e e the north hunon Vorhees Regional High School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday May 7th 2024 is now called to order in accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting Act njsa 10 4-6 at seek adequate notice of the meeting has been provided by submission of notice of the time date and location to The Star Ledger on December 5th 2023 and the hunter County Democrat on December 7 2023 subsequent notice of this meeting meeting location has been provided in the hunon county Democrat on April 25th 2024 notice and to the extent known the agenda of this meeting had been posted at North hunon High School and Vorhees High School provided to the municipal County Municipal Clerks of Bethlehem Township Califon burough town of Clinton Clinton Township Franklin Township Glennon Gardner burough Hampton burrow Highbridge burrow Lebanon burough Lebanon Township tubry Township and Union Township as well as other interested parties and and posted on the district website fire exits are located in the direction indicated if alerted to fire please move in a cal and orderly fashion to the nearest smoke free exit and at this time please silence all cell phones and roll call M K here Mr Chapman here miss Gallow here miss hint here miss kran here Mr mcisaac here Mr mik here Miss Reyes here miss selino here Mr Spanton here miss Fato is absent and Mr far banish here thank you all right ra for the flag Sal please IED Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God ivisible with liberty and justice for all so I need a call for motion and second to approve agenda item 4.1 the minutes from the March 19 2024 school board meeting uh Voice Voice vote all in favor I mustain uh two extensions got it and any POS okay uh okay so moving to our uh board student Representatives um for the last time uh Adeline all right good evening you've not heard from me in a while so let's do a recap on what's been happening at bores our spring Sports have started and are doing well in the season in addition to the regular Sports we welcome the varsity boys volleyball team into the mix each sport recently had their senior night or are planning to honor their seniors in the up coming days on the last day before break we had a schoolwide pep rally at this pep rally Mr mcgean introduced our Sports captains we watched a preview of lay Miz and selected Juniors and senors seniors competed for a free prom ticket in which they weren't successful after a well-deserved and refreshing break our guidance office prepared a wellness fair for all the students to attend at this Fair there were many booths ranging from pretzels to fidget Spinners to therapy dogs here we were able to discuss with mental health professionals on on ways to limit stress and where to seek help if necessary on the day of the solar eclipse students who had protective eyewear were able to sit on the turf and watch the Cloudy Eclipse together the second week of April the drama club presented an outstanding performance of leiz which was welled from members of the school as well as the community they were able to sell more seats than they have in recent years in the following week anatomy and AP Bio took a field trip to the Liberty Science Center where they watched a live feed of a kidney trans plan this was an exceptional experience and they were extremely grateful for the opportunity later in the week ship also known as student helper integration program through an incoming freshman dance in the gym here all the incoming members of the class of 2028 were able to meet and get familiar with the school environment on May 1st member of the senior of the senior class participated in National decision day they were their future plans with pride ranging from a fouryear school to a gap year to a mission trip to serving our country they were accompanied by members of The Faculty who showed off their Alma Moder we are looking forward to our upcoming events senior Cruise senior trip prom senior Sunset and lastly graduation um lastly I want to thank the board as well as the VHS Administration for giving me the opportunity to be the voice to be the voice for student for the Vorhees student body I truly cherish these last couple months and value everything I've learned here thank you [Applause] Andes okay all right testing okay this last month at North has been a great start of the spring and continuation into the summer here the students are preparing for their finals AP testing and well college right around the corner we've started to see some clubs start to wrap up for one club I'm in Special Olympics we recently had our final Olympics this past Sunday if anyone could recall this last Sunday the Olympics turned out to be a PR wet day but overall still a success moving forward spring Sports have all been coming to a close to highlight a recent win today in girls lacrosse they are now pushed to the finals of hun and Warr Sussex which is this Saturday at North furthermore last Friday evening May 3rd the north Haron High School Jazz Ensemble wrapped up their 2024 Festival season at the 31st Annual mam High School Jazz Fest the band received an outstanding rating with several seniors earning Spotlight Awards moving on to current news at North Hunan this Friday is the annual Relay for Life fundraiser this year the event is going to be dedicated to a student and dear friend of mine that passed away Joey Edwards if there's anyone interested in the community interested in coming I truly love the event and encourage anyone to attend another event coming up is the cultural appreciation day at North We Gather a bunch of different ethnic foods and traditions and take a day to share it amongst the student body lastly as school winds down we are looking forward to the end of year events such as prom at the steel Stacks senior Awards night and Project Graduation with this being my last board meeting I want to thank everyone here for having me on the board it was a great experience being here at the meetings and I want to thank you all for having me thank you so Ron and Greg you have recognition so I just wanted to say uh quickly to my my two reps Adine Ando um thank you very much for representing the school representing student body and um I'm going to miss all the conversations that we had don't tell any of my staff but one of my favorite conversations this year so thank you very much for them um analine is going to bont University right Belmont got it wrong again and uh cedo is on her way her way to uh the College of New Jersey I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and I look forward to the cruise and the prom and all that stuff hanging out with you guys so [Applause] come on I'm gonna make you stand up too come on right here so it's been an absolute pleasure to work with judan and Ash uh throughout this year we meet monthly uh in my office and we kind of get a State of the Union Address and say what's going on with the seniors what's going on with the school uh we talk about what we're going to present at this board meeting uh some of the issues they bring up we we solve together in my office and you don't hear about them and other issues we bring up to the board so they've been a great leaders of our student body and great representatives of north at our board meeting so I thank you uh both for giving the time that it takes to do this job to be out here um on a on a Tuesday night for some long meetings so I thank you both for that so I just want to give a quick little uh summary of what Jude and anesh both have in store for them so anesh will be attending Florida State in uh Florida state in the fall majoring in stem entrepreneurship with and planning to focus on business Consulting he has been a very busy member of our school Community for the past four years as he has been the class president for all four years as well as a member of the National Honor Society a leading member of our Special Olympics uh as well as part of our Relay for Life and interact as he told you about and so most and also most recently uh Jude I'm sorry Andes has started our North news new club which we will continue next year so that's a NES Jude will be attending rvcc Baron Valley Community College in the fall with a major in English they have been working on writing a science fiction book which they look forward to publishing in the future so we can look for that on our shelves during uh their time at North Jude is a proud me is proud of how much they have grown on our Gord golden Lions marching band where they participated as part of the color guard also for the last three years Jude has me been a member of HOSA which is a future Health Professions group and has medled each year placing fifth in the career photography and sixth and second in prepared speaking so great job guys you've done awesome so thank [Applause] so just on behalf of the board uh really want to thank all four of you right for your representation over the past many months and wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavors I will say personally right it's a highlight to me to hear what's going on in your lives in in the school right so I mean I've got kids here but still hearing about all the great things I know many people have commented to me on the board also just it's it's great to have you you know take time out and talk to us about what's going on in the school and so really thank you very very much again and really best of luck over over your next Endeavors so thank you uh so moving on um we'll now have uh review the um 2024 budget so we will have a presentation by Katie on the budget that tough to follow but I'm going to start with the public hearing presentation for the 2425 next school year budget so just to give everybody a little preface um our budget goals which we develop and go through through in early fall we always maintain and thorough and efficient education for the entire student population maintaining our current level of student academic courses co-curricular offerings all of our Athletics maintaining safe functional and clean facilities meeting all of our contractual obligations attracting and retaining highly qualified staff members meeting all mandates and preparing a budget that is most importantly fiscally responsible to all of the taxpayers so this worksheet here explains a little bit of about the tax levy over the past 5 years you can see that we've been very conservative in our tax increases part of that being the three years with as risks um we were able to use remaining referendum funds in order to offset those tax levy increases so you can see that we have been very fiscally conservative in the past five years one of the components other than tax levy is state aid and you can see in this chart we have 7 years of state aid which is a little bit more than I usually share but I think this gives everyone a really clear picture of where we've been and where we are now we've had cumulative reductions of almost $2 million over the past seven years so that's been very difficult to maintain a budget but we've been able to again use other methods such as using remaining referendums funds such as using 75% State funding through the New Jersey clean energy Grant to do facility work and also 35% State funding in our last referendum project in 2024 so when all of those combined we were able to offset a lot of these tax levy reductions or state aid reductions but it is becoming more difficult each year to create a budget that is fiscally sound so as far as the revenue comparison you see in this chart it kind of summarizes what I've already spoken to which is the tax levy increase of $1.4 million we did receive a small increase of state aid of $16,000 so not too much over the entire budget the budgeted fund balance is an increase over for last year that is a change in excess Surplus that we took into this current budget year and although that it looks like we have quite a large decrease um overall for our budget it's really due to last year we had a $4 million transfer from capital reserve that we don't have this year that was due to the referendum that we did pass and used our funds to pay for so again just in summary the total operating budget is 65 approximately $65 million we is less than last year but again the main changes are an increase in our tax levy an increase in budgeted fund balance and also last year we had capital reserve transfer that we will not have this year this pie chart kind of explains our major expenditure categories obviously salary and benefits are always major component and drivers of the School District budget salaries typically increasing in the 3% range benefits increasing in the 8% range and then some of the other larger items being Transportation which with bus driver salaries going up um we're anticipating approximately 10% increase in that area and also in Professional Services we have mental health clinicians Police Services Auditors legal and other Professional Services that are increasing at rates above 10% this year so as far as the budget tax impact we have 12 municipalities that send to North 100 Vorhees and this is a list of all of those municipalities each year the share of that municipality can change based on two factors it could be based on the valuation of the municipality and also the enrollment the number of students that they send to our district so those two driving factors will change how the tax rateable is passed along to those municipalities you can see the difference in that final column of how much the taxes are either going up or going down in each of those municipalities this worksheet kind of gives us a little bit more of a view that you could use for your own tax calculation at the bottom you can kind of see $100,000 property in Califon um is increasing approximately $28 so you could take your value of your home multiply It Out by um that rate and then come up with how much your taxes are going up or going down depending on which municipality you live in so what are the next steps tonight we are having our public hearing and adoption there'll be an opportunity for public comment just on the budget we will then certify our taxes to Municipal clerks and then implement the budget and then all of the resources that I've shared with you tonight chart presentation and a userfriendly budget will be posted on our website thank you you so anybody in the board have questions everyone's I don't have any questions on this budget and Katie I just want to congratulate you on a great job um obviously I've I've just arrived here but I'm very aware of the challenges schools have been facing over the past handful of years and a lot of the moves that you have been making have been the best moves for the district for sure um I if if I'm asking you to like look ahead a little bit to the challenges I'm also I've lost sort of where we are on cycle I know we were in the process of about a seveny year reduction uh where districts were sort of knew they were going to be losing funding over a seven-year period are we now at the end of that seven years we are this was the last and final year we were anticipating a reduction in our state aid and it was actually a positive impact of the 16,000 it wasn't much but it was an increase so that was a positive and then I know we are still exploring other avenues for generating Revenue which is great and then beyond that eduction I mean is there any forecast or are we just at sort of the the the variables of the formula from year to year I do believe it's just back to the formula and how much they decide to fund that formula each year it's never been fully funded so that calculation is always kind of um a gamble when you receive your state aid every year it's unfortunate well thank you once again of course other questions okay so at this time we have an opportunity for public public comment so during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the board with questions or comments on the 2024 2025 school year budget the public is requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their name Municipality of residents group affiliation if applicable and direct their comments to the school board president so again this is one of two public sessions tonight right so this one is just on the budget if you have questions on the budget good evening Mr President members of the board my name is Michael godsman I'm the founder of the New Jersey public education Coalition I have just a couple of comments questions about the budget um the first one is is there any intention of reducing staff other than by attrition and the reason I ask this is because there are currently no less than two bills floating around in Trenton dealing with partial or full restoration of school funding to 2023 2024 levels but one of the requirements in that bill is you must maintain the same level of Staffing that you had next year so I'm just just wondering whether it's your intention to do that in the event that one of those bills gets passed and the other question is are any programs going to be limited reduced or eliminated