[Music] one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call please president Pang here vice president Romano here Mr sheay Miss White here Mr Mohan Patel present Mr BR Patel here Mr Schneider here Mr AAR here Mr Vel Patel presid thank you opening statement in accordance with the open public meetings ACT public law 1975 c231 Sunshine Law copies of this public meeting notice were sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 3rd 2023 and November 13th 2023 MERS members of the public May participate at regular meetings in accordance with the bylaws of the board and applicable state regulations okay thanks AJ to privileg session um uh we are now to uh adjor to privilege session uh in accordance with the open public meetings act uh chapter 231 Public Law 1975 the Edison Township Board of Education will adjourn a confidential session for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters Personnel matters health insurance contract dispute former staff and student litigations thank you motion to return to privilege session motion motion second thank you we should be back before 7 o' thank you roll call all roll call or Voice vote all in favor thanks thank you motion to adj to um to to open session motion okay all in favor I I uh we're going to resume uh we have student council representations uh Addison High shy sorry P go ahead good afternoon Board of Education members my name is charie fromany the student council and student representative medison High School Edison High School has recently ended its fall Sports and will be starting their winter sport which will start towards the end of November student council held their Andrea volleyball for charity event with over 30 teams and money collected went to the hugs for Brady Foundation towards the end of October our theater Department did a clue production which went successfully fcca had its fall leadership competition on Monday and we will be sending over 35 students to Stage States and had over 10 students get top two in the Gold section which is an EXC excellent achievement for Edison High students students and class councils are working on our yearly hallway decorating which will take take place on Monday November 27th this year it will be a day for students to engage in school spirit and festivities after asking students and about student issues I was notified that numerous students noticed that the food especially the meat and pizza they received at school during lunch was uncooked and often still cold from being defrosted thank you thank you then we have JP Mr Aaron B uh good evening everyone my name is Aon Bol and I'm co-president of the student council here at J Stevens since the last Board of Education meeting here our student body has partaken in many events through their co-curricular activities recently our host of chapter organized a Cancer Walk successfully raising over $1,000 for the cause Additionally the model United Nations chapter has completed two major conferences so far in both New York and Princeton we've also been making significant strides in promoting inclusivity within our school by improving our beloved event Mr JPS through work with the Dei who have also attended a conference at Keen University to bring a newer perspective to this problem our students have also enjoyed the homecoming dance hosted at the end of October and the fall Crucible the fall play of The Crucible this past weekend JP has also been making significant progress with spreading awareness about the events at our school with the installation of new televisions in our cafeteria in addition to these events the fall sport season has also come to a conclusion this month this week the winter season has finally kicked off featuring bowling basketball hockey winter track and swimming our music department featuring our band choir orchestra and guitar will also be playing in our winter holiday concerts in the coming weeks we'll be organizing the winter pep rally as well as hosting our annual talent show JPS SC Talent while this concludes the main events that have occurred and will occur in the new new future here at JP I understand that the board wanted us to bring an issue to their attention as mentioned in the September meeting however as our Administration is very responsive to the issues that we have presented them presented to them in the past admin meetings there currently no outstanding issues to present with that being said I hope the board has gained a good perception of JB's current situation and I thank you guys for your time tonight thank you AR thank you um so I know you guys are have a busy schedule so you are you know dismissed you feel free to leave anytime we just continue our meeting uh next we have Administration report Dr Ed yeah great uh thank you board president um I I would just like to start off by uh uh wishing everybody a happy and healthy uh Thanksgiving break um we've got the next couple days off um please take this time to rest and relax with your family and friends join together um uh and uh celebrate the uh the the season of uh giving thanks so um for administrator report uh pretty straightforward we begin with uh the second reading uh of our Board of Education policies that transpired um over the course of the last board meeting um many of these policies are just uh revisions to existing policies if you mandated policies in relationship to our threat assessment um programs which has really been spearheaded by uh Dr Tui and pakisan as well as other members of our our central office staff they're actually kind of the uh the leaders in this space um we believe the state has also modeled um some of their performance protocols uh around some of the work that Pat um and Dr Tu has done so congratulations to them um uh on that work it's actually really really impressive um and just uh School nutrition policy at the end I know there was some discussion at at the last Board of Education meeting um the uh the one policy 8500 is actually um assuming uh policies 8540 and 8550 uh we're abolishing both of those we're taking all of the good points from those policies and incorporating them into 8500 um some of the pieces that were you know obviously Antiquated practices were uh a process called meal shaming denying a kid um or denying a student uh the opportunity to have a lunch in the event that they have a balance uh and you know didn't have money on them at that time so um those are all policies that were not only mandated but obviously best practice as well too uh second part of uh the superintendent's report um they are the approval in the resolution of myself being a representative for um the Ed Services Commission serving on their board um we are also uh approving uh the the DPR um the district performance review for our qac uh accountability and continuing monitoring this year we are one of the districts that will be taking part in that process it's actually one of our board goals uh and my goal as well to is to successfully navigate uh that process with a passing goal uh with a passing score uh we have settlement agreements as well too at the conclusion of this and a revision to the school calendar to reflect uh Elementary School conferences uh moving forward we have our curriculum instruction uh field trips and professional development uh resolutions but I I would be remiss if I didn't highlight a couple pieces um that were actually pertinent to curriculum and instruction the first and foremost uh the district celebrated its first Parent Academy um at the beginning of this month uh it was an inaugural Academy um I think it was pretty successful although we'd like to see participation rate uh uh you know increase at that time the more parents the better the more opportunities we have the Forester Partnerships between not only this board but the members of our staff and the community as well too be partners in education uh we're looking forward to the upcoming one uh and uh we're going to definitely elicit feedback from the people that attended to uh improve our programs and to make sure that we're offering uh information that's relevant to moms and dads uh the other piece to I attended on Saturday a a math competition over at woodro Wilson it it was it was absolutely fantastic over over at Miss blev School uh and it was chaired by Miss Debbie Jasper uh what a great event what a great opportunity uh there were a lot of problems in there that I'm pretty confident that I couldn't solve at that time I definitely would need some high level calculators for those so I was extremely impressed with the um the level of rigor there but I think what was more impressive were the students that came back to Proctor former woodro Wilson and jam students that came back uh that are our high school students that came back and Proctor the event so that just shows what a what a what a great partnership um you know that program and and that school has with other members of the community so that's great congratulations to everybody that participated in there and then and then on Monday I attended the FCCLA conference uh almost 700 students total in attendance from various District uh Ed uh Edison had approximately like 170 students congratulations to all of those uh students that participate in it it was a great event um that it was an unbelievable cup Cupcake display that was there too which was which was really fantastic that um both Edison High School and JP Steven students participated in uh and congratulations to Miss Halpin as well as the building principles uh uh that participated in that endeavor too it was really really nice um and to kind of conclude before I turn it over to Dr Tui we have our pupil Special Services report um as always those are our out of District placement students as well as uh the approval of uh professional contracted services uh in the event that we need them so um that concludes uh the superintendent's report we'll turn it over to finance there oh sure Mr to Oh I thought I said Dr to that's what he said did I say you did well you're not Dr T no we're definitely I am not a doctor so you should definitely call for help uh uh item one's our financial reports pretty standard stuff uh contracts not that many this month but I'd like to call the attention uh Mr Cohen secured a contract with Varsity Tutors for I believe 300 $35,000 uh this is going to be for virtual and live tutoring for our Edison High School students and online virtual for the rest of the district so um it's a unique investment in our a big investment in our students uh thank you very very much Mr Cohen uh bids there's a few on here I got to call your attention to the to the big one uh for the renovation of this Auditorium it's $5.7 million and as everyone can see I'm I'm thinking this is definitely in need of some renovation but it's going to be mirrored much in the way of Edison High School New Stage new chairs new flooring um I'm sure Mr Barker has uh some very good ideas for uh video boards and Technology but it's going to look beautiful um and then we have another uh bit award for um some renovations to woodro Wilson a couple classrooms and also there at jams as well uh for about 2.5 million uh followed by we have a couple change orders um for some of the projects around the district uh one zero cost two others that are charged to allowance um we have our annual Capital maintenance plan it's a report that's required by every school district with regards to Capital uh maintenance and budget planning so that's being submitted to the state um we have some Grant Awards uh we have a lot of the standard ones things with Ida and EA but the one I'd like to call your uh attention to is the high impact tutoring Grant uh that Mr Cohen Miss binder uh uh Goomer and uh Miss uh Maria Lopez have secured for the to the tuna 4 $160,000 so that's that's a large sum of money we can use for uh obviously additional tutoring self assessments and things of that nature so that's um that's really big for our kids uh we have our non-public report and then our uh monthly Award of uh Transportation contracts for student transportation services that's it thank you thank you um sorry now we have um public comments for resolution only anyone including Personnel yes yes including Personnel Beth taly 15 Midwood um I see on page seven of nine for the Personnel [Music] um number nine JP Stevens Algebra 1 math program um running on Saturdays is that like a tutoring program for $50 an hour teachers are getting paid yes correct and that's just a JP okay just curious after just what I heard Edison High is getting this Varsity to program but JP is getting this what students is this supposed to be targeting for Algebra 1 so for Algebra 1 those students for mathematics