you know we could do it as long as we can make sure that we have insurance from the town that will cover it and we'll also need two people to run it and in the past we had a uh an inflatable called the vertical rush and it was like an obstacle course that you had to get through and then climb up the ladder and then go down the slide and that seemed to be popular with all the all the ages and there were two people that we hired from the company to watch over that to oversee that so do you think that's something that would be okay Chief Owens I do okay we also talked about maybe doing the doing the t-shirts again and but thinking rethinking it in thinking about it in a different way not getting as many but the students always really enjoyed having the contest and entering their designs for the drug-free message or health and wellness message and exhibitors we are going to reach out to exhibitors such as Nami the National Alliance for mental Health penm well we're reaching out to you now yes I remember seeing you guys last year and let's see police department has games like cornhole and different things for the students National Night Out is held rain or shine we discussed attendance and how to get more residents out and Dr dler you had mentioned that having students perform is a good way to to get more people out and officer Glennon said he was going to talk to you about it to see if that would be okay with you if we did have some local students perform so I'll I'll wait until you guys get back to me before I go ahead and invite any students to come and perform you know songs or um vocal or instrumental music okay no I think they could probably just go in front of the DJ booth yeah and I think that you know some of the things they kind of bring they've gotten the chance to do this different places so if you just have your guy reach out to us I'll put them in touch with our music teachers and they can make something happen good thank you so we will meet again uh towards the end of May beginning of June we'll uh well we'll reach out to officer Glendon in early April and set up another meeting because it's really was too early to start planning and we're going to check out South Brunswick National Night Out because that is a very large one and perhaps we can get some ideas they have performances I know I've been to it's really widely attended but I think a lot it's like a lot of community they actually have I believe they have like a stage and they have different performances through but um I don't I don't know is that for funding or something like they make it a big deal they win contest and stuff about it they were actually voted one of the best one of the best National Night Out now what kind of performances did they have you know I stopped by and see it but um there were I I think students but I think just also local and that kind of thing it's funny I think every place does it a little bit different and for whatever reason reason for for them they like took on that we're going to make it and make headlines with it I think most places do a beautiful job like we do in Cranberry so that's really the extreme um their size of their Department probably is also like more than quadruple R so I can understand why but I would say the performance piece what from what I remember it was student groups but it was also like you know like the local like dance studio like they let them perform there and those kinds of things so maybe there'll be something to learn from them to to to get more people involved that way um it's hard to compare in the size of the two different places you can't I mean it's apples and oranges I think we have a great turnout for our National Night Out and it's wonderful to be able to have all that great food to see the police officers out to see all the vendors and it's it's an exciting time that we look forward to um I know that South Brunswick has a Whole Health um and wellness Pavilion I think it's led by the um Health Department there um because we participate there too I haven't personally been there but one of our staff member says um but you know it's not too early because I'm already from pen I'm already getting other towns sending their form to participate oh sending their are be sending out from people who already participated as far as the booth you know the tables go right so find that out okay so you're talking about how you participated last year yeah yeah okay so we're in but yeah so we usually fill out of form and then okay what about verbally that we want to do that well I'm going to write that down now but then I had a different contact from last year who you have I had Nicholas Rodriguez he's our President John is our vice president the one that's assigned to head up okay so I should reach out yeah so I don't I'd have to get his contact information but I'll just wait for the email guess so um knowing about other National Night Out programs can you recommend anything that we could add to this National Night Out um as looking from the you know the Viewpoint of the municipal Alliance I I don't think so I think it's like pretty similar in the towns that I've been at but like um Dr disler was saying South Brunswick they every I'm on their U Municipal Alliance meeting uh board as well a committee and they always talk about this competition and how they came in like second or third so they're really trying to win it so I I don't know I think this find out yes I'm sure they have very me beauty of cranberry is that it's just like an a small town so you want to just keep it that way I think I think the idea about getting some local talent to perform I think that's a good idea Plainsboro does that at their founders day but they have a big stage set up you know any way to get the the kids involved the parents is is a great thing well to me it's not about the competition it's about the community connections right so I wouldn't you know strive to win any awards but I think the ideas that you presented were fine does a school have a stage like a portable outdoor stage during covid is my understanding that we were able to utilize and set up so I know and even in when we do our eth grade graduation we have these Riser so we we could definitely make something and if there's anything that was wanted you we could you could borrow it we could use it so we could probably help make something if that was a Direction wanted to go nice okay that was a good question thank you so maybe we can get some risers if we're able to get some students to perform they're really heavy though right yeah yeah