good evening I'm not gonna gav I'm not gonna gavel Regina I'm just gonna mention that I won't gavel Regina until hi good evening meeting a Jour at 7:03 pm the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the East retherford board board of education has caused notice of this meeting by having the date time and place thereof provided to the record and South bergenite newspapers and to have published and posted in the VES burough Hall and the public library copies of agendas are available 48 hours prior to said meetings in the board of education office and are posted on the the east Rutherford school website www. erboe.net now if we could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our members of our Police Department fire department First Responders and our Armed Forces I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice thank you roll call Mr bka here miss Caruso here miss colie here miss laruso here Mr ban here and Mr seini here fire exit locations audiences left our right straight through our audiences right our left right back here straight out School business administrator report Mr thank you Mr President start off my report with the buildings and grounds and transportation report District y we are working on a qac checklist making sure items are repaired and functioning properly routine work orders and the annual boiler treatment was added into the boilers as required McKenzie school is what I just repeated for districtwide as well as Lincoln School at fa we are getting plumet estimates to replace a 3-in galvanized water line that is about to burst updated the software on all three heating boilers uh Transportation want to make a correction it's not September it's October we had six bus driver absences and 10 bus Aid absences between the month of October and the first week of November and the Board of Education building security shades on office stores are now all in storage next is the mashio October report balances thee prea prepaid balances at the end of the month is $857 the negative balances is $18,995 this includes negative balances from 2223 school year as well as the current school year okay next is the approval of the facilities calendar for December 2023 are there any questions so far on the report actually I had one on the calendar there's I think there's a conflict on December 5th it looks like there was two things at F that night in the gym the women's volleyball and then there was an Honor Society or something like that well there's something going on the 5th the fth December 5th December 5th you'll have it somewhere else okay y okay okay got it thank you Mr Right uh move it any other questions before I move on to the finance items okay so F1 is the approval of the bills list for November 2023 general fund $2 29,40 185 Capital outlay $528 45 special Revenue $3,365 capital projects $2,514 for a subtotal of $297,900 45 our October bill for health benefits and prescription was $224,400 um $ 4868 and a special activity fund of $200 for a grand total of $522,500 cents F2 is the approval of the October 2023 payroll for a total of 1,222 5440 the financial reports I'm happy to say that we are on track so we are in accordance with our Treasurer Mr trazzi and I actually met last week we had a very good conversation so we're happy that we are on track with our financials F4 is our transfers for October 2023 uh everything is in line with the treasurer as well as the board secretary's report F5 is the preliminary proposed budget calendar believe it or not for 2425 so the the goal is to start the budget process for 2425 come December so you'll see the the proposed budget calendar for 2425 no never mind no before you know I'll be doing 25 26 oh God maybe hopefully I'll have some um F6 we have to do this annually and submit it to the county it's our comprehensive maintenance plan for 23 F7 is the health and safety evaluation of the school uh building checklist for all three buildings Lincoln F and McKenzie the reason why we have to submit it uh as soon as possible because we are in qac here if not it would have been a statement of assurance by the end of January but because we're in qac it needs to be board approved uh certified board resolution will be sent uh in this in this regard and f8 is the the approval to submit the midyear budget review documents there was a Litany of questions as well as a an Excel spreadsheet that needed to be filled out that's something that we have to do every year and that they require on November 15 I'm happy to say they're not calling us into this to the office so which is a good thing if they have any questions I was informed by the county uh ba that they would contact myself and Mr John cro and the last two things are addendum item is PF 2A which is the approval of District use of facilities on December 5th at from 5 to7 at the allpurpose room for the National Junior Honor Society and then finally we do have a second bills list which is f1a and we have general fund of $ 74,7 19966 special revenue 9,242 for a grant total of $84,500 um it's no this is the actual expenditures worksheet okay it shows F Annex and McKenzie but lincol is not on there which one is that there yeah for the State uh with Lincoln they're recognized as the annex I was told oh yeah okay mhm I didn't make a I I did make a a note of that and I did ask them and they said that they would address that in the future so note that it would be Link in there as well I thought it was this building yeah okay thanks well this building is also included too in there we also have to include this building yeah any other questions comments concerns seeing none thank you superintendent report Mr Jan CASRO thank you Mr calini as part of my presentation this evening we have our student friends here our Wildcats to assist us or assist me in this report so first I'd like to introduce to mik is um Mr Chris tanell uh students for the National Honor Society to give their building reports Mr tanel good evening I am here tonight with two of our student Representatives who sit on the National Junior Honor Society at fa school we have Joseph Mahia who will be giving the report for fa school and Lincoln School tonight and kavish ganger who will be giving the report for MacKenzie School thank you um we are F below below are some of the amazing things that take place during F School F School National Junior Honor Society sponsored November school spirit week from November 13th through no November 17th school and staff participated in various school spirit related activities throughout the week spirit days included twin day sport Jersey day wacky hair day superhero day and fall callers day The English Department Mr tanel Miss Petrus and Miss beay had their students participate in the USS the new the New Jersey submarine commissioning coin design contest the coins were sent off to be judged against several other schools in New Jersey students designed a coin and wrote about a significance in symbolism the 8th grade honors English class created their annual Veterans Day video all students in F School viewed the video during their enrichment classes on November 8th students from the 8th grade class will also be presenting local veterans with beautiful card and positive messages of thanks of their service each grade level attended Comm Community College I mean Community meetings with Miss barali Mr Koso and Miss Muse to review um review School Norms procedures and file schools expectations the student also had opportunity to participate in a school-based reflection survey foul school council