e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e [Music] thank you for being here for the Board of Education meeting the meeting will start shortly they're just going to be a little while longer and close session thank you so much for your patience for e e e e e e for e for ch we are we ready not ready I got I stole your Miss ke abs and then so is Mr s how that isny saw I thought I saw here are we ready we should save something okay good evening this is the matachin P of Education meeting for Tuesday July 16th 2024 would you all rise to the flag salute please thank you notice of meeting please I hereby make the statement to indicate compliance with the open public meetings act known as chapter 231 of the public laws of New Jersey 1975 which became effective Ive 90 days after enactment January 19th 1976 notice of this meeting was G given by providing the location time and date of this meeting and posting of the same on the front door of the Board of Education offices by delivering copies to their burough Hall and the maachan public library the home news and Tribune The criterian Sentinel The Star Ledger and by filing copy with the bur clerk as prescrib by this law thank you wel call please Mr bot here miss cook here Mr derfflinger here Mr glasberg here Dr Johnson Marcus here Miss Colleen Miss Colleen let me know she would not attend this evening okay Mr lton here Dr spner here and Mr sus uh Mr sus uh was here in our executive session but had to leave due to an emergency okay uh we do not have any Showcases of sucess this evening it is it is the summer um and meeting is now open to the public for any topic seeing none I'll close that that um section we have a presentation regarding um HIV and some other things yeah so we have a two-part report we have the HIV report for period two which is January 1 2024 till June 30 and then also the ssds that's the student safety data system report same period period 2 January 1 2024 through June 2024 June 30th so um with the student data safety system and we I give a much longer Report with slides um annually this is just that six-month update the student data data safety system um requires us to report instances by school and we had 22 instances uh across the district the bulk of those at Edgar this year um and the categories um uh spread out um 10 violence one vandalism seven other instances at Edgar and at the high school four other instances leading to removal and then the second part of the report is on Hib 24 hibs throughout the school year uh throughout the period two at Campbell 17 at Edgar five at the high school uh for a total of 24 and the other part of that report as I promised the board probably a decade ago now is the option G where um in our policy when even if all the facts were true it would not be HIV we right from the get-go we can Implement that and so we implemented that in this per period a total of um for period one we implemented that once and that was the prior period and the period two that we're just talking about January through June we implemented option G of the HIV policy six times at Edgar school again those are uh investigations that even if all the facts of the case were true it still wouldn't be HIV we investigate as code of conduct not as HIV so that's the required period uh update six-month update for Hib and ssds is there there's more on this agenda about safe return there is but I figured stop there with a question are there any questions from the board on those reports seeing none go right ahead the reason I stopped there Mr Lon is the update on the safe return plan which I'll do now that has a special open for public comment section okay uh right about that so let me go through so post on our website I Believe Miss alich it's posted excellent is the safe return Road forward plan uh it's dated June 26 2024 districts are still responsible every 6 months to update the covid plan essentially so it covers everything from vaccination to communication to masking the distancing the hygiene to meals to transportation to Shared equipment cleaning and disinfecting air flow parent screening symptomatic students exclusion contact tracing testing uh and accommodations for special needs students I just want to highlight a couple today uh certain I'll answer any questions that you have but uh number one vaccination it's highly recommended that staff and students remain up to date on REM recommended vaccinations including Boo boosters those are readily available um I know I've been reading my doctors said that kind of that August September October time is a really good time that when I go in for my appointment have my flu shot my co vaccination that's what I'll be doing I think that's what many doctors are recommending uh it looks like there's going to be an annual update to the co vaccination which will be targeted to the variants which are circulating now which sounds good to me so we encourage um our staff and students and Community to do that um I wanted to highlight the parents screaming part so that parents play a huge role and they should keep their children home for regular sick day absences when they're sick um provide details when reporting the absences to our nurses we're no longer requiring any kind of questionnaires but parents should communicate with the school nurse who are really experts if their child's experiencing any covid-19 uh symptoms also want to highlight the big change it's around exclusion so there's no longer a quarantine rule um so I was going to read section 33 exclusion from our plan students and staff with symptoms of a respiratory virus should stay home and away from others until that individual is fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medication