time is now 7 o'clock I'll call this meeting to order Mr Gibbs please read the statement in compliance in compliance with the open public meeting ACT public law 1975 chapter 231 notice of this meeting has been properly advertised in the Daily Record and Suburban Trends its agenda has been posted at the appropriate locations and the copy has been filed with panic Township Clerk thank you please call the role Mr Bloomer here Mr Cy here M Dempsey is absent M Esposito here Mr gon here Mr mcweeny here Mr Pompeo is absent Mr senic here and Mrs chanon here we have a quorum thank you will everyone please stand for the flag salute hi good evening everyone Welcome to our March 4th Workshop meeting tonight the board will honor Ryan trokar for becoming the group one state champion in the 400 meter dash Ryan set a new record with a time of 49.97 seconds and the board would like to congratulate you on a job well done uh Additionally the board would like to extend our congratulations to Sophia ketcher for placing fourth at the state wrestling tournament this weekend in AC I was able to watch her online Saturday morning it was very exciting and uh being that she's only sophomore I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing lot more her going down to AC on another note tonight the board will discuss potential changes to the pre- program start end times tonight I want to stress that this is a discussion item and no changes are being voted on tonight I understand that members of the community are here to speak on this topic and we welcome you to the meeting we encourage your input so that we can take your comments into consideration when we do actually vote if we actually vote I want to State the history of this item for clarity it was removed from the meeting agenda on 122 so that more Community impact could be more Community feedback could be solicited Dr poris then published a podcast on 29 and held an inperson parent University on 212 on 220 it was again removed from the meeting agenda so that we could be putting it through a workshop meeting which is what we're doing tonight and the purpose of this is to solicit more Community input so we can further inform the board and last I just want to state if you are here to speak about the pre start and end times you can do so during the for first public comment section and now pass it over to Dr PS thank you Mr siic and I'm actually going to send it right over to the zler sisters to provide the student report thank you good evening everyone can't believe it's March already congratulations to our winter sports athletes who finished up their Seasons this week there were some big Milestones throughout the season but here are some highlights Ryan trar won the state championship indor track for the the 400 meter Addie van Lenton got her 500th Rebound in girls basketball Khloe Vasquez finished her career with 1,666 points Carson kuko finished his career with 1,774 points and is the all-time boys basketball leading scorer Sophia clutcher took fourth place in the state championships for wrestling Aiden lingren scored 100 points in hockey for his career our boys 200 medle relay participated in the meet of Champions for swimming our winter cheerleaders took first place in the last competition of the season and congratulations to James Bonner who earned a Mini Max award the Maxwell football club recently announced its 2023 Mini Max High School Award winners the club recognized 150 players from Pennsylvania Delaware and New Jersey players were nominated by their coaches throughout the 2023 season and were evaluated based on criteria that included football performance academics and community service thank you now Emily will finish the World Language uh the World Language Honor Society inductions will take place this Thursday March 7th here at the pths auditorium congratulations to everyone who is being inducted the Juniors will be taking the NJ GPA the week of March 11th this test is the first Pathway to graduation for next year seniors students will be taking an assessment in language arts and Mathematics the test will be take place during the first three periods on Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday of next week congratulations to all our seniors in our Alli health program who were all recently certified in the mental health awareness first aid they are some of the first high schoolers in the state to to be certified this was mentioned at our last meeting that the SATs will be taking place here at pths on Saturday March 9th this will be the first time the SATs will be fully digital students at pths took the P's online this past October so it gave us some insight and practice to get ready for the SATs and lastly pths is hosting the final College Fair of the year on March 7th during periods 2 and three over 50 colleges will be present this is open to sophomores Eng jors thank you for your time and have a great night thank you both and just for the record I did volunteer to be a proctor for the SATs on Saturday a little nervous because I've never done it in a digital format but they haven't they haven't let me know if I got the gig or not so I might end up just being home on Saturday but very well done I'll provide my quick report then I'm going to send it over to Mr sopina um for a really nice recognition for tonight we're excited for read Across America week this week which is a great opportunity to celebrate the value of literacy skills and our sense of community I look forward to reading at each of the elementary schools and appreciate the hard work of our staff and HSA volunteers to organize some really wonderful events last week was my week of sjg apparently and I have to say that I am extremely impressed with all the events I was able to attend on M day I was the first mystery reader at of the readathon and did my best to push my anti snow day platform uh the kids were not buying it Tuesday morning was their blue and gold pep rally which celebrated character achievement and the power of student voice on Wednesday I attended science fair was thoroughly impressed not only with the work put forth by our young scientists but also the attention paid by the students who attended they were a phenomenal audience I will also never let my dog lick my face again because one of them pointed out how much bacteria is in a dog's mouth it was gross then on Thursday Mr Riner reminded me several times the absence makes the heart grow fonder and after a few times I eventually picked up the hint Tuesday night I attended a dinner sponsored by the rotary in which we focused on youth Mental Health Services and now we can collaborate with Community Partners to maximize the support provided to our staff and our students it was great to have the opportunity to converse with Partners from the Lincoln Park School District Newbridge Services Pastor Wendy the rotary and Mary vinus the level of commitment and creative thinking is truly inspiring for this very important cause finally a news that probably matters more to me than it should Microsoft has announced that its default font will move to aptose which is itself an adaptation of beer stod to replace cbri while I've only explicitly forbidden the use of Ariel I have also strongly encouraged the admin team to consider options other than c through the years and welcome this long overdue transition so if we can close the book on Ariel and Cy I'll will be quite pleased about that and no I'm not kidding is that how you actually say that word calibri I never knew