elections will be head held on November 22nd student will be able to uh campaign and make speeches for their PE years in a schoolwide assembly Lincoln the ne has begun their monthly meetings and activities an initial an activity saw how you say collages being constructed in Lounge areas to highlight the important of anti-bullying messages November is Native American Heritage Month in Lincoln schools in embedding learning opportunities highlighting Native American history and culture through throughout the the curriculum from for Ran's day students R thank you cards to soldiers and those who are currently slash have served in the armed forces and the cards were shared with the operation gratitude a group of students led the charge to celebrate Dali in Lincoln School a video was created sharing information about the holiday and student made announcements on the PA system to proudly display their cultural celebrations the Thanksgiving feast at Lincoln School will be held on November 22nd signup sheets have been distributed to all parents/guardians and the PTA is looking for volunteers to help support the event thank you this this is the monthly report from McKenzie for Red Ribbon Week our McKenzie third graders planted red tulips in front of the school and around McKenzie school's flag pole and Centennial Time Capsule ceremonial marker to signify their Pro promise to be drug-free and healthy bodies the school participated in ve red day on Monday October 23rd all grade level teachers were given resources and activities to teach students about living drug-free and making good choices to have a health body daily announcements highlighted Red Ribbon Week themes that the students learned about in class as part of McKenzie school spare week on Wednesday October 25th all students and staff Spar Spar the pink on wear pink day with the PTA providing pink breast cancer awareness bracelets thank you to all who participated and to all who donated to the cause and awareness on Halloween McKenzie showed his school SP with our annual Halloween parade thank you to all who participated and the PTA for the collaboration and support a special thank you to the erpd for their support for the parade and all that they do each day McKenzie's School staff and students honored our local veterans for Veterans Day with their Veterans Day assembly on November 14 that was facilitated by the third grade team and students at 9:30 a.m. in the multi-purpose room McKenzie school celebrated the vcat of the month for each grade level during a roar assembly McKenzie school will have Wildcat Friday Fridays for the rest of the month where staff and students will be varing school SP gear our weekly golden ticket program is conducted on Fridays to highlight and focus on students good character and good behavior on behalf of this National Junior Honor Society I want to thank the two students for being here tonight to read the monthly report support and we are looking forward to returning again next month to deliver all the great things that are happening in our schools and if you can come on out to our induction ceremony on December 5th we would be delighted to see you there thank you Mr tanel thank you Mr tanel and thank you both so much I always I say it every month but it is a little bit more interesting coming from you guys than from Mr Gan CASRO I think we all can agree exactly it's only fair absolutely it's only fair hey next up I'd like to introduce Mrs barale School principal of the middle school and Mrs be as as well as the eth grade honors English students s Bry we good once again good evening and welcome we have our honors class for 8th grade here to give a beautiful presentation um that our school and the students saw in their classrooms um you're going to enjoy it very much they put a lot of hard work in time and Miss beay works so well with them and they look forward to doing this every year every eth grade is so excited for this big event um and it'll just speak for itself so miss be it's all yours thank you Mrs Bry good evening and thank you for having us tonight tonight is very special to me personally because I get to share what we are doing in our grade8 honors English class and simultaneously honor all veterans and our very beloved local VFW Post 8374 our grade 8 honors English class is very special because while we do cover our grade grade 8 Ela curriculum the rigor at which we accomplish this is elevated and provides opportunity for us to do wonderful projects such as tonight's presentation I am very proud of my students and blessed to be a wild cat today and always in addition to Joe and kavish I would like to introduce Miss nelli conteras and Franchesca CA come on up my classmates created their slides recorded their voices reading their information and then email me both their slide and their recordings I then edited and compiled everyone's contributions into an iMovie I work to ensure cohesiveness and equal volume levels for each component I really enjoyed the process of putting the movie together thank you we created several slides to show and represent how our nation uses monuments to onor veterans there are 26 American Military cemeteries and 31 Federal memorials monuments and markers that recognize and honor veterans our iMovie showcases several very important examples art is excuse me art is an important form of self-expression and is Wonder and is a wonderful way to demonstrate love and respect to our country we created drawings of poppies an eagle and a helmet draped in the American flag to symbolize our interpretation of Veterans Day we created a Veterans Day card to our local VFW Post and presented it to our to our Quarter Master Matthew rushi this card will be on display at the East R East Rutherford VFW Post for our Local Heroes to enjoy you will see the card at the end of the iMovie the version of our movie that was presented to the our peers at F school also included an informational piece about veterans and their service animals as well as how dogs are also soldiers and become veterans during their retirement from active duty our peer audience enjoyed seeing how animals keep help help keep our country safe and comfort veterans who suffer from PTSD we hope you enjoy our rovie all question technical good person if I change it here it still would it still would receive yeah that's this one you're saying change it here change it change it it's all right we just want to hang out a little bit longer I couldn't oh come out of this feature that's fine but the projector what you trying to say what I do to you I couldn't get sandwiches I couldn't get sandwiches water underne you want can everyone turn off your mics artist class by the end this presentation you will understand my better state is so important and how this national holiday came into existence also you learn about some of the United States monuments I see some moving clips of veterans with their families both human and fairy we hope you enjoy our presentation have an amazing day Day a holiday that celebrates and commemorates the military veterans of the United States armed forces first celebrated on November 11th 1918 review of the arm of 198 the formal agreement of World War I families friends relatives all joined together in memory to honor their ancestors that served in a war on November 11th we celebrate Veterans Day to honor the men and women who gave their lives to our Beloved Country their Blood Sweat and Tears Are cherished all hours of November 11 every year we acknowledge veterans dead are alive who went through many G things to serve