especially when Jen will be walking them over to Village Park from the school yes no she'll be pulling them along on the hand truck across Main Street of okay that's great do you have anything else Sasha to add about our meeting with officer Glennon and Diane sure the only thing I'd like to add is I mean Joan you did a fabulous sh summing it up but um the idea of inviting uh local student talent to this uh was more to get the older teenagers involved because they are sort of sometimes lacking in these sort of community events so were like oh they like to perform so bring the performance their friends would come and then the parents and the grandparents who comes is really just to tap into that older Teen um Niche and how to get them out on August this will be it I think yeah I really like that idea of you know the teens doing something and then giving them the opportunity to meet the police officers in town and to you know establish that relationship because it's such a friendly event and it's really a great opportunity for you know the the teens the children the parents to meet the police in town and see how wonderful you all are okay so anything else about National Night Out okay next is Prince uh pennmed princet and Health Community Wellness programs Ria has some brochures to share with us Ria do you want to say anything about the magazines or highlight anything that's in in the magazine yes so this we used to have a magazine that came out every two months um but due to budget cuts reorg whatever you want to call it we're they're cutting back which is unfortunate because everybody loves the magazines so I believe there's only going to be one more after this one and no more magazines no more magazines everything will be online so this one I think spans about three months so the next one we've already had to put everything in in there for the next uh last magazine you know it could change but that's what we've heard so in there are just the programs that we offer um I act I'm actually dealing a lot with um the library here so we're bringing some nutrition programs in and we do um I started this hobbies for health program through pen so we've done hikes we've done painting we've done um crocheting can't think of what else we oh fishing so we um can do something like that for we're going to do a hike in Cranberry so I said do you have any trails in cranberry and there actually are which I didn't know about so we're g to plan one for the summer oh that's wonderful yeah um but yeah look through there and if there's anything that you find interesting we can bring it to Cranberry okay okay thank you you're welcome any questions for RIA so we'll look through the wellness programs and see if there's anything that catches our eye and might benefit you know doing through the municipal Alliance now um I wanted Erica Erica hi Erica Erica is one of the health teachers at cranberry school and we're very fortunate to have Erica on the committee and I had asked Erica if she can give us a brief a very brief overview of what the health teachers cover in the health curriculum as far as drugs and alcohol prevention are concerned so that we can start to think about what we might want to offer to supplement whatever you do um yes so I did take a look at our curriculum um and so some of the just a basic outline of what we are teaching um so we have disease prevention so treatment medications um we have alcohol tobacco and drugs how it impacts um the the person using them their lives and then the people around them so their friends their family the community um physically mentally emotionally we cover laws on Alcohol Tobacco and drugs and the impact that they have on the school and community um we have we talk about signs and symptoms of Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug disorders um and then the impact that drug use tobacco use and alcohol use has on the brain um and so in terms of vision sleep coordination Reaction Time judgment and memory um and then we we pretty much close it up with the services that are available um for people with substance disorders and ways that they can get help and who they can talk to okay that sounds very thorough do you tell the students about the 988 helpline yes oh okay that's great yes and then there's also a youth help helpline through second floor we have a flyer that has all like the hotlines and um information of who they can turn to okay that's great okay thank you you're welcome so taking into consideration what Erica shared for does anybody have any ideas of well first of all does anybody have any questions for Erica Erica I have a question when do you do this um so it's actually our next unit um so we should be starting um the beginning to middle of march across the board oh that really um coincides with National Drug Al was realizing as we were going through things that it really is all at the same time which is great yeah that is great yeah and all of those topics are covered through sixth seventh and eth grade yes okay and just how deep we go in is the difference between the grades okay do you or does anybody else have any thoughts about um what the students might benefit from uh you guys is there any information that you feel would be helpful for for you to have before you head on to high school that's related to drug and alcohol prevention I know I'm putting you on the spot you could think about it does anybody have any anybody else have any thoughts Erica yeah I mean I spoke with um Mrs Elliot who's been at the school for 20 years I think now um and so she said that in the past um that they had done um like getting new material which you know we we do that um but games and videos um she said that they've done in the past but it's gotten too expensive for us to fund ourselves um so they kind of went away from that um but she said that there are games and videos on this topic that really get the students excited involved and engaged um within the lessons that maybe we can take a look at um you know or look into for the kids okay Could you um ask Miss Elliot to put together a list yeah absolutely of all the the materials that she thinks would be great for the health curriculum and how much everything costs and we could discuss it as a committee yeah definitely okay anybody did you have something to share the right the only thing I can think of that that might be effective might just be announc doing it on the morning announcements daily but we already do that for during during the drug drug-free week however if you were to make it something maybe monthly or