##VIDEO ID:iAfqquz0oZs## Office three schools municipal building and fathered with the clerk of the B of Emerson stand for that Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you everyone meeting is called to order at 7:34 M can we get the roll call please Mr G here Mrs Mara here Mrs ricardi Mr Smith here Mr pdar here mrone here great um Mrs Mara could you open a meeting to the public for input and comments on agenda items please I'll move to open the meeting to the public for input and comments on agenda items only second seconded by Mr grolik all in favor I on the agenda items yes just a reminder for everyone as you step up name and address please sure Jessica timman 83 di good evening board members and fellow commune members I'm here tonight because I'm concerned about the potential implications of the vote on New Jersey policy 226 this is not simply a Redline edit to uniformly pass it's a change that could have far-reaching effects on how we Define and teach biology to our children as early as the ages of 10 and 11 but ultimately my concern is about what I see as a broader issue the state is encroaching on our rights as parents and telling us what we need to accept when it comes to sexual education for the past three years many Emerson residents have attended these meetings raising alarms about legislative policies that appear to infringe on parental rights this policy change is getting swept under the rug as being a small change unlikely to have any impact and tied to an inclusion message but what it is is a precursor to further Reformation that could blur the lines between education and ideology it is my understanding that the lesson affected by this policy is commonly known as the talk for our fifth graders let's remember that this conversation has been referenced to as talk for decades precisely because it is a sensitive and challenging topic adding more layers to an already complex discussion requires more complex considerations if this policy is really about inclusivity then let's explore Alternatives perhaps we can introduce a secondary age appropriate lesson that addresses inclusivity without diluting the purpose of a biology focused curriculum and prohibiting students from asking uncomfortable questions about the changes they actively experiencing with their bodies rather than implementing a one-size fits-all approach we should ensure the core science lesson remains intact while also considering supplementary content for those who need it or families who are interested and choose to participate I am grateful that many members of this board ran on a platform of protecting parental rights and resisting government overreach in our schools I urge the the board to table this vote to seek input from parents and to listen what our community has to say given the broader implications and the discussions happening at the state level this is not a decision to rush let's ensure that the necessary research and conversations take place first thank you for your time and consideration in the perspectives of this community you have all been elected to represent thank you hi everyone Ashley rice my so uh one of the many times concerns about revision to policy 2260 the obvious reason is that I do not believe it's acceptable to infringe upon the rights of some students in order to make others feel comfortable the sex education talk can be complicated and uncomfortable for 10y olds as it is the policy revision set forth May distract from the purpose of the class to learn about their bodies the 10-year-old bodies they have in that moment that go through very specific experiences unique to their sex as they get older I think it's important to learn about the opposite sex but at 10 I think they need to learn about their own in a room full of similar bodies with children that have the same questions tonight however instead of asking you to vote no I urge you to Simply table this vote for a later date for two reasons one research is needed discuss with the uh board board lawyer whether the revisions of policy are tied to the Title Nine changes that the Biden Administration passed in March and wanted adopted by August if they are it is known that states are currently opposing these changes and the US Supreme Court just days ago temporarily blocked the new title n rule for 26 states that found issue with it yes all of you took Oaths to pass votes based on laws but if our own Supreme Court is reviewing the law then I think we should be prudent and waiting number two for the sake of transparency everyone on the day has ran on different platforms however I believe transparency each of you value and in some way promised pushing this policy revision through during the summer during the last week of Summer I add is not transparent it seems rushed and unfair to the residents who have been focusing on their families and not hidden agendas from Tron the revisions aren't on the website I admit I don't follow all revisions but ones concerning sensitive issues like this one I would appreciate if the board had the foresight to prepare for this type of Interest I believe this policy revision is very sensitive matter and in a very conservative town that requires more open conversation I'd like to end by urging you to stay true to your morals and your values as opposed to voting for something for fear of looking weav a board is meant to be the voice of the community not every voice is the same but they should be heard and not thank you oh go ahead go ahead hello Molly abrahamson 109 Lincoln um I just think that this was very rushed on parents it's summer we're busy we're doing everything I wish we had more time maybe we got a presentation from the health teacher on what will exactly be taught to the class or from the curriculum exactly the notes because then maybe there is a in between where everybody can be met and everybody's comfortable so I just think that a lot of parents didn't know they're in the dark it's summer we went through this two years ago with the curriculum over the summer sum and a lot of parents do not know