how to say that word until right now I never heard a person say that word till right now I'm guessing I have it right I just know it's not a font of which I'm particularly font I mean Ariel is the dregs of all fonts but design matters it does it does so so with that in mind now that I've probably either lost credibility or gained credibility depend on people's perspective on such matters I'm going to turn it over to Mrs silip to try to rescue the meeting thank you to board the Board of Education and Dr poris for allowing me to recognize a major achievement from the winter season this achievement has never been accomplished by a male athlete in our school history tonight I'd like to call up coach Samantha Santos to speak about our indoor track state champion Ryan trokar thank you Brian I often look at Twitter for coaching advice practice ideas and to keep up with the latest sports stats and information most notably there was a tweet that I saw a while ago that stuck out to me the Tweet stated that sprinting is everywhere it is in every sport this tweet stuck out to me because more often than not track is a sport that is so misunderstood when you talk to people about coaching or competing in track they can't imagine why anyone would ever run for fun but what people fail to remember is that track and field is everywhere we all utilize a form of track skills in many different sports whether it is sprinting to first base or maintaining endurance in soccer before I worked at pths I was one of those people that couldn't understand why people loved running so much I'll never forget a conversation I had with Brian copina as I was stepping in as a rookie track and field field coach for my first year here Brian told me that I would soon fall in love with track and field and there would be no turning back after that well I tell Brian and often to this day he wasn't wrong and I can't imagine not being a part of this program Ryan came into this winter track program as a freshman trying to find his Niche was he going to compete in distance alongside his brother Matt or was he going to try another area like Sprints Brian's first year competing in winter track wasn't a normal one because we were still in the midst of a pandemic Ryan competed in what they called polar bear meets which were outside now most of you don't know but the indoor track is only 200 meters which is half of an outdoor track so Ryan started his first ever season on a unique note by being able to run indoor track outside but he wouldn't get the experience of a real Spring Track season because he broke his tibia in his sophomore year Ryan ran a mix of events from Sprints to distance but ultimately he knew that sprinting was his Passion by his junior year Ryan was eager and ready to start his season in events that he was passionate about but after one of our indoor practices Ryan felt a pain in his hip he tried to work through the pain but ultimately he knew that something was wrong it turned out that Ryan fractured his hip and needed to take it easy for the rest of the winter season to ensure his spring season was injury freay flash forward to this season Ryan was eager and determined to make his last and final winter season one for the books not to mention this was his first normal track season barring any injury or pandemics going into this winter season Ryan had already broken four outdoor school records for Spring Track and he wasn't ready to stop there Ryan continued to compete and break records throughout the duration of season this year Ryan broke the 300 400 and 4x400 meter relay indoor records Ryan finished his season by ranking fourth in the state for the 400 meter run and placing fifth overall at the meat of Champions not to mention the reason that we're all here tonight which is to recognize Ryan for being a state champion Ryan's road to being a champion wasn't easy and there were many bumps along the way from a broken tibia to pandemics and a fractured hip but is a testament to Ryan's hard work and dedication to this Sport and his team that led him to this achievement Ryan trar is arguably the most decorated and successful male track athlete in pths school history he currently holds seven school records he is a part of the All County team for Morris County and in fact he is the first male athlete in school history to receive an individual State title Ryan congratulations on such a successful and wonderful athletic achievement you're a role model to Future track athletes here and you have left your mark in pths school history I'm proud to have been a part of your journey and I look forward to seeing what you will accomplish in the spring season congratulations quickly um before we leave I'd also uh like to take a moment to thank Dave Cole uh for setting up the uh congratulatory escort home for our track bus uh thank you again for having us here tonight none of this uh would be possible without all of your support that you provide for us on a daily basis so I want to say thank you for that have a good night and one quick adjunct too to what uh Mrs Santos said too it was nice on Twitter I actually saw it while I having dinner tonight uh the record had an article about how Ryan and I think it was from Morris Hills last name was Cruz I believe really really pushed each other to I guess the upper limits of of their ability which I thought that was pretty inspiring too because other Runners are your opponents they're not your enemies and you can you can use each other's skills and abilities to make each other better and I think we certainly saw the outcomes for that so tremendous Legacy that Ryan leaves here we really appreciate it and good luck doing even better in the spring he said the bar awfully high but congratulations it's really fantastic now yeah I'll send it over to Mr well you'll said it Mr Gibbs Mr Gibbs you have a report yes good evening the 2024 2025 budget process is moving along as we just received our state aid numbers for the 24 2024 2025 school year we are working on finalizing the budget numbers for review and approval at the next board meeting the insurance company has agreed to pay for the repairs in the amount of $119,000 to the media Center's roof less the school is deductible the repairs will start in the week of March 18th this is just a reminder for those who have not completed their Financial disclosure statements to let me know if you have any questions or difficulties in submitting your statement and uh finally there will be the ninth town meeting on Tuesday April 30th 2024 starting at 7M located at the high school auditorium the town meeting will be a zoning Board of adjustment meeting regarding the approval of one school Global's new facility that will be located across the street from the high school thank you thank you okay that brings us to our first opportunity for public comment members of the public May speak once for a maximum period of 5 minutes by the clock during this portion of the meeting public may speak on any agenda item during their five minutes if a member of the public raises a question all questions should be directed to the board president and please state your name uh before you sign in thank you Steve pay hello Dr porterson board members I currently have three kids in North boulev Boulevard School two of them have gone through the pre pre program and one is currently enrolled I'm here to express my concerns with the proposed change to the preschool calendar for 2024 and 2025 school year while I understand the desire is to