and symptoms are improving which means the individuals no longer feeling ill they're able to participate comfortably in education and other activities as they did before they were ill and any remaining symptoms like cough or running nose are mild and infrequent this replaces the previous 5day quarantine rle um in our plan we list the symptoms and precautions that you take when you're returning to school uh that's on page three of the uh the New Jersey Department of Health document and if your symptoms not improving let the school nurse know and please stay home contact your doctor um and that's re uh one one other one testing we are still enrolled in the state test kit plan so that if there's anyone in the community that wants additional test kits we have them in our office um the nurses have them as well all you have to do is request those I would say do that before you go and buy a test in Walgreens or you know or or the food store we have tests because we're part of the program and of course we still encourage you use boy drugs or other locales for testing and vaccination needs I'll be happy if if there's anything in the plan that the board wanted me to talk about or answer questions about uh either I or Dr herach could certainly answer questions about that thank you Dro are there any questions or comments regarding the um safe return plan which of course is revolves around covid and and the board's responsibility regarding covid and student health no I mean I think a lot of people um feel that what Co what's co uh and it still is a is a health concerned that there are people still getting sick uh there are people getting very sick um and and uh we have responsibility to implement these plans and I I think uh Dr Pudo it's it's quite thorough uh presentation you made and I appreciate it so one other comment before we move on is that as uh superintendent we get frequent Communications from the county department of health and whether that's around bird flu or around you know mosquitoes carrying you know West Nile or whatever it is we get frequent Communications even product safety recalls so we just try to do our best to be a a good conduit we know that that we have uh access to families of 2300 students so we try to do that and especially trying to keep everyone safe and healthy appreciate it thank you um so would we need an open an okay I'd like to open the the meeting for comment specifically on the safe return plan uh is there any public comment seeing none we'll close that section Miss alich you'll make notes in the minutes that we had it there were no comments thank you um um president's report is next um I hesitate to to wait into anything political and I've been on the board a number of years I've been president uh now for two years this time and I was President four years earlier in my tenure on the board and I've tried to steer the board clear where I where I can of of politics because in the end we're a local school board we're nonpartisan we don't run as parties and our our really only responsibility is to the students and the parents and the staff in the magean school district and I am incredibly proud over my tenure um and I take no personal credit for this other then I I I I hope I've I've contributed to the fact that um I think the boards of Education over those years and I'm sure before that as well um have done their their best in some trying times in the past lots of Elections lots of presidential Cycles lots of Governor's races Senate races local races and we've I think done a very good job in making sure I hope we have that all the parents and children of matachin feel comfortable in our schools that um whatever their political affiliation that they're that they will be treated with the utmost respect and get the education that their children deserve and I I hope that everyone in theou and feels that way I do feel compelled um after the events of this past weekend where one of the main presidential candidates was was very close to being assassinated um to just Echo something that President Biden said which I thought shouldn't really have stood out but did stand out to me which is that regardless of politics um we're all neighbors and matachin is a small community and as we all know um just to delve into politics very briefly the registrations in town show that there are more registered Democrats in our town than Republicans by by a wide margin yet um um not too long ago there were republ Republican uh burrow Council people including one of our former board members who was a council council person for a while and if there's x amount of Democrats and there are less Republicans there are still thousands of Republicans in our town there are thousands of Democrats in the town and there are even more Independents in our town we on the on the board of education I'll speak for myself and I think I'm speaking for the board everybody can feel comfortable sending their children to the matachin schools everyone should feel comfortable expressing their political opinions um in our town in a lawful way and as President Biden said we are all neighbors we may be political some people may be political adversaries but nobody in this town is our enemy and I like I said I I've been president for six years I've never made anything like a a political comment and I hopefully this that's a political I hope that um we have 15,000 give or take residence in mouin and I can't think of any that I would consider my enemy nor would I ever consider any of them my enemy whether they agreed with my politics or not and I thought that that was quite quite important when President Biden said that the other night in the interview and