all right thank you everyone and welcome to the Tuesday May 21st 2024 Board of Education meeting at this time I'll entertain a motion to reconvene an open session move second it's been properly mov in second any questions on a motion all those in favor stay I I this meeting is now open roll call please Mr Trent yes Mr Carlson here M Allen here miss F here miss Franco Herman pres Miss Harris missa jman here missa Mr President Mr Todd president thank you we have a thank you please rise for this L to the flag my pledge of Ali flag the United States of America to the stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all so I did not see our student rep so we're going to go right into our interview of our board candidates so as I said earlier uh thank you all for applying to fill the vacancy of the Montgomery School Board uh position um I applaud your courageousness as I said um you know sometimes be careful what you wish for so the way this will work um each of you will be allotted 3 minutes to present your case to the board and the public um followed by followed up by any questions that the board members may have um based on your presentation or other submitted materials um we do have one person that has a prior engagement so we will allow her to go first other than that we will go in alphabetical order so up first we have Miss Samir G right here it does work all right so my name is Samir gani I am a Mami resident and I think that the reason I appli to for this position is because I feel that it would be wonderful to be able to work together to be able to better our to better the for the students to do better for the students and to be able to find common ground that we can all work on I I'm a community leader I do a lot of work with the community so I do know a lot of things about about our community and how to bring our community together and and to work together to making monom a more unified place that's about all I have right now thank you board members any questions of Miss D I'm done all right thank you [Applause] up next M Aisha Ahmad hello okay good evening everyone hello my name is Aisha ammed thank you so much for considering my application for the open position on the board um as a parent with a son currently enrolled in the school district he's in third grade and a relatively new Resident to Montgomery about 2 and 1/2 years um I the reason that I applied for this position is because I have a passion for education and with the sun in the school I'm invested in the success of the schools um I have a variety of um professional experiences which I think would be um supportive in delivering for the board for the initiatives that the board has for this year um I've worked in the pharmaceutical industry um working in strategy operations and vendor oversight I've established governance and overseen Staffing Partners including discussions about Recruitment and Retention um which I know came up in the Strategic plan for the teachers for the school um I've worked in higher education and nonprofit roles where I support faculty and students at IB league universities supporting them in um what their future career paths might look like um I also actively volunteer my time guiding students through the application process for undergraduate and graduate programs um and have worked in math classrooms supporting students in high schools um as an undergraduate student so I I really have a passion for education and for helping students to achieve their goals um I've also worked in diversity and inclusion within a professional environment facilitating three Round Table sessions with the CEO of our pharmaceutical company focusing on the experiences of Asian employees um bringing that to what I like to do for our school district um I recognize that students face pressure to achieve and anxiety about what their future might look like and helping them to um deal with that mental health and that stress and to tell their story about what they want to do is something that I would like to focus on if I am given that opportunity given the short tenure of this role um additionally I believe in the importance of technology in classrooms given the importance of evolving education the availability of AI and other tools to enable Student Success um and last as a board member I would continue advocating for diversity equity and inclusion in our schools um I'm committed to our students and um hope to Foster an environment where all students can Thrive and to elevate the quality of Education in our school district thank you for your question uh thank you for your consideration you have any questions board members any questions board member you mentioned the short tenure of this role and your desire to uh focus on some of the anxiety and achievement um the short tenure of this role is is only a few months are you considering potentially putting in a petition for running in November I think that would depend on the experience that I had on the board and what I think that I can contribute very any other questions from board members thank you very much thank you [Music] [Applause] Mrs air kic good evening ladies and gentlemen can you hear me yes my name is aier kadic uh and in 1990 uh after our first son was born my husband and I located into Mon and since that time we've been Montgomery residents that's probably a long time and we've raised um five kids in this community with our youngest graduating from Montgomery High School in this upcoming June so that's our youngest um I started my career as a computer um and electrical engineer working at IBM in at foresto Village in Dayton back when they were there and then when my child my oldest son turned was turning three I decided to kind of do something a little bit off track and I helped open a private school in M's Junction we started an elementary school and we served students at the first year we um served students from prek to first grade we had 27 students and year by year we grew that school until what it is today which is um a school from prek to 12th grade serving 600 students with the waiting list um so those those my were my first 25 years in education um I taught for those 25 years I also was an administrator at all different levels within that school I was a teacher coach I was a department head and I was even a vice principal I transitioned out of that school and worked at another prek through2 private school for four years I worked as uh vice principal for the first year and then principal for the three years thereafter um I also some of the things that I got in my private uh private school career is I had the honor I I love kids so uh I had the honor of being able to teach every grade from kg through 12th grade so I had that opportunity I also working in um a private school setting I got to know the in and outs of all School everything uh from the janitor job to the principal job because when you work in private school you kind of have to know if you're running trying to run a private school you have to pretty much do everything and learn about everything um I also uh I transitioned just recently within the last couple of years into um independent educational Consulting um this gives me flexibility and also the opportunity to take care of my extended family which what happens is you have five children um and so that's what I'm doing um it also opened the opportunity for me to pursue my masters in educational leadership at Harvard University which is what I'm pursuing right now and I have completed one year and I'm I'm due to gradu 30 seconds left 30 seconds left going to try my best um I'm a person who's um through those years I have coached I have volunteered appeared uh in 2021 I would received the New Jersey state Governor's Jefferson award in education and um my what I'm studying right now kind of prompted me to to go forward I've been in the private sector in the private education sector and I'd like to do contribute also to Public Schools if I'm able to and that's why I chose to try to run for this position so I appreciate your time and I appreciate you listening to me and as teachers we can just go on and on and on so thank you for listening to me any questions from board members I had a question question sure so um you mentioned that you started a school and then you you grew that school from really nothing to a well functioning K to2 organization yes how did you do that how did you gain Trust of that Community the trust you know to bring their children under your care and you are so successful with funding with so many positions with Staffing I would like to understand like like how you were able to accomplish sure you said the key word which is trust um is it um it we showed them that we were doing the best that we could for their children um I was I I I literally I still keep contact with those students who are now married and have children um you know and so we showed them and we were succeeding I remember the first in the first year when we were actually opening I remember a person who's now my friend over 25 years and she said well what am I going to do when you close up like next year and I was like excuse me what do you mean close up next year um and we really um we were committed we were a group of committed people and this this private school was not a money school it was a hardw work school so it's kind of kind of the um the equipment of what you think of like a Catholic school or any other type of religious school so we were able to gain the trust of families because we actually had success um and one of the nice things is when we had our first graduation our first graduating class was only four students but we had like almost 300 people in the audience for those kids uh for those graduates because it was all the effort of the community trusting in us um and seeing success their students were doing well and they were nurtured and all the good things about character of education and all those types of things um worked so that's why we had the success that we had and continue to have that success right now thank you so much thank you I appreciate the question thank you any other questions I have question um when you look at our um current Community where do you think you would add the most value from our committee's perspective whether it's in policy or it's in human resources or it's in finance where do you feel you would want to contribute the most um I I anything with um diversity Equity inclusion I would love to be involved in that um policy is also good I'm working on my strategic planning skills and my uh budgeting skills are just finished a course in that and I got an A so I think we'll be good with that um really I know the inner I I I have felt I have lived the inner workings of schools for so long um like I live in breed schools and I I love them very much and I and I um I'm a strong advocate for students and I want um I my primary thing is for every student to get what he or she deserves in order to succeed um so I see myself um I'm I'm a curriculum person I do a lot of I I'm one of those people who has wears had to wear a lot of hats um and I've took I've taken leadership roles throughout my career um and I've had success with that and I just want I want to be able to contribute if I'm able to if the if the opportunity presents itself yeah one question it's more of a logistical question sure um you're in your second year of this program will you be having to travel to Cambridge for that it's a we are very fortunate that it's an online program so um very very forunate you are program in 2016 and was not so I was hope get some the same amazing yes absolutely that's what they promised us and that's what we've seen and that's what we've suffered through and it's been great any another question Bo members all right thank you so much for your time thank you Miss diet ginger M Sheridan hotong piaro I number five Miss sasia Leo ciani Mr J me hello my name is j Maur and uh I have been living here in montgomry for about 10 years now I have two kids uh who have been here in the M Township School District since uh their kindergarten they are now in 8th grade going into the high school uh this uh coming school year I have uh I've been working with JP Morgan for the past uh 3 and a half years now as uh a strategic uh uh leader for uh for the company's data management I lead with uh all these uh uh emerging Technologies and uh uh evaluating various uh St related activities within the company uh prior to that I've have been working with Johnson and Johnson and prior to that I have U have been an entrepreneur uh working on um on the software uh C uh I have done my bachelors and Masters in Business Administration I have recently completed uh master of Sciences in data analytics and uh I also hold some postgraduate diplomas in computers and uh applications uh for me uh I find this a opportunity very exciting to come here for the Board of Education in Montgomery School District I have been studying the progress and the contributions done by the board and it's uh it's great however when I compare it with the other school districts I feel that we have not progressed much although doing a great job here uh kudos to you all for all these years that uh we have worked on but when I compare it with the other school districts they seems to be going much faster improving their ranking and uh the performance of the students across the school districts and uh this is what is uh motivating me to join this uh board to see if I can lead some strategies study what is uh uh the issues underlying issues or gaps which we can improve upon so that the students can benefit and the community or the residents of this monom returnship can benefit thank you board members any questions a question so um with your experience um what do you think you can bring to the board to allow you with better assessment of where we are and what opportunities we have for improvement um how would you approach assessing progress and how would you uh assess what exactly needs to be done especially when this is a very short term