all right good evening everyone welcome to the April 30th Tuesday April 30th 2024 Board of Education meeting the time now is 7:30 at this time I entertain any motion to reconvene an open session been proper movement second to reconvene in open session all those in favor say I all those pull same right exension hearing none roll call please Mr tra yes Mr Carlson M all here M beac here M van Harman here Miss Harris here missa Jernigan here miss minina Mr Todd pres we have a thank you we'll announce with the flag please stand ALG to the flag of the United States of America to the repic indice thank you we'll now have our MC SD student report student representative report Miss Rob good evening Montgomery this April has been a great month for the students of Montgomery High School April is autism acceptance month and Arab American heritage month and MHS students have been fostering a spirit of inclusion and respect throughout this season mhs's students are also wishing a peaceful time for all who have observed religious holidays that Passover in E this month earlier in the month the MHS band and Orchestra had the phenomenal chance to travel to aahu Hawaii during the trip students got the opportunity to play at Pearl Harbor honoring those who lost their lives on December 7th 1941 students also had the opportunity to go in many fun nights explore Lo beaches truly taking the Montgomery baseball team took a rewarding trip to Myrtle Beach over spring break during which both the junior varsity and varsity teams volunteered to the local food bank both teams spent hours of their time volunteering at the low country food bank happing meals for individuals in the community face food insecurity our spring Sports seasons are in full swing and we are wishing our student athletes the best of luck congratulations to MHS seniors Claire long and Max Mahoney for being named our 2024 Skyland conference scholar ath this month MHS senior Victoria Leopold earned our school our River certification having partnered with the Watershed Institute Victoria earned this certification by completing and having MHS teach lessons on water quality water conservation native habitats and by organizing a stream C of Outreach to the public following significant flooding this is a wonderful example of our students initiative to help make our community A Greener and Greener and cleaner place MHS also welcomed a new addition to our campus in the form of Castro boxes a Castro is a small hop likee bird that is currently identif I to threaten a threatened species in our area these boxes provide a home to these animals who are being threatened due to the loss of their habitats photography teacher Miss palich has been leading the initiative in partnership with the friends at Hope Valley open his SP recently adding a spy camera to check on the progress of the Cals the information gathered from these birds will be reported to the state and hopefully information on how many of the five eggs currently will hatch last week the MHS jumpstart Club hosted a successful Dino day fundraiser Mr M Mrs tobo and Coach ciso could all be seen on different days during un lunch wearing inflatable dinosaur costumes students then have the opportunity to vote with their Wallets on who wore it best and all the money raised goes to fund College scholarships for M govern students iess the South Asian cultural Club also known as sensation hosted an amazing showcase last week with tradition traditional Indian dances singing skits and Fun For All We also recently celebrated teer child the workday which two students and the future educators of America Club hosted a funfill day for children of staff and faculty members overall we're looking forward to a great month of Joy success with the upcoming hackathon and Main marking mental health awareness month thank you all right thank is Rob Mr Trent yes thank you thank you Mr Todd so today is the public hearing for the 2024 2025 budget I'm happy to say for the board this is pretty much the same presentation we had in March because after the board meeting the next day I submitted it to the county um I went through the county review the county superintendent review and they accepted it as we had submitted it um I will go through the slides just for anybody who missed or if there was any questions um so the budget development process started in October uh Administration worked on it through January and March 19th what I was referring to is when the board saw the tenative budget as a presentation for the first time voted yes for a submission the submission date was March 20th the next date up on the calendar is today which is the public hearing and we are going to accept it um as a review the 2024 2025 tax levy was uh increased by 2% that was the max allowable uh by law without any other adjustments the board did not take any other adjustments that would increase the taxes greater than 2% um so our tax L is raised from 87.3 million to 89 million um all these slides will be available on the website tomorrow as well as the user friendly budget so um tomorrow morning around 8:00 I'll be on the website so everybody can do at that point um our total recommended budget as you can see for 2024 2025 is4 million that's what was approved in March that's what we're approving tonight it is a decrease we talked about um the budgeted fund balance the board made the decision which is responsible to bring the fund balance down a bit plus we are losing the Esser funds that the districts have been using in their budgets for the past few years that does not exist for this budget that leads to some of the reduction be see right there um the major sources of revenue local taxes I think most people know state aid um which we did receive a good increase in in state aid and then some of the reserves we have capital reserve un reserve and fund BS so you can see the pie chart obviously most of our Revenue distribution is made up from local taxes 84% and then the other uh big part of we see is the St these are our Appropriations uh you can see the indication of how they increased or decreased into this year's budget um the biggest drivers of our Appropriations are going to be instruction you see regular instruction special instruction and also benefits um you can see also some of the other of the pie chart the operation and maintenance of the the plant the facility security all that as well as well as Support Services um speaking of the major drivers of our budget uh salaries make up 61.5% benefits take up 21.3% those are predetermined costs for the most parts so when we start building a budget that's you know we're already starting with 82.8% already allocated uh here's the additions that the the school is including this year in the budget five pair of professionals a transportation nurse a computer technicians uh two psychologist for the star program a bcba teacher autism teacher and two new Safety and Security coordinators um projects we have projects in the work many projects we have security improvements that we've plan to do we have playground equipment upgrades we're going to looking at an upgraded uh Montgomery High School sign on front I think that one's run its course a bit um we're looking at upgrading the facility and Transportation uh facilities and then the big one that's hanging over still are the rod grants um which provided uh 40% state to match our 60% we're going to be moving forward with some of those this year so this is new from last month these are the Motions you're looking at in the agenda today there are six of them as they pertain to the budget uh the first is the number we spoke about the 11 14,264 40 that is the total proposed budget um the amount that we're raising for taxes is 9,421 15 that was on our previous slide but that is the breakdown between Montgomery and Rocky Hill which is a calculation that is provided by the state that is given us bu of software um that I did double check as well with the the County VA just to make sure but it is it is correct so it's it's in the software we're good to go there the amount to be raised for taxes the reason there's disparity there is we have pre-b merger and post de uh mer post sorry pre merger debt and post merger debt and Montgomery Bears most of the pre merger debt so that's why you see the discrepancy there um this was not in the last motion or there was not a motion in March sorry the County DA said I have to have that in there all it does is indicate that they're not using the healthcare adjustment this year for the budget um so whether you use it or not you have to have the budget in there um and then the last two motions are the maintenance reserve and the capital reserve uh this is a very typical motion it's done every year it is to move monies from the maintenance reserve and cap Reserve into the budget this is our one chance to do that without special permission um this money usually goes towards upgrading facilities upgrading security features uh maybe replacing equipment for grounds uh meetting trucks things like that so that's really what that money is for um there any questions board thank you any questions right fair enough thank you superintendent good evening everyone on tonight's agenda we have for approval a new director of special services as you may know for the last two years we have been working with an interim director and interims are only allowed to work for two school years and we have secured a 10e track person she's here to tonight I just wanted to introduce her to everyone Miss Michelle jimer board good evening everybody just want to say thank you for welcoming me tonight um I'm very excited uh to be approved and really take over the lead again of um here at Montgomery to really work with all the stakeholders and all the Learning Community to