Mr Canalis if you can call the role Miss calves here miss carasa here miss Carr here Mr Cory Mr Hayward here miss garelli here miss Stevenson here miss randelle here Dr Robinson all right president Dr Robinson oh present we have a qu all right um if you're able to do the flag salute for us please my pleasure I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and Miss Carr if you're able to read Our Miss statement thanks uh the Glenrock School District founded on principles of education in partnership with the supportive Community provides an exceptional education to all students to cultivate resilient responsible and Eng engaged Global Citizens thank you Miss car um adequate notice of meeting in accordance with PL 1975 chapter 231 notice of T's meeting was mailed to the record and the Ridgewood news on January 9th 2024 notice of this meeting was also mailed to the borrow Clerk and was posted on the bulletin board of um of the Board of Education Office in the administration building on the same date copies of the procedures in effect for regular board meetings are available for public at tonight's meeting all right okay thank you good evening everybody uh we're going to just jump around a little bit because I know that Mr Helder and the choir um have to get right back to rehearsals so I'm going to we have some Glenrock choir and band recognitions including students that earned all Bergen County Choir and all Bergen County band and also North Jersey region one band and New Jersey All State band so Mr Helder um come on [Applause] up Mr hello everyone this is uh some of the most these are some of the most talented musicians here at Glenrock High School um in in singing and in instrumental music and um let's see Julia here and Maggie and Charlie and Emma and also Ella were with the um audition for our burn County Choir this year and we're accepted to that group and they performed with them in DEC uh in January and um on um Devon over here in the blue uh she is a wonderful flute player and she represented our school at the All County um band concert and Olivia has been working very hard and will continue to work hard into the fall because she was accepted to the north Jersey region one uh Bandon Orchestra and also New Jersey All State um band an orchestra so a wonderful bunch of kids and I'm happy to present them to you [Applause] tonight for e then we'll go back in order of of um the agenda we have our student council representative shria so we'd love to hear your report good evening every everyone um my report's kind of long today so bear with me um the end of January and the beginning of February commence the beginning of Market period 3 that means for the seniors applying to their college their midyear grade reports have been sent out to all schools course scheduling meetings have also been going on for current Junior for the current junior class the sophomores freshman and Rising freshman are to follow this month the Beauty and the Beast musical took place and it was a very successful production this month has also brought much succcess to the sports teams so the wrestling team had much success at The District 3 wrestling tournament Jake Rickett became the first Glenrock wrestler to win a district title since 2013 with this Championship win in the 285 pound weight class he will be attending the state tournament Adrian Galvez took second place and Nick tuano rohi Hubert and Johnny eam all took third place in the tournament on February 15th the varsity hockey team successfully played in the State Conference Finals the winter track team has also had a successful season the boys team won the Bergen County relas for small schools along with many other individual accomplishments such as Tyler kwell who is currently in his junior year who won the njic 55 hurdles and the Bergen County championship and with the time of 7. 53 seconds making breaking the school record he was also voted the Bergen Record athlete of the week lastly Tyler along with Isabella asamu who's currently a sophomore made history by being the only North North Jersey Runner to win state group meet in the same event from the same school on Saturday February 10th the Glenrock robotics program held a hold compet home competition at the high school they made States and they will be attending on March 17th lastly on Thursday February 22nd the high school HOSA team hosted a blood drive with the New York blood drive that ran throughout the school day in the high school gym that's it for me thank you thank you and the boys basketball team just won their game thank you sh um the girls are playing now I just I I just want to quickly um acknowledge that I saw the play um it was amazing I mean by far one of the best ones that I've ever seen and I sat there wide mouth or jawdropping just because the singing the acting the choreographer fee was just so Kudos and congrats to them okay moving on oh sorry yes yes and also shout out to the robotics team I went to the competition um loved it love that they're going to States and congratulations to all the sporting teams and making history with track that's really great but um I was able to attend Robotics and and I just love every time I learn something new so thanks we'll be um we'll be bringing the robotics team I think at the March 18th uh meeting for recognition and then also the winter athletes I think at that meeting as well so we'll we'll have them lined up for that um the reason we didn't bring robotics yet is probably similar with the athletes is that they're still still competing and have a chance for state state championship uh moving on uh we have Mr Paul cusac who's our supervisor of instructional educational technology and Mr cusac will be speaking to us about Glenrock uh School news and Miss carousel's favorite show Charleston in charge season two um and we'll be uh uh I guess before they start um as the board's aware several years ago uh we had built this TV studio without much of of an idea um of what we were going to do with it and I think Mr cusac along with uh Miss V have really done a nice job in building the program so I do thank you for that and I look forward to your presentation tonight uh good evening as Dr Charleston said my name is Paul Cusack supervisor of educational instructional technology ology and media centers um unfortunately miss verbeck or Miss V as the kids caller is unable to be here tonight she's not feeling well so I just want to talk a little bit about as Dr Charleston said um 2020 the TV studio was started it was finished in the December of 2020 and we had an older program that was running two different media classes um last year was the first year that we ran three brand new programs uh we had intro to TV uh and media broadcast media broadcast 2 and media broadcast 3 which is a full year course so we really reimagined what the program would look like um we have two Flagship programs that come out of it the gr news which runs every Friday um students from all levels contribute to that and then we have our uh Charleston in charge all these programs are student driven and they're student directed they're student run um Miss V starts out working with the kids in level one but they develop the skills as they move on to be able to run these entire shows Charleston in charge last year was pitched by the students to Dr Charleston um they write the scripts they come up with the um who's going to be interviewed what the topics are going to be and the format for the show gr news runs every Friday uh we have two lead anchors um we'll introduce them in a little while but they're both here tonight um they do a great job um and gr news is kind of a combination of as I said all three levels but it's also part of the media Club so there are a lot of students who contribute to both of these programs uh we do have some things that we're working on hopefully for next year are really exciting um but what I'd like to do right now is call up um one of our anchors Julia if you don't mind coming up she gonna say a couple of words about the program and then we'll introduce the students thank you hi everyone thank you Dr Charleston and Miss Rick for honoring us on behalf of our excellence and media I would like to talk about my engagement with the media media department at Glenrock High School I began my high school experience a little differently as I attended in all girls private school during my freshman and sophomore years while I did enjoy my time there I knew that by transferring to Glenrock I would be able to further my love for broadcast journalism and home my skills The Faculty staff and Equipment available surpassed my expectations in my junior year I took broadcast media 2 and learned how