Welcome to our uh organization meeting uh for the Glenrock Board of Education we will begin this evening with calling the role M caracella here miss Carr here Mr Cory here M Randell here M garelli here M Stevenson here miss Rendell will you lead us in the flag salute please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you uh our adequate meeting notice in accordance with PL 1975 chapter 231 notice of tonight's meeting was mailed to the record and the Ridgewood news on January 3rd 2023 notice of this meeting was also mailed to the Bur Clerk and was posted on the bulletin Board of the Board of Education and the administration building on the same date copies of the procedures in effect for regular board meetings are available for the public at tonight's meeting uh Mr Corey can will you please read our mission statement of course the Glenrock School District founded on principles of education in partnership with a supportive Community provides an exceptional education to all students to cultivate resilient responsible and engaged Global Citizens thank you um our statement to the public often times it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education takes action with very little comment and in many cases by unanimous vote before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools if the superintendent of schools is satisfied and the Board of Education president concurs that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education it is then placed on the agenda at the next Board of Education meeting the members of the board work with the administration and the superintendent of schools to ensure that they fully understand the matter after the committee of the whole approves the matter it is placed on the agenda for Action at a public meeting in rare instances matters are presented to the board of education for discussion at the same meeting that final action may be taken we will now proceed with the organization of our uh board uh we will start with uh reading into the minutes uh the result results of the November 7th 2023 uh uh election um as certified by the Bergen County Board of Elections uh our uh prevailing candidates for three-year terms were deali Robinson with 1,893 votes Edmund C Hayward who received 1,998 votes and Elizabeth calves who recorded 1,985 votes at this time we will uh swear our new members uh into their elected seats uh candidates please step forward to the podium Dr Robinson Mr Hayward Miss Cal you are elected to a full threeyear term uh I will now recite the oath of office please raise your right hand and repeat after me I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state and and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God okay we continue I do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education I do Solly that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of Board of Education and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] at this time Dr Robinson Mr Hayward and Miss calves will be entered onto our roll call as present and will be eligible to vote on all items on the agenda this evening we are now up to the point where we will uh take nominations for for president of the Board of Education M randelle I'd like to nominate Dr deal Robinson thank you Dr Robinson has been nominated for president of the board of education at this point we will uh take a vote M calz Miss carisolo yes M Carr yes Mr Corey yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes Miss randelle yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes Miss Dr Dr Robinson is elected uh the president of the Glenrock Board of Education at this point I will turn the meteer meeting over to Dr Robinson was thank you okay all right so so at this point I will be taking uh nominations for vice president all right um okay Mr Hayward I will nominate chenade Randell as VI vice president okay noted all right uh will you call roll Miss calves yes Miss carasa yes M Carr yes Mr Cory yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes Ms Randell yes m scarpelli yes Miss Stevenson yes Miss randella is elected uh vice president of the [Applause] board all right um for the reorganization resolutions um do we have a motion to discuss the our items uh all right scar yes thank you Miss scarpelly seconded by m okay Mr Cory all right why can't we use our I know that's why all right it's weird such a simple thing but you know it is strange for me all right um so we have our art items any um any discussion for our items Miss car yeah hi in R8 on the calendar you have April 22nd as a meeting and that's uh the first night of the second night of passover I checked the calendar unless I'm right wrong what I know but evening holiday do start yeah it starts on the evening starts the first the first two nights the evening of Monday April 22nd is when it starts if I everybody is fine with that I'm not going to be here I I think you can change it yeah I I mean I looked at the calendar we have we can have a back toback or I think we will I mean we can look at we can look at we can look at the the the dates and see if there's a way that we can change it I just have to be able to look and yeah so you have a meeting on April 8th and April 22nd so it could be the 29th but then we'll have one back to back with the sixth yeah okay we can check with the administration and then and see um what we can do thank you that we'll check wait till till we change it off offline thank you any other discussion items for the r items okay um at this time I would like to um we have to read the code yeah at this time I would like to um have us read our board member statement of ethics and we'll just go around um the room so as a member of The Glenn Rock Board of Education I State my intention to abide by the code of ethics for school board members as follows a I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to school schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures Mr Hayward I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability age race Creed sex or social standing I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted with those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recogniz that Authority rest the Board of Education will make no personal promises nor take any private AC May compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff and the as interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school I willo I will vote to appoint the best qualified person Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you if everyone would um sign it and then pass it um to up up thank you additionally thank you additionally I would like um also to discuss our 19 um so appointment of a New Jersey School Board Association legislative delegate um we do have one annually um are there is there any interest in I nominate Karen and you second all right excellent um do you accept the nomination Ken all right do you have anyen I know I know do do you have any questions about the role that maybe we need to is there a clearly defined role somewhere on this position or do I have to reach out to school boards like