it's students that fall within a particular category right so based off of um uh Teacher Assessment I believe as well too um Mr Cohen they they fell within a particular category off of their njsla scores as well as teacher recommendation to be provided for additional tutoring and support okay and just since it was just wrote off um by Mr to about this Varsity tutoring and this grant money and so forth that was just secured so this is this is a what we're doing at Edison High School is a pilot program right so we're we're piling it over Edison High School currently right now utilizing Title One funds um and then if the program meets with success and we can put measurable benchmarks in it we're going to make sure that we spread this out to all of our to not only our other high school but into our middle schools as well now is that Varsity program um just for math or it for all subjects okay so I see over here at JP we're tutoring for Algebra 1 but what about all our other subjects because I'm sure children are falling between the cracks and literacy and writing and so forth but I just see it here for math I think Mr algebra yeah I think Mr Cohen could probably touch base with the offline Miss talkie and and and give a little bit of information with regards to that but but yes we don't only offer it just for just just for that I do want to say that we it was on a previous agenda for Lang Arts as well too I do remember JP Stevens was on at the very beginning of the year to approve this but I'd have to go back and look I don't want to misspeak okay and do we know about like how many students both of these programs are to reach out to and help in the criteria for the varsity to for the varsity tutor program 970 I believe it was close to a thousand students and that will be during school after school it okay at any time okay right and and the additional component of our Unity tutors also is a uh the opportunity for all students in the district um that will be provided with um uh an instant tutor an instant opportunity to chat with a tutor so once we roll out the you know the the processes and the protocols in order to do that that opportunity will be afforded to every single student and then we know like the credentials and so forth of all these tutors and so forth that are going to be meeting with our students because we have some pretty incredible teachers in our district absolutely I I I don't discount that no we definitely we have I would say we have the best teachers on the planet here in Edison Township but there's only so many hours in a day though right and this is this is online tutoring that they can if they're doing their homework at 10 o'clock at night and they need help with a mathematics problem or some revisions to initial paragraph they reach out at any time they can reach out at any single time absolutely with they they could they'll also help with um college applications so when students are applying to college I think that was a big thing that that that hit on me when I met them cuz I remember it was like you know a long long time ago when I applied for college but now you can have someone you know help you go through the application process and do all that stuff I thought that was really beneficial to all all of our kids and part of the piece through Edison High too they have diagnostic uh platforms as well too where where students can take assessments to identify areas of strength and areas for growth and it'll it'll take them down great that we have it there but I'd love to see it on both sides to help all of our students without a doubt we don't want to you know though too Beth we don't want to implement a program one of the first things that you want to do you want to make sure that it measures with success we want to we want to implement we want to monitor it um and verify that this is something that we want to move forward with on a large scale much like we do with all of our curriculum programs right if we're looking at a new series or a textbook or anything along those lines we don't just Mass Implement those pieces we'll pilot it in a few classrooms um maybe at a particular school will elicit feedback from those teachers as well as in this case teachers and students um to see if it's something worthwhile with moving forward with but we wouldn't Implement something large scale if we weren't fully vetted with this but um this program we did some research on it's it's definitely met with success we're confident that it's going to improve test scores um across the board and lastly there's this algebra that's listed in here is it for all levels of algebra or just one in particular I'd have to go back and look at that the criteria algebra one also Algebra 2 students I don't have albra yeah I don't have the criteria in front of me but I have the justification somewhere in this large stack of piles and I could show you after okay cuz I'd like to see it you know for all and not just some to keep kind of pushing them up but for all students who might be struggling thank you fair thank you thank you B any other uh Miss con for resolution only I see some students here if you guys have uh questions or comments about resolution you can come to the podium otherwise just wait uh a little bit a few more minutes quick question Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I see under Personnel that you've hired uh another grant writer and my question to you is what is the ratio of how much we're paying grant writers to the amount of money that we're taking in getting grants uh at one time I I was at another meeting one time and it was very very beneficial that the grant writers were actually bringing in an enormous amount of money because this was their initial goal and that was their only job so we had one grant writer and now we're going to have two or is there more and putting the salaries together versus how much they've actually taken in uh in grant money is what I would uh look forward to hearing and I know you just just don't have it at the tip of your tongue but it' be something uh interested to share with the community thank you anyone else um resolution only board president I have a question so uh John oh um H resolution only okay so can I ask questions on policies if the it's on the it's on the agenda resolution yes so Harish tatin 45 McKinley Street uh good to see lot of policy revisions but I'm disappointed not to see any revision of the nepotism policy for board members and administration officials senior Administration officials I thought we discussed this in detail in last meeting I spoke for almost U 3 minutes also spoke to the director of communications and policies and she also said she would look into this but not sure what happened uh we keep coming here make our points more than 50% of of them are not addressed and then the same thing continues uh well I just wanted to let everyone know that elections or no elections my comments will be the same so after nepotism I see something related to food services so how difficult is it to include a policy of random checks by respective School principles about the food quality or is that something operational and doesn't even need a poliy policy uh revision again I don't want to take any names of students or teachers or principls or schools but there were some incidents in recent past so I thought that would help us because earlier it was C minus now it came to C+ if we introduce this policy maybe the food ratings will go higher which would in turn help the overall ratings of different schools so that was a suggestion and likewise the help desk enhancement again would that need a policy change or is it just an operational issue the mandatory customer feedback uh ratings uh before or after closing and uh sharing in the next Boe meeting every month so those are the three things I had about policies yeah that's it thanks thank you Dr yes yeah I don't think either of those are are policy related um the the quality of the food maybe I'll I'll address first um that's definitely an internal mechanism actually we just spoke about that recently um uh in which mashos does they would uh so our food service provider um I don't know if they do surveys to be honest with you we actually have to go back and look at that but they definitely bring in uh focus groups of students to determine uh what type of meals they like the quality of Food they'll ask them questions about that they'll do that across uh all of the schools and certain Pockets but I can I can identify the frequency and the timing of which they do it the survey question actually came up recently so I'd have to look at that so from an internal mechanism I can say that that does happen operationally that they do deter that they do look at the quality of food um the food offerings um and they elicit that feedback and and try to implement that um there is a uh a framework in which food services has to work in in order to make sure that they're providing meals in accordance with statute as well too so as long as those parameters are hit it should be good but I I can I could if we can talk afterwards I can I can get you the time frames as to when they do that so Dr I have a question sure can can we expand the survey in a way that rather than Mario doing a survey like Administration does a survey so that we get un you know unbiased unfilter results yeah and than focus group we do it across the school let me find out exactly what masio does and then we could have a a deeper discussion that's perfect yeah I know thank youc great perfect thank you any other and then and then I think it was the Health death the health oh yeah the health desk yes so that that no policy in relationship to that either that that would be more operational um we definitely took this suggestion under under advisement too I I'll I'll dialogue with um Mr Barka as well as our Communications committee about the rating uh piece that we could that we could put in potentially whether they're satisfied with the level of service at that time right it's it's you know things like that are only as good as as the user as the end user right sometimes people even though the ticket's been closed they're still not satisfied right especially if it's not the answer that they want to hear but I understand what you're saying whether it was completed through their satisfaction it's good feedback for the district I understand thank Youk thank you any other comments um resolution see now um board president I have so John you mentioned about uh this Auditorium that is wonderful news looking at this Auditorium it needs an upgrade uh even better than EHS you want to make sure of that so that's great that we are rolling it through what is the timeline on that Mr to I'm sorry could you hear again the time on this Auditorium oh the the timeline ideally we're um we're going to have this award awarded tonight uh then construction will begin you know as soon as possible we'll have a kickoff meeting probably early in December um but it is going to take majority of the school year so um I don't foresee that being uh it's going to be available to us but we'll you know we'll have to troubleshoot and triage around that um because it's going to take the better part of this school year to get a all complete okay so can we put that on the website because uh Dr I'm over as we work with p on uh different you know rentals a lot of people are looking for this Auditorium so it's for greater good for future purpose that this is going to be out of service for a few months so that will help people see be aware of this and uh woodro um is are we doing Auditorium in Wood just the wood Auditorium is still going to be available right yeah that's that's the classroom renovation classroom there'll be there'll be renovations to two classrooms there as well as two class classrooms at jams uh again same thing barring the award tonight we're having a kickoff meeting uh probably either next week or the week after uh this way at that point in time we'll go over project schedule but that's going to be probably as well better part of this year but you know okay nothing you know longer than that we hope that's the yes the renovate right okay thank you madam president yeah Mr so um the timeline for this auditor auditori is around 6 to n months so the goal is to open the brand Auditorium for the new school year and for the W Wilson and John Adams W Wilson we converting the locker room into three special needs classrooms and that should be about 6 months and uh for the John Adams we're converting the locker room into a um the banro and we're taking the kids away from the um uh the trailers uh we're reshuffle the band The Orchestra and the choir uh that's also