and honor our country how's Veterans Day celebrated the United States is an official celebration for Veterans Day that is annually at the national secrity individual states of their own parades to celebrate Veterans Day well of friends and families joined together in various places in order to remember the achievements of their ancestors in the war schools teach students about the importance of learning about veterans St symbolism of poppies part one for most people poppies are just flowers but for veterans and relatives of veterans they are so much more but poppy flowers symbolize remembrance consolation and death since ancient times poppies and tombstones represented Eternal sleep the poppy flower has been a symbol of peace and Remembrance since before World War I happy also symbolizes rebirth symbolism of poppies part two on Veterans Day poppies give remembrance to those who fought and rised their lives in war on September 27 in 1920 the poppy became the official flower of the American Legion family the flower was chosen due to its known definition of Peace poppies signify peace death and simply sleep which goes along with the meaning of veter day Veteran Day and puppies have one thing in common which is peace people fought and risk their lives in war so this flow gives memories to the ones who die Dancing In The Wind shifting together as one the undying Unity strings the country together sacrifice saves the country's land in peace standing in the field I commemorate all those who protect me visiting memorials and monuments gives me time to reflect allowing my body body to thank those who left becoming Foreigners for our benefit sacrifice saves our pride celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks and sparklers sitting on the beach with my family waking up to sore necks from craning at the sky sacrifice saves our family time in the end we all comprehend how without veterans life how we know it would end we thank you for your freedom and our sacrifice because sacrifice saves us all the 107th infantry Memorial the 7 infantry Memorial is located at the intersection of East 67 Street and fth Avenue in New York City it was created by the sculptor Carl Morning Star the sculpture depicts soldiers in the midst of a gruesome battle the sculpture cost an estimated $60,000 the size is 9 fet by 11 in high 15 ft by 8 in wide and 10 ft deep while the pedestal is 7t 7 in tall and 32 feet 8 in wide and it rest on a 25 foot wide step Granite piee it was designed by Architects Rogers and Hayman the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a symbolic grave for the Fallen unidentified remains of soldiers the of the Unknown Soldier houses three unidentified courageous Fallen Soldiers an inscription on the tomb reads here rests in honored Glory an American Soldier known but to God on the East panel of the Tomb there are three figures that represent peace Victory and valy World War II Memorial the World War II Memorial is located in Washington DC the World War II Memorial is a monument consisting of many pillars that list the states and territor of America its designer architect federick St floran on a national open competition the memorial took three years to rebuilt and was first open to the public on April 29th 2004 the USS Arizona Memorial located at Pearl Harbor Honolulu Hawaii this marks the death of 1,177 sailors and Marines during the attacks of Pearl Harbor the attacks on Pearl Harbor is what led to the US involvement in World War II it was approved in 1958 and then built in 1961 Anthem Veterans Memorial The Anthem Veterans Memorial is located in Anthem Arizona the monument is made out of a quartz and cost $125,000 this statue is to commemorate the Lost lives of Bravery of the US Armed Forces on November 11th at 1111 the sunshines directly between the holes the Five Pillars symbolize each force of the US Army and one on the Sun the holes it symbolized a union of all five forces honors the ace Memorial honors the men and women of the United States fre stainless steel buyers send up to 42t above on the walls seal their inscripted values of EV Pioneers to support the United States Air Force the duration of the making the in 1993 Congress ideas honor the men and women of the Air Force and 13 years later on oober 14 2006 the memorial was Ring location in Arlington Virginia Which overlooks the Pentagon and her interception of Columbia Pike in South Joy Street this Memorial is a most recently built DC Metro Area James anded the plans also created and planed a Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC byz hi my name is Gian Sanders and this is my interpretation of Veterans Day I used a mechanical pencil to create this drawing hello my name is Franchesca cada and this is my interpretation of Veterans Day to make this drawing I used color pencils and a mechanical pencil thank you [Music] all [Music] oh to our local veterans at VFW Post 8374 Quarter Master Matthew brushi Commander Jeffrey yanov yeah paing for traumatic I thought what thank you for watching have a wonderful evening thank thank you thank you all so much for not only putting this together and presenting but also coming here giving up uh Thursday evening uh it's not you know I know it's not the most glamorous but we really appreciate it and thank you principal righ thank you Miss thank you so much for putting this together it means a lot and it's always good to see what's going on in the schools and and kind of get this that's my favorite part you know finances maybe someone else's favorite part but I like seeing what what kids are doing so thank you again and with that as much as you may want to give up the rest of your Thursday night uh for the stimulating board meeting if you guys we take no off EV if you guys want to head out yes uh please we'll take like a two-minute pause if you but if you guys want to don't want to stay for the rest the meeting we again we totally understand thank you again thank you it was just the playing of the all good give her another minute just for yeah current current board members at this point I do okay to continue with my report Mr calini we have mckeny school 373 students down three foul School 233 down two a total number of 7 59 students districtwide all fire drills and evacuation security drills were done for the month of November proud to announce that there are no HIV investigations for this month which is great our students are working really hard um to do what's right uh Mr barachi went over the referendum update we're just trying to finalize and close out the rest of our facilities uh projects and renovation projects qac is still scheduled for February 12th was at a round table this morning um really was applauded um by the county about the amount of progress that we are showing um that's off the chart so they were very uh very happy for comparing last year to this year and there's still a lot more growth to go longrange facility plans are continuing to be updated uh just real quick for the board members I'm not sure if you saw it on New Jersey school boards Association and NJ dooe information um regarding Ells no longer are we going to be using that acronym right we're going to be using multilingual Learners MLL that's the new new acronym um so just got used to right ESL and ell now C why would they do anything productive it's either do this or do something prod know how many meetings they had to discuss that people there look look at all we're doing for so a couple of the new updates to the multilingual Learners is the shift to ask based language uh that's number