am I supposed to go to the State Delegate meetings I mean it's kind of unclear I I do want to say I read it in in our bylaws just scan our bylaws that might be in there okay and in there okay okay but we'll definitely find out and discuss that with you thank you thank you for that all right thank you Karen um okay can we call the rooll for our items please absolutely before calling the role I'm just going to note that we are going to we have amendments on R8 which is the uh meeting dates which uh we will update based upon uh the comments from this even evening and on r19 uh Karen Stevenson has in fact been uh uh selected by our board president is that are both of those revisions okay with Miss scarelli and Mr Corey yes thank you okay we will now call the role Miss calz present M carisol carisol yes Miss Carr yes Mr Cory yes Mr Hayward yes Mr Dr Robinson yes Ms randelle yes M garelli yes M Stevenson yes motion passes thank you that brings us to our first um public comments of the night uh this is for agenda items only um the meeting will it will open at 7:15 um please state your name and your address and you have three minutes all right all right seeing no comments um it we will close our first set of public comments at 7:15 and Dr Charon okay no report at this time um can we have a motion for our G items Miss Carr seconded by Miss caracella um any discussion for G items I just sorry I just want it noted that I'll be voting no on G2 I publicly stated that I don't support the full week off of November so that was that's my reasoning for not voting for it but obviously if fits the majority so okay thank you and again this is you know a a draft calendar so it'll be no no sorry G G2 g g not G3 thank you G3 is draft G2 all right thank you um I'll just say on G5 that I'm excited that we're um welcoming Jan Consulting and to do these workshops on our responsive teaching I think it's um critical practice in just giving our teachers those tools that they need to you hopefully prevent um classification by addressing issues early on with early intervention so excited to see that thank you for your comments Okay g noted G2 and G3 um all right we can call roll baring no other comments okay Mr caneles Miss calz yes M carasol yes M Carr uh no on G2 and G3 sorry but otherwise yes Mr Cory yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes M randelle yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes motion passes thank you I need a motion to discuss our B items all right Miss Stevenson seconded by Mr Hayward any discussion um or questions regarding our b b items all right if we can call roll Miss calz yes Miss carola yes Miss Carr yes Mr Corey yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes M randelle yes Miss garelli yes M Stevenson yes motion passes all right this brings us to our Personnel resolutions I need a motion to discuss all right Sharon's scarelli Miss car all right any discussion items nope all right okay yes I just want on P4 to thank um the the teachers for stepping forward and being mentors for our newer staff um it's always good to have our you know uh seasoned teachers looking out for our newbies so thank you very important thank you any other comments or questions I'm just excited to see our old student council rap Katie on taking a job while she's back from school awesome all right any other comments roll call please miss calz yes Miss carasa yes Miss Carr yes Mr Corey yes Mr hay yes Dr Robinson yes M randelle yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes motion passes all right all right I need a motion um to affirm the decision on our Hib resolution Miss Carr Miss Carell all right and roll call please M calvez abstain M carasa yes Miss Carr yes Mr Corey yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes M Randal yes Miss scarelli yes Miss Stevenson yes motion passes all right and this brings us to our second um set of public comments um please state your name and your address um and you have 3 minutes and we have 720 St you can push the button uh just one time and it'll turn green perfect hi my name is Gavin mey thank you in advance for hearing me out um tonight I'm here for to possibly hopefully help myself but also to help uh future students um in need um to start off uh this time last year um I thought that I like was really interested in studying like business because I really I think it was just because my dad's in business and my brother's studying it but I've kind of known that I want to study like Neuroscience um so I decided to take uh AP uh microeconomics because that's what I thought that I wanted to uh to um study um and I after like being in the class for like probably like a couple of weeks I Iz that it wasn't the best option for me and I decided to like drop it and I followed all the right protocol first off I started with Miss Jones who we all know is not to like drop the class and get into another um AP class instead of just going into another option or another class that I wasn't interested in I wanted to fulfill my um AB my abilities and do uh like push myself to be my the best I could be um so I started with Miss Jones who as we all know is not here anymore um and she couldn't really help me much uh she told me that my best option would be to go to miss Daniels so I went to miss Daniels who told me that she couldn't help me who then told me that my only option would be to go to miss G Orlando then went to miss G Orlando Miss G Orlando told me that she would not be able to help me and that the only person that would be able to help me would be Mr vanest so I reached out to Mr vanest on November 20 on October 30th uh explaining to him the issue in depth um requesting an EMA a meeting hopefully um I let a respectable of time go by I think it was like two weeks two weeks and I sent out a second email because I didn't get any response along with visiting his office not once twice three three times um each time someone came out told me that they would relay my message and that he would reach out to me soon each time it never happened the fourth time the teacher actually called down and said I have a student here who wants to meet with Mr vanest and then finally um um my mom emailed and it was took like a couple I think a couple of weeks to get back to her um then finally we had a meeting and um basically after all of these meetings and I also um I emailed after Charleston and then we ultimately wound up having a meeting with Dr Charleston Miss Daniels and Miss G Orlando um and what I was told there was that if they made the acception for me then that then they would have to make the exception for every other student and I'm basically here to just wonder why that what did you do you found out oh but like sorry I like uh before like doing all like meeting with all all these teachers or meeting with all these represent or meeting with everyone sorry I'm like really like stressed out um meeting with everyone not normally like this um after meeting with every before meeting with everyone I realized that it would fit into my schedule seamlessly I meet met with the teacher herself she told me that she would