similar time frame maybe a little bit shorter so um all these three they should be available before next school year thank you Mr sh so motion to end the public comment motion second are you in favor I okay motion to approve Personnel report motion second there was a motion by got it Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Rivera yes Mr Schneider yes Mr beel Patel yes Mr mohen Patel yes Miss White yes Mr shei yes vice president Romano yes president P yes motion carries motion to approve Administration and curriculum and instruction people special service reports motion second who had the second I couldn't hear Jer thank you Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Rivera yes Mr Schneider yes Mr beel Patel yes Mr moan Pau yes Miss White yes Mr she yes Mr Rano yes president Pac yes motion carries motion to approve Finance reports motion well that was a tie I'm going to give it to Mo Mr vichel Patel yes Mr Riva yes it Mr R yes Mr Schnider yes Mr Bell Patel yes Mr Mohan Patel yes Miss White yes Mr she yes vice president Romano uh yes with a caveat that I don't believe there was a second I thought I had a second there was and we said it the same it was it was a close tie but it was a photo finish okay yes no caveat president Pang yes motion carries thank you next we have committee reports athletic committee Mr Michelle Patel thank thank you so athletic committee met on November 14 at 400 p.m. in uh at Center the committee reviewed the summary of middle school girls volleyball league which concluded in October 2023 the season met with a great success C culminating in a tournament this fall the middle school boys program will begin in the spring and we'll have a tournament with total of 14 teams we had a tremendous interest throughout the town uh with these volleyball tournaments the development of our Middle School and High School Cricket program continues to make progress our Middle School will compete in an intral program upon the conclusion of the spring Sports surveys have been taken to a certain interest in the program and equipment and Fields will be ready for use before the season starts our high school club Cricket will join Monroe and West Wier public schools in a five Team league that will compete in Spring followed by a tournament or a play off after the season our athletic directors are working hard to make sure that this program meets with a great success our multi-purpose batting cages and Tennis score projects at the both high schools are in are are progressing as we continue to expand and improve our facilities our athletic directors are seeking innovative ways to ensure that our spring Sports have adequate space to practice and play as a district looks to streamline some of its processes members of the staff staff met to identify a software that may help in electronic submission of sports physicals additionally we are also going to offer an opportunity for sports physicals for spring season at a several location around the district more information will be provided as we get closer to the spring season thank you thank you uh we also have curriculum committee report Mr relle Patel thank you so curriculum committee met on November 14 as well at 5:00 p.m. attendees were Vishal Patel Bel Patel drelli Miss binder Mr Richard Kohan Mr Jonathan to and Miss Heather Daniel uh curriculum for health education for elementary has been updated on the website and the link has been provided in the meeting minutes it's a curriculum that is used by the teachers to teach different Health Topic in you know k25 the district plans to offer 24/7 enrichment program with live chat support to all students from K to2 so I'm going to pause and re-emphasize right 24/7 enrichment program with the live chat support for all the students from K22 across the Addison School District the district reviewed Varsity Tutors which provides personalized learning to offer enrichment program Varsity Tutors will provide oneon-one virtual learning called high do AG tutoring to Addison High School student math students who are Title One eligible utilizing EHS Title One funds along with Title One funded services to 986 EHS students Varsity Tutors agreed to offer free onDemand learning to all the district students from K to 12 the program includes self-paced learnings Diagnostics 247 chat tutoring essay reviews College and Career Readiness courses such as sat act initial free program will be offered for 2 years with a commitment from The Varsity tutor CFO to extend the free programming as long as the partnership continues the committee expressed support for the presented VI Varsity tutoring program and supported the district to start offering OnDemand Varsity tutor service to all students as early as January 2024 um there was a discussion about win period right how do we make efficient use of win period the district will pilot The Varsity Tutors on demand self-learning programming and 247 chat tutoring during the win period once it is launched in January 2024 Mr Cohan will explore the feasibility of potentially offering the following courses to the freshman in the school year that starts in 2425 the courses that he is looking into our AP biology AP computer science principles AP heart art history AP human GE geography honors music so this is about offering AP classes options to the freshman and and Mr cooh is looking into options you know possibilities of doing that in next school year um followup of that AP is that Mr Kohan reported that District district will explore the possibility of offering this courses without prerequisites and limiting all freshments to maximum of maximum of one AP courses so you want to avoid a scenario where some courses you know some students get an opportunity to sign up for AP and some don't so we are going to give an option to more AP classes so we can accommodate as many students as we can but there will be a restriction that the one one student can only choose one apep course at least in the freshman year Elementary School standard based reports uh the presentation was shared regarding the report card revision process currently currently the standard based reports is implemented in grades K3 and K4 and some K4 sorry some K2 K3 and some grade four classrooms committee will be apprised of the program of implementation at grade grade four where it is currently being piloted communication with the parent is forthcoming to help clarify purpose and benefits and understanding the district will be deciding on the grade G grade five standard based report cards after invest tigating and exploring all options the committee asked for the consideration of reaching out to a professor from the rampo College of New Jersey who Express an interest in conducting an enrichment program on business analytics this program would cover topics like Ai and blockchain the committee suggested that the Edison school district contact this professor to arrange the business analytics and naion program for our high school students U Mr Kohan connected with the professor on Tuesday November 16 and we'll update the committee at the December meeting on the plan to offer two enrichment mini courses for free to all the interested high school students the committee um one of the new initiative the committee asked uh considering the you know offering yoga and pranayama which is a breathing technique to our Addison school students Mr Kohan reported that yoga will be piloted in the eighth grade health classes with the teachers who Express interest in hopes of launching the pilot in the third third marking period this year through the relationship with the Isha Foundation at no cost to the district so Isha Foundation is a leading um organization leading nonprofit organization um and they they are willing to work with the district uh they are going to train our teachers on how to uh teach yoga and pranayama to our districts uh to our students and and Mr Koh is looking into possibility of uh piloting the program with the Great eight students in marking period 3 the committee also asked for consideration to offer geometry credit course to the incoming 10th graders who took Algebra 1 in the n9th grade so Mr Koh is agreeing most Mr Koh agreed to look further into this um into this uh offering committee also asked for consideration to offer a geometry credit course in the summer to incoming nine grade students who completed Algebra 1 in the e8th grade student in the eighth grade Mr Kohan informed the committee that the geometry credit courses for incoming 10th grade is successfully once it's successfully implemented he would consider exploring other Pathways for acceleration of the incoming ninth grade students who completed algebra one in the eighth grade Mr Kohan also informed the committee that the ninth grade take uh nth graders taking geometry have the opportunity to accelerate another year in the math by taking the summer preal courses uh The District offers um this is end of the report but I do want to give kudos to Mr Kohan I mean he he made lot of progress in short two months he's around and uh the you know Varsity tutor offing the credit goes to him I mean he came up with an idea and and figure out a way to offer all of our students free support 247 using wasid tutor so thank you Mr [Music] con thank you next we have Madam president yeah Mr she I just want to emphasize the uh velocity tutor that been mentioned here um we need to do a a very good advertising on this uh you know Heather uh just make sure that that our students take full advantage of that um you know 724 online you know one-on ones um we got a lot of this for free so make sure that we do a good advertising and um as the students take full advantage of that yep and and my request is even before we launch the program in January we should start marketing it know sometime this month or early next month thank you yeah it's going to be a great help based on the discussion we had with them yeah it's it's a great program I I actually use it before any parents any students in the middle of night if you're having problem solving you know to finish homework need some help on the essay you can just get online start a chat and you're going to get the help that you need so very convenient service thank you yeah the the other thing that the the the the tutor on the other side on the other side has been Ved through the the uh their process very strict process of um you know the uh the tutors on the other side of the uh of the line they're all certified teachers with C you know uh with the experience so next we have fin committee report Mr she okay um Finance facility committee met on November 16th at 4 p.m. at the S Center in attendance uh were um moim Patel V Patel Mr Romano myself Dr aret Mr to uh Jackie and Bill colbus and Scott Murphy um for the we review the fiscal year 24 projects uh for DMR um last month we awarded JMP uh JP Stevens uh the Pino construction held a project meeting with the bismar construction and the district Personnel to review all the detail of the project per the bit specifications uh construction is is expected to start in three weeks Pino is the um project management company and bismar is the is the uh Construction Company um Herber Hoover Edition uh the steel erection process has begun has begun site and rough electrical work uh is ongoing DMR recommended 54k change order for uh renovating the main back hallway ceiling grid and lighting and that was approved uh in the finance resolution um the T for TJ the steel for roofing and Foundation have being prepared for installation um we talked about jp7 Auditorium um bid was awarded to Billy construction for 5 .7 $5.7 million this is a below project U below below the budget and uh so just take one or two final look at this building within probably a couple months it's going to be closed and uh By the time it's open up it will be a brand new um state-of-the-art Auditorium uh GMP kitchen has been overdue for many years uh permits were issued for the project on um November 13th and the work has started already uh for the kitchen uh the wo Wilson and John Adams locker room this is a little change on here after uh the meeting the bid was awarded to two separate companies um one will do the the wo the other will do Adams and the result of that we we're saving several thousand doll uh for splitting this uh project uh for USA Architects they are doing the uh the John gym uh remaining flooring is being poured and rough plumbing and electrical has begun uh the W Wilson gym above ground CMU and electrical work is ongoing um for the jmi addition the cost estimated is about $17 million um meeting with USA to discuss updates to the budget and and bidding alternate uh strategy the design has been