to produce content and pitch a show concept my biggest accomplishment during this time was hot rock a Glenrock a Glenrock spin-off of the show hot ones where Administration and students were given a choice spill their hot takes and answer difficult questions or eat incredibly spicy foods for this project my classmates and I used multiple editing softwares such as is Adobe premere Pro and canva this year in my TV3 class I have worked directly with Dr Charleston on season 2 of Charleston in charge along with help from my classmates I have directed produced and edited episodes I'm also vice president of the media Club where we produce gr news an entirely student run news show that strives to bring national and local current events engagingly to all students I am so thankful for this program and all that has allowed me to accomplish I'm currently in the process of applying to colleges and I intend to major in broadcast journalism while reviewing each school's curriculum in classes I have noticed that they are identical to what I have already taken at Glenrock High School in 10 years when I win my Emy I will make sure to thank Miss V and Dr Charleston for giving me creative freedom and the confidence I have needed to succeed as a freshman in college but in all seriousness from my involvement I know I will be more than prepared for what lies ahead in both my higher education and career thank you everyone okay so Kevin can alter all right so now we will be calling up students to receive their certificates so we'll be starting uh from there first off we have Thomas [Applause] Petrus um okay uh the next student is Colleen [Applause] Martin next up we have Jason [Applause] Simon um next up we have Michael [Applause] Hayward now we have Maya [Applause] gotle next up is Connor [Applause] brades Nathan [Applause] debero up next is nikil lewani next up we have Ben [Applause] Razer next up is Matt an [Applause] t next up is Poppy Usha [Applause] wenzi and finally Josh yang we'll take ours as well yes [Applause] do you want to talk about come here I I'll like introduce first all right so these next group of students have worked um they've been heavily involved with Charleston in charge um so we're going to start calling up names for that um the first name is aan [Applause] Smith next up is Brady [Applause] peek the next student is Colin [Applause] Robinson um next up we have Ava Sarah she could not attend tonight but she's with she's with us in spirit and then the final student is Richie [Applause] poochie okay next we have um Miss Del Fortuna who's our anti-bullying coordinator who will be presenting our biannual uh mandated uh hip training and programs so M Fortuna floor is yours everybody else um you're more than welcome to to to sneak out we won't take take offense to that have a good night thanks for coming uh thank you so much for having me as Dr Charleston mentioned I'm going to be going over the mandatory reporting um after reporting period one um reporting period one runs from September through December so first just a review of our anti-bullying Specialists we have one in each building we do have two new Specialists this year um and they have gone through their training um our Specialists meet with myself throughout the school year um in the fall in particular I attended a law update workshop and then turned Kat to the specialist um all of our new Specialists had completed their six hours of training um and that takes part you know early on in the school year so the training for staff that has occurred districtwide is that we do it at new staff orientation for all of our new hires um we do it on the December fth or September 5th date um and anti-bullying Specialists are their resident inhouse experts um you'll see additional trainings and programming have been offered that's just overview of um some of our District offers ones so this is our quantitative data for trainings and programs at each school um you might see some variation between the buildings and that's just timing so we have our reporting period one that happen September to December and then we'll have another reporting period January to June um so you'll just see variations of the data and as when things occur in each of the buildings um our each school has a school safety team um the anti-bullying Specialists chair that school safety team those are comprised of the principal assistant principal teachers and a parent um the purpose is to review and strengthen Cool School climate and policies of the school they review HIV data when available um and so they are meeting a minimum of twice a year but they meet as often as needed so those responsibilities are listed there um they specifically review the Hib data and and look to identify patterns um and determining programming within their building based on that so this is our our our data from reported period one um you see an incident total um according to this date our incident total is only compris of violence vandalism substance weapons and HIV confirmed um you'll see other incidents leading to re uh removal that column that may include disrespect to staff or students it may like include inappropriate comments misconduct um violations of school policy acceptable use of technology so those are just the other incidents columns what what would fall under that category in addition to looking at just reporting period one from this school year I thought it'd be interesting to also share in comparison to reporting period one of last school year um mostly just the middle school and high school I'm looking at tracking over the next few years um so this is your incident totals this is violence vandalism substance weapons HIV confirmed um you can see that we are having a downward Trend but again this is from September to December of last year compared to December September of December this year um even other incidents leading to removal some of those other categories that I had mentioned um we're seeing a downward Trend in there as well as well pretty significant and then HIV confirmed at this point this year we have zero HIV confirmed cases in comparison to last year at this time and that is the full report thank you m Del for tuna does anyone have any questions or comments thank you um go ahead I appreciate the year-over-year graphs that I don't remember seeing that last year and while you were talking I was thinking about last year so just thank you for yeah thinking about what we were thinking about absolutely and in the in the in the next reporting period I'll do the same thing I'm going to try to track it over a couple of years um so I just looked at last year as this year so I think it is important to notice those Trends thank you very much Melle for tuning in thank you um does anyone else have any comments all right thank for your efforts all right at this time um at 7:25 I'd like to open up our first of two um public comment sessions for agenda items only um please state your name and your address and you'll have three minutes uh green hi my name is Alice gston I'm live at 87 Spotswood Road in Glenrock um I'm going to try to keep my comments brief I'm here to request that the district consider instituting a math tutoring program at the middle school level uh such a program shouldn't rely on the labor of the school's Math teachers who already have enough on their plates but independent tutors contracted with the district that would be available to students for free or at a ninal rate the reason I'm asking is because I've heard of from over a dozen fellow eth grade parents that their students are having trouble in math for the first time time this year I understand that eighth grade Algebra can be especially challenging because students are learning brand new Concepts and that the district has already done some retooling of the Middle School curriculum but curricular changes can take time and our students need help now help beyond what their Math teachers can fit in their schedules it's an Open Secret that part of what keeps Glenrock scoes overall so high in addition to our very talented teachers is the fact that there's a pretty decent level of private tutoring that glenar parents are willing to pay for we ourselves have gone that route um and it's helped it has um I'm uncomfortable though with the idea that we've created this system of halves and Have Nots in this District a student's ability to excel in math or anything really shouldn't be contingent on what their parents can afford to pay that's why I'm asking that the district create its own math tutoring program to supplement what teachers have time to impart in the classroom is it a Band-Aid I mean frankly yes yes it is but it's a Band-Aid worth putting