even everyone 7:44 p.m. it is Tuesday November 21st 2023 welcome all of you to Township School District opening first start out yes Mr Carlson here Miss D here miss here Miss Harris here pres miss here Mr toddman thank you again for your patience everyone we do apologize session we discuss confidential man matters not to the public was fire extended time so if anyone would please rise for the [Music] glasses everyone please be seated and at this time Rob who will deliver our montomery high school student representative good evening I'm a bit chilly so I apologize if I'm shivering during this good evening Board of Education members of the community the students of Montgomery High School are well and succeeding this November students have had a variety of opportunities to show their knowledge with the November S&S and the start of the sealed by literacy testing students of Montgomery have been celebrating diversity and culture recognizing native an indigenous history month and hosting a successful kavali celebration students also Rec Veterans Day early this November the winter sports season has begun with many tryy outs um tryouts for many beginning this week we wish all of our student athletes the best of Lu the MHS marching band recently had an amazing opportunity and performance with the rers university marching band students not only have got the opportunity to perform with the band on the field for a portion of halftime but for a crowd of 50,000 people but students also got the opportunity to rehearse and hang out with the assumed band students of Montgomery are carefully deliberating uh Disney roommates list as they are being figured out ahead of our exciting senior trim students have also had the opportunity to participate in a Statewide contest you were song your voice shut down DRS New Jersey which is a contest that challenges high school students to create peer-to-peer original music songs and lyrics in their own unique style the MHS theater Department recently performed foral Girls by DW Gregory based on an actual New Jersey his his this drama Blends science law media and social justice into a spellbinding story the class of 2025 hosted a successful volleyball tournament with mhs's South Asian cultural Club sensation coming out on top the class of 2027 invites families to the yearly wial Wonderland event on December 7 December 9th my apologies in the OHS cafeteria enjoys snacks arts and crafts and a surprise visit from a Holly Jolly fellow students are looking forward to the murn of coming homework free break and Thanksgiving holiday thank you thank you thank you Sophia for stand questions for sopia at this time hearing n we will move to our superintendent's report Andor presentation superintend M good evening everyone so I have some repeats of you just heard the high school pcsa hosted another extremely successful two-day High School Junior and senior student interview Clinic students run through one day addressing interview preparations and interview etiquette a second day of interviews was conducted by various community volunteers and District staff the high school along with students at from the student run Sensation Club and Deputy Mayor sing celebrated an evening of culture dancing painting laughter and fun as we celebrated the as one Community the high school marching band students were guests at the rord University marching band and were treated like Royals for an amazing game experience they got to rehearse and hang out with the 330 member ruers band watch the game and then join them on the field to perform part of the ruers H thre show what a great experience for our kids to play for 50,000 Spectators and get a game day experience congratulations to our amazing marching B directors miss bmer Mr merer and mrwiz for making this possible and doing such a great job of all students this season another repeat the fall play radio girls was a huge success down to the Middle School from the many letters submitted nine fifth grade students were identified by the Montgomery veterans committee as letter writing winners these students were invited to read their letters aloud at the Montgomery Veterans Day ceremony on Saturday November 11th the celebration included historical military displays the presentation of Colors by The Boy and Girl Scouts recognition of veterans presence readings from the Mary lower middle school students selections by the momine high school marching band rifle Salute by the American Legion Post 339 and playing of tax every October Orchard Hill is visited by their Magical Friend SC the skeleton who watches over our Cubs to make sure they are following the three C cor values sculling may be found anywhere from the cafeteria the library or even the treeh house outside inside the Early Childhood Center Orchard Hill cups love the anticipation of finding him throughout the day this helps to build our scho community and reinforce our core values tomorrow is an early dismissal day I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy your family and friends yes thank you superintendent M so at this time the part of our agenda our first public comment specific to our action agenda items and the instructions read as follows the Board of Education welcomes and encourages in from the public members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board regarding the action attend to items only to a three minutes per speaker all comment must be directed to the board not those sitting before you make a comment please write your name and address the Chrome book has provided the podium being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members to avoidability on the part of the speaker the board discourages the and discour is remarks the public common portions of the meeting are structured as question answer sessions because these are Parliamentary BR meetings these are not Town Hall meetings but rather offer this opportunity for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board Mee need to refer issue to the superintendent or member of her team if the issue has not been handled with an appropriate chain of command typically starting at the school department number responsive name will be provided at the end of this session secretary please open our action agenda item to only public comment at this time please take the action any Community M speak during public comments without any action agenda items this evening seeing and hearing none we will move to our committee and representative reports starting report delivered by President J there we go change the podium around get my exercise uh good evening everyone uh board members community members um any staff will be seeing this now or obviously when it's recorded afterwards I first want to congratulate speaking to the mic you uh I never hear that serly you can't hear me it's always so loud um just want to congratulate Christina Harris Franco Herman and zeld Spence Wallace on the recent election um and for your selfish selfless service to the Montgomery Community appreciate um some events going on in the MTA um our annual uh virtual book series continues and those are for BS and or students um every family who does participate