that's it thank you mego 71 Avenue uh morning R is Emerson graduate I graduated 2003 Mr n was actually in the school system at that time um I voted for Miss Mara and Mr Smith who I felt had the same conservative you know feelings as we did in town um I have an 11-year-old a seven-year-old and upcoming uh child's being prek so starting back to two years ago when the whole sex EDG curriculum was changed um again much like my um peers here felt that it was rushed it was for down our throats coming from the federal government from the state of New Jersey um my 11-year-old has ADHD he has so behind his executive functioning he's immature so I'm glad I had the ability to pull him out of those courses um but he still believes in Santa Claus he's going to sixth grade so to think that we were going to swap out sex ed for gender Ed and have to have him sit down if I felt that what I wanted him to learn this year might be appropriate for him to learn sit down with a child who maybe identifies as an opposite gender learning things about his hormones his body but they're not the same they're not going through the same thing and that child who identifies that day or that year or for the rest of her life as a male who's a female biologically they're not confirmed any more male than they are born a female I'm a nurse I'm sensitive to all of this I take care of patients who are are gay lesbian straight I'm all for everyone deserving what is right for them legally but we're talking about fifth and sixth graders that's where my concern is and I I valued Keith Smith and an your vow to support us parents who had the same like my that's so any any other speakers okay before I I uh close the the meeting to the public uh I wanted to address a couple of the things I heard just as information um I and not to dispute anyone in terms of what the comments you've made but um this is actually this was on the agenda on our last meeting as a first reading so certainly the intent wasn't to to rush it through right we do this with all of the policies that we have we have a a first reading and a second reading so it's been out there for for the public to to view and we we actually I wouldn't say discussed it but it was on the agenda the last time so I just wanted to point that out not to not to say that it was four months ago but it was out there for um for the public um I don't know if any other board members have any comments they want to make before we move forward I'll just give you an opportunity to make that or if anybody else wants to respond maybe anybody else wants to respond to you for the from the board from the okay is there anybody else that would like to respond or or have any input or comments oh and also um we're not changing the content there's no content change that the policy applies only to male female gender anything because somebody made a comment about we're swapping out sex for gender yeah I think this miscommunication about or misunderstanding about what this policy actually addresses really do do you want me to address that okay so so I think it would be good just in the interest of transparency and and communication uh I heard a comment made that we're swapping out sex ed for gender Ed so I just wanted to address that as to what this policy really is so Phil would you mind sharing your and um I do think that um the policy 2260 uh the title is equity in school and classroom practices um it's a mandated policy from the state um it was provided to us by our uh our policy company that assists us with the development of our policy none of the language has been written by the policy company none of the language has been altered or written by the board the entire policy is verbatim verbatim statute from the law uh so all this is doing is asking the board to bring a former policy the former policy the older language was affirmative action program uh for schools in classroom practice so in the past for the last 20 30 years the policy was affirmative action they've changed the title it's equity in school and classroom practices um I think as uh listening to the comments I think the concern deals with one paragraph and the paragraph in a language change changes the language of boys and girls change to gender identity so um that's the that's the uh Crux of the changes to the language and it's um verbatim from the law so um so there I just want to make clear that there's no change to the content that was being taught so there's no we're not altering any cont content we're not the texts or anything like that it's really just the groupings of what and I think probably everybody understands I just want to make sure we're we're communicating that that it's gender uh the language gender identity versus just males and females can we We can question yes yes please we're not going to make it a discussion I just I just want to give you the opportunity um this will be uh are we will parents be allowed to opt out of this Molly Abrahams 109 can parents opt out of this is there a policy put in place for to protect the children who are opted out that they're not ostracized by being against someone El identifying as another gender I believe that would fall under there's nobody knows I mean first off no one would know because every year parents always op out I I know uh from these types of lessons so it would not be uncommon for families to opt out of so yeah so the answer to your question of course yeah okay good families will always have that option okay good because I just want to make sure that if we're being inclusive of every child we're going to be inclusives of the children who are not comfortable learning this as well well we care for all all our kids whether they're in that class or not Mrs mayor sure I just want point out two additional things um I guess to the comments of rushing uh in full transparency after the meeting that we held in July um there were several members of the board that actually asked for the administrative team to uh reach back out to our policy team to get further guidance on this specific language to ensure