in place until we can figure out how to make middle school math instruction more effective and accessible thank you thank you are there any public any other public comments at this time all right 728 if we can close our first public comment session all right can I have a motion to discuss um the resolutions G1 through g15 all right all right we have a Miss calz seconded by Mr Hayward any comments on uh items G1 through g15 all right at this time if we can call roll Miss calves yes Miss carasa yes Miss Carr yes Mr Hayward yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes Miss randelle yes Dr Dr Robinson yes motion passes thank you um at this time I have a um a motion a motion um to discuss the items uh B1 through B9 Miss scarpelli seconded by miss caracella all right any discussion or any comments regarding B1 B through B9 all right we can call roll Miss calz yes Miss carasol yes Miss car yes yes Mr Hayward yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes M randelle yes Dr Robinson yes motion passes thank you um I need a motion to discuss um items P1 through P9 19 that's an affirmative Miss car and seconded by miss rondal all right any any discussion for P1 through p19 no far no discussion um if we can please call roll Miss calz yes Miss carasa yes Miss car yes Mr Hayward yes Miss garelli yes Miss Stevenson yes Miss randelle yes Dr Robinson um Yes except um for p19 I am abstaining from from uh voting for myself noted motion passes thank you and you'll see the vandalism suspension and hi reports near below um and we also did just get this presentation um and that's it any um at this time 7:30 we would open public comments um for our second session this is for all items including agen non-agenda items 7:30 all right 7:31 we will close public comments and discuss old business so at the last board meeting we had we had discussed the um draft budget and as I shared with the board um you've had that that budget for about about three weeks the plan would be to um discuss the draft budget again on March 4th and then um the board would approve a budget on March 18th which would then go to the county office for approval once we get it back from the county I believe the date is April 29th where we would have a public hearing on the budget and then the board would vote on the 24 budget officially um I thought tonight well we certainly could talk about um and have have a conversation about the budget itself separate from the budget where the capital projects and I thought uh might be good for the uh the community and the board to see the rationale behind some of the um thanks uh some of the capital projects so the first one up there on the screen is the culinary room which is in the high school Middle School it's really our Middle School uh uh it's really a middle school um uh in the Middle School curriculum students in grades six seven and 8 take culinary classes um the uh proposal um for The Culinary room uh which would be a withdrawal from capital reserve is 748 th000 and these are some images from uh the existing uh culinary room as it exists uh as a reminder the AR room was not has not been updated since 1991 and again just various images uh we're not looking to uh create any additional stations it would still have five stations in there um we're not looking to make it into a state-of-the-art you know Chop Chop type kitchen uh but it would be uh functional would have stainless steel uh countertops and things along those lines L new appliances obviously ventilation is not going Keith oh there it goes okay just in that this is just a sample of a picture but the handle had to be a new handle had to be put on several years ago which is a wooden a wooden handle so the the appliances themselves are are Beyond we think really a state of repair need to be replaced so that's um The Culinary room Reen renovation again at 748 th000 the other project was an elementary snc en counters and cabinets um we Mr uh Mr caneles I thought did a really nice job of identifying really the need uh for this and came up with a three-year plan so uh we didn't withdraw all the all the money from capital reserve in year one so for this year we're looking to do 13 classrooms uh with a withdrawal from capital reserve of 195,000 just a reminder that not every classroom in the elementary school has a sink or cabinet and these are just samples I think I have two from each building out of the 13 classrooms proposed um we would try to hit two or three in each of the buildings and over the course of the three years we'd be able to get them all done and you can see the cabinets themselves are are in disrepair the sinks are in disrepair um there's the even drapes and stuff and curtains in front of some of them okay oops uh next project was the high oh I'm sorry I I'm just looking at the pictures and I'm wondering if the architect has any um intention of um um or is there an architect or are we going straight with someone because I noticed that there's step stools in front of the sinks and I'm just wondering if there's been a plan to identify that or address that we'll make a note of that and ask the architect thank you the next one is the high school gym exterior uh concrete stairs um this would be uh the replacement would be 130 $1,000 it's both sets of stairs that uh um that come out of the gym out of the high school gym um in particular you could see here on the left and on the right you can see wooden structures those wooden structures were built because the concrete debris was was falling down our students exit from there to go out and there's another picture of the wooden structure that we built but you can see the conrete uh really is is gone in certain spots and there's another uh picture of the wooden structure underneath and then just falling you know in states of disrepair Keith can you just move it from there and you can move it again perfect sorry do I these things are coming up as I'm looking at them is there any I just want to be sure is there any specification that changes the size or the width or um the the risers or you know is I'm assuming this is in code now and or you understand what I'm asking I mean they're going to be replaced the exact same yeah good stairs are stairs are I believe under code in compliance with code as they exist just deteriorating um The Architects have speced them out to be a a a like kind uh replacement and they will look uh essentially the same except for uh the railings which I think they're coming up with a different kind of a railing system and there'll be more protection for the stairs from oncoming traffic thank you okay next we have the lower turf field replacement and expansion um this came in at uh 1.1 29 million does include 30 foot increase on both the length and width so I'll go through those pictures here the board has a couple of options one is the cool play infill at uh 40,000 which Mr canel has samples of it the cool fill um does keep uh the field cooler by about 35 uh degrees and then the option for lights at 1.43 million so going through these pictures a couple of things one is I think I can use my laser here a little bit uh is that this would go from the concrete all the way to the great so that's how the expansion would be on that end and on this end again from the concrete all the way to the to the great so that's where you get um your additional length again a closeup of that one of the things that um I actually attended the spring coaches meeting today um and talked about that I was going to share this with the board tonight and it's one of one of the capital projects the board is considering and in particular the expansion and as I shared with the board before the coaches had requested this um uh really multiple times they were very excited about the project they did feel that it was a little bit of a safety concern and in particular they mentioned this this idea here that the goals um half the goal is on grass concrete and then on the turf itself so again with the project that would be gone and it would go all the way back back to the great and there's just the great so what we saw and what the a lot of the complaints were would be students would be coming from grass to the concrete to the field right for like a corner kick and so on and again this is a good image here of course my things not working really well but you can see the goal is halfway on the field also over here there was a lot of complaints about uh you could tell it's a muddy area it's where the the benches are that would be Turf and the turf again would go from the concrete to the fence line here you can see the temporary lights that are up I think there were seven that are out there to this as even now that