so do my fellow um board member question would you consider gring later to extend the term and actually complete the vision so I have been getting a lot of uh strategic uh projects where the decisions are made based on the data and the data is a key where you collect the data you understand what exactly the data says compared to the uh similar data from the other places like other school districts and uh take actions on those uh data points now I have experienc leading all these type of cohorts uh working groups where we analyze collect the data analyze the data uh understand the use cases and come up with a short-term and long-term GLS so this is where I can contribute towards the school in improving these things yes I understand that this position is a very short-term period however uh the things or the analysis can be done in a very short period of time and the Strategic Vision it takes time it doesn't come in overnight it doesn't go in a month of FS it takes years for achieving those goals and this is where I can contribute in helping this school District on you have question from board members I want to have a Frank conversation with you being on the board of education has been an experience for myself I love the short-term strategy but this is a long-term strategy um I think that what you have to offer is is very valuable to the school district but question for you is would you consider running for a longer term not just completing this year sir absolutely my school my kids are in the high school now or they will be going to high school so I'll be here for at least 4 years before they move to a college so yes I'm here for a long time thank you so much thank you for the opportunity thank [Applause] you Mr Ganesh Nar I hope I did not right good evening my name is Ganesh Nagin first I want to thank you for this opportunity to be a part of this conversation um I think this is a very important conversation because um I think there are many challenges in the world today that have percolated down to our own communities right we are seeing uh a lot of political tension and political alignment uh which is dividing our communities number one number two we seeing a tremendous new technologies like uh generative AI right which is changing the way that you're going to be teaching our kids and the way our kids are learning right number three uh what we seeing is the modern uh Township itself and the demographics of Township have shifted and and the population that we trying to address uh is demanding more transparency he demanding more uh accountability right demanding more inclusion right and and a lot more communication in order to uh you know bring all the stakeholders together right in that context you know um when I see outside in I feel that our district has done a good job and you know I think we are doing uh the right things right but but I also feel that hey this is an opportunity for us to kind of go from good to Great given where we are today right and U have a vision to become one of the top 10 schools in ners right uh that's the that's the vision that I'm when I look at what we doing today as a board members right I know that you have short-term goals which is really about fixing the transportation facilities you know upgrading the infrastructure and new HS right getting new Personnel uh for mental health these are some got good short-term initiatives that you guys are driving uh with that I also would like to kind of have a longer term Vision like how can this board drive you know a lot more inclusion and diversity number one and number two how can we drive you know how can we have an environment for the kids right so that they are more holistic right we not only trying to make them College ready but uh can they be happy number one can we make them happier as a part of the ecosystem number one and number two how do we evolve them to be good humans right that's the vision that I have that's what I'm here and if I can contribute I'll be happy to contribute very passionate about education because of two reasons two of my kids here who are a part of the education system right that's really the leverage and that's the reason I'm here uh I bring about 20 years of uh diverse experience right uh in terms of selling techn technology uh so what I do is really bring collaboration between all the stakeholders and to solve complex business problems driven through technology right that's that's what I bring in terms of my 30 seconds yeah in terms of my volunteering experience I bring uh good amount of experience in the field of education and micro Finance both here in the US and in India for example last year uh I was the parent coach uh leading the LEGO League team which is a robotics competition for my kids where we won The Rising Star Award in New Jersey that's just one simple example uh in terms of my own education you know I have a master's in Business Administration a bachelor's in engineering what that means is hey I can look at I feel that I can look at problems both from an emotional and a logical perspective right okay thank you so I feel I can bring a fresh perspective I would be uh would be happy and would love to be on your team with given an opportunity thank you thank you board members any questions I'm going to go first this time Joanna don't try to steal my mic um you said you're uh passionate about good ecosystem for our kids in the school district what does that mean to you what do you how would you describe this ecosystem right um I think two things right uh I have my own examples which are anecdotal I did speak to about 10 different people before coming to this meeting as a part of this process just to get a sense right so uh when I talk about the ecosystem it's really about how do we engage the teachers the parents the school administ ation and the board right together right how do we really bring them because of changing uh uh you know uh because of changing demographics right I think the expectations vary uh there are a lot of cultural nuances that I think can be better addressed if we were to drive the policy that way I always look at this board as forward-looking right trying to not just on the one hand do the shortterm things you got to look at the budget right you got to get the right superintendent and make sure that the school is running as intended but on the other hand you know what is a broader Vision right where do we want to be in 3 years 5 years and that has to that cannot happen by chance you have to decide what the strategy is start implementing you know small steps right my expertise really is about bringing digital transformation and Technologies which go like 5e map and you say hey in order to do this year one month one week one I've got to do this right always drive towards your end goal towards a vision and that's what I mean by the ecosystem how do you bring the community together into this Con right a good example anecdotal example right we've got I would have expected more people here for something so important right so how do we enable that right it's not like people don't want to come I think it's really about empowering them uh maybe they come once they see hey I don't find this valuable I'm not able to really influence this right people are going to quickly give up how can we change that right can we uh I think you guys are doing a fabulous job given where you are right so my goal really is to see how can we do these incremental improvements right so I'm not here to criticize I don't believe in that right I don't see any value doing that my goal really is to say hey can do we have a longer Vision if so is it communicated back to all of the stakeholders here right and how can they contribute more actively and in a useful manner right so that we all move the mission forward thank you a much Shor question okay so you you mention that you you have a vision or you want to build a vision that's more longterm we just completed a three session uh strategic planning program and I'm just wondering if you got a chance to come to any of those sessions and give your input yes uh I did register for this I was there for one of the sessions out of three that you had uh did give some inputs and I have a small group of friends we kind of debate this a lot and we kind of cover each other and say hey here are five things I want to talk about because we are not going to be available sometimes because of our work commitments but when I see this is an opportunity hey here is an opportunity for me to be committed a lot more and bring the ecosystem right of people of my own Community right uh I live in this four-year-old Community called Country Club Estates so big new ecosystem of people who are uh you know willing to engage willing to be a part of this conversation and and I feel that I can be that representative who can Fen those people as just an example of you know uh how this conversation can move forward thank you MH any other questions for board members thank you thank you thank you so much I appreciate [Applause] it m Bita Nan my name is good good evening respected members of the board Educators and fellow community members my name is Vanita nun I a proud resident of skilman New Jersey today I stand before you as a candidate for mtom Township Board of Education when my son first started his grade school elementary school in East Brunswick School District I was my initial encounter with educational system in United States was that was the first time as an immigrant I was very unfamiliar with the intricacies of the system the teachers programs the activities by the time my daughter began her schooling I was not only well acquainted with the teachers but also had become an active member of PTA and went on to take the responsibility of PTA Treasurer in my role with the PTA I organized fundraisers volunteered in classroom and sports events and introduced new initiatives like theater week and International Day in schools this involvement was pivotal it was how I gained interest understanding of school finances and teamwork with the administration and staff further more working as substitute teacher in all grade levels offered me an invaluable insights into classroom dynamics and challenges teachers face my commit my commitment led to further into heart of our educational framework when I joined Board of Education as a senior bookkeeper of student services department over the past 17 years my role has expanded my perspective beyond my own children to the broader educational needs of our district my in-depth knowledge of Department budget and difficulties of growing cost of independent service providers has made me a great negotiator resulting in huge cost savings for the district my involvement in education has been parallel by my commitment to our community as a leader of IND Indian Cultural Society I have organized events that celebrated our cultural heritage while fostering an inclusive community Spirit similarly in montgomry my initiatives were designed to unite a diverse group of community members through many fun events these experiences highlight my commitment to the values of diversity inclusiveness and educational Excellence that Define our district given the opportunity I would like to work with the members of the board of board and superintendent of this well-known and prestigious School School District with new ideas with all result in great source of Revenue to the district and lessen the burden on taxpayers programs which will benefit the community and the school district like Early Learning Academy with preschool setting renting our facilities to ticketed events in the community are few ideas I hope to bring forward for your consideration in conclusion my experience uh across educational financial and Community roles have equipped me with unique blend of insights and skills to bring about meaningful changes I dedicated to ensuring that every student and staff in our district feels valued and receiv the best possible opportunities thank you so much members any questions you have a question um you mentioned that you you currently work in in the role of a bookkeeper at another school district and you have seen being implemented and maybe you inspired some um you know different sources of revenue that you can bring to the district that would fund our programs but at the same time um lessen Reliance on the tax levies uh can you maybe tell us more about those initiatives or like how easy they were and how time consuming they were to Implement to make them successful it is a very successful um initiative at East branic School District and it has provided employment opportunities part-time full-time and administration um administrative employment opportunities and um it's it gets school so we have preschool settings after school before school and the entire day school you can it's an allart or part-time um you know preschool settings where parents drop off their kids just like any daycare but here there are trained teachers who are teaching your kids and that has become very very well known and they have uh extended that program for adult education and then extended their program for not only classrooms and then Sports they have uh indoor guitar they have indoor soccer um all the team sports and things like that and art enrichment too so that program has become very very successful for in East brunzel so I feel like it is something Montgomery can really benefit with so being in that school district I have these many of the ideas and information how we can Implement in this district and reduce the burden on taxpayers I have to say I have to applaud you guys you have done a wonderful job in balancing your budget when so many neighboring school districts have are struggling they're firing people um the teachers and I have to say that you you guys have done a wonderful job and I would love to be part of this winning team and be a part of the community as well and bring my experience here thank you yes we you are going through quite a a lot these friends with and my heart goes out to the teachers there for