one including students in a NJ doe approved preschool program to identify multilingual Learners uh there's a requirement for high schools now for ESL course credit policies um add dual language immersion program for the purpose of meeting the language instructional educational programs and requirements enhancing teacher training for professional development for ELD which is English language development standards uh and then provided an example of list of documents that need to be translated at the federal level um all of this has to be in play by August 2024 so we are doing that plus everything else that we have to do um one more thing um that the team and I are taking care of uh okay technology we're still working um we're looking at our information security program plan uh currently right now we have up and running a fleet of 800 new Chromebooks um that are doing well we had our annual technology fee to help subsidize the cost our server and national uh networking upgrades are in process uh following the federal e- rate program moving right along special education we have 134 students up one student um in districts uh up one out of District staying the same okay for the county level up update So currently there are some improvement to disciplinary practices that are coming down from the state um and that's something that uh districts across New Jersey are looking at for the 22 23 24 school year um we're also looking the state is looking for our call for behaviorists it's very difficult to find behaviorists right now anyone in special education understands that so they put together what we call a school-based board certified Behavioral Analyst advisory panel committee that's the full name of the title um and currently right now the NJ doe is looking for even retired behaviorist to come back after the 180 days to assist school districts with um ABA so it's very uh very interesting Dynamic uh currently right now uh the state of New Jersey is working with Rucker Center for comprehensive School mental health Wellness uh looking at comprehensive School mental health uh resources for school districts Frontline which is our new IEP format uh format or platform is currently underway we're almost there a lot of work so I publicly want to thank Mr valard for working along as my entire administrative team as well as Dr King Dobson um who had spearheaded the front line uh it just makes it more seamless for all of our teachers and our students uh let's see curriculum couple of things with curriculum So currently right now I met along with Dr King Dobson our math coaches our science coach our Ela coaches being able to develop a framework for our teachers to work within um teachers have found it very uh very comforting that we have coaches inside the classrooms without evaluative eyes which are really nice it gives a you know the the staff Peace of Mind knowing that there there there's someone there for them to assist them even though they know that administrators if we have to come in for any reason we also can go in with evalu of eyes not evaluative eyes to a SI uh with their professional growth uh phonic first training is now completed that's part of our elll program and we had submitted our gifted and talented annual report to the Bergen County Department of Education and our kindergarten screening is now near completion couple of housekeeping things real quick um congratulations Miss Mena our new board member congratulations on winning welcome welcome um emails had gone out M man I don't know if you received it yet an email had gone out about week and a half ago just to uh for training oh beautiful okay that's coming up um also for all new State Board of Education oh new uh c um Town Board of Education members there's going to be a weekend of training for governance training for all new board of education members you get to choose June 19th through to the 21st or February 23rd to the 25th that's governance training so again January 19th to the 2st February 23rd to the 25th 90 days within 90 days um governance training has to be taken care of okay for all new board members um as well as I have reached out to Matt Lee from njsba for full board ethics training which will take place on January 18th 2024 I'm just waiting for his confirmation so get that done where all board members sign the Ethics Committee e ethics um sheet and there's anything else I just want to make sure I didn't miss I have a walk-on that's going on tonight underneath Personnel correct correct two Personnel Walk-Ons underneath superintendent resolutions now back to the agenda so uh let's see uh no there are two hi um uh investigations that we had done last month that we're just confirming this this month here underneath curriculum we have our student field trips and transportation requests are there any questions on any of those you'll notice that there are some that say carlat on there may confuse you right but that's because we have a shared service agreement with them for vehicle use for our schools um during usually it's between school or after school because we just can't do it during the time that we transport our students because we need our buses right we need our buses um underneath personnel Kelly education substitute list which is our monthly um listing travel expenditures underneath Personnel let me spread that real quick Hey so texo uh Mr valard and I will be attending that Cooperative learning reimaging at Taro m d deric will be going to and then Mrs barale will be taking advantage of the leadership roundtables that's on the agenda the two Walk-Ons today because we just found out that we're extend we could extend to all principles will be Mr uh Mr valard and Mr barl will be joining so that's something that you will be also approving um we had to get it in as a Walkin because it would be after the fact and we can't board approve something after somebody goes so uh let's see we are going to be replacing um Miss Mrs gadala we have a new staff member um Miss Nicole nioria you're going to be um accepting her her her position here special education teacher uh we're I did reach out to Linhurst she's coming from Linhurst I did reach out there is uh 60-day clause in the contract currently right now so we're just waiting to see I did speak to the superintendent of schools and as soon as he finds replacement he will release within within those 60 days so he was very helpful so thank you to the superintendent of Linhurst uh let's see okay all of the second readings that we did last month for all the policies are just the same exact ones um I do want to um talk to the board about CR2 that everyone get a chance to review that our request of the board was to provide um our staff members that decide that they're going to leave whether they're moving whatever their situation is um I did work um with Strauss Esme um I was able to develop our own policy added to the policy um where they it's it's voluntary it's not mandated that we have to do that a lot of Staff members do not want to fill out a survey um but we have it there and it's part of our policy that we could have it's nice because it supports the board in why we do what we do is supported by policy and regulation so that will be a first read only and you'll be reading a second one December it goes into action the day after your December Board of Education meeting chronic absenteeism um October chronic absenteeism was good everything was above 90% um one of the questions that had come up um I had reached out to Sharon um Rosario from the County because there were some