continue the great work that's going on so thank you it's nice to meet everybody April has been a big science month throughout the district at Orchard Hill the school celebrated the solar eclipse in style with a schoolwide viewing on April 8th first graders completed special projects involving ladybugs and they anxiously await the hatching of their baby chicks adding to the life science lessons butterflies are expected to visit the kindergarten very soon Orchard Hill is celebrating autism acceptance month rather than focusing on differences um that we have been focusing on opportunities for students to celebrate their similarities with each other theme days included magnificent mind Monday and sensory friendly Thursday the Montgomery Elementary School PT PTA with the support from the Greater Community hosted International night on Friday April 26th for Orchard Hill and Village families it was a beautiful celebration of the diversity in our schools guests enjoyed a cultural performance showcase visited classrooms to learn about various countries and customs and enjoyed an international menu provided by Food Truck vendors fourth graders recently visited the state house as part of their social study Civics unit and participated in an incredible seeing ey dog assembly which started the schoolwide fundraisers pet pennies for puppies thanks to the work of Miss Glover K4 math supervisor Village was also able to safely see the solar eclipse after learning all about the eclipses in the classroom the Montgomery shade tree committee hosted our 38th annual Arbor Day with presentations in all third grade classrooms each student received an overcup oak to plant at home on April 24th Rising fifth graders visited LMS during the day and their parents were able to visit the school in the evening this Wednesday Rising thir graders from Orchard Hill will visit Village and their parents will join us also in the same evening these programs assist with the easing of transitions between the buildings and build excitement for the upcoming year LMS is proud of their school's produ production of finding Neo the weekend was a huge success for the LMS Community the students provided a great entertainment for the community and dazzled the audience at every show the overall sentiment is it was better than broadway thanks to the expert planing an amazing generosity of the LMS PTO the second student Dance of the year the glow dance was a huge success once again students attended in droves and danc the night away LMS is extremely grateful for the tremendous support from the PTO at yous the last couger care day took place the theme was Allin with Wellness inclusion and self- advocacy the guest presenter shared his message of being Allin with our thoughts and actions within our community at ums there was a wonderful unified week of inclusion which ignited empathy and embraced diversity included a student assembly and themes for each day the student council hosted the special guest take your child to workday and members of the ums staff LED activities throughout the day throughout the district each school did that it was wonderful so here we go for the high school and I'm not overlapping you not some exciting news from the science olymp our MHS science Olivia team is ranked number one in the state of New Jersey and has secured a coveted spot in the National Science Olympiad tournament at Michigan State University next month in addition to the amazing team they have exciting individual competitors who are competing at the highest levels senior student arjent Sharma was one of the 2024 New Jersey state champion MHS Science Olympiad captains he is an accomplished chemist and will be continuing his education next year at the University of Pennsylvania's Viper program which invites 30 of the top upen admittees each year Viper students cultivate a comprehensive understanding of foundational science and its practical engineering applications graduates of this program are awarded a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in engineer ing from the School of Engineering and applied sciences while I at Montgomery high school arjent attended the Washington University chemistry tournament and plays third overall in the individual section and plays first on the chemistry exam it was forensic applications of chemistry his team jph chemistry Olympiad 2 plays first in the team round first in the team round and third in the breaking bombs exam Liv scored rapid fire format and first place overall at the ACs chemistry Olympiad ARG with the 2024 North Jersey medalist and a 2024 National chemistry Olympiad the results are still pending Junior student s pranic is a key member of the M High School Science Olympia team while not excelling in competitions outside the school he is often found to be working with MHS math instructors as a student learning facilitator and advanced mathematics courses s is a 2023 fals ma physics Olympiad science semifinalist and was selected as one of the 20 students in the US to participate from May 31st to June 11th 2024 at the US physics team training camp at the University of Maryland Junior student Max Shing is one of the 2024 New Jersey state champion MHS Science Olympiad Captain he is also one of the 40 students in the US invited to the US Earth science Olympiad training camp for the US biology Olympiad we had two Montgomery High School juniors who have earned semifinal exam recognition levels of academic Excellence Arna padmavati and kendi langang so awesome job for all of those students so proud of them report thank you all right thank you we'll now transition into committee and representative reports MTA have anybody from Mr go good evening board members community members administrators uh faculty and staff who are here we'll be watching the videos later good evening and um just want to share some of the good things happening around the MTA and our schools um um we had the honor of uh promoting Earth day earlier in April which actually still in April still hanging on there on the last day uh by giving out some basil Planters at the upper middle school so in the back parents and and children are invited to just drive around and get a free planter and plant that for Earth Day we continue with our virtual read aloud series uh in April there was a science related theme about finding a cure for malaria a real inspiring book um about the science in may we have two upcoming ones one is about the Olympus Olympic medalist uh Nathan Chen and another a story of a grandmother of juneth uh opal Le and what it means to be free so another interesting and inspiring read there uh and all of these anyone participating in the virtual read does actually get a copy of the book that we deliver to the buildings as well and we have our biggest event coming up I stole a little poster of it first um which is Mary Poppins this is our annual music from the heart event um where we have numerous numerous uh staff members children community members um administrators uh participate and it's all for a great cause to put on a wonderful show for the community but also to raise scholarship funds for our graduating seniors and we'll be presenting those at pretty soon with the rest of their scholarships for our graduating seniors we've been doing it for over 20 years now and have we'll give the tally later on in the upcoming board meeting but thousands and thousands of dollars over the years um It's a Wonderful cause that we as the MTA and I'll get the new name for the what used to be the band parents Association it's the MHS instructional music parents Association um so it's quite a helpful but we partner up and we give out scholarships um to our high school seniors so it's taking place at Montgomery High School in the Performing Arts Center wonderful Auditorium you can get tickets online by going to MF mf. lotus.com and you can also purchase tickets at the door um I don't usually hope for rain but usually a rainy Saturday will bring out more people because games are canceled um and brings out a full house and we really do want a full house to sell all those tickets and give out more money because every penny that we raise goes towards those scholarships okay so it's a wonderful thing there are two shows so if you can't make one you can make the other one at 2 p.m. and one at 7:30 p.m. so you don't want to miss it's a fun day to come out with family and friends um and it's a big draw because you get to usually see your children who have been in schools for a while get to see people from all over the district performing um singing dancing and I can guarantee that you will not see me singing and dancing so that's that's a plus um but you'll see some very very talented people that are doing it and I'm glad that we have them otherwise you might be forced to see me do it so those are all the good things going on uh have a good night thank you and what is the date of that it is May 11th it's a Saturday a rain day right it's rain day all right thank you all right thank you Mr Doan we'll now move into board member delegate representative reports do we have any this evening so I can start with the Somerset County School Board associations that meeting took place on April 15 uh it was wonderful to see the Somerset County teacher of the year being named a middle school teacher from North planfield uh who made a lovely speech about her contribution to uh the educational system as well as uh what was memorable from that meeting was certifications and Milestones it was amazing to see the amount of people that contribute to the educational system for like a really long time I think that was 125 years and 120 years so um very impressive and the last most important business was that the election and installation of Somerset County board of directors delegates