improve efficiency I believe the proposed reduction of 45 minutes from the day would have the opposite effect my primary concern is the potential negative impact on the children's development eliminating 45 minutes of instruction and interaction with peers goes against any current educational trend of viewing prek as foundational learning especially considering the statement in your recent podcast prek has become the new kindergart additionally removing specials programs like art music and Library would deprive them of valuable exposure to diverse learning experiences while Jim may be more difficult Jim was just introduced this last year and could be eliminated because the preschol School teachers should be allocating at least 10 minutes a day for outdoor play instead of reducing the school day I propose exploring some of these alternative Solutions rescheduled specials scheduling specials at the beginning or the end of the school day would allow for continued instruction and minimize disruption this approach is already employed for older grades in the district raising the question why aren't preschoolers uh why wouldn't they be treated differently have the specialist teachers come to the prek classrooms it was mentioned that the commuting between the classrooms is causing inefficiencies and the loss of minutes in the day can we have the special teachers come to the classes and allow for the prek teacher to have their prep time at the same time offer free after CARE program to address concerns of working parents facing a one-hour gap between the preschool dismissal and the elementary school pickup offer a free 45 minute Aftercare program within the existing classrooms supervised by the current preschool staff and AIDS this option would include an opt out provision for parents who don't require the extra time and lastly maybe shorter prep time for the teachers if the goal is to increase efficiency consider shortening the teacher prep time before or after the school day instead of reducing the children's time while you mentioned the proposed model is used in botin the comparison is kind of misleading the program in botin is free for all residents due to a grant that their District was awarded which is not the case for panic's fee based preschool if the reduced schedule is implemented a corresponding reduction in fees should be considered to reflect a decrease in the services provided well I know everyone on this board and everyone here is either played sports or have kids at play sports the last thing we would ever want to do is tell them that they have reduced amount of time and practice in conclusion I urge you to reconsider the proposed changes to explore alternative solutions that prioritize the well-being and development of our preschoolers I look forward to your response and the revised proposal that address the concerns for all the parents hi Kell Aker um I also have a son in the preschool program two of my older children went through the same preschool program my uh older son had an IEP in the preschool program and my younger son now also has an IEP currently it actually States his IEP ends October 14th the day before his third uh fourth birthday and it actually stays 390 minutes of learning so if we're going to decrease the program how does that affect his IEP since he was allocated 390 minutes of learning time and honestly he's made great strides and I do think it will have uh negative effects on his continued learning learning and growth socially for him and other kids in his class to have a decrease in time thank you all right both of you thank you very much for coming out and giving us your input um this is why the board puts these like things like this into Workshop so that way they can be presented in public and we could hear the feedback um Dr poris you have any responses uh yeah and just to Echo that too um if you had typed up statements too if you wouldn't mind sending them to me as email too this way I have something I write down as fast as I can it's not fast enough um but just a couple quick comments back um definitely appreciate your concerns um and just to be clear too we're not focused exclusively on efficiency it really is also on Effectiveness um this is something that was presented to us by the teachers this was not a proposal that I solicited and I'm not mentioning this because I'm trying to abdicate responsibility like I'm the chief decision maker in the district so I take that on but um this came to us from the experts wasn't me telling them hey guys Let's find let's find a new schedule so um this is something that they really felt would help them improve the continuity and flow of instruction at they provided it um there are certain factors that play into truly our efficiency um we inhabit collectively bargain universe that's that's a me problem not a you problem but we we do try to manage everything within within those parameters um we do want to maximize the amount of time that we can provide to Kids U which I know sounds counterintuitive since we're proposing a shorter day but we're trying to do something that we feel is in the best interest of their educ educational gains as opposed to strictly looking at quantity of time um we have looked at trying to have program the specials exclusive it's start and end of the day um that pigeon holds you somewhat with how you can structure the elementary school schedule I think at the P University I said putting together an elementary school schedule sometimes like doing a puzzle with round pieces um it it it's more challenging than it sounds because we're dealing a lot with trying to um ensure that students who are in special education programs whether it's self-contained uh resource replacement in class that their schedules can line up again that's not something that you have to worry about but that is something that we've looked at and and tried to make it work we're also trying to figure out best way to schedule it so that IP meetings can take place um within the framework of the day as as it's established um having specials teachers uh pushed into the classroom that is something actually that we're exploring trying to make it so that um they can still have access to the kids and it doesn't have to be in those 50 minutes blocks um I've talked a bit about some of our younger Learners who are very vulnerable do struggle quite a bit with transitions from one classroom to another um and that we we lose an awful lot of their their focus and and their energy in that and we are we are trying to limit that um as far as the Aftercare we currently have an RFP in place which allows us to solicit bids from outside providers to provide after care programs um something that we talked about on the night that we had the parent University was this is something we can stipulate that we want to see an after program that can do something onsite for the impacted students right now in the current third grade group we have six students who will have siblings at North Boulevard next year so we're aware that there are at least six families that are going to need some type of support um uh shorter prep time we can't actually do that that would violate the collective bargaining agreement um and then I I know that Putin came up because they Ed tools of the mind and um I just want to be clear like I'm not I'm not looking to compare us to anybody um I want to do what's best for um system that we have here for our our student population for our staff so um I realized like we're we looked you