[Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu stands na indivisible andice for all the New Jersey open public meanings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend to meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or active upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the forly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 11 2024 and posted on the district website at www.fb.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers the record and the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the B courtly and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and defines meeting as any Gathering whether Corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of a public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that body roll call please this is by K M here M Cur here Mrs C here Mr LZ here M Morel here Mr Rino here Mrs R here the board will be convening to Executive session to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters the board will reconvene into a public session at approximately 7:30 p.m. I have a motion to go into executive session motion Morel second Curry all in favor I oppos hey we are in executive session flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the fort Le Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 11 2024 and posted on the district's website at www.foe.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspaper the record in the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the bur of forly and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and defined meeting as any Gathering whether Corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of a public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that body roll call please this K pres this here C here Mr Knight here Mrs k Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr Rino here Mrs R here the board convened executive session at 6:30 p.m. to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters Dr krait will We Begin by sharing the superintendent report yes thank you okay good evening everyone and thank you for joining us this evening I would actually like to start by recognizing some students and staff who we will be we will have here tonight um and some will be honored tomorrow working with our local BFW the patrons pen award is an annual event where both teachers and students get recognized for for their patriotism this year we have several accomplished individuals and we have some students but I would also like to mention our teachers we have Joe berlingo who a District Two winner Suzanne Al kin District Two winner and Christine deuca from school M four who is a state winner for the Patriots pen that's that's an absolute honor here but even more importantly our students are here we have Brian bua Maxim cenko Caleb buun and Austin Shen voice of the Democracy so they might be here some of them they are would like to come up and introduce Tony leom and former Chief tomoi also representing the [Applause] DFW come on let me say it's a great honor to have for Le High School participate the Patriots pen and the voice of democracy and the teacher to year and it's it's just a great honor that we have these people who did a great job with these kids the teacher of the year all three of our teachers Elementary Christine delca Joe bingo in the middle school and Suzanne erson in the high school all were state winners and all went to the State final judge judging and that Christine DeLuca ended up as State winner in the elementary and I think that's a great great great privilege we very working with the BFW is just a great group of people um have some time stop by they just wonderful group of people to talk about everything so they have events throughout the year if you're out of the community always stop bying I'm sorry I'm extending your your would you say tomorrow we're giving out to award Patriot P always a democracy anybody here is welcome to come it's at 10:30 BFW 25 Main Street I sent it out too thank you very much so if we can have those students come up and we take a picture if any of you are [Applause] here mdle great job okay um in addition and our school we have many celebrating Black History Month and Lunar New Year we would like to remind everyone that this Saturday from 2 to 5 in this same venue KAC will be having their annual Luna New Year celebration from 2 to 5 so we invite everyone as well um we have two students from The High School Abigail and Tessa are here to speak about what's happening in high school good evening my name is Tessa Lee I'm a senior at P Le high school and I'm also the student body co-president hello I am Abigail Faron I'm the co- vice president of the student council the fourth High School honors choir will celebrate Black History Month with the music at the presentation on February 22nd which starts Period 2 in January seven students from The fortly High School chorus entered an audition for a chance to perform at a concert with the region one choir students must be enrolled in 9th 10th 11th or 12th grades of the sponsoring school which must be located within Bergen Hudson Essex Morris pic Sussex or Warren counties of New Jersey students must be approved to audition by their High School director the seven students names are Lois quock of 11th grade Dian sa of 9th grade W Lee from 12th grade Gabriel tilan from 12th grade Irene Choy from 9th grade Rachel Leo from 10th grade and Deborah Jew of 10th grade all seven candidates won a spot in the region one choir Lois qua was in the top 10 and Gabriel toian finished number two by one missing the best score for his voice part of by near one point portley high school students Annabella Quan Alice bake Leo esali Janice Lee Gabriel flowers have submitted work to the Peters Valley High School exhibition the gallery show will be on view from January 20th February 25th at the Peters Valley Gallery leaden New Jersey on Sunday January 14th 2024 members of the forley high school honors choir will perform with the Bergen County Choir having been selected after a rigorous audition process this past fall the students are Lois quock who scored number one Alto in Bergen County Diane sa sedai Nunes Gabriel tilan who is top 10 in the county Andrew Lee UI OT and Karen Clark congratulations to all of our County vocal students you make for Le proud two members of our Orchestra audition and were accepted into the region one Orchestra they are MSO Kim Ashley Gil over 500 students auditioned for this very competitive program sophomore willly Lee was named to the 2024 New Jersey All State symbolic band following auditions held on January 20th members of the fortly high school honors wi Ensemble have been selected to perform with the New Jersey youth Symphony they are trumpet player Sam waserman and French hornest biona Quan Jaden low and Eric Milani in January our girls varsity basketball team swept rival Cliffside Park 50 to 46 and 55 to 44 and our boys had also had had a big win this past week versus Cliffside Park winning 58 to 57 in overtime the school counseling department is hosting a virtual parent University session on Tuesday February 13th presented by Family Support organization of Bergen County please contact your child school counselor directly if you have any questions on how to register for this [Music] presentation today begins national school counselor week our school counselors work with all members of our school communities to help students explore their abilities strengths interests and talents a huge thank you to all of our school counselors we appreciate your support and are lucky to have you thank [Applause] you we had three we had five cases of hibs reported one was founded four one founded and the student safety data system that requires us to update