meeting call to order call Mr Alro pres Mone Mr dasta pres M cfer here Mr Lombardi present Mr Luna here M Ryan here vice president D here president Gomez here here to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in accordance with the provisions of New Jersey open public meetings law the New Milford board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof in the record New Milford Public Library New Milford burough Hall and the main office of all new Milford Public schools the board announces that under its long-standing policy it will not discuss in public any comments made by members of the public concerning individual staff members at this time please be advised that all cell phones and electronic devices are to be turned off meetings of the board are open to the public and all members of the community should feel free to participate before coming to the board the chain of command should be followed there are two portions of the meeting reserved for comments from the public the first at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only and the second at the end of the meeting for other items issues raised by the public may or may not be responded to by the board but all comments will be considered the board request that all members of the public be mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking due to confidentiality and legal rights afforded by the state of New Jersey members of the public are asked to not speak negatively or in derogatory manner about any employee of the board or any student okay for committee of the whole I seek a motion to approve the minutes for January 3rd organization January 3rd close January 17th regular January 17th close 1st January close 2 17th I'm sorry close and January 3rd Special meeting I need a second Tony Alro all in favor hose okay so McKenzie's not here today the last superintendent schools report okay good evening everybody okay so we'll start with good news at Berkeley Street School on January 26th Berkeley fifth graders and their teachers worked with Jenny Mills from root roots and wings founder she designed a no ego in Amigo program to strengthen student social and emotional skills the assembly was interactive and enjoyed by all in addition she worked with a lunch and classroom instructional systems to help them gain skills to better support our students in unstructured settings like recess the sessions were well received by all Miss Mills will be joining us for our parent Wellness event later this spring as a keynote speaker in the evening um fourth and fifth grade students and their parents join the elementary administrative team Miss zacher and N j4s for a workshop on HIV students enjoyed a spaghetti dinner served by Nord high school students and then participated in many role playing activities while parents heard from the nj4 as presenters and had an opportunity to ask questions the Winter concert was a huge hit very well attended in spite of the inclement weather and the children were outstanding the Berkeley tricky treay fundraiser was held on February 1st our wonderful PTO put together a fun and well attended event we had a great time food and prizes were wonderful and the company was the best we did we did letay a lot and we won a lot everybody at our table W something we also i' like to thank the PTO for the planetarium experience they funded for grades K through 5 as well as the upcoming author visit on February 23rd the students always enjoy the wonderful events that the PTO sponsors we are at Gibbs we're excited to share that bf Gibbs Elementary School will be participating in the kids heart challenge during the month of March your child will be learning about the American Heart Association and the reason we participate in this annual event as well as the importance of heart health during their PE classes February 14th marked the 100th day of school we are officially at the halfway mark of our school year guess we're beyond that the March Madness comp March mathness competition will begin on Monday March 4th and end on March 31st this competition is designed to help us strengthen our students fact fluency students will be provided math fact fluency logs to be completed at home on February 12th the BF Gibbs Instagram account went live we're excited to share the many amazing events happening here at Gibbs during the school day please be sure to check each day for updates at the middle school February has been a big month in the middle school we started by welcoming Josh rival rival who spoke to all of our students about mental health and how the change in the stigma behind needing help for anxiety or depression and how to change the stigma about needing help for anxiety or depression Mr rivid doal also worked with our teachers to understand the warning signs as well as maintain your own own balance in the area of mental health our service learning Club took a trip to Hannah's closet where they unpacked boxes of donated clothes and stock shelves in a way for families in need to easily shop and find clothing items this is an annual event for our service learning club members and we were elated that over 30 student volunteers participated in the event we held our schoolwide spelling be at Deo and congratulations to the school winners aayush Madar and Alesandra sanado in third place bav bushan in second and Eli nyber in first Eli will be competing at the state level on March 12th in Trenton our eighth graders were also available to say the voices of the Holocaust Pro the project that's designed to give students an understanding of the events propagated by the na party during World War II while showing the resilience and love of the Jewish people the program and message message are essential to all