we looked at the time that kelan has we looked at Montville we looked at a few other neighboring districts but um comparisons aren't really something that we're we're really looking to focus on it's they're good for informational purposes I suppose but really what we want to emphasize is um is is what we feel is best for the learning needs of of our student population oh and then I just wrote a note to self too just to remind you to send me what you typed up um actually struggling to read my own notes and I have a really good pen which you gave to me so thank you for that um but we um something else that we're looking at too is if we can push the time back too so that dismissal instead of being at two would be at 2:40 um and the logic I see there is to for parents who have to get to sjg or Hill viw make sure that they have enough time so they can get there in time it probably sounds ridiculous when you think that North Boulevard's a mile and a half from sjg but navigating both parking lots especially at drop off can be quite challenging so we're trying to be mindful of that given our population of families we have and then uh for the second speaker I'm aware of the the minute count being in the IEP and and honestly that's something that I have to get more input from the child study team as well as uh Miss Bronco about how how is that managed and that's something we'll have to get back to you on that's not I don't have an answer right now but that doesn't mean there won't be an answer quite soon and then um we want to provide a program that's going to provide the great assistance to learning and growth and obviously we're going to discuss that as as part of the workshop as well and um I do appreciate and I didn't mention it my opening comments but I appreciate that the board really wants to preserve the Integrity of the committee of the whole format and have a public conversation and really get a chance to tease out ideas and I said it at the um parent University and I hold true to it there's no way we're going to think of everything um and that's why it's really good we have a a population families that are very comfortable addressing things and we we've gotten emails and it's been helpful we even had one parent suggested um a facility we can look into as possible home for a prek program which gets tricky with the prameters state sets forth where we have to have 950 square feet per classroom but um it's tough to find space in this community but we can find it and take advantage of it we certainly will so obviously this is a conversation we're going to revisit during the discussion portion of the meeting but I just want to make sure that gave an immediate response to what you have what you guys dat and I would encourage you both to stay for that discussion so that way you can hear what the board says and then also um there's another opportunity for public comment following that which you can speak about anything so if there is something that's that we say that makes you think of something else you want to say you'll have that opportunity as well all right I'm going to close public comment we'll move into the approval of the action items up first PMC Mr cesi will you please move PMC I would like to move PMC 20324 through PMC 20724 second any question or discussion Mr Gibbs please call the RO Mr BL yes Mr CI yes Miss Dempsey yes Mr gon yes Mr mcweeny yes Mr Pompeo is absent Mrs Chen Mrs Esposito yes and Mr s yes motion carries thank you thank you Mr M would you please move CIS yes I'd like to move CIS 7324 through CIS 76-4 second any question or discussion Mr Gibbs please call the rooll Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr gon yes Mr mcweeny yes Mr M is absent Mr shenton yes Mrs espito and Mr cic yes motion carries all right that brings us into our Workshop discussion items and the first item up is PMC and under PMC we have three discussion items the 2526 school calendar Staffing update from Dr poris and preschool hours thank you I'm actually gonna go out a sequence um I'll go to the least in-depth to the most in-depth so I'll start with the second item which is a staffing update um we're still in in good shape we just um filled an opening for Student Assistance counselor that was at the Last Action meeting um and just couple quick notes furthering about what we're doing with Staffing um we were we learned about a career fair that was offered by Bergen County Schools um turns out they dead serious that really is offered by Bergen County Schools so um we're not able to cross county lines to be a part of that but it's something I want to bring back to my Mars County group that maybe Mars County should have an education career fair and uh we are going to be sending a team on um Thursday April 4th down to a career fair for educators being held down at High School which down in Somerset County it's actually where I went where I went to high school and um I have jewy duty that day which seems to be constant in my life but do it's unbelievable um I'm sure it's completely random too but uh Dr sherid and Miss Abrams have volunteered to to attend and um apparently we're gonna have a really nice presentation they're going to bring a tablecloth and I believe candies and I believe the Quantic swag as well well this was brought to my attention that I had to do more than just show up yeah I'm learning uh and then something I'm really happy about too is on tonight's agenda we have um we have something about a substitute nurse being approved um and that is actually gonna change because we're G have another substitute n nurse to approve so right now that brings us up to three and what I'm really happy about with this we made an appeal to the community that if we had anybody who was a nurse an RN who was looking for an opportunity to work part-time as as a nurse in our schools we were we were definitely looking to bringing them on and right now we're up to three and subit nurses are very very difficult to find so fact that we have community members who've um answered the call and really want to help to pitch in is great and I think once they see what the experience is like in a school um we might be recruiting some some more School nurses yeah so I'm really excited about that any questions about Staffing great and then the next item is uh and my office generated a proposed calendar for consideration for the 2025 2026 school year um this is something that contractually I do review with the association we have not had a meeting about that yet so this is all very much in the speculative phase as a courtesy I also meet with Mr Riner who's president of the principals and supervisors Association um and we we review the calendar to try to figure out not just for professionals but also for kids what works best um but it's in backup so you have an opportunity to bring up any questions or concerns and I've already heard one expressed a couple times I have a quick question so I see that they come that the students come back students and staff come back um they're off December 23rd through the first but then they only come back for one Friday do we think we would even have enough kids to come back like you think kids will I mean we're just going to bring them back for one Friday say if if we if we do have school open and I'm I'm not trying Harvey hard guy I expect the kids to be here you I'm not poana at the same time like I'm aware that some people might take very long vacations yeah um but I I don't like having that um just just hanging out there