daily daily it it would occur it could have reach out more because sometimes we listen listen to the morning announcements sometimes we don't okay so will there be morning announcements during National drug and alcohol facts week yeah during that week it they're announced every day okay is that something that you can talk to the student council about and ask them if maybe they can put together a collection of factual announcements and if it's okay with Dr dler maybe they can other than special occasion weeks those messages can be delivered as an announcement yeah yeah we can discuss that okay that would be great if they um decide to do it I know that um Miss Folton and Miss jell and Miss Pella they all helped coordinate morning announcements so if if you had one that you wanted to do like something monthly and gave them they would then make sure they're spread out so that it's definitely doable so talk to student council and see if you guys can come up with something good idea good idea thank you I wanted to share with you a parent program this is a person that I was in touch with last year when we had Dr abubakr I was also in touch with Dr Kelly Moore she is the director for the center for Psychological Services and ruter and she let's see she could do a program and we liked the idea of it for parents involving how to teach kids to make good decisions and how to recognize early signs and symptoms of anxiety and where to go for help so we weren't able to fit that in last year but we did talk about that briefly in our committee is that something that you think would be beneficial for parents as her coming in as a speaker either virtually or in person or do we need to think about how best to reach the parents because I know that our two speakers last year were not very well attended um I could talk a little bit to this because part of our our district goals this year was to create um and try to launch a parent Academy so that there's opportunities over the course of a school year for our parents and so this year we have been trying to Pilot it and it's honestly just happening this spring for the first where we're we are having two different parenty this spring um one of them is around seal and we're bringing in a speaker and we're doing some um engagement with the parents where they're doing a little bit of learning and then they're going to be able to kind of make can take some um tools for for them with their their kids at home whether it be like one of those rain maker shaker like something that they could do to help from a mental Wellness standpoint the other one we're actually partnering with the county and with our with our police department and it's around cyber security um Internet safety we're trying those two out this year and we're seeing um what our numbers are like we're trying specific times of year um and we're also um going to um record them and then post them to our website so that they can be viewed at another time um our goal will be to if if we get enough and I think for us if we have 20 you know that would be enough and maybe even 18 um we're small we know that um right now I have about four parents signed up for my seal and we haven't pushed it hard yet um so I I don't know I think we're overextended I think it's busy um we we can try to do it completely virtual um uh so that's an option as well so we're trying different venues this one is an inperson one um but I'm wondering if if we move forward with this we're looking at trying to offer every other month so five times over the school year that we have some kind of parent opportunity night I would love if Municipal Alliance wanted to have one of those months that it's sponsored by the municipal Alliance and it's one of these speakers we definitely could partner on that and maybe if we have this as packaged as this Parent Academy for the year and here are the topics um parents might say oh yeah this one and this one I'm going to be there for this or that that so it might make it maybe a little bit more normed for our families um and it be you know kind of expected each year of like what is this year's topics kind of a thing that's what I'm hoping for my prior District we had um something like that and um again bigger District so you know our numbers were more but you know percentage wise you know if we could get 20 families out for these different topics it it could make a difference um so I don't know when you were thinking but if if you wanted to um you know be a part of what what we're thinking we could definitely make one of those um through like from the municipal Alliance I would absolutely love to do that and I did not have a time frame in mind and I think it fits in really well with your goal of the parent Academy and having a different topic do you think that that's a topic that parents would be interested in yeah give me the title of it again too because I'll bring it back to my um people okay how to teach kids to make good decisions and how to recognize early signs and symptoms of anxiety and where to go for help okay that's not really a title it's like a description what it is yep and um do you um one of the things that the municipal Alliance helped us with in my in South Brunswick they always did like that hidden in plain sight have you seen that it was um for families and it was around recognizing for parents to recognize and see and it was it was around this time of year that they did it because it coincided with um uh the drug-free uh week and um or the partnership for a drug-free uh school and it was a retired police officer and he was you know he he spoke at schools and it was kind of that idea of how you know there could be paraphernalia there could be things right you know directly in front of you you don't realize that they might be being used for for something than their purpose um and so they would they would sponsor one around drug-free education every year this topic I think would work well as well so I'm open to whatever whatever you like but if you wanted one to be around one of the missions of Municipal Alliance I could have you guys kind of have say which which what time of year you want it and then we can work around you all so um if you want to give thought to that we're not making next like we're not making this um uh program until closer to the end of the school year so if you wanted to give thought to it and then we talk about it more on ideas um maybe later this spring um but we could definitely prioritize Municipal Alliance having you know one of those and having a key spot or time of year that