how many incidents we have every year uh from this quarter actually I should say September 1st to December 31st of 2023 district yde there were 24 incidents there were nine HIV alleges were nine HIV trainings and six HIV programs that is what's required allone for us to recite in this meeting for our announcements thank you oh of course and we have an order report from Steve our auditor for the district we got the udit county out of M thank you good evening everybody uh tonight you have before you the order report good even um tonight you have before you the order report of the fort Le board of education for the fiscal year ended June 30th 2023 I'm happy to report that we have issued a unqualified opinion a clean opinion on the financial statements for the year that ended um there also received the management report uh relative to the audit there's a number of findings in that report which you have a corrective action plan presented to you tonight as well by the business administrator the business office I will tell you that while they're are a number of findings uh none of them individually or collectively are material in terms of impact on the financial statements uh it should be noted that we're required to do both the financial audit and a compliance audit as prolongated by the State Department of Education annually uh the majority of the findings are compliance oriented as opposed to financial statement oriented and that there is no impact with those findings on the financial position of Bo with that I'd be happy to try to answer any questions the board members might have seems self-explanatory it was a good one I just like to thank Dena and Dr Kravitz as well for all their help during the course of the audit and nobody really likes to have Auditors in their office just it's it's Human Nature uh but I'd like to thank them and their staffs for all the help they gave us during the course that we were able to do our job and efficiently get thank you no one has questions thank you thank you very much have a great night all right moving on do we have committee reports believe we have a few okay Miss C start with you yes thank you good evening um the uh finance committee met last um week on January 21st Focus um was really around the audit and corrective action plan which Mr willot just um communicated so I don't need to get into details but thank you for your efforts um and the the committee will also be reconvening the um the second week in February I believe on the 13th or I'm sorry at the end of February to discuss the proposed budget and timeline we the uh budget to the state I believe sometime in March but we don't have a date yet so we will be recing to discuss that um and then just lastly on the negotiations committee we met on February 1st to review current contracts and contracts that are expiring we have a subsequent meeting to be held on February 13 to further discuss those um initiatives and projects thank you thank you hi good evening uh the curriculum committee met on last Wednesday and um we discussed two item one is is on the agenda tonight uh the program of studies very excited to report that Dian and her team have added a number of um exciting classes and course offering to high school students including fashion digital Building Maintenance and some of the exciting um exting courses these courses are developed by teachers and all of us know when we take um classes from a teacher who's excited about a subject it makes all of you want to learn all of us want to learn so I'm very excited that these new ideas are coming from the teachers and um they're bringing that to our student also want to highlight that we have some key curriculum Development coming down the pipeline um new standards for ELA and for meth and um been released and are in the works the curriculum are being worked on um and hopefully in the next year and a half and two um we will have a newer brighter and and and stronger especially in the area of math as many parents have come to came to the meeting and expressed that they are looking for more um more um support in in math um in the math ccum for the students math and language art are critical to every aspect of learning um so parents please play pay close attention to these development so that your voice and and and and and and your input can be taken into consideration um over this period and our next meeting will be we'll have a standing meeting our next meeting will be at the end of the month have more updates Point um we also the equity C uh the equity committee also met last Thursday on February 1st we focus on uh the the most recent Equity audit report that was um that was published in um over the pandemic um and Diane Bri Us in three area of that study uh we focus mostly on behavior and discipline policies and also special education um Casey Shar with us as a as as a board member and also as a parent for special ed um student the needs of special ed family and so we hope to continue to have dialogues and understanding on how we can strengthen in those areas we also have a standing meeting in um set up so come back um next year with more more ideas and actions you hear me now um so the first one is for uh on Wednesday January 31st we had a strategic planning meeting and we talked about the long range goals for the district however um we felt that it would be better first at the board um being that we're having our meeting with our njsb a um njsba rep M leag that we do our board go first first and our mission statement and then we're going to have a meeting from based on what we think the goal should be um that then the district can then come up with a strategic plan um I had mentioned instead of a fiveyear plan which sometimes becomes um a little long and not always fulfill that we do more of a threeyear plan so that it's it's more feasible that that it can it can occur um so once we do our our meeting then we're going to um have another strategic planning and move from there and then on February 1st we had um the ad hoc for rmps proposals there are several categories that we're looking at um one of them definitely has to be done and that's for Food Service um because it expires um at the end of this year so we have to determine if we're you know what we're going to do with that um whether we're staying whether we're looking at other ones other vendors things of that nature and there are several other vendors that we were looking at um also Auditors banking attorneys um so and we have a meeting set up for that already for the 13 so the legal committee met um immediately before our private session and um a full re obviously the the status and strategy decisions relating to um threatened and pending litigations are highly confidential so the full board got a briefing during private session um as to what took place during the committee meeting that's it thank you welome all right um do board members have questions or comments on tonight's agenda or any other topic um for 3B I'm going to need to make a motion to amend that um I forgot to call our board secretary to add my name for the county meeting yes tomorrow yes so what are we are you adding your name to 3 actually have something real quick on um give me one second on uh C hold on one second get the number of it um it is uh 4p actually i' just like to really quickly um I see that Rachel ventrell is uh is resigning and I just want to thank her for her uh service to the district she's been uh an absolute treasure to the district and to the community she um has done our pumpkin uh picking she just is is an incredible educator and I'm really sorry that we're gonna lose her that's it thank you so so ditto on Rachel ventrella and also we have two um very longstanding teachers that have done so much for our district I mean