love to have me in the class and that there was a spot there was room available um so it would fit into my schedule SE okay seamlessly um and not to mention AP Human Geography is Glen Rock's only halfe course I have not missed any summer work I can still sign up for the AP test which is one of the only rules as to why I wouldn't be able to get into an AP class um I can still sign up for the AP test and in general I'm just here because I don't want to sit in another option period or another free period or go home when it's the clock hits 1:54 I want to stay here and I want to learn more um and at the end of the day if I can take this AP then it opens up another spot for me to take another AP next year and as we all know getting into college is definitely not easy and I'm don't want to miss out on any opportunity whatsoever to be my best be the best as possible and not only I hope that you guys can help me but I hope that future students in the past aren't just told that if one person is helped then everyone else has to be helped or that what was the other reason that they wouldn't be able to keep keep keep track of their roster but um thank you I don't know like at the end of the day all I wanted to do was take another AP class and keep learning and be the best I could be and I was told no multiple times after meeting with five people thank you thank you that's all thank you have a good night are there any other public comments all right barring no other comments um public comments number two is closed at 72 5:00 p.m. all right I old business under old business we have our prek expansion Grant um for discussion and we don't need a motion nope we can just go right into our discussion yes so uh first of all congratulations to Dr Robinson and and Miss Randell um happy New Year everybody uh hope everybody had a lovely uh winter break and holiday season and I'm happy that did not have to call snow day um this weekend but uh maybe we maybe we'll get an opportunity to use them this year uh we're going to talk a little uh really more in depth tonight about the the prek expansion Grant um I have Dr McKay here Mr vaness and Mr canel can also jump in at certain certain times if they need to uh and just kind of talk about what the grant is and we'll go through um all the information we have so first of all the history is like how how did we get here um as the board uh is aware uh there was an opportunity to apply for a grant that's been a board goal to always to to apply for Grants and to bring in outside resources this was kind of a hybrid between uh uh like a state Grant and more of like a a competitive Grant but I regardless list we got it and so what the grant uh uh does um is it's uh the total cost of the project would be 2.17 4 million the district cost would be 1.3 uh million and then the state share would be 870,000 so it's a 60 40% split on um the grant the uh what we looked at was creating three classrooms here in in the high school middle school for uh preschool uh programs so we would uh in the Little Theater as we call it would have two preschool integrated classrooms which would be full day and then one preschool disabled classroom which would also be um full day but I think before we get into the specifics I'd like Jo Dr McKay uh to kind of explain the history of this program and how how we got here because this these programs didn't exist prior to to to our arrival so I think it's it's a good idea to kind of get the Genesis of what how this came about sure so um for the school year of 2021 that's when we began developing our autism programs namely um so that school year we planned for the opening of our kat2 autism program and a preschool disabilities class of which does and did house for the most part students with autism um just so everyone is aware in the state of New Jersey preschool disabled there's only one classification and that is preschool disabled um so all of our preschool classes are titled preschool disabled they are not necessarily autism specific um just so you have that awareness um so our autism program opened our preschool Pro full day preschool program opened they were both very successful um the following year which was 2223 we had to expand our autism program to include the 3 to five our Young Learners were growing and so our autism program expanded with that um and so now that brings us to present day and um and we're looking at expanding now our preschool program um and this has been a discussion and I with many people over the course of my short time here um is the fact that originally when I first started the only preschool program that we have is and we still currently have is two halfday programs um which are preschool disabled so students can come either in the morning those are our typically our youngest Learners at age three and then in the afternoon AG four um the hybrid of that where the the full day preschool program comes in is that it does um provide services for most of our preschool students with autism however that is not necessarily um a a criteria for a student to enter that program um in order to enter that program students would perhaps need ABA which is a specific type of methodology um but also we look at a variety of other factors to determine eligibility and the appropriateness of students entering that program um so just to recap very quickly the current programs that we have we run one full day preschool disabled class that is the class at Coleman and then we run two halfday preschool disabled classes and they are housed at Central School um and so with the application and acceptance of this grant it would enable us to grow that program and reach and provide services to more students so as Dr charson had mentioned it would allow us to continue with our preschool our full day preschool disabled class and then we would take the two halfday classes and we would expand them to two full day classes and we would incorporate general education students into both of those programs um increasing the amount of students that we can service and also benefiting the special needs students that are currently there um I I personally also think that um the inclusion model also benefits the general education students um it's just an overall program and then all of those preschool programs would be housed in the same location and it would give them access to um each other really um so that's a very general synopsis of what it what we currently have and what it would then allow us to have thank you Dr M and just to add on to that so the two full day preschool integrated classes would serve up to I think was 15 students total the ratio between special education students and regular ed students is is there's no hard and fast number yeah so so the very interesting thing um and it really is interesting considering that special education we operate by code um but preschool for our youngest Learners there is very little um mandated in code um so what we have found is that the best way to um begin planning would be um to base numbers off of programs that are essentially run by the state of New Jersey and so that number would be 15 I'm