finalized um we just needed to go out and um just do it uh the committee asked Administration to move this project forward discussed with financial advisor and bond counil to take advantage of low construction cost in the winter the EIP it's a budget neutral um energy saving uh program a solar panel installation work is ongoing at Woodbrook MLK and TJ if you walk around you will see um we already started the installation work roofing has been completed at the uh JP the only remaining roof work to be done is jmi JMP and the board office after the project is done 17 of the 19 schools in the district will have solar panels on the roof budget neutral important um interior lighting work has started in TJ for the 25 um projective projects uh Marshall uh that was presented to the board before um the cost estimated is $32 million um DMR to provide additional proposal for the balance of project Edison High School uh SSP um has done their estimate it's about $21 million and to track these projects we also have a maintenance building project the JP Stevens cafeteria and Labs um and the John Adams addition uh we also heard that you know we received some raw grants um raw grants the HVAC um basically it's air conditioning upgraded for multi-purpose rooms in all elementary schools all elementary school multi-purpose room will be upgraded and we also filed the comprehensive maintenance plan which was mentioned uh in the finance resolution um just want to say thank you to our facility Department for uh the two walkways they put it in uh at the back of John Adams and JP JP Stevens construction will start very soon that will create some um inconveniences and uh the walkway has been put in the back of the um um uh the um baseball field uh parents can drop the kids off at the Laura Avenue or they can drop them off at Lamar and noron um there's a walkway you can just walk over to um the back of JP instead of dealing with the traffic in the front um the finance is we have multiple contracts here um John Adams sewer pipe construction for service is uh there are some issues with that it's going to cost us uh 98k Kimbo International uh examply exampl and and uh carage there's three different companies they're going to provide us with the furniture U for our schools that's a 94k which is also approved um escnj contract for title one and idea Services is 410k and varsity tutor which is mentioned multiple times District live and virtual tutoring and assessment for ed students as 334k these are all approved in the um today's uh Financial resolution and the the board the the committee also talked about the alterate school and that process is ongoing thank you thank you Mr sh so before I start the bo board member comments I'd like to if you my colleague don't mind I'd like to invite the students they have been waiting here patiently so I don't want to keep them waiting so you guys can come to the podium um hello everyone I'm Alina sha and I'm a senior at JP and it's um my fourth year in the greenhouse at JP Stevens uh me and my fellow club members wanted to share some thoughts that we had about our part in the club so our advisers miss hbor and miss NE have worked very closely with each of us and we have bettered our understanding of the world around us and they've added to our skills of Agriculture and our handy work being a part of this club has taught me how to be more environmentally sound and make choices that live um that allow us to live in a way where we do no harm personally she taught me how to create desirable environments um maintaining the ph and salinity levels and the nutrients con concentrations in the Hydroponics table and the skills that I gained with her allowed me to um apply for a research opportunity for neurobiology at the um university and jit so Greenhouse has given me the opportunity to gain skills um that allow me to operate at a higher level than I would normally at um at a high school level and as a science club Greenhouse has always um emphasized the importance of connecting with others um in a way that benefits the health and the people um of a community and remaining sustainable people who are greenhouse members for as long as we have been graduate to be leaders who value community health education a problem solving um the technical skills that I have learned cannot be taught from within a classroom and it really makes me appreciate the greenhouse and all that it gives to the members and the people that it feeds from its Harvest we want to thank the Boe for allowing us the ability to gain the experience in a greenhouse at JP and provide us with opportunities to give back to our home the greenhouse is a testament to the generosity of JP as a community and its constant effort to better lives of others hello I'm Isabella Rios and I'm also a senior at JP Stevens High School I've been a member of the greenhouse Club since the summer following my freshman year here I joined the club after having Miss hbor as my biology teacher and bearing witness to the incredible Community her and Mrs NE created in the backyard of JP I want to express my gratitude to the board for providing JP students with the land to be part of such an upstanding program that benefits students and the community we live in being part of the greenhous has allowed me to learn Life SK life skills that would not be traditionally taught in the classroom being part of this club means learning to be flexible and take on any problem at hand I've learned about integrated Pest Management sustainable irrigation crop rotation and much more simply from listening and working within this club this has helped me significantly in my science courses and giving me real life application to reference to when I'm learning in the classroom it's piqued my interest in being a more environmentally aware Citizen and and has helped me realize that there are small yet powerful ways we can help the environment even in the backyard of Our Own Town High School Greenhouse has helped me find a community of fellow plant lovers who also love the club are advisers and doing their part just as I do it is only within this club that I can bond with others over our Splendid Harvest that help the community planting new trees and finding ladybugs on leaves without the Board of Education this club would not be possible so we thank you for the chance to experience it in its full Glory hi I'm Edith Jiao and like Isabella I joined Greenhouse in the summer before sophomore year so I've been in the game for a long time and as a senior I've learned and experienced so many things for the past few years but nothing has hit harder than being a part of the greenhouse Club I remember the first time that I tried planting something it was the ttio bed at Greenhouse which is just Mexican tomatoes and to my utter disappointment nothing grew at all but people can change and in this recent Harvest I was in charge of the honey nut squash trellis and I ended up with a beautiful Harvest of 30 plus squashes that we donated to the Hands of Hope food bank and also sold for much less than their actual worth and to me that's the epitome of the greenhouse we put in really hard work and afterwards we give what we've created up to the community and to Nature and it means so much to work for something that will have a direct real genuine effect on someone who could very well be living a block down from me it blows my mind like before covid over the course of three years we donated $10,000 worth of healthy organic food to the community and just this year 200 lbs of it our work changes lives I believe believe and it changes people and I know people can change because I've changed I've made so many friends at this club I've reconnected with nature and I found so much joy from witnessing um a miracle of life and as someone once said and I really like um how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard and so I have to thank you Edison board of education for supporting the greenhouse and allowing me to really discover what that means thank you I'm eternally grateful for every moment um good evening my name is inva and just like Edith I've been a part of this program since I was um a freshman and as I approach the threshold of the next four years at College I just wanted to reflect on my four years at the greenhouse and how much I've grow and involved through this unique opportunity the experiences and connections I forged here have been nothing short of transforming ative both for myself and the Edison Community every summer under the guidance of Miss Hal and Miss NE the greenhouse becomes a thriving Hub of growth and connection their unwavering dedication and consistent effort to put their best foot forward at all times have turned this humble green house into a Haven of learning creativity there's times where they drive in the rain and we're there and even though they live far away they put in the effort to be coming there for us and often times these were the times in the Summer where I got to hang out with my friends and so take part in learning but in like an open environment um and miss hro miss n's passion and expertise in botney has not only helped Foster my interest in the science field but it's also imparted lessons that have gone far past the classroom walls from planting seeds to harvesting ripe veggies I've learned patience diligence and most importantly the profound joy that comes from just nurturing life moreover our work at the greenhouse resonates far beyond the walls the produce and plants we've cultivated have brightened local homes the food bank and the hands of people in our community that need the food the most people have relied on this food from the food banks and programs like this to to sustain themselves and I truly can't overstate the positive impact it has on those who have been a part of this journey I'm also a varsity athlete and I do participate in other sports and I just want to say that as a fall Varsity athlete specifically soccer it's really difficult to find the opportunity to take part in other clubs that I can still value my interests and science is a big one is a big part of my interest as and as someone who wants to enter the science field as I enter College this was a great opportunity for me to take part in learning and I just wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to you the board of education for supporting and sustaining this wonderful initiative your support in the greenhouse has not just enriched our school but has sewn seeds of compassion understanding and Community spirit that will continue to flourish for years to come you you are the TR Heroes of this story and I'm eternally grateful for your kindness and unwavering belief in what we can achieve together thank you again for the Priceless opportunity here's to many more Summers of growth learning and Community Connection good evening my name is Serena and I'm also a senior at JP Stevens High School this is my third year volunteering at the JP Stevens greenhouse and I'd like to thank the board of education for enabling the greenhouse to carry out its amazing work maintaining the greenhouse and growing fresh organic produce requires a lot of hard work and dedication so I'm extremely grateful for all the support the board the board has shown for us working at the greenhouse has been one of the most special and eye-opening experiences that I've had at JP Stevens when I first started volunteering at the greenhouse I knew very little about growing produce now because of the greenhouse house I've developed a true passion for it at the greenhouse I had the opportunity to gain important skills and experiences that I never would have had in a typical classroom setting I learned about the fascinating Technologies used to grow produce such as the Hydroponics table and drip irrigation and this furthered my interest in science I helped put together garden beds and Ed power tools for the first time making me realize how much I enjoy building things from cucumbers to tomatoes I tasted some of the ve best vegetables that I've ever eaten at the greenhouse I'm so thankful for everything the greenhouse has taught and given me and I would not be the same without it beyond all this the greenhouse has given me an opportunity to give back to my community it has made me more aware of how impactful growing fresh food can be I learned how grateful the food banks are whenever they receive donations from the greenhouse and how beneficial it has been for other students who who may not have access to Fresh Produce it's a basic necessity yet many people cannot access it the greenhouse has shown me how important growing fresh sustainable produce is and that this is a critical topic that should be emphasized