Middle School aged individuals and we're looking to making to make this year make this a yearly experience for our e graders we welcomed High School Spanish students to run cultural events with our eighth grade Spanish students and we are in the midst of a locker decorating Pride project that is being sponsored and facilitated by our Spectrum Thrive Club the theme is love and pride please check out the images on our X feed formerly known as which is on the front page of the Deo website and just a reminder that Shrek Jr will be at the middle school on March 7th 8th and 9th and I know that it is really coming along beautifully it's a big cast and the kids are excited to perform so you have the opportunity buy a ticket take your your kids to go see Shrek Jr I'd also like to mention that we have um Kim corzilius Dan PRI Hardy haow Julie barstein um and the music team at the middle school all working um together on this show at the high school congratulations to our January students of the month Natalie kamissa grade 12 Covenant badmas grade 11 grade 11 Jonah Cho grade 10 Ethan K grade nine special thanks to Mr kers for setting up internships for our students this summer Jonah chuo will be interning with state Senor Joana in the 38th legislative district and Maya Axelrod will be interning with state senator Christen karado from the 40th legislative district senior Amaya KS has been selected as the 2024 Bergen County unsung hero by the administration at New Milford High School congratulations on this remarkable recognition Robert assera County activities coordinator for Bergen County New New Jersey school boards Association and there is a missing end of the sentence what Robert did I don't know I must missed that okay um our project unified basketball team will be competing oh my gosh this is one of my favorite events of the year um competing against Bloomfield High School on Friday February 23rd that's this Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the PB gymnasium if you have never had the opportunity to see the project unified basketball team compete it is one of the most endearing um events that we have we'd love the empty bowls fundraiser will be held on Friday March 8th from 5: to 8:00 p.m. in the New Milford High School cafeteria and if you're looking for you know double duty on one night out you go out on Friday March 8th go to the New Milford High School cafeteria have a bowl of soup I know Mrs T Mrs torp makes her famous torini soup and then shoot over to the middle school and go and see sh Junior special thanks to miss fenia and all the ceramic students that made hundreds of pools the high school spring musical alumni concert is on Friday March 15th in the auditorium from 7:30 to 10 p.m. it is always a wonderful show um sure to please it is Disney theme this year and should be great the New Milford High School vendor fair is scheduled the next day for March 16th in the New Milford High School cafeteria and it's definitely something if if you like craft shows and this is your thing you should go they have sold out of all of their vendor spots there are no more vendor spots available so it should be a packed room and a lot of good crafts uh congratulations to the high school PE Department over $1,100 was raised during Jump Rope for Heart last week for the American Heart Association in athletics congratulations to the boys basketball team who won the School's First first League Championship since 2014 qualified for the prestigious Bergen County Jamboree and are seated third in the state tournament which begins Thursday at home versus H Hasbro Heights at 4:30 p.m. the girls basketball team will be facing Kinnelon on Thursday at 6 pm at Kinnelon in their state tournament head boys basketball coach heri gra was named coach of the year for the Liberty division congratulations to Mr Gra congrat congratulations to Devin Ryan Jersey Ryan and James Spates who each medled at last week's districts to qualify for the Regionals this upcoming weekend at West Milford High School Devin Ryan won the 120 PB weight class and was the most outstanding wrestler congratulations to fiana a a jeton Mobi who set a School record in the 55 meter high hurdles this past weekend and qualified for the indoor track meet of Champions congratulations to bowler Jaden kwella who bow a conference High game of 267 two weeks ago at Parkway Lings he also set the High series for the njic season congratulations to our competition cheerleading team who finished first at the David Bley competition on February 3rdd and we also grand Champions good luck at the state tournament this upcoming weekend this is a very very busy time congratulations to swimmer Santino armita who finished second in two events in the at the njic conference meet a full list of all League names for each sport will be shared next month after the meets are complete Amaya KS was selected as New Milford High School's National girls and women in sports day representative with the njsia a Amaya and her family attended a basketball game at Ruckers University in February more than $2,100 was raised for scholarships at our annual heavy nights great job every by everyone involved and thank you for everybody who volunteered in special education we'd like to congratulate the following people who received a special education shout out for their dedication and outstanding work during the month of February Justin Vasquez Laura ineni Tamar Schulman and Stephanie Carson and Marie dunar the department of special services will celebrate World Down syndrome day on March 21st everyone is encouraged to wear crazy socks that day to show their support we will also celebrate Autism Awareness the week of March 25th through 28th concluding with everyone encouraged to