that the language was really in Conformity with the law and it was not going to be specialized unique language that was going to be set forth in this policy just for Emerson and that this board had any overreaching heavy-handedness in putting this specific language in this policy so we did do that we did do that due diligence and we all have absorbed the very lengthy response that we got from the policy makers as to this um the other thing that I think I want to just clarify is is that the gender identity and expression um language is also set forth in definitions and you can look this up it's NJ uh AC 6A 7- 1.1a which defines all of the language that's being used in this specific piece of code okay this this part of the the law in that it specifically defines that gender identity inp um is a is will fall under a category of protected classes so in a lot of the policies not just 2260 but if you reviewed all of the policies that are presented before the board this evening most of those policies and Dr nnof you can correct me if I'm wrong do have language that changes from just male and female students or um discriminating on the basis of race uh sex ethnicity religion Etc and it now is replacing that language with a broader definition of all of those protected classes that fall under 6A 7- 1.1a which includes gender identity and expression so this policy 2260 is not unique in the sense that it is um the only policy where this gender identity and expression is being used or it's being folded in to the policies so I I wanted to make that clear too that I I know that there's a lot of discussion specifically about this but review all of the policies too and you'll see that all of that language is consistent throughout the throughout all of them don't to back and for no go ahead so Ashley I think Dr has nail on the head that it's not the policy it's just that one specific part of the polic I think everyone here is very clear on the terms and the definitions it's just the one the only time the district separates prior to this policy the existing policy is based on sex the only time we separate based on sex is in that talk so with this new policy with this one little paragraph in this policy you're going to separate based on gender identity so in that case we already know the curriculum is not changing in the the female class that was the female class they're going to learn about periods they're going to learn about having babies in the male class they're going to learn erections and all those things I I just want to correct you just both classes are going to learn the exact same same cont cont girls learn about boys boys learn about girls yes but now the only exact videos exact lessons okay both so that I guess what goes with Molly I don't think anyone really knows what happens in that like I have no clue of that doesn't change my my my comfort level with having someone who is not the same sex as my child in that classroom learning about that because boys and girls mature at different rates having that content in front of them is going to be a completely different experience for a class that has a boy in there with a bunch of girls or a class that has a girl there boys that's just fact so that is again it's just that very specific part of the policy it's just that class if there's a way for you to pass that policy and then pull out that little class that our classes stay the same to have the sex head the talk stays the way it is of sex I think everyone would be happy with that I want to just point out one other thing can I point out one other thing as to this policy pce um just because I'm also fresh off the heels of my academic meeting with um Mrs upperman and this is a question that I had asked about her as I asked specifically what was actually taught during this lesson what is going to be presented what Dr nissanoff has recited to you is consistent with what Mrs oerman stated which is that the both sections are going to um watch the same exact lesson they're going to have the same exact thing playing at the same exact time which is kind of what I remember happening in either middle school or in high school where we were separated out and watched the same thing and then squeamishly left the room um nevertheless the other thing that I wanted to say about this policy piece is that we separate the classes to to and historically it's been male and female separated out we are not required to under the policy if you read it very closely there's two words that just from a policy standpoint from Reading statutes that you should really absorb is the difference between shall and May and in this policy it says that portions of classes that deal exclusively with human sexuality may be conducted in separate developmentally appropriate sessions so while we have historically separated it out it could also be a choice that it's just combined and everybody learns it all together and that's food for thought that's something that you parents can discuss and think of but I want to caution people to read the the policy language to be uh be really careful to find those moments or those L those pieces of language in there that do prescribe what is being done it's not that it has to be done this way it can be combined into one class where all boys and girls learn the same exact thing sitting in the same exact room okay and this is a choice though that historically we have made as I I assume most people and Megan maybe can point to this as to whether or not she learned it in Emerson in 2003 20 years ago um has been separated out um I just wanted to ask how the Emerson board is going to decide what where the kids go are the parents going to be asked how they identify or the children are asked how they identify the optin the parents have to know so is your question that is it the student who decides that I identify as a female therefore I want to be in the female class and vice versa or is it the teacher or the school that decides right like how who like is my child going to get a survey or is the parent going to decide which class