those lights are still out there um again you can see I think there's three in this row here uh again oops back here again this is a really tight right to go from the grass to the concrete to the corner kick it's a better view there same picture I think that that that uh concludes that so the total proposed capital reserve projects is is 3.5 million as the board's aware we have about 7 million which we estimate to put in about 500,000 conservatively um into a capital reserve at the end of this year um so uh it does leave you with a couple of million dollars for future projects uh we we shared with the board two options for a capital reserve the cool play infield which which I hope you maybe you feel like your hands are much colder when you put put your hands in there um and then uh a discussion on on the lights uh then that's it for the capital projects the prek expansion was withdrawn uh tonight we really had to get moving on that so we appreciate the board's support with that um the high school um Middle School roof and the Coleman roof those are Rod grants that the board did at the I think it was the January meeting already with through money for that um we would like to have the capital projects on the March 4th agenda we typically don't like to do action items on cow meetings uh but because if we delay any longer we just feel in the architect has been really clear with us as has the turf person um that uh or turf company a person that it'll be tight to get all of these projects done this summer so um we will not do the budget until March 18th voting on it but we would like to have consensus um tonight on these projects and any possible um options so that we then can have these on the agenda for next week to vote on so we can get started on these projects and start getting engineering and like things like that we're happy to we're happy to listen to the discussion from the board all right um Miss Carr you as you asked me we had a Rec advisory um board meeting last week and um I was asked to get the data as we asked to get the data from the school on how much um the field is used in the hours that lighting would be necessary so I'm hoping that we'll receive that information tonight but I did receive um their numbers and they for um a year worth they said about 330 hours um obviously soccer and Lacrosse are supportive of the lights but they're at um they're the only teams that use it uh soccer uses it three seasons and Lacrosse uses it two seasons so um and they also mentioned by the way that um since you were talking about that lower field they mentioned that The Back Fence is very low the one that's on the other side the one that AB buts Cornwall so so they just asked me to mention that since we were um so um and then what were what I need to go back to them what would be the dates that you would be looking to do the turf we would want to start as soon as possible so June 1st oh so it's going to be before the season and okay okay no no I thought it was going to be after fall okay so okay I have to let them know that thank you Miss Carr any other oh yes Miss car I just wanted to ask a followup um did they indicate you know the lights the temporary lights that they have down there what was their plan for when those would go away well I didn't I honestly didn't know that they were still there and so now that I see that I'm assuming that's a recent picture so I was planning on I'm sorry been fight down there for three years yeah there my understanding was they're supposed to be removed after the season so I have to now ask that as well okay so and just for my own clarification um are those does everyone have access to those lights there's a key yeah yeah there's there's a key to open it and you have to pay for the gas or oil or whatever it is I'll be honest I don't know what does yeah only because I saw that picture it just said Glenrock soccer club so I it's only the shooting stars and the soccer club that use it okay because lacrosse uses the upper field when they need the lights I'm sorry lacrosse can't use it because it's their balls go too high and those lights are terrible so you can't play a game down there with those so they would be more than thrilled but got it so and yes obviously they're in supportive of the cooling gel yeah in in my opinion the the reduction in the heat for the players um is a a good benefit for our our own students in our district so um that seems like an easy win Miss scarelli yeah I I I there's no question in my mind to go with the cool play if anyone has a child or you want to walk on the turf field in the summer even in the spring even in the early fall it is extremely hot so anything we can do to cool that for the kids I think is is great and so I think it's worth the investment in that um I do have a question on the the turf so we're extending um on the sidelines so will those benches become permanent fixtures there or will they still be movable or will we have to get something that's safe on the turf just want to benches the benches would not be permanent they'd be movable and those benches are that exist now are safe on the turf okay excellent all right did anybody a ask the neighbors their opinion on the lights or how they felt about having lights in their backyard because when the lights went up at the stadium field it was a huge it was a huge issue for the people living near it um so I can say no um no survey has gone out um aside from our like board agendas and discussion and opening like that no no conversation with them nobody we didn't reach out to them at no and there there are Cur so the so the the aspect that would be changing like if we did elect to do this project the lights are currently there so they are in use however they're in use even if it's you know selectively really right now for the um soccer club um the lights that are currently there aren't really directional um and so this would actually be an upgrade right but these are G and the and the sound they're still gonna be hard I'm just yeah going by past what has happened when the lights went in it was a huge huge issue there was yelling at board meetings it was it was not it was just not a good situation so trying to be proactive and just listen to the concerns that the neighbors have and that which is how why now the lights are supposed to be off by nine o'clock because they spoke to the neighbors and they came to compromise just to be proactive you know the lights are going to be higher you I don't live there so it really doesn't have any effect on me but I just would like to know how the neighbors feel about it if we're going to be good neighbors that and my other question is do we have the um the data from the school and how often the the fields are used at night but I I don't understand that question like data from the field how often we don't have lights that the school uses at night so what's the question because the last you want to so I that actually answers it so if we we don't actually use those lights it's actually 100% used by this the recck leagues in town soccer club and and shooting stars correct so I guess more importantly we need to find out what is their plan because my understanding was those lights were put down on the lower Fields because the town Fields were going offline and that was a temporary thing that we allowed them to do so I just want to understand from recck advisory what it what's the plan if that's changed then we need to have that information so from the wreck sitting there they use there's an in in the fields are inundated I mean there's an abundance of usage and because they just put the lights on at Faber they're readjusting you know the usage for that but my understanding is that the lights and you you were there before me but the lights were yes a temporary because there were no lights at fav but now there are fav so my understanding from sitting here and sitting there is we're you know we're talking about a one point you know whatever investment that's solely for the benefit of the rec programs and while I don't begrudge it it's something that this Board needs to really consider um and then going to Dr charon's um so that was really the issue of as far as who uses the Fields now the question becomes if we were to invest in lights at the lower field would that be able to were would our teams be able to better utilize or more utilize that lower field and I think that's the question that was asked okay and hasn't been answered so in a moment I'll ask um Dr Charon but I I felt like those two things were kind of a little bit when I say I don't want to use the word contradictory but like if if for instance we do have lights and we now are able to have greater student