wear an Autism a awareness pin the pins are being assembled by students and clients in our IBC middle school high school and wings Academy programs support our students on March 28th by purchasing and wearing a pen I believe they're a dollar in technology the work continues on the build of the new website which should be rolled out before the end of the year it's a lot a lot of work a lot of pages okay um the end of my good news um as I share my final good news report with all of you I am filled with mixed emotions it's been an incredible journey um serving the schools and the the families in New Milford and I am immensely grateful for the opportunities that I've had here to work alongside such incredible leaders teachers parents and of course the students um and as I prepare to embark on a new chapter I just want to take a moment to express my sincerest gratitude to the board for trusting me um to do um good work here for a cumulative 11 years um it's the support of the board that makes everything worthwhile because um without your support we don't move forward so I appreciate that so so very much um I will miss this community dearly so um but I leave with immense pride in knowing that's all that we've accomplished together and I thank you for the memories and the friendships um I also wish the board the very best to you and your most important work to date which would be to hire your next superintendent and of course I wish Lauren uh smooth sailing in your transition and I thank Stephanie for her partnership and I wish you all continued success and growth thank you you anyone want to say anything or any questions comments okay assistant superintendent for C limit instruction report laurena DOA I do not have a but just a reminder to parents and families who may be watching this evening we're in the midst of scheduling season so I know that there are some important reminders coming out from um the schools I just received one today earlier today from the middle school so keep an eye on your email and um for high school parents the program of studies is available on the website and can be found under guidance um so there are some great resources there and reach out you have any questions uh also earlier today uh we disseminated a letter regarding the profile of a graduate initiative and that letter contained important information regarding our next steps and different options for uh your participation and what those options may look like uh there will be a series of live meetings throughout the month of March which are informative and help share the philosophy of the development of a profile of a graduate of New Milford and um also an opportunity to express interest in joining our select steering committee which will include representatives from many different stakeholder groups if you're interested in knowing um which stakeholder groups will be represented in that committee they are found within the Google form that is linked in the letter and um I feel like there were three what to say and then after the presentations in March will be survey the survey the survey which will provide an opportunity for all of our community members to share their feedback and help form the development of the profile thank you any questions this administrative requests me I have no report this evening thank you any leaz on board committee reports Joe um we had a committee meeting um of public relations on Sunday I mentioned that last night once again thank you to everybody who took the time out of their schedule on a Sunday to meet uh the the meeting was really to determine um with the upcoming CSA search what if anything the pr public relations committee's um role in that would be um it was basically determined that um in the event that a search firm was retained um which is on the agenda to do so tonight um they would likely Take the Lead U with that and that the role uh for the most part of the Public Relations Committee um at president Gomez's direction would be to assist with getting that information out that has been published um so that you know as many many stakeholders as possible are aware of the timelines and intervals of things moving forward U was also brought up that in the event uh we had talked about a potential referendum down the road um in the event that that was to come to fruition that this would actually be a good opportunity to kind of um for public relations to get things in motion so that if and when a u referendum did happen we kind of already have an outline as to you know how to forward that information that's it thank you any other committee reports no we did some yesterday any correspondence none this even okay open to the public for items on the agenda as outlin in New Milford Board of Education bylaw 0167 each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes seek a motion hey dran second by John Thea all in favor I oppose please St your full name and town please my name is Andrews and I um I would just like to make a statement to Mrs sh and I just want to let you know that uh be understandable why you are this District but it is a huge loss for us um and I want to thank you for your service here you have been inspirational to many you have always kept the priorities of what should be students um you've always put students as your first priority and you have always put all students and all Learners and brought many good programs and many good things to the school and I want to thank you for that and wish you love you anyone else want call please say your full name in town please Michelle Gordon in milord um my son is out of district and he at his last IEP meeting um we identified that he needs to get reevaluated I also requested that he get some neuros psychological