sure um same question as I asked before and then Joanna picked up on would there be uh a chance of you having an interest in running for the open position in November to continue the work if if selected absolutely my kids are all grown up and gone out of the house I have time I have interest I have passion time is important yeah so my three PS are proactive passion and productivity that's what I look for for anything to en Athletics academics and arts in this school district and I just want to add patience because if you are on the board you know what that means abolutely thank you you any other questions board members thank you very much again thank you for this thank [Music] you this is Aman harving can you hear me good evening board members I'm Amad bin uh I have been a resident of uh B me for uh two years now and um and and of this I've been um what a member of of this community of the school for 2 years it's an awesome community and ever since we moved here I felt like we belonged here we should have moved here much earlier um and as for my uh something about my education I'm an electronics and telecommunication engineer with an MBA from repors in marketing and finance and also an advanced degree in data analytics from seden Hall University uh from an experience perspective I have 20 years of Industry experience and uh out of which the last 16 years is with Verizon where uh currently I am an associate director in um Finance so um and I manage a multi-million dollar budget with a lot of it involving procurement uh purchasing contract negotiations so all that is part of my daily job um so I'm going to go to my notes um so I I would also like to mention about you know uh my work ethics and how I am as a human uh I have always gravitated towards you know leadership roles I mentioned that on my resume as well right from my school days to college and also at my work I have always taken up roles that are that involve more than day to-day and that's why you know right now what matters to me most is the school district and I thought it's the right time in my life this opport opportunity came in at the right time and I was already thinking about it and because there's so many things that interest me here in the school and so many things that I think I could make a positive impact uh one of them would be you know my desire to make the school um you know a a place where students feel already is absolutely Montgomery is way better than a lot of other schools we have been to but still I feel there's still sometimes you know um bullying and you know on a daily basis and there there's more work that could be done and you know and I'm sure as board members you are all working on it but I I thought if I could be part of that where we could make this whole place a very safe place and 30 seconds left nurturing place so that when kids you know they grow up they come out as a strong um emotionally stable people and that's what you know will make them uh contribute to the Next Generation and you know as a whole will'll be better for society and what better place that to start at a school I've always been part of volunteer events but this would be the best place to be thank you for your time any questions from board members thank you so much thank [Applause] you Mr Amit [Music] good evening board members and uh Community the students parents and community of mon so my name is Amara I've been 8 years asent of B now and I'm two kids uh one just graduated from high school last year my daughter is still in high school and I enjoyed being part of this community my kids have done wonderbly well in this community and at this went uh uh you know I've been a Management Consultant uh for 20 plus years and then after that I moved into my own business and now at the moment I just want to give back to the community and I'm trying to see where I can uh contribute um in my management consulting experience I was I've got in many VAR Industries at uh different levels uh specifically you know uh creating the long-term goals and then coming up with a Milestones based uh strategy to get to those long goals and uh my focus has been on the process Improvement uh uh along with efficiencies of the using the efficiencies of the technology and integrating that to the processes so that what I have done before in the Consulting experience now being a business owner I do all the different roles including Finance uh hiring firing uh policies you name it and I'm in it and uh at the mov I'm thinking to come back and give some contribution to the worldy and that is why here any questions from board members thank you so much thank you M ephra Rashid good evening everyone uh my name is e Rashid um I'm going to start off with uh basically my education because uh I've been living in mongi for the past 3 years and um um I started working as an educator when I came uh back to the United States in November of 2020 um I've been substituting over here in the Mont School District from February of 2024 uh recently I started a position at Goodwill's Helms Academy as an adult education um coordinator it's basically an ESL program uh I'm coordinating for them and uh as far as my qualifications go I have completed a bachelor's degree in public administration uh completed my entire education in Pakistan um came here back in November 2020 started off like the remote school teacher then I was doing an ESL course for as an adult educator uh with the uspl then um I started substituting here and then it's like uh the Goodwill position that it just started yesterday today was my second day and then I came home just dropped off everything and uh headed to this meeting um for me uh being on on the board of education it just means to bring more value um to the school district see uh where the school district is lacking and um to plan for uh overcoming those problems um so for me first step of uh solving a problem is to identify what it is and then and uh looking for viable solutions for that problem some solutions they're uh they take very less time to come up some solutions they're going to take a lot of time to come up um if I'm selected to do this position I am obviously going to try and run for it in November as well but other than that um I would like to say that this school district uh is a very good school district I've um learned about uh while I was substituting I've mostly been an elementary teacher but uh it tells me a lot about uh how the schools you know if you start good you are always going to end good so this is one thing that uh I like about this school district and I would just like to uh bring that uh one thing more forward is that um I would like to increase diversity and inclusion in this school district because 30 seconds because I feel that it's um there is a lot of diversity and inclusion but but there's still space for girls everywhere any questions from board members are you uh you're no longer substituting yeah I know thank you so much Dr Noah s hopefully I got that right good evening uh my name is Noah safe uh thank you for the opportunity to be considered for this position on the board um I'm a proud Montgomery resident and it would be a real honor and a privilege to be able to represent the Montgomery Community uh in this role first and foremost I am a proud father of three young daughters uh they be students in the Montgomery Township School District for another 15 years so I have a deep and vested interest in the success of our school system uh really that's the reason why I'm applying for this board uh I have a long history of community service When I Was An undergraduate at Princeton uh I built homes for the unhoused when I was in medical school I served as an administrator at several Outreach clinics throughout the city of Chicago and now as a physician I continue to provide free treatment to um uninsured patients I feel like now I want to direct this Spirit of community service to the local school system um you know in my line of work you go to school for a very long time and in that long journey I attended several different academic institutions and I happened to hold leadership positions at each of those institutions that allowed me to directly interact with administrators um at the school and so um I noticed firsthand the unique way that uh each of these schools did things their different administrative strategies and I really got to see what worked and what didn't work so well uh with regards to governance with regards to philosophy and I think that experience would really be valuable um as far as instructing me as a member of the school board uh professionally uh as a physician I think that there are many characteristics that would be useful in helping to guide our school district um as a physician and a surgeon really the nature of my job is to identify problems and then to devise and Implement Solutions uh my work is defined by my ability to listen thoughtfully to be open-minded and to communicate effectively uh I'm accustomed to interacting with people who come from a wide uh variety of backgrounds and who hold a lot of different opinions and overall I consider myself a pretty balanced and measured person which I think would be um a good demeanor to be on the school board lastly I certainly have plenty of leadership experience uh I serve on multiple professional boards um I'm the head of multiple professional work groups so I have lot of experience collaborating with other professionals team building on large projects spearheading initiatives um certainly listening to feedback and making difficult decisions overall 30 seconds my goal for serving on the board is pretty simple I want to foster a school system that serves its entire Community um with all of its diverse viewpoints and I'd like to assist the school system in constantly becoming a better version of itself so um I'm very interested in filling this current vacancy uh I think I'm well qual qualified to do so I thank you again for your consideration and I'm happy to answer any questions board members any questions I have a question so um you mentioned that you you held multiple leadership positions at different institutions organizations so being on the board means that you really govern as opposed to get involved in daily operations but we do have committees right and each purposes and different aspects of uh the School District Operations so with your experience and with your perspective what do you think the skill set would fit the best um to which committee yeah and I I think that uh what is nice about having served in these various positions throughout my background in previous positions is um the ability to really adapt and to learn you know I'm I'm not going to stand up here and say how to do your job you guys are the best people to know how to do your job but I think what uh what is really a critical skill is the ability to enter a situation that maybe you don't have a lot of experience with right in that moment to listen to learn and then to just apply the critical thinking skills to be able to say here's a perspective here's what I think would be useful so um I don't necessarily think that my previous experience would be limited or tailored to any particular committee but just the overall um experience of having done it I think could be tailored to any of those I Maria do you want to ask your question sure are interest in running after yeah yeah I feel like um you know it is a short-term position it would be an honored to do just that short term but um like I said I'm I'm in this for the Long Haul I have three young kids that I want to see have a great school experience so absolutely so having three young kids in the school what would be one thing you would want to achieve throughout your term to colle it success um I want them to be excited about academics that's really what it comes down to um you know I grew up in a family where academics was absolutely the most important value that we grew up with um it was very important it was it was highly celebrated um I enjoyed going to school I had a good time going to school um I went to school for a really really long time um and so I would love it for them to have that same excitement about education and uh you know there's a lot of nuts and bolts there's there's a lot of the School drama right you can't avoid all of that but I think top level I just want them to have a good experience in the montgom school district thank you thank you so [Applause] [Music] much M jri Shri good evening ladies gentlemen the committee and all my fellow uh members my name is Jan I'm a resident in mongi it's been six years I can't believe it um when I was looking for a house when we were moving from Connecticut we were looking uh in Bridgewater and the first thing our realtor said is you really we have three children young children as well and the first thing she said is you're looking you should be looking in Montgomery and we have never heard about this town before and I was like okay let's go to Montgomery the best decision we have ever made truly my son who was not speaking uh we moved here when he was just six the care the special needs he got um truly showed that we we are in the right place to bring up our children so that brings me to why I'm here today to be part of the committee means we I'm an advocate or we are an advocate for the children we speak for them we're the voice for the children I'm an educator I've been an educator for over 20 years I a little less known fact about me is I actually uh I'm a preschool teacher but mostly everybody knows me as a dance choreographer um I run Dancing Studio of Montgomery which I I began here in 2018 and today I'm uh teaching to almost 100 students enrolled all from Montgomery from prek up to 12th grade so I am with the children every day talking to them firsthand I work with sensation the Montgomery High School team I also work with uh the international I'm here International night Strawberry Festival every event that happens in Montgomery I am pretty much here and I listen to my students and I come with that knowledge