not quite sure that we in upon opening these potential programs we would allow it to even get that high at first but of course over the the time span um of years it could certainly grow um but we would try and balance the amount of special education and general education students in both of our integrated classes um keeping in mind of course the fit and the overall number um and what would be appropriate to start these programs so just to Pivot a little bit just what's currently in in the basement Little Theater um our Middle School electives so we have one teacher in there uh teaches semester based courses Advanced acting which is I think is our grade eight dramatic storytelling and improv which is grade seven and creative dramat Dramatics which is grade six so we've identified and spoken with that teacher to relocate to a classroom near the music Wing which would be able to serve all of those purposes um and actually has some of the apparatus that the room was originally designed for believe it or not was a little bit had drama as well so we're able to relocate them that that teacher is aware of that uh some of the uh specifics uh we looked into uh the playground there really is is no um necessarily requirements for like certain types of apparatus or things that have to be in the playground but we're looking uh at uh off of Hamilton Circle we would enclose it with a matching EX interior matching fence that Mr canel has worked at with with our Architects which would match the the brick that we have have in the building outside it would be 30 by 30 it would be toys not apparatus so really small movable toys the floor would be like a rub that rubberized material think that we have at at bird terms I just want to know visualize where this will be so it will be the empty circle where there's grass there's like where where the digital Marquee is where in from the digital Mar the at the end of the circle along what is that Harris Town Road yeah okay all right thanks there's an entrance right there where it goes right into the theater and that's where it would be right off of that entrance uh our students um our prek students would be able to have uh specials here in in in the high school middle school so they' be able to leave their classrooms for music uh for art uh for fed and the media center which are the ones they currently have so they're not confined to their classrooms all day um we want to start a couple of programs here in the high school we want to start what we're calling a preschool partners program where our older students can um work with our uh our pre students in sort of work with them in in some of these specials in particular uh is something that we're looking the offering we also want to start a child development class for high school students uh things that are exist right now for example at Coleman as our reading buddies I think with fourth graders so we would like to keep that program but have reading buddies could be with sixth graders it could be with our high school students um the school day the students would come after it would basically run the same hour as they run now the students would come after um the high school middle school students ared so around 8:30 and they would dismiss around 2:30ish uh the staff that would be here so we would have the two existing teachers and the the we would need to hire one additional staff member for the program your PA of professionals they're already your students that coming in that are have IEPs will come with a PA of professional so you have that cost regardless right so it's just the additional the additional teacher um the principal would be uh the high school middle school principal Mr yando uh but obviously just like Dr McKay does now um very active in our in our in our programs down there but still they would report to um the principal here and I think you're going to you have some schools lined up to visit um So currently I do have visits set up for Westwood and pamis we also have opportunities to visit um faon creskill northern Valley uh deest Ulta pan and then then pasak Valley Regional um the board can consider if you wanted to charge tuition to offset the costs for regular education students and looking at other districts that have preschool integrated programs they do charge tuition but it varies some are small and some are up upwards of $110,000 uh uh per year um the uh you could offer you can decide to offer a discount to staff um when we were discussing this program uh some unnamed administrators who have children who would fit into this program uh said that they would jump at the chance to send their kids to here and and pay and pay tuition so um that's just anecdotal information um it will not impact uh and by the way you also would have probably have to offer a lottery system anyway for regular red assuming that we would get um a high number of regular red students to attend the program well not impact Community School we've had several conversations with Community School they also can offer before and after care here in in the high school if needed um there are some questions about uh and Dr mck get into momentarily but about uh if we take the students out of the elementary schools would they still be able to get back there for maybe there's some assemblies or things along those lines and the answer is yes we have a bus we'd be able to take the kids back back and forth as as needed um Dr M's turn over to you again so overall um I'll discuss uh most of the pros that we feel this this expansion would provide the district and that is age level peers for all of our youngest Learners a full day program coming from two half day programs um we're servicing a larger amount of students it's it is a possible tuition Revenue um it's a space that is additional spaces are created at both of the elementary schools um the preschool teachers themselves will be able to collaborate with one another because right now they are in two separate spaces um and we feel as though um you know the spaces that those two classrooms are leaving behind would then provide other opportunities for growth within those schools based upon whatever it is the needs are at those individual schools um many of the concerns that we tossed around or were brought to us um for the most part are logistical concerns and I I totally understand and respect those concerns there hasn't been anything that we wouldn't necessarily um be able to work through I don't believe um you know for example um the question came up about assemblies We There are a variety of options with that uh we most certainly could bust the students to really now actually any four of the elementary schools that we're offering um an appropriate assembly of course we could bring certain assemblies into the preschool class um if they so choos and if there are things that are appropriate um I know that there was also concern regarding um just teacher collaboration with colleagues outside of the preschool or faculty meetings um professional development and all of those things um are not set in stone to the point where you know we're having a faculty meeting here