questions on our state testing where we're saying prog um chronic absentee is making sure that not only are our students taking the assessment it's important that parents understand sometimes parents are apprehensive of their children taking a state assessment just take the test right because it affects the district our numbers are affected on that so it's just important um it's not going to retain your child if they do poorly on the test it just gives us more data and it gives us more data that we can share with parents if there's any questions um we do prepare all of our students whether they're going to take the test or not but one important thing is that our children stay healthy and they're in school every single day not just for the test every time we have chronic absenteeism and this is across the board this is not just east Rutherford this is districts across New Jersey every time we have a chronic absente issue it affects our test scores it's just the way it is and then it it brings us down instead of brings us up so it's just important that we stay healthy and get our children in school really really important um travel expenditure which is P2 any questions on our travel expenditures yep that's anything else any other questions for me any questions for superintendent G cro I just have a comment on the enrollment that'll be updated correct because yes correct correct that's correct this I'm assuming was yes done a couple days prior correct yep okay thank you Mr Bank any other questions comments concerns uh just thank you for uh adopting and building that policy so quickly after we we discussed it so thank you for the turn around all right thank you Mr G CASRO I will now open to the hearing of citizens on agenda items only please address the board president each person wishing to speak while five minutes each anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity to do so please state your name sign in anybody I'm not waiting five minutes act last time Arena no he didn't say that uh all right why do you have a comment on other items do we open to yeah all right I will now open to Citizens on any item only this way get you can get out please address the board president each person wishing to speak we'll have five minutes each anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity to do so anything yeah yeah yeah did you see how many technical difficulties we had please or yeah yeah take your time is this where I stand okay hi my name is tal arenson and I'm the proud mom of a new kindergartener at McKenzie uh I thank you so much for having me oh it's 264 Randolph Avenue East Rutherford New Jersey 07073 um okay uh I have become increasingly aware of anti-lgbtq rhetoric and misinformation spreading online in our community my question is what is the board's role in addressing this and how do you plan to keep those members of our community safe thank you so much for your time thank you m Ericson it's a good question uh it's a good question I wasn't prepared to answer if you give me 30 seconds yeah so I will say that as a board our job is to right any child regardless of background regardless of identity right is to keep them safe and educate them as per New Jersey state guidelines right and we always look to foster a community that is right that allows for children to learn in a positive environment right and it may be you know like I said it's background I mean background more generally as to right religion race Creet right we don't look at that we look at facilitating education and that's our job our job is the school board as a whole is to enforce our policies enforce New Jersey state curriculum guidelines right and address any concerns that come up so I appreciate your question but yeah it's our job is to educate children right our job is to Foster education of children regardless of where they you know anything yeah you're welcome any other questions comments concerns none there you go hello Dorian kirchof 13 Grand Street East Rutherford I have a question when the school psychologist pulls a child aside because they were wrongfully accused of bullying another child to the point being told that a school lunch Aid is keeping an eye on your child at what point in time do you think it is appropriate in your eyes to contact the parent because this happened to my child and if it were to be true it would be corrected at home nobody is allowed to speak to my child without contacting myself or his father we have stated this before to you the board to let you know and none of you know my son he is the first one to help somebody he is the first one to stand up for somebody else but yet my child was pulled out of class and talked to and then watched by your other staff and nobody contacted me I found out way after the fact that I should have from another parent not anybody that is hired by you guys or employ employed by you guys I'm one of God knows how many other cases I found out from another parent it's unacceptable you should not be speaking to anybody's child without advising their parents because you know what contrary to what everybody believes majority of us are good parents and we're home and we have clear communication with our children and make sure that they are being raised as respectful children I am not pleased with plenty that's going on with this District along with the fact that my child was spoke to by a child psychologist and nobody contacted us unacceptable can I ask followup questions do you want uh just I'm gonna ask not personal details about your child because I don't want to know um it was recently in the past month or yes okay I I I'm asking because I want to investigate this further yeah yeah because I emailed the psychologist okay twice and she never got back to me and told me it went into okay and have you emailed the school principal and do you have okay yeah no no no no I don't want yeah I I'm just asking yet for my investigation but it's just in general in general nobody should be speaking to somebody yeah as a standard I hear you miss kersa just real quick I have a question for you if you don't mind just want to make sure I have the the way it was spoken so did you reach out to the teacher I did speak with okay per email or just spoke to did you spoke to verbally or your email I got pulled aside okay for separate things let me know what was going on okay okay okay um which wasn't a bad thing but just to be let me know I just want to be clear how I found out a few days prior to from another parent that it happened that's her and she said I never heard I never hear anything of it okay in terms of a followup okay then I went to parent teacher conference and she still didn't have a followup but earlier that day when I found the psychologist outside the school completely said oh no I followed up with the teacher and everything else never did okay and never answered my email I had to pull up in my phone to show her that I emailed her twice and she never got back to okay so the teacher you email the psychologist and Mr Barrow did you call him yet I did not get bar could you please send him an email tomorrow morning I will follow but him first thing in the morning I want to do emails I would rather speak face to face with somebody perfect perfect perfect perfect even in the email to her it was very broad kindly give me when you have time to speak to me about my son especially when I don't know somebody I do not right no right yeah got and she never called never called never called me and I only saw her because my son said hello to gotcha what time is the appointment