gets a free book the most recent one U that we just finished about a week ago was titled the Wali in my new home the story follows priia who's a student who didn't um when she moved from India to the United States didn't have a community that really celebrated Dali and she was a little lost and she found her way and then also share her um appreciation for her own holiday that she celebrated with the community and it's a really interesting story the next one's coming up on U the 29th and it's titled water Walker and it's a girl's love of water and her appreciation for it and awareness to protect it going forward so obvious had some good environmental themes going on there uh as well so that will be the next one coming up anyone that's interested in any of these can check out our social media page for the N can check out any of the PTA um Communications that go out uh and also we sometimes put them in the EU just under Community as well so there's multiple ways that you find out and check it out if you want to participate uh also we just recently had Veterans Day and all Montgomery staff were invited to partake in what we call genes for troops so we invite everyone to donate $5 in uh the exchange for wearing jeans and uh we did that on I think it was the Wednesday 8th or something like that um we did collect over almost $900 which was great um and it goes to a wonderful cause called gi go fund and is to assist military veterans uh with different things employment access um housing any help with healthc care um and even education so it's a wonderful cause that we've been doing for many years now and we look to continue that going forward and when I say all of companies participated uh we also shared it out on our social media obviously Shar it with board members I'm sure you got that email and in administration as well and it was a great turn we're happy to continue doing that uh with Thanksgiving soon approaching very soon approaching I just want to be thankful to work in a district that has passionate administrators passionate teachers passionate board members who are really willing to work together and are committed to just seeing students succeed and flourish here in Montgomery so that's what I'm thankful for and I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving thanks thank youan [Music] okay so from the policy perspective we did have a guest during our policy meeting uh it was a representative represent so actually I can um speak to like one of the delegates um for the board so on 15 we attended the ppsa uh meeting at our high school we attended only as the parents because we are not officially appointed as the delegates of the board but at the end of the meeting we were actually asked to return to those meetings as delegates uh for the board so I would like to ask our board president to appoint either Le or Ana or both of us to be the delegates to the PSA I also want to share one of the new several great takeaways from the PTSA meetings one of the high school students joined the meeting to report on her initiative she took to organize a Halloween scavenger and hunt for the students participating um in the play United program for those who wonder who play United program is play United is an initiative to create an inclusive community where people with all abilities have an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate participation in sports and other games the stud of creative scavenger hun that involed several different game paths plan the logistics of where and when each game participated would be to maximize their positive game experience she also customized games and to each participant taking into consideration their individual interest to make them happy and to create a great memory of their time at the monom high school I was truly moved by this self as after kindness and I was impressed by her masterminds planning skills so I want to thank to our I want to thank our high school staff for supporting her in realizing her vision for the scavenger h of the United program and I really look forward to the next the same meeting hopefully as one of thees that's awesome finally secretary Trent and myself attended Jersey school boards the week of October 23rd yes so the variation Workshops the school boards Association expanded the conference this year there were quite a few topics around leadership the legal um perspective the government's role and communication and there was this one course that stood out to me that focused on creating a culture that meets the needs of the school community and it was a a robust discussion around the cultural um changes that takes place in towns and monom is certainly experiencing that curently they talked about learning how to set the tone and develop key messages and choosing the right channels by which to engage each other Atty you know making certain that um we are respecting different guidelines and as well as EXN appearance and extended community members so we look forward to continuing to be recipient of this high quality you know capacity building workshops that are New Jersey um School boards provides so are there any other the delegated representative report at this time he none we would do to have a board committee report and instruction so good evening everyone it continues to be a pleasure for me to serve as the chair of the ACI committee this calendar year only one more month to go the assistant superintendent davan papa is the district chair of ACI G we conducted a hybrid meeting for virtual and in person participation on Wednesday October 4th um and Wednesday November 8th at the beginning of the October 4th meeting the director curriculum instruction and Professional developmentor Land reported on the identification of two literacy text for students with an lld learning and language disability and newness one is titled 100 dresses and the other inside and out and Back Again 100 dresses is a children's book offer F visit pants and first published in 1944 the book features a pol girl Nam Wanda whose family migrates to Connecticut Wanda's classmates see her as different and mock her while earns the bra she sits alone in her classroom is teased and taunted and claims to own 100 dresses and found 60 pairs of shoes although she wears the same pest to school of the day eventually because of being subject to discriminatory Behavior the family moves away from before that the teach contest of sorts to where Wanda submits a drawing of 100 breath taking the beautiful dreses and she winds up winning the contest to only after she left the school district her classmates realized W's talent that those who were her 100 dresses felt moral wanted to apologize but didn't know how with the chance to do so however later because of his kind nature and forgiveness she informs the teacher to give her former classmates the drawing as she created it made idea of this darling text for around challenging how we treat people who we see as different than ourselves so 100 dresses is a Tim story about the hurt inflicted by teasing and painful consequences for fers who fail to act courageously another relevant thing within the text includes ethnic discrimination