based upon the budget as presented for the 2425 thank you Karen go hybridge speaking as taxpayer I guess not as a board member um in the presentation I'm sorry St here um the two bills that are floating around Trenton could allow our district to potentially recover the four years of state aid losses um and of course we don't know when that's going to happen um because I am a school board member also but um this could be returned to us if the district has used all of its possible funding sources including raising taxes up to 99.9% I urge you to stick with what we have and not do that please hi I'm Sandra marzo from FR Franklin Township and mine is sort of a pretty specific part of the budget which is superintendent vendor's salary he's here I guess just a name only yet again and I'd like to point out to us taxpayers in the room that that in last school year 2223 he was the fourth highest paid superintendent in the county he made just shy of $196,000 he was the highest paid High School superintendent so I'm curious what is being allocated to him for next year in the budget where he can just feel that showing up to board meetings is option I mean would this be allowed for a teacher if you know a special ed teacher thought parents were difficult and challenging for an IEP meeting and they just decided no I'm not going to come to this parents meeting right I mean everybody on all sides I think can agree on this and I've said this before I'm a daughter of a superintendent who retired he had 20 schools not two and he was on the coast so his schools were hurricane evacuation centers he could not afford to just disappear I'm sure the security Personnel can't just decide that when somebody's being difficult they can just disappear they'd lose their jobs why does this man still have a job here [Applause] have questions okay I call for a motion and a second to approve resolution 05072 4-3 establishing maximum travel expenditure and maximum Professional Service expenditures an adoption of the 2024 2024 2025 school year budget some second okay any other questions comments question there's um quite a bit that's at least allocated that could be towards architectural services do we anticipate spending that money all that money like we have a big Market a plan that's going to happen that we need we do have funds aside to complete our long range facility plan for next year so we do have some of those monies allocated and then we do typically have some just for the projects that arise okay so but it's on an as needed basis right yeah it was a the motion is for a um a cap not a plan right it's just a a cap for how much if you're referencing the resolution yes that's a maximum for the year but that's not necessarily what budget correct right right so I'm my question is that there's not some something that I don't under know about that we're planning to do some big renovation that no okay this is as needed exactly any other questions okay so roll call vote Miss kago yes Mr Chapman yes Miss Gallow yes Miss hints yes Miss kran yes Miss Mr M ISAC yes Mr mik yes Miss Reyes yes Miss seleno yes Mr Spanton yes Miss f is absent and Mr far banish yes thank you moving on to agenda item seven I have a call for motion and second to adopt resolution 05072 4-4 for executive session to discuss matters folling under category 7 as reflected in the attached resolution the board expects to be an executive session for approximately 1 hour and upon return to public session action will be taken motion motion second and a Voice vote all in favor I I any opposed any exensions okay we're in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good good okay so so I need a call for a motion in second to reconvene public session Tera second okay back in session uh so turning to agenda item number got it ktie got it okay uh eight to the chief School administrator's report Rich all right thank you um I'm fortunate to have a few very exciting announcements tonight um first first I would like to say that on Saturday April 27th the North hunon High School Jazz Ensemble performed at the New Jersey Association of jazz educations group two state finals they finished ranking eighth in that competition and it was the first time in his school history that the Jazz participated in the preliminary round for the NJ AJ state finals so to finish eighth in that group two finals uh was uh something for the school history books and um this is different than what anesh mentioned before so these were two itions at the Jazz Band won so I want to make sure we give them recognition they deserve in addition at Vorhees the Vorhees drama club students attended the Bucks County student theater Festival on April 25th uh they won seven Awards during that festival and all the information about those Awards is posted on the VHS website so please visit that so you can see all the accolades they received I want to mention something as also mentioned but the north hunter in diversity Club will hold its third annual cultural Celebration Day on May 24th students or clubs can sign up or host the table to Showcase Traditions cultural experiences languages Foods Etc this is just a great opportunity for our students to see the diversity in our schools and a lot of times it's students with their families that come and um talk about different foods and traditions in their cultures and it's just a great way to um share what they do within their families and their different cultures uh it's a great experience the vores junior senior prom will be held on May 30th and a North hunon senior prom will be held on May 31st and we hope our students have a great time but we hope they are all safe and they um stay safe at those events uh I would be remiss if I didn't mention teacher appreciation week and day uh today is actually national teacher appreciation day and this whole week is national teacher appreciation week uh both schools have events happening at the schools that are honoring our teachers and celebrating them um a lot of times they're in conjunction with our parent organizations uh but I want to personally um send my thanks to all of our teachers and for all the hard work they do on a daily basis for our students and last but not least this was a a quick addition um me and Katie uh blue right next to me had an opportunity to come up today to see a presentation that was happening at North by a um 1959 North hunting graduate named Joe Milligan um basically he outlined his experience uh in Vietnam uh he was shot down in a fighter jet and was held captive as a PW for 6 years um it was great to hear his experience and and have him shared it with our students but it was even better to hear the questions that our students were asking of him the dialogue back and forth was um just awesome and so I just wanted to make sure we brought attention thank Mr Milligan for coming out and sharing that with our students [Applause] now we have the other stuff which is our report on harassment intimidation and bullying this month we had two cases that were reported since the last board meeting one was founded and one was unfounded okay uh so I need a call for motion and second to affirm the determination on the Hib incidence report at the March 19 2024 board meeting some second second all in favor any opposed extensions okay and monthly reports are there for everyone's review if there's any questions let me know all right so the Bor Hees High School graduation ceremony is June 11th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. the north hun High School graduation ceremony is June 11 2024 at 10:30 a.m. our next board meeting is June 25th 2024 at 700 p.m. at The District administration office the deadline to submit nomination petition nominating petitions for school board vacancies to the county clerk's office is July 29th 2024 at 4M I have a question uh will we will there be any transportation can we get transportation for the board members if we want to go to V I don't know I guess we can figure that off that hour and a half is going to be ready tight to get the vote so we did this so the parents would have an opportunity to get back and forth if they had a child at each school um constituencies we we can talk about that but we can find you preferred parking so you can be at one and get out quickly but as far as the bus that we used to do I don't think we a okay thank you uh regarding superintendent Jeff Bender Mr Bender is continuing to manage our schools and interact with the Board of Education assistant superintendent Burj is temporarily representing the administration at board committee meetings and monthly board meetings I will keep the board apprised of Mr Bender's return to board activities um so I wanted to congratulate two of our board members uh Kim sleno and Tara hence both Kim and Tara attend the njsba board of member Academy certification programs these programs are in addition to their volunteer work on the board so Kim is earning her the certified board member certification this is the second of three levels offered by the nsba to be awarded uh Kim had to earn 20 credits of study area of study um are designed to give board members a foundation in the essential governance needs and to carry out the responsibility so congratulations to Kim very [Applause] cool Tara is earning the master board member certification and the certified board leader certification the master board member the third level of certification Builds on the certified board member to be awarded the master board member uh Tara had to earn the C certified board member and accumulate additional 20 credits or 40 credits total to earn the certified board leader uh is the highest level of individual certification of the board member Academy to be awarded uh Tara had to earn the master board member and additional 20 credits or 60 credits total and also serve for a minimum of one year in leadership position at the local County and state level so congratulations to Ken thank you ter so on May 9th both ter will attend the Hun County Schoolboard Association spring celebrations dinner to recognize their njsba certifications and again congratulations to you both and thank you for your efforts it's really great thank you so turning to a agenda item 10 um public comment uh during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the Board of Education with comments you are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to state your name Municipality of residents group affiliation if applicable and direct your comments to the school board president while all comments will be considered by the Board of Education and a response may be forthcoming if in when appropriate individual school board members may not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be a maximum of 30 minutes in length unless there unless there is unusual circumstances you will be allocate 3 minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard please keep your comments respectful and nonam non defamatory and maintain the level of the Quorum appropriate for public meeting where students may be present and in the [Applause] audience good evening my name is Steven pantic of Union Township I would like to start by going over the word obscenity it is by definition the state or quality of being obscene by language Behavior or images it is also a violation of federal law to distribute or expose obscene materials to minors a minor by federal law is an individual under the age of 16 sexualizing children and then telling them uh giving them the directive to discuss with strangers is a step behind obscene telling them to insert objects into their ass while masturbating is obscene and holds no educational value whatsoever we all know the content in these books there is content in these books that goes far beyond being educational we know there is obscene material in the books and according to federal law these books shouldn't have made it into the school library I think we have a much bigger problem than just the books being there I think we have to ask how they got there in the first place what educational professional allowed this to slip past and why we have so-called educational professionals and out of town residents trying to keep them here the liability is now in the hands of the board to do what is right please vote not to please the mob but to do what is right for the children while keeping their safety at the Forefront thank [Applause] you hear me okay Eric Theo Sydney School Road I'm here to share with you some background information that I think is important when considering the removal let's talk about it I'm going to play an audio clip of Deborah calwell Stone the director of the office of intellectual freedom for the America Library Association she literally States the a tactics to impetrate libraries with vulg with vulgar age inappropriate material but ultimately we found that the thing that needs to happen most and it needs to happen before these bills are introduced is sustained messaging uh that reframes this issue um that uh that takes it away from the idea that these are inappropriate for minors or sexually inappropriate for minors and promote them as diverse materials and programming that are about inclusion fairness and protection of everybody's right to see themselves and their families reflected in the books in the public library you just you just heard the Ala directing Librarians to ignore the concerns of parents about obscene and perversely perversely V vulgar content and instead fals fals frame the concerns as an attack against lgbtq students this way the headline story of a media reads extremists want to ban LGT books that is exactly what has been happening here in the nhb community for the past five years the meet a smear of nhb parents is not surprising though since n's own Liberian has stated publicly multiple times that one of the first things she does at their parent challenges the book is contact the media with her with her talk points in fact they we here falling around today we've all seen the other side side's arguments change over the years at first these obscene books were supposedly a way to support lgbtq students and Dei once parents expressed concerns about Vogal material with heterosexual characters characters their argument centered around sex education a recent document published by the nhb intellectual Freedom Fighters uses ala's directive to deceive the public yet again the document instructs community members not to use the word sex education anymore now the latest claim is the book like let's talk about it are the health and fitness safety really instructing students to find people online to share their social Kinks with is about safety instructing miners how to sex is a health and fitness safety Graphics showing miners how to masturbate as health and fitness safety I am asking the board to acknowledge the tactics that have been used to deceive you deceive this community and deceive NHD and vote to remove let's talk about it I'm done hello I'm Dan Kleinman I'm the executive director of world Library Association from bave Texas and I'm here today to support Martha Hixon Martha Hixon was in the news yesterday because she was saying she doesn't get any support from you she doesn't get support from her Administration she doesn't get support from the Board of Education to a certain extent she's right about that these problems wouldn't even be coming up if you the Board of Education and the administration were making the right decisions creating the right policies ones that followed the law like Board of Education versus Pico from 1982 instead of some made up rules that you hear like a child needs to be able to see himself in a library that's what you have to follow the law the fact that Martha Hixon keeps getting whipped around for five years by people is because you guys don't do what you need to do to set the proper standards and make it so it's not an issue anymore make set the proper policy follow the proper policy this kind of a book like Lex talk about it would not be in this school because it would be pervasively vulgar and educationally unsuitable this issue wouldn't even be coming up so I support Martha in her saying that it's you guys who aren't taking the proper action and you should do that thank you [Applause] good evening members of the board and administration my name is Kathleen Meer crane I live in Clinton Township and I'm a parent in the school district I'd like to submit the following for the record to be placed in the minutes from the book let's talk about it the five criteria needed to prove New Jersey's obscenity law is violated is when you have one a person two who knowingly three distributes material to four minors five that is obscene based on New Jersey's legal definition and this book clearly violates all of this some highlights of such are Pages 149 sexting teaches minors how to not get caught sexting how to not get caught breaking sexting state and federal laws why would we teach the children the young adults not how not to get caught think about alcohol we all are adults