and alternates were finalized and uh and selected so that's the update from that and I also have an update from Somerset County Educational Services Commission and can I interrupt you for one second yeah on the um the suet County uh School Board Association I think Anya has being a little remiss and um a little humble she was appointed second vice president of the S County School Board Association thank you so much cred credit is Du thank you I appreciate that um on the Somerset County Educational Service Commission um it was a pretty short meeting for a change I think our first one that J and I attended was quite extensive but budget was in the topic so that's expected I think the contract negotiations have finally um have been completed um there is uh some investment being made in the policy which I'm glad to see being on the policy committee and trying to drive uh Improvement in that place so um they're actually going to automate that process for them and then final budget was uh officially approved but that was the gist of the meeting that's all thank you I if you don't mind can you just give a brief overview of what the Educational Services Commission does with their purposes yeah so educational uh Services Commission is essentially a an school that serves uh some of the children that perhaps are um unable to function within the standard school system so often um kids from different schools are being directed into that facility for educational purposes what's really wonderful about um Educational Service Commission is that they really uh try to drive um a lot of different skill sets so if you go to a vot vot tech school you kind of get certificates for different aspects of things if you're interested in cosmetology or engineering or whatever it is you walk out of there with some um with some sort of certificate this particular school really focuses on bringing kids into having giving them ability to function in the society after they leave uh the school district not only education but also giving them some skill set uh so they can be successful actually example was given of a young man um who in the mechanical Workshop is able to walk out of there and get a job at at one of the local tire places based on the skills that he has learned there right so uh also the um superintendent and the assistant superintendent are fantastic uh folks really investing in um now cosmetology room for young women that they can learn certain skills and it's it's really um it's really warm and and nice to see that a lot of those people either grew up together they work together at some point they have some sort of connection and they um help each other out to make sure that schools like this become successful and kids have the most opportunity um available to them so it's it's a pleasure serving on that permission thank you member frankco R yes for municipal Alliance so may is mental health awareness month so the municipal Alliance in partnership with the Montgomery Township School District is conducting um a round table conversation on Thursday May 2nd from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Montgomery upper middle school media center and the topic is on screens and stress understanding the digital impact on children's well-being the discussion about impacts of smartphones social media and SP time on the mental health of our children learn more about what we can do to mitigate the risks and Foster a healthier relationship with technology the presenters that evening would be Cory Delgado Mar cardi Scott Puda Stephanie lachenauer and members of the youth action board um there will also be uh table resource tables and mental health professionals available prior to the event for people who are seeking additional information so that's Thursday May 6:30 to 8:30 at the Montgomery upper middle school media center are there any other board member delegate representative reports for member D hi speaking on behalf of MPA uh there was a meeting on April 17th which was uh held virtually uh as a committee it sounds like there's about to be uh quite a bit of turnover in terms of the tene people that have been on that committee because of their um children graduating um but there was a real cry um and a real agcy to um strengthen the lines of communication between SEPTA M SEPTA excuse me and the rest of the um the district um they feel that there needs to be uh decent representation in terms of um teaching uh uh teaching staff um that can come to the meetings that can be a voice uh and can really connect and SE up with the rest of the school and so I said that I would um certainly follow on that lead and and make sure that the rest of the board was privy to that idea that they very much want a voice want to participate fully in the district um and feel that um there is a lack of representation at this point um so looking for volunteers to really step in and uh take leadership there um much needed they are obviously a really important part of our uh district and we need to make sure that they are well represented can I add on on that just sure um the uh they also hosted the um spring planing dance for our our um uh through MPA it was uh held of the Elks and it was a lovely event I think that we all want there to be more turnout but a few of um the PA professionals um did come and and it was really very enjoyable to see uh students dancing and having a great time with some of their beloved teachers um and I know that MPA also wants to reiterate that they have uh funds for teachers who are part of the mpa and so they could then U apply for grant opportunities um and theyes really want to open whatever doors they can for participation open communication um so I I help decoration well done are there any more board representative reports all right hearing none we'll move into board committee reports first up assessment curriculum and committee well member D thank you um sorry when we met we met on April 19th um and that was both uh virtual and in person and uh we very quickly went through the upcoming uh dates for the njsla testing uh happening at different times uh starting at VH V uh on May 6th to May 10th LMS May 13th to May 17ths May May 9th 10th 15th and 16th and at um MHS on April 29th and 30th and May 1st and 2nd um it will take a few months to get those results um and Dr Young will report on those results in the fall when they commit uh the Equitable instruction walkthrough took place uh in conjunction with content area supervisors um they went on classroom visits uh in all five schools and they focused on the crosswalk between udl and Equity areas of strength areas to improve uh and next steps regarding teacher practices in the classroom uh the overall learning environment and levels of Engagement were discussed um at the culmination of each School visit the district is continuing to grow in the individualization of learning creating a structure that supports student e efficacy and finding ways to help students develop learning stamina uh next uh Miss Heather P Pino uh had a wonderful presentation about the star mental health Intervention Program expansion um that is currently in place um in the sorry in the high school and it is looking to have an impact at LMS ands um there is a comprehensive presentation on schoolboard.com view that presentation so that you can have a comprehensive of understanding of the program and that was it are there any questions just a question on njsla testing yes shelle I know parents are wondering is that mandatory testing for school district it is okay and then on the walkth through are there any findings yet or is that something that you're going to be reviewing later on uh they did not report specifically on findings they just um basically talked about what they did when they walked through all five schools and what they were looking for um but they were not specific in terms of you know areas of strength and areas to improve so I can certainly go back and ask for more clarification that would be interesting y just on the star mental health program I'm not I know that there's a presentation but is there just a quick synopsis you can give us of the purpose of the program for the school and how it got started I cannot speak to how it got started yeah um you know I really ask you to go thank you I was not around start that was not part of the presentation sorry district is we assess all of our programs including our special education programs ago can you hear me now yes responsibilities is to constantly assess our programs for students and in the area of special education years ago we found that we were sending a lot of students to added District placements that had more mental health needs as opposed to a specific learning disability or a physical disability so we looked at other programs in other buildings and at that time we contracted with effective School Solutions which we currently still have in the middle school and we we adopted that program we contracted with them for several years about four or five years ago we decided that we can have our own program and we didn't need to Contract Services and we could service more children in doing so and have more flexibility with students the main goal is when students go to a school that is specific to a disability the goal there would be their mental health would be the priority in the academic second we felt that we needed to give the children the opportunity because as we all know any kind of emotional disability may not have anything to do with your academic achievement so when you go to spec certain schools for students with disabilities very specific schools the academics are maybe a one- siiz fiz all when we did when we had the ESS program come to us the students were able to go to their AP classes go to maybe