at school the JP Stevens Greenhouse has already made such a positive impact on our community and I'm excited to see it continue to grow and make a difference even after I leave JP Stevens I'd like to thank the board of education for making this am amazing opportunity possible we thank you for your time and we invite you to come visit the greenhouse during the planting season this spring thank you really appreciate you guys coming here and uh you know thank you very much now we have M Madam president yeah Mr she so um thank you guys for coming over here I I think we got emails from two of you in the in the summer to share your experiences I actually visited the greenhouse you know it when we first talking about Greenhouse not only the house you actually expand it you know um the lot of those planting beds and also you mention the dripping technology that you use to save water um I have to you know um cool those to our facility or grounds I don't know whoever did it great job for putting up the fence the the planting beds over there nice nice job and put the water into it you know the the technology uh to save water it's much better than the township Gardens but but uh you know so glad to see those vegetables that grow so nicely when I was there so uh thank you for sharing your experience with us next we have board member comments sorry what was it you your announ member coming huh you have a I have oh meeting announcement next we have Caucus meeting December 14th at Ed Center 7 p.m. and the next public meeting December 19th at Addison High 7 p.m. our reok meeting will be January 2nd at Ed Center 700 p.m. board member comments Madam president Mr yes I just want to uh mention the uh the initiative uh from um Mr Robinson here the field of Flags uh to uh celebrate the the veterans and Veterans Day here at JP Stevens uh those beautiful flags and um thank you for um for doing that uh I know that Mr Robinson uh was a veteran and I'm really glad to see him um uh doing this uh and let our students to participate in that um I actually have some questions for uh Dr Elli that's my uh my tradition I got to follow this thing up or I have two more meetings here uh so there's three questions from me um uh can you provide an update on the residence resident verification system and also uh we still have a lot of parents were concerns about the busing any updates on subscription and the bus application after we open it up uh um last month and also the third question is the bus tracking software uh I thought our original plan is to get that installed by the end of this month and I hope that that you know after the break uh these um you know the the tracking software can be used after the um the break so three questions so I can start with the residency verification the status of residency verification so um we have a talented group of of students who are currently working with um both our it Department uh and our enrollment department on um verification software uh they are currently testing this platform uh over over multiple databases just um you they're all public domain databases too so there you know nothing's being compromised uh internally with regards to that um once they deem that the software is is accurate right and is able to accurately uh identify residencies and individuals living in that home uh they'll do further tests uh to verify and then we'll probably implement it on a smaller scale at first and then and move forward with the larger piece it's amazing what those students have done and uh you I compliment um Mr Barka and Mr benedict for uh for for their collaboration in that area too so it's it's been it's been really fruitful the second one was the status of subscription busing yes so currently right now I think we have under a 100 applications that are less we have less than that we uh as of today we have I believe 68 that are on a weight list on a weight list that's districtwide so that's both the North and South End of Edison so we've been you know actively trying to do what we can to either identify a seat that's open or um create you know a route that we're able to go out and uh put out a bid for to secure uh subscription bus so um I know that there's 68 kids we know that you're out there we're trying to do our best uh we're hoping to uh find a group that are in close enough proximity so we can get out there and and secure a route for them so the other questions you know some people might have missed the application are we still is that application still open for people to to submit applications or no I don't believe we Clos I don't believe it's closed I we can I'll double check that but that's that's a great question I I don't believe it was closed I think once we reopened it in October it's it's remained open so so you know parents and students if if you you know still want Transportation uh please submit the application uh it is so great to hear that that only 68 yeah that's good I mean that's for throughout the whole District it's a great progress from the administration team kudos to you guys and our transportation department you know we know we still have 68 seats to assign but uh great progress appreciate it app that yeah thank Mr to and the transportation team in relationship to that they did a wonderful job um and again you know listen there's learning curves with this right you know we ran into a couple issues with the street index in the very beginning that's not that's something that's I mean we we we kind of put an initial bandid on that to to make it a little bit clearer but in January we're having a meeting coming up to make to determine number one how that kind of blanket regulation affected everybody and to make sure that um it's being implemented with Fidelity and that we're not excluding anybody also so um you know I look forward to to that and and and you know as as we continue to reflect we'll get better we get better um speaking of getting better um the software I forget the name of the software track yeah stop finder so right now uh same thing we we we kind of had to slow down and pause a little bit U due to the fact that we were trying to get kids on buses uh the drrs which is an annual trans report to Transportation report it's due to the state we had to have that in by the 15th um but all of our data has been migrated into the system that's good a good thing however we're going through the verification process we have a meeting um set up a transfinder uh next week I believe Wednesday in order to continue our internal training for our staff it's going to take a couple weeks along with verifying that the data that came over into that system is correct so that um when we roll this out uh it it's done so in in in an efficient manner and information is correct we're also going to you know all of our transportation staff are going to be trained because you know when parents are trying to utilize a software if they have a question you they want to be able to call someone in transportation and have them troubleshoot it so you know we we're getting our people uh the training and support they needed for this software so between that um and the uh data migration we're probably going to start beta testing this with a small group that's how we're going to roll it out uh small group in the community like give them access to the app maybe even give the parents a little guide and some training uh probably the end of next month end of next month so by okay before the holiday okay thank you very much any any idea how long the the pilot is going to be before we roll out uh you know to all our uh buses ideally if it goes you know I I think the from what the company's telling us we're going to beta test it twice if all goes well you know like one week you bring on a small segment that goes well do it again different area same segment two times is is good for me let's let's go for gold okay so it looks like uh the next uh semester we're moving after the holiday is fantastic thank you very much thank you anybody else any other board me uh yeah I just want to one more thing uh I'd like to congratulate um Virginia White on winning the election and also my uh two uh you know teammates Angela Patel is sitting in the back and Chris Lugo congratulations and uh welcome to the board thank you Mr Michelle Patel well I just want to wish everyone happy Diwali I mean that's why I'm wearing this Indian additional you know traditional attire and I want to thank my five young bosses to you know coming here and appreciating the board's work I wasn't part of the you know initiative when it was taken but I'm sure the board appreciates you coming in and giving us scoters thank you thank you yeah Miss White okay I just wanted to to take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for me thank you for allowing me to serve our students parents and neighbors and our amazing staff one more time so appreciate it for me this is truly an honor and I appreciate all of your support to our newly elected board members I wish you well and I look forward to working with you in January I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my running mate Anthony and belel I appreciate both of you so very much and finally I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving please enjoy it with your families thank you very much thank you Bo president yeah okay Mr right so a huge congratulations to Virginia very well done anj sitting right here and Chris we don't see Chris here today but all three of you uh huge congratulations and and we all look forward to work with all of you next year um for the elections um now I have said this time and again one of the Edison team former Edison student shal Tam a huge loss for Edison because he moved to Monro now he was a woodro Wilson student this year he moved back to Monro but he's U top three finalist in the international uh student peace organization so he may get a huge Grant and lot of Echols and it will be bringing a huge Pride to Edison the reason is even though the student moved out of Edison it all started in Edison Public Schools it's Edison who gave him the platform it started as a science project when he was in elementary school in Woodbrook and it has become a huge thing across the world the whole world will be watching and we wish him all the best so that he gets the first prize so huge wishes to him uh in in topping out wherever he is so and good luck uh Happy Thanksgiving to everyone stay safe and I can uh you know not speak about the rankings so I know Heather we all discussed about this reaching out to Great Schools and everything but things have gotten better since because if you see the US News and World Report even though that is not 100% accurate that has anomalies uh it still ranks Woodbrook as 17 then John Adams as 20 something so that's huge upside in the rankings so everyone who is concerned about the rankings should visit the US News and World Report the latest rankings and Edison schools are doing much much better but we still have a lot of more work to do and we will keep working on it to improve the rankings of the public school system uh we want nothing but best for our students thank you so much thank you any other po member comments see no yeah oh pel thank you first and foremost congratulations Virginia White for winning the election as well as an and Chris Lugo welcome right um I just want to say a Happy Thanksgiving to everybody but I want to give thanks to a few people right now I want to thank all the teachers that go above and beyond for providing knowledge encouragement and above all hope to our students I give thanks to all the students that are taking all the steps necessary towards giving their best achieving their best and in making this school district one of the best in the state I give thanks to the parents that put their children's happiness and mental health above grades and give them the encouragement to dream big and achieve their greatness I give thanks to all the administrators for going above and beyond on a daily basis to put our students needs above all and I also want to give thanks to all the board members that put our students first and above politics thank you all thank you that's my that's my Thanksgiving speech very nice thank you see now public comments good evening uh first of all to the Board of Education thank you for doing this job it's not easy what you're doing we definitely appreciate it and your name please your name I'm sorry Jonathan Phillips uh resident uh here in Edison since 1984 Firethorn Drive both my daughters came through JP Stevens so um I come here tonight this is my first Board of Education meeting since 1984 so I must be here for a reason right hopefully uh and I definitely