everyone on here who's resigning or retiring is important but I do want to call out um Mr pone and Mr Welty um one I think was close to I think it's Mr Welty 50 years with the district and and he both put us on the map in their respective um areas of expertise and and just want to thank them for their dedication and touching so many students just want to Echo that Mr walty I had you when I was a student in the high school I thank you for everything you have done for my family my nephew you you were a teacher of him is um so thank you so much for everything you've done for my family and the industry was my wrestling coach in 1983 wonderful thank you any other comments or questions on the agenda so I just want to Echo for and Mr wel both my sons had both of them um and uh they they enjoyed working with both of the professionals um and these these two men love K Beyond love um they they were they they were they had a hard shell with them but the kids adored them absolutely adored them and uh yes Michael was able to bring wintergard which Mr Mr wealthy just allowed him to just run with it and and now it's the it's part of the program and these two men are just they they really are irreplaceable thank you hi I have a question about um 3C you are with the program studies are there any changes on that from what it has been what are the what are the changes this what has always been or could we highlight what exactly the changes are for the public sure sure I can give a an explanation so the sure um the major changes uh involve course additions and those courses are fashion digital um dystopian literature history of modern education honors which we're happy to report is the third course in our teaching Academy so now our teaching Academy has three consecutive courses at that Academy is growing we're really proud of it um directing stage management and playwriting um it was offered last year but it did not run so we're hoping for it to run this year Building Maintenance it was offered this year it just didn't make it into our program of studies however we will be adding a second course to the academy of Trades so Building Maintenance and elect ICS and computer technology that is the new course for our Academy of Trades and as for the courses that we are deleting we are removing courses because through research we found out that these particular courses haven't run for three years um due to a lack of um interest with with um our students so the first one is music theory the second one is AP music theory the third one is IB music One uh myth fantasy and science fiction writing for L's or English language Learners we don't need a course like that anymore uh the art of writing which was a an internal District decision to make that course a graduation requirement we are removing that course um and for the class of 2027 and Beyond we're also not requiring it for graduation uh course it's not oh it's over and above what the Department of Education requires and it gets in the way of students being able to take additional electives that year sophomore year so we are just finding that it's just not allowing students to explore their interest sooner rather than later in their High School career um so those are the courses that we are removing thank you that would that makes it very clear for the public um with the art of writing the changes that are being made um you mentioned that it will start in 2027 not being the requirement corre so won't affect the students that are already correct starting it so that's something that I think that also the public would like to know um if I have a question about something else that is not on the agenda do I wait until later or do I ask it now now okay so um I have some concern with the food service um I have concerned that um students who have not ordered uh lunches the night before especially 5-year-olds 6ye olds 7year olds 8-year-olds 9-year-olds kindergarten through fourth graders are receiving a bull of cereal um it sounds nice I mean people got used to having free food um during Co that was um you know readily available and now the students are required to order food uh their parents are required to order the food online at the night before there's a sear charge at each time that you do it so if you do it nightly you're going to get a sear charge nightly I believe you can correct me when I'm finished um if I'm wrong or if you do it all week you'll only be charged once but if I ask any of us sitting here what are we going to eat even tonight when we get home we may say we don't know for sure so I think we're putting a lot of pressure on the students um to make decisions and it's also it it's a little embarrassing for those students whose parents didn't order the night before when they get up to the front of the line or they they get handed a bowl of sugar cereal with a milk it's just sugar on top of sugar and in order for us to learn properly or even operate properly we need to have um proper nutrition um I don't know where Obama is at the moment but I don't think she'd be happy with it um that's another Co another thing but I just I'm wondering why we have made the change in why are the students getting cereal their parents are being charged the same amount of money as if they were getting real food cereal is not real food sorry so that's the question I have and I don't know I know other districts are doing it it's the thing but I I think it takes away from the the personalization like it's part of like learning personal skills like child sits down and you say like oh Bobby Joe's eating um he's going to get chicken nuggets oh I think I want to get chicken this too oh you're going to get pizza today I'm going to get pizza today it's like a little bit of it's it's making things is I feel there's a couple things wrong with it but maybe you you could explain it to me and maybe the public because this is what I'm hearing from the elementary schools um my friends whose children go there um they felt very bad to get the bowl of cereal and um the parents SP I mean I know that that's they they've probably reached out to to to the board um and I've reached out so I'm reaching out again I'm done yes thank you so first of all um they're allowed to order up until midnight the night before they can put money on account so you don't get charged every time that you order a meal so it's almost like um if you put money in your account let's say you have $100 in your account the one time that you put the $100 in your account if you do it through like a debit card or like an a there's a one time fee of like $1.75 and if you were going to say put the money in your account through a credit card then you get charged I think it's based on how much you decide to use the credit card you know um it's like $25 maybe it's 1% fee if it's over $50 it might be a 3% fee but you have the money on your account you don't get charged every time you place the meal order unless they're paying like every time they don't put money in the account anyone who's free or reduced does not get charged anything so if you are free and reduced parent do not get charged for um putting them for ordering the food on the uh pay for it system um also as far as the cereal the reason why we have the extra cereal is because people did not order lunches and did not pay for them or they're not free and reduced so a child a parent can actually sell out a free and reduced lunch application all year long so if someone's saying that they didn't qualify um if their living situation has changed or their work situation has changed they can fill out a new application at any point in time also the amount of applications this year was less than last year so we had less people apply for free and redu so I don't know if they're determining on their own if they're