that what is happening with them so one of the few things I just I don't I don't have I don't have too much time but few cute uh key things that I have over the course of the years being with the children is they all have so much stress so one of the things I was thinking about I'm a raiki master and a Healer is implementing mindfulness into in a very strategic way 5 minutes every day just before there you know they all set down little bit of calming down breathing in I do see um children are very hyper uh the focus again we're going to blame tablets we're going to blame technology but at the end of the day the children need something to just 30 need something to just hone in um I also truly believe in technology and the future is AI and I know you all are thinking chck GPT no there is a new one that's come out from Khan Academy Khan Mingo so again just bringing this conversation starting this conversation about how can we bring technology how can we bring mindfulness holistic approach we all are worried about the future of our children we together can truly take Montgomery to the next level it's already amazing we can go thank you thank you I'm open to any questions memb any question same question as far as uh beyond the tenure ofos which you consider running in November for absolutely I will be here for as long as I can be many many years I do have young ones so I will be in the in the system for a very long time so I'm more than happy to be part of the the team thank you oh thank you so much have a good evening Dr team W good evening everybody thank you so much for the opportunity at the time uh in my 3 minutes uh I would like to first introduce who am I and second I would like to talk about what areas I would like to see strengthen with the school district and third I want to talk about what specific skills that I can bring to the board so who am I I'm t uh I received my uh bachelor in English education and then I also received my master of arts from uh uh on focus on educational policy and administration from the University of Minnesota in t cities I received my PhD from measurement statistics and research design from the University of Washington in Seattle uh currently I worked as a data person data scientist at rockus institutional research and before I joined rockus I finished my tenure at educational testing Service as a research scientist so that's I me uh I'm of course resident at the Montgomery uh my husband and I we moved into the school 5 years ago and now we have two beautiful daughters and one of them at a PRK so that's uh who I am and second I want to talk about what areas i' would like to strengthen within the school district uh I did a little bit of work called a checking School District mission statement vision statement and the school goals uh for the four school goals so what I really would like to strengthen would be strengthening the academic learning through the multi-tier system of sports this really align well with the district Mission and focusing on mtss really directly support the go one of increasing students success across all classroom settings by implementing mtss also the district can provide personalized support to student at various levels of need this ensures every student reive the necessary resources and intervention to survive academically so no we're not just talking about students who struggling but also we're focusing on mainstreams and we also focus on the uh Provide support to the talent persons so we can make sure the whole boat blow up so this approach really aligns with the mission of empowering every student to succeed in a diverse Dynamic and Global Society by providing quality education experiences so third I would like to talk about what I can bring to the board I 30 seconds left good I'll bring diverse skills up to the board particularly my background in measurement statistics and research design which support datadriven decision making here at rockus my role as a data scientist involving collaborating with various departments schools to develop statistic models and analyzing data for decision making enrollment and academic program I also have extensive experiencing leaving Cog and noncog activities thank you okay that's it thank you question I have a question so currently our district is already implementing um Universal Design theer name Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning so how is that approach how is that model different from the model that you are suggesting oh that's not different but I would say is like MTS is a very complex system a very complex model so this can support um at individual level as a group and also focus on small groups and also individual group as as mentioned so it's not like they're mutually exclusive of each other but this also can increase the teacher Effectiveness as well so when we talk we all know like school have a certain budget and how we allocate that uh resource and budget into the key area that's the really is like what I can bring to the board is because you know my background my training my current working experience my past working experience all can help us make more strategic planning about how we can allocate this resource thank you same question yes would you consider uh running past uh this term yes that's a really great question and my husband and I actually would talk about this offline at home too we not just I am have a PhD in an education area my husband he's also a faculty at rockus majoring School psych so we talk this on off for work off work all the time we're joking like if I'm not selected you better go for the next and breathing we really want to do something good for the community no matter who's being selected we're really happy to see so many candidates respond to our call that's I really happy to see and I just try doing my best too thank yeah I was just going to say that selected or not right your your background and your capabilities are very helpful to school district so we hope to see you at some of the board meetings in the future with some suggest questions and and guidelines as you're seeing things that we could continue improving in this school thank you thank you thank you so [Applause] much Miss Katherine warland greetings board members and fellow members of our community my name is Katherine warland and I've been grateful to live in Montgomery Township the past 13 years I'm honored to stand before you as a candidate to fill the vacancy on the board of education I'm a proud advocate for education and for our schools and I am deeply committed to fostering continued successes within our school district education has been a lifelong passion for me I graduated F Beta Kappa from Columbia University and studied abroad at University College London those diverse and enriching experiences helped create a foundation rooted in academic excellence and dedication to lifelong learning my experience as a professional academic tutor instills in me not only a profound appreciation for students as individuals but also a recognition of the importance that all students have access to learning opportunities tailored to fit their personal needs my involvement in crafting curriculum for a gamut of Learners and learning styles was aimed at providing those opportunities for talented students to be challenged and for struggling students to be supported so both can achieve beyond what they thought possible I'm deeply involved in this community because I believe in it I previously ran the parent Association at a local private school I've been a class parent multiple times and I'm currently the treasurer for our elementary school's parent teacher Association I am intimately familiar with the Relentless time and energy commitments required to deliver a great experience for kids interfacing with parents in the broader community coordinating Logistics to manage organizations and quantifying details of financial stewardship and fundraising both my children are enrolled here in our school district for the next decade one in fourth grade and one in kindergarten so I have a long-term interest in how our schools provide an enriching educational framework that meets our students social emotional and academic needs in fact it was my conviction in the transformative power of public education in this District that influenced my deliberate decision to move my son from private schooling to Village Elementary School so I know that Montgomery is a special district that's what makes this board important it is tasked with simultaneously enabling the highest possible academic achievement supporting a wide variety of student needs and navigating an environment full of strongly held perspectives that's why I'm seeking this position on the board of education I'm driven first by a steadfast commitment to prioritizing Student Success for each student I'm driven by a desire to see our schools continue to operate with in integrity and openness and I driven to build an atmosphere that is safe and inclusive for our kids while encouraging them to grow and develop I look forward to the opportunity to help achieve those shared goals through open dialogue with our parents and community and through action and responsibility that is the Mandate of this board thank you for considering my candidacy I hope to continue to serve our school Community as a member of the board questions board members I'm assum longterm interest say that yes yes last Monday in July for the petition right thank you so much thank [Applause] you Dr Divia serin good evening folks um thank you uh esteem board members for this opportunity and thank you for the kind listening here from the audience and residents of mavi um my name is diaa serim seren as in trying to live up to my name seren um I little bit about myself I am a full-time internist and uh specialist uh practicing in the field in science of medicine um I have 22 years of uh being a passionate and committed professional uh in providing empathetic and uh sympathetic care uh to patients in the Greater Philadelphia area uh this experience has taught me to hold my skills not only as a team player uh but also in providing um uh passionate care uh building young Physicians for tomorrow mentoring our young Medical students residents and uh the physician Leaders of Tomorrow uh as part of my uh work and role as a physician um I'm also involved in multiple Community Health Awareness fairs events and truly working at the grassroot levels uh to Enlighten people on both emotional mental and physical health in my greater role in life I'm also a mother of two daughters who have um a flown through the Montgomery Township School District uh one is now pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and the other one is soon ready to Branch out in the world of medicine um I think as a parent I have heavily relied on this community on three different levels at a personal level and this is a deeply personal level uh a sudden loss of a spouse and raising two children under the age of 10 I truly realize what the phrase uh you know takes a village to raise a child that came home to me I relied heavily on teachers excellent supportive staff after school activities summer camps high school teen drivers and nannies to raise my two girls and this is my time to give back this comes this motivation to serve on this boat position really comes from a very personal face in my heart I've lived here 18 years and I hope to live another 18 years in Montgomery I've seen mtgy grow from a very small buic community to a very thriving bus laning you have 30 seconds multi ethnic uh Community we seeing multiple residential and Commercial inroads happening every day and I think as my role if I were to be off of this board position I would like to work with the esteemed board members in terms of solving issues like the financial stresses with as new families move in new children move in you know it will certainly create a stress on both our physical needs our uh our teacher resources thank you all right thank you any questions from board members thank you so much thank you thank you so at this time I just want to thank say thank you to all the applicants um one of the words that board member Rea jikin uh alluded to was patience so so now is the time for you all to be patient um as you can see we have a group of students over here so we're going to let them present um as there's some testing going on so we want to get them home and rested and well fed so they can test well tomorrow after they do their presentation there will be a um a time for public comment and those public comments will only be on the applicants there will be another public comment for for the regular Sho but the public comments portion right after the students present will be public comments on the applicants only superintendent rep okay good evening everyone first I want to recognize the Memorial Day holiday and to all of those who sacrificed their lives for our country in addition I would like to recognize and thank their families for the loss they suffered on behalf of the United States it is an honor to introduce Mr light I want to just talk about him for a second he has lefted stable mark on the MHS robotics team since joining the team in 20 2006 his legacy includes sustained Excellence with accomplishments such as the 2007 Woody flowers award seven first robotics Chairman's awards for excellence and the 2024 Donald Bowers inspiration award but more important than these Awards and accolades is the impact that he has had on thousands of students who found a home within team 1403 robotics family here at MHS I am proud to introduce team 1403 to you all tonight as they demonstrate for the robotics team welcome do you need to move than you they train for that they know that step forward step back we we watched previous years we good hello and thank you for having us here today as we share our robotics teams Journey throughout this very exciting season we will be going through our setbacks achievements and experiences that has had allowed us to have one of the greatest successful in