resource room depending on their academic ability and be with their friends which is the priority so the star program took over the ESS program and it's just our staff as opposed to a contracted service we continueed to have ESS at m at the middle schools because then Co occurred and when we were looking to switch over we had a transition and so we continue to contract with ESS it's a great program but we now looking to move our star program down into to lower and upper middle school and then have a plan to then bring it to Orchard and Village as needed thank you I appreciate that I had one follow up on that you said on that there were no reporting uh results on the walk through but they they told you what they were looking for what what were they looking for so just in general areas of strength areas to improve upon and then sort of you know how to um uh support teaching staff in the classroom yeah but I will certainly go back to them and ask for specific an examples of any other questions for board member D I have one more question actually for Mary um would you be able to provide more information about the new vendor that appeared on our agenda the social Institute um I guess I I got the question from the community and I have no answer to it sure to I'm sorry to social program that is on the board yeah thank you for asking me iead to time I wrote something down so the social Institute is an educational resource that Montgomery Middle Schools have been using to address the growing social and emotional needs of the students TSI as its initials um provide schools with a platform called win at Social that gives gamified lessons to schools to address important seal and character Ed programs ums has used these lessons throughout the school year to address timely or developmentally appropriate lessons in a fun way the platform also provides them with the opportunity to use technology in the classrooms to present research hold discussions and collect input in the style of a game additionally TSI gives resources to share with parents about the many areas of social media and how to support young adults as they grow into adults in the world of tech thank you any other questions all right hearing nine operations facilities and finance committee Board number three so the operations finance and Facilities commit committee met on Friday 20 April 26 the committee met Drew Bersy the district's new supervisor of maintenance grounds Drew has been evaluating the Vance needs of our grounds and buildings since he started he prays the commitment and eagerness to help of our maintenance employees Drew's Hands-On leadership style inspires team building and commitment to quality of work he actually just uh Works around the the grounds and he's helping everyone on the ground just to fix things so he's very handsome um Drew has identified projects that require immediate attention for example his theme is working on addressing the issued with periodical sink and toilet outages in our schools our grounds also he also took care of our grounds he prepared well for for the upcoming season next Dwayne Washington Transportation super supervisor reported on the school bus safety our buses recently underw the state safety inspection the safety bus inspection is done twice a year 1 in May 1 in September 52 buses were inspected and eight buses had to be reinspected our district mechanic prop the address the identified bailes and All Buses pass the inspection Dwayne also shared with the committee that recent evaluation of the internal operating procedures identified an opportunity for improve his team worked on putting in place new standard operating procedures to ensure proper and safe operations of the transportation department the business administration administrator confirmed that the budget was reviewed and accepted as submitted by the county the budget is to be voted on tonight and it's the same as Pro as the proposed budget presented last month the committee discuss pending and plan facilities projects the new Orchard Hill playground project is moving forward as plan the administration is evaluating options to address their Ro leaks in high school because currently the soral panels on the roof make the proper repairs impossible the administration is evaluating the terms of the soral panel Le to do the cost benefit analysis of terminating the leas pram the maintenance trailer used by the maintenance employees have been the commissioned the employees have been provided a great room and a nice meeting space room in the business administration building the transportation trailer is being evaluated and the administration is gathering information about the cost of repair versus the cost of replacement the ba shared the results of the evaluation of the v card which is the prescription management benefit um the district subscribed to the evalu the evaluation was prompted by inquiries submitted by the employees recent changes implemented in health insurance industry resulted in high scrutiny and more frequent requests for additional information and documentation from the doctors and the insurance that of course creates a lot of concerns to all of us they insured in all Industries experience the inconvenience of gathering additional documents to receive insurance coverage The District administration diligently evaluated submitted inquiries and concluded that Ben card offers the best for the district prescription coverage any questions Sor just um a clarifying question can you uh explain the funding allocation for the non-public technology and the nonpublic security Aid what is that like 3 ah sorry let me give you more clar it's 3.12 thank you I speak that thank you as part of our uh funding we have nomal schools so approved state approved nonpublic schools that are in Montgomery Township or Rocky Hill we get a portion from the government of monies they just go through us we have to approve it meet with them go through but it's their money and they have to use it appropriately and we're almost like The gatee Keeper of the money so every year we beet with them for their security money their nonpublic money their nurs money there's a whole bunch of ones that fall under the ieda grant so there's textbooks right got it okay thank you and we have two right the monor and the wal School in mon that are actually in mon just from the state the St thank you thank you and I had a followup clarification looking at the uh the bus failures for a few those they were they were tested on 320 and then they were retested on 320 so does that mean that the inspections happened down here or do they do they bring them somewhere I was curious how they how they got failed and then retested the same day and passed again that would be a question did you say one more time you're asking okay ask the re inspection of the buses our grounds or we had to drive those buses for for reinspection to another location drive lesses to for reinspection to another so they inspect go here the inspections are done in our garage yes okay they're not being driven any I have a question for f you um spoke about the maintenance grw looking into the schools um bathrooms and um that just made me think about the email that we received right for spring break from our high school principal uh talking about the high school BS in particular so could you just speak a little bit more about what is the m screw looking at um in the district yes so we've been talking about um the state of our bathrooms in all schools which is lmss high school because um there have been reports of um Ares for different reasons some of them were because of the vandalism some of them were because they were the BS were out because of the most so what draw is working out right now is evaluating what exactly is happening um what what exactly is causing the failures because this is something that's within his control uh the vandalism is a different issue that needs to be addressed by um the principles and the counselors so this is not something that the supervisor of me can can address but he did he identified some uh potential reasons why some sales don't work so his own hopefully we'll see if they can do that it was more concerned about our students not being able to use backat fors where that is a necessity they should be able to have thank you just one last question on the trailer and I know that it's being evaluated whether to invest in repairs or new has there been any talk as far as some ideas thoughts on that sure so we've met with the architect um there's the building that is outside of the board office right now uh just I guess not last week but the week before we had a company come in and snake the lines to see can we get electric is the because there's water in sewer but we're not sure how it's fed into there can we get water can we get sewer um so we had the company come in uh they gave the results to the architect some of the results are favorable some are not so we're trying to figure out our options there so the different options we're looking at are either placing a new building maybe a modular trailer but I think the one that most people prefer across the board would be to fix the existing building um because it's a very good structure it's very solid um it has a locker room in there already it has to be cleaned up we'd be we were with the architect in there we'd be able to put up a wall have a Brake Area there and it would also have you know a combination Brake Area and Shop for them as well so the the process right now is we're trying to see how do we get the utilities there um the water line looked good they sewer we're struggling with a bit electric we will be able to get there so that's that's just basically where at that's great thank you any other questions for a none we'll now move