I got to tell you these kids are amazing so I really I think we should all applaud them again for what they did to their education they're seniors but they're the next Community next generation of community leaders that we're going to have uh not only here in Edison but in the state in the world so that's important so why am I here tonight well I'm I'm executive director of a Union County nonprofit called groundwork Elizabeth and one of our big program goals is urban agriculture we've worked with we have 150 Community Gardens in Union County and Elizabeth that we work with but but only one in Middle sex County and it's the Edison JP Stevens Greenhouse so we've worked with Laura hbar and the students for a number of years on this incredible incredible Greenhouse that I believe a lot of you have gone to and if you haven't gone to it yet get to it so my question for you is will you continue to support this greenhouse as a board of education and is there any financial support that you might throw Miss hbar and our students our next generation of community leaders uh is that yeah you can State all your questions and the way that's my only question okay thank you I yeah Mr yeah Jo go ahead uh in um Martin Luther King's school there was a garden a teacher by the name of I think name was Miss Lippy and the students learned about growing and they leave Martin Luther King and then they they go to a middle school and then they go up here to high school and that Greenhouse is really important to us I mean that is one of our I mean there's 177,000 students and you know they're all pretty good here you know but that Greenhouse I would like to expand it I would like to expand it to other schools I think you know a greenhouse like that would be you know really it would be something that all of our students could learn and right now I want to give you my word that we'll do whatever we can to make that greenhouse and and other green houses but there again it's only me I wish I could I wish I could snap my fingers and give you whatever you need but I'll give you this I'll stand in front of anybody I'll get any help that you need I can give you I'll give it to you and it's going to help our students you see it's not just the students at JP Stevens It's the students at our feeder schools yes those feeder schools feed our students in at in the Edison school system so I think what you're what you're saying is you want me to to help you expand and sir yes all you got to do is ask me I'm in be there all right thank you thank you anyone else Beth uh Miss con yes Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle um I'm going to start with something good first I went to Edison High School's production of clue last month it was fabulous the students were unbelievable Jenny and I sat there giggling the whole night they put that production across and Mr Ross was like right behind us and we could hear him sometimes above the students it was that amazing and this is another time that shows there's many courses across the board that are so good about our district so I just wanted to give them kudos to um their production and guess what the other one is I looked on the agenda online and your minutes are not there for your meetings now the reason why I'm asking for it is sometimes when you're talking it really doesn't give me a chance to take notes to ask a question maybe about something that went on during your meetings and I'm just uh not getting it so I'm just going to keep trying until one month I see the meeting minutes there now I I if it's not online but if I show up at 7 o'clock I would at least appreciate being able to look at it and maybe following along while you're speaking so this way I can highlight anything that I might have a question but as of November of 2023 I still haven't won yet but I'm not going to give up so thank you very much so it's a positive and a negative thank you thank you have a Happy Thanksgiving and be thankful for all we have you too thank you thank you best she's taller than I am Beth 15 Midwood Happy Thanksgiving to all I'm grateful for all that you do and for our kids and the taxpayers I do appreciate it and you give a lot of time in the season of giving and it's not gone unnoticed I have some questions I'm kind of kind of pingpong all over the place so Dr aldarelli you might want to take some notes got it and Mrs Pang number one it is November 2023 this past year to count there have been approximately seven caucus meetings cancelled we haven't had I understand I'll take two away because in this summer we always have a combined meeting that's five 11 months so far we've not had five caucus meetings now who is making this decision that they're cancelled and in doing so the public and I'm not sure if all the board members are giving adequate time as to look over what is going to be discussed and to review you know agenda items I'm not sure if you guys are given that much time too by it being canceled or you're given the stuff at this combined meeting when you show up and if that's the case how can you make informed and fiscally responsible decisions for our district and us as taxpayers be able to question things because you know we're thrown the agenda when we walk in here and the Personnel stuff we have about five minutes if we have any questions to comment on that so that's kind of not being transparent and is this going to be the protocols coming forward or we're going to go back to past practice and continue with our caucus and our um action meetings um next I want to go on to Mr Patel you discussed with the curriculum committees and so forth about more AP classes coming in ninth grade but then on the other hand we're discussing that we need tutors for our kids available 247 to help them let's get yoga and breathing into the schools because our kids are stressed out what is the purpose of having all of these AP classes especially in ninth grade it seems like we're getting so topheavy with them that they're losing their value and a lot of the colleges might accept the credits for kids to maybe um pick their courses for the next semester but not necessarily taking that course and the kids have to take the course anyway and we are also here I've been here for the last couple months hearing a lot of let's push these APS let's get geometry in four weeks over the summer not sure how a speed class of geometry is going to give kids all that all that they need for them to succeed maybe that's with this algebra stuff when I see these algebra tutors and stuff maybe we're expecting too much and not giving kids that balance because also as board members I know you're worried about the class rankings I've been hearing that for months now but you're also here to educate and support all of our students I've heard nothing since Dr bran was here a few years ago about even doing more for shop classes and so forth for maybe kids that aren't going to go our students to a college we still need more trade students but all I hear when I come here is AP AP AP there's a lot of students who aren't AP and guess what they will be successful but we need to support them as well so what are we doing to support them other than the AP [Music] um couple more things Dr alderi it's November no we're self-insured we've been self-insured for over a year now as a taxpayer I have not seen what the costs three years through this are what the costs are our district how much we're saving so I'd like to kind of know what that is and lastly Dr Alder you've been working here for so many months for us and I appreciate it you're doing a great job but the public has not been told yet publicly or in writing what Dr alder's contract is how many years it is and what it's how much he's making so I think you know our board we need to get a little transparent and get that information out to our public used to be in the agendas and so forth hasn't been I'd appreciate some answers to my questions and I thank you for all you guys do thank you thanks for your comments we discussed your contract thank you Beth I'll just answer the Caucus meeting they're not cancelled I mean they're combined and I I assure you every board member we always send out the agenda at least the Friday before so we have literally the whole weekend plus Monday Tuesday to review them so I have not heard concerns from my colleagues in terms of not enough having enough time to review the items or I know not supposed to go back and forth I appreciate that but the Public's not getting it anymore and we're not even getting the agendas anymore 48 hours in advance they're coming out the day of and the fact that we don't see the things ahead of time like we used to with the Caucus meeting and the Action meeting in the combined meeting now it's kind of leaving us out of the loop your stakeholders okay I'll make sure the agenda is sent out right uh I thought it was send out at Le two days before but uh we double check thank you anything on any of the other questions no contracts about your contract my contract I believe is on the website yeah it's a five year contract yeah it's 5 years the parameters of it I believe have to be posted on the website I I don't know where it is on the website but I'm it's not on the website we're going to put it on the website it's a public information I know but it should be you know now we have everybody else's when everybody else is hired in our agenda person and also our a we had discussed it too so I I guess you could review the August meeting on uh online as well yeah yeah I've yeah we could I could send it over I believe it's on the website or we should be putting it on the website I think leally it's got to be on the website so it should also be in the Personnel agendas for the public to see without having to dig for it thank you thank you and in regard board president if I may yeah in regards to the shop classes and everything if you saw the board meetings when two three years ago when I first got on the board our first thing that I talked about was we need life skills I don't know if you remember any of those meetings where we discussed life skills are important our kids need to learn how to change a tire if they have to or even fix a faucet or whatever it is those are skills that are going to be high demand for the next generation moving forward all these soft skills are going to be AI bottom line they're going to be all gone so we are in the process of making sure that the hard skills are there and the curriculum reflects it and we provide the services that the students of the future will need so I don't know if you've seen the meetings two years ago we were talking about that plus mental health and also so I just want to let you know you are thinking about it Madam president Mr she yeah I just wanted to Beth I just want to let you know that in the summer we we mentioned multiple times uh we expanded our summer intern program okay our summer intern program including 20 students for our facility interns those are the ones that learn the life skills about working our facilities and do whatever they need to do for the whole summer this is this is experience that the part of the the although it's not a official curriculum class but we are expanding those skills for our students it's a win-win for both as a win for our district uh you know to have these students working in our district and also you know they make a couple bucks um it's it's it's you know that that's also part of the process it doesn't have to be a specific class but they learn on the job for the for the 10 weeks uh in a summer time y anyone else um the leading White 9 o' may your name and address please U yeah my name is Mary Bon I'm actually a resident of Highland Park and uh this is Milagros Aguayo also from Highland Park um and if it's okay I'd like to give my comments and then malagos will translate them into Spanish just a summary for those folks for which it may be helpful thank you um the reason we're here is uh regarding a concern that um several residents in Edison and Highland Park are sharing over an issue near the lindenau elementary school up at 50 Blossom Street in Edison and in the event that you're not aware uh there is a marijuana store that is looking to come in uh up at up the street from Linden Elementary at 225 Woodbridge Avenue technically the parcel is on Highland Park property but the location actually violates the Edison cannabis ordinance so we want Edison residents to be aware of it in particular you folks are all obviously all concerned about um school children parents um so we want in particular this venue to be aware and for all the parents who may be here this evening and listening at home we want to let you know what we are