that that one day back after a pretty lengthy break and I know even in and type setting we talk about widows and orphans you don't want something just dangling and that's what I feel like this is almost dangling um so and every that not everybody has the the calendar in front of them um the 2025 26 Calendar one of the great things about it is Memorial Day sorry Labor day is September 1st which allows us to go back on September 4th which is that Thursday we'll have our two days staff development and then we'll be back September 4th based on what we have in our Collective bargain agreement that is the earliest date on which we come back if we have the two PD dat so that's that's fantastic and then um Christmas Eve is a contractual day off that is a Wednesday so that's Wednesday the 24th and this gets to the point that Mrs esposo is making we have a pretty long um break ahead of us from Wednesday the 24th all the way through Thursday the 1 if we were able to pick up it a day um we could extend it from all the way through that week and not come back until Monday January 5th which would be pretty long break and a great way to get germs out of classrooms so um one thing that we have talked about um in a very limited basis is possibly moving a PD day um from October 10th which is a Friday to October 13th which is Columbus Day that's Monday so obviously students wouldn't report for that staff would that's one possibility that we can take back that day um our day for pths graduation is June 18th which is a Thursday I'm quite pleased with that um I do try to avoid June 19th it's a Federal holiday I want to be respectful of that so as much as we can I'd like to avoid that I know this year it's our graduation day for pths can't go back on that but I'm mindful of that aspect of the calendar as well and then just one other thing spring break begins on April in this tentative calendar please don't anybody make plans around this uh but spring break would begin on Good Friday which is Friday April 3 and then You' be off the week bless you after that which is the week of Monday the 6th through Friday the 10th of April that was a lot so um so one of possibilities could be moving the spring break to to the week before pick up the Good Friday day and you have have four days right so the kids so it would count as one extra day correct yep and that that's a way that you can always get back a day so you would start spring break on March 30th which is a Monday um and just run through Good Friday which is Friday the 3D and that that yeah which is basically what it is this year same same time time frame yeah I think 29th this year Good Friday and then Mo after yeah I think you you might be thinking of of next school year when the timing was such that we actually rolled Good Friday in the spring break th this current school year it's good Friday's um March 29th I was just saying March 29th and March like the date is similar it's not like we're having spring break March 4th because of Easter which sometimes does happen it's earlier which is not fun but I think I'm just saying it's late enough in this in the spring that it's it's not a bad idea yes it was moov a week earlier it was move it a week earlier and that week was like March 6th I might say that's probably not a good idea I think bring bring them back on the 29th 30th and 31st and then go back I'm just gonna ask Mr Shay if he can just kill Mr Ci's microphone public benefit yeah you think it creates a hard situation for teachers to try to accomplish no I think it anything if if we could do it I think it makes sense to at that day and honestly I don't know how many parents will be happy because that is a long break um especially for people that aren't going anywhere and you got your kids home you know right if we had staff report for a PD Day on on uh Columbus Day does that create like a need to give them a another holiday somewhere or would then that Friday essentially be that for them also now that would be okay we would have to um float a holiday for the custodial staff okay a reported that day um but um it's it works out with the ptps contract it also works out with the ptea contract okay anybody else I I just want to compliment Dr Porto's team on the new temp I think it's awesome looking very nice I was gonna say the same thing looks phenomenal yeah and I'm I'm pretty sure she's probably watching right now and I might actually get a text from Mrs a um who will text me during meetings despite the fact she knows I can't multitask at all um but I will certainly let her know because I I I like the template a lot too I think the font choice is outstanding I feel like the spacing colors and I and I like design matters it does and for once I'm agreeing with Mr cesi on something but even um we talked about making it so that that Center portion of it is is grayed out so that it stands out from the calendar days so we tried to make sure it wasn't too busy but it was also color coordinat I will certainly pass along that compliment yeah that just I picture myself entering the pH into my calendar and instead of using all the little boxes all the critical informations in the middle it's really that's awesome thank you Mrs a all right moving on to preschool hours so I have one comment on this just to start the conversation um so the one thing that keeps coming up as far as uh my evaluation of it is how it affects kids with special needs and uh the one comment that we received about IEP minutes and uh I want to make sure that that's not a concern and if if if that is a concern what's the plan to to work through it to make sure we aren't Appliance and also to make sure that most importantly um the kids don't lose any time from the iips or the kids also don't have to uh you know regress at all because of this sorry brighten that down and that is something um I actually got updates from Dr Shir too um about that that is something that would have to obviously be coordinated with parents um in terms of adapting or adjusting iips and it's we wouldn't do something to to lessen the experiences for our students like we wouldn't put them in a position to fail um so we would make sure that what we're providing um really does maximize their opportunities to learn so that that's something that that's really important and I'll put it out there too just because she she texted me as I was speaking and I'm not kidding I really can't multitask um but the with the dismissal time we wouldn't want to have special at the end of the day with the prek kids um because the dismissal we'd like to have the teachers out there so that they can um breathe parents as well say goodbye to the kids and also provide any any quick updates because sometimes things happen over the course of the day where we might say you struggled with with this so um they do try to steer away from having specials at the end of the day but I know that was something I think that Mr P brought up so I just wanted to point out that I got a I got an update from that as as I was speaking so just a couple questions so I know you discussed um there is an RFP we do have an RFP out and we've requested information in regard have we requested a proposal that includes preschool or that's just something we're going to discuss with our with the am I making sense yeah you are and I'm I'm just going over to Mr G because I mean we're we're I I don't I don't do a lot of the planning for prek I follow a lot of the advice I get with pretty much everything he does I follow his advice so as far