free and reduced because the federal guidelines are say at a certain level but then the state has expanded it so unless they fill out the application that's the only way we can know for sure sometimes they fill out the application and something may be denied but what happens is that the girlriend my authors will put in the letter why they were denied so that they can actually contact her but people haven't contact her either and also when I spoke to Eric with the food service we are actually at the same point we were before we started the online ordering so we have the same number of parents ordering now that we did before so I don't know if the parents um didn't know that they had to pre-order we sent the letter out in seven different languages so that we could make sure we hit everyone in the community so they understood how to set up the account I know people were concerned with the fees so we're in the process of cre creating a new letter to see if we can let people pay by check but we're first trying to formulate the letter if someone wants to put money in their account with a check they're going to have to wait for the check to clear because every single month when we do the reconciliation for the Food Services account which is not just for the elementary schools it also has with the parents because in the is and the high school and the middle school parents have to put money on account there are bounce checks every single month so then I have to make sure before the money is available so if someone was going to want to pay by a check to put money in the account that's fine the M money wouldn't be available that day they would still have to have like a a waiting period but the parents can order up until midnight the night before for their child so I'm just not exactly sure where it is and if they're feeling that they got denied they can actually call the office because they can fill out the application again if their circumstances has changed okay I don't think that thank you for the information but my question was why are the children get getting cereal and being charged they're not being charged if they get the cereal on that's not is that 100% for sure as far as I understand I can double check it with please double check that with me because that's was my understanding that the children were being charged the same amount of money as if they because they got food because they had got a lunch so because on their account they would be charged the same amount as they would as if they were getting food um obviously if someone doesn't have anything to eat um something is better than nothing but it would be uh upsetting to know that you it it puts a lot of pressure it's just it takes it takes them getting used to and um we do have to be patient um they are they are young students and parents of young students are very busy um and you don't have the children to help you as as you do as they get older um so I did that I felt very sad I felt very sad to think that the child is having the cereal for lunch while the other child is sitting next to to them having having something that is is yummy and and and lunch like and the parents saying that they're getting charged the same amount it had nothing to do with free and reduced I'm a big advocate for free and reduced lunch um people filling out the form and um you know maybe that's a but that was my concern so one more thing I can add to it in the um Elementary School is it's a satellite program so it's not the same as it's is the middle school or the high school that so the whole idea of the pre-ordering is so that the cafeteria knows how much of those lunches to bring over so when the parent orders online and they say Okay I want my child to get chicken nuggets and the cafeteria is able to run the report in the morning and they know okay for school number one I need to bring over 300 chicken nuggets if the parent doesn't order there's no way for the cafeteria to know that so it's making sure the people who are ordering are getting what they ordered and then we just have the cereal lunches in case someone doesn't come with a lunch and the parent didn't order from them so there's still something there for the child to eat but I really encourage all the parents to please set up an account and like I said to fill out the application for free and reduce to see if they qualify and um a letter will be come will be forthcoming probably within the week we first have to finish uh composing it and then I want Dr pravis to review it and then we want to get it translated to one of the languages so that the parents can pay with a check so you can avoid the fee completely so I we are trying to work and as we go through it it's kind of to get all the Kinks out but if the parents do order they should get whatever they ordered for their child but again they have to pay for it or to L the application and can we just know as for the public can we know why why did we make that change why did we take away that that ability for the student to be able to choose you still had students who were um order putting their hands up in the morning to order lunch and their parents didn't order lunches for them so what would happen is that even notices would go home to parents to say that they had an outstanding meal balance and then the parents would say I never ordered lunch for my child so what would happen a lot of times in the morning the teacher might say if I'm not incorrect who you know who's getting lunch today and the kids would raise their hand now some parents I guess would actually order it this is kind of what I'm hearing so I wasn't here but that's how I understand it was going and they just doesn't make sense if you're a satellite program how is the cafeteria supposed to know how many chicken nugget lunches to bring over you know it just makes more sense that you don't have waste but also with the parents it's not all for free so if you don't qualify for free and reduce them the meals have to get paid for we also have a problem with allergies so if a parent doesn't want their child getting the food and they come to school with The Lunchbox but all their friends are raising their hands and they say yes I want it and say the parent doesn't want them to eat that but how is the school going to know right so then it puts the power in the parents' hands too because they're the ones ordering for their kids so you can make sure I appreciate that par that parent power because there's certain there's certain places that parents don't have power in the school district so if we were giving parents power for the food that they're eating parents should have power and all of the other aspects that are con concerning the school as far as knowing what they their students are learning knowing what their students are doing knowing what conversations the students are having with um counselors and so forth and so on I just like to comment on that real quick um yeah I just want to comment you know it's I we're hearing a lot about the you know the free and uh that that the lowincome people are going to get free launches or get reduced uh price launches but I think it's also very important for us to remember and I've had some really good conversations with some people on the board including uh our president and and Paula um you know there's this there's there's kids that fall in between you know they they don't quite qualify for free or reduced lunch uh because they make a little bit too much for that and I just have a problem with us charging them fees you know I went to school it was a long time ago it was like forget about like 30 years ago we didn't even have computers but no kids went without food because there wasn't any like computer tracking system we got to do better convenience is good and we