usage of the field because we have those lights and as opposed to the lights that are there that are currently you know sourced by the shooting stars um it would enh like it wouldn't the benefit wouldn't solely be for wreck programs in in in the town like our our district students would be able to have the usage of it um but I'll defer to um Dr Charleston for further so just like our the The Stadium Field our students would have first priority on those fields and my expectation is that we would play um night games on there if as the coaches wanted to better showcase our student athletes it also provides another spot for our um our marching band to practice which is hard for them to find a place to actually be able to get on a field and do that uh so gives gives us another um couple of hours a day for practices probably would be beneficial if I was still coaching uh football I would take advantage if I had more access to to the fields at night in in August during double sessions so I can get in a cooler environment um so I think our students would get significant use out of it but in addition it would be a benefit for the community it be help with the feeder programs which in turn would eventually help the high school programs thank if you're asking me for specific number of games and stuff I can't give you that I think that was adequate thank you very much Dr Char Miss Rell well there was a lot there um so I think the idea of lights down there 10 years ago is a whole different fall game than it is now the complaints that we have gotten have been about noise because they're generators so that takes that complaint the only complaint that the neighbors have really given so I think that's good um I also object to the it's the wck department because those are our students also they're all our students always so that I object to and also those diesel lights are coming off anyway the temporary lights because if we did expand the field they can't sit on there anymore it's bad for them so that's it Miss Carr so I I support what Shen saying and I've always been like that and yes our feeder programs are um my concern is not about the students or the athletes as Karen had said um so we may not have gotten or we meaning the board may not have gotten any complaints the wreck committee has gotten complaints about the lights and I met with um your approval um down at the lower field and at that point there were seven lights and there was no need for seven lights and so I'm sorry my back is to you so um you know I we spoke with the soccer club the soccer club the um shooting stars and I spoke and they were the ones who like realized that they didn't need seven lights they needed four which is what the proposal is but again I support lights I just I'm very concerned about the height with with the the neighbors and their complaints especially at a 900 p.m. shut off I mean we have an automatic shut off but the the warning track lights still stay on I mean there were contingencies that went into the lights at the upper at the upper field and I supported that and I support the lights but I just have concerns that we have not said a word to any of the neighbors and you know it there's just there wasn't a respect given to them and I'm concerned that we're going to hear it from them I agree with the noise I agree with the with the with the traffic like everything that has been said I agree with and I sit at a Rec advisory committee and I hear what they say we have an abundance of athletes and not enough fields that is it it is what it is but I would really have preferred that a letter had gone out to the neighbor saying that this is a proposed item on our on in our capital reserve project that's all okay thank you Miss car so listening to all of this um this project like all the others I think is a lot of significant upgrades for the district and if we're going to do something do it right that's kind of how I see it um if they're currently using gas generated lights that are going from seven and we're proposing four I think that's in the right direction number one I think permanently installed is safer for the kids if there are directional lights that can less leak out into the neighboring areas I think that's a plus um and we should know the details of all all that so uh so I mean overall I'm for all of it I I I think the the cold Turf of course and I think this is correcting something that's been sort of a Band-Aid for the last several years these gas lights are not ideal so I my eyes were fixing something that's already there and which I think I remember it was supposed to be a temporary thing right that was supposed to leave off season and that obviously never happened so the usage is huge we know there's a ton of kids in town and there's never enough field space and I'm sure it would get used quite often if not every day with the school and with the wreck U so to me I think the need is great so I think we should do the right thing and put it in thank you Mr award Mr carosella I'm just gonna say I'm also supportive I'd like to hearing how they um we could maybe extend some practice times later because of temperatures and just give that those opportunities to our coaches and our students and then I just wanted to clarify um using the ex existing L lights wouldn't be an option on the expanded field so I feel like it's we can't even do what we have right now there'd be no lights or or the lights so I think that's kind of an important factor as well um and yes and having young kids who are part of the rack and travel programs um I can attest to the challenges with field space so it's exciting to have it M scar so I too would like to at least hear from the neighbors that are along that wall the back there that would be impacted the most by the lights and I also really want to know what the record Advisory Board the the goal was for those fields because again it was my understanding that that was temporary because Fields were going down so if all the fields are not back up then we're still going to need the lights for the wreck programs but if the fields are all up up we should go back to the way it was right I that's what I I don't understand but can can I answer uh yes Miss car well just yes and I'm my assumption is more playing time there's different more there could be more teams one season so I didn't know that those lights were supposed to be temporary I can ask what their plan is but their plan as far as my understanding is the the temporary lights down there until someone said you can't and nobody has said anything over the last 5 years I guess five years I have three three I have no idea so their practi has proven the usage right they're using it they're saying now and if we field it sounds like in school dude they're filling in it's valuable they're in in they're using School dude and they're filling in spots that are not being utilized by the high school middle school so if there's more just enable more spots this whole Pro this is going to enable them to more spots but um you know just playing The Devil's Advocate because I want everybody to be aware that the more playing time there is on a field the the more wear and tear the sooner it's going to be replaced so that is something that we have to you know take into consideration well we don't but future boards will so um thank you Miss Carr if I e Miss scarpelly yeah just one more question with the lights at the last meeting we said that actually could be done as a standalone project can you just elaborate so that way if we you know if the majority of the board decides not to approve it right now and wants to take a little more time to think about it what does that look like and if or if they approve it right now we start right away so Standalone project means that it could be done separately from the turf project because they're off the turf I had sent the picture no it's on the outside so the two lights would be on the outside of the retaining wall um and then the other two would be near the concrete the concrete bleachers next to the 80 foot poles that are already there right so it doesn't necessarily have to be done when we redo the turf I thanks is it just to say it out loud I mean if we're talking about timing when we have the field ripped up it would be cheaper to at least put in the piping and get it started while we're replacing a turf field than if you did it as a separate project so you would be in that sense saving money only if the conduit need to be put underneath the field I I assume they are being put under the field no not he just said they're going to be along the fence lines on the outside of the fence so conduits wouldn't need to be under the the field