evaluation I was told that it has to be board approved so I wanted to to confirm that indeed the neuropsychologist needs to be board approved and find out what I can do to get a person that I identified onto the agenda so that she can be I just want to we this part of the open to the public is for items on the agenda at the end of meeting it's to what you're saying okay sorry yeah and also because it is a private Mattern is confidential we wouldn't be discussing it in the public um we can reach out to you privately okay I follow up with you tomorrow anyone else from the public I seek a motion to close to the public Stephanie coffinger seconded by Joe lunam all in favor oppose okay board action I seek a motion for B a 23-24 39 61 62 63 64 and 65 need a second hey D all in favor I I oppose um I'm opposed to 23 2465 thank you let's can I just understand the reasoning you're you're asking me why yeah sure um because that the presentation yesterday from the two group the two groups you weren't attended so I just want to know if you understand what they were going to do yeah I think I'm I think I've made myself familiar with it I'm opposed to spending since you asked I'm opposed to spending $112,500 on a search firm without us having first um advertised it ourself and see what we get I think that um it's an expense that that we very well may need but I don't think we've gone through the process to determine that we actually do need it so I I just I kind of want to bring up because because we did have the presentations and just for the public to understand that what the search firm actually would do uh because there was one thing that was there was many things that were discussed but amongst which is a lot of putting that ad M out there would be at no cost to the district so that funding would be around the a lot of the administrative and other uh coordination with the public and doing the having the meetings with the public have the meetings internally with staff and other stakeholders uh coordinating all of that Gathering up the information when the resumés come in gathering up the resumés Sorting them out not filtering them not making it so we don't see them but sorting them out based on the criteria that we set and saying these all meet the criteria these are close to the criteria these don't meet the criteria we would see every resume but we would be able to have that help to do that without that that type of work would have to be done by individuals it's very difficult as a nine member board to get it all of our calendars together um and this is something that we've all decided is a priority and we need to keep this moving as quickly as possible and just being able to get us all together at one meeting is is extremely difficult so for me all of the things that were said it was it was a lot of those things around the search firm so it's not so much that someone's going to come in and look at resumés and tell us who's a good choice we'll still do that it's around the administrative stuff and making sure that everything is happening as quickly as possible as organized as possible and keeping us all on task as a group of nine people who have very busy schedules and very you know you know what I'm saying so to me it is um an investment in making sure that we get this done quickly and efficiently and correctly and engage all the right people for the public so I just want to make sure that it's just not yes no and then it's left to the public to decide why did we say yes or no so yeah well I I so I just wanted to put it out I respect and appreciate your Viewpoint I would hope that you would respect and appreciate mine as well and that you know you feel that it's it's an expenditure that's worthwhile for those reasons and I don't that's okay it's not a question of what you feel or don't feel I just want to make sure we put it out there the reasoning so that it's not um guessed and supposed what's meant understood yeah and and just in response Mr to your comment uh last night was uh the meeting or or that process to determine if we needed that uh you know it need to make that expense and the folks that were here determined that it was I understand Andrew and just for the record I do have to abstain from the vote on the search room uh due to conflicts thank you anyone else want to make any comments no okay educational programs and curriculum committee Stephanie coffinger I make a motion to seek approval for C 23-24 2728 and 29 I need a second Nicole done all in favor I I oppose okay Personnel recommendations having the recommendation of the superintendent I seek a motion for p 22- 2316 P 23- 2462 P 23-4 7982 8384 8889 9091 n293 n495 9697 989 99 and with regret .10 I need a i s a motion I need Stephanie CER before we can get a second I need to add in a resolution p23 24101 and that's the approval of an employee whose name is on file with the superintendent consistent with the notice provision in the employees contract okay roll call Mr Al yes Mr dasta yes Miss coffinger yes Mr Lombardi yes except I need to abstain from 79 and 99 conflict Mr Luna yes Miss Ryan Yes vice president dun yes president Gomez yes Finance can I can I oh yeah sorry you so I because I didn't make a comment yesterday I just want to make a comment today that um this tambio is a Irreplaceable Alle so um and I I have three children and only one of my children had her and I still felt it so just the what she's done for this District what she's done for the children of this District what she's done in programming in this District the opportunities I just I can't I can't imagine ever being able to replace her and I I just want to make sure that she is aware of of just how appreciative those of us that have any contact what