want to make life easier for our administrators but not even if one child has to go hungry as a result of it I'm not okay with it and if we're going to nickel and Dy in parents I'm also not okay with you know making sure that the check clears and all this other stuff I mean we're a huge uh we're a big a big school district compared to someone uh to a private person and if someone has to owe us a175 for a milk you know I think it's better to take that hit than for the kid to go without lunch that's just my my personal opinion thanks we we allow every child to have lunch that's why we have the extra cereal bags there it's that we're not not feeding the child it's just that they're not getting that preferred meal like if they wanted the chicken nugget so that's why the lunch program does bring the extra cereal bags over there in case someone comes in and didn't order that they are getting fed um as far as feeding everybody that you don't charge them that's not my decision so just to be clear just to be clear I never suggested just to be clear I know it's funny but I actually never suggested that we give free lunch to everybody I just I'm really concerned and it's I don't find it humorous actually I'm really concerned about the people that are struggling to raise families in this area so I just hope that we can take it seriously and that maybe we can come up with a solution rather than uh laughing about it thanks Doug's been trying to speak sorry mine was more of a procedural question um the the midnight cut off is there any way to extend that that does that put a burden on The Food Administration the cafeteria has to be able to next morning to know what they have to prepare you know so you can't keep cutting it so close to the Limit they only have so much time too you know with all the lunches because remember it's a satellite program so the lunches are coming from say up at the middle school and at the same time they still have to prepare lunches for the kids up here so they have to get all the lunches out to the Four elementary schools so if if they had their own cafeterias then it would be a completely different situation but when you're in the satellite program and the lunches have to be made up here and shipped out you know it's a little different at the same time they still have to get the lunches prepared for the kids here I get that I just I've heard a lot of the same um concerns with parents and I think that um you know part of it if I can just add to it is the um that bur on parent to have that hard stop at midnight meanwhile you know next morning getting your child ready uh sometimes is when you think about oh my God what is my child eat today so if there is any way to extend it to a later time s or in the morning I know when I get up oh I forgot last night I still have that I can check with the food service program to see an option it's just a matter of like sweeping the data from you know from 7 o' and no one is at work anyway at 7 I'll check with the food service can they choose on a weekly basis like I you know I I know that if I can do it for the whole week I won't forget can they do that now absolutely absolutely and there's also even um with the pay schools um function they even have like a little balance so even if parents were saying okay I want to put a whole bunch of money in my account and then they can have alerts so that they know at a certain point in time when their balance goes down to $25 oh you know what I want to replenish it so you can make sure like it never goes go a certain point and I think that's possible right now with the is in the middle of the high school so doing at the elementary school is really not that different from what already exists in the is midd high school as far as having money on account you know was just the ordering because at the is middle and high school they have cafeterias where the food is made daily for them they don't have to have it shipped in and if a parent forgets to choose um a mute for their child the child only gets the option of a cereal box is that true yeah that's what we just bring up extras like a cereal I don't know if it's a cereal box or a cereal bar I can ask Eric exactly what it's composed of the bar hope it's more than just a bar if it's a bar at least there's some protein in it if it's a b of cereal there's not a whole lot of protein in it I'm just concerned about the nutrition balance you know I I I get what we're trying to do which is stay ahead I know that when my kids were in school three they had PB&J which they weren't happy about but at least I know it's a PB School are I think that the problems with the allergies yeah again it goes back to if a parent doesn't order for their child it's a little harder because remember there's different allergies so at least when the parent is ordering they know what their child can eat but when a parent doesn't order for a child and if you were to try to give something like peanut butter what if the child had an allergy to that or what if the child had like a cheese allergy you know it's a little bit harder because if the parent's not ordering how is the food service to know whether or not the child's allergic and some kids they just oh I want one of my friends eating where the parents says well no they can't have that I get it just the BS of ch the Cal is you so so I have a question this transition that we did to to the firm with the fees and everything um was this driven because at the end of each year those unpaid lunch amounts were getting significant or they've been increasing so so what what a magnitude are we talking 15,000 60,000 um right now I think we're about 880,000 and it's been increasing 880,000 but is that c cumulative or it's 80 it can't be or is it 880,000 from September we that's cumulative over the past couple years so at first I think pre-co we were about 15,000 and then I think um the year after that I think we got to like 60 and I think now we're about 70 or 80,000 that it's going up there like the unpaid lunch palles that's whole the whole District pay what efforts what efforts did we make to try to collect it well we start sending out like uh the letters which is why I know some parents were question questioning we just sent out the policy and I wanted to do it in all seven uh I think we sent it out in seven languages to say this is going to be our procedure so when we start sending out the P du lunch notices and that's when I said some parents when they've gotten a lunch notice they go I never ordered lunch for my kid why do I have this balance and that's part of I think it wasn't for the middle school or um the high school or the it was the elementary school parents saying well I never ordered lunch from my child and then I'm going okay well then I guess your kid must been raising their hand every morning in class to say I want a lunch so part of like the pre-ordering system for the elementary school is to number one eliminate that so the parents know what their kids are having for lunch also that in order to get the meal there has to be if you're not free or reduced you have to have the money on the account in order for the meal you know to go through so that then helps to eliminate any of the unpaid um lunch balances you know and then the following part would be I know we've had some people that that they call up and we say maybe we can work at a payment plan with you so we do try to work with everybody to see maybe we can do some kind of payment plan how can we get like help you to get this lunch balance down so we try to we do it on a case-by Case basis you know to see what we could do for them but the first part was getting the policy out to everybody because our policy is very clear but the first step is you get the first letter and then the second letter and