at the high school and they must attend that I think that that can be very fluid um if there are things that are appropriate uh for them to attend here they do so if there are things that are appropriate for them to attend elsewhere they go um if there are things that are happening from a special services department um or strictly just a preschool Department uh cohort we spend faculty meeting or department meeting time doing that um I I would like to look at this from the lens of we really will be very reasonable with some of those concerns and those requests um you know we certainly don't want to um you know force uh teachers into a certain um you know professional development that might not be appropriate for them I think that we can look at it from a very um you know just logical and reasonable lens um and any other concerns that may come up that parents staff whomever may have um I do feel confident that we could work through it uh just a couple more things um one is this is not an uncommon thing whatsoever Dr McKay has listed several schools that they'll be you know two definitely visiting other ones that they could um I've been a principal in in two high schools and we've had elementary students and they're and they're both 3,000 kids so I mean it's I've been in it and I've been ones that don't so it's uh I think that uh the program itself will will will work um the other thing that Dr McKay touched upon is that I think this is a costeffective way this is the bottom part of the reason always do its best for kids but this is a cost-effective way to gain two classrooms in the elementary pres School uh Mr Canalis and I reached out to the architect and asked them if they were just to do like two classrooms or four sgis that would create two classrooms at Coleman um what would that cost so again just two regular classrooms or four sgis the new cost is 4.3 million so you're looking at getting those two classrooms for a cost of 1.3 million you're getting $160,000 Grant and you're expanding your program and offering more opportunities for for for kids I see it as a um as a really good opportunity um so the timeline uh if we have consensus uh Dr Dr Robinson after tonight would be for the board to accept the grant at the January 22nd meeting we'd go out to bid late spring demo would start late summer early fall with construction throughout that school year and then we would start the program we welcome students in September of 2025 um we happy to try to take your questions or any comments Dr robon any questions Miss SC thank you uh everybody for your diligent work um I work in a school that has prek and prek integrated prek with you know the prek um disabled students so I'm very familiar with how it works my concern is not the program itself it is the logistics of it so um by law are we I have a few questions they don't have to be answered tonight they might be able to um is an aren't we supposed to be um aren't we supposed to have an aid for every certain amount of students in a prek classroom profession so for every preschool class you need at least one par and a preschool disabled class um and then once it hits 9 to 12 students you need two so right now in our half day programs we actually staff it um proactively and from the beginning we always have two par Professionals in our so that would continue because you did mention the one to one put that aside because that's okay so you're still going to accommodate the others okay yes um you entered the lottery um how does the cost play into future budgets I remember sitting at long- winded meetings for when we were expanded the kindergarten program from half days I mean it they were very long debates it wasn't one night and um we were told that it wasn't going to cost anything well it wound up costing if Sharon can attest to that I wound up costing the district so I need to be sure um because what I'm seeing is you're hiring one more one more teacher but now you can hire two more teachers who are replacing those rooms so that correct so I need to know how that's going to play into our budgets you know in I think they're two separate things so the board's not committing to adding teachers to to colan right we're not say we're saying that's a possibility that's an option that the board would have um and that would come through a regular budget uh process in in you know in 25 26 for this specific grant for this uh program you would need one additional teacher then there would be soft costs which would be yeah um supplies and everything yeah supplies and stuff but in terms of the which is 70% of your budget is your staff right overall in the district so you're looking at one additional teacher if the board in the future because you did this wanted to add two teachers to the elementary schools because of wanted to reduce class sizes I see that as separate I don't see those as as related um because you're addressing that you do that now right because we could put art and music on a cart at Coleman right now right and then create two classrooms and hire two teachers because the board says class sizes are too big but the board may say well we don't want to do that we want to keep art and music as best we can in our own own areas right but the board says our class we're still growing and that you want to reduce class sizes so this would be that would be an opportunity for the board to say at that time in September 25 now we have two empty classrooms hire two more teachers like we just hired four this year correct right so it is a possibility but it's not possible so you're what you're saying just so I understand it's not a conversation that we're ready to have for 2425 it would be a conversation we would have for 2526 2526 yeah if the board wanted to add class but you're going to come up when we come to the budget this year we're going to be sharing that we believe we need additional staff because we're growing correct that would be the same process in the future totally understand that there's two separate subjects but I just want to make sure that we we as a board are understanding that this does open up the possibility of adding staff to Future budgets that's my point had nothing to do with combining the situations now but because you present because it's presented to us two extra classrooms that the board has to be aware that that does open up the Poss the possibility of budgetary um implications thank you okay and then um you um Dr McKay just brought up logistical and I and I I do like the idea of the busing back and forth to assemblies um silly this this is silly but this is what goes through my head we have a minius you're talking about possibly 45 students we would have to make two trips yeah so I feel pretty confident that it won't be 45 students you never know you don't you don't certainly um but I I am going into this with the same mentality as I did with opening up the autism programs I want the programs to be strong and solid I and create with Fidelity I I certainly don't want to overload a space or teachers with too much too soon um because the change in the transition will be enough um we of course have