trying to do about this situation and to try to help these towns um for starters we have a uh petition that has been developed and um it is available online we have a QR code link to the petition um we brought copies of it on paper for all of you folks to have this evening we've also got copies of the Q R code again for each of you as and for any of the parents here tonight we'd like to share this with you um the the other thing that is really important to do this particular shop at 225 Woodbridge AV uh is called Anja and it's right at the corner of du close in Woodbridge um it violates the Edison cannabis ordinance because it is less than a th000 ft from the nearest Edison home and it is less than a th000 feet from St Teresa's Church on Fox Road so uh this has all been done to the best of our knowledge per open records without any communication between these two towns um oh there's commun Edison is really strongly encouraged at this point that it means all of you as residents anybody listening at home the audience here to get in touch with Sam Joi and your councel and ask them to step up on this Highland Park is expected to give a resolution authorizing the opening of this store in probably a couple of weeks so you need to move on this um you can also contact uh me further anybody who's not here tonight again my name is Mary Bon my cell phone or text is 732 579 2979 and and you can also contact us at HP noot gmail.com so again uh with your permission I'd like to give you papers after the meeting so you can have those and we'll be available after the meeting for anybody here who'd like to connect with us okay and malagos will spend just a few minutes to translate this into Spanish thank you you could give her six minutes on the clock thank you our time is up no no no no no she has 6 minutes take your time Avenue in Highland Park thank you so much thank you anyone else uh Miss Bowski Carol podowski 39 Jonathan Drive first I'd like to mention that the seats Where Mrs Conway and I are are very comfortable yeah now I don't know if it's the seats themselves or the fact that we're not on the hot seat as you guys are um but I've been coming to these meetings for a lot a lot of years and I have to say there have been things that are done right things that are done done wrong but tonight I was really impressed by this group of young ladies who were over here speaking about the project and it reminded me of my first Edison Board of Ed meeting where there was a group of young ladies over in this area and they were from our FCCLA here in Edison and that's another group we have so many students that are so amazing and we want them to go to the best schools and we want them to succeed in college so we don't want to try to push too hard to get people into classes they're not ready for but we don't want to ever limit people because we don't have room for them when my daughter started Gettysburg College the school of her dreams um she actually had two letters came in the mail and she was at an FCCLA conference and I brought them to her and she looked and one was was from the president of the United States and his wife and the other one was from Gettysburg College she of course let the Pres president first lady fall on the floor while she ripped open and found out that she had her dream to go to Gettysburg College and um we were very happy about that because so many things that happened here at JP Stevens didn't seem right and then I go to band concert or the choir concert and then I'd go to one and I it would be a big one so I'd get to see the Edison High one also and I'd be like oh my God they're incredible and I'd go back and forth from things that amazed me here and now as I look at my daughters as they they've graduated from college they're successful and all this um I don't know that I'd need to tutor them to get them into algebra to I'm the one that refused to take the accelerated math because I was going to be a Latin teacher so that might have been like very smart of me I was very intellectual I did help a student who needed to finish the class and there were a lot of you know mitigating factors and I was able in a summer to teach a child all of Latin too and I've worked with different children at different levels that had specific issues and specific spefic needs to make but sometimes when we try to give everybody everything they want we forget that we need to give them what they need what they all need and the last of my nieces and nephews is getting the um he's going to graduate from Community College along with his high school graduation and um he still doesn't know what he wants to beate better with be something to do with music and Ai and oh I said that's wonderful but you know you're doing so many things right there's always going to be something that we're not doing but just stop and listen as you have tonight you had a nice group of people that had you know interesting things to say and sometimes when we get too many people screaming in our faces we don't listen at all so I'm very happy at this meeting tonight and then I got to sit next to Mrs Conway um they haven't made any rules this year about us not being allowed to sit together as they did once before but thank you all thank you Harish your next so Harish ttin 45 McKinley Street um requesting update on few things number one my Oprah request Mr Jonathan you promised me one month back never heard back from you I submitted two more operas number two um the opt out form for elementary schools regarding ing certain topics in uh health education certain controversial topics so last year uh I think Dr Brean did send it out it was available on our parent portal so wondering uh if it will be made available this year also I mean I'm not really worried about middle school and high school but for elementary school at least uh if someone is innocent let them be innocent at least till grade five uh number three any update on the fans requisition I know entire board and uh Administration senior officials both of you uh we mentioned earlier last month and the month before that we'll take care of the fans you don't have to contribute and save that money for something else uh I think it really doesn't look nice if uh we don't keep our work word well we means you all I'm not part of that so I think it's better that we be on top of that in terms of uh chasing different School principles for requisitions and uh putting in a formal requisition because government procedures are lendy I mean you guys know it better than me so that everything is in place by Spring itself uh as I said several times before if we had a pot of gold unlimited funds yes we would obviously go in for brand new wiring and new new AC and everything but unfortunately we don't have that luxury um then number fourth any update on that uh accident on uh raav Avenue I mean we have the copy of the local police report but I thought this was this goes to the next level of DMV and all that a detailed uh thing is uh investigation is conducted uh most importantly we are all very thankful to God that no kid or the driver got hurt no pedestrians nothing it's only property damage which insurance will take care of uh but a few words from uh superintendent uh maybe in the next meeting or now as to what additional things we might be doing in terms of enforcing uh certain uh more frequent checks uh to the outside vendors everyone knows that it's not Edison own bus it is outside Transportation so that would come Comfort the parents so those four are done now coming back to curriculum uh Elementary School yeah uh I know last time when we talked you said leave my name and number I didn't do that intentionally because I didn't want to disturb you at that time transportation was the priority so good to hear that's going well now only 68 are left so I think I would definitely like to meet uh miss baninda you and along with couple of more parents uh and maybe V pel could also join since he's the curriculum head I I don't have anything new to say other than what I repeated two months back personally I'm a great fan of primester system I I'll tell you honestly because I went to grad school that was almost 20 years back I went to oh State University and it was a what is that quarter system once I had viral fever one week was gone and the quarter grades were gone so we have the same phenomenon here in the marking period system so personally I like the trimester system but when grade six onwards We are following the marking period system and it is things are so competitive in Edison again I repeat the same thing what I said it's uh we need to give the kid a smooth transition because as it is from 5ifth to 6th they are going to different School different uh teachers new surroundings this that everything is new so it's better that we have the marking period system and the regular grading uh regular uh reports in grade five whatever you guys want to do up to grade four I mean I will leave it to you I'm not going to argue about that but at least for grade five I know Vish said that they are planning a pilot for grade five please please don't do that I mean if you have future plans of doing a trimester in middle school then it makes sense but uh when there is no such plan I mean it's better that uh we follow the marking period system and uh stand standard report card I mean the conventional report card not the new one in grade five so that's my request I'm ready to bring in parents who are not happy with uh the standards based reporting and we requested this thing since Dr rean a survey survey to the affected uh parents because the sample size on social media WhatsApp or Facebook groups is not enough uh most people don't come to the meeting to talk and uh although I know at least half a dozen people who do not like it that is still a small sample size so best thing is survey uh for the parents and then a discussion followed by whatever final implementation in this context I would like to quote Dr not Dr Indra Nui the former CEO of Pepsi company when she first took over as CEO the Wall Street analyst asked so what is the new strategy she said what do you mean new strategy the strategy is working fine do I really need to imply Implement a new strategy so when things just because there is a new Sharif in town it doesn't mean that uh we need to create uh new rules and policies and uh change it uh that's my point if it's working well let it work I mean there are so many other problems that we can tackle uh I have one more about middle school and high school but I'll come afterwards thank you thank you what there is a student uh there's student waiting oh yeah yeah any students you you can go first so our name is Kushi abar uh she's a she the reason she's late is because she's a senior master sergeant at Civil Air Patrol incredible achievement so she will tell about all her achievements she's the JP students Junior great um good evening everyone I'm Kushi habar I'm a junior in John P Stevens High School which is where we are right now um I have been a girl scouts since the age of five and I have volunteered in veterans homes I have distributed Christmas cards for PE uh veterans I have um also worked in senior centers and old age homes I have won the silver award for my project breathe which was focused on teaching mental health awareness to children from the age of 2 to 12 during the covid years currently I'm working on my Gold Award project uh which Targets in teaching mental health to teenagers and targets helping teenagers with their mental health um and it is called Beyond barriers currently I'm a senior master sergeant almost chief Master Sergeant right now in the Civil Air Patrol H which is the auxiliary of the US Air Force and I have flown a cessa 172 aircraft multiple times and have been able to fly akc1 simulator on the military orientation flight um which is a simulator that is used for actual US Air Force pilots I have also uh I have always also suggested multiple other of my other people to join Civil Air Patrol as it's a wonderful place to volunteer for our community Comm I'm also passionate about astronomy and Aerospace which is why I joined Civil Air Patrol in the first place I have comp competed in Stellar explorers in the past twice and this is my third year I have been to semi-finals at um I've been to semi-finals in Stellar explorers twice and this year we're planning to go to finals Stellar explorers is a national competition which requires participants to solve previously used NASA missions and this involves using system toolkit and getting a SDK level one certification and this also involves launching satellites into space and choosing the right rocket components to complete the mission so these are