to policy and Communications committee co-chair is w Jin and soon to be co-chair cookie frankco for your Communications started for yeah um so for the communication side we did speak about what's going to be on the agenda a patal proposal from the national schools SP migration Association so the scope survey is something that we hope that we will be able to use to get community feedback on the types of communications that they would like to hear from us or how they want to receive communication from us so that's on the agenda for approval we also talked about the timeline on where the Strategic plan is um as the superintendent had mentioned she's working with administrators please correct me if I'm missing anything to start goal planning and then action planning after that and hopefully have a summer timeline to um get back to the board on what goals that they have come up based on the information gathered from strategic planning and then I just want to flly yet again Retreat U because that would be important to coincide with the c planning station so noted go planning of the board so that's thank you so for policy um there were quite a few policies we uh reviewed the policies and regulations um agenda included policies associated with equal employment opportunities as well as anti-discrimination practices uh the Equal Employment policies and regulations were revised to remove the list of protected categories which is actually very helpful for clarification because it's now referenced with the new expended list defined by the actual actual Administrative Code so you'll just have a reference to the code so that cleaned up um a lot of the policies that way also uh policy 2431 um those were the guidance counseling policy which was updated to provide some additional details regarding student access to counseling services uh in addition to that we reviewed um a concussion policy and regulation which recently was Rewritten to align with the most current recommendations developed by the CDC I think we've all heard about it through all of our Sports uh uh fans here and uh the the the uh policy 3425 research project and staff members I think uh that policy has been actually clarified which I think it's very helpful because the research projects policy was not clear as far as which need to be presented for approval versus not and now we'll have a consistent view that all of the research projects whether they're by students or by um faculty have to be uh presented for approval in addition to that there were a couple policies that we already uh went through for the first reading last month and after much uh deliberation and some questions from a perspective of the changes that Strauss Esme has made I would like to propose that Jack we could postpone um the second reading for policy 1140 1523 and 2423 and that's due to the fact that we did request some legal counsel on the language and we want to give Steven some time to uh review those and make it so it's 11:40 1523 any it's 2423 2423 congratulations yeah thank you could you just expand a little bit more on those three policies on what is being you yeah absolutely sorry about that um for the bilingual which is 2423 is a a bilingual education I think we've received some clarification from Strauss esmee but there has been some noise across multiple school districts around the references within the policy not being accurate with the legislature so we just want to make sure that whatever we have in our policy is most accurate and most seizable for the school district there was some questions in regards to how many years we can serve a violence student versus not and I think the language is kind of off so off against the statute or like it it says that the statute uh doesn't quite apply in this situation versus that situation I think we we just want more clarification to Clearly say how we manage that particular program and then policy um 1140 is a policy associated with educational equity and affirmative action I think we're very comfortable with the changes to affirmative action uh language however around the educational Equity we do have some questions and concerns the ask is to remove the word equal and replace everything with Equitable and my ask was that we keep both of those words uh in our policy at the local level but there's some concern that um the new state board has issued some other guidelines so I just want to make sure that we state that clearly and then the third one is 1523 it's in the same space around the equity and Equitable L thank you sure any other questions here none Human Resources committee met way back on April 9th of 2024 wait a second do we need to actually motion to remove those or to put those on just the motion thank um so as I said the HRC met back on April 9th 2024 um and it was so far ago that we talked about uh four candidates to be interviewed for the director of C services but as you heard before we now have one and she said back there so congratulations again uh the second thing we talked about is the hiring of an assistant VA uh the posting went out on April 2nd with a deadline of April 12th Jack will be leading the search with Kelly's assistant assistant currently there's a Consulting from a consultant from a previously approved company filling in and she is paid through a purchase order she would be hired as an interim at the this meeting and paid through payroll the other um items that we discussed with meeting were related to Personnel at this time I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes of March 2024 executive Session 1 meeting March 19th 2024 executive session 2 meeting and March 19th 2024 business meeting so second it's been properly moved in second to approve the minute to accept the minutes all those in favor State I I all those poos same right motion carries board acknowledges correspondence to the board we now move to action agenda items public comments the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members from of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your 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 liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discour his remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as a question and answer sessions but rather 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 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 this session um my name is Rich spec 187 North Street um and first comment is on number 2.4 which is the Science Olympiad uh approval for travel U Mary had mentioned about what that that they came in first in the state of New Jersey uh out of 20 it turns out that's out of 27 teams uh they actually plac first out of 23 events or first and 11 out of the 23 events so almost half the events they came in first um the way they score it is the they take your rank and they add those up and so the lower score that you get is better and they got 68 and the next team was 101 so it was pretty impressive and I just want to uh wish them well and the coaches and the students there going uh second comment I have is on uh agenda item 3.38 which is about the school PR Association survey study uh I just wanted to say that uh congratulations I'm glad things are moving forward with that uh the one ask I do have about that is to ensure that as they do that that they include uh all Community not just School Community people uh there are times I can sign up for the um to get the agenda notifications for the meetings but there's a lot of other stuff that goes on that's not and doesn't really go into Montgomery news usually uh and so it's very hard sometimes to kind of get a sense of what's going on and so I think that through this survey you'll have a better sense of things and so I just hope he'll be able to include everything because there are also people that uh uh don't go to have students but not in our district so uh thank you hi good evening um before you vote tonight I would like to raise an issue about last Mon's votes um based on the very clear guidance from the school ethics commission opinion dated December 19th 2023 is this on an action item it it's going to get to it if you just give me one second otherwise I'll have to do it in reverse you'll understand what I'm getting to I'm getting into tonight's session items can I continue or okay okay thank you I think you'll understand when I get to it um based on the very clear guidance for the school commission opinion dated December 19 2023 it appears that board members Spence Wallace Franco Herman and Harris should have abstained on action items uh 3.5 budget 3.6 School District accountability and four. personnel and possibly sections 3.1 6 and 3.17 so tonight I hope diligence is taken and that the board members Harris and Franco Herman abstain from the following that I believe they should abstain from 1.3 I'm not really sure what we're doing with that based on the discussion we just had uh it's policies 1140 and 1523 I wasn't I couldn't really hear back there when you decided on that 3.5 budget and 4.0 Personnel um which brings me my next Point related to this matter who or what is the oversight holding these board members accountable to the school ethics commit commission opinion thank you hi um would you consider later start time an action item since it was under the letters from uh person or no it is not an action speak at the end not a problem any other public comments on action items any other public comments on action items I think IED skilman nobody will hi everybody good evening Francine feffer five Mystic Drive skilman New Jersey I was here last month when you did the budget conversation and I I just wanted to comment um that why are we leaving $684,000 approximately of health insurance adjustment that's money that the district could be putting