then what can happen if we have to if you don't are not responsive to the second letter and so I didn't want to do anything without me making sure everybody is fully aware what the policies you know say and I want to be able to you know have those conversations with the parents and say okay is there maybe can we work out a payment plan with you is there's something that you need to talk to us about let's see what we can do about that um just one so the fee that we collect there's a company that we retain that's we don't get the fee I understand we don't get the fee so there's some company that we retain that schools and and is it just like they're just doing they set up something on online for us and that is what entitles them to the fee I would think so I guess it has to do like their processing fee that's kind of how a piece of gu how they you pay for it and it's been like that though for a while so I think even with the i in the middle like if you were putting it on those fees were in existent it's just that the elementary school wasn't pre-ordering so they didn't know about it so I think it's been there for quite some time and I think it's more like even now if you go out to like a restaurant you know if you pay with a credit card they have a different fee as opposed to paying with cash so I'm sure it all has to do with um the credit cards processing fees that they probably get charged you know for that so that you know since our children were in elementary school that fee has been attached because every time I would have to put money in there would be a fee of $1.75 for the money that I was using for the credit card or for the debit card so it it's been there since my oldest one has been I do have one I think I got my answer from some of the some of the questions that am had but just to make sure I understand so if you have a parent who has an account for whatever reason they didn't you know pre-order for a child yesterday for today and that child has seral unless the parent send them with their own lunch right because the parent didn't order so how would the CET yeah so I guess my my question is I mean because you know parents run into you know issues I mean whether it's you know health or you know whatever the situation may be are there Alternatives as far as something in addition to cereal that maybe could be available for a child to pick so I I don't I I understand the the P butter and jelly and so but there are there other options that are available so when those parents have that situation because they're always going to come up right so you know your car breaks down and you don't get home until midnight and you got two other kids and stuff is there's something that that child could have other than S I I mean there there seems to be there no reason my question I mean I'm not say saying that that should be normal but like I think there's always going to be those types of situations where you know maybe a child doesn't want to have cereal maybe they don't like cereal and so you don't want them to go and not have lunch because that's the only thing that you're providing to them there has to be other things that can Bea the Food Service program we have data to excuse me I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt sorry I said but then that goes back to again where parent didn't order for the child you know we're trying to make sure that the parent is the one making the decision for the child from a from a parents perspective you're always going to have a situation where maybe you can't order for that child the next day you have app you know sickness there's if it was going to be like a meal I can give you a list but I'll just the food service prr because maybe there's some kind of fruit meal that qualifies as a deal again it has to qualify whatever the components make of a meal so it has to have I don't even know what the percentages are because it's different for each grade level you know I mean like Elementary is one thing and then middle school high school is like a different percentage so depending upon what would qualify as that meal and i' have to talk to the Food Service all these yeah but there's it has to like fit the certain requirements so it could be this percentage of fruit and this percentage of say carbohydrates whatever those percentages are but it also has to be something that is not allergy Pro again again cu going back to that because you don't know with people's allergies and everything it has to be something that's pretty but the standard can't be that high if seral qualifies right I have find out I don't know all theall that's why i' rather talk to Food Service to see what they also maybe bring up for a kid who doesn't order that day if you could please speak to the food service because what I'm being told is that the the parents are the children are actually putting in their pins now I I've had a child go through Elementary School I I it doesn't matter about me but I I know that they do enter their PIN numbers when they when they get lunch um that's how the the money is taken off so the child is entering their pen number when they're given that Cal so I do believe that they are being charged I could be wrong I I'm not standing in the line and haven't seen it firsthand but um that's you know it's it's not like they're they giv out cereal for free there was always uh in the past um for the students who didn't have anything to eat the wonderful lunch service people the the wonderful people that work in the lunchrooms of these schools they love the students they want to feed the students they they love to see them eat they want to make them happy they want to have a good product I believe that from the bottom of my heart there was before a um it was a little bag and it was a for the student students who didn't have lunch it was a it was a yogurt lunch it had a yogurt it had a cheese stick and it had some graham crackers in it that at least had some like protein and different things I know about the nutritional thing that I'm happy that you explained it for the public because every meal has to have a certain amount of things whether they eat it or not it has to be on the plate yada yada yada I know that and maybe some of the public does not know that but it's good for them to know that but um yes we have to do something about it there has to be something a better way um to have a bowl of cereal that you you peel off the top it's a plastic white bowl on the bottom you peel off the top and you comes with milk and then you put the milk so assuming the milk would be the protein source that they're saying the child's already feeling terrible because there's there's so much fear driven in in in the in schools there's it's like scare the kids scare the kids scare them make them be good make them order your food did you order your food and a lot of times this Spar driven stuff doesn't work because the kids that some kids just don't get scared no matter what and then some kids get scared if you just say boo so the ones that get scared if you say boo those are the ones that are definitely not going to eat a bite um of anything that you give them so it it's just it's very complicated and coming from somebody um who who sometimes in my life have has experienced food issues um it it could make the person not eat the student not eat and uh you the child's going to get lightheaded not study as well not be able to engage um be in a bad mood there's there's a whole other things we have to be able to have proper nutrition in our bodies and in our brains to be able to to just exist and just to think levelheaded so thank you for like having the whole conversation about it because it is a very big concern yeah I just want to jump in real quick one last thing about about the food real quick you