tomorrow Mr Barrow I don't have one yet oh oh you're gonna make the okay no problem okay thank you any other questions comments concerns okay and I'm by the way Miss scetch off I'm I I personally I'm sorry that's it's unforgivable to not write this situation yeah I'm just going to state that that is and uh yeah no yeah but to not yeah yeah then drop their investigation without me being advised yeah falsely accused of bullying is not okay bullying is not okay but falely and being watched by somebody else no just real quick is an HIV investigation put in is that what you're saying oh you don't know that there was a l watching in okay around got report that there was no reason to further her investigation okay she wasn't she wasn't informed that there if if you have to speak you have to tell us your name and if you're going to speak mention it to me yeah please the more information is better for me so I yeah yeah just so I know right are right right no yeah yeah and I I don't want you to put personal information there but the more information I can get with you know kind of like yeah so I want to get all the information to okay may Regal five mckeny um so dorine reached out to me to me and she just explained what happened so when she heard investigation she obviously as a parent has no idea what HIV is because it's not really discussed in such a young age like this so if the school psychologist said investigation that means that there was a HIIT case opened and she wasn't notified that there was because why would she say investigation unless it was a plan like not it's a plan on words but saying investigate further instead of but it could be as a school psychologist right I don't really know who's in charge of like you know whoever runs the Hib or the coordinator in the building but the fact that the school psychologist is probably shared between the two schools you have one in each we have one each School you do okay so I'm pretty sure school psychologist would be on the HIV they would either be the ABS not the ABC they would be the ABS okay some talking about obviously so if it's investigation she probably opened up the report put the information pulled several kids questioned them and she never received the the letter that's supposed to go out to a parent letting them know that your child is part of this investigation that's not accurate what happens is after the investigation has to go through the 10 days once once we finalize the investigation ites days for them not until after whatever the case if it's positive or negative it's it's the parent that's not true the parent has to has to be aware that their child is being in yes yes I like the outcome of it there is no outcome because there was no conflict that's what the school psychologist mentioned problem but the fact that that 24-hour letter that's supposed to be printed out mailed home and put into the folder was not sent out to her so that's where they dropped the ball it's not a mailing not just so you know it's not even if they put in the folder there is a letter right there's a letter it's just a generalized letter that comes pretty much from the state like everyone has the same thing in New Jersey so the fact that they didn't receive that information even if it's a simple phone call but she had no idea that her son was part of investig how it will happen yeah I get that once you investigation you think you would think it's fair fair fair Elementary second second grade harassment intimidation so you don't really see that much of those aide would be like oh just a regular investigation somebody who has that background knowledge would say oh okay your child either was part of this bullied someone and then ites 10 days finalize it and then she would get right that's correct that's correct so inial OCC the initial and if it was 10 days which you're saying it is I would have received it because I have to then reported to the board so right so there was no right so that's why I'm like if there was an HIV investigation I would be getting it you know yeah we' be talking about it right and I know nothing so maybe there was right but she should at least know mom should know what's right understood yep I'll look into it you're good I tried like that five you're I I I gave you five minutes not intentionally [Laughter] but I I've been on the other I've been on the other end the only person yelling you start looking like the annoying the annoying person yeah not that you ever [Music] would was excited to start so I thought I would use my last two meetings to get my public voice in as a parent before I'm officially seated so I wasn't going to do it then I was and then I heard dorene's played about her I guess just parental knowledge and what's being happening um so I'm going to take take this opportunity to go back to 5756 so I'm sure that many of you have been following what's been going on with 5756 in the news um so as of right now Sparta Freehold Handover Middletown marbo kenalan Homedale coltsneck Powell Millstone and ly all led the way in securing parental rights and sanctioning the sacred bomb between parent and child and abolishing policy 5756 so what is policy 5756 exactly 5756 requires districts to accept an confirm students um asserted gender identity without the consent of a parent it makes it illegal for the school district to inform parents if their child in K through five wants to be addressed by an alternative name or pronoun inquires about participating on a sports team um other than their biological sex and want to use a restroom other than their biological sex this policy also allows boys in the girls restroom and locker rooms and vice versa if they identify as that gender all without a a parent knowledge this policy also prevents schools from informing parents if their children are receiving mental health counseling and services so there's a lot in this policy in a previous meeting where we discussed this we were told that we can face a lawsuit by the state however in light of recent events I'm here to tell you that this has been um wild misinformation the districts that were sued were sued because they made Provisions to the policy not because they abolished it they were told by Strauss smme the company our district now hired that the policy was mandated which um eventually led to the lawsuit when these districts amended it during one of these lawsuits against Handover School Board in September deputed State Attorney General James Michael said policy 5756 was in fact not mandatory but rather guidance for the districts Strauss Esme um replied to the CR criticism stating it is my opinion of a policy and is required by law and in addition this policy is classified as mandated applying to Strauss sme's criteria so it is their definition of mandated and not the state's definition as mandated furthermore um they went on to say that the issue being litigated is if the provisions in the state's guidance is a correct interpretation of the law and how it must be implemented by school districts and not um not because you actually have the policy in place but whether or not you have the right to appeal it that means that these districts have a right to actually abolish 5756 in middl Board of Ed members are pushing the district to no longer work with stal Esme and instead move to the New Jersey school boards Association which also wrs policy for the New Jersey Departments of Education why would our district now hire a policy who misinformed hundreds of districts on a vital policy impacting students and families knowing that it