we know how to consume alcohol some of us enjoy it and some of us consume it hopefully responsibly we don't teach our children though how to do that we don't teach them how to not get caught we know it's dangerous for them therefore we don't teach it to them it's the same exact thing we should not be encouraging minors to sext moving on masturbation 116 through 118 instructs minor males and females how to masturbate our sexual education is not how to and therefore should not provide how to resources anal page 119 instructs how to insert objects in a minor child's anus a few months ago I was here to talk about this particular issue and I'll repeat myself in the fact that I believe there's a forgotten group of people we talk about the unified programs both schools have incredible Unified programs there are special needs children young adults and um typical peers in these groups but we seem to forget the fact that these kids like my son who has autism cannot speak cannot read cannot write I cannot explain to him what's right and wrong about this book this is dangerous and there's a lot of kids like him and we are not protecting them Kinks and Fantasies on page 164 encourages miners to search the internet for strangers to share their Kinks and sexual fantasies with why would we put our miners in danger why would we teach them to go seek strangers when we have massive human sexual trafficking going on in this country they could easily become victims of sexual of of sexual harassment of sexual abuse of sexual molestation of sexual child trafficking porn encourages minors to on page 164 encourages minors to pay for and watch porn this is illegal why are we doing this thank you for your comments your time is up hope you do the right [Applause] thing hello board my name is Mitchell dasta and I'm a junior here from Lebanon at North in 1973 the United States Supreme Court oversaw the case Miller versus California which establish national standards for courts and juries to determine whether matter contain material considered obscene this test known as the Miller test has three parts that are used to make the decision however it must be known that all three of these conditions must be met for a book such as let's talk about it to be considered obscene part one the average person must find the content quote taken as a whole a appeals to Pur and interests the whole matter not just a few pages must be found to contain material intended to arouse interest in people by the review committee's own decision they stated that they only had an issue with five pages of the 242 page book by their own words the book fails his test part two the average person must find the conduct quote patently offensive while different people are allowed to have different definitions of patently offensive I have with me today a packet of over 75 reviews from youth parents and teachers from across the globe who have all given glowing reviews of the book unfortunately I can't afford enough ink to print out the thousands of positive reviews um by this and the and the book review committee's own words the book fails this test finally a reasonable person quote must find that the quote matter taken as a whole lacks serious literary artistic political or scientific value end quote just based on this language alone the book has failed this test furthermore a book aiding teens in their development as individuals as well as people in society showered in positive reviews from the school library Journal Publishers Weekly book list and thousands of people can hardly be considered lacking value the book fails this test for a book to be found legally obscene it must fail all three of these tests however by the committee's own words the book has already passed two of them and any reasonable person would have them pass all three I asked that the board consider the legal guidelines for obscene material and their decision to keep let's talk about it in the hands of students who need it the most also as a student here at North I can say I have walked into bathrooms and seen people performing acts I have seen people look at content on their phones as parents and adults you understand that at some point your kids are going to drink so you would rather have them do it and know how to do it safely in the safety of your own home why do we not do the same here these acts happen in these schools every day Give Kids the resources they need to at least do it safely thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Piper Doyle and I am a queer and transgender student here at North I have heard time and time again from this school about how they want to have a diverse inclusive and accepting environment this is the second time in my high school career where books inclusive of queerness were threatened I was not seeing how inclusivity was being fought for back in my freshman year and I am definitely not seeing it now book Banning is a steep and slippery slope even if it's just one now it doesn't mean there will be more in the future if demands keep being met one day there will be One Singular book lining the shelves the one book ever guaranteed to survive any book Banning in fact if I were to attack the Bible with the same arguments used against this book the same people who are trying to ban let's talk about it would rush to defend it because it was never protect about protecting all children it's about control these same people who claim to be Freedom loving Americans are trying to strip us of our right to read and see ourselves in these books despite censorship going directly against everything this country has ever stood for the students are being used as Weapons against themselves we the people of the future America are being told to sit quietly and let the adults talk while they put words in our mouths the students are telling you you're wrong we know what good for us we know that no better than they ever will back in the January meeting we all witnessed a student being harassed by someone in favor of the band for wanting to speak here but would this ever happen if it was about protecting all kids on on top of all that your librarian Martha Hixon was harassed and threatened for having this book in the library by Banning it you're teaching them that that is okay that they are allowed to harass and threaten your staff to get what they want do the members of the board care so little that you are going to let this happen libraries are supposed to be safe places and you are taking that away from us just goes to show what kind of environment you want your staff your students your kids and your community to be living and working in this were to continue but even you aren't safe from the consequences of your own actions nobody survives the monster that eats and eats and destroys once it's finished with all the people you shove to the front of the line it will swallow you whole to because all blood tastes the same to Fascism thank you [Applause] hello my name is Lucy Harris and I'm currently a freshman at North Hunter High School a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence which Prides itself on its top tier education system along with its sense of equality and safety for all students I would like to add that I myself often feel the safest in Mrs hixon's Library I stand here in defense of the educational graphic novel let's talk about it the teens Guide to Sex relationships and being a human many have become concerned that this book on sexual education which is essential in high school might be scandalous a few have worried that it could be compared to the sex magazine Playboy I would like to state two truths to the board truth number one Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine described by Gloria steum after going undercover to write a bunny's tale as a world of misogyny and exploitation truth number two in a quote by the World Health Organization it is explained that by providing young people with adequate knowledge about their rights and what is and is not acceptable behavior sexuality education makes them less vulnerable to abuse as you could hear let's talk about it and other educational books like it are in fact nothing like the Playboy magazines or other forms of pornography because they're educational not purely sexual if this book is banned it will create a chain effect leading to the loss of other optional to read educational books like it after that what's next the entirety of sex education thank [Applause] you I am Michael God is of the New Jersey public education Coalition before this board makes a decision tonight about let's talk about it you need to ask yourself some serious questions do you want to be one of the few Boards of Education in New Jersey to be classified as book banners do you think that's a good look for you or your District do you think people are going to want to move here do you think your property values aren't going to go down next question did the Review Committee read the entire book or just cherry-pick Pages like the speaker three in front of me just did to try to shock you into making a decision well we all know literature needs to be judged in the context of the entire work next question do you really want to violate the US Supreme Court Island Trees case which says School Personnel are limited in their power to restrict book availability simply because they or other officials disagree with the book's content next do you want a small minority of parents to determine what books children can read denying the majority of parents their right to make that choice for their child even when that Minority can merely instruct the librarian to not allow their child to have access to the book next do you want to be the board that denies the freedom to read and violates the First Amendment because that's what you're doing and finally do you know who's really Behind These attempts to B hand books parents and students will come before you tonight asking you to protect their rights and freedoms and to ensure that their children can read books about diversity and inclusion so that they children will have access to the books that will have them prepared upon graduation to enter the world that we live in I receive nothing for speaking but the faces that appear here meeting after meeting have monetized their appearances several people behind me is a reverend who runs the center for Garden State families last year that nonprofit raised $85,000 and executive salaries of which there was just one was 60 Grand that means 73% of what was donated was paid to one individual many of you've heard of Pastor Amon chukwu well he'll come and appear if you pay him $10 to $20,000 and you pay for his first class plane ticket so think about what's going on here there are actors Beyond those speaking in this room that are really pushing it and they don't represent your parents so you need to start listening to your parents and start ignoring the grift thank you [Applause] hi my name is Morin mcweeney my twins went here last year um I don't have as eloquent of speech as the other people I just want to tell you from the average parent in the community um I've spoken each time we have the meetings as we're going back and forth on stuff I still feel it is the most important for us to support our Librarians and our teachers that's what they're here for and actually support them and not just make some frivolous claim on it um I also believe that everybody is entitled to their books whether you read it or not is up to you that's an individual decision if your child doesn't want to read it that's fine they're nobody it's not part of the curriculum they're not making anybody read anything if your child choose nor are they making the unified kids walk through the library and pick up books so whoever if you w want your child to read the book you just have a restriction where your child cannot do it but you have to be supportive of all the children we're here for all the kids there are kids now that are queer that are gay that are non-binary that are everybody comes in all different things the important thing is for your kid to be a good kid and be a kind kid and be a nice kid and not have other stuff against them they try to pretend they're hiding behind the stuff to try to make it not for against the the queer kids but the books that they're pulling out are against the lbtq community and it shouldn't be that way it's even public knowledge as you're going through stuff all the late night night shows are now you can see across the country how the the religious groups are separating the um um trying to separate the library things from the right and left and making it all like that anyway the moral of it for me is there should be a chap this is a public school there's a separation of church and state you can't impose your personal religious beliefs on anybody else if you don't like a book don't read it but it should be available for the public and for the children that need those resources and it's up to you guys as the adults and on the board of ed that's what you signed up for to read this stuff and and make a legitimate decision on it thank [Applause] you hi my name is Ann Sanger I'm from Lebanon Township um I'm certified as an elementary education teacher I worked in the school-based program in Philipsburg for a number of years I worked across the way from here at IC for a number of years and I'm currently working in another Public School I've raised three sons um many of the students that I worked with at IC have come to this High School uh my kids classmates have come here if my kids went to the public school they would have gone to Vorhees um so my point tonight is a couple things first of all I don't have any actors behind me I'm just a parent who cares about my children and I care about all children as a teacher um children are very impressionable and vulnerable if you capture the heart or the mind of a child if you can hook them on a product you have a customer for life that's why people like Coke and Pepsi are battling over the minds of our children because they want them hooked at a young age so that they are faithful to their brands forever so these young years are so important for for children um parents job is to get in the way of that uh we have their best interest at heart I know many teachers and educational professionals also have their best interest at heart um so we know that our kids are facing a lot of anxiety and stress um my question is when child needs counseling or support who faces the daunting task of searching for a counselor whose values and philosophy match those of the family um maybe even their faith to avoid further confusing the child the parents do that they're also looking for somebody who maybe their insurance will cover if their insurance won't cover maybe it's somebody they can afford the parents do that who works full-time commuting to jobs and then coming back home home and maybe takes their child to a coun counselor that maybe is an hour away um and then comes back home and makes sure that everybody gets fed because you got to have a good meal in your stomach make sure everybody gets their homework done because that will wreak havoc on an already tense situation the parents do that I'm going to jump I had a lot more to say about it but a librarian or a teacher spend specifically specifically a librarian spends 40 minutes maybe once a week with a student then they go home at the end of the day the weekend they're off who deals with all the the repercussions of this pornographic book that these children are looking at in your library the parents are going to deal with it I would love to hear what some of these students who are standing up here saying they know what they want I would love to hear their thoughts in 10 years or 20 years all right guys please stop thank Karina Gonzalez Branchburg New Jersey but I am here as president of the New Jersey Library Association the New Jersey Library Association has watched with concern the growing number of organized attempts of censorship and suppression in schools and libraries in New Jersey and across the country many of these attacks are targeting materials and programs that address race racism sexuality and gender identity and expression njla categorically rejects any efforts to censor or remove materials from any Library based on content we strongly affirm the library Bill of Rights and the freedom to read statement first published by the American Library Association in 1953 libraries provide access to books and other Library resources and services for the interest information education and Enlightenment of all people with the communities we serve we do not exclude materials because of their origin background or the views of those contributing to their creation Library workers are trained to curate collections that are designed to be inclusive as information service providers we are Guided by the tenets of intellectual freedom and our ethical responsibilities to uphold the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America through careful