I'm hoping you know this is a presidential year and there's going to be a lot of heated debate a lot of discussions about the right way to go forward in our country but that doesn't change the basic Humanity of all of our fellow well citizens around the country and the world but certainly here in matachin it does doesn't change the the the the genuine Humanity of everyone you come in contact with uh and I hope and I'm I'm very confident that the board and the school district from mouin will operate in that manner and will never operate in any other Manner and um uh thank you I'll get off my soap box now I just it was a very disturbing weekend uh I I think for for almost everybody it was a hope for everybody and uh I just felt I needed to to say something about how them touching School District in my mind uh deals with politics and and um and the right way to treat all of our neighbors with uh with respect and dignity and Humanity so thank you for indulging me um Dr Caputo superintendent report I do brief uh brief report tonight this will also be in the Wednesday email that I send out to all users and Miss Ali sends out to the families as well but as a reminder re-registration is underway the school district is conducting mandatory re-registration program for families of students who will be entering Fifth and entering 9th grade so any student coming to Edgar any student coming to the high school next year for their first you know their first time families are required to submit a verification of residency re-registration meetings will take approximately 5 minutes and will be held right here at the high school in the library remaining appointment dates are July 20th in the morning July 23rd in the afternoon evening July 24th afternoon evening and August 20th which is my 30th Anniversary uh from 4:30 to 8:30 appointments can be made by Genesis VI Genesis and teacher assignments and schedules for 2425 school year will not be released if those Rising Fifth and n9th grade students haven't been re-registered so pay attention to those opportunities please sign up they're very brief hopefully they're at various times so that it meets everyone's needs um both we have remaining appointments in July and August uh morning afternoon evening um and that's for Rising Fifth and Rising 9th graders thank you thank you um move to committee reports um Miss Cook policy uh policy has not met we meet again on August 20th okay thank you Mr derflinger curriculum thank you curriculum actually met tonight before the board meeting I'll get the minutes to you folks tomorrow uh we went over um a lot of curriculum guide rewriting going on so we went over um the extensive contents that are being um that are being updated right now plans to have uh a virtual Depot for all of these curriculum documents so that board members can have access um to look at all of the new curriculum guides and Dr Herzog will kind of articulate some of the look fors so that we can efficiently review um these pending documents we discussed uh summer assignments that are currently posted on the district website these are student assignments that are optional to complete for the start of the school year we discuss the uh advanced placement test scores from the district um we have some great um scores and feedback that we received it was a very good year for the district we also discussed the results of the NJ GPA which is another assessment required for high school graduation um though the scores for this past Year's njsla is are not yet available to the public the district does have them in their possession and the plan is to present those results to the board at the October 15th meeting we discuss the implementation of some new textbooks in um our social studies and World Language departments um we also discussed the lifelines proposals lifelines Trilogy is a program it's a suicide prevention program um that implementation has started we discussed some Grant updates as well as um a breakdown of the uh funds that we received from the state for our title one through title 4 activities and finally we discussed the special ed idea grant that was just released and some of the details there so a lot of discussion that's it thank you thank you Mr derflinger um Mr glasberg construction yes construction met last night um we discussed neighbor concerns around the M School area with construction um there was a previous flooding issue uh that seems to have been resolved or mostly resolved uh we discussed um uh Pest Control uh around the area and the district has changed an exterminator company in order to um hopefully make that situation better uh we discussed the lighting uh around Moss um and and the uh construction company did some work to minimize the impact of the lighting and we also discussed um you know some vibrations that were that caused some uh issues with uh with a nearby house and that's being discussed further uh we also talked about an easement the Department of Transportation is doing the bridge and sidewalk uh near mouin High School um perhaps possibly around a year from now um the railway easement does not impact uh the construction directly um the district will discuss the timing of that work and the financial terms of that and the finance committee discussed it as well and you'll probably hear more about it uh in that committee report at a later time we also have our construction manager looking into a schedule update to check on the progress of the schools to uh try to keep us on track if possible with all four schools we have two upcoming public meetings um that you are welcome to attend on August 12th we have a open public construction committee meeting that's at 700 p.m. in the mouen