racial discrimination is what soci is Prov to have aners inside out back offered by is a story about a 10-year-old girl who leaves War tourn Vietnam and migrates to the US the team chose this Mel because of its thoughtful exploration of some important social and emotional themes such as War culture garage friendship willing loss resilience author has dedicated the book to refugees around the world hoping that they too will be able to find home the committee learned of the results of the spring 23 DJ student outcomes of which was presented at last month's openen public meeting next Miss Borland happily stated that our district was one of only about 30 public school districts that was awarded the hit or high impact tutoring Grant the school district was approved by the state to receive these funds in the amount of approxim $230,000 for right now we have been awarded the grant bed on the state required the district to go out for an RFP for the tutoring vendor and that process um was complete um and is on the action agenda so once we award the bid we expect to be up and R in January 2024 the Tutoring company will receive training by third party vendor and our internal supervisors the tors will have no less substitute certification and experience in tutoring the grant period ends on June 30th 2024 and the target group is students who benefit from tier one interventions in grades three through five and then finally October the new um Council director for dogado reported that MHS hosted sat on October 7th and the 450 students register for the October 10th PSAT which was administered digitally for the first um his report included the upwards of 200 people attended last month's admissions gain workshop at high school Cy posted about the UniFi PE physical education which began 5 years ago so unified PE is a unique opportunity for students with varying abilities to come together on equal terms through ongoing Fitness Sports leadership and wellness activities implemented UniFi years ago and looking to expand it to elen as had permitted and as stated the high school F an amazing um celebration there were several of the board members that attended as well in kudos to them and it was a huge success and the Board of Education you know than supporing for his consistent diligence and mind at the November 8 PCI the singular focus of discussion was around two state exclusive curricular statutes next uh njsa 18835 4.36 and njs 18835 d435 one District policy number 252 so there appears to be a misunderstanding of both statutes including conflation um with 18K 3641 which is the health and physical education op out section both are quite similar in the manner of a set of twins yet like twins each stand of pertivity so with njsa um 35-4 beginning the 2021 school year it speaks to the policies and procedures pertaining to inclusive instructional materials this means that when school districts are identifying instructional materials for all grents from the schools of the District of Board of Education shall adop inclusive instructional materials that portray the cultural and economic diversity of society including the political economic and social cont of persons with disabilities and L bisexual and transgendered people the instruction must highlight and promote diversity including economic diversity eity inclusion tolerance and belonging in connection with gender and sexual orientation race and eity disabilities and religious tolerance as well as examine the impact of unconscious bias economic disparities have at both the individual um level and one society as a whole so the goal with the appears with this statute is more to encourage a safe and welcoming um inclusive environment for all public school students and with um 18a 35-4 35 it pertains to the history um of disabled lgbtq plus persons included in the middle and high school curriculum thus as a education we must adopt policies that include within instruction but political economic and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbi by seual and transgender people as part of the district's implementation of the New Jersey student learning standards and there is no op provision for either of these sections and then finally the district policy number 2530 section on the responsibility of selection for media center resource material states that the principal teachers board leader supervisors community members and students are resources or suggestions in the selection process however the responsibility for coordinating the selection of instructional resources for the media center and making recommendations for purchase rest with the professionally trained librarian Media Center specialist the superintendent has final responsibility with the subaction of media center materials by professionally trained Personnel those recommendations Asti and then students so this concludes my AC report this even thank you for allowing me the opportunity to sit at the chair of that committee and to provide both October and November's support board members have any questions or comments at this time ask a question about the um uh the high impact I don't know if ask now or during action I just want to know more about the education services from initiative follow the superintendent will need to obtain that information other question Equity committee report report for this month next we have operations facilities and finance committee report second will deliver thank you madam president uh board members and community members the operations facility and finance committee met on Friday November uh 17th at 8:05 a.m. again disc discussed a variety of topics starting off with the turf field uh principal Heather kovi and athletic director Chris G Grundy gave a compelling presentation about the need for the turf field to be replaced Mr Trent did stated that the turfield needs to be replaced as its useful life for 10 years has come to an end and is quickly becoming a safety issue uh Mr Grundy stated um about how often the was used by the various uh sporting sports teams uh PE classes as well as the band and the uh there's some scenes that are beginning to come apart and we want to head this off for ccy safety issues uh Mr gry stated that they have already spoken to a company by the name of Keystone Sports construction which is part of Co-op and he's also spoken to other athletic directors at other schools and they have been um highly touted uh the estimated cost to replacement will be $591,000 in addition the company will offer a 10-year warranty instead of the usual 8-year warranty which will take us into the next replacement phase uh Mr Trent um talked about various ways to uh fund this endeavor um it was in the budget last year however um other issues came up so we removed from the budget um Mr Trent not it's tough to get in the budget with increase in salaries and a 2% tax levy he stated that the first funding could possibly be through AR Esser funds because it is a safety issue uh the next will be to use the maintenance reserve and the third and final way would be to put into next year's budget second item we talked about is the Esser Amendment Mr Trent stated that he will be completing an amendment