to be our team over the past year or so has worked tirelessly and has gone above and beyond to create a robust and efficient robot that is able to not only perform at our Mid-Atlantic level but also at a World's level at Houston CH Texas in 2004 team 1403 was founded by 35 students in the garage with just a hope of being able to compete in their local robotics competition SE on our 20th year anniversary we are not just celebrating two decades of building robots but hundreds of students who have came together to make this program possible I would like to introduce to you today our Rising seniors shria OES VJ AR and [Applause] Saki hello my name is suaki and I'm a member of the Outreach sub team this year team 1403 had the honor of competing in the half horham district event where we placed fourth overall and also placed third in the final elimination rounds as Alliance captains in addition to our um accomplishments on the field we were also honored to have been awarded the gracious professionalism award commemorating our efforts in supporting teams throughout the competition always being ready to supply extra robot Parts what needed thanks to members such as VJ the um the leader of the mechanical sub team and um itos the leader of the programming sub team we were able to address issues in our code and our Rob robots swerve module as they arose allowing us to continue competing in the competition furthermore our driver and team captain sigh was able to effectively manuver our robot allowing us to allowing us to win many match mates despite the setbacks that we faced throughout the competition our team was able to persevere through our first competition not only this we were able to Garner experiences and lessons that we used throughout the season and applied throughout the season hello my name is Tria each year team for3 has the opportunity to host a district event this year we rank seventh out of 36 teams and we're an alliance Captain although during eliminations we lost our first match we decided to change our strategy to have our robot focus on scoring while other two Alliance Partners help feed our robot this change in strategy allowed us to travel with a lower back andent uh the finance team for3 Theos l two event the second year we also use our event as an opportunity to spread step we invited speakers from wom dfield have even invited asembly with jist our our head adviser Mr L and our Mentor Mr worthy were both recognized for separate awards for the commitment of first additionally ois and I were honored within with the first students list nomination which recognizes two individual students who have who their teams and spread the mission of first to their communities while also gaining personal and Technical expertise and accomplishments hello my name is AR because of her strong performance at both the half horam and Montgomery District events team 143 Advanced to the first Mid-Atlantic District championship at Lehi University though the competition was intense we finished in third place in the elimination matches as the captain of our lines members from all of our robot Side sub teams work together to implement solutions for issues and also Ure quality control up until last second shabon one of our electrical co- captains and Yousef one of our pring members were asked to complete the system Tex prior to every match ensuring that any potential issues were preemptively result we were also presented withing first Excellence engineering award this award recognizes our team's detailed engineering design process our unique design functionality and our targeted subsystem implementation to Optimal gameplay both the award and our robot performance allowed us to achieve the Rankin to qualify for the first world championship hello my name is VJ as AR mentioned we qualified to compete at the world stage uh for the third consecutive year the First World Championships in Houston Texas 600 teams from around the world were split into eight divisions we repl the over the days previs and even last we ended 16th the highest season ended there all the best team the took the opportunity offer how they love their team robotic is a process not only for each robot within each season but for the whole team across SE there are various hardships and experiences ra able to learn and better ourselves for the future Hey I'm ois um year round our team engages in Outreach initiatives to um impact the community and spread the message of first and stem in hopes of inspiring and educating the future Generations as Sha said we invited Assembly women drist to our event and various Women Within the fields of stem to share their experiences in our women stem panels one of our biggest initiatives comes from our work at the Upper Middle School's First El League teams bean and R are some are among some of our most dedicated mentors constantly inspiring and guiding students through their season additionally ums we've hosted multiple cup classes where team members have given presentations about skills needed for high school such as organization and communication and in an effort to connect with our community Through stem uh for the high schools annual Trunk or Treat event we repurposed an old robot uh with Halloween themed theatrics to Mesmerize the younger generations and Intrigue them to ask questions about both our program and our robot on team 1403 we're more than just robots we want to impact the community and ensure a brighter future for stem overall in my past four years on the team the memories I made are truly Irreplaceable from being a Freshman to now team captain I've had the opportunity to connect with so many people my teammates my mentors and other people in the first robotics Community as well as see the impact that this program can have on students just like me I know going forward our team will be in great hands and I can't wait to see what they accomplish this team has given me instrumental skills that I'll be able to use in the fall as in to computer science at dxo University this team's 20 year history would not have been as successful as it is without the support of the mon Board of Education so thank you so much as a future freshman at Ruckers University majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics I would also like to thank the board of education for making robotics a possibility oncoming High School it was in 1403 where I not only learned my passion for stem but also the intrinsic relationships between these fields however I might have learned how to build a robot or assemble a machine but the most important skill of 1403 taught me is how to become a leader over the past three years I've learned how to lead group efforts contribute to group uh projects while also serving in as serving as an inspiration for my fellow team members these skills will prove invaluable in my life and I hope to use them as a farcom a next big challenge and this is our video about [Applause] oh overall team 43 achieved new heights this year whether it be with our physical robot performance or the opportuni we have and are continuing to iterate we have witnessed many of our members expand beyond their comfort zones excel in their leadership roles and devot themselves to plans for ensuring the future success of our team again we'd like to thank you all so much for your Devotion to Stam MHS and for giving us the opportunity to present to you all today at this time we'd be happy to answer any questions related to our team or the season and we'll also be displaying a performance of a robot for you maybe a few words from the gentleman in the background it's the students that do it all excellent very well done thank you may I just quickly ask about the world was it world's resource can you just in 30 seconds or less sort of explain what that is as a resource and how helpful it was to you and if there are other resources like it that you'd like to um think more about or you know would be helpful for your programming yeah of course so what we that is all the best teams from around the world uh obviously went to Worlds and so by us going there as well we were able to talk to them and learn like a lot about how they run their teams how they build their robots very helpful for us can I just give you one one little comment and a thank you um my comment is I was so impressed to hear that you I think it was called a professionalism award that you received for being so kind to lend a helping hand and parts and everything else to other teams that you were competing against I think that that shows tremendous character and I'm very proud that to you kindness matters uh the other thing that I would like to say thank you for is whatever fundraising you all did to help get the grant money to um for tonight we have an approval on our agenda for the purchase of a new router for you that's going to hopefully take everything to new levels and so your your help with us you know in terms of us not having to approve that in terms of budgeting because of all the F fundraising you did is great so thank you so much thank you very much for all of the wonderful things that you've done from uncoming something else I'd really quickly like to add about the world championship so as I mentioned I've been on this team four years so I'm a senior now and like I said I've connected with a lot of people New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware so on but we've also had the opportunity to connect with teams around the world like VJ said you meet the best of the best and with that not only are you learning from them you get the opportunity to develop friendships with them one of our sister teams actually we were able to meet and we keep in contact with frequently is from Australia and the really cool thing is Australia is in such a completely different time zone and they have such different customs and habits so it's really neat that every year we're able toar learn something from them and they're able to learn something from us [Music] Ang you [Music] go understands too this row is filled 100% 5 um in 7 weeks W they design design process they [Applause] iterate so I mean we're normally able to shoot in a very far range but given the saf issues we appreciate that why not um but the whole goal of this game is that you have these rings on the ground and what you're doing is you're trying to pick up these rings and score it into a small opening that's pretty high it's about maybe five or 5 and 1 half ft High um and the whole point of this robot this game itself is it's almost like a think about like a 3v3 Basketball match you know so you have three on three and you're basically scoring against each other while you also have other teams defending on you so I mean throughout this last season we went through a lot of hardships as Mr life said everything that we do is we do in house we machine every single part on this robot we put it together um it's like even we're talking about like BJ who's our mechanical Captain he works on making these parts um and then we have our electrical team that works on wiring the robot so I mean our team is almost bit like a family in a sense that we have multiple sub teams and without one of us we wouldn't function at all um and this goes on also our logistic side whereas you know how are we going to build a robot if you don't have money like there that aspect of it too so um are you okay if we shoot a Long Bar shop yeah that's okay I will go over there and be a shield shoot that way could you place a value on that on that machine a value yeah uh hit me here where you're probably looking at about uh $4 or $5,000 sitting on the floor there of just raw materials just raw materials and part electronics and parts and man hour and woman and woman hour that's endless all right Mr bir fun and also our final piece is uh the end game of this game like the last 30 seconds right the whole goal is to climb on a chain so that's what these hooks are here for and basically our robot you know we're like zooming across the field shooting and we're like oh we have 10 seconds we really need to climb really fast so then we just bring our hooks up and and go and climb on the Chain so uh Wilson's going to demonstrate that pretty soon [Applause] thank you so much U one thing else I'd like to say is I want to thank the board for allowing us to host the Montgomery event um we've been doing it what how long we been doing 17 18 years yeah we've been hosting well either an offseason or or the Montgomery EV we've been hosted our Montgomery event for about um 8 years now and it we are the largest we have 36 teams come it is our largest fundraising event uh we sell a lot of hot dog and pizza but that allows us to buy the uh machine we are buying um it's tomorrow morning the the PO and the check is going out FedEx as soon as you tell me it's approved we're trying to get it in before the Summer's end but uh it's going to mimic a machine we already have in place torach our computer milling machine um this will give us a little more ability to work with lexand uh woods and uh it will also cut aluminum and it's also going to be integrated into the um fabrication lab so we have a lot of students now that are doing more complicated woodworking projects like guitars where we can now now put a piece of wood in this machine they can design it press a button and it'll make a guitar base so there's a lot of really great things that we can do with it just trying to get to the next level so if I ask you a quick technical question so when you shoot those there's there's no rotation on those right they just shoot straight out I'm just I'm not a robotics theme but would you get more stability if if you're able to put some rotation on maybe get some 100% so prototype that when we went through the prototyping phase um they put a compression wheel as well as a stealth wheel so both of would have different um pressure on the wheel and it was able to make that thing uh fire actually a lot straighter and further than what you saw earlier um however because we already pre-implemented a design for our placement