you could keep the existing Turf right now and put lights on and so it makes sense to do them both at the same time I would say but you also don't have to so that's okay any additional discussion for our capital projects and then we can do just a straw poll to see where we're at okay so overall um just the overall capital projects that were that um Dr Charleston has stated um in his initial presentation we'll do options separ options separately um so just the projects that were stated on um on our main capital projects if we can raise our hands we have okay one two no that's option the option separately one all right so we are eight and um option for the cool fill all right we are unanimous that's a big difference yes and for lights so we have one two three four five okay all right all right so we actually do have consensus um I I've I've listened to all of your comments regarding the um the neighbor involvement and the way that I see it is that it is one it's an improvement it's not like we're taking a field that doesn't have um when when I say doesn't have light like we're not adding something that isn't a concept that's already in play um we're actually improving the the quality of the lights that are there to be less disruptive and we're also um allowing you know the the biggest thing for us while communication between all of their district and all of the members of our community is of um High importance we're still also primarily doing what we do for the kids and that's why um I I do support the consensus that I see here um and I I don't want you to feel like you know you're feel feelings are not being respected I'm talking about the ones you're voicing all right you know me not wanting to do the lights right now doesn't mean I don't care about the kids it has nothing to do with the kids so I just want to make that clear that my decisions are always driven by what I feel is best for the students and then I take into consideration how it impacts the community so I I agree wholeheartedly that our kids being on fields benefits us I just would like to make sure that the community surrounding the lights had been notified and had their ability to raise their concerns or say we think it's a great idea and it's going to improve our property values and go for it so that's it that's my only comment on it I just want to agree with Sharon I care about the kids I had three a Leets that went through the school system and I have two kids playing college sports so I do care about the kids but also when I care about the kids I think it's good to show them what it means to be a good citizen and that means to care about our neighbors and to ask them and just let them know that this is is going on you know I'm not against the lights I'm against not getting buy from the people that it's going to affect besides our children here so I don't I mean I don't think anyone on this I mean I think everyone on this board cares about the kids okay so I don't mean to offend with that statement that that it was said a lot at the last meeting with the budget oh this is good it's for the kids it's for the kids but also what's good for kids is making sure that their parents can afford to stay in this town keeping our taxes at at a rate where people can afford to live here that's also caring about the kids and making sure that they're able to stay in their homes you know I don't mean to be dramatic about this but by saying oh it's for the kids it's for the kids insinuates those of us who don't say don't care about them and I think every single one every single board member here cares greatly for the children and greatly for the town otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here all I appreciate that and I would like to apologize if my you know statements you know rubbed you the wrong way it was not my intention to suggest that any of the board members that were duly elected and that I respect sitting next to don't care about the kids I'm merely talking about my own personal reasoning being that I have to justify any kind of decision as president but again I'll be more cautious with the the words that I use so that I don't offend okay okay all right are there any other items under old business yes so we give an update on our Equity action plan uh Mr manest thanks Dr Charleson so wanted to just update us on on where we stand with the equity action plan and kind of refresh our memory about where where we started where we're going that those kinds of things because uh um it's something that's been in the conversation lately obviously so if you remember back in 20121 we started administrators doing some training with a group called third cultures people with Y as Johnson and um through him and a colleague of his we worked with the steering committee through 21 and 22 to come up with the equity action plan that was something we presented to the board here uh we had focused groups of teachers and staff and parents um to really kind of reach out to the community what are our needs what are we what are we focusing on so we're not just throwing stuff out there but actually really addressing the needs that were identified by the members of our community so in our plan there were basically five areas that we identified as as areas that we wanted to concentrate on so there were being a welcoming and representative Community uh having a representative curriculum working on our bias incident response and prevention professional development for our staff and greater communication with with the public and and the community members so I just want to list a few of the things we've done over the last couple years and kind of talk about where we're headed what we're doing now those those kinds of things as far as welcoming and representative community work um we're still working on on looking at the forms and handbooks and communication that we we send out and that you know when uh community members register their kids and make sure that it is um it is welcoming language make sure that it is uh everybody sees them themselves in those forms and and that's an ongoing process that we're working on we continue to work on staff representation so we We are continuing to partner with CJ Pride we're continuing to look to uh diversify our staff or make sure our hiring practices are welcoming and fair and supportive and and all of those those things when it comes to bias instant response and prevention I mean you just saw one today the HIV presentations part of it is required work obviously we have to present those things to you but also really looking at I mean M Del Fortuna did a nice job tonight of how are we moving forward each year let's compare let's look at the data let's let's use this as a introspective work not just as a checking off things for the state um we have been focusing in the elementary schools on character educ ation especially with our ruler program and empathy and understanding ones themselves and understanding On's emotions um no and we're moving that up to the high school programming obviously Middle School is doing ruler we're doing something with um an organization called challenge success with our high school kids so it's it's touching on a lot of that um working on that bias incident and prevention especially we continued to have um over the a year or two I think it was University uh Kane University Holocaust program a number of our faculty and I think even a couple par parents enrolled in those courses um which was great um a nice Community mix there and um we've done a lot of social studies Holocaust lessons and collaboration collaboration with the Jewish student union for professional development and support we continued working with uh Yus Johnson and and his associate Karen for a while but he actually has moved on he's now in doctoral school I think and um actually his shut down that that branch of his company and the work he's doing he's also uh a minister I believe so he he moved on to other things and we did as well um but uh we have done we have brought in guest speakers for the staff we are doing ongoing Dei training um one of the things I want to highlight hopefully by Friday it's going to be up and running we are setting up a room uh they came up with the name quiet quarters uh which is in the high school middle school building for staff so we've had requests for a room for folks for prayer or for meditation or for nursing mothers for a a lactation room um so we have we found a room that uh Mr canel and and Mr M and I searched for a nice comfortable room it's being painted today I believe we're going to be moving some comfortable Furniture in there hopefully that we can make it a real comfortable and nice quiet quarter is