to the Esser Grant uh These funds are funds that came out during Co Focus mostly on cleaning health and safety he's met with the directors of security Tech and Facilities to discuss how we can use this money to benefit the district uh first item was the insulation of security cameras at the high school and the middle school in addition the need for new radios um since it is a safety issue the new radios will allow Schools administration and maintenance workers to speak speak with each each other doing an emergency Mr Brooks also will purchase additional call books with the hope that it will alleviate some of the burden on next year's budget and it's already been buil into the brands Mr O'Neal stated that the maintenance portion of the amendment will go towards each back repairs um I also noted that since the SAT exams will be all digital starting in March uh we may need to look at improving our servers to withstand that um increased capacity third item we talked about is a budget update Mr Trent stated the budget is now open to budget managers and they have been entering the request and wish list everything is moving slowly but we'll ramp up in the coming months in January he will know much more as it's crunch time and we report more to the committee next item we talk about is the increase in Oprah request um Mr Trent stated he currently has 18 Oprah requests um he was reviewed seever several B with the committee and take him hours and hours to go through it's becoming a burden on his himself and staff and the last item we talk about is the Orchard Hill schoolhouse Mr trit stated there's a Schoolhouse on Orchard Hill in this property that have been discussions with the har har Jin Society about it they requesting the district to supply electricity to the building but since we were not required to do so and but however we are not required to do so U Mr TR say the building is owned by the society but the land is owned by the district our maintenance and maintenance and excuse me the maintenance and ground staff will clean up the property but we will not be supplying electricity to the building and that's it any questions from board members hearing none now we have our policy communication thank you um just an update on policies we um have a few policies that are going to be brought in for first meing first policy is going to be on attendance teaching staff members uh as well as um support staff the policies um recent changes are going to reflect the attendance um and where we're going to clarify and explain what the rate of abenes means what is the procedure calculated and the number of days in school compared to the number of possible attendance days bottom line is there's a new change in uh the policy that's going to open up a little bit flexibility around um and um days that can be taken off so that policy for teaching staff and support staff that's 3212 and 4212 uh another policy that's recently changed is our policy 5517 where the school district issued student identification cards all students will have now uh going forward uh issued an ID card for a New Jersey statute um this will be for grades 7 to 12 out which will be required to have um also a phone number of The Suicide Prevention Hotline on the actual ID um as far as um strategic plan is concerned I know that's something that everyone's looking for uh forward to in the community thank you uh superintendent for sending out the information to the community um I'm hopeful that folks um from Montgomery are going to particip participate in those sessions um this is very important because this will allow us to kind of evaluate how we're doing from a school district perspective and really hear the voices of the community and what the community would like to see going forward there is a registration link if you go to the Montgomery Township School District website you will see that uh you can register and uh participate there will be three sessions one um in December one in January and one in February so we look forward to that also we had a guest at uh the meeting which I think took up a a significant amount of our discussion was um an attorney from Strauss Esme U that we invited to really have a discussion around some of the questions that have been coming up around policies and their meaning so the discussion centered around delineation between the three categories of policies whether they're mandated recommended or suggested um I was very pleased with my fellow Community U my fellow members board members to see that shra SME is going through an exercise right now uh where they're going to re-evaluate their policies and really assess um or at least give us a good understanding of what mandate means whether it's mandated by law whether it's a guideline State guideline or whether it's potentially a recommendation that way we can have a little bit more knowledge in regards to um those policies and how we should be handling those for our school dist right so I think that's very important uh I was very pleased about that and that drove the discussion around the policy 5756 which we've um discussed here before I know board members Pina brought it up uh at the last meeting as well and I think uh what was great is the history that was given to us from a perspective of the revisions of the policy and why it's been handled the way has been handled and the history from all the way from 2014 all the way to now um and I don't know if the community is aware but there's actually lawsuits happening right now across different um school boards um so the attorney recommended that we wait and assess what the outcome of the lawsuits will be prior to us making any significant adjustment or changes so uh that is the plan for our school district going forward um and that's it I don't know if anybody has anything else you join I don't know if you have anything else to add I just wanted to add thank you for M again so those dates specifically for our strategic planning thank you for sharing that information on Tuesday December 12th 2023 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. all three meetings will be held at the low Co school cafeteria the second meeting will be Wednesday January 31st 2024 and third final meeting will be Thursday February 22nd 2024 do board members have any questions question just staff attendance policy and there was no student attendance policy right just staff so it doesn't Madam president on the um in reference to the Strategic plans would you just go over the or Express the importance of the community members registering for that event oh yes and thank you SEC it is essential um we have contracted with the New Jersey school boys Association and they are the experts with quite a strong background and experience with providing support to the L to Boards of Education in the area of strategic planning which essentially is the identification um of goals um over a multi-year period and that provid direction efficiency you know productivity and drive for our school district so um it is very important that prior to the meeting that we are aware of the number of people who register to participate so that the New Jersey school boards Association you