they're going to go identif your parents are not going to receive a survey without advanced notice from us telling you what that survey will be so that I was just curious lat you mean kids won't receive the survey right what's that you're saying the students will not receive a survey without advanced notice I think the question was are we going to put a survey out and are we going to allow the third and fourth and fifth grade children decide what gender they are that versus yeah I just want to know that won't happen how it's determined she yeah somebody wants to opt in how do they do it yeah I don't she's saying if somebody wanted to opt in no no no no no the question if I'm understanding you correctly please interrupt me the question is will the students be the ones to decide if they're going to be in a specific classroom either with females or males are the students going to be able to decide that or how are the parents going to know if the student makes that decision what's the mech mechanism for those students to go in either one of those classrooms yes is that your question okay I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked you guys first I should ask you at the podium yes okay good so so the question is who makes that determination does the student choose is a parent notified and does the parent indicate that my my son or daughter identifies as a male female decide to join the girls class day I can tell you that that will not be an easy answer and that um I can tell you we're not talking about hypothetical children we're talking about real children our children they're here in our schools and they're here now so I want to be very careful about the conversation I'm going to have be happy at any time if somebody would like to make an appointment with me to discuss that very issue at the same time I'd like you to put everyone here at ease and know that our school who has successfully uh navigated these waters for decades and continue to do so today with your children with your neighbor children each and every day today um and we have tremendous experience and we have no issues we have no problems our kids are fine um be happy to have further discussions but not here publicly on this issue is it possible then to table the discussion until you speak with you know your your advisory stff your mign to this specific um portion before we make a decision that act actually causes some sort of a lawsuit within the school district we're not asking for that so I just want to just to summarize what we've talked and I and the question about the determination I understand that you know there may not be an answer for that right now but this is a this is a state mandated policy so regardless of what any board member thinks that the state is expecting school boards all school boards to to pass this policy the in terms of reviewing this and analyzing it as Mrs Mara stated after the first reading or before even it was put out there we went back we had discussions about what this really means what what is the what does this policy do and what does it mean we went back to our policy company we inquired we asked questions we had them clarify and they came back and gave us answers so when you couple all of that together when you put all of that together that it's a state mandate what is it really doing content is not changing um there are options for do we put everybody together or do we separate based on what the state is mandating that's what makes us come back and visit this town and for us to vote on it as a board so we we don't feel that we've we've rushed it uh I understand that there there are some people that said that it was rushed we didn't feel that we did that we feel like we we gave it the the the attention and the due diligence that it deserved and so that's how we we've arrived at it being on the agenda tonight so uh it wasn't taken lightly and we feel like we did we did do what we should be doing and quite frankly again I go back to it's a state mandate that that that and we you you mentioned the word lawsuit there are consequences to us not P passing State mandated policies so those could be whatever it is you know it's not like the state dictates if you don't do this this is the consequence but there will be consequences and that could invite lawsuits by the attorney general or by uh them withholding funds from the school so it's a whole different it's not just like oh let's not pass it and nothing happen so I just wanted to highlight that have to you don't have to vote on it tonight the state does not say you have to vote on it tonight and I don't think we feel comfortable voting on it tonight you guys voting on it tonight weren't able to answer all of our questions that's just a thought one understood understood I just I heard what drn said just you teach your children you know your children it's a bought a home here because it's a small District regardless of policy we can follow policy but we acknowledge who your children are we know the children the weens to them Mrs Graham I'm sorry just address it to the board you can you can speak to just address it but we know the children that we're teaching we are very um sensitive to all the children's needs and we would never we can follow policy while still acknowledging every child respecting each child and each family's wishes and it's something we've done regardless of policy for years um I just want to reassure the parents of that mol I just I hope that I didn't make you feel like I don't appreciate everything you guys do because I really really do and I know you're putting in the hours and the work and doing everything for our children teachers are wonderful you really do know all our children everything about them probably everything about me you had my children but um so uh Dr n we should set up an appointment with you in order to get that answer as how our child and we will be on that issue I'd be happy to to to sit and talk with you at any time as I've done with many that are here already this okay so then in person we'll find out the exact