of our Motors and other items we noticed that we placed the compression wheel it was next to our motor and kept hitting that and it was destroying that compression wheel so we decided to Nyx that because that pressure would have spun it and Would Have Made It Fly a lot trer so we did discuss that and said hey that's another thing we need to look into if we decide to do anything propelling for the future interesting think we we were hoping to drive it here but we really drive it on carpet we wanted to sh I didn't want to he I destroyed your floor so it's very good ballerina it does it it um it runs at 13 ft per second so it's fast and it's Nimble it's um it's some new technology that we start started last year um and and like I said it's not cheap uh we're very lucky to have great corporate sponsors uh you're one of our great corporate sponsors um Department of Defense Believe It or Not peny Arsenal is another one of our big corporate sponsors brist Myers squib is a used sponsor for the last 20 years Johnson Johnson Johnson Johnson has uh helped us out a little bit uh we're working on that one and um I we haven't really properly introduced this is Matt Brady who will be taking over uh as lead metor next year uh just a quick Shameless plug if you would love to follow our team our handles are up on the board if you have any questions or interested in supporting either financially uh intellectually for uh The Following Season that'd be also very very helpful uh we continue to work and operate actually not even during the school season we still are working out even though the world championship has ended we go through what we need to do to improve we find ways for students to lead students that's why this is a student Le program we provide the instruction of the assistance to fill in the gaps where needed and they're the ones who make sure oh okay this is what I would have lik to have seen when I was going through this and they're adapting it they're making those changes firsthand and that's what we do during the Spring and during the summer we're looking to do more workshops with the individual students to build those independent skills for them so if you have any of those Concepts or if you have any knowledge or way to support us these are our handles or just follow us right so that'd be great and we are a fully mentor-based program we do have we're lucky enough to have about 15 outside mentors uh parents uh alumni who come back and work with the program with the students uh it's a huge part of our program and it's um it's a really big part of of how we do that and great all right let's give it up for team 1403 again thank you so much as I stated before that presentation now it's the time for public comments on the applicants only if anyone wants to make from the community make any comments on the applicants yeah you said your your name and address sure hi I'm Adriana safe 30 Sweet Water Drive I do not know there was going to be public comment very exciting um I was going to talk and support Noah State my husband uh we've been together for 19 years uh so I feel like I can say with some Authority that he is a deeply kind uh brilliant methodical empathetic human um and I was so excited when he told me about a year ago that he was thinking about maybe getting inv to the school for um I can't say that I've seen him in a professional capacity too often but I can tell you that after a long day uh at work when he comes home and all three of our children are simultaneously screaming he can very creatively deescalate that fight very quickly um and he is also one of the most thoughtful people I've ever known you'll always find him reading new research about um the work that he does and he's one of those people that constantly takes in new information and allows his opinions to change based on what he's learning um he really doesn't like dig in so you know I'm biased I think he would be an incredible asset on your team um and I really know he cares very deeply about this community um and and this would be something that he would be very passionate about so thank you thank [Applause] you any other public comments on the applic hi Janet Church Montgomery Township I just want to thank all of the applicants it's great to see so many people people that want to be a part of the school board and to hear so many great qualifications and um intent and really um want to give back to the community um I do have to say I'm especially um impressed with some of the um more business oriented candidates I feel like that would be a great asset to the board um we have a lot of uh educational representation here and I think that um the ones with u some of more U business attributes might be a great um f but thank you very [Applause] much hi Rich spec uh North Street Bill me um I actually want to um also say that I appreciate everybody coming out there is an amazing group of candidates applicants that you have to consider um as Anya had said I hope that people will remain engaged and involved in board activities and coming out uh sometimes the board meetings uh there are not that many people here and it's good to have the community represented so I hope you'll continue to do that uh I don't envy the board your deliberations but uh I I wish you well uh being on the board requires a variety of interest and I'm also pleased that uh most of the candidates weren't just focused on a single issue they were looking at things very broadly and I think that that's important uh a primary consideration I hope you'll keep in mind is um as Janet said is finding a board member who complements the existing board members uh and so what type of background do they have experience skills and interest do they bring uh for example have they worked in industry do they have leadership or management experience to complement some of the board members who are currently serving so good luck and congratulations on having such an amazing number of people whove come out uh just showed that the community how interested the community is in education thank [Applause] you Karen Anderson Bel me okay I'll go lower um I just want to thank you too I was really shocked when I heard there was 19 candidates I know not everyone showed up but that's still an awesome number um what I would look for in a candidate whoever it is is somebody who can really bring out the crowds and bring and engage the community in school board because we've got a certain number of people that show up all the time you probably if you're tuned in there's odds okay we get up here and it gets a little bit right what's the word a little interesting um I sometimes think we should bring popcorn to these meetings but anyway if you could do something to to engage more people and get them involved and get them sharing their opinions so it always doesn't feel like there's just two sides battling and out out here okay thank you very much [Applause] any other public comments any other public comments every none public comments on candidates was closed at this time I'll entertain a motion to enter an exective session second proper moov in second any questions on the motion all those in favor St I I you're now in second session right at this time I'll entertain a motion to reconvene and open second second and proper open second R can be an open session all those in favor stay I post same right motion Carri at this time first of all before I start um I just want to thank all of the amazing candidates um for your time and effort this evening um we appreciate you making our lives a little harder today um good discussions um and we're going to go from there but again just thank you all for your your time and dedication and whoever isn't um seated we hope you will continue to push us um engage with us and continue to be um productive members of the community so with that floor is open for nominations for the vacant position of momery Township School Board are there any nominations from the floor yes I'd like to nominate the meet and on guard for uh the position of the bacon Board of Education SE I the second Bita for the V it's been properly moved and second to nominate Bonita nardon are there any other nominations from the floor any other nominations from the floor there none nominations are closed roll call discuss I'm sorry uh discussion on a nomination so I I'll start I just first of all I just wanted to say to all the folks that came out tonight thank you so much much uh your expertise and knowledge is um truly fantastic and we are so excited to see so many of you here interested and wanting to participate we were all having a conversation uh about the fact that you know how we started ourselves I can speak for myself but you know in in the AA committees you know got engaged with the school district uh got involved in different initiatives so we hope to we have your names so we'll be sounded like a thre we we will be reaching out when opportunities come up if you don't mind and we do hope you come in and see us and bring some of your knowledge expertise observations uh and most of all I hope to see a lot of your names on the ballot in November because we do have quite a few seats open and it would be fantastic uh to see you there and and participate in uh in this with us going forward but I just really truly appre appreciate your time thank you very much yeah I'd like to pretty much second what you just said we had a we had some pretty uh interesting conversations in there because there was so much excellent uh skill in there and since there will be four open seats or four seats in the fall I I would like all of you guys to run and the Falls might get interesting I also want to I would like to sorry I also want to comment that um all your skills set is so wonderful and complimenting the board and your engagement and your positive you know thinking to to bring positive influence to schools is something that really needs to stay live and please don't stop get engaged and then run for the seats and then be active on the pto's on the ptas and on any other events that the schools are putting together like even the robotics our team because parents like you engage and very mindful about what they expect from the school is really what this community is about and we the board represent the community you the parents represent the community we have to work together we have to have a communication channels of communications open so please stay engaged everything's been said but I just want to say thank you for coming out tonight um truly an impressive impressive uh candidate pool and I would just say continue to please spread the word we really are encouraged and energized by the idea that there are so many out of you out there that want to be involved and so please just help us spread the word and help us fill all of those seats that are out there so that we can have uh engaging board meetings that are so really important and vital to the way that we move forward um as a Board of Trustees so thank you to each and every one of you sorry I can't talk to you um and and as I said before I just want to reiterate thank you guys again um such an amazing poll of candidates and it was it was a a difficult decision um you were all qualified in different ways um but we you know we made making our decision based on what we think the best for the board at this current time um we hope you all do not get discouraged um keep fighting um as has been said there are four seats available in November three threeyear terms and one 2-year unexpired term um so keep keep fighting thank you any other comments roll call Mr Trent yes Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss vac yes Miss Franco Harman yes missa jigan yes Miss Spina yes Mr Todd yes thank you carries 70 [Applause] congratulations yeah M garon um yeah I'll let you speak but uh just Mr Trent will be in touch with you via email or telephone call tomorrow to let you know the next steps there's a saying in uh in Indian language Jan sa janardan sa that means when you serve people as if you're serving the lord so I truly believe that um you have given me this opportunity I will take take it to my heart and work with you and make this District even better than what it is it's already a great one but we can reach even higher level thank you so much for your trusting me thank you thank you welcome all right moving on we'll move now to committee representative reports first up mtaa reports Mr res okay good evening everyone uh my name is micheli I'm the MTA special education chair and teacher ATS unfortunately Mr Dolan couldn't be here tonight so I will be delivering uh the MTA report uh first off I wish they were still here but team 1403 oh my goodness it is incredible to see what our students can do I madean the presentation on the screen what they're doing here everything they they continue to do I think the only thing they could have added was maybe a sales pitch to sell to uh board president Todd maybe they could have funded for the next couple years he seemed really interested in what the price tag may be on that robot they probably could uh throw that in next year so that'd be fantastic um big shout out to Tim light I mean the compassion you saw from him getting up here just from the tears of his eyes show you how much it means to him as a teacher as a mentor um with the students and how he was saying talking before about he he is istill in contact with his students I mean that's just amazing you know so really a big shout out to him for all that he has done for the district and that team uh I'd like to thank secondly everyone who did apply for the board member spot thank you for taking your time and having some just incredible speeches and just having such great knowledge we really appreciate it thank you very much congratulations to Vita for securing the spot we look forward to working with you uh as you know our music from the heart presentation Mary Poppins uh held on May 11th was a huge success uh there were teachers administrators and planning students all supporting our talented staff to raise