as the RFP I don't know have we put that out there yet hasn't put out yet two other RS thate we'll discuss that later Mee we will be long short okay so we can request that information in the RFP for um after care for our preschool students as an option okay perfect um I just also parttime the part-time students their time would be shortened as well but we are we remaining an AM PM and then a full day program correct and that was um that what in full disclosure that was part of the proposal I received was to eliminate the um the half day so that we could have a degree of continuity for all students problem there is we just don't have space to do that if we were a this is a wish but if we had a preas center where we could have eight classrooms I would say let's make sure that we have X amount of minutes and that we have every kid in for a full day um unfortunately we're limited with with the space and it's it's a source of great frustration and I know we're we're we're pretty heavily committeed out but I I do think starting up a preschool expansion committee um once dust settles from the budget process and a few other things I think that would be something really good for us to do um to get more people involved in looking for possible places you know maybe in an industrial park there's a space and while it's not ideal and obviously you need a play area maybe there's a space that we could use and something that Mr Gibbs and I have spoken about too is um about the board office and even bouncing the um the board office stat out of there to a different venue so that we could have a fairly significant pre- Center and we do have play area there's a lot of parking in the back but there's also area for play but um I'm veering a bit off the main topic here but just I I really want us to have a more fully fleshed vision of of what our prek could be and I don't want to just throw my hands up and say can't find the space can't do it to to me that's an insufficient response um so in the proposed schedule we're we're eliminating the the request is to eliminate Cycles but with the tools of the Mind curriculum we are still keeping the curriculum and the none we're not losing any of those components of the tools of Mind correct correct and I apologize if if any's picking up a little bleed I think they're working on percussion on the other side of the hall so you might hear that U but part of The Proposal since art music physical education and Story Time are already embedded in the curriculum uh there's no need for preschool classes to asend to attend special classes um because the teachers already have it embedded in the curriculum so what we're looking to do is maximize the time that kids have with those classroom teachers um and W with this change I think it would add um five minutes of of time with those teachers without having to send the specials but also it doesn't show up on paper but we gain time in in having them not have to transition because getting getting the kids ready to go and then actually getting them to a classroom can be an ordeal that takes 101 15 minutes and then getting them back can also be very difficult as well we we have classes with the foury olds with preschool integrated it's probably a little quicker a little easier but some of our three-year-old groups really do struggle with the Transitions and that's something we want to be mindful of and and we talk about efficiency but it's it's also an efficiency that that spares the kids the the mini Trum of of making those transitions Dr poris um Dr um eliminating um you know the special physical education gym class um I know that's age actually for all kids they need to have as much physical activity as possible especially the young age motor development um unwinding just having fun Social Development as well do they have enough time in the schedule for that recess time play time yeah they'll definitely have the um the play time worked in and that was something that was also um in their plan they they broke it down as um providing an uninterrupted block of make belief play as well as a block for free play and something that that I do like about having a schedule where the teachers have the kids for the full block is they're not Tethered to oh it's 914 time to go to the library that they can read the classroom and sometimes working with younger children you can sense and anybody who has children too you can sense when they when they need a break um and so if it means taking them outside if it means taking them to a different area where if you know the gym is available that the teacher could take them as part of their play um they can do that as well but we do want to make sure that they get a chance to expend some of their considerable energy yes definitely thank you so I think I just heard that we are keeping an AM session and a PM session I was under the impression we were still talking about full day I'm sorry I missed that message yeah so um in their proposal they had they had suggested eliminating the part-time right I'm not ready to go that route just yet so um I admittedly Dr Sheridan can can validate this I'm notorious for giving push back on everything um but part of my push back isn't just to be a difficult person it's to make sure that people have thought through the different arguments and I'm not satisfied with the with the logic of eliminating the half day option because I don't feel like we can provide for enough people it frustrates me that we have a waiting list of about 50 students um because as I see it those are those are kids who were interested or families who are interested in being part of the school district early on and that was something that even I inherited when when I took over this position back 2019 trying to find ways to to increase our classes but as we keep adding more um self-contained classrooms which is a good thing at at the elementary school level because we're able to keep more of our students in District we we're losing possible spaces and I had the conversation with Dr SCH and Miss Bronco that the school district that we are right now in 20232 24 is a lot different from the one in which I was a principal and I wasn't a principal that long ago but we had an empty classroom in Hillview in 2017 18 and right now the idea of having an empty closet would be Heaven Sent so just it's it's a different it's just a different experience right now so then what is the timing of the day then like am session starts and ends PM session starts and ends yeah I think that's actually in that's what's in the agenda yeah it's on page it's on page yeah I couldn't recite it chapter and verse thank you I'll take a look there yeah and and there's the one other thing we're looking at too is is if we can is if we can push it back to a start time that's after the elementary school kids are dropped off and something that I've tried to be cognizant tried to be that I am cognizant of is being aware of if I have a kid and I'm and I'm picking them up from prek am I going to take them all the way home and then bring them back for a three o'clock pickup or if there's a way that we can have it so that that time's limited I feel like if if it's 20 minutes or so you go on the pl ground if if it's not so great out you can sit in the car but the thought of sitting in the car with one of my children for an hour um it sounds like a torture devised in Greek mythology so um what we want to avoid that as best we can so if we do have other options that we can have available for the parents