consideration and rigorous training Librarians and Library workers are equipped to make selection decisions that represent a balance of the spect of knowledge we acknowledge the right and responsibility of parents and Guardians to guide the reading choices of their children such rights should not in any way inhibit the rights of others to read or view any materials of their choosing we reject past current and future efforts to remove materials from the reach of any reader concerted efforts by groups who disavow racial Equity self-determination and or gender identity and expression undermines intellectual freedom in addition such efforts inhib ibit knowledge and place barriers to learning nla stands alongside the New Jersey Association of school librarians the American Library Association and other organizations that support the freedom to read in addition njla stands in steadfast support of New Jersey library workers community members and students who demonstrate daily courage as champions of the right to an uninhibited freedom to read thank you [Applause] good evening my name is uh Philip Trager and I'm from anandale so Banning books focused on sex education and LBGTQ plus themes some of which include graphic language and illustrations is with us again on its face this is troubling enough as our library should be a place where all of our students can access materials to help them gain knowledge to Aid them in navigating the world around them but make no mistake this is not only about sex ed books the same people looking to stifle access to these books have also targeted books that don't present the American Experience in a way that aligns with their preferred interpretation their goal is to modify or hide historical fact in fact several months ago when discussing textbooks for the next school year a member of this board with no expertise in textbook design or the underlying subject matter be began questioning the uh uh uh uh uh uh veracity of facts and textbooks recommended for the next school year now the policy committee is using policy review to remove limitations on the types of books subject to reconsideration textbooks will join library books as targets we are watching an aspect of the international attack on our democracy right here do not underestimate this it is a strategy to introduce misinformation into the educational mainstream now at this time the board is in a position to push back on this attack on educational Integrity do the right thing do the American thing vote against removing books from library shelves vote against providing a path to textbook censorship thank [Applause] you so so we're at we're at 30 minutes does anyone want to make a mo to again 30 minutes I I said we're at 30 minutes would anyone like to make a motion to extend 30 minutes I move to add another 30 minutes to the public comment second second second all in favor any opposed any exensions okay we'll add 30 more minutes good evening my name is Ivon Shepard and I am a longtime resident of hunterton County actually 48 years and I come here as a taxpayer there are many people who have made eloquent arguments about the content of the book I come here as the um taxpayer that is concerned about how this board is behaving when let's talk about it was complained about and I understand that was that process that the complaint was established but when it was complained about a committee was formed according to rule 9130 and the committee was chartered to evaluate the material against a selection criteria outlined in policy 2530 the evaluation by the committee resulted in an 80% favorable rating for the material four out of five points in the rubric the policy further states that no challenge material can be removed soly because it represents ideas that may be unpopular or offensive to some the principles of intellectual Freedom the right to access materials and the Integrity of the certified library media personnel must be defended we have laws and policies designed with the intent of producing good outcomes for all we we don't always agree on those outcomes but the intention is to get to get to a good outcome for all we live in a society who expects our schools to be respectful of the laws and policies under which it operates we cannot choose to ignore principles because of personal opinions if we are worried about what our children learn make sure that you point out to your children that bullies have no place to be that those people who are role models who are bullies and who bully our librarian in Facebook like you know they have been doing that those people are wrong make sure your children your children know that the spouse of a sitting board member is publishing some of those insults on Facebook and I respectfully request that that board member recuse herself from voting on this [Applause] topic I offer these thoughts I offer these thoughts with the hope that they can get us to the right decision for all and in particular for the students who could benefit from getting access to this book Thank you very much and have a great [Applause] good evening members of the board my name is Enrique Hernandez I live in Lebanon Township and uh you know I went to high school a few years ago but uh I still remember a few things and I can tell you that when I went to school I wish I had had a book like this because the sex education that I got was from discarded Playboy magazines and the comments my friends made on the bus or on the way home and I I tell that story to illustrate what happens when there's a a field of ignorance ignorance isn't mean innocence ignorance is fertile field for misinformation and if we don't allow students access to vetted scientific information then that field will be filled with lies garbage and conspiracy type theories so I encourage the board to allow this uh book to remain and to allow students to have access to verified scientific information thank [Applause] you hi my name is Alexa offenhauer I live in the town of Clinton I am an Alum of North hunen 1999 um I've been here before in fact I realized as I was writing up my notes that when I started coming here I did not need reading glasses and now I do so that's how long this has been going on um and I want to thank you for your time as well for listening to all of us over the last few years when I've been here I've talked about many things I've talked about the value of expertise and I've pointed out that these books are universally applauded by Librarians and other Educators I've talked about and other people have talked about the importance of learning through Reading which is the safest and most age appropriate way for teens to cter new ideas and become informed about the world they are entering I've also said that the arguments against the arguments against these books are largely disingenuous that if any of the people who have been slandering the north hunon librarian actually believed her to be a pedophile or sex offender they wouldn't have been almost completely absent from these meetings for the last few months tonight I want to appeal to you directly specifically to your reputation as a board of education and the reputation of this District the people who want let's talk about it removed from the library want you to believe that the world has recently gone crazy they want you to believe that this is a new issue that radical extremists are suddenly trying to infiltrate schools with graphic materials and that this is about your duty to protect the kids the truth is this is a story as old as time or at least as old as the Gutenberg printing press there have been innumerable attempts to remove books from the public sphere over the years many of them have been called book bands sorry few of them have been called book bands by the people doing the Banning they've always cited Public Safety and decency and history has never treated them kindly so please see this for what it is removing books from the public sphere because a small minority finds them indecent is absolutely a book ban if you allow it to happen it will be a smear on the reputation of this board and this district and history won't treat it kindly vote to keep the book and do what you can to stop this from happening again thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Rebecca Levan I live in North Brunswick but my niece will be in this school in a few years uh she's only three right now though so we've got a few years thankfully um I'm currently employed by two public libraries and I am pursuing my master's degree in library and information science at Ruckers University the book in question tonight let's talk about it has been criticized as erotic pornographic obscene and inappropriate I would like to remind the board that erotic and pornographic as adjectives mean that something was created specifically with the intention of being sexually arousing and are not accurate terms to describe an informational resource for teens experiencing new and unfamiliar physical and emotional changes who are looking for accurate explanatory material about the normal effects of puberty this book has been described by objectors as quote instructing minors how to violate nj's sexting law end quote for anyone who has actually read the book you will see the book clearly and unequivocally states that there are quote serious legal consequences for sharing naked photos of folks under 18 end quote and specifically instructs them to wait until they are a legal adult it is the duty of this country's educational institutions to provide information not to decide which students are mature enough to seek out or interact with this information in fact your own policy 2530 instructs the certified librarian to provide materials that take into consideration the varied interests abilities and learning styles of the users students have a First Amendment right to make their own choices about their reading materials and a school library is is by its very nature a voluntary Avenue of Investigation students are free to ignore or make use of these materials in accordance with their constitutional rights in addition Studies have shown that the lack of this type of sexual education drastically increases risk of being victims of sexual violence by providing this optional material for students we are in fact contributing to their protection from sexual violence assault and trafficking I call on you the board to make the only reasonable decision and protect the right to read for all of your students thank [Applause] you good evening hunterton Board of Education and community members my name is Sam Mata and I'm a resident of middlex county of worked as a librarian for various libraries across Pennsylvania and New Jersey including drexle University libraries Mammoth County library system and Piscataway Public Library I'm here this evening the same as I was a few months ago in order to support the freedom to read and Brilliant kind librarian Martha Hixon it's incredibly disappointing to see that these conversations are still happening and that she's being attacked simply for doing her job public school librarians perform many duties in addition to maintaining diverse collections that provide books for all students not just one particular particular type of student they teach classes perform Outreach within local communities support staff and even contribute to research efforts collection management isn't one simple task that takes place over the course of a single day collections are everchanging to represent current students and support their students needs it's not uncommon to work over the course of several weeks or months to check between budget concerns scrape award lists and speak with students directly to get feedback on what type of materials it is that they're looking for a great deal of this work is based upon the foundation set forth by the international Library Association which affirms that children have the right to read here in the United States the Supreme Court has ruled that children's right to read is specifically tied to the First Amendment concerning the title that's been challenged let's talk about it it's been both my professional experience but more importantly noted by the World Health Organization that access to high quality sex education resources covering the topic of consent ultimately protects teens as another gentleman had mentioned uh a few Folks up I wish I had access this book when I was 16 years old in my experience um sex education in New Jersey public schools in 2008 was narrowly focused on STDs and didn't mention anything about lgbtq plus topics we need better access to these inclusive resources more than 15 years later in 2024 lastly I want to remind folks what providing access to materials in a library might actually look like Martha isn't forcing students to read this or any other book if they're not comfortable with it what she and many of us Librarians are doing is keeping some copies of this and other high quality titles available on the Shelf where a student has the opportunity to pick it up after seeking information on these topics perhaps the title gets highlighted in a book display during sexual health week in September there's nothing obscene about that thank [Applause] you good evening I'm Martha Hixon librarian at North hunon High School school thank you for the opportunity to [Applause] speak there are others who wish to have their voices heard tonight but are unable to be here due to lack of Transportation National Honor Society inductions or the pressure of upcoming AP exams I'm speaking of course about the students you were elected to serve it's a matter of great concern that students have been shut out of the decision-making process for let's talk about it a book written about them and for them we're not talking about grade schoolers here our two high schools are home to some of the best and brightest young adults in the country two of whom sit at your table every month yet despite our requests no students were included on the reconsideration committee and the only opinions in that report are those of adults whose own adolescence like mine ended decades ago when smartphones were the stuff of Science Fiction when when faced with an obstacle though today's teens always find a way through in this case they voice their opinions in the library when students approach me to express their concerns I urge them to write their ideas down so that I might share their thoughts with you so tonight other community members and I will read aloud the words students wrote words they want you to hear all you have to do is listen one student says don't ban the book it helps those who don't know about the topic and aren't comfortable talking to their family about it it helps them understand emotions and thoughts that are normal at this age as well as giving clear and accessible information that is backed up as opposed to what they hear at school which can be wrong or not healthy another student says don't ban the book I'd rather be comfortable learning about safe sex acts and personal pleasure from a book rather than online or asking a teacher or parent because they don't need to know my sex life the book is there to help and Aid when we want to learn by ourselves and if you're an older adult and this makes you uncomfortable ask yourself why does it make you uncomfortable to learn about your own body or are you just trying to ban a book because it talks about sex take a look at yourself and really dig deep at the real reason you don't like the book and I'll finish with one final comment that wasn't written down it's feedback a student gave me in November after they read let's talk about it the student said Thank thank you for having books like this in the library I don't have anybody at home I can talk to about these things our students come from a wide range of backgrounds live in a variety of family settings and carry an assortment of burdens many of them unknown to us I am proud that our library and our library books provide a safe private space for students to independently seek answers to the questions that concern them please keep it that way thank you [Applause] my name is my name is Doug Eaton I'm from uh Washington burrow um good evening board members um I am um I'm here to read student comments into the public record um one student says again don't ban the book so many teens especially in high school struggle with identifying themselves and their sexuality it's especially hard in a judgment environment that is driven by single-minded hormonal teenagers that get brainwashed by adults like the ones who are trying to ban books just like because of their old outdated homophobic mindset parents like them haven't been in high school for years and they have no idea how hard trying to identify yourself and educating yourself is and they have no right to have an opinion on this another student says don't ban the book this book provides information for teens on how to be safe it is a great res source for information especially if a teen is in an environment where they are uncomfortable to