some of my interests in academics and outside of academics in sports I've enjoyed swimming and I've been on the um ment swim team in matachin YMCA I currently I'm a private swim coach at Edison YMCA and I help kids learn the life-saving skills of swimming and I also help kids get into competitive swim teams um I'm also very interested in the Arts so I'm proficient in an Indian classical art called Barnum which is an Indian classical dance and I have performed in very prestigious events across the country uh such as the Cleveland theara Festival the Pittsburgh Dance Festival Sam in Houston the Shri Papa nashim Shivan dance competition in Delaware and the Delaware dance competition and I have also performed in many many performances around the tri- state area I'm also um trained I'm also a trained cartic musician cartic music is the Indian classical singing of South India primarily and I've performed in the leading music festivals again like the thyagaraja festival the purandaradasa um NAD nadana Festival multiple times and along with this I also o really enjoy drawing and painting pottery and other Visual Arts very much and I've won many art competitions and my work was previously exhibited in um the Edison Public Library as the artist of the month as well as the North Edison Main Branch Library earlier last year so along with all of this uh you this summer I had a very big show which showcased all of my three art forms and in this show I was able to raise over $3,000 for promoting education of the underprivileged kids using my artistic skills so thank you so much for have letting me speak um if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you that's quite a lot of achievement thank you any other first timers oh Mr Ross good evening everybody I know we're at JP Stevens but it's always a good time to talk about what's great about Edison High now I know the holiday season is upon us and I'm here to save you guys money everybody out there in TV Land everybody that's in the audience on Saturday the 2nd we're going to have the ptso bazaar at Edison High now we've got over 140 vendors I know my man will kboss is going to make sure I got all the tables I need and we're going to set it up and we're selling everything from A to Z so come on by check the deals at Edison High that's December 2nd support the ptso that supports all the students of Edison I just want to shout out another what's great about Edison High young lady by the name of Emily hque won the first place in the state championships in the beam and that's the third year in a row that we've had a student win one of the events state championships so Bravo for her and miss Salvatore our gymnastics coach I want to shout out um our central office person of the week Miss Lisa will plan for all her help and always picking up the phone for me so I wanted to shout her out and just say that I'm always thankful and I know everybody else that's watching is thankful for being a part of the absolute best school district in New Jersey no matter what any award say we all know which one is number one thank you Mr Ross who's been the biggest advocate for Edis I thank you anybody else oh Matt she men say oh man good evening um couple things I just want to mention and are all good things so first of all congratulations to the Mrs White Miss Patel in the back and Mugo for their victory in the election as always ETA looks forward to working with all the board members um second thing Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving to everyone three good words ditto if you break it down happy it's a Happy Time of the Year hopefully for everyone yes thanks don't take anything for granted I've learned this as I've aged always say today what you should say don't put it off till tomorrow because you know what tomorrow holds so thanks give thanks to everyone that's being a positive effect in your life and the last one which maybe the most important I'm speaking about is giving I happen to hear this on the radio I think it was this morning or yesterday morning on my travel to school how donations and giving is down from what it used to be we have a lot of needy people out there so please use the time this time of the year happy time of the year to to give to the needy people those that that need things food shelter clothing Etc so that leaves me into a couple things I want to mention with that on top of it one of persons that and she was in the board minutes her and her husband last board meeting for retiring is Dora Ramos and her husband Jimmy who is a security officer at Edison High Dora was one of our intendance investigators if there's a person that's opposed to child for giving back to her community it was Dora Ramos Dora with the care going back a number of years ago she still continues to be involved with the community has always thought about the person in need so she'll be sorely missed I know her and her husband will be moving down eventually to Texas near that her son I had the pleasure of teaching her son years ago and that's how I met dor originally um by having her son wonderful wonderful young man in class um so I just want to wish them well and again make that announcement um again there's nobody that that's more of a post a child for giving back to her community in dor Ramos the final thing I want to mention is ETA and it's some a number of things that we've done over the past month and will continue to do thank you to Dr aldarelli Mr dougen over at mow Park we had our trunk Retreat for Halloween I believe we dispensed over 70,000 pieces of candy if I'm not mistaken thank you to the uh fire department the police department made a nice donation of candy Unfortunately they weren't there we had our two service animals our DJ did a great job it was a wonderful day and a wonderful event as always so thank you to all of those we thank the people that were involved in helping us set that up the people that came out with their cars and again wonderful event for the the children of Edison and you know the parents that that tagged along with the children um second thing we had our bosov um fundraiser that money goes towards scholarships for our CH our students in Edison High and JP Stevens we also had the cookie drive and uh food drrive for Thanksgiving that was uh distributed to Hands of Hope um thank you to the um Pride committee um under the direction of Miss bapst um and to the ketos um who have a direct link with Hands of Hope for they're helping to get the trays and cookies Etc to the families for helping making their Thanksgiving a much happier event in December we have coming up a collection the collections for Christmas so we're collecting things like gift cards for needy families and toys um we also have one as a county event that it's a night of giving so again the association continues to work toward and give back to the members of the community um the final thing I want to mention in February keep the date open um again thanks as always now that the pandemic is kind of behind us somewhat and all we're bringing back our volleyball game and the money raised through the volleyball event which is hopefully going to be the third week in February and in fact I mentioned Mr Bowen yesterday it's leap year so our snow day could be February 29th and he thought that was a great idea in case we get snowed out uh the money raised from that event we uh donate to local charities you know over the years we've done things like kitty keepwell buddy ball uh the Merc T Faro Foundation Etc so you know keep that date open come out I know the schools love to raise money and support the the staff that are playing hopefully the administrators the central office will have a team to play um more information will come to follow you know as we get closer to that event but other than that I also want to wish everyone because we don't have another U meeting before then Happy Hanukkah um to those at that applies um we won't have another board meeting before then and again hopefully everybody will have a nice Happy Thanksgiving if you're traveling be safe and for those of us in the schools have a nice you know time off don't go spending too much much money on shopping on Friday um and just wish everybody you know thankful to the board all right I know sometimes we have our differences some things we agree some things we disagree but I'm always thankful to people you guys all devote your time and that's something that's appreciate it so thank you and have a wonderful holiday thank you thank you thank you any other comments motion to close no okay that concludes our meeting um thank you very much um oh Harish okay thank you so Harish 45 M stre so anyway for this one I am speaking on behalf of some parents from middle and high schools whose kids are in the honors or AP program whatever so I was hoping somebody would pick it up since this is already out there in social media so but anyway that's okay um so it appears that there are some issues especially with the geometry honors and AP courses um in terms of the teaching or the level of homework and also one more thing that parents mentioned is they don't really get the test paper back home to check which problems uh went wrong so there isn't much uh opportunity to improve uh just by letting the student know the final score so this is something that uh could be looked into I mean again as per my own policy I don't take any names of any schools or teachers or whatever but uh this is something that uh needs to be looked into I mean they were requesting some performance monitoring committee for the stem courses and all that and uh again the same uh request like what I mentioned earlier survey to all uh such uh parents so that they can or maybe you could uh conduct a meeting and uh discuss it openly uh I'm out of this because you know my kid is in elementary I I'm still learning about the APS and hors so but this is this has been a prominent complaint on the social media in terms of uh teaching and all I know in grad school they say prepare everything and U do the assignments then come and participate in the class that's what I went through which is fair enough for grad school but for U undergrad and uh high school and all I think uh probably we need to do something more than that so if you want to discuss I'm available afterwards that's it thank you thank you Harish yeah we can discuss offline um so any other comments oh M Conway Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I was debating whether I was going to bring this up or not but yet people thought I was crazy enough to do it so guess what I'm going to do it Halloween is a very big celebration for the children they at the elementary level they have their parties they have their parades and then they go home and then they go out trick-or-treating well it's been a few years since I was teaching and I just don't recall the faces on the children the next day and as I brought my grandsons to school this year I'm taking my time looking at all the other children and I mentioned to uh another parent and I want these poor children and these poor teachers that have to spend the day after Halloween and try to get something done in a positive way and I said to the parent I says they should make Halloween the fourth Friday of October in the schools and then this way they can go home and sleep late on Saturday you could never take away from them the fact of going around trick-or-treating on Halloween but at least it would not be a parade a party trick-or-treating and going to bed late and going to school the next day and as I'm telling this and talking with the parents there were a few teachers behind me and they were like they should make a rule that would be fabulous and I said I don't know what the feelings would be because in the news a superintendant in another District lost his job because he did away with the celebration of Halloween which I thought was atrocious but to just adjust it in some way because I know what reminded me too was when Matt talked about the trunk Retreat the children love getting dressed up in their costumes and ordinarily they might only be able to wear it that one day whereas this time if we did do that they would get and enjoy wearing their costumes more than once I'm just giving you an idea to put in the back of your mind and think about it and maybe talk about it and see if there's any feasibility here or I'm completely out of my mind to even bring it up thank you thank you so next year Halloween falls on a Thursday the next day your costume if you want any other comments motion to close toour the meeting motion second all in favor I thank you have a wonderful holid see you next meeting happy H happy H Happy Thanksgiving [Music]