high school library we are doing that approximately every two months and that's uh to have a smaller group setting and a little bit more of an open free flowing format um to hear about progress updates and also for people to uh share their opinions or concerns uh in addition to that on August 17th Saturday August 17th we will be at the farmers market which is a place that I like to go anyway so I might as well have my Olive pocket and be there to talk about construction uh we'll have a table there and uh you are welcome to come up to us look at some new photos that we have of the progress just interact with the committee ask questions and uh kind of see where we're at so August 12th 700 p.m. in the matachin High School uh library and August 17th at the farmers market which starts at 9:00 a.m. and goes into the early afternoon thank you thank you Mr glassberg um Dr Johnson Marcus the human relations commission I have no report at this time okay thank you um Miss kilan is not here extracurricular met last night we did meet last night um I Mr bot and myself are the only two people on the committee are here I wasn't prepared to give a report on it um do you want me to I can certainly give report um sure if you if you wouldn't mind if you have if you have the minutes handy and and or at least the agenda let me see if I can quickly pull that up while you're doing that Mr sus is not here to give Finance either oh we I I skipped um Dr spner Equity why don't you go ahead and give Equity that first okay so yes Equity just met a a half hour ago an hour ago um we looked at a report from the Department of Education on artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning uh we look it from the lens of the equity committee um having um that lens while the we consider while teaching and learning is employing this new technology uh across the board and um wanting to be uh mindful of how we ensure that there are Equitable outcomes for all students in the implementation of AI the use of it whether it's in the classroom for teaching and learning or um you know across the board in the school districts and uh Dr Caputo and Dr Herzog gave us feedback on what's going on in the committee Community already in the district already in terms of crafting policy um that's aligned to uh policy standards for us to have a district AI implementation plan which is great to hear um the report that we looked at gave us some insights recommendations that I think would be useful and we talked about how you know using the equity lens is you know across the different sort of stakeholders that we have and the Committees that work together including the um curriculum committee and the racial Justice Equity committee as well so that um all stakeholders can have an input into uh maybe in um definitely in the PD the training that's provided to teachers and the time frame that they have for that the time slots for that to include some um awareness of equity and equitable come issues with the implementation of AI as well as the tools that's being vetted and used in teaching and learning to be uh aware of the guidelines uh the guide guard rails and things like that to vet those programs and a lot of um discussion great discussion with within those committees already happening but we wanted to do it from an equity lens today but that was it thank you thank you Dr spner um Dr did I do okay so we had five items item one last night was we reviewed the spring uh Sports participation numbers um we did and so we talked about sports that were growing sports that were declining in in participation we talked about in particular flag football um which had a low enough to play but in lower enrollment next year we hope to see a a bump next spring item two was around the pro the progress with the field and the track at the high school so the field is almost complete it looks great um I encourage everyone to get out there and take a look at it it looks fantastic great bul you know big uh blue M with a gray bulldog in the middle and Bulldogs Written In The End Zone looks great um like I said Field's almost complete um weather depending they're supposed to be done by Friday um the track is um being prepared now for the the rubber coating on the top with the lines uh so we're that'll be the next stage of that um so our our Sports have been doing summer training field hockey had camps in the front and back fields football's been doing summer training soccer has been training the band has been practicing so making use of the other spaces around the high school with the field and track being unavailable uh item three was around the lights so there's a good news and bad news the bad news is while the lights you'll see going up over the next couple of months they will not be energized because the power will come out of the new gymnasium so that's the bad news we won't have um the use of the new lights for um this fall but we will for next fall um however the good news is we'll do week of Lights again that will be the week of September 23rd culminating with the football game on Friday night uh September 27th item four was around the use of the um this the the snack stand and how the booster club manages that and item five was around the njsia scholar athlete um um ceremony put on by the state um we'll make sure we have uh as we have in past years have a um a representative at that next year um there was a little puddle uh by the home stretch of the track hilc con's aware of that they're the the company doing the track um and they'll make some adjustments prior to of of course putting the top coat on so that was our report thank you Dr Caputo that jves with my memory um thank you um we also had finance