that you prefer okay that sounds great with the hidden in PL sight is there a fee okay there's a fee associated with that yeah that's a speaker and I know that that was um the way like they contributed towards the school they're not as involved I would say as you all are here so I think that was their way to kind of connect to the school they did that um for the whole district and then they had some connections with the high school um but yeah that was like kind of like we did the Matt Bellis it was that same idea they they had it it was just part of our whole Academy is it for parents and students that one um if I'm remembering correctly that was just for parents okay well that sounds great I I really like that idea what does everybody else think and I'm open to as far as you know when would be the best time to do that do what do you think Dr dler um for which the the hidden plain site yeah so I if you wanted to do it around you know this time next year or in coordination with with any certain time that we are doing some of the education um we're thinking about kind of doing like it every other month so just not to be too taxing to families so um October I think we were saying and then probably not December so I I'm not we even I shouldn't get ahead of myself um if you have an idea um you know if you wanted that in like a January or March that might be a good time for for that topic or if you felt like in October but October isn't that what is October October's respect week and violence prevention violence prevention yeah so maybe a January or a March might be a a better time of year March maybe next march for um National drug and alcohol fax week week that might be a good time for it and I don't know if you guys connect with any of the other counties but I feel like that hidden impl site is a pretty common one and they might have others that are better so I don't know if if if um the contact that I have she's not I don't think she's part of the municipal Alliance there any longer um so I can try to get a contact for you to to do but I it might even just be a simple Google search I'll look okay okay and in the meantime you will talk with your committee about the program that I talked about for maybe the fall yep helping kids to make good decisions and early signs and symptoms of you said you have a speaker for that as well yes we do and I did listen to her and I thought she was really great what was her name her name is Dr Kelly Moore and she uh works at the Rutter's Graduate School of applied and Professional Psychology okay awesome thank you I'll I'll share and um I can we can talk about it at one of our next meetings then okay awesome great thank you any comments about the um I love that idea of the parent Academy that's wonderful and instead of just every once in a while a parent program parents know that it's coming every other month or so and they can really pick and choose and they could make it maybe a night with their friends where they can go out and listen to the different programs and topics and I think you know I could see it you know catching momentum fingers cross yes it's a wonderful idea okay so is there anything else that anybody would like to discuss if anybody can hears of any speakers that might be good for students let me know because we do have money in our budget that we can use for speakers maybe we can use it for for games and activities for the school um we'll see when you know we you bring that list back and we'll discuss it but in the meantime if anybody could think of any speakers that are important or any topics Chief are there any Substance Abuse Prevention topics that are more relevant now well there's a lot um but I just touching on the impact uh communities that you were talking about the hidden in plain site I looked it up as you were speaking about it uh impact communities. org is where you can find the information on it looks like they have a mobile truck that comes out with the bedrooms like it simulates a a teenager's bedroom with all these areas where they could hide drugs or all kinds of stuff but uh that's where I looked it up on it but I don't have any ideas off the top of my head but I always listen for potential speakers uh when I'm out on you know at the lead conferences and things like that I do keep an ear out to see if there's anyone that would be impactful for our organization here and I'll continue to do so okay so from what the police officers see are the um I don't know if you can really say but would something like vaping um education marijuana opioids um any one of those topics of course I think any uh educational programs on any of those topics being a you know father of teenagers myself and I see what's out there so you know between the vaping and the Cannabis and all those and any of those are impacting our youth right Erica does the your curriculum cover fenol and opioids and yes okay because that's really scary that you know a person can take one pill and really not know what they're taking and then they can die as a result of it so um if could just add um if you know you know to um when we're teaching the younger kids if you could just prepare them the fact that you know whether in high school or college or beyond that they're given that um not if but when when they are wherever they are and they offer that what are you going to do don't ever think just teach them that don't ever think this is not going to happen to you it's just a matter of time like what are you going to do when it's presented to you I think we just have to really prepare our kids leaving um the school that it's just a matter of time so what are you going to do when you are presented with this yeah thank you thank you so we have it's a new year we really have an open book we can look at different programs that might be helpful we can look at different ways to reach students as Erica has suggested just think about it and when we get together next month maybe we can brainstorm again some other ideas on what we could do to really reach out to the community and to reach out to students okay does anybody have anything else to discuss okay would anybody like to make make a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn thank you Dr dler would anybody like to second that I'll second that Chief Owens all in favor say I I okay meeting adjourned thank you thank you oh and everybody today is Kathy's last day as our secretary so please say your congratulations and grab a donut or um I mean a cupcake oh I'm sorry oh no not next month next year yes yes I'll see bye bye thank