what it's being called so it's it's just part of the ongoing how are we supporting our staff how are we making this a welcoming Place how are we making this a a place that is um a good place to work right a good and comfortable place with communication one of the things we did do is set up a dni section of the website which was part of our goal and um the ongoing role for the deai steering committee so where where are we where are we going a lot of the work that we've done this year really focuses on our middle school and high school no place for hate committee so that is a student organization there's also staff and community members that are part of this and it's really addressing the need that we had an equity action plan for student group coordination what are we all doing together as a collective and also for staff training and also for Community coordination and Outreach so it's working out well so I want to talk about a few of those I think we're going to probably get Mr mlli in here in the next month or two to to give you a better update about what's going on um you can see on the wall behind me one of the things that we did is the the no place for hate pledge and signing so it was an activity schoolwide that um we had well you can see lots and lots of signatures of of our students jumping on and and saying yes this is no place for hate here this is what we believe this is what we're doing and that um activity was done the signing pledge was our the first of our three no place for hate activities um and it was done on Martin Luther King Jr's birthday or right around there um as part of a a talk and collaboration about um you know acceptance and and diversity and and all of those those kinds of things the second activity that is um has just happened I believe is the I wish activity so um it's regarding awareness and acceptance so it started at the high school it's part of the challenge success program but it's also um they did it in the middle school I think in their uh advisory period or maybe in one of the classes I'm not sure and and the just of it is you know what is it that you as a student wish your parents knew about you what is it that you wish your teachers knew about you what is it that you wish your peers knew about you right so looking at those things about acceptance and awareness of of the diversity that we have going on here we're starting to look look at that and starting to address you know some of those concerns and and and kind of help us make those connections with people but also have them thinking about the connections among them their themselves so it's nice the third no place for hate activity is um is undefined right now but we know kind of where it's going so on March 7th uh the New Jersey Division of civil rights um is going to come here and do a training with groups of no place for hate students and the social justice club and that the training is related to bystander upstander kind of training so what are you doing as a as a community member when you see something not not right happening in there um how do you how do you become a better upstander how do you become a better Ally how do you become a better better supporter of of of the that where we are and and and what's happening with that I'm hoping that um we might be moving this no place for hate initiative down to some of the elementary schools next year um it's been a nice it's been a nice thing that the they're doing good work with it and we're we're really proud of that so that's where I wanted to just update you where we are I I I know that you got some communication last week about a lot of the activities we've done over the last few years but uh wanted to wanted to let you know that's the end of my report all right thank you um I did I had a question with regards to that room that you were saying that was painted is it um a room that allows multiple people to be in there at one time or is it just like it's a lockoff like if you go yeah it's going to be you can sign out a time so you have private time in the room and it's for staff only obviously it's not for students but uh yeah so it's it there'll be I'm not sure how they're going to manage some sort of sign out sheet so that they can do that and um one of the main reasons that we're we have a a deadline of of coming up right now is that Ramadan is starting soon and we have staff members who who would like a quiet place right um and that's that's important of course I appreciate thanks M carelly I just want to thank you for all your efforts in this it's a wonderful thing given the climate in the world today I think it's more important than ever that we have this so thank you for putting this together for our students and staff all right the only thing I would add is I think we should you know probably you should bring this up more because I feel like that letter was so informative that was sent out and a lot of people aren't always aware so just a reminder of all the great work that's happening and all the the thoughtfulness that's being put into it it's it's kind of just good to have those reminders and point it out more yeah um I appreciate that comment it it's UNT that another incident is what prompted um like a just a kind of a mass telling and a collection of what it is that we're we're trying to instill in our students and our community um uh but I I appreciate the efforts of the district to keep this uh a district that is safe for all children um as much as we have the ability to control that thank you all right but yes I just want to say thank you also for your efforts I mean I think sometimes when you're working in a school and you just do all these things you forget everything that we're doing um and school should be a safe place for for all people and as a mother of children who are not white um I appreciate that that they they would know that this was was a safe place for them and any child who may you know be one of those other other groups where there's hate thrown at them it's important that we do our part it's important for us to stop and say wow we really there is a lot being done and I just want I appreciate itk you all right um on to new business the climate survey so I shared with the board um the the student questions for the for the proposed uh climate survey um just as a reminder to the board and the community we ran a survey I believe in October of 22 presented that data probably around this time last year maybe maybe maybe it got pushed back to April um in meeting with the culture and climate committee uh we'd like to run this similar survey in April uh this would go out to students in grades uh 3 through 12 all parents and all staff again this affiliated with Ruckers I shared with you um again the student questions that are broken down in grades three through five and then different questions for students in grades 6 through 12 in particular I shared with with the board certain questions I wanted to make sure that you were okay with those questions going out um the administrative team is the culture uh climate and culture committee team is but um uh just wanted to get your thoughts on that and on the survey itself as well are there any comments or questions with regards to the survey nope so we support the District's recommendation um and the administration's recommendation all right so we'll get you know we'll share more at the March cow and the April when's it April C is April 12th or so anyway might be April 8th actually so it might go out that day of April 8th April Cal so we'll share more information as we get closer we'll start working on our climate um our building level climate and culture teams and because we've already analyzed the data from the last time it will not take as long for us to dive into this data My Hope Is that in May um we can share uh the data from this uh um this survey and compare it to October of of 22 and see where we've improved where we haven't and things along those lines the next thing um is New Jersey teacher climate and culture Innovation Grant opportunity um this came across our desk in the middle of last week uh from the Department of educ ucation it was a broadcast um after reviewing it with Mr vanest he and his team wanted to uh move forward with it so I'm going to turn it over to to Mr vaness to talk a little bit about it yeah so thanks this did come across our desk recently and it's got a short turnaround time we have to apply by March 14th so we are we are on it um so just kind of tell you what this Grant's about it's called the teacher climate and culture Innovation notice of Grant opportunity it's due on March 14th um we are going to have um on next meeting the on next Monday um an agenda item