answer how we will be notified how our child will identify and what room they will enter when they approach that lesson I'm not going to stand here and answer that question but I'll be happy to meet with you and we could have a discussion I'd like to be able to say I I can answer all your question satisfactorily but I'll never we won't know until we have that conversation okay great thank you appreciate it thank you okay uh with that Mr Smith would you mind closing the meeting up to the public for inputting com I move to close the meeting to the public for input and comments second seconded by Mrs Mara all in favor I as the board has had the opportunity to review all of the agenda items um Mrs uh Mrs Mar would you mind adopting I move to adopt all items on the above consent agenda seconded seconded by Mr grck roll call please Mr gry hi Mrs Mara hi Mr Smith hi Mr Pasdar hi uh we'll move on to committee reports uh Mr GIC facilities buildings and grounds chair thank you uh good evening uh since our last board meeting um work has continued on various projects throughout the district in preparation for the school year um and uh um schools are ready to open uh classrooms have been clean cleaned teachers have been uh moving in and decorating classrooms um waxing of hallways is taking place now um districtwide initiatives uh I just want to really um thank the amazing building and grounds teams um they've been all over Outside Inside all of our facilities um and uh your work goes completely uh noticed and valued so thank you in advance uh for some more specific things um the roofing contractor has been on site at Memorial and was able to provide the necessary repairs to that roof um at volano two classrooms have been entirely renovated um they received new flooring paint lighting furniture and Cas work uh as well as the faculty room and hallways have received new flooring as well at the high school here uh the electrical upgrade continues to move along um fencing concrete pads ballers have been installed since the last update last month the distri district has an expected equipment delivery date of September 9 and uh targeting completion at the end of September here at the high school as well eight classrooms as well as the auditorium stage lab hallway have all received fresh coats of paint with regards to the uh proposed Turf project the architect has been in sight all week uh surveying as for the tennis court project uh the second bid uh was opened on August 9th um and uh yielded a much more favorable outcome uh the bids were reviewed and the board earlier this evening approved an award to one specific bidder um and I just want to thank uh building and grounds teams as well as uh Mr mamora for his leadership um really appreciate how busy and um how expeditious you've all been this summer to make sure our buildings are ready for our students and staff so thank you concludes my report great thank you Mr gik for uh budget and negotiations nothing to report right now Mr Smith and I will be meeting uh in the next uh few weeks to start discussions on budget and negotiations we'll move on to uh curriculum instruction and student achievement chair Mrs Mar thank you so as I mentioned um I the opportunity to meet with Mrs oerman and Mrs ricardi was also present telephonically for our meeting this afternoon uh we reviewed in depth the testing presentation slides that will be presented likely at the October meeting for our AP um exams and the results from those AP exams that uh occurred this past calendar year school calendar year we also received um the inrs reports for all three of the buildings so I can confirm receipt that that's been completed um see what else do we do discuss we discussed uh the curriculum and program um drafts of the curriculum are up on the website so for parents those of the parents that are remaining in the uh meeting and also watching at home please I encourage you to go on to our uh School District's website and poke around at the curriculum it's all up there um specifically we're excited about the summer curriculum work that took place uh this this past summer just to highlight a couple of the courses one being robotics which was a Pilot Course last year um the curriculum is now new um for this incoming class or excuse me in this incoming school year um we're also very excited about astronomy coming back to Emerson and the teachers are the teacher is very excited to be teaching this course um another course that I'm really looking forward to we don't have a finalized curriculum yet but we will be um getting one soon um is public speaking as well so that's going to be a fantastic course for our students and lastly another reminder um to our parents that we had previously mentioned earlier this Summer that the summer Family Life curriculum letter will be going out to parents with all of the units listed on there for all of the units to be opted out opted in at like your all aart Choice um on this letter but it's being done once as opposed to uh a letter being sent out in advance of every single unit it's going to help from a logistical and practical standpoint from the central offices or excuse me the the um principal offices at our schools um it's just going to be a smoother way to deliver this information and allow families to review the curriculum and the units at length at one point in time and make their decisions so please be on the lookout for that um as to professional development we discussed that we had our new teacher orientation we had 18 new teachers that are joining the district this year and um Mrs oerman and Dr nissanoff both said that they're extremely excited just based on this new teacher uh orientation and meeting all with all of them and the energy is just palpable and they're really looking forward to this year um and that is all that I have for my report great thank you Mrs Mara thank you uh we'll move on to board member reports Mr grck Sure uh I'll be brief I hope everybody's doing well and having a wonderful summer um I would like to uh recognize and uh I'm sure I can