money for high school scholarships um in the joint venture of the MTA and the MHS instrumental music parents Association share equally in the proceeds I'm proud to say that we uh were're able to collect $10,000 for that show all of it every single penny will go to scholarships uh the MTA will be giving $5 $1,500 scholarships uh this year uh I want to thank the board Administration for supporting the Endeavor for the past 22 years over that time we have given out close to 170,000 scholarships to students uh we value our we also value our final readalong for students of O and BPS on May 29th we have the book op Lee and what it means to be free all the students attending will get a copy of the book so please check out our social media page our website and the PTA newsletter for our registration thank you very much and res now move to board member delegate representative reports do we have have any this evening I'm going to share um my experience last Saturday of the a jsba delegate assembly that was the first time that I attended um Joanna was there with me there were 110 voting delegates across all the school districts and there were 14 resolutions that were um discussed and voted on and basically these are um almost like beliefs statements or issues that the school districts would like the njsba to go to the State House to advocate for so it's not you know these are I wouldn't say without teeth but they are just resolutions and they're going to be pushing on the school district's behalf but I've never ended meeting like this and all the resolutions that they had were very interesting there was one where um a school district proposed for the use of the Reserve funds for purchase of EV bus Vehicles so the jsb is going to try and see if we can get that as um an adjustment or or like an advocacy for school districts like several other resolutions and I I thought that was interesting and these resolutions are brought to the njba by school districts as well so I don't know if we've ever done that in the past I thought the whole process was U very enlightening um and I think I don't know if there's something that we could look through policy wise um that we can ask njsba to advocate for us at the state house but it was it was it was good to be there and um to participate that's I have to say that I'm so excited that you have a very similar takeaway from what me and Anya had when we first went in December it was opening experience to see you know like what process we have excluded ourselves out of and I I really hope and I really like that you energize also to kind of take a closer look and maybe we can work together and then see like if there are any type of resolutions that we can start putting together and proposing yeah and and I feel like it's something that we need to discuss even if again it's not something that has right now any impact because you have to Mo State Senate and State Assembly be mindful of the process but we we have to discuss them so that any any future delegate who goes to these meetings has the full understanding of the full Board of what they're voting on so at that moment I was just voting on also what I thought was best for the district but I think it would be better if we had an opportunity to review those resolutions and discuss and decide how we want to vote as a board I like um quarterly monthly uh twice a year so uh December and May so we just and they're published so you can actually get a a glance at it to see what's yeah yeah you can download the whole PDF work where they have like all the resolutions you know the the argument for this um njsba um recommendation whether they recommend or they don't necessarily recommend the particular resolution SS an ey opening experience just to see what other districts are dealing with how they looking up issues and then you know some of them we can bring back home so the like the 14 resolutions were proposed by districts like five or six of them it goes to the resolution Committee of njsba five or six of them were um not accepted and then but they were still discussed and one of them was voted on the proceed with the whole process so it's like a very interesting you know discussion and process all together so that's all I have any other representative reports F your reports uh if I could just quickly interject and say for um um SEPTA that we did not have a meeting but Mr roli if you are okay with an invitation to brainstorm I don't know where you went there you are hi um on how we can connect uh andpa Representatives um that would be really helpful because um we really want to make sure that we see that um that communication continue and so your support will be really helpful so I'm going to reach out to you thanks so much on that note there's the last meeting of the year for MF that is coming up soon it is just this is the Montgomery special education parent teacher Association is wondering what EPA is Wednesday June 5th June 5th y just and it's Zoom so super flexible in terms of to okay any other board member delegate representative reports hearing none board committee reports ACI uh good evening so we met on on uh May 10th both uh in person and virtual I'll be very brief we had um quite an extensive uh uh recommendation in terms of texts and I just need to say that I was so impressed and overwhelmed by the amount of time and effort and process that goes through um really vetting the the textbook uh process um one that I would like to highlight we talked about an uh an LA uh for language arts text that was being introduced um but there is a new science textbook um which is a real deliverable because parents in particular and students were asking for a tangible book um so that's a really nice uh deliverable that they're going to be able to offer um but again the process that the that the teaching staff and administrators go through to really vet these textbooks was um quite impressive um the first round of the email fishing campaign uh results and findings came out um they had a 9% bite rate um after the first week of the fishing campaign um so all staff members who did bite received an email um with detailed instructions in terms of what they did not do what error they made um emails were sent and um there will be uh another attempt before the end of the year and obviously the goal is to get that bite rate better um there will be four campaigns um as well as training uh in the next uh in the next year the district also also continues the njsla testing it's going very well um the started at the beginning of the week and Ms started oh I'm sorry you should be done by now this is sort of retroactive so last week um all the all other school testings uh occurred or are occurring within the next couple of weeks um and then lastly uh I did follow up on Marty U board member um Marty Carson uh on your question about the walkthroughs um and it really it it sounds like it's very much um not so much to change curriculum but just to be another set of eyes to make sure that they uh are being representative in terms of the materials that are being used um the content that's being um offered and talked about and um taught in each one of the classes to represent um the student body in each one of the classrooms so it's another set of eyes that are really just making sure um and understanding what's going on in the classroom um can I ask you a little follow up here so sure 9% VI rate uh I know today we just had a had a a little talk about ransomware and how how devastating that is come to 9% seems way too high I mean we should be at 9% how do we is there a way to get that Dem somewhere um I'm sure I'm sure that superintendent could speak but it it does sound like that's why we're doing this right is to educate and is to train and is to continuously um Monitor and so you know I it feels um it feels like they're very much on top of it but I think this is sort of still a newish um initiative and I think the idea that you know we are um pressing up impressing upon the the faculty and staff and and um supporting it with with training I I know we have a we have a company that does Backups for us and makes it so that we can recover uh quickly relatively quickly but I think you you can't actually get back you know because they implant things in your most previous backup so I'd sure would like to see that go down from 9% way down I think we I'd like to also reiterate that it's not necessarily just clickbait sometimes these um the fishing schemes are you know please go buy $500 gift cards and send them over to MHS because principal needs them because she's giving and like that's people been like oh I'm going to go do that yeah but no so hopefully they're not going to get any R in there they're pretty intricate like they'll say that they're coming from the HR department and they look like they're very valid with our logo and everything so I'm not excusing people getting caught but they're not as uh this is their full-time job this is what they do I I I think I remember that the Los Angeles School District paid $26 million to get their get their computers back after some time I'd like to add one more thing um I also have a response to I believe it was um board member felx question last time about um all of the different surveys that come out that sort of rate our schools and different schools um so the short answer to that is that it's very difficult to compare survey to survey because they're using different metrics and they're using different data and so of course we're going to be ranked differently depending on what data they've used um but I can tell you that there's a lot that we do have that supports what our school is doing particularly online and on our website uh and then we've got accessibility to you know all different kinds of metrics um that have to do with with Montgomery so if you want specifics on that I can give you that and I really appreciated it and I also appreciate um board members Spina also gave me some nice uh reference materials which I shared with the parent that was interested so you two are also thank you oh think that's it any questions for ACI thank you so much Mary and uh the team and Michelle the textbooks I think are going to make a huge impact so that's wonderful and honestly I cannot say enough about the process it was really really reflective and really well done really thorough great I'm sorry um Yes actually Fiona was not able to be at our meeting so um shout out Damen Papa yes I know that she's at the the Forefront that did we I I was not even to attend ACI this month and I'm wondering out of curios sorry out of curiosity there's two things on our um agenda for acceptance for um the Charlotte Danielson and the Marshall principal evaluation um just out of curiosity why are we approving the4 2 for this year for those like Charlotte Daniels has been the um that's what we've been using right every year you have to re-approve what evaluation tool you're using the RO for teachers and for administrators before when before summes go out or no for the following year this says 20 yeah okay got you for the following year yeah okay so it's this year for next year so yeah thank you next up operations facilities and finance committee off the operations finance and Facilities committee met on May 17th which is last Friday uh our business administrator has began working with the facilities director Mike O'Neal and the supervisor of mten and grants uh Drew Bersy on the school property Improvement projects planned for the summer and the fall the big sum summer project will be the replacement of the football field dir the preparation for this work has already begun and everything is working as schedule the maintenance department in conjunction with the Administration has began to work to renovate the bunker building to create a suitable and welcoming facility for the maintenance employees to host their department meetings and use it as a breakr the current tasks being worked on are connecting the building to the necessary Utilities in the fall during the teachers convention uh week the LMS will undergo a Cher replacement uh this is a significant uh Capital Improvement project and the partial funding for this Improvement will come from the RO M Mike O'Neal deserves a recognition for finding the chiller that fits the existing space if the if the district had to resize the space needed for that new chill of the project would cost an additional 200,000 Grand I mean that's a big saving so thank you Mike for the job well done uh the administration is recruiting for two positions One Transportation mechanic and the assistant uh business administrator there has been very good response to both Jack postings and we expect the administration to be able to select mle candidates from the pool of the cand of the applicant that applied picka is a new sport that is winning America over there are a lot of residents and students in momery who took interest in playing pickable there are pickable curs behind the ums that are used frequently by residents after their school hours these courts are due for repair and maintenance the administration is Gathering quotes to assess the cost the board and the administration will work with a Township committee to look for funding options to repair the Cod CTS and maintain them properly maintaining the CTS properly and making them accessible to the residents when the courts are not used by the students will improve the quality of life in Montgomery it also is aligned with the wellness initiatives put in place by the township so we hope to develop a plan to share the financial to share the financial burden and of maintaining the curage for the township any questions anybody interested in the pickle ball game people are day yeah moving on policy and Communications committee PCC we did not have a meeting this uh this month due to uh some conflicts and we're still in the process of reviewing with the policy so we'll resume next month uh same for human resource committee HRC we did not meet due to last month's we robust uh agenda so we will be meeting next