in the budget is that just is that an action it isn't the budget an action make it true thank you I have never heard of scho District say it has too much money ever in my life have I ever heard a district say they have more money than they need I I know there's about 7,800 homes in this in this town units I know that's not this is not good math but dividing that number of homes by that money is about $88 per household which is about $8 a month for $8 a month everybody moves to this town because of the quality of the school district and $88 for an average household like I said that's not perfect math but let's just say $88 for a household um is a very low amount of money and the problem for people who don't understand school funding behind me is that the 2% property tax cap that we have that 2% is based on last year's tax levy so I know this district has banked cap in the past and now we're not taking over half a million dollars we could so every year we are losing money because of how that compounds upon itself year after year after year and I just really question for future reference why the board would say um we don't want to take extra money that the state allows us to take um the the variations in school funding over the past two years there are just we are we are lucky here in Montgomery that we didn't lose vast sums of money but we never really know how that funding formula will work out for next year um it the fluctuations this year there are districts that lost so much money so I would like to encourage the fut in the future that the Board of Education take every single dollar that is available to it within that 2% property tax count thank you hello Barber Preston uh the Mony news I have a question uh regarding uh Janet church just made some comments about an Ethics decision and um my question is I did an Oprah request for that decision and I was told that the Press could not have it but I'm wondering how members of the public were able to get the O request but the Press cannot get it that's my question I see the attorney's here tonight so that's it any other comments on action items very none public portion of action item comments Clos M blackl any items you like to address thank you for the clarification Mr spec and yes looking at ways to have the scope survey available for all community members rers I mean not all to say I would like to hear more I would like the public to hear more about what the ration based on what de I like so for the healthare adjustment um I understand it was out there um I think after discussion with the board and maybe some people can speak to that if they'd like to it was determined that we would not be using the healthcare adjustment this year I know I question it when I spoke with you personally um I guess the other board members had differ of opinion so maybe they could share why why the money it seems to me that that was to avoid raising property taxes even further is that's it that was the General consensus yes it was uh proposed an amount was proposed it wasn't the 600 but it wasn't nothing and remember that okay and there was discussion like I said amongst the board and the consensus was reached I think Marty put forth that we weren't going to be raising taxes hopefully that explains that was a general right I yeah right and the budget looked well without it it wasn't it wasn't that was a reason I can I uh ask Ain uh our attorney is here so was it D Church uh church question of whether or not two board members should be voting on 1335 and 40 uh because of the legal finding can you say something about that the the qu the question you're asking is the two of our board members whether or not permitted to vote on certain action items yes I've advise them as to what they need to recuse themselves from and what they may vote on and they're they're going to have on that advice to see any other questions all right at this time I will entertain a motion to move action agend items 1.0 through 4.8 with the exception and 1 1.3 of 11 policy 1140 policy 1523 policy 2423 policy 24 2423 R so Mr Mr President if I if I could with regard to 1140 1523 and 24 23 um if we could have a separate motion uh to uh suspend th those policies postpone them then we can vote on that separately and then Mo the rest of the agenda okay so just like a table motion we need a separate motion and a second uh to postpone those policies until I review them first please please so I'll restate my motion we will entertain a motion to accept agenda items 1.0 through 4.8 with the exception of 1.3 is there a motion second it's been properly moved and second it to adopt agenda items 1.0 through 4.8 with the exception of 1.3 Mr Trent roll call please yes Mr Carlson yes Miss ding yes Miss filac yes Miss Franco Herman yes Miss Harris yes Miss W Jernigan yes Miss finina yes Mr to yes thank you motions carry thank you with regard to 1.3 this time I'll entertain a motion to accept 1.3 two uh two 2200 and 2200 R so the motion is to delay those the motion is to postpone which which means that they will come back to you after I 11 no post 1140 1523 and 2423 policy and regulation yes so I'll restate the motion motion is to postpone 11:40 1523 2423 and 2423 R it's been properly moving second to postone M policies all those in favor State Mr Trent sorry Mr Trent roll call please question on motion does the uh current policy that's in place stay in standing until after yes any other questions on a motion Mr TR roll call yes Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss fak yes Miss Franco Herman yes Miss Harris myself Miss Le Jernigan yes Miss minina yes Mr Tu yes thank you Mo all right and at this time I will entertain a motion to adopt 2200 and 2200 bar so second then properly move in second to adopt those two policies Mr Trent R yes Mr Carlson yes yeah Miss D yes Miss F yes Miss Franco hermer iuse myself Miss Harris iuse myself Miss B jigan yes Miss Spina yes Mr Todd yes thank you car all right at this time new public new business from the public the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allowed at 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 part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discour remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions the board May refer an ISS 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 this session I'm still Rich spect 187 North yeah we know who that is um this is a really minor item probably in the global scheme of things but this room um I could this room is terrible for Acoustics and um you know it echoes like crazy it's bad enough being here but because there's no direct audio input into the recording you're you're hearing Echoes on when you decide to watch the meetings later on I would just continue to ask board members that when you're speaking please get close enough to the microphone that you can ensure that you're being heard over the PA system um because there's a better chance it will get picked up uh and it's especially a problem there's some people who are a little quieter than others which I understand but also when one board member is speaking to another board members a lot of times faces are moving and so they go away from the microphone so like I said minor thing by just ask people to try to be cognizant as they're speaking thank you can you hear me there Jeff Grant six lingon Drive um death by deception death of Mo movable property accusation in this country for most people who innocent they proven guilty regarding Zelda I feel for her it's a long road ahead of her hopefully if she did do something illegal she owns up to it and she earns her Redemption this is America we fall off the horse we pick ourselves up we dust ourself off we get back up on that horse we keep going it's not always easy it's hard work but that's what America's all about I wish well but where there are Flames there is fire going forward all organizations and accounts that zela had any connection with will need R curse labor and management the union this school we know what Hillsboro is going through now embezzlement it is the duty of this school board to identify these audit issues and proceed with an outside audit accountability for all of us along the way helps clarify our judgment and keeps us grounded in reality I'd argue that there were signals along the way and the Press is responsible to hold us to account our Monty news editor however missed countless opportunities to help Zelda and the school board keep them grounded in reality now going to make some remarks on Montgomery new's headlines that should have been but never were Schoolboard attorney forces Spence mallace gag order lifts parents now free to refer to sta by name man dressed as a woman reads books to Elementary children with a faletto voice parents of reject to immorality Schoolboard claims immunity parents obber request reveal School Board directing members to use personal emails to SC Discovery Schoolboard response not available budget item uncovered to fund travel to South African Democratic teachers union collaboration citizens advise they are marxists and South Africa is an enemy of the United States School Board ignores parents learned that school the school board has been secretly collaborating with sou roben Stein's Ruder School of Management Labor Relations for over a decade parents identify rubenstein's program as Marxist management propaganda parents still awaiting answers High Toops declares its genderbending curriculum will be spiraled in to all lesson plans preventing parental op OPD down School Board votes to renew contract that opens a meeting for Parental input Dr sp sp Zelda Spence W PhD cral question Spence W in Schoolboard are silent thank you Mr I can go on thank you hi my name is Candy Willis I'm from the van Harlington Historical