know we have uh the capacity to collect data so it's possible for us to see like how many kids are coming and asking for lunch on an average day that aren't paid why wouldn't we have the pad you know why wouldn't we send additional lunches over because we could figure out like on average like four kids a day show up and they they don't have lunch I mean it's so easy to to arrive at that number why are we not sending over like 10 additional lunches or uh the additional lunches that would be appropriate for the amount of kids that are not paying I can find out from Eric if they' been tracking to see how many per day yeah it seems like I mean like it seems pretty here's here's the flip side to that you could also have the same kids not ordering every single day and getting a meal and if they're not free or reduced you know you have to be paid for somehow no I understand no I understand but what I'm saying is uh if we send five extra lunches like the cost of those five lunches is almost nothing right I would rather throw those five lunches away or give them to the deer at Constitution Park than have a kid go hungry I just would and I'm pretty sure everyone else on the board would so I just want to make it really clear this is very important to me this is really important there are so many working poor people in Fort Lee that don't qualify for any help you know the hardest thing to be in this community is Middle class and I just want to make sure that we're all looking out for them that's it thank you I to talk to the Food Service about um an alternate um lunch I'll also see how many kids are not ordering per day to kind of get that data back for you also I'll find out if um that they're able to order up to like maybe 7 or 8: a.m. you know to kind of get for the parents who don't do it the night before to make sure um that perhaps they can order you know up up 2: in the morning and then also with the um I said the letter will be forthcoming about them hopefully being able to prepaid with the check but again it's got to clear the bank because I do have every single month B checks so I just want to make sure that the money you know clears before we make it available in their account but I will follow up with all of those if I can just add one more one more thing to that um if if a parent has pre-ordered once say a week advance for a month in advance and their child is out for a week um they're absent uh does the parent lose the the money for the the L the prepaid lunch from what I understand no but I can double check that again with Erica that was a question like if the kids's going to be out I think as long as they contact the Food Service program and say my kids out sick as long as they don't take the meal and I do not believe that they get charge for it don't forget to ask about if they're getting charged for the cereal you didn't put that I'll check that out too to out any CHS for the kids who um yeah I'll find that out any other questions we have a motion to open the floor to the public Mo motion Morel second uh all in favor any oppose or extensions okay we will first hear from members of the public physically located here in the cetorum then we will take questions and comments from those participating remotely participants are limited to 3 minutes in which to make their statement additional time may be granted at discretion of the board if warranted a response will be given after 3 minutes for remote public participants please select the raiseed hand button District technology coordinator Mr vro will recognize each member in order of the raised Hand by lowering the hand please unmute your microphone and state your name and home address for the record and begin your comments please limit your comments to three minutes [Music] please don't forget your name Mike 230 Warren Avenue forley that better Mike 230 Warren Avenue forley first thing I want to say first it was Sabin and then belic now we lost wel and so the two legends of four leag up bless you Joe's probably going to be making up a Italian Feast every night of the week uh two going to this food uh thing um I've seen where email blast around 9:00 p.m. email blast as a reminder might help them say oh God I got to you know 91 p.m or something like that student after the parents say know I got to order you know I have to intermediate school so I got to pay Central and it's F sometimes I'm stupid I forget to pay uh but it is what it is but other than that I think you shoot out a districtwide or schoolwide 900 p.m. just for them to remember after coming home and probably hectic you know baseball and all that stuff basketball just something like that just a quick reminder okay I okay um got a question on procedure so maybe he could help you all out here's the scenario first grader wants to transition and informs his teacher and principle that he or she doesn't want their parents to know what is the district procedure regarding this nature is there a procedure yeah can you just ask all your questions and well it's it's Parts is there a procedure or not do we just take the child's word for it and do what the child says so he has more questions please yeah I know more questions but it it's going to first of all it's going to take all the three minutes I kind of respect if I can get a couple extra minutes out because you gave away bunch of them last time so this is this is this is serious stuff I understand your position okay so I'll do this try not to engage in okay no problem so just ask so if if there is a procedure what is it okay okay if there is no procedure but you're going to take the child's word or the student's word and honor their word what is the district's due process to evaluate that the parents are actually dangerous or not what was the last part are actually what are they dangerous or not what's the district's procedure to find out their due process just because a child says that they don't want their parents know doesn't necessarily mean that the that their parents are actually dangerous was the Federal in policy 9240 right you all know about 9240 par need to know so if we're going to withhold information is there due process that says the parents are not capable of handling this because you got to do that of course you're saying that the the parents are automatically [Music] guilty sure generally speaking you're obviously very familiar with the policy regarding the um disclosure requirements or lack thereof from the District pursuance of policy and state law um the second part of your question about due process I would submit that's more of a legislative question it's not something that's within the jurisdiction of the Board of Education to convene a hearing to decide whether the parents are or not a danger to their students law again again the district is following the law so my that's why I stated that your question perhaps would be better POS in Tren to your state legislator versus to local but again it's not a back and work there trying to answer question but understand something it is it is the law of parental rights in the Constitution that the parents have the fundamental rights to know without without it's due process does the school district do doe process on the parents yes or no or they just going to take the word of a child a 5-year-old a six-year-old to say don't tell my parents that everybody's okay look at all I'm saying is the district is following the policy as prated through Strauss Esme Association uh Strauss es Associates excuse me based upon interpretation of the state law that was enacted now several years ago right it's also now in violation of 9240 I got nothing so our attorney our attorney answered your question or tried to answer your question but that's is there a is there a procedure so again sir I attempted to answer your