speak on behalf of the board being enthused and excited for our student Representatives Diana and Kylie Kylie who's here this evening uh so welcome we're excited for you um and I really appreciate I'm for we really appreciate your commitment to the district and community and definitely applaud you for your volunteerism and want you to know it's not taken for granted so we're looking forward to working uh with you Kylie as well as Diana um thank you to school and District administ administration for your work this summer uh to ensure we're well staffed and prepar to take on another great year and just in close out I just UHD like to wish all students families faculty staff Administration uh a successful year a wonderful year one filled with growth and learning and um thank you I'm connect great thank you Mr cic Mrs Mar I also don't have a lengthy report tonight but I did want to say that when I walked into the building this evening and saw that there was literally nothing on the wall walls nothing in the hallway and there was the uh caution sign standing up I knew that we were getting close to the start of school um and also hearing band camp as I don't live very far from the school at all so hearing them uh out there this past week it's very exciting time I know it's also Bittersweet everybody's been enjoying their Summers but I do hope that we all had a safe and happy and healthy summer and that everyone is gearing up and looking forward to a fresh start in September so that's my report great thank you Mrs Mar Mr Smith yeah I'm just going to Echo much of what everyone else said looking forward to the New Year wishing all the new teachers welcome good luck you know we we review all the teachers when they're hired and I think this is a great crop um second year of doing that and you know um it's a very thorough process um and I think this is a great group of people joining us so I'm very happy about that I'm happy about the student next to me because I coach during soccer and softball so I know she doesn't like to talk too much because I don't think she talked much to me in the seven years coach so I think this is a good growth step for her and the public speaking Miss Mar talked about is is a great class so don't be nervous I'm a lot nicer here than I was on the that I can promise so but that's it that's my report thank you Mr Smith um for board president report um usual stuff uh summer is coming to an end so that's a little sad but as Mr uh gik mentioned look forward to start of a new school year a lot of learning and activity in sports so we look forward to that um and um I want to really call out Dr Nissen off Mr mamora uh Mrs zerman the principles for all of the work that they do during the summer and the teachers you know for all of us we we tend to kind of go away it's the summer and things calm down but for the teachers and the principles and and the administration it's just bus business as usual so I just want to thank them for getting the schools ready keeping us staffed up uh as Mr Smith said with a with the always a a good crop of of teachers I like that term so uh thank you to you for for doing what you do during the summer to keep us uh going um welcome and congratulations I guess congratulations to to Kylie she's one of our two new student Representatives um I hope that this is an education thing for you and that it's enlightening and and that uh you have good memories of it when you're done so we thank you for dedicating your time and volunteering and and as Mr Smith said we will try not to make it any any more nerve-wracking than it might be so thank you for for doing this and we look forward to working through the the school year with you and uh nothing to report from the Bergen County School boards or from the New Jersey school boards uh those meetings are coming up and I'll report any information as it comes up and that is my report and Kylie I don't know if you have anything if you want to say anything we're just um excited looking forward to the new school year um fall Sports just um started up last week so um it's coming up fast but um this year we have our pep rally pretty early in the year so it's an exciting event for you know looking forward to thank you KY um Dr n superintendent's report sure welcome Kylie I too have known you since you were so little uh on the uh on the athletic field and we're I'm we we're thrilled to have you with us you're going to do a great job uh this year uh we've uh added two student Representatives we recognized that coming out on Monday nights depending on the night they could have exams the next day and difficulty so we have uh two students that are going to be joining us along with Riley grone is Diana Tamaya a senior um so they're going to be all kli did I say it again because you're looking at me thinking Riley that's what it is Kylie who again whom I've known since you were so little so he probably then so don't worry about um so you're gonna you're gonna do a great job so looking forward to having you here with us um first schools are going to be ready to be open uh we are they they look fantastic things are coming together uh kudos to Chris and John marora for getting uh so much work done with so few staff we've had retirements we've had uh long-term illnesses uh deaths in family all kinds of things that have impacted the Staffing of the codio Crim um but they Rose to the occasion and the the classrooms really look great and I won't go through all the the remod models that we already mentioned but um the schools are are definitely ready to go uh new this year we have our second uh slo3 so each school now will have well I should say we're gonna have two sl3s for the two elementary schools they will be on a bit of a rotating schedule so the two of them will be working but we will have one officer that will be there all day uh uh every day for all of our schools so we're really excited it took a little while to to make this happen but I want to uh give a shout out to uh um Chief Savino for all of his work in making this happen they uh so we're