will be able to identify the appropriate number of individuals required the first session will consist of a state of the district address that will be delivered by superintendent BL and then at that first meeting we will randomization um format um will be executed um to place participants in groups and they will work in those groups for the second and third meeting the board of education's goal is limited and really sort of passive in this process we will absolutely be present um but will be more um in a role to audit and observe and to listen and to listen to uh the community and our staffing clergy and all of those members that we're looking forward to participate if people can only attend one or two of those sessions is it advisable to so D thank you that's a great question it is acceptable we know that people have busy lives especially our parents in the district after the children the school-based children um the preference would be obviously to attend Authority but if a Community member or even a staff or any participant is only able to attend one or two meetings that is acceptable I just wanted to um just clarify the policies on attendance since that was a question and and um the legislature was signed on July 3rd and it expended the allowable uses of Si time for School Employees so that definition has been expanded we question than you human resources Tuesday November and all confidential discuss to share at this time officers was delivered on Monday October 30 so now we reach the portion of our agenda for approval of the minutes it is recommended that theard of Education approve the minutes at the following Bo education meetings October 30th 23 executive session of business meeting and the amended January 24th 2023 call secret EXC my I moved at the Board of Education approve for mention meeting at this time so move second awesome roll call please for second yes Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss F yes Miss Harris yes missina yes Miss jigan yes Mr Todd yes Dr Spen yes thank you Mo awesome so the myship school district for ofeducation on P and now we will have our second and final public comment at this time and this will include new business for the Board of Education and the instruct read for the action agenda item remains applicable secretary assist open up new business to the public comment at this [Music] time and please community members for those of you that wish to speak if you may line up behind the podium so that the of education is aware that you will be submit a public J Church hello can you hear me speak like really close cuz I feel like I can you hear me now yes can um charge Montgomery um I was surprised that uh public comment was not permitted at the board meeting on October 30th before the high tops vote Community feedback is very important and there were many people on both sides of the issue prepared to make comments could you please advise why this opportunity was not made available also board members Carlson F and collector jenan were actively engaging about the high tax relationship during a discussion portion before the vote specifically f b an exceptional evaluation of the relationship and how it is not supporting the needs of the school district however the rest of the board members were silent and brought nothing to the table regarding the High House relationship nor added anything to the conversation it was only after the vote determinate the vendor relationship was voted down that board SP Spa spoke it would have been more beneficial to you and speak of their investigation into high tops during the discussion portion when other members board members could have addressed the issues they later raised after the vote to retain high tops there were mentions of logistical issues with respect to the agreement with high tops let me preface this by saying I work with vendor and other types of contracts every day the fact that there was no termination Clause there was only one more day of high tops training left in the agreement it's not a good enough reason to continue with them if they are there are concerns they could have been paid in full but not asked back that nothing was provided to show that high Toops did less than they were supposed to do actually Bo f data that they did not perform as they were supposed to do no other board member questioned or commented on her excuse meing we hear you okay than No Other Board member questioned or commented on her presentation at the time she gave it why not terminating the contract in the middle of the year is not good well that happens all the time again only one more day with high tles remaining our board members aware that you can renegotiate and amend contracts during the ter that breaking this contract looks bad what vendors would want to work with mon Township School District that doesn't work either high taxs was shown to have questionable practices no one could fault Montgomery Township School District for terminating a contract based on a breach again as long as they were paid there were no issues for future vendors if anything it would demonstrate to potential vendors that Montgomery Township School District is very diligent and holds agreements to the letter of the agreement so given these logistical reasons presented barriers to get out of the high tops agreement at this time is it right to assume that they will not be renewed and another vendor will be brought in in the future other um comments that were made high tops teaches teachers how to have empathy I find that statement quite insulting to teachers um that nothing in Project Veritas Hot Tops video is questionable that's quite debatable school should be a safe place where students are left and dy I totally agree with that but it's high Toops relationship in our school district the only Avenue for students to feel loved and valued uh board members Spence Wallace um mentioned I believe that four members of the board met with Lisa Shelby high tops could you please provide the Lees of the board members that met with her um Lisa Shelby told the group that her comments in the video were taken out of context would anyone expect any other response from her did you inquire what was the context also getting assurances from high Tops on high tops is not a reason to retain that I've also presented some questions at the last public uh comments at the last meeting I also emailed them and emailed them again to the board I have not had a comments back I won't go over the background on it but I'll just go through the questions again hopefully I can get answers tonight I think that there's no investigation need to be done um for president Spence Wallace can you help uh end the speculation about your doctorate degree just answer when and where you completed and where your dissertation can be found can you clarify your business personal employment relationship with and compensation receive from Ruckers University while you are president and board member of the monom Board of Education can you advise why you received a fee or honorarium exceeding $250 from the education Labor Relations Council in South Africa while you were president and a board member of the mon Board