to service the students of whom are coming to us who have special needs and we will certainly address those needs um and have an appropriate program for them so 45 might be exaggerated um I do feel as though the bus can accommodate enough bearing in mind that not perhaps not all three of the classes would even attend a certain assembly I just need toink um yep I appreciate answer the only other thing that I'm going to ask is as a trustee who's voting on a space I need to see the space so that I can in my head know that what I'm going to subject Stu future students to I I'm comfortable with the space so I would to make an appointment to make to see the space sure okay thank you thank you m relle um I don't actually have a question for you but I do have statement um so first I like how many different groups of students this benefits uh typically when we do a project it will only hit a building or two or it will only be focused on a specif a a spef specific population of kids this one positively impacts every level of our of our students so I love that I also love how many problems this project solves the some of the highlights were that like they going to get a brand new facility for them for their age no I guess Hamilton has it a little right now but that's not something we get in Glenrock so I love that for our preschool disabled students and we get general education preschool students I love that also um and I do really love the idea of opening up classrooms because no matter what we decide as a board to use it for having them is priceless um so I'm still a little shocked we even got this Grant and I would be I think it would be shortsighted if we turn down such a large sum of money um for something that impacts the district so much um I also really like how student focused the project is so I'm in full support thank you Dr Charleston and Dr MC thank you Mr Rondell M carella I'm sorry can you just elaborate a little bit more on the um the inclusion piece because I actually think that's great and you kind of just said it really short but I know it it benefits the disabled children because it gives them the least restrictive environment but that's also good for the mainstream sty the wrong word children because it you know builds empathy in working with others but can I'm not an expert so can you share a little bit more about that yeah so I'll I I can share a little bit about the pros for both both populations so for special ed not only um it gives them access to their gened peers but it also provides them strong peer models um but on the gened side I think it provides opportunities for students to learn at a really young age that we need to celebrate everyone's different abilities um and that you know every everyone comes to the table with their differences and it's it's all good and I think it it allows students at a very very young age to be exposed to a lot of different types of people and I think that that's really nice I also think that it would provide opportunities um perhaps even for some of the gened students even as young as preschool to take on some leadership roles of course age appropriate um but it it would allow them some opportunities um even though it could be quite small but opportunities for that as well thank you okay sorry hi so I have a couple questions um there was um made reference to them participating in specials music and art where would that take place would it be in the high school middle school so they would be walking through the high school middle school hallways okay to get to the art room and and it would be vice versa they could bring them in but I don't see why they wouldn't walk High School my my only concern with that is when they're currently working through an elementary building they're seeing Elementary type of messaging on the walls they're not going to see that as much here because it's it's not their age right it's a different age group so I I did the Walk of from their classroom to you know if they went to homech if they went to PE music for the most part they would access only the middle school which just by default the um you know the things on the walls are um slightly more Elementary than say perhaps the high school um even still it's a lot of um a lot of things that are much more artistic rather than academic um and and in that's photography you know picture um the middle school does door decorating a few times during the year so it's not um it's not as academic as you would imagine like say walking through a high school because for the most part they would only walk through the middle school okay and the teachers that would be teaching them would be the current middle school high school so we work on their schedule I'm assuming they would be I may I shouldn't assume but I'm I'm saying that the students from prek would probably be transitioning to that classroom at a different time than the rest of the student body because I've been here in the hall in the middle school high school it's quite loud and quite congested um so I guess how logistically would you work the teacher schedule with it being not the same schedule as what's running with the middle school high school how would that how do you foresee that so there are a lot of details that of course we would have to work out um but we could just sty the time I mean thankfully the preschoolers aren't mandated by period seat time and so it's not necessary for them to perhaps access the PE class for the the full hour um so we could stagger it so that they come in slightly after the Bell has rung um it would give the teacher an opportunity to transition from middle school teacher to preschool teacher um we would we would have to work out the logistics of that okay and then just thinking this through or will there be overages for some of these teachers or the ability you know I'm again I'm just just throwing out my questions that are popping in head right now we have um in looking at the numbers uh we're able to uh add it just in the specials right it wouldn't have any overages we'd be able to make it work can I expand on your question um with the because with the specials do they have to be prease certified in order to teach them so we would have to look into that um because preschool preschool is also not mandated to have specials right um so a lot of those things we would have to work out yeah so currently the prek classes do they have specials and are they integrated with the Elementary class the full day yeah class they do go to specials so the one at Coleman the one at Coleman does but the central ones do not correct and they don't have any integration at all with other students at Central right now or do they they do it's just it's different um and their teacher currently does take them to the gym a few times a week to do different activities that would fall under the PE umbrella or she takes them outside to do things that are very specific under the PE um umbrella um and they would do different activities as appropriate um with their gened peers okay and then as far as the services because this is prek disabled classes and then the ABA class they receive