led to Major lawsuits I'm here asking you all again as a parent to revisit this policy that is a clear violation of parental rights we need to support and nurture our children both socially emotionally and academically but cannot do that with this policy in place because policy 5756 is not mandatory our board you guys all have the right to vote to abolish it this policy um has the for has the state forcing districts to strip away parental uh parents constitutional rights and are convincing parents or rather convincing students that their parents and homes are not a safe place this policy is documented cases of those of the biological sex in restroom and locker rooms in use feeling unsafe across the streate and forces teachers and staff to lie to parents it also prevents parents access to their child's medical records regarding mental health services offered in school which is likely why uh Dorene was not informed about her child speaking to a psychologist so I ask each of you today would you want this for your children as a Middletown Board of Education member publicly and perfectly stated the this current policy is a disenfranchising parents policy a war on women a war on young girls biological girls and their Sports please again reconsider this policy I know that originally we stated that the policy was mandated because that was the information the boards were given we now know due to the September lawsuit it is not mandated thank you Arena thank you Miss bana sorry apologize um actually yeah yeah we we've had internal discussions uh about the nuances of who is being sued and done further investigation and also consulted legal counsel um and had conversations so it's not something that we just looked at we we heard from not we online right we've been doing research we said we constantly be monitoring this as a fact right and Consulting our our our legal team right now to see okay so so Al you said hire TR we've had TR for years hug yeah yeah yeah so it's not it wasn't like a hired yeah it wasn't like a hired no no uh I I can only since I've been on the board so now over two years maybe near three yeah it's we've had them so just just one other thing too and which was mentioned that school psychologist spoke to my child we you have to keep in mind that our school psychologist is also our ABS so they're not speaking to your child as a psychologist they could be speaking to your child as an anti-bullying specialist well it depends I mean if they're if they're you can't mix the two right so if if you're doing an investigation or somebody brings something to the building principal and it goes as an HIV investigation they are speaking to the child as an ABS right and not a psychologist right so a lot of times times it happens because in small districts I'm sure everybody knows right in small districts you have multiple hats right so you have multiple titles so a lot of times even though parents may know a staff member as a school psychologist or a school social worker they also wear other hats and they would be speaking as a abs like we have our we have an assistant superintendent who's also assistant superintendent the director of special services we have homeless Lea on so yeah I know I just want to clarify right right no I just want to clarify it that's all understand I get it 100% yeah someone had a meeting with the child whoever it was and yeah understood no I understand exactly what you're saying right no fair fair fair fair the AC and I just wanted to give some facts about trans people so here are five things to remember according to the ACLU uh when talking writing or thinking about trans people the existence of trans people does not threaten the privacy of anyone else we we ex they exist and you may be uncomfortable with them but discomfort discomfort with difference is not the same as infringement of privacy trans women and girls trans women and girls are women and girls full stop they are not biological males men pretending to be women or some other hateful qualification the same is true for Trans men and boys being men and boys three extending legal protections to transgender people including when it comes to using restrooms and locker rooms does not threaten the safety of anyone else this has been proven time and time again despite the ongoing rhetoric to the contrary policing of gender or genitals in restrooms is bad for everyone there is no way to enforce anti-trans B laws except by exposing us all to intrusive questioning about our bodies Our gender and our government documents anti-trans laws are not about restrooms locker rooms safety or privacy but about expelling trans people from public life those most impacted by these laws have been and will always be trans people who are already subject to the most pleasing and violence particularly trans women of color unfortunately conversations about trans people often end up repeating harmful lies put forth by groups that have long worked to destabilize destabilize support and prot protections for lgbtq plus people when we repeat and reinforce these lies we contribute to the social and political context where trans people face harassment arrest and violence for simply existing in the world we must look behind the rhetoric that claims that protecting vulnerable trans young people is somehow threatening to the safety and privacy of non-transgender women and girls thank you thank you for that any other questions comments concerns all right seeing now hearing on I close I can't believe you check no no you're good okay I close the hearing of the sist I didn't see her she was covered she no no chick you're go I closed it I clo it's closed it's Clos yes yeah service for the veterans in the afternoon the you might get more turnout yeah yeah excuse me did the veterans come down to the children in the eth grade I used to do years ago sit down with a group of no like to Ed what it's all about because there really I mean we do a present I have been through person second world war everybody treated the second world war completely different than they did Vietnam okay veter y rich rich rich rich rich rich stay stay on the veterans topic don't give me a I I know but I it's this is getting insane yeah I I listen I I agree that look my my great grand grandfather died in P Harbor right my great uncle you know they were prisoners of War they had they they were in Germany in German camps then they would recite the numbers on their wrists to me right I I yeah it is incredi it's it's why it's incredibly important to continue to to hear from people right and tell you history I I completely agree with that these kids that are school age even they say in eth grade yeah and the Ukraine they're worried about when they're going live die yeah the only thing kid grade has to yeah is what is he I know I rich I I listen I I I agree we it's something respecting veterans and and and I yeah the the other stuff personal opinion but personal rich rich rich rich rich we need to move rich rich rich rich you got it rich yeah yeah yeah di the P yeah okay this is three years ago yes most woman can't you everything and Rich can't personal I person opinions personal statements we can't right on the board not not stuff like that no it's come come January come come January you can yell at me or you can yell at me on the car ride home I promise all you can yell all right Rich all right let's move on I I already closed the hearing of the citizens correspondence to the members of the board there was none and adoption of Prior board meetings can I get a motion to adopt the October 