Society I gave each of you a little flyer for a competing event for the gentleman who was up here before there is a play but I will tell you that we're having a it's a bus tour we're having a morning and an afternoon tour so you can just have a very full May 11th and I personally hope it does not wrong um we will be touring um historic sites the three buildings that the Historical Society uh maintains and then we will including the beadville schoolhouse which is on Boe property and uh we'll also be going to an 18th century Farmstead we will be as we're touring we're going to I'm going to be pointing out all the historic sites in town in certain certain areas so it's a kind of a must come too so if you can come just get your ticket it'll be a great lunch and we'd love to see everybody there thank you I'm Janet Church from Montgomery um I just wanted to bring up uh will the remaining board members or the board in its entirety be communicating that New Jersey school ethics commission opinion on uh board members Franco Herman and Harris and the restrictions put upon their board participation as a results of their conflicts within the and their support received from the mtea and if not why not um I'm just going to read from the last paragraph of the opinion finally as a reminder school officials must always be cognizant of their responsibility to protect the public trust to honor their obligation to serve the interests of the public and the board and to periodically re-evaluate the existence of potential conflicts of interest in addition the only way for a school official to truly Safeguard against alleged violations of the ACT is to avoid any conflict which could have the appearance actual perceived of being in violation of the ACT also um along those lines in addition to the opinion recently news came to light about a for former board member and as a result I would request that there needs to be some sort of an audit of the last three years checks were signed there was potential influence of vendor relationships potential influence of hiring of supporters in the district at the end of of a review the community can be assured that either there was no wrongdoing or of any improprieties please be proactive and not reactive the sleeping community members are waking up there will be no tolerance for anything but integrity and transparency on this board the eyes of Montgomery are watching you are now the eyes of the entire State the taxpayers for whom 70% of their tax dollars go to the school district deserve better and the children of this community deserve the best thank you hello it's Barbara Preston from the Montgomery news again and again um Janet church is referencing a document that she got through an Oprah request from this school district now Oprah requests are really important and a member of the press has got to be able to use them to access public opinion especially when the New Jersey Schoolboard Association Ethics Committee makes a judgment now this Oprah request was released to members of the community but it was not released to the to the press and I did put in an oah request and I get no response as to why it's released to some members of the community but not to the press this does not help um people trusting the Press when they have information and I can't get it I do not understand this very very important this over request and I really would like an answer I really would hi um you can refer to me as a resident of M so I think this refers to a transparency so excuse me we are asking all people to sign in with their name I did that is res of will you a resident belme that does not distinguish who are okay you can put down Angelina Jolie from belme please so um this refers to as transparency of this going to accept Angelina jie why not did you take anybody's um driver's license or ID I mean your name is not Jack trans meter that's not your legal name she identifies as excuse me you're not the mic thank you please sit down please thank you so transparency of this board if you had let the public know when this when this opinion came in in April then we wouldn't have this when the ethics commission issued this opinion of the three board members not being able to vote on certain items you should have let the public know instead of you went into executive session and discussed it when when are you going to bring it up when are you going to say something it's this was sent to you in December and we are at the end of April I'm Alex wolson my wife Natasha wolson we live on kofax road so in January I came to this board to talk about um delaying school school start times from Montgomery High School and I was told at that meeting by uh mayor mcclaflin that this is something you guys would discuss at the planning and budgetary meetings I would love to know what was discussed and what the outcome of that discussion is I would also strongly encourage that Dr Mandel Bob's offer to present to this board the evidence for the harm that we're causing to our high school children be presented that's a standing offer he's made for several years that's been ignored the other request I would have is that we immediately form a working group to work on figuring out how do we decrease depression suicide poor outcomes in our high school children by delaying High School start times there's a petition that's been circulated with over 600 signatures my wife emailed it to the board on March 24th she has not heard back that's a copy of the petition right there the data is overwhelming this is not a topic you ignore just as much as we all very proud of our successful high school kids and all the activities that they're succeeding in let's not ignore those high school kids who are sitting in their rooms contemplating if they want to wake up tomorrow at 5:45 just so get they can get on the bus or if they'd rather kill themselves thank you I'm Natasha wolson Alex's wife Montgomery resident um and I know Alex did present to you back at the January meeting to reassess this issue that's been on the table for several years Dr mandon has done a lot of work um you know providing you with the research and he's you know been discussing this topic for several years but it doesn't feel that anything is being done to work on this specific delaying of high school start time to what is recommended by national boards of Health um which is ideally closer to 8:30 a.m. I started this petition at the end of March to assess well two things number one to just re um remind everyone that this is an important issue in the community sleep Health sleep deprivation in our high school students is extremely important um to to look at and in order to prevent physical and mental health issues um that was the first part of my my goal the second part of the goal was to see within the community if this is an important issue um over the past month I've received close to 700 signatures for this petition from the community as well as numerous comments messages um demonstrating some U more community support for this specific issue so I'm here today to find out what is actually being done by the school board to further look into this specific issue of changing the high school start time to closer to 8:30 a.m. which is what is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC as well as other leading health organizations um I don't know what is specifically being done and this is what I'm I'm here to to find answers to is there a specific committee within the board that is looking into this what options can be done to change the schedule um I know Transportation has been an obstacle what options have been looked at regarding Transportation um so this is why we're here I want to read address this issue it's been on the table for several years I want to know what's being done about it and what concrete answers we have other school districts in New Jersey have made the change um Princeton did several years ago with a lot of success so that's a school board you could talk to further about what they did to manage that um just recently I think two days ago um Cumberland Regional School District also made the change so just want to remind everyone this is an important issue it's not something just to lay on the table it needs to be addressed and I want to know exactly what is being done to to tackle it thank you hi Justin mayor 152 Willshire I appreciate uh the wison comments uh something that might be able to be done in the real short term to help address some of the early start times and Rise times of our high schoolers is the bus situation I know that we've invested in some iPads recently with some really good tracking technology that should help some of the routing it's still my understanding that many school buses for high schoolers are arriving way earlier than necessary at the schools often times before the school even opens to let them in my son sits on school bus for up to 10 minutes every morning before the school opens that means he's arriving at school for 4 to 45 minutes before the start time completely unnecessary and the bus can't leave it can't go start the next route so I don't understand why that continues to happen and now that we have iPad tracking data there's no reason why the transportation department can't look at the data and optimize the times for pickups so these students can sleep an extra 10 15 20 30 minutes until we can figure out how to adjust a bigger schedule isue thank you one of the board members had a question on what happens during bus inspections um when a bus fails it doesn't always go right out they do have to go after the inspection ction team schedule it and bring the bus to them U not on every case if it happens during that week when they're here if the repair can be made beforehand then it's done uh if it's