ask their parents this book is simply for education and may inform teens on things they were unaware of it also is not required for anyone to read this book it is simply a choice reading this book is a right for students and banning it will not only violate freedom to read but also freedom of the press every parent educates their child differently so even if you don't like it some parents are completely fine with it and this student says don't ban the book it is literally just a book it doesn't need to be banned finally after submitting their own comment one student went home and brought in a comment from their mother who says don't ban the book while some people may feel uncomfortable with the subject matter this book provides educational information some teams may be too scared to ask questions about there is nothing in the book that forces any team to feel pressured about as it is in as is informational not to mention if someone does not want to read it they don't have to do not punish other teens that simply want information about what they could be EXP experiencing with their bodies or emotions because adults are uncomfortable with it no book should be banned don't like it don't read it but if my teen wants to she has every right to access it I have one thing to say to the board don't ban the [Applause] book ma one second sure sure sir can I excuse me excuse me sir can I just make a request can you just please Mo down I I don't have any issue with you takeing pictures but just please respect the board members thank you I'm sorry ma'am please continue sorry thank you my name is Lisa Bogart I am here as a representative from njla and uh njasl which is the New Jersey Association of school librarians on the rapid response Task Force Team because of situations like this there really are two issues here the first is the official issue concerning the book let's talk about it and then there are of course the bullying and harassment issues pre official Challenge and now with the official challenge the book in contention is a vetted and well reviewed and received book written 14s in comic format to discuss the changes adolescence experience as their bodies transition from childhood to adulthood there are questions addressed in the book that may that many high school students are curious about but many are reluctant to ask an adult about the book serves as a responsible and appropriate source of truthful valid information many students obtain information about sex sexuality and their changing bodies through sources that are often unreliable and may be completely wrong or incomplete our high school students are also likely to seek out information on the internet Googling all kinds of information firewalls at home at school parental controls on tablets and teens Fones do not mean that these adolescents are able to bypass all these supposed safeguards quite easily you raise smart kids they figure it out then of course there is the dark web address access quite easily through tour browsers the onion and torrent Reddit is one Forum where students and actually anyone can search easily and find all kinds of information including all the sexual and bodily changes some sites May provide good information more provide misinformation and quite honestly all kinds of pornography so honestly where do you want to have your student find out about the changes going on in their bodies now secondly you all have let down this amazing nationally recognized educator and librarian three times not once you have allowed personal bullying harassment and attacks to carry on you should all be ashamed that you have not done something about [Applause] that good evening board members I'm Amy penwell I'm speaking here as a representative of the New Jersey Association of school librarians and I read let's talk about it as an educator a basic tenative teaching is you have to meet the students where they are so where are today's students according to the Journal of Pediatrics and parenting 95% of teens ages 13 to 17 have a cell phone according to Common Sense Media they spend an average of eight and a half hours a day on screens using social media gaming and texting they post images of themselves and their friends on Instagram Snapchat Tik Tok and other platforms and some share intimate images in a form of 21st century romantic expression known as sexting The Washington Post reported that 19% of teens have sent a sex 35% of teens have received one and 15% have forwarded one without consent so if this is where students are what can we do about it one school of thought lock up the phones prohibit the platforms and punish the behavior ignore it maybe it'll go away another approach is education teaching students about the hazards and safety tips associated with potentially risky behaviors like drinking drugs and sexual intimacy is a strategy known as harm reduction the harm reduction approach emphasizes and recognizes that the most effective tool is knowledge experts at the Harvard School of Education recommend harm reduction at Dr Emily Weinstein and Dr Carrie James warned that admonishing teens about sexting leaves them without sufficient information when what teens want and need is help understanding the risks and learning strategies for dealing with sexting dilemmas the New Jersey standards for Comprehensive Health and physical education also adopt a harm reduction approach to sexting those standards require instruction on sexting that teaches the consequences of sharing sexually explicit images and strategies to communicate effectively safely and with empathy when using digital images the five-page chapter about sexting and let's talk about it takes a harm reduction approach apart from the dialogue between characters and the cartoon word balloons there are 384 words in the informational text passages in that chapter of those words 276 or 72% of them deal with consent respect safety and legal issues associated with sexting the book clearly warns that digital photos are permanent and impossible to retract it states the legal consequences for sexting under age 18 it stresses the need for consent from all parties and it provides for strategies for privacy and safety the evidence from the text which by the way is not included one word of it in your reconsideration report demonstrates that let's talk about it meets teens where they are in order to help them navigate the pressures of young adulthood in the 21st century your job tonight is to give those teens the tools they need retain let's talk about it [Applause] good evening board members thank you for your time and your patience and your re reception and understanding um I know it's tough to be a volunteer you're often underappreciated I'm a professional volunteer myself my name is Joy leel I'm from Union Township and I'd like to remind you of your role and all those attending of what a school board member does according to the New Jersey Board Association Your Role is to represent the or quote to represent the concerns of the citizens to the school administrators and to represent the needs of the students and the the school district back to the citizens many others tonight will speak about your responsibility to students so I'd like to focus on your responsibility to the community at large a community that has tried in every way possible to let you know that it does not support book Banning since the orchestrated and politically motivated attacks on libraries began in 2021 national and local surveys have shown that the large majorities of American and New Jersey residents oppose book Banning there's a Ruckers Eagleton poll released in February that found out 58% of New Jersey residents are more concerned about book Banning than they are about the students engaging in controversial topics in October 2023 ipsos poll found that 78% of American Americans are less likely to support candidates who favor book bands a result that should be of interest to any of those who plan to run for your seat again a September 2023 survey by every library and book Riot found that 67% of parents think book Banning is a waste of time 74% say that book bans infringe on their rights to make decisions for their own children and 82% support teens having access to content on controversial subjects as they've said previously it's much safer to read a book than to have to be told misinformation on the bus if you need further proof that our community opposes your book Banning just look at our lovely fabulous audience here tonight I couldn't find a red shirt so I've got a red scarf so we are all dressed in red to show that we want books to be read not banned think too about all the board meetings since the fall of 2021 where we also showed up with all the masks that matched when you were in the theater so you could see in the audience even if we couldn't speak how many people were opposed to book Banning who would here out look at the red people show up month after month without fail all of those who stand up for intellectual Freedom often we are the only community members here the last meeting was a little light on attendance and it was all of us we come back again and again because we know you need our support in the face of a small minority I'm here tonight to present a petition to keep let's talk about it with live and digital signatures thank [Applause] you one [Applause] more one more yeah we have two minutes on okay thank you guy Citron tberry back in 1973 a guy named Marvin Miller was sending out dirty pictures in the mail for some kind of business purpose this caused a big legal fight that ended up at the US Supreme Court which created the Miller test the measure for defining what is too obscene to be protected as free speech in literature from start to finish a book in question must be one intended to cause arousal while too being intentionally offensive as like in truly your worst imagination and three devoid of any educational value despite claims to the contrary not a single book in our District's libraries meets these three factors of the Miller test for obscenity so objections on those grounds are unfounded US Supreme Court case isry versus Pico further established that libraries are a place of voluntary inquiry an activity which underpins free speech that's the Miller test and that's constitutional law an active minority of extremists has no right to ban a book that other parents of the community clearly find valuable and age appropriate having to argue this freedom to read in modern times is beyond sad and it's completely unamerican president far banish your own reconsideration committee has confirmed that let's talk about it is not obscene so if anyone on the board votes to ban the book they should have to prove to the public Here and Now beyond a shadow of a doubt how it is so offensive that it outweighs every student's First Amendment right to read it even though some people have concerns about some pages in the book the moms for Liberty Nationwide have been exploiting this exact kind of situation States like Florida are now suffering for having gone to extreme thousands of titles are no longer available to students including in some districts Webster dictionary why because it contains references to sex there is a right and a wrong here and banning books is dangerous and wrong please continue to check extremism protect our world-class public uh public education here in New Jersey and let our worldclass Educators do their job thank [Applause] you okay so we're um we're at 1 hour and we have a lot to complete tonight I obviously I'll still ask all of you does anyone want to make a motion to extend or continue on with business okay so we're going to end public session uh thank you I appreciate thank you all of you for your comments and I do appreciate [Applause] it so moving on to yeah thank you so moving on to agendum item 11 regarding the book so so as a way of background a request for Library materials Rec reconsideration on the book Let's Talk About It by Erica Moon and Matthew Nolan was submitted on February 13 2024 by a member of the public the request being to remove the book from the library per regulation 9130 superintendent Bender formed a Review Committee that included six members three members from the administration including a principal vice principal and health teacher a liaran not from our school district and a former school counselor school administrator parent and a board member the committee met on three separate occasions in March and April each Committee Member reviewed that book and read the book and completed a questionnaire Committee Member findings were then uh collected into a reconsideration report Comm Committee Member questionnaires and the committ reconsideration report excuse me were distributed to board members on April 18th and per regulation 9130 the rec consideration report was provided to the complaintant on April 19th uh findings were that three committee members voted to retain the book that they felt merits outweigh drawbacks and three committee members voted to remove the book based in part on the sexting chapter and concerns related to sexting so at this time I would ask is anyone on the board wish to make a motion regarding the book um regarding the public complaint um to remove the book from the library let's talk about it yes let's talk about it because it violates state New Jersy state of is there a motion or second to that I second okay so any discussion on this so the motion is to remove the book because that it violates uh New Jersey state of Center law so as most of you know I'm one of the student Representatives so I have spoken to multiple students about this book not just my friends because I didn't want them to just tell me what I already think um and I've had a lot of people read the book and tell me that they found it very impactful because although there are some chapters that like aren't that great um the book as a whole did educate them about consent and safety and a lot of them had realized that their sent and safety had been violated in the past and that prompted them to speak to their parents about it which helped them find closure in that and this book has also been it's been said to me by the students that this book isn't going to encourage them to sex because I did bring up that that is a common issue um that people have been mentioning it's not encouraging students to sex rather it's telling them not to because of that passage that says it's legal when you're a minor um a lot of students that I do know have been sexting and so I have recommended to them to read uh that chapter specifically so that they know the legal ramifications of that action so I just wanted to let you know what the students have been saying to me [Applause] [Applause] any other comments thank you okay any other comments yeah I I wanted to say when I was running to become a board member one of the first things uh when I spoke to other board members not from this board from other boards I spoke to a longtime board member and and the one thing they told me the the one thing you need to learn as a board member is we don't run the district we hire the professionals who run the [Applause] district the book the book has been vetted it it's been found to not be obscene uh it's been approved by you know National organizations to to to come to the district and then it's reviewed by our Administration and our librarian to be part of the library I I don't think we can make decisions when we're not the [Applause] professionals I to add um for professional in question who has been um like read through this book and decided to allow it to be in our library has a M's in library science and 19 years of experience being a school librarian so I do think that point stands towards her um professionalism [Applause] professionalism so I'd like to to comment so um I think an important thing that we need to keep in mind is that the book is supposed to be viewed as a whole and the majority of that book has a lot of really good information in it that's been helpful to students as we've been hearing that it's a helpful book and it may not have been something that we would have ever seen in high school but that doesn't mean that it's not appropriate for students today um the other point is that the book does not meet the terms of the Miller test and that is from the Supreme Court decision which is the supreme law of the land and supersedes the anything in the state regulations and based on the and all of the prongs of the Miller test have to be met in order to consider something obscene and finally and I think the point is is a very good one under the um Board of Education versus Pico Supreme Court case the board does not have the right to remove a book from a library just because people have an opinion about that material if it's a book that passes all requirements we need to leave it in the libraries and I think as parents parents have the ability to make a decision as to how they want to raise their children and decide what books they read and what materials and whatever else they're