probably OT and OT PT speech um and then our district behaviorist would of course just she comes up to the middle school high school anyway um so so how does currently um that work now with the Coleman the Coleman and Central is that a traveling no so we have related Services housed at um they're either at a designated building or depending upon their service they are split between two buildings um so it really wouldn't operate too much uh just another St it would just be a different another building they'd go to okay um and then I just have a question on the funding of this so I know our capital reserve account is pretty um I don't even know what the word is very well funded at the moment so you know I'm I'm assuming this 1.3 would come out of the capital reserve account currently um and again what's the capital reserve because I I still don't believe the number that we were told it's too good to be true sorry um I believe it is in the five plus million doll range yeah that's what I but I will send it to you in the morning okay no that's fine I I thought it was upwards of close to Six but is pretty close to Six yeah um okay I think that answers my my questions thank you Miss Stevenson go ahead it's a wonderful program and I appreciate all the work that you put into this and again it's just some logistic questions that Sharon and Liz have addressed my concern is the playground area you know right on Harris it's going to be built let me just explain a little more in detail so I can try and visualize what it's going to look like because play is extremely important for younger children especially children with disabilities that we want to make sure they're getting what they what they deserve in terms of the equipment inside the playground um we haven't looked at that yet so that could be whatever we decide right so could be if you want to do smaller apparatuses you could but you don't you're not required to so we were thinking just move removable small toys um for the for the students um in terms of the playground shape uh when you uh when you walk out the second set of doors at the end of the circle that take you towards the middle school hallway that takes you right down to the little theater out there is a little trapezoid section spot um it's inside of the of the digital Marquee and there we would put a 30 by 30 uh area that would be obviously fenced in we're clear with the architect that we would want the the Brick to match the existing brick of the school so aesthetically it looks good um and we would do that that's part of what's in our proposal um I missing anything else with the no uh the playground would would abut the circle and not Hamilton Avenue and would be a fair distance off of Harris Town Road um if if you if you are familiar there's a pathway that goes into that main door so looking at the school we would be to the right of that pathway I think with Liz I would like to make an appointment also just to visualize it myself and then my other um question is have you got any feedback from the staff that this is affecting or the families like are do you have anybody spoken to parents would they be comfortable bringing their children into the high school middle school so I have not spoken to families yet um many of our students that we currently are working with actually wouldn't even be part of that program um I've spoken with the teachers um and some of the concerns that I talked about tonight were some of the concerns that they had yeah I actually I didn't meet the they didn't share their name but I the Federated um at the Federated meeting uh we had I just talked about the possibility of of the Grant and one of the parents whose child's in one of the central programs um was very much in favor of a preschool integrated program um so that her child would be able to to to work with uh you know non-sp specialed age level peers uh so I should have should have gotten her name but uh yeah she had shared that um I've shared it multiple times uh throughout all the hsas in Federated since we applied for it um and I have not gotten any questions from parents per se in general uh outside of that one comment and people sharing that they were supportive of it but nothing that would be out of outside of that one comment where I was specific about that yeah and I certainly don't want to speak for parents but from the parent lens the parents of students that are in the full day program nothing essentially would change for them other than that they have access to Jed peers preschool peers and then for the parents of students in our house half a programs they're in an integrated classroom with Jed Piers so I mean yeah there's so many benefits to the program that you know you just have to sure make sure like all bases are covered and we're trying to think of all the things certainly is you know it's certainly a worthwhile but you just want to make sure the logistics work out yeah you just created you got to stop talking because I'm just going to keep coming up with more questions um what about the what about the family um and maybe I am overthinking but what about the family who has now two children at two separate schools so um it's not crazy but we actually do have families and we work with them but we currently do so depend depending upon wherever our specialized programs are you could always potentially have that conflict of students in in different buildings but the but the the special ed students could be bus Which would alleviate so that would still alleviate the problem but but the the students who who don't the special it's not just the genad it's the special kids who may qualify for placement but not but not Transportation it really is affecting like the Coleman or the Cent like those two schools that do have like the other ones yes have currently do have that situation but but as was asked you know if you spoken with any families you know so I and I have not and specifically to your point and your concern I would not really be able to do that simply because I don't know who those families will be nor will I know what their circumstances with their children will be um but again um and I don't want to overstate it but we work with those families individually and we just work through and uh yeah yeah just to interject miss garella the answer to your question currently in the uh capital reserve is $6.97 million thank you I knew it was in the SE um thank you that's a very healthy number for us so I I do have another question and it's really related to the the ABA program you have at Coleman because you have we have prek through two and then we have a three to five right and are they both at Coleman or no so it's prek full day and then K to2 3 to five so the K to2 is the that's the autism program K to2 and 3 to five are the progr okay and but and those two classes are at Coleman so the three to five autism program will remain at Coleman yes as well as our kada 2 program our k 2 program kindergarten oh just preschool is just preschool so pre all of preschool will be with preschool right so that opens up how many so that would open up one classroom at Central