to do with this District No that we really do appreciate her and I hope she comes back and brings lots of soups and dishes and stuff for the bowl the the you know the night the fun she does make she makes and she's known to do a spaghetti dinner or two as well so um just everything and and for those that do or don't know the Holocaust study tour was all her she brought this here to the district from a district that she was in before so it wasn't that she made it up and it has been her the whole time and the endowments and everything that these students and every single student that comes back always is changed so I just want to say thank you publicly thank you thank you finance and Facilities committee Cheryl's not here tonight Joe do you want to sure um I seek a motion I'd like to make a motion for f23 24.1 14853 15455 156 157 158 159 16 0 161 162 163 164 16566 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 and 174 a second Andrew lari all in favor I oppose I also want to just thank the alasio family for their donations yes yes and the donation I think we got from Lumber too and the lumber donation froms itic and Co curricular committee Nicole dun and speak a motion for AC 23-45 and 16 and before we second it I just want to thank Mr balii and Mr walren for volunteering their services to get this interal program for this season okay second P ran all in favor oppose of course I just want to add something to the Athletics and co-curricular um committee portion I spoke with Mr Rick or jelli today um he has uh two young ladies from the uh flag football team who will be attending um I was going to say giant Stadium at Life Stadium for the Jets event uh tomorrow for the flag footall um and he is expected to receive um a donation from the J in the amount of $2,000 supposed to receive that tomorrow so should that happen then we will have the costs of the officials um covered and then it will be free to the girls um the act the student efforts so um he did tell me that I could share that today because he anticipates receiving that check tomorrow and then once he does we can officially um accept the donation at the March can I um Danielle so you said that it would be free to the girls so that $75 number that we were talking about that the $22,000 would cover the cost of the Reps and there is no additional cost to insurance as Stephanie told us yesterday so therefore if we get that check tomorrow it will be free to the players so that that's wonderful that that we're able to find a way to to make that happen yeah he I think badgered them quite a bit good I also just want the board members and like committee who really you know kept fighting for this as well as community members and it in the end if it all works out it all worked out so I just want to thank everyone who contributed that that's great okay any old business any new business page so I is it okay I speak now I don't know if I can speak now so I will say this those of you that know me know that um I have a very strong mind and I can speak very clearly on certain topics but when I talk about a person it all goes out the window so um I'm I may seem emotional but it's mostly because I really I was trying to think of the the right words to say this in a way that would not sound like I was emotional um because I'm very I'm I'm happy for um I'm happy for Danielle that she'll be able to spend more time with her family you know be closer and because in the end family in the end familyes first so in 2010 your position at the time which was director of curriculum and instruction um was on The Chopping Block meaning that you just wouldn't have been hired so there was um superintendent assistant superintendent wasn't going to be there and they said we just won't do it for the year well let's put it off off and I was in the public at the time and I was part of those budget meetings and there was a lot of uh the mayor and Council had to cut the budget or it it's the standard of how it went and um I didn't speak against your position but I I didn't understand why they couldn't wait I didn't know you I didn't know anything about it I was in the public then I got on to the board and I saw that I was wrong like how important that role is your Ro and uh you know prior to that you know my children were young so the curriculum um was what it was but it it needed attention and it wasn't getting it and until you took the role I don't think anyone really real realized how little attention it was getting um and so you came in and you helped to correct that update the curriculum to the state standards to whatever standards the state decided to set core Common Core whatever we wanted to call it all the testing and everything and did all those things um we saw the growth of programs and the Improvement in student achievement and then your recommendation of bringing Lauren on as supervisor of uh you know in the elementary schools but really her main role was to align the reading programs in the all of the grade levels in both elementary schools because you could be in one first grade in the building and another first grade in the building and your learning was different or you could be in the second grade in Gibbs and the second grade in Berkeley and your learning was different so um that was the main thing and also along the way readers Writers Workshop and everything there so together you really just brought the reading and writing program to where it needed to be um continued to focus on those things then also along the way you developed programs at the high school coursework uh focusing on the student as a whole person you did seal before it was cool so preco before people really started to think about the social and emotional learning and the