going to read but we should not be taking the approach that we're going to restrict what students should have access to because on top of it we don't want to sit here reviewing every book that the Librarians select that have been reviewed by different peer reviews and other journals as a matter of course otherwise that will become our primary job here and I don't believe that's what we were elected to do so so uh so just just for the record right let's let's be clear right U Miss kran Miss kran as a lay person her opinion is it does not violate obscenity law M Gallo's lay opinion is that violates obscenity law right so I want to be very clear is a lay opinion not the opinion of the board not the opinion of of our council is their lay opinion so I would like to just talk a little bit about the New Jersey state obscenity law when it comes to minor so it's 2C 343 which says obscene material means any description narrative account displayed despic of specified anomic area or specified sexual activity contained in consisting of a picture of a representation publication sound recording live performance of seen uh hold on sorry wrong note um means any description narrative account displayed despic of specified anomal area specifi sexual activity contained in or consistent of a picture a representation publication which means posing composition format or animating sensual details amid sensuality with sufficient impacted con conate puant interests on that area of activity area means human male genit genitals in discernably tgit state even if covered human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal any active human masturbation sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse fondling of erotic touching or covered or uncovered human genitals I mean when you look at this and you take the pictures from this book this is clearly what it sees this is clearly what it shows so as I understand that there might be some important things in this book I think those topics are probably covered in a lot of other different books but this one in particularly with the pictures of masturbation an x-ray of a penis inside of a vagina I mean what else would you consider as obscene when it states in the New Jersey Law which you cannot guys please please okay all right please board discussion thank you the obscene is described in the law it's not I'm not making this up it's in the law okay please okay all right please not children first of all this is when we come to the federal and and what Beth was saying about the Miller test that I understand that okay but this is New Jersey state law the state law still stands we all took Oaths to the Constitution to uphold our constitutional rights the Constitution and the laws okay this is a violation if we vote obscene material which to specified I mean we all have eyes and we all have ears and we can read and we have we can see this this is exactly what the book says okay and then the other thing is we do have sexing laws we have child pornography laws that this book violates there's endanger and the welfare of minors I mean this is not just obscene material you know if a if a senior and as we are heard very clearly from the school that sexting is happening and another student said there was stuff happening in the bathrooms unbeknownst to me I didn't understand that was really going on and I'm hoping the administration is dealing with it and I trust that they are okay but if there're sex thing if a senior is 18 years old sexting somebody who is under AG that is a that's a crime that is a crime can okay can I com okay okay I did read the book okay Nicole talk to us sorry it's okay the whole book so what I wanted to comment back is everything you're saying is your opinion as a lay person I would like to take the opinion of the National Association that has reviewed the book that has recommended the book The professionals who went to school and studied and they're the ones making the recommendations for this book I apologize but I don't want to take just your personal opinion I want to take the national opinion if 97% of dentists say use this toothpaste I'm going to use that toothpaste and I won't because I don't use Flite but anyway my point of the matter is the American Library Association in that the 2530 that states that we support the Ala okay I wasn't on the board when that policy was Ran So I do not support the Ala I would like to bring up but you have to that's an opinion I don't have to follow the policies I am following the policy but I didn't write that policy you have anyway okay okay okay please I have okay please stop please stop am allow come on I have two points that I'd like to bring up first of all I would like to request that everyone respects the board members here whether your opinion agrees with them or disagrees with them because they're all humans thank you Jud additionally I do want to mention that um depictions of genitals they aren't necessarily pornographic or obscene uh just because of what they're showing in my opinion um because my biomed textbook has much more graphic detail [Applause] on and that's a bio and that's and I agree with you and that's a that's a bio sorry point of information for our board um we're having board discussions I mean I respect what you're saying but this is um this dialogue is between elected officials I was elected no that is that's I'm waiting I'm I'm I've been trying to make contact with our attorney is that to a okay please stop on first of all members of the public are not invited to speak speak at this time speaking out when it's not public comment could be considered disruptive of this meeting you did have your full time you were allowed in an hour so a student representative is allowed to speak okay thank [Applause] you Jude thank you for your comments thank you for bringing those perspectives to this conversation I am not supportive of moving the book I know that folks will disagree on that uh I am sensitive to the fact that as folks read this book there were portions and passages that they found mature or Troublesome as I read it I tried to keep those concerns in mind it prompted a number of questions for me that while I read the book and while I do not agree with those who were requesting removal um based on the sexting chapter I thought the sexting chapter was quite clear about minors not engaging with it and the dangers of consenting adults that they risk if they should engage with it it did prompt in me though some questions about this book obviously is not our primary educational mode around sexting our health and sex ed curriculum is uh so it did prompt me to ask where sexting is addressed in our curriculum one of the things you learn is that the K12 standards on sex ed are fairly broadly written but they do require that sexting be addressed um there was also a passage on sexual abuse and harassment in the book that I found very eye-opening and very educational that somebody who was potentially being abused would find questions to answer there that would lead them to resources and guidance to get help um and actually I was amazed that the book went even further and addressed potential sexual predators asking them a series of questions that should they answer yes to those questions they should be seeking guidance and potentially turning themselves over to law enforcement but it did prompt in me where in our curriculum we are addressing these things and the answer was we may not be addressing it that consistently it may happen in I believe it was one time in middle school I believe part of teen pep addressed something and something else might have come up in one other place but I did get from those reports that there was concern perhaps from Administration that sexting is an issue and we've heard comments to that effect it does make me wonder if a conversation among the vice principles that if this is a challenge that we are facing there might be a conversation to be had with the sexed curriculum are we conveying the messages that I feel are in this book strongly enough to students throughout their time here similarly it does require education around sexual abuse and harassment likewise are we addressing that sufficiently in our curriculum something else I asked because I feel as though I've heard it in a number of comments emails was this question of if a parent objects to a book do they have the option to restrict their child's access to it I did hear that in a number of places but when I asked the administration I was told that no we do not have something currently like that in place um and even though I did see emails that were from parents where they said they were doing that um before we ever consider removal of a book for everyone I think we should seriously be exploring Pathways like that to recognize the concerns of those who do want to restrict access to their children uh before we consider complete removal so just a few thoughts to you to add to that to add to that point another lens with the idea of parents would have an option to restrict a book for their kid if we have incoming freshmen and we have so many parents who have new kids in the district and they're going to have no clue what books are in the library so they don't even have the knowledge to say I need to restrict this kind of book so I I can't wrap myself around that argument well one further question I asked was what percentage of families are opting out of any part of our sexed curriculum because perhaps erroneously I was assuming that if there were parents who were particularly concerned about the nature of the sex ed we were providing they would be opting out as freshman or out of that curriculum um the answer was it was 2% of our kids generally freshman year which numerically is about 12 kids per year it might give or take I think that gives us a sense of the the size of the audience that might be cautious around topics like this um and again I would suggest that if we want to for the folks who are opting out of teen pep if there's further conversation to have to your point Christina that maybe there are are are there books that you would be concerned about that you would want to have a conversation about and see if there's something that would limit your child's access to that I recognize a parent's right to have that conversation um I'm just very reluctant to make some sort of definitive move on behalf of that voice for all regarding the team pep I don't think that many freshman parents are fully aware A Ware of what is discussed in teen pep and how it you know the you know the shows and acting and all the things that they do I don't think many parents are aware of it I know that during I've had three kids go through to school now and the parents I mean I went through it once so I understood and I knew you know how to opt my my child out but the bottom line was other parents were like wait I didn't even know this existed I just figured sexed was sexed I didn't understand that freshmen were teach or Juniors were teaching the freshmen so on that note I understand you're concern only maybe 12 people are opting out but I think that's only 12 people because they don't fully understand the whole concept behind teep and the curriculum and how students are teaching students from the experience and the conversations that I've had yeah staying on the on the on the topic of the book um you know I think uh you know it's concerning um very much so I mean that's why we have a complaint um however you know hear hearing from our attorney earlier um so let's not talk about his okay sorry John sorry so I don't believe personally that it rises to the level of you know removing the book entirely from the library however you know you look at the report and you you you see concern from some of the people obviously that that voted um to remove and I think we need to do a better job of address addressing some of those concerns you know going forward and potentially with with this book um like I said I don't think it uh Rises to that level based upon a lot of the the definitions that we've heard tonight that it it needs an outright ban but I think it needs to be you know be you know uh held with special gloves because there are concerns and we and we heard them in in this report so um I think we need a better job to be sensitive and um you know so so that uh you know all can be happy um or or happier John I think you and Brendan make really good points about the fact that the report definitely did provide some insight right and I think you know it comes down to what are we what's not happening at the schools that we may have to address and it so brought that to light and maybe that's something that we look into further so that we can make sure that the that the students are more educated on some of these topics and and I just want to be clear I'm not I'm not suggesting that that's the the result what I'm suggesting is it rises to that level of if a conversation among the principles and vice principles are that yes sexting is an issue here uh one that we and believe me I have I have an appreciation for the life of the vice principal who has to deal with that and the families that are involved and and the trauma that's involved for the kids as well um if our concern concern is that that is happening I think it's incumbent upon us to see to it that the educational conversations are happening so that we can go and look at that and say all right is there a reduction of this type of behavior based on what may or may not be happening based on stronger educational efforts so in my lay opinion I can't support a vote to remove a book because it violates abenity law because I don't think it violates abenity law I I I don't I don't support removing this book in general so I will say that outright however I will say we burn a huge amount of oxygen in this room on this topic I'm just being honest with all with us okay and and um I'm I'm I'm getting to the point where I'm I'm upset that we're not talking about other things I'm going to be honest okay I'm just frankly honest I'm upset that we're not well I'm upset we're not talking about our kids' grades about our kids mostes of stability our kids getting into schools are our kids prepared for the next step after leaving here for trade law enforcement I we're just burning a huge amount of energy on this so we have to find a better solution to this okay because I I we cannot keep burning energy like this I'm gonna be honest because we're not doing our jobs I don't know if that means policy needs to think about a way that we can find a happy medium right and I think think the world is full of compromise and that and I don't know what that answer is but maybe policy needs to think about can we find a way and and listen I appreciate everyone's opinions and I hear I hear all of the opinions I I I really do but there has to be a way to make find hopefully a middle ground maybe that's policy and I'm certainly not asking I'm not speaking to the crowd or Miss hixen but maybe there's a maybe she as as among us maybe she has some ideas to possibly find a way to keep these books available to students but find ways to address the concerns that obviously many parents have and I again I don't have answers to that but I will say as a collective board and administration we have to find a better way to deal with this because this is we are not addressing things I really wish would be addressing I I apologize for grandstanding so at the moment we have a vote to a motion to remove this book based on um the opinion that it violates New Jersey obscenity law that I think that's really important to state that the motion the on violating New Jersey obscenity Law right that's the motion so I guess the first question is that we can vote on that motion or do anyone wish to change that motion okay so we will take a roll call vote on that motion Miss cagno yes Mr Chapman no Miss Gallow yes Miss hints no Miss kran no Mr mcisaac no Mr mik no Miss Reyes yes Miss selino yes Mr Spanton no Miss VI is absent and Mr far banish no motion does not carry [Applause] okay okay so based on that the question need is denied and of B remain on the show thank you okay so moving on to item 12 curriculum instruction technology Beth you have a read out um you want why don't you start sure I'm sorry that's okay uh community relations oh I'm sorry I didn't have I am sorry hold on just a it's all right it's all right all right we're we're on curriculum that's all right no worries hold on no we're on curriculum yeah oh I'm sorry oh I'm sorry we're on item 11 curriculum read out from curricul curriculum right sorry got okay okay all right so a motion wait are we taking a break I guess we're taking a quiet break we're still in public we're still in if somebody has some in the bathroom yes we not we're not officially recessing right no I was just saying you can't hear over here okay sorry sorry I think that people just went to the B room and we're waiting for people I guess to settle down I'm not sure e e e e e agenda item 12 curriculum instruction technology