month uh this time uh entertain a motion to approve the following uh minutes April 30th 2024 executive session meeting April 30th 2024 business meeting second the proper move to Second any questions on the new Mr Trent I we s like are we voting on hi cases right now are we moving um approval of minut sorry uh Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss vac yes Miss Franco Herman yes Miss m j yes Miss minina yes Mr Todd yes thank you at this time the board acknowledges the correspondence to the board action agenda items public comments the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of three minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make a comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chrome book provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks the public comment portions of the meting are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually started at the school level responses may be provided at the end of the session public comment is open for Action agenda items only going once going twice public comments for Action agenda items is closed at this time I'll entertain a motion to accept agenda items 1.0 with um an amendment to 1.1 harassment intimidation and bullying HIV report to remand 263 643 D MHS 04 82024 back to the superintendent through agenda item 4.1 which reads as be it resolved that the mcgomery Township Board of Education denies the appeal of Hib incident 26411 15-- 041 62024 correction that uh last um item will be 4.2 so move second it's been properly moved and second to adopt the agenda items any questions on the action items uh yes uh what is 4.1 it was actually 4.2 is regarding hi uh discussion okay so just for the record that is item number 4.2 thank you Mr Trent any other questions I believe i' like to hear from um and I'm sure the rest of us would as well turnning F on the policy just speaking toone sorry the policy items that we're voting on tonight so the policies Maria that we've requested stepen to review are not here so we're still in yeah they'll be on the yeah I these we reviewed iously and we're comfortable with all the changes as for uh the the suggestion from stra or as far as all of these that are here correct okay so the the one about equity and quality those are not here as well as um some of the um English is a second language policy that we discussed so those two are still in so we won yeah we we'll review those next I've actually issued a written pinion to board so it'll be circulated to you prior to the proba probably have it tomorrow great thank you so much thank you and can I ask one more too um so we talked about this executive 11c number n that's being remanded yes that'll be remanded back to superintendent okay any other questions on the uh action agenda items Mr Trent roll call please Mr Carlson abstain at 4.2 everything else agreed yes understood Miss ding yes Miss filac yes Miss Franco Herman uh yes obain on 1.2 understood Miss Le Duran yes Miss Spina yes Mr Todd yes thank you all motions carried thank you at this time new business from the public the Board of Education welcomes an encourag input from the public members of the public are allotted one opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make a comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any potential liability on the speaker the board discourages def defamatory and discourage remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not not structured as question and answer sessions the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of the session public comment for new business is now open hi good evening uh once again I'm asking that the board or at least board members Franco Herman and Harris Harris is not here today to address the school ethics commission opinion dated December 19 2023 and how it impacts their inability to fully participate on the board the community deserves to understand how their activities and inappropriate decisions during the last board ofed campaign impacted their ability to serve and ultimately impacted the entire Board of Ed note that I advise the campaign at the time there was a conflict and by and my comment was renoved and I was blocked from the campaign website so the school ethics commission opinion could have been foreseen if not altogether avoided there seems to be an issue about the opinion not being published online yet but however I would like to remind the board that I was President one of the Board of Ed workshops last summer and the facilitator and trainer Gwen thoron from the New Jersey school boards Association address public comment sessions and advise that if any board member can respond to a public comment they can do so at that meeting residents are wondering about the vote extensions committee and office Replacements this year and board members Spa did promise transparency at the January reorganization meeting however I would think that given the ethics opinion and restrictions placed upon them that the proper thing for the board members Franco Herman and Harris to do would be to resign and to afford Community an opportunity to have fully participating board members who do not have an Ethics opinion heading over them but by not doing so they may be doing the community a favor by being effectively neutered and not allowing others to come in and M up things further a second issue to do with ethics um Mr gettinger brought up a very serious matter at the last board meeting last fall a letter from Mr Fogerty to Mr Ginger was made available to Barbara Preston of the RS 3 days before it was received by Mr Ginger Preston reached out for a comment before he even received the letter are you investigating this breach on the board of ed who advised Mr fogy to draft this letter who had access to this letter in addition to Mr fogy how can you today assure the public that this form of breach will not happen again one would think that the mon R new should be more concerned about a board member breaching the public trust by leaking the copy of a private correspondence instead of potentially engaging in election interference one would think board members not involved in this breach would investigate a member of the public said at the last board meeting that she trusts you after myself and others requested an audit of board activities given recent news about a former board member who by the way received her own School ethics commission opinion letter also dated December 19th I say trust but verify you are elected by the public that wants to trust you but you must earn trust and always be open to scrutiny you have 30 second clearly the community is owed explanation on these breaches of the public trust trust of this board is at an all-time low silence is perceived as a cover up so will we receive responses to my questions this evening both about the school ethics commission opinion and the breach of Mr Ginger's letter thank you hi Chris Newman uh I have a concern about uh the event that happened the last board meeting when there was an additional uh videographer photographer here uh not related to the school board as far as I can tell they have rumor uh the common understanding is that the photographer is hired by Jeffrey Grant to what purpose I have no idea takes videos of the meeting which is being videotaped and then following the meeting he followed individuals around myself included taking our picture and videos of us um as the meeting ended he was sitting there audibly making races and and insulting remarks about Zelda and when Barbara Preston asked him his name he said you can call me Daddy he then continued to take our picture and he also took the picture of a student board member and a 16-year-old student who then felt harassed and compelled to complain to the police officer those young women were escorted into an office by teachers and administrators I thought not allowed to take pictures of underage students yet daddy or creepy daddy as I'm calling him had no problem following us around standing there with his camera taking our picture and intimidating these young women and harassing us after the meeting I don't know what the board's a view of this is if there is some kind of policy about hiring people to come and take pictures of the public and then to take pictures of them when they're being private citizens uh it seems to me this is something that needs to be addressed in addition we don't know who he is we wouldn't give us his name daddy that's creepy when you're telling a 16-year-old to call you Daddy finally the group of people at the end of the meeting convened in the back to oval the videos taken by Fry Daddy and this building stayed open to allow them to do that that's our tax dollars people are so concerned about the money we're spending on sending people in South Africa but we hav to pay a police officer to stand here while they look at a video that this creepy Thug took so I would urge you to make a policy about we need to know who these people are if they're coming in here and taking our pictures they need to stop when the meeting stops and they need to not be taking picture of the underage students who are showing up the meeting to support the board of Ed to see what's happening with their school and then they're harassed by someone taking their picture to the point where they had to go and contact the police officer and be escorted out that's wrong and I would link something for about that thank you I have one point this is Karen Anderson Bel me verify the age she keeps saying 16 verify the age she's 16 she proba AR compl verify if we're talking about the same person verify the age we're not talking about the same person not talking about age please no comments from the audience thank you any other public comments hello this is Marissa Conor 33 wh away um I just wanted to let the board know um that the website for the Board of Education still said 7 p.m. for tonight's meeting I'm sure that was um just a mistake it seems like the only U way that people would have known that the meeting started at 6: p.m. was from um an email which unfortunately I had not subscribed um to the email um BL so I wasn't aware that the meeting started at 6 p.m. so I just ask that in the future um the board be more proactive in updating the website um so more people can come um and experience the the meetings um but I appreciate everything that you're doing and thank you so much for having us here good night can go again if everyone else has spoken is that right um just um to advise the community on what I've been told if you feel harassed this is what the board has advised me if you feel harassed there is a police officer right there and you can go to him and anyone who um feels uh compelled to file a police report should also write to the board that I would think and not have to have someone else speak for them here um a lot of what I just heard was untrue and uh I know that from what I've seen so I can produce that information for you if you like it thank you any other public comments seeing none public comments are now closed Mr fogy and or superintendent mlac anything You' like to address so I can speak to the letter that you were referring to earlier um the board president at the time had asked Mr fogy to draft that letter and send it to Mr Ginger that was done um then it was brought to my attention that that letter had been released we did the search of everyone's MTSD accounts and those who had access did not send it from the email it was sent to them search have I don't need is this interest it's very serious this to I want to acknowledge that if that that if that if any correspondence that's confidential is disclosed that is serious so I do agree that the characterization is that it's serious but we can only conduct an internal investigation to determine whether uh whether anybody actually disseminated that off of our server but beyond that our jurisdiction doesn't end to allow us to conduct any further any further investigation so I do agree that it's serious we do not know how it happened um and the internal uh search of our server uh did not disclose that that letter was uh transmitted from anybody's uh email here uh to the Press again so and and I I'll say it because you mentioned my name and said that I promise transparency and I do but I cannot nor can any other board member be transparent about something that we have been had SM confidential that we are not permitted to speak about that has not been made public when and if the so people are question it that was made public by someone I don't know how that happened but I as a board member we as board members have been instructed that that is confidential we are not to speak on it so as far as transparency goes I will be as transparent as I can be as will the other members of this board whenever we can be but if we can't we can't asking it over and over again isn't going to change that until they make it public and you have to understand the board this board operates under the the guidance of the SEC if we disclose if we talk about confidence information we Face charges and no one on this board is going to do that I there there was an issue raised the last issue that I want to address is was an issue raised about videotaping or audio taping at our board meetings so we do have a policy with regard to that and um uh the policy reflects uh the opinion of uh uh of the courts in our state uh which allow anybody to videotape or audio tape a board meeting uh provided it does not interfere with the governmental function and so if someone wants to come in and videotape they're permitted to do that uh provided that it is not done in a way that is obtrusive or interferes with our ability to conduct our meetings uh beyond that if anyone is harassed by a member a member of the public who's attending our meetings uh that has to be adjusted through law enforcement thank you Mr F any items for discussion from the board from the forward hearing none I motion for adjournment move second no probably move in second any questions on the motion all those in favor stay I I