19th public session meetings and executive session meetings please so move I a second second second you guys coordinating over here um everyone Jullian you were not here right so everyone else can vote roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss Co you're abstaining correct y Miss laruso yes Mr Varan Mr seini yes thank you superintendent resolutions can get a motion to approve S1 through S4 so moved okay second second roll call Mr B yes Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss laruso yes Mr Varan yes Mr segalini yes all right curriculum committee with Miss shley out Miss laruso can you take it sure can upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions C1 C1 approval of student field trips and transportation requests for the 2023 2024 school year any comments questions okay roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss KY yes Miss laruso yes Mr Varan yes and Mr calini yes that ends my report thank you Miss laruso Personnel committee Miss Caruso thank you Mr President upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions P1 through P4 P1 approved the Kelly education substitute list P2 approval of travel expenditures P3 Personnel actions P4 approval of the After School academic Intervention Program appointment for the 2023 2024 school year a second second any questions or comments all right seeing none roll call yes sorry Mr B Miss Caruso yes Miss kie yes Miss laruso yes Mr Varan yes and Mr seini yes and that ends my report Mr President thank you m guso physical facilities committee Mr Varan uh I think approval a monthly facili calendar November soal that's it all right can I get a second second any questions comments other than thank you Miss collie for taking taking a look and no but yeah claric you cannot wait but we already approved the the activities have already been approved right so do I have to still abstain from the do we still have to abstain from the calendar if if it includes Recreation items do you have to still obain I would yes your safety I do not believe if you're if if a Coach I think you can approve the calendar okay all right so sorry okay I just no no good good point yeah yeah yeah let's just air on the safe side um any other questions or comments all right roll call Mr B yes Miss Caruso yes Miss KY yes Miss laruso well it's not really abstaining I'm Rec Rec cruising myself right yeah Mr vtin yes and Mr seali yes yeah yeah because you're not you're actually removing yourself from voting versus act for versus a verbal abstaining which is like a neutral yeah thank you Mr Varan Community Relations Committee Miss laruso upon the recommendations of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions cr1 and CR2 cr1 approves second reading of new and revised bylaws policies and regulations CR2 approve first reading of new and revised bylaws policies and regulations I a second second any questions or comments no all right roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss laruso yes Mr Varan and Mr seini yes all right thank you Mr Luso finance committee Mr bka I I waited till you you left the thank you Mr President uh upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions F1 through f8 F1 approval of bills list November 2023 F2 approval of October 2023 payroll F3 approval of financial reports for October 2023 F4 approval of monthly transfer for October 2023 F5 approval of preliminary proposed budget calendar for 2024 2025 F6 approval to submit a comprehensive maintenance plan for 2023 F7 approval to submit yearly health and safety evaluation of school building checklist for 2023 2024 fa8 approval to submit midyear budget review documents can I get a second sir any questions or comments seeing none roll call Mr Banker uh yes except on the bills list uh for my school board yeah yeah actually do you need to do hold on hold on do you need to do F yeah do you need to do F1 or f1a you need to recuse yourself you're on f1a so you can actually approve yes yes change it that's right that's on he can he can set off on this one see on that's right yeah no so not you're not on it no yeah he I believe is his Schoolboard is the only one currently on there yes but it's in f1a so he can approve this one but you guys got it okay yeah stagger stagger your receipts please so we can get enough people um Miss Caruso yes okay Miss kie yes Mr laruso yes Mr Varan Mr seini yes all right addendum items so can I get a motion to approve p2a approval of travel expenditures p f2a did you take my you walk on that there we go p2a which is going to include P2 A1 P2 A2 P2 A3 and A4 P2 A4 which are the two walk-on items for the same uh leadership hour that Mr Jee cro talked about pf2 a approval of District facility and that is the National Junior Honor Society induction that Mr tanell talked about and f1a which is approval of the additional bills L items and that's the one so can I get a motion for those items no moved can I get a second second does anyone have any questions on the seeing none roll call Mr Banker we'll do this again Yes except for f1a yep reimbursement for school boards understood thank you Miss Caruso yes Miss kie yes Miss laruso yes Mr Varan yes and Mr calini yes okay I opened it up to hearing assistance earlier I don't want to get in trouble again so I'm gonna close you know um oh there's no oh any old business any old business school boards was good everyone have a good time yes yeah any yeah I I missed I missed you all apparently having a baby uh any new business um ear congratulations on re-election and congratulations on Election you know looking forward to a great and positive 2024 working all together okay hey I will not yeah I I get 15 minutes back because I don't have to pick him up yeah with you cing me you I almost had a heart attack this that's probably true don't give him any ideas um all right motion to adjourn to Executive session second we four we have one thing for a what got classified advice advice of legal all right advice of Le legal council no action will be taken it'll be approximately 5 minutes go out have a smoke break and come back um can I all in favor I there we go yes 8:30 return 8:30 8:40 no way I I don't believe it you believe I will say there was a self-guided online option take it usually is offer if you can make the weekend it's probably I could congratulations thank you rich yes we do I don't even know where my oh there sorry yeah ready right are you having fruit man no I no I I I made fun of the fruit and then everyone got fruit salad now like all right I'm having the fruits you're welcome I had the comment I was like I might as well I should have got I should have gotten sandwiches you said it be out with fruit send me this President were huh what are you trying to say it was some leftovers THS the end of the week yeah I told I I I told Michelle please do not send the cookies they were not ahead really one time I know well now well especially now that we can't people to the public now I feel like an aole you need in front of someone because technically it's for you how are you good good was in the paper something about School elections [Music] no for h [Music] what yeah like actually yeah yeah we just switch this [Music] on oh Mak wa I'm G think the long way to drive you home so good all right can I get a motion to return to the regular order second all in favor I I all right okay uh there's no action so I can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting second all in favor our next Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday December 14th at 5:30 p.m. thank