really excited about that um you had mentioned about our new teacher orientation yes we brought on 18 new uh teaching staff members one administrative staff member that's here one of our new teaching staff member is here Emily Dary uh one of Emerson's own uh is here as well um besides two days that Alice really uh does a great job of going through everything from our policies to getting them onto the computers to being able to take care of their voicemail and everything that we do to acclimate teachers to the district um professional development oncl and all different kinds of topics um we still have the traditional bus tour of Emerson so the first thing they all did was jumped on the bus uh with with me and John vetta and they got to see every corner and every uh uh every uh area of the vast community of Emerson um today we also H H held our returning admin council meeting um we met at least five or six hours I think today between professional development as well as going over various issues with with getting our our uh our schools ready our admin team has done has done a remarkable job all summer long hiring 18 teachers is not an easy task there wasn't just 18 interviews there were many many candidates that had to be interviewed for those positions and a and a and a and a thank you to the teaching staff many of whom volunteered their time over the summer to to come and help with the with those uh with those interviews new as well um as Kylie mentioned our sports teams have all started up so it's great seeing uh all the activity all uh all over the schools our scrimmages started today um so really really excited about those things um thank you to the staff who've come here in it's still August and they're here uh thank thank you for uh for for for for coming out really looking forward to the school year um I'm very excited about the new staff we've are very excited about the veteran staff that we have uh last year was a was a wonderful year here in Emerson and all indications are that we are off to a great start for the 2425 school year and that's my report great thank you Dr M off and business administrators report Mr M thank you so uh welcome to C grone as the student representative good luck with this year looking forward to working together um I feel like most of my talking points have already been taken but it is a a exciting time to be uh getting ready for the school year right now between classroom Renovations and uh Balano school that have been completed um just the summer cleaning and getting everything ready Athletics have been started so um looking forward to the fall as we mentioned to um a possible tennis courp project that should be starting up shortly so um a lot of good things happening in District and that concludes my report great thank you Mr mamora with that Mr grolik would you open a meeting to the public for input and comments yes I move to open the meeting to the public for input and comments second seconded by Mrs Mara all in favor I okay hiy I teach AO school um and I love all the things that have happened I know my classrooms for one got pain this summer and it looks amazing and I'm so so so so happy um so I I have this thought in my head that I had since for many years working at volano and helping out with the play even though I didn't help out with the play this year but I'm still very involved with the the people that are um and just want to kind of put on your radar that the stage at volano needs some love um it would be amazing to have our own set of lights every year we actually speak with B Elman and the custodians the building ground staff bring us to huge poles and then Bill Alman comes down and sets the lights up because the stage is not well lit without that so we couldn't put on the volano play without um this a lot of equipment coming down to volan school and being temporarily set up and there's tape on the floor and these big thing and um you know there is a way to get lighting for that stage um the stage is in disrepair um the plays are amazing these kids work really really hard um and I just kind of want to put it on your radar I know this is a long-term project which is why I decided to bring it up now um but but you know we do have a lot of things at Alano that would benefit from having um a more updated stage um you know I know that the talent show this year was a a high school um and it could be there with you know some better equipment and a better um facility some some updates there so I'm just throwing it out there now in August and then maybe as the year goes on I might throw it out there again but I do think it's worth looking into because we do have a lot of great things at volano that happen and and could happen there and you know we want a great theater program and we have a great theater program at the high school but it does start at volano so if we can really embrace it there and and maybe make that um facility a little uh more modern that might really help and then allow us to do other things with that space as extra weight so that thank you everyone um Mr Smith could you close the meeting to the public for input in comments I move to close the meeting to the public for input and comments second seconded by Mrs Marl all in favor I I and uh Mr grolik could you close out with motion B please yes I move move to close the meeting to the public and adjourn at 8:24 p.m. to discuss an executive session legal and Personnel matters in the conference room of the Board of Education offices no action will be taken at this time the board will return to open session upon completion of discussion and may or may not take action at that time the next meeting of the board of education is scheduled for September 16th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school media center second seconded by Mrs Mara all in favor I I thank you very much everyone have a great evening thank you good oh my gosh hi nice to see you in person very nice to meet you very nice to meet you did you ever get that yes okay good good good that you helpful wouldn't have been good