of Education and does the board now change it stand on nich rankings thank you it was de thank you your comments and questions areed clarify question I believe I heard I believe I heard uh the community members say that there was a breach with the contract with PS I don't I don't ever remember you saying theyve breached their contct cont is that so they didn't they never breached their contract okay to the line up so we know this town's been through quite a bit been ask CH this town has been through quite a bit and there's been a call for transparency and accountability part of this comes to our board president so with some investigation it has been noted that you have two master's degrees 2009 with education Administration and 2004 social work but your PhD was never confirmed yet you sit there with a doctor in front of your KNE would you like to explain this parliamentary procedure open public meeting is not a question and answer format I will not render any response about my personal life or personal achievements ever so that's a no because if you had it there would be no problem to explain it so everybody there on the board you support this your comments and questions are an Board of Education Christine Newman D I want to Echo Mr dillan's congratulations to haris Doctor Wallace government um running an upstanding positive uh Student Center campaign and winning decisively which I hope would put to all the Ridiculousness that we listen to at every meeting um I think if we're going to ask for dror Spence Wallace's CD that we should get it from everybody why are we picking on a I haven't seen anybody anything I Haven seen anybody's transcript I haven't seen anybody's grads I like it from all of you all just going to pick back W cuz I don't know why we're picking on her because somebody's spouse can't do research to find the paperwork seeking so everybody now over here is thinking there's no vict let's have it from everybody let's be fair okay um I also have a question about in our agenda it says new business it's bolded it's capitalized this is never a new business um I just wonder if that's something that can be enforced and we don't have to listen about South Africa or drag queens or big freeze or any of this stuff that waste our time week after week when it's more important to worry about student safety student mental health bullying things that are really important to students not this crap that gets brought up every month thank you thank you need to be bigger good evening everybody uh Francine pepper five Mystic Drive skilman New Jersey vice president Todd brought up something that I think the audience may be overlooking I'm sure he is not and I'm sure U Mr Trent the secretary is not and that's I think I heard him mentioned 18 Oprah requests that seems like an awful lot of o op requests and while I know that there are times where opr requests are really valid questions about information that people really need having seen the correspondence list in our board me in our board um agendas there I want to go back to something that former board member Rich spec said along several months ago it seems I I really feel I hope that this board is able to focus on education and I know I'm supposed to address you and not the people out there but um there's lot of frivolous things being said from this microphone the board and the superintendent and the staff of this District really need to be able to focus on the important things that are being done in our schools um it's wonderful that you received that grant for tutoring for the third fourth and fifth graders that is the kind of thing that we need to be focusing on as a district and celebrating and talking about at these meetings not frivolous opr requests that just seem to use up a lot of time and and money if we're talking about fiscal um about needing money over requests they may not seem like they cost a lot of money but when staff has to spend its time on those over requests and therefore doesn't have time to do other things that hurts the children in this district and um there is I don't have a solution I just wanted to come say I hope that the staff has the time to spend on the things it really needs to spend time on it thank you thank you will any other community members deliver new business public please approach the podium at this time for and skill um so I'm going to quickly address that uh since everybody's wasting their time up here and talking that obviously nobody should come to these meetings if that's take peanut gu people the comments themselves um so that being said I've been asking for months when am I going to be able to get what is actually in the kids library in the classroom simp question POS it time and time again and still I said I would do it at my own expense yet I still have no response it's been several months now this it's not a hard question let's look at something further since everybody likes the high in subterfuge here okay so there's all these things about hi and this happens and that happens so there was a little incident about two weeks ago when there was um possibly a gun brought to school so oh yeah no parents didn't get notices oh my God that is shocking so what happened was uh it was reported uh and I had firstand account because I got a call from my daughter saying there could be a possibly a gun so was the school put on lock down where parents made aware that it no kids went to their classrooms and eventually an email was sent to the teachers over the loudspeaker please check your emails so are we taking safety because obviously education is not the priority here so is Ed is safety priority why didn't we get notice so I'll be oooing that and we will see about getting that information because what excuse is that there's zero excuses so if someone came in here and this was a classroom you would say oh it's okay let that child why was there that immediate police involvement why was there that immediate lockdown why weren't the parents notified and instead we got a call oh it wasn't that it was something else well I think my daughter's old enough to know when someone says gun versus someone says axe so either the principal's lying or she's blind or the or whoever so why are we don't have transparency still so we T all this hi stuff but we don't know we don't know what's going on and our rated movies you need permission they shouldn't be seen penises in classrooms because that's exactly what's happening you ask for permission for a parent trip you ask for permission for everything else but not for movies you don't get parents aware of any of these things okay we'll see how this works out Thank you new business to the Board of Education again planning to deliver approach the Podi thank you so much for your cooperation for good evening everyone I'm Darren Wallace U I've been a resident two years but I have a son who just graduated last year Zelda Spence Wallace and I Dr Zelda Spence Wallace have five children three of them which went to school here I was hoping the police would be here because I first wanted to thank them for keeping her safe for walking her to her car before and after um I was amaz when I look around and saw