committee report bet yes now now I'm on the same page okay uh great so the um curriculum instruction and Technology committee met on May 1st uh everyone was in attendance we had have a special guest um uh guo Vargas deas hopefully I said that right sorry um uh and I'll I'll discuss um his participation in just a minute so um the first thing we went through were um talking about the district professional development plan to inform the uh professional development um goals um for the different departments and the individual staff members uh so we discussed that piece we also talked to about um surveying students to get more feedback on what they think needs to be focused on for the professional development plans we talked about the the school climate survey which which parents and uh students as well as staff receive each year um so looking at that we discussed um special special class programs uh like the autism program that we have in the district to help reduce the number of added District placements um some of the programs even have have uh bring students in from out of District so our program um is actually uh very well received in other districts um then we looked at the consultant list um for the the rates for the 2425 school year and we discussed um holding off on approving those lists until next year as opposed to month by month we'll wait till we have the full list and then um approve it so the committee supports all those items and um we'll be asking you to vote on those today uh we also discussed the summer curriculum hours these are for um teachers that'll be working over the staff and teachers who would be working over the summer uh to work on different aspects of the uh the the curriculum uh and so we talked about that we talked about um additional hours for revisions that are going to be um Coming forward on the AP courses by the college board so additional time need to be needed to be implemented there and uh we also talked about um the waiting for common assessments uh which is another a topic that we're going to continue to pick up um at the next meeting um we did start having a conversation about artificial intelligence um and that's where umro stepped in and and provided us with a lot of really good information uh We've added um different lessons to the different uh grades to grades 9 through 11 on uh digital C citizenship uh but we we were talking more about the generative a I and um talking about you know where its placees in in both for teachers and staff and then the students uh we definitely feel it's an important topic to evaluate we're going to be looking to see what other um school districts have done um from the standpoint of setting policies for students and we're going to add it to our June agenda so that we can talk about it further uh we didn't have enough time to talk about the third marketing period grades um but hopefully we'll be able to report on that at the next meeting thank you thank you okay okay call for a motion in second to approve agenda items 121 through 124 John Brendan many questions okay all in favor any opposed any extensions okay uh policy in security Kim uh yes uh we had discussion regarding books materials reconsideration form uh as well as update on njsba conversion process in relation to agenda item one the book materials consideration form we reviewed and discussed the changes uh requested to the form uh the title was changed to add instructional as well so it would match our policy and reg uh it's now in alignment with the reg regulation language we also added the name and addresses for both schools on the form because originally it was just one School uh the form will now be Universal for the district um uh we the committee felt this new version of for would uh ask for better more detailed information for someone challenging a book or materials uh the new form will be used in all future material challenges and is now in the offices as far as njbi [Music] um presently uh the process the uh to convert the existing manual was discussed admin team met with NJ SBN on April 11th uh we will be meeting again on they will be meeting again on June 13th for an update and progress check-ins njsba will njsba will complete the entire manual conversion before giving it to us as the numbering system is is different uh once we have the that new manual we with all recommended language the committee can review it and present to the board for adoption that's it I have just a question so if we adopt those policies does that mean we won't have to have these kind of the meetings where we take the third and second and first readings will be done we discussed that um and admin's looking into the process that we'll use for the adoption of two readings am I correct Rich correct me if I'm wrong you're asking the whole adoption right Beth not yeah exactly yeah uh we're not sure if it's going to require two readings to adopt the entire policy manual okay um but anything subsequent after that that's changed would require right so the peace meal changes and things okay okay uh and jsb is working within our timelines um and there's no actions at this time we also did talk about um there was a concern at vor's about sell Service uh currently repeaters that meet improvements in some areas but not all areas have great reception um and it varies by cell carrier so that's it for policy any questions all right and there's no votes on that so turning to finance John okay yeah thank you um so yeah we started the meeting off um with the budget so um you know once again Katie thank you very much for all of that work uh glad that's all behind us U one item uh which came up in our committee meeting um by the way everybody was there we met last uh Monday um one of the items that came up and came up in public uh comments on the budget was regarding uh a bill moving through the uh legislature I don't know where it stands right now but uh looks like it they're going to give towns the ability to raise taxes in the amount equal to the loss funding that Katie Illustrated over the last six or seven years so in that case that's our budget you know we've lost like I think $ 1.8 million so but there's no there's no free lunch there though our TA it's not that they the state would be paying paying that amount it's they're giving us a free pass to raise taxes in that amount if we choose we haven't chosen to do that we've you know we've met this budget the oldfashioned way so even if it does pass um we don't anticipate needing to um you know go that route and Hike taxes which would be a a substantial amount to uh you know that 1.8 million we we've been able to get by without uh without so that's that's what we have on the budget um additionally we um uh let's see excuse me um there's some Capital work uh on the agenda regarding um uh review of the doors in the classroom doors in the school so where where they don't have proper closures and vision panels so uh that work is moving to the front burner I I guess is the best way to put it uh we we need to complete that because that was flagged um then other agenda item uh that you'll see uh we're joining a there's a resolution regarding bloomsberry that we're joining their Regional regionalization study um I guess we'll be eligible for some grant funding for that process so that's still working its way through uh there's a contract the hunter in central for transportation there's a Honeywell agreement this is uh to use up the remaining fund the funds in that grant that we received there's still money that hasn't been used so uh we're going to be doing additional uh work um to utilize that um one for a safety Grant that'll help offset some class three police costs also so the uh medical prescription Dental renewal came in at 4.1% uh for the year and um the uh uh the shift uh for the uh insurance medical is up 8% fortunately we we switched over to that a number of years ago if you recall uh because if you looked over at the uh State Health Benefit Plan which we left it's uh usually those annual increases around 15% so thanks very much Administration Katie F Rich for encouraging that switch um there's a requisition of taxes this is the the the payment schedule that's going out to all the towns based upon the budget we just passed uh there's also multi-year contracts uh with Comcast and Lumen they they require three-year commitments uh instead of annual um and then there's another $44,000 um purchase of Chromebooks for you know the new new next year's freshman so that's all I have um any questions can you the interested in to know more about the busing is this a solution to all our problems um uh collaborating with hun and Central we've always have this just a no we saw problem this we problem this is more of the same this is not yeah yes not getting more of their services or something like that to help us we still have bus problem right and and on top of that it it's a big driver it was a big driver in our budget I think it cost were're up north of 10% you know between fuel being you know where it is and then wages for bus drivers that are they're struggling to find so I'm drawing a blank on the school that wants to come into the is it bloomsberry that's got to pull out of Philipsburg yes okay so this is the most recent update that we so this bluberry has passed a similar resolution back in March so we're we're basically Lo step with them okay okay yeah they send they send to Philipsburg that's what I meant H County actually I'm sorry they are part of County right right yeah that they were that's right yeah they W out out Katie is just a question is that is that bill on the senate floor has it made any traction we were just speaking about that a few minutes ago so it was supposed to be approved on May 9th now I believe it's a 15th so we're still kind of so it was bumed 13 okay yeah so we're still waiting to see what happens with the vote not that you know we were going that but it could be up to 10% 9.9 9.9 9.9 does everybody do everybody understand what that bill is that everyone get what we're talking about it's not that we can recoup the whole six years of v two reductions the whole 2 million I believe it was three or four years out of it I I have it in the fft notes so we'll talk about it more next month if it actually passes and it it's approximately 3% of the budget so if we were to take the entire amount that's available to us it would be a 3% maximum not the 9.9 that they're they're saying that's just a maximum if you had that much loss and and the board you keep in mind the only part of the bill that's passed is past the assembly so that the Senate could review it I believe they've sent it to their budget and Appropriations Committee it's I believe we were told that it's going to get voted on by the Senate May Come May 13th which um probably doesn't help much because budgets are supposed to be approved by May 14th there is a companion bill it's 84059 that uh gives the commissioner ability to adjust the schedules um that too is supposed to U I believe there was a hearing on that in the Senate May 6 presumably that will go up on May 13th to be voted on at the same time however we don't know the Senate is going to make revisions to the assembly bill which would mean that even if the Senate passed it you would have to go back to the assembly so that it could be revised so that the language passes because same it has to be the same language passes both houses both the assembly and the Senate and then it goes to Governor Murphy who has 45 days to sign it is it as a as proposed is it just for this coming like like as a One-Shot deal like for this budget coming up or is it a here's the law now it's changed and you guys can do this what we have that discussion in finance as well I'm not sure if it'll be like Bank cap where they'll give you a three-year phas in or not but they don't have all those Logistics figured out until it moves through the rest of the the channels so but I will find out at some point when it does move through and then just from the like a logistical question then so if if it is passed Murphy signs and all that kind of stuff do we have to issue a referendum for that or is it something that's just yeah would from what we heard we would just amend the budget you would have to have a new public hearing amend the budget and ask the board to vote on that new amended budget so there would have to be consensus kind of at Finance to propose that to the full board okay and when would that amended budget have to be passed by that's a good question and it would have to get passed that's the 4059 bill so the 4059 bill says the commissioner of education is authorized to issue basically issue a new schedule doesn't put any specific dates into that I would hope soon because we usually open the budget quite quickly thank you questions so I guess we need a motion y so call for motion second to approve agenda items 141 to 1418 so move era Dan all in favor I opposed exensions just on 18 just 18 okay okay uh community relations here we go um now we're there yeah we uh the committee met on Thursday May 2nd at 6 o'clock virtually uh all members were present except for Mr Chapman but he had a good excuse I hope she had a good birthday he forgot about us but he was planning his wife's birthday so good guy um along with Rich Bess and maren Malala and um our uh president here uh we had one agenda item that was the um a briefing paper on the North Hunter vo gymnastics Co-op there's no um issue that needs to be voted on today but um Dr Buress reviewed the North had had gymnastics team for about 23 years but fores has not had um student interest to create a team but right now there is student interest so the teams we're going to do do a co-op where the V students are going to participate in a joint team like our ice hockey um so this will begin next year um so it's quite exciting for both schools to be able to participate together and I wish them much success our second agenda item um stem from our last meeting that was brought up um by Beth and regarding a follow up on an ad hoc that um on reporting out on our um activities so I'm going to let her go ahead and the committee discussed that we would um do a semester and we'll do a report out on the activities that are happening in both schools both within uh staff training Administration Student Activities um just so that we can keep a pulse on the fabric of our our school district to make sure that we're being um inclusive Diversified Equitable um so go ahead with the readout so um I'm really happy to say and I think all the committee members were really pleased to see how much is is being done uh across the administration the staff and and the students have really taken a lot of initiative from an administrative standpoint um uh Mr milanka Mr mlan Right and uh John Simpson met um with some people from the folk Institute um back in March to talk about diversity issues and needs for the district um and the potential to partner with their Organization for staff training and Student Activities um they're going to they had a more recent meeting in April as well and uh Dr Cell was was going to attend um in addition uh Chris M Lanka attended an inclusivity Summit AT Roxbury High School uh in April approximately 60 students from different high schools participated in the conference which focused on inclusivity through extracurricular activities and various team building activities um in addition there was a um a Drew University writing project uh program that uh Chris mlan also attended where there were workshops with Dei initiatives and focus on adding more Dei literature to um to the grades like new novels and things into the the sophomore junior curricula uh there was also a newsle uh professional development training for English and social studies teachers um back in February uh the program was entitled embed culturally responsive practices and the staff is going to explore um additional the the content um on diverse experiences and curate content uh to further uh develop the program and then finally on the administration there was an a 9th grade assembly at Vorhees uh held in um at the end of April entitled proud Heritage the African-American presence in the saand mountain region and surrounding area uh the presentation linked students to the study of early American history and included discussion about the Inception of slavery in New Jersey and how Black Codes impacted America African-Americans through history um they also um had members of the students for Change and African-American history course uh at students attended as well from a staff activity standpoint uh Mary ra Maria Rus um organized a group of students for both North and bores to attend the Roxbury High School inclusivity Summit which was great students from the um us Alliance the diversity club and students for change visited and met with other students and uh an English staff member from North is going to attend a TCNJ Workshop that covers best practices and practical strategies for creating inclusive and supportive um environments uh