committee I know met um Dr sus um Dr I promoted him Mr sus is not here um does anybody have the the um finance committee report could you give it so it was a relatively short meeting we discussed the financial implications of the items that were on the construction agenda namely The Pest Management flooding issue and lighting issue surrounding more school and we discussed the potential easement um that is being requested by the New Jersey Department of Transportation that will discuss more once we have further conversations with the Department of Transportation okay thank you are there any comments or questions about the uh any of the committee reports thank you we'll move on um is there any old business from the board is there any new business from the board I just had one thing go ahead in front of all board members are the the last Edition the latest edition of the Bulldogs bark it's really exciting it's really a senior Laden um addition I hope board members enjoy it members of the public these are available at the high school I think we have some at central office thank you to Mr PRI for keeping the um the last version in paper I'm old fashion I I love paper version of the Bulldogs bark and um it's it's great just they fantastic group of seniors that we just had graduated and we wish them well as they head off to the military their jobs and soon enough they'll be going back to schools especially if they're in the South they'll be returning or heading off to school really shortly so thank you Dr Kudo um yeah I I always look for this uh the very last um um edition of the Bulldogs spk every year um it always highlights um some of our seniors and on the back is where there were the the students who were who were attending uh University College uh are going so it's always an interesting read so thank you um okay um I'd like to move the approval of the Board of Education meetings June 25th 2024 special business meeting 1 June 25th 2024 special business business meeting 2 and June 25th 2024 board meeting is there a second Dr Johnson Marcus are there any comments or Corrections on those minutes sing on Welco Please Mr bot yes Miss Cook I abstain thank you Mr derflinger yes Mr glasberg yes Dr Johnson Marcus yes Mr lton yes Dr spner yes motion carries thank you meeting is now open to the public for any topic seeing none uh we will move to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools oftentimes it may appear to members of our audience the Board of Education takes action with very little comment than in many cases a 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 is satisfied that the matter is ready to presented to the Board of Education it is then referred to the appropriate board committee the members of the board committee work with the administration superintendent to assure that the members fully understand the matter when the committee is satisfied with the matter it is presented to the board of education for discussion before any final action is taken only then is it placed on the agenda for Action at a public meeting I'd like to move the Personnel items A1 through 18 is there a second Mr glasberg are there any comments or questions on those items sign on M call please Mr bot yes Miss Cook yes Mr derflinger yes Mr glasberg yes Dr Johnson Marcus yes Mr lifton yes Dr spner yes motion carries thank you I'd like to move to finance Finance items B1 through six is there a second Mr derflinger are there any comments or questions on those items sing non walk call please Mr bot yes Miss Cook yes Mr derflinger yes Mr glasberg yes Dr Johnson Marcus yes Mr lton yes Dr spner yes motion carries thank you Miss Cook policy yes I'd like to move items C1 through C2 as listed on the agenda thank you is there a second Dr spner are there any comments or questions on those items sing n wel call please Mr bot yes Miss Cook yes Mr derflinger yes Mr glassberg yes Dr Johnson Marcus yes Mr lton yes Dr spner yes motion carries thank you um Mr deringer curriculum thank you I'd like to make a motion to move items D1 through n as list it on the agenda please thank you is there a second Miss Cook are there any comments or questions on those items seeing none wco Please Mr bot yes Miss Cook yes Mr derflinger yes Mr Glaser yes Dr Johnson Marcus yes Mr lifton yes Dr spner yes motion carries thank you the meeting is now open to the public for any item seeing none close that section move to announcements Mr bot sure uh we had some good updates uh the re-registration process I can attest is short and sweet so it it was amazing and accommodating uh we got updates on construction uh great to hear about uh uh sort of the fair as well uh the summer reading assignments uh excellent list for all grades so worth uh checking out summer assignments optional opin uh but just a wonderful list uh of work for students to bridge Summers uh I want to thank uh Mr lifton for his commentary on politics uh if there are loyalties uh the only thing I'll say is if you a fan of Philadelphia sports you deserve a larger microphone but otherwise I think I'm fully supportive of the message you delivered uh with respect to updates um I think you have the uh Campbell School let's we'll actually go so August 14th uh student Home Room teacher uh posting for Campbell so uh be on the lookout uh for Edgar still awaiting final details for August 21st based on re-registration uh for the student open house uh for mouin high school orientation grade n August 14th uh August 20th August 22nd and for transfer students uh it is August 26th that's all thank you Mr bot um okay at this point I'd like to make a motion to adjourn is there a second Mr uh derflinger all in favor thank you and good night night