all the things that are WR from people who I I love I have made on my second adopted home I have nothing but good things to say about the education my children received here I said we have five children and I've got degrees from Dartmouth buers Syracuse uh one is also Harvard alone and my little guy still trying to figure way out so I I think that Montgomery uh as well um Zelda is not even on social media so she's not going to answer your question she's a private person you got the right one if you ask me I I'll I met Zelda in 88 at after I graduated the cafe short C Marine Bo but Zelda her dad was a secret service officer and AR radi Administration her family were Republicans she also a track Hall of Fame uh inductee in Puna High School uh she did a rers degree or undergraduate Ruckers and she has her her master's and doctorate at King now I'm also get to talk about I go to Chile who I'm amazed got so much fly from someone who I thought would protect her someone who's a former police officer I you know instead he chooses to come here and scowl at people it's amazing like I said I have nothing but SP for law enforcement I was hoping to thank for uh but people who I I love who are this friends with on Facebook are unfriended today so I don't have to name you to talk you'll figure it out when you get there thinking that because I'm not with some somehow I'm her enemy and I'm going to look at you like my page and scan for pictures as they did to my daughter but I tell you when I did I did share right this one of my favorite pictures and I'm amaz because we were friends I remember when C Church broke her ankle at Disney and Zelda pushed her around a wheelchair and if I make this up somebody can come and and clarify you know and then other thing I said that someone would attack CH this is my other favorite I I blotted out people weren't involved this is a beautiful woman young lady Lizzy church at the top of a pyramid and look who's that holding her up that's my daughter chilling tell I would defend the churches with my life have a nice day p [Music] is there any person who has not deliver new business that would like to do so please do so now regarding the safety of our school um about what happened with the gun incident it was a gun question was was it real or not but my questions are regarding the qu it wasn't G can you hear me now it was a gun it was just a question if was real or fake I was told from the phone call from the school that it was a fake ax which is not what my daughter said she said she saw a gun and it looked real to her so much so she was distressed the whole thing that's a really conc Factor because if it wasn't she walk back to her class with a potential person with a gun in the school it was very frightening for her and I was proud of her for recoring it but regarding this is there what is the protocol for lockdown when you have a situation like that are the police to be called if there is a gun even if is a f gun on the premisis because what I understand from other school districts is that they would a police report given the seriousness of in case there was another incident that led to something then you would have dropped the ball and then are parents notified that there's a lock down with this kind of a situation so they're my three question thank what's the date of this alleged incident what and what school what did is this alleged in take place Montgomery High School Montgomery High School and it was the Thursday or the Friday before Halloween Thursday or Friday before when Halloween Halloween I have it all time did not bring it today but my on your phone and on that that would be 26 or 27 I'm not sure thank you for answering question but the vice principal and one of the counselors and she met with the counselor multiple times dur the day she was that shooken up she your daughter who's a high school student so this is I think a real serious matter and that I would like to know thank for bring that to the ofeducation follow I just have a couple of followups um on the Oprah question I'm not sure if I understand if the number of um uh email correspondents corresponds to oprra requests I don't see the correlation exactly there maybe that could be explained as far as the breach with high tops I didn't say anyone said it was breached I said that the data put forth indicated there was a breach um for someone to come up here and talk about people not being able to speak fre or you things up over and over again I didn't hear anyone talk about South Africa or or um drag queens until you brought that up but anyway I can't address the public I'm sorry um however when you say that people who come up here speak crap in the same sentence you talk about bullying I think that's tells a lot about a person um and as far as when it comes to uh people coming up here and talking about my personal life I keep personal life out of the board business I don't uh I I think board business is board business if I come up here I talk about board business um I would hope other people would do the same um and keep my family who have not participated in any board business by coming here and speaking or writing to the board they should be kept out of it and I would appreciate that privacy um and I also thank Dr Spence Wallace that you you will not speak on your own personal uh matters as being a doctor or not but having other people come speak for you is kind of disingenuous so I don't know why you just can't get that answer if you have to put the material that you're a doctor in your um in your uh campaign materials in the past it's a simple thing I I know you got it I just wish you would say it so that the jure could just stop thank you thank you hi I'm on I've never been here before I thought it just one time for three minutes but since we didn't come back originally no one asked me to come I knew I was going to wait until after the election and I'm so proud of the Montgomery Community for voting in the champions in I don't Landslide the next person was a th000 points so I wanted to wait I didn't tell anyone I was coming no one asked me to come you I'm father you know if you have a daughter who's being attacked personally as a man you going to step up if you going to have other grown men try to intimidate your daughter you're going to step up so that's what I'm doing today I'm stepping up I have a bit of a mil sense of humor so I'm going to make it funny I love everyone in this community when I moved to this community in 2009 there was infighting don't talk to this one don't talk to that one I remember going to dinner with people I remember going to the church's graduation uh b as a house so I'm not disparaging you but I'm going to speak for my daughter Chile who people are challenging her uh her how she's raised she's she's out of pocket she's whatever I'm just a father who's going to protect his so that's why I'm here and I want everyone to know I don't know why people do what they do I had to convince Zelda that it's it's politics it's not personal but it feels personal when you thought you were friends with people uh my son I have a young son a year younger than the church boy will great kid they would spend