within schools in the institution so that's very positive from a student standpoint it there's just there's lots I think it's really really wonderful and I think we have to give a lot of kudos to our students um the US Alliance um at both schools continues to build um community and encourage um people to stand up and and amongst the student body and encourage a diverse cross-section of the student body to to help others uh in uh January so we're going back a little bit north hunon hosted the first lion Leadership Summit focused on Dei and leadership topics the students participated in and led team building act uh activities like competitions and and activities that focused on equity and in December the Vorhees Alliance LED 58 students in a series of activities promoting connection among a diverse cross-section of the student body and then you have additional groups like Pride um group from North hunon and Vorhees which is is the former Spectrum Program they have regular meetings the diversity Club in both schools have been meeting um during Black History Month there were a lot of activities that went on um to reflect um the the celebration of the month uh the unified group has had some activities as well including um a unified students versus teachers basketball game at North in February and the Vorhees had the silent disco which I just think is like the coolest thing um students for change at bores meets also and um they're in the process of um establishing some programs uh with uh the raway high school and Hope to establish an exchange with Patterson science and technology and then um as we know we approve the Jewish Culture Club for Vorhees that group has already started meeting and uh they plan to bring in uh a rabbi from the habad of hunon County to give demonstrations on the use of um of different um traditional uh clothing and and things of that nature they're used for praying um and other items that are found in Jewish homes so it's very positive as well that's with everything thank you sure and so yeah we had no um items to to vote on um and that's it yeah thank you uh so delegates report so Tara for New Jersey school boards yeah so uh the delegate assembly is uh Saturday May 18th um so I will be there and I'm honored I sent you all an email with the link to the the handbook so if you have any questions just reach out to me or Insight um there are a few um actually there's a resolution being proposed from Clinton Township so it's kind of interesting to see what other school boards have sent in but if you have any questions just let me know but I'll be there Saturday morning at 9ine o'clock at Mercer County Community College representing our board Kim um yes uh this Thursday May 9th um H the hundon county SBA will be meeting and it's recognition of uh and teachers and teacher of the year and of course board members who have received accolades so it's at the Mountain View Chalet so it's open for anyone to yeah and I Glen didn't realize that if any of you want to register you just go online and um on the Chalet one they do a buffet um a dinner at six o'clock and then the presentation starts at 7 it's also virtual so if you can't make it down there but it's kind of nice to sit in the room with other board members from the county um and they always have presentation on legislation um on finances so from people from school boards so yeah Jesse comes from legislation but but I urge you it is a great experience to network but I urge you to go into next year and sign up as soon as they come out and you should be everyone of it's great to be attending these it's PD and you learn a lot and you network so um it happens usually once a month but sometimes through the SE the winter season there's not we we have a a gap but I wouldn't I'm not saying don't go on Thursday but I'm saying um there's so much to go to during the year so you know and they usually South the Flemington area and then the Northern Area they rotate you know other every other month and you and it's virtual and it's it's always virtual so and all of the county meetings are so I attend a lot nessex County because that's where my Pharmacy is um and i' like to hear what other you know school districts are doing you know so you can attend any of them I've attended Sussex County Warren County um middle sex County uh middlex County had one that Marin presented at they did a whole um piece there and Marin was one of the presenters at that County meeting different topics different meetings usually so Tera did you say that you forwarded an email on that because I was just I was I just did it yeah yeah got it I figured if you hadn't gone on to school boards to see it I'd said it to everyone so don't reply to it as all but um There's the link there and you can read everything on the different resolutions and then going forward you know twice a year they do this so um in the fall it'll be any policy resolutions so and because we are joining school boards as a board as a whole you know we should look at this and if there's anything we want to submit um there's just a timeline you submit it and then it gets worked through in the process by all of the delegates voting so it's it's quite a wonderful process thank you uh person Personnel committee met on May one and the Personnel agenda was reviewed okay so a call for motion second to adopt resolution 05072 4-2 for executive session to discuss matters falling under category 8 as reflected in the attached resolution the board expects to be an executive session for approximately one hour and upon to upon return to public session action will be taken motion motion Brendan second Beth second all in favor I any opposed no extensions we are in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e to reconvene public session second John Cara all in favor I extensions opposed okay back in public session okay call for a motion and second to approve agenda item 20.1 and 20.2 and to include hand carries of Prov which are none Co second Christine um Katie I need to abstain from 20.2 and I am staining from 4.9 and 4.11 okay 4.9 on on uh on item 2.1 sorry got it I got it thank you okay otherwise uh a roll call vote Miss kago yes Mr Chapman yes Miss Gallow yes Miss hin yes Miss kran yes Mr mcac yes Mr mik yes Miss Reyes yes Miss seleno I have your exensions yeah yes on the rest yes that got the two OBS got it Mr Spanton yes Miss is absent and Mr farb yes thank you okay old and new business uh so I will say I reached out to Gwen Thorton and uh I have a actually meeting with her on Friday to set up a meeting so we do our so do to do goals and objectives so more come to that but I have me I have a call with her Friday to get that going okay where and can I ask where we are with superintendent evaluation has that process been begun yep yep when are we going to be able to log in uh as soon as he finishes evaluation do we have a determination as of when that will be uh I'll give them a little prod and how long will we get uh I guess that's a function of I know it's depend on yeah I'll give I'll chat with Gwen about it yeah I'll with I'll chat with Gwen about I know he to finished by the first July 1 well it has to be done before that and then well right so but that we still have a good what nine weeks so but I I'll tou I'll chat with Gwen about it see thank you that's a good comment um I was looking at the monthly reports that we approve every month in our agenda um those reports are never really discussed in committee you think that's something maybe we could bring to the committee Relations Committee to go over which reports are we uh the monthly reports oh the one under inces yeah which kind of well they they are we get the so you're talking about the monthly reports on like the number of students and all that kind of stuff those was coming for the curriculum committee oh I believe yeah yeah I think usually yeah yeah H okay good to know never mind is it well they're always they're always so you can always review the reports um if they're always they're there I haven't seen on the agenda though I didn't realize that we can um he has in the past I know I mean I guess I M yeah I can't say yeah yeah I'll mely say I don't hear them always but I have heard parts of it okay we we'll make sure that that gets onto the agenda and reviewed for for next next meeting yeah because it it really does it really gives a good it does you're right y snapshot of other he sees a trend right or something so I'd like to bring up because I I contacted our board president and admin about the yearly calendar and I I I know that we needed to have off in April but it seems to put a strain on our year the P can right three months out of the whole year so is is there any opportunity to edit the calendar to at least add in July or add in December if the rest of the board has considered this or I know I'm actually when I got on the board like five years ago it came up and we added July and December and then it slowly kind of went back on the Wayside so do we add them during the year or do we do it during December or whatever January we made um well at the time it was we discussed it remember because we didn't have December and July and it was big gaps of you know doing business so um it was kind of in the middle of the year because it was my first year on so I don't know we as a board want to make it for the 204 25 year or or what we're going to do can we are we are we allowed to uh you can add meetings we can add meeting as long as you have enough perod for the newspap the thing I and I understand December is so hard December really hard July so much going did we get canceled because we couldn't get a quum but we but we the year I the year I got on the board I actually made that request because from my local school district it was just the experience of having a lot of information like this board meeting we knew the topics it was long here we are and I've been here this is this is not my latest I've been at meetings at 2 3:00 in the morning and yeah and I think it's overwhelming for board members where all have other jobs it must have been a lot for the business office to to unleash the budget deal with the there's a lot that it encompasses but I did request that I think there was the first two years um of my first term we had a a meeting every every month and then it stopped after after I think it was 21 I think after when we the first I'm pretty something to that effect and my concern is for December that we have outgoing board members that we never get the opportunity as a board to recognize them as our peers and they poof we we talk about them the board president will sit and mention oh congratulations so and so or or or thank you for your service and they're they're not here they may choose not to be here but if we don't have a meeting no one can be here and I think we should consider that so let's put December aside for a second because July is around the corner um so I don't know right given negotiations and I don't know we have the board goals I mean we have a lot goals so we could do it I guess the question is is I mean if we make them pass a motion to add July is are people actually available in July so we don't add and subtract I don't know if people can answer that or could we do it well we're a weighted vote so we would have a no matter assumption that we've got enough people here that are actually going to physically be in this room right I don't know people's vation we have to figure out what date that would be and that's why that's why I'm asking so I don't know if people are able to say tonight they have what their availability is I guess the question is could we do it in June and still have enough time to get public notice or that going to be may be tight um as long as I have about a week that's fine I guess the conversation would also include you know Jeff and administratively what do we have that would need board action in July or is this really just a work session that you would like to have well yeah like we could give us at least one meeting where we're focusing on the the CSA board goals and that you know I mean the typical date would be July 23rd which is the 4th Yeah Tuesday so just out like a survey or something and just see what people's availability is not okay I think we should keep it keep keep it open then we do have a lot on our agenda I agree with B can we do a survey and just see if everyone's available for that does it have to be on a Tuesday I always feel that like not but we try at the end of the month right so the only requirement is that you give publicate y so we have enough time if that's the case so okay all right so why don't we why don't we do a survey sounds good okay yeah it's a good idea and we're just talking July at the moment why don't we figure out J July first before we try for December is that fair sound I no no I think July I think July might be a good idea and it's helpful for new board members coming on we have four new board members and we're going into a CSA evaluation and District goals and no that's fine no I'm not I'm just saying why don't we try to figure out July and then we can figure out December later but that's not so um I'd like to bring up uh question or yeah I guess a question about the budget um that I hope maybe the finance committee could take a look at um so it was a great presentation very informative one of the clear points I think Katie even like highlighted it was it's all you know much of it is about the staff right three three quarters if you salaries benefits and Professional Services which I assume are still saff uh it's three quarters of the budget right has has the finance committee ever looked at um like how that breaks down by say like um um like subject matter like you know math versus you know literature you know those kind of or or Sports versus education you know those is there ever a breakdown that's a little bit further and and the the objective in my mind would just be to have that committee say yeah that looks fine there's nothing to write home about here it all kind of makes sense or or that data's never been presented that way because no one's asked then there may be something to learn about where we are we where are we spending our money on the staff that kind of a thing I'm not looking for a report out I'm just asking the the committee to take a look and see if they yeah I mean there's a lot of different categories whether it's uh you know profressional services like we talked about tonight the tonight the uh you know police uh their contract is going up a lot um you know that so that came up in in committee uh can we afford all all of these uh officers you know um there's you know some other services that we provide uh for mental health that that are really escalating that's that's a concern I mean as far as subject matter we've never looked broken it out by you know by Department um or uh but I mean I think extra whether they're they're they're in different categories I mean that's easy to to analyze just in case it's not clear I'm not looking to try to find a way to reduce things or to change them I'm just you know would would this group of people who are tasked with this kind of you know on the committee would they look at that kind of information and say yeah that that kind of makes sense or we you know if we're spending half of the staff bu on English which is of course not the case it's not the case we would need something to compare it to what's the stand or what are we trying to aeve be like but I mean State average or whatever that that's G to be something that's going to come up soon because we're going to really have to look at budgets I mean is the writings on the wall with Federal funding State funding taxes so yeah you hear horror stories out there these you know school districts like having to get an axe out yeah yeah when 75% % of your budget you've got no control over the escalation which is going to guaranteed to be a lot more than what you're allowed to raise in taxes each year 2% you know I I'm amazed that we haven't had that crunch already and and I've said it before I think it's kind of part of it because we've had declining enrollment to a certain extent over the years and so we haven't had to hire back I think somewhere in our projection in this package there was a projection that that we're going to actually increase a little bit next year the district up I think so yes and sometimes in the budget we have to estimate enrollment slightly higher just for some of the ratio factor and that's just a product of the software in the state so okay I would say it's going to be fairly flat okay and then you know to add to you know where we're looking for a creative way not creative but additional ways to generate Revenue when this build you know the this new school gets constructed and we have a lot more students here will be receiving tuition so that's you know going to help to offset uh some of the escalation right okay call for a motion and second to adjourn so second all in favor I oppos exensions yep thank you all we are for