component of that and how important it was to the student as a whole person so you know we were in the Forefront there and then theems which has grown I don't know the numbers but I just do I KN do know that it's grown from being something that a student could do as an extra thing some of them didn't get it so now students are regretting that they don't apply because of all the opportunities they can get as being part of the academy um and so you've again increased the programs and the coursework the day of coding the day like I I'm trying to I was trying to remember that the the one where we did through the whole District Jam the maker Jam yeah we did maker Jam for a few years and the students were doing those things and and all the things that were done then um were Ju Just bringing our our tiny little town into a place where your children could come and learn if what they wanted to learn it would be there um and I'll remember I'm going to try to say this one without getting choked up that you always used to say would I want this for my child and I think to me that's the most important thing and it's not just about you it's about my child and that's probably why I'm getting a little chucked up because each one of us that's all we really want I always say I judge you by how you treat my children and not how you treat me and someone can be an awesome person but if you're not good to my child I have I want nothing to do with you and vice versa people cannot like somebody but they're good to my child so I'm going to hold you in high esteem and your your focus on that your focus on the children your focus on on their experience um as if one of your daughters was here was really important and then you left to seek your learning and what you could do to grow and it was tough for us but we understood just like a parent you let your child go and you hope they come back and you did um and unfortunately you came back at a time that probably was difficult for anybody to take on that role which was right as schools were coming out of covid and um you still you know Lauren you were familiar with but you hadn't worked with Stephanie yet and you had a almost a whole new board than what you were familiar with and and a community that was hurting and a community that was um just really angry about everything that had been happening and so to come into that place uh was a challenge and I commend you for still following the path of making sure that the whole child was cared for and focusing on those things and people might not always like um things about the way we do things or someone does things but I have to say that I don't know that anyone on this board whenever we speak can would disagree that you your focus has always been the children so I know that the students um in your new District uh will benefit I know your family will benefit um and I know that you know that eventually we're going to find somebody who's going to take on this role and take care of us the way that need them to um but you will be missed in that way and I hope that um we continue on the path that you've helped us set for the last well the 11 years that you've been here but over since 2010 so thank you for all that you've done thank you um it's very much appreciated by me and my family um and many families who are not here this evening thank so thank you appreciate that I do I don't think I can say anything to this page so I'm not going to try but I just want to say thank you for your commitment and good luck thank thank you does anyone else want to say anything nothing compar I know something written but forget it go ahead I'm I'm just going to say I hope on your first day in your new District you only get halfway here before you realize you've gone I the wrong way yeah sure all right okay come on I wrote it let's do it all right just do it sing it sing it like a song oh yeah say it like MacKenzie would say it yes I hope everybody's having a fabulous February so far my so I like totally no I can't do that no um I just wanted to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to you for all that you've done but especially your commitment and perseverance and dedication dedication like PES said the students of Dem alur um your hard work your leadership and passion has made a significant difference in the lives of everyone around you while we are sad to see you go we are also happy for you in this new chapter of your life um we all know it's always better sweet to see someone leave to pursue a new opportunity but it's heartwarming to know that you have left a positive imprint on the lives of the people around you um your impact will be remembered fondly but most C your presence will be missed here and I'm sure like all of us we wish you the best of what was that old or new business I don't know where we were at okay open to the public I seek a motion as outlin in New Milford Board of Education bylaw 0167 each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes anyone on the public have any a motion sorry page Ryan second by Stephanie CER all in favor I oppose anyone from the public okay I seek a motion to close Nicole Don seconded by John dasta all in favor I oppose any board member requests for additional information okay close session it is hereby move that the Board of Education adjourn into executive session in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL for the purpose of discussion and consideration student matter and student matters oh I didn't I didn't get to that part to the following subject student matters the minutes of the executive session will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists I seek a motion to CL go into close Tony Alro second by Page Ryan all in favor I oppose okay okay