not and it takes longer the bus is out of service completely out of service cannot be used it is legal for the uh District to take that bus have it reinspected and if it passes then they turn around and put an inspection sticker on that's how it works and just so you know I I'm speaking the truth I was the mechanic for 12 and a half years so I know what I'm talking about Karen Anderson Bel me New Jersey um I just have a couple requests um in the documentation that was provided with the agenda there was a list of Consultants that were approved if you could put more information for Trans transparency who these really are as far as not just a title but have an address and maybe contact information one in particular some of them you can Google and things just pop up but like the social Institute I tried Googling and I got a random bunch of information which led me to nothing that could help me understand what that particular topic was about and looking at the bill the check register there was a bunch of voids and Replacements if you could give a little background on what that is so that's my second request third request is there's um a check there for $40,000 to a law firm Briant G on something else if you could give some details on what that expenditure was for and fifth um I canc there should be an audit it was we mentioned a few times going back the last three years because of what's been going on with a prior board member and you um the lawyer you mentioned that you explained to the other two inment that were part of the school ethics filing um you explained to them how they were to decide to abstain or recuse themselves but how is that monitor that was another question I heard that I didn't have an answer yet so it's my last question thank you very much I Mark and 1378 206 skman uh so I just have a very simple request to start off with uh that I know that board members are given a background check upon entry I think that we need to update that to yearly not very expensive very cheap especially since we own a police department and uh due to what has just happened would be very simple to do usly background checked I don't think anybody here has anything to hide so I don't think that would be an issue uh the other thing that I wasn't had no plans of speaking of but since uh the Monte news and Barbara brought it up about transparency and oppra requests um I I agreed but it's funny is that um the board attorney sent me a letter on a Friday I was called on a Saturday about that letter by Barbara I didn't receive the letter till I believe it was Tuesday so obviously there was no oper requests because I think that Jack may work hard but he's not there on Friday nights filling opah requests so I'd like to know how that happened um and as far as names goes I really don't care even though there's some title I mean you a board attorney that's great I have no issue with that I can look you up but if we're going to in the future put a doctor in front of somebody's name we need to verify credentials because it seems that the system is broken and we just saw it fail whether it's true or not Barbara never referred to her in her article as doctor so thank you I have to sign in a second time you good hi I'm I'm still Francine fer of skilman New Jersey like rich said I would just um to avoid you having to say it I guess I'm just would like to point out to members of the public that current law requires that every school district must file an annual audit of the district's accounts I'm reading from the law and financial transactions to be made by a public school accountant employed by it which audit shall be completed no later than January so I do not think that this District needs to complete an audit because you already do it it is part of Law and therefore I trust that the board is doing the right thing and maybe I'm a little snarky sounding here but um since there are some members of the public who do not wish to give their names we have a last time I went to check in for a meeting with my child school I had to sign in with my driver's license to print a badge and perhaps you need to implement that if people here are rude enough to the board that they do not wish to give their names thank you any other question from the public seeing none public Port public comments are closed mney for any items you'd like to address I'd like to address the question that was asked with regard to The Advisory opinions that were issued by the school ethics commission uh those advisory opinions have not made have not been made public by the school ethics commission and under the regulations they remain confidential until the school ethics commission itself votes to publicly release those documents and if you have a pending op request here I'll certainly look into that with Mr Trent so that you get an appropriate response there a few people came and spoke about school star times we are looking into Transportation you know as you are aware we have triple tier busing right now and with that we are very restricted it's millions of dollars to not have triple tier um you are correct years ago we worked very closely Dr Bob is our school physician um I speak with him regularly and I've been to his presentations I believe he did presented the board I think was during Co perhaps um so it is something that we have always put on one of our priority lists we did go Mr papadu when he was the high school principal and I went to Princeton and we said how how are you doing it so first and foremost only a small percentage of their students are busted so they are majority walking district and they have a schedule that's called a drop I I don't know the exact term but they like a drop schedule so like day one they start with period one and end with period 8 the second day they start with period two and end with period one so that because every child misses a significant amount of school to go to sports and to go to their after school activities that they would miss not miss the same last two classes or last three classes a day they would only have to miss one or two so for us that was not an option to have students miss any time out of school and we have a block schedule we don't have that rotating drop schedule so but we are looking into the busing um and having Orchard Hill and Village buff together and LMS ands buff together so that we could adjust the times and remember we did adjust the times I believe almost a half an hour uh when we returned in full in person instruction after Co at the high school and I'll look into the um waiting for 10 minutes on the bus so we load the buses over capacity because we know students aren't always on the bus every day so what happens is especially at the high school the bus doesn't have to stop so the routes are created with a system that has the bus stop at different bus stops and pick up numerous children so if the bus passes five bus stops that there's not a child there on a regular basis we can't not provide transportation unless the parents waved and said please don't put my child on the transportation so that then we could route the buses more efficiently that will continue to happen so but I will look into the specifics of that um meaning that you know when the bus stops puts the stop sign on kids get on the bus have to wait for everyone to be set situated and then it takes off again and stops again when it's just passing bus stops because there's no children there it it decreases the time it takes to get to school so that's why there's that lag in that weight there was a question or a suggestion and the president has asked me to respond to it uh the district's um Financial records are audited annually that includes an an audit of all of our major accounts our Enterprise funds and our activity funds uh also um board members while they serve on committees have no direct access to any District funds uh the only funds that they can receive are those that they are entitled to receive as reimbursable expenses under the board's policies or the accountability regulations those are reviewed uh before they are submitted on a public agenda for approval by the business administrator and there was another comment about background checks anyone who um is a volunteer for x amount of hour including board members and or employed by the school district goes through a background check and it's different than other places background check in that the minute a person um their fingerprints get flagged for an arrest the school district is notified immediately and as you all saw the letter that we sent out we were notified of the arrest so there's no need to do background checks every year because that substantial background check notifies us the minute and somebody who's employed with us or volunteers with us has been arrested all right any items from board members for discussion I just wanted to ask the superintendent when you refer to Princeton as a walking Community does that mean they don't have have courtesy busing or they still you don't know I I know that kids get bsed but I didn't think that's I don't know if they have courtesy bu we can get into that elaborate detail thank you and just a follow-up question I know that uh there was a petition done U but sometimes it's hard to tell from petition whether the people making these comments are actually in the community I know we discussed during our communic meeting that potentially that will be one of the questions that we pose in our survey to the community to see if that's a very high priority for them as well yes absolutely any other questions comments from the board aing none at this time I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so move second it's been properly moved in second to adjourn all those favor State I I all those oppos same right we arej