and one at Coleman right so what barring hiring a teacher for a classroom what are our plans with with that space do we have any idea well if you had that space right now what would the board do I would assume that you would add two more sections so you have 10 sections across the board in elementary so that would be the plan that would be my recommendation but it's that's a board decision but you have you have outside of your Hamilton Elementary classes where we added the section as the board is aware um you have classes of 24 25 kids so you're and it's that Central class that has the outdoor entrance right yes Along by the library correct so is there a way for them to get in the building or they have to walk outside the building to get in they have to walk outside yeah okay because I know that's why that was a good space to have a prek because it was not integrated with the classroom but yeah anyway we'll get there when we we'll cross that bridge I guess thank you I I'll provide the perspective of uh having a child that is currently in in prek U my daughter wouldn't enroll into kindergarten until next year and um getting the opinion of other parents that are in this AE like have kids in this age group they're in favor of being able to bring um kids into the district a little earlier than you know maybe their current options especially with the potential of before care and after care and um I will note that um at Community their like play Space is really just right in front of the church building like the the grass which isn't um actually it isn't um cordoned off um so I think this is maybe a Plus on that um and and appreciate the presentation does anyone have any questions do you question no all right so do we have we need to yes do we have consensus um to accept this grant I I just want to make sure do we read the fine print of the grant like is there there's nothing in it that says we have to have X amount of students for Universal prek or this ties us to expanding a pre Universal pre program in our district I just don't want us to start this and then it balloons into something more than what we've intended to do and I'm not saying that I don't support this program at all that's not what I'm saying I just want to make sure we fully understand what we are so the goal of Governor Murphy is to have free Creek for everyone right just Statewide so in order to entice people to expand preschool they they offered uh up up this grant um and this is federal dollars I believe right James federal dollars so uh it doesn't mean that the the board is is uh obligated to offer everyone in Glen Rock preschool right you are obligated to offer or to or pay for students with disabilities right that we educate but in terms of regular students there's no obligation but in order to get the grant you had to expand your current offerings which is where we were so I when I got here years ago my thought process in that area was that it was a really good spot before this grant before we even started the program before Dr McKay got here that was going to be a really good spot for a preschool um renovation and then um freeing up space in in the elementary in the elementary schools but more importantly just from seeing it as as a principal was the opportunities not only for a Littest students right but for for the older kids to be able to work with them it's really great great to see in the programs that we can offer um so that that was where we we were operating from and then this has come up in conversations before before the grant even happened we've talked about about this and then when we applied for the grant and got it um we we are not obligated so I'm going around way we are not obligated any way shape or form to offer uh preschool to regular ed students um by accepting this grant we're only obligated to do what we said in the grant was was to expand our program to three classrooms and you're limited by sheer numbers in terms of what what what you would do um and that's that was it I don't think I don't think in the Grant I mean this was over a year I think we applied for it but I don't think in the grant you were allowed to build from the ground up if I'm not mistaken that could be that is correct it wasn't for new construction yes so it was just for renovation so it really just worked in our favor that we had this big spot um and and an opportunity so that hopefully it answers your question okay can we do a straw poll just so we know that we have consensus for our January meeting our next meeting all all in favor of accepting the grant one two three four five okay we have unanimous consensus thank you so this will be on the January 22nd agenda in the inter term if you want um to take a tour uh perhaps after the meeting we're here we go right now and get over with if I do want to watch the football game so going we appreciate we do have to go into close Dr Robinson for a really quick hi all right um I need a motion to go into Clos session after tonight's meeting to discuss Hib matters um the board will not be returning to public session and no action will be taken Dr Rob before we close all business could I just comment on something for can I bring up something for old business oh um certainly briefly yeah um so I was contacted by a parent in the community and I thought it was was appropriate to bring back um conversation we had in the fall about robotics that has been part of it has nothing to do with anything else we brought up uh this evening um and I just thought it was worthwhile to to share uh amongst trustees here that there's an elementary and up to Middle School uh kind of like a wck league if you will of Robotics and it's interesting to see what we're doing at the high school obviously that's a you know it's it's growing as a has its own team its own function that creates a message out to the community of hey this is possible there's a little bit of press and and excitement around it uh there's you know there's no team sports in the elementary schools nor are there really going to be in the foreseeable future but the things that we're doing at those levels are impacting and got inspiring the five six seven 10 year olds in the town um I'd love to share the email uh with everybody after this uh because it's it's part of what we do we have the challenge we're talking about right now of working in one big district with children from ages 3 to 18 and uh they're they're doing it themselves whether we do it or not so we just have to keep doing it the right way so that's all I wanted to share thank you okay thank you Dan I look forward to reading that email um okay so motion to go into Clos after tonight's meeting um Miss car seconded by Miss scarelli sor all right all right I'm adjourned Mee our meeting is adjourned at hold on we got a recess oh we we need to vote on that one miss calz yes Miss carasa Miss Carr yes Mr Corey yes Mr Hayward yes Dr Robinson yes Miss randelle yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes motion passes Keith um can we do our close for two minutes and then you can come in and clean up so we can get going thank you all right thank you