for you to approve submission of it because it needs to happen soon so we're again we don't like it on cows to have resolutions but we're going to need this one next week um so what the grant is is it's designed to have us as a district create policies programs guidance and equivalencies ppge two reclaim teacher time reduce administ ative paperwork and other tasks they should be able to be shared and replicated in other districts so the idea is like take it and and make it portable to other districts um we need a plan to implement and measure the impact of these ppge um they're asking us to explore Innovation improving teacher climate culture Empower outstanding Educators those kinds of things so um we we have been as you know for the last year or so especially when we were talking about educator bandwidth last year thinking about how what are the ways to take things off of teachers plates right so uh we've been working on that so this is going to push us to to move a little farther and think more innovatively about about what we're doing so I met with a team of people on Friday um we talked about the kind of the needs that we see some concerns that that we're hearing from teachers and it really kind of um landed on three main topics that we're going to still continue to unpack so I'm not sharing those right now because I'm not really sure where they're going to where they're going to land but we're meeting again this week a couple times so we we'll have some some more concrete ideas then um one of the things that in our discussion on Friday is I think there's going to be considerable considerable overlap between this and some of the work that last time I mentioned we're going to be doing you know if you remember the supervisors were here Pro uh presenting about the district goals and all assessment has been one of our goals and and I kind of hinted heavily that we're going to be moving towards looking at systems of support for students how are the assessments showing us where do we need to Target supports how do we need to strengthen maybe our inrs process um child study team referral process basic skills all of those kinds of things so we're starting to kind of look at that and I think that there's some room for overlap with this grant of if we make those systems more streamlined and more uh easily accessible and and manageable by teachers that would be an Innovative way of reducing the the time load on them right if it's if I'm a teacher and I have to go gather all of this information by hand for a student referral versus if I have some more streamlined thing that is something that could be lessened is is is the direction that we're kind of thinking so either way we're going down that path of looking at inrs and all of those things this might be another lens of doing that and maybe some financial support for doing so so that that's kind of where where I'm looking right now um I'm meeting with um well I'm meeting with a lot of people this week so uh we should have um should have some some more ideas more concrete ideas certainly by the 14th when I submit the grant so it'll be me and my team uh we'll be we'll be getting on that I have a smaller grant writing team meeting this week to kind of narrow the focus articulate our purpose and proposed outcomes we have to plan out the roles for who's writing what in the grant um I'll have the board approval to submit the Grant on the 4th and we'll submit it by the 14th so um the other real time it's a very tight Grant in every respect because the money has to be spent between May 1st in December 31st of this year so it's it's a real short like get it done um we are eligible to apply for up to $200,000 for a district our size I don't imagine we're going to ask for that much because I don't know how I would spend that much honestly like grants are very specific about how you spend it so um and the other piece about it is if it we're trying to come up with Innovative practices that any District could do it can't be oh byy the really expensive thing or we don't want to lock ourselves into that because what do we do next year when we no longer have so so that's kind of the thinking we don't want to drive ourselves over any fiscal cliffs here um but that's where we are so I just want to let you know where we are with that we will be applying for this I'll be asking you for the uh you know approving the submission next week and uh we'll see what happens we attended the what was it on Tuesday the 20th Yeah Tuesday 20th they had a grant information webinar AR um at the doe ran and um there were a lot of districts uh in attendance so what was it $2 million total I think is the grant um and there's different tiers as as Greg had shared so um we'll see which one we we apply for um it's a competitive Grant but uh nothing ventured nothing gained right uh just as a reminder because I know Greg has said a couple times as have I on the next agenda there will be capital reserve resolutions to withdraw the monies for The Architects and for the projects and this resolution for the uh Grant we don't anticipate at this time any other resolutions that we're aware of um but uh those um those two would be on there or those two topics all right I have actually um an additional thing that I want to bring up for new business um part of my goal in um presidency was really just kind of finding a way to like team build and connect and like find ways for us to have you know either uh greater professional development and building um our team and getting a better understanding of um what it is that we do what things that we thought we knew that we don't know and what the vice versa like I I'm actually still learning a lot as I'm going um so I was in contact with Matt Lee who is our field rep um and um expressing like the the thoughts that I had about our board and um directions that we could go and he said it sounded um much more like we were trying to go towards a certified board process um which is like a two-year um process um that I think that we could greatly benefit from um it would entail like a series of um of of like professional development topics that were pertinent to our district and just really help us to build maybe help to enhance um communication between us and our community so that they have a better understanding of what we do as well as us um be just being more reaffirmed in what it is that we that we currently do um additionally I was thinking um that what we traditionally have as a board retreat I think we would actually benefit from a true Retreat like where we team build like you know it doesn't have to be a very long time but just something separate from like our district and board goals and things like that where we really just um come together and are um you know we'd obviously publicize the the date of the meeting but not necessarily the location it would um have to remain closed um but I think that that would be of great benefit U so I wanted to bring that to you first and see what you think about it and um any comments questions things that I can get back to you on yay nay oh yes I think it's a wonderful idea is fully support it thank you m Carell me too um when I go to the trainings for the state I always think that we're actually really great compared to a lot of the Nutty boards sorry to any nutty boards listening but um I think there's always room for improvement I think there's always room for growth and when I heard we were having a retreat I actually thought we were going like a cabin somewhere in the Poconos so when I heard it was here I was like oh yeah so if we're doing more team building I I think that that works into the retreat mentality and could be a great way to as a unit so supportive great all right all right that oh Oh I thought you said something sorry all right um at that point our next meeting date is March 4th I just oh yes um uh since um I don't know if this new business old business but it's about the budget and since it's going to be on the agenda um um requesting respectfully requesting that either all the cap Reserve projects be separated out so we can vote on them individually or as we did tonight since that was a true representation of how we plan on voting if you could just take the lights out of the general because I don't want to have to abstain on all the capital reserve products because projects because I'm abstaining on one because I do support all the rest of them okay so I'm they're listed individually I'm sorry they're listed individually oh awesome thank you all right um our next meeting is March 4th um and I need a motion to adjourn our meeting Miss carisella seconded by Mr Hayward I didn't see who was first all in favor I all obain