question no you didn't answer the is there a procedure sir as we indicate as the board president indicated public comment is just that public comment you have three minutes to ask your questions make your statements it's not a back and forth I don't have the policy that you now cross referencing in front of me at the direction of the board president I'll be happy to review it um and advise the board importantly to the extent that we can respond to you we will but this is not the appropriate time or form for that not trying to be dismissive disrespectful of you just just not the form of the time to do that now your time is up and I would submit that we can move on everybody else I have the policies here I'll look at them at the direction of the board resp and and I will double check them to make sure but again there's a policy that you're asking about regarding uh disclosure of information which is the law if policies conflict we can review and update them and make sure they're both compliant with the law that's so you could be referring to a different policy for a different set of circumstances that may or may not require or afford a hearing in that set of circumstances I don't that right now so for the record school district will honor the students wishes That's the Law that's have a good night take about it yes you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes KES please unmute your microphone you have three minutes okay thank you can you all hear me yes okay good good evening thank you very much for allowing me to speak um as far as I want to Echo uh Mr Knight and Miss T P um we should not be fighting uh for our kids every child should have food for free fresh tasty and organic I am all 100,000% that no child should be hungry and I am all one I I work in healthc care and every plate should have at least four portions protein carbohydrates um the fiber and the um the appropriate um fat as we could call the good good um good um fat in there so we got to do what I got to do please make that happen um if their parents don't have money or they forgot to get to pay online or their check didn't clear up do what you got to do please um the other thing is I had sent a huge email on January 24th to 38 people including Mr Robert kravit it it was in regards to many issues um I needed an answer because um it has been for a long long time that I've been asking even I I managed to find funds for that place behind the middle school and the Intermediate School to be um recuperated and I don't know where was the issue stuck I need a crystallized answer was it stuck at the mayor's office he didn't approve it at the Traffic Division they didn't approve that happening was it stuck where that we couldn't get that um all ped down because the the woods are falling they're so decayed um it is it is a danger for everyone that walks there either it's a pedestrian either is a student in intermediate or or anyone else or or middle school that walks by there also at school number one we had a stop sign Lord is falling down I don't know it's Rusty and nasty I sent pictures what's going on why nobody is answering and also we need the director of the grounds to be participating in these uh meetings that we do so he has to hear that he has to get those grounds inspected daily and he has to fix them now um I have a question um I can't get my daughter's grade reports I don't know why so um my ex-husband has full custody temporary and I can't get her grade reports I have been asking her teachers I've been asking her uh principal I need to see her grade reports because they're going to go to the appell at courts and they are going to go at the lower court in Bergen County I have to see her reports now putting us in three minutes talk it's antihuman it's a violation of Human Rights so 20 minutes would do it three minutes we're not going to agree with that um the other thing is for Michael also Mr Michael also please take those conversations okay with an attorney you can find freeor you should not be addressing anyone from the public who already spoke no I was just helping another parent because I know that yeah okay thank you for your comments you are very welcome also if you find if you ever get an invitation um to go to a propaganda trip in Israel please say no to it because it's all about our thank you for your comments thank you your time is up Mr Dr kravit will address your question if he has an answer for you Jason yes so um thank you for your your email that was sent I know it was addressed specifically to uh the representative of the United States Congress as well as 44 other people so I I don't know if the other 43 people haveed in but some of the issues that you raised in your email are not applicable to the school um the ones that that were applicable to the school u i will be responding to thank you there are no more raised hands Mo to close the have a motion for M second from Miss Curry to close the floor all in favor any objections exensions um may I have a to approve items 1B through 4 to amend the private session minutes to add a reference to um resolution 8p from our last meeting and a reference to the um participation of the director we since it was their closed session minutes and they confidential to the need for confidentiality no longer exists I think it's fair to just simply say as discussed in close session that Amendment be made but we don't want to say what the amendment is publicly that would VI confidentiality I I make a motion to amend the private session minutes um as we discussed in priv tonight's private session got it okay so that's on one what is one 1B we're amending the private session minutes from last meeting to include what Miss colbach discussed earlier in private session and and then also 3B we are adding Miss morel's name to the county meeting for tomorrow night okay so may I have a motion to approve items 1B through 4B with 1B and 3B as amended motion motion Kat second Morel roll call please Mrs K yes M yes Mrs Curry yes however Iain for my name on same same with me my name Mr Knight yes Mrs Kang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes and Iain on my name on re Mr Rino yes Mrs R yes and I abstained from my own name on 3B may I have a motion to approve items 1 BNG through 2 b& motion second PB roll call please this K yes this P yes this Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs kotang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs R yes may I have a motion to approve items 1 Cur through 5c second motion Morel second buers Kang roll call please this is buers K yes this call yes this is curry yes Mr your night yes sorry this Kang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Lino yes this r yes but Iain from Toc I have a motion to approve items 1 F through 9f motion second motion Curry second Morel roll call please this bu K yes M yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs Kang yes mrz yes Morel yes but I say on my name on one Mr Rino yes this R yes I have a motion to approve items 1 p through 18 P motion second motion Morel second buyers Kang roll call please this buyers K yes yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes wishing Rachel vental all the best yes Lopez yes yes Mr Rino yes this REO yes okay moving on is there any old business any new business okay may I have a motion to I just want say kind of related I went to Lester's opening of his Law Firm last week definitely a class act like he's done in the past course and uh I met a lot of his employees they most a good amount of mepy from your previous office everyone was very happy to to be there and work for him they spoke very highly of him and his son did a nice little speech as well for his dad thank you motion to adj colbath and second Morel all in favor all right good night