specifically those who have kids at at North at North Boulevard we want to make sure that we explore that and that's where I think the RFP comes into play as well because we can we're in a position right now we can make demands of the vendors who want to provide morning care and after care services which we could always do but now there's a little bit more teeth behind it can we get the RFP was sent out correct not yet not yet when is that being sent out and then how long do we have to get responses probably go April days to get responses okay so by the end of a we and how many I mean company-wise like how many responses would be you had a guess we're going to start having to sift through well my last District we went out for an RFP and we only had two responses really yeah okay and we know already who's going to respond obviously right are we expecting low turnout on this they're good well there's not too many of them out there yeah all right I didn't know that um I still try still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing I I I look at 45 minutes and I'm struggling with that um I see the pros and cons I see the schedules currently um I'm just I'm just trying to put that in sense of like any other grade right what that would do for cutting 45 minutes off of the school time it just I don't know I still have a lot of questions on this unfortunately some of these I have to ask um I can't ask at this table but it's it's I don't know it's just different it's different at this logistic wise it's different it's difficult for the parents I just still trying to wrap my head around this are are we able to get a schedule of what it would look like I don't think I saw that in there um we have a breakdown of what it currently looks like right is there any way we could get one um like we have the current 2023 2024 breakdown is there any way we could get one for the proposed 8:15 to2 or did I miss it I could have missed it no you missed nothing so I did put in the backup a sample of a PSI schedule PSD schedule and what you see is the kids don't have specials every day either because it varies between either morning or afternoon so the morning group might have special three times in a week where the afternoon group has it twice um but we can definitely develop something and I I keep getting messages from Dr Shaler who's clearly watching the the live stream um I'm just going to make a note and I'm sure she can hear me as I'm saying this right now to generate a sample schedule so you guys can see that and um quick thing too just to get to Mr Bloomer's question as well and about the rfp2 we've gotten a few solicitations from vendors normally I'll just I'll just delete them because I get so many vendor emails but I have them forwarding them to Mr Gibbs saying this might be a possibility for an RFP now they might be blindly sending them out to everybody who's a super in New Jersey but at least those are are those are leads that we can follow up on um but this is a much pre is a much different beast from from any other grade um kindergarten is is somewh of its own entity as well because kindergarten is not mandatory in the state either first through 12th grade or compulsory but um in terms of the services being provided three and four year olds most of the students we have um we have because of identified needs through through IEPs and we also have students who General Ed as well but it's a it's a different entity and it's it's one that it is still fairly new to the district but um as as I said to the to the parents who spoke and I said it at the at the night event that we held as well whatever questions are generated and and don't worry if they seem like or ideas I don't care if they seem like they're the most brilliant or worst ideas ever send them my way because I have to say I've learned more about prek in the last three months of my life than I ever would have known previously and it's it's through these conversations and it's through questions that parents have asked through questions you guys have asked um and and ongoing interactions with with these teachers as well as the administrative team do pis I have a question I just thought of and I don't expect you to have the answer at all but if you could maybe get it for us what's the breakdown of student attendance am versus PM versus full day just from like a curiosity perspective yep yeah yeah just J well no that's cool that's definitely from the Department if I'll have to get back to you but totally So Am Pm full day my phone just lit off see there you go yeah thank you Dr Sher at home oh no she she's kind of guessing at it so she was saying I can't believe I'm reading a text during an official public communting um she said um seven kids total part-time and then the rest are full day but but we we we'll look at the breakdown of that okay so it's so it's a small number half day yeah we don't have a lot of half okay because the one thing I'm seeing and if I'm seeing it and I'm bad with time math but people will see it as well is you're going from two hours and 50 minutes in the AM 2 hours and 50 minutes in the PM to an hour and a half in the AM and an hour and 25 in the P PM um two and 25 sorry two and a half they're off by five minutes so am is getting five minutes longer than P PM so just making that observation um because I'm I'm in I'm in a similar place as Mr Bloomer that I'm struggling a lot with this um definitely I would like to see that that RFP includes the solution for 2: to 3 p.m. um I know you know part of the proposal to us said that a lot of parents who have to pick up at two schools or who have different who have multiple grade levels they asked to have their kids dismissed a little early five minutes early anyway um but that's 2:40 not two o'clock so I think that does make a big difference um for families and I would not want to see and even if they were going to ask care I mean we already have a situation where and I think this has to do with the Aftercare laws and I'm I'm sure there's a good reason for it but pre preschool kids the youngest kids are put on a bus and sent to a different facility and the other kids going after car at North Boulevard are staying on site um and so that I think we need to address how these children are being cared for after school if they have two working parents who cannot pick them up at 2 o'clock um and hopefully we can find a vendor that can do that um I did have a question about the amount of contact like direct instruction the students are receiving from their primary preschool teacher in the current model because I know a lot of the concern is over the transition to the specials and going to other areas so is are they gaining more time with their tools of the Mind trained teacher what is that looking like in terms of a comparison from the old schedule to the proposed yeah so um on paper it's five minutes additional time with tools of the Mind trained teachers um and in reality it is more than that because the the loss of that that specific classroom time that's lost to Transitions of preparing kids getting everything together and it's it's a lot to get small group of small children to move in Mass um so by eliminating that I I would guess and again this is this is me guessing I've never taught preschool I never will teach preschool but you're probably seeing another 15 20 minutes given back to teacher time and also just eliminating the stresser for some of our kids and admittedly some some kids get up and go it's it's no problem