time on football prac I coached 50% of this this year's graduating football team they'll tell you hey coach Wallace you know I came right in from Playfield Jersey City Edison to Montgomery and I bought what I knew I could bring to this community I know how to talk to kids Zelda is a lifelong educator I think you guys are lucky to have her she's bringing back here but things feel very personal I was scared for for for a while I don't know why she does it I just wanted to come and congratulate her congratulate to town for just Banning together and doing what's I think is right everyone had just different opinions that's fine you know you don't have to hate doesn't have to be nasty you don't have to scan a young lady's uh Facebook page to to bring up pictures of something that I see more skimpy dress on the beach so that's why I'm here and I have no ha in the car but I have no fear now keep coming back or should I come back again thank you new business public comment to the board of education is now closed thank you everyone please respond to any questions that you're able to do so at this time and I do know why you're looking for your not I do know that will um about yes with the high school principal swiftly question iated all the questions and comments of education and I will not ever render a response to a question about my personal life that's not the purpose of my board of education responsibilities my focus is on governing a high quality education um in this school district along with my PE setting the tone of a supportive work environment for our talented staff watching the parent staff relationship grow by way of efficacious communication my position is that I don't have any more or less Authority than any other active board board member save to designate committee assignments and to cheer these open public meetings we operate as a single governing body and because our bylaws in best practice through the state require implementing progress rules or the Parliamentary process during our open public meeting facilitation our Board of Education deliberates and we take action and the majority decision I don't personalize this responsibility my personal life choices are my own not related to my board of education duties that's not termining to this meeting nor is it conductive quiet relevant or line to the purpose of this meeting which is to address the business of the district the public has spoken via their vote and thank you but the state has required to be a Bo of Education member has been satisfied by each and every AC of Bo of Education member sitting at this dat voting and non voting the board of education is and remains focused on the quality of the public education my we look forward to hearing questions about the G program closing the achievement Gap or how we plan to implement the uh the hit room and another shout out to miss Borland and her amazing team for a job well done there I don't believe it's acceptable to waste our time on matters that don't directly impact this public school district and I disagree with the community memb comment and request to ask for everyone educational degrees no one is interested in seeing those and it's not a requirement our time here is valuable it's precious it's limited and we have business to address and that's what our focus is you'll need to find another platform by which to facilitate any political or personal or whatever type of agenda we could use Volunteers in this District absolutely time recess tutoring the jsia is a need of officials of the various sports that they regulate and finally thanking this church for the email if you ever feel un safe when we're sitting in these meetings and after consultation with our board secretary and our board attorney weour enage you to file a complaints at our local police department thank you for email [Music] communication now we're going to on our item I we V on action to approve AC agenda items 1.1 so did I hear a second on that I said second okay great the is not for discussion um so I just um so there was several vendors that put proposals in it like that the state they so those were were ones that came that my question I guess is obviously Kelly education all Michigan their service right the attemp service can both of you talk sorry I have to um verify that I just think it's the same name okay so just because the some of the other vendors were local and I know that we have to you know go with our list that's part of it especially when it's you know something so large um it seemed like there was just go back to it it's I can speak on it as well since sure so we return hillsb has uh Advanced education it it has three tiers there 1:1 2:1 and 3:1 and the 3:1 rate is about comparable to the other and then the KE education rates are different for major certified teachers where we are going to use at least it a add a minimum substitute have a minimum New Jersey substitute license right so I'm just I want to make sure we're making best choice for the students as far as which vender and not just the cheapest no sure so first off I'll say it definitely isn't the cheapest um when the list came out from the state before we even received anything back Miss Borland had already um highlighted that one the one she wanted she has worked with Personnel from there before some of the rfps that you see returned they did not meet our criteria so when we put out an RFP we asked we list what exactly what we want now since um you know every state everybody in the state or the state listed all the different venders we could use a lot of these RPS and these companies are just throwing them back at at everybody and it may not act exactly fit what we were looking for there's three of them there that we could we weren't even going to consider because they didn't mean the criteria what we wanted and then when it came down to is yes it was the cheapest but it also kind of worked out that that was the one that um yes that was the one she's had a relationship with she felt comfortable with and that's why she wanted to move forward with that one thanks discussion point I have a question and probably because just I saw that item item 3.7 is appointment of record of school Mony I have not seen the the that function before in our district if I miss it or this is a new app sure so when you see the treasures report when it comes during the monthly financials um that's the that person does right there we call them rent our monies because it's a stien position of someone who's in the high school so it's our Treasurer and in order for us to pay and that to be more approved and they will be on that April reorganization when we do the school reorg okay thank you question Mr Carlson yes m al yes Miss I approve everything except for item 3.3 which I abstain from understood Miss Harris yes Miss Vina yes Miss Jan I will obstain 33 yes sir yes Mr to yes Dr Spence BS yes thank you all motions car outstanding we thank everyone again for participating Township School District Bo of Education public meeting this Tuesday 2023 happying everyone of your family MERS at one of surprise this evening so with no further OB enjoy [Music] yourid all in favor Happy Thanksgiving