um but for for some of some our students it's it's a challenge and so the issue with trying to eliminate that challenge without losing 45 minutes in the school day is that the teachers would not have a prep time prep period yeah and a contractual prep period so yeah so what what this would provide is they would all have the same prep time and so if if we get at two o'clock they would all have the same prep time from two till I'll say 2:48 something like that um and that time it is actually really good if you can have that team time because they can plan together they can review assessments together they can they can share notes on what they observed in their classes it's also very good for IEPs as well because we we've gotten to the points we have to pull teachers out of classes for IEP meetings which is not exactly optimal like they find a way we roll coverage in the AIDS are familiar with the flow of the classroom but it would it would help us with with that as well so there there are some logistical supports I mean there there are certain things too like it's um it's it's hard to have a classroom say for art where you have seating that accommodates fifth graders and three-year-olds um right they'll fit all that well so related to your comments about the IEP and I might just again be misunderstanding a lot of how things work in that realm um the the threein one model that we went to does that not apply to the preschool because my understanding a part of that was that also bought time for the IEP meetings and meetings for between teachers and service providers providers and things like that is that only K through 12 I think that's only K through 12 oh yeah K through five K through five right okay yeah I don't I don't think that it is no we we'll definitely we'll check with Miss Bronco she would know definitively yeah okay thank you maybody else have something I want to add so it sounds like we got a couple things to follow up on um the impact on IP minutes uh schedule the attendance breakdown we kind of got a rough draft but I guess something that uh a little more definitive as you said and then the uh the RFP and and apparently according to my sources um the three to one does go all the way to prek yeah Helena just got back I know she was watching the meeting too yeah so this is more just a comment um we got a pretty detailed proposal but I felt like a lot of it a lot of the questions were answered with a well maybe we could do this or oh we could probably do something like this or maybe we could try this and there didn't seem to be a lot of kind of definitive this is how we are going to address this problem and what we've been presented so far so that concerns me because I feel like there are like possibilities of Band-Aid situations for some of the challenges that have been identified but not a clear plan whereas when we were you know the the school start time it was like here's a problem here's what we're gonna have to do about it here's a problem here's what we're gonna have to do about it so I feel like this is a lot squishier in how we're addressing so and it could just be the nature of it being prek um but I but that makes me a little uncomfortable for this which is definitely understandable and I made a reference at the um the parent night about this being somewhat of an open decision and I'm not a fan of open decisions as a rule I like to make a decision to make it once um and if somebody brings something up that's so compelling that you feel obligated to change it you do um it would be very easy to say it's 8:15 to two once we dismiss them to your problem um that's not how we operate it's just it's just not in our um it's not our culture and it's not in our commitment to working well as well as possible with the community and that's why um I I've been very I've been very open to hearing from the community and I I know we're not going to please everybody no matter what we do like if we if we say you know what let's stick with what we got for one more year it's gotten us this far let's let's stay the course I know that's going to irritate people um and if we change to 815 it's GNA irritate people change to 855 it's GNA irritate people I just think there's two major problems with the timing there there's going to be some that are upset about the reduced teaching time understandable some are going to be I understand that but I still can't pick up my kid at two o'clock and it's a logistic issue so I think we have we have two things we're looking at and different lenses and right now we don't have a solution for either one of them and that's that's Again part of my struggle yeah and the if if if with the rfps and however this works out if we we find a solution and it's seamless yes you could still pick up your child at 245 that's we're so I'm sorry so if you here's my only if if the time change isn't if the if we're not going to reduce it by the 45 minutes which is I definitely understand I if you if you're looking at the schedules of the teachers right the students are receiving instruction in every area within that within the classroom for no more than 30 minutes but then we're having them go to cycles for 45 minutes that's a tremendous for a preschool student and I work with preschoolers I have preschoolers in my building that is a tremendous amount of time for like right here they're a music from 10:06 I have you have three-year-olds in a music class from 10:06 to 10:54 so I mean that's a lot of time for little kids to sit in a music class so if we're not going to change the time that may be something that that would be a solution because that's that's a long time that's a long time you know I mean we have to look at the instruction for the kids right it's about the instruction and the academic component and we want to provide them the absolute best that we can so they're prepared for kindergarten and going forward um so I I definitely understand the logistics I'm a working parent get it completely but we definitely need to look at the way this is because I mean do you see the schedules yeah and and the special sign were actually for uh 48 to 50 minutes and um we tried something this year of breaking them up because we realiz 50 minutes of music it's a long time and and that that didn't work because that that brought in additional Transitions and the kids struggled even more with that so um I thought it was a great idea it was an attempted a solution and it didn't work and and we're we're aware that everything we do is an iterative process so so you learn you learn from that and it's really important to stress too that the kids are kids are actually gaining instructional time with their classroom teachers and that's that's what sold me on this and I had a I had a conversation with Mr Mr senic earlier about um I don't think anybody in this room and some of you have known me for a really long time I've ever seen me make a decision terribly quickly I tend to prefer to be agonizing method iCal um this one moved definitely faster than I initially anticipated and it's because I was sold on the fact that this was going to improve educational outcomes for our kids by having them stay with their teachers and I realize we are losing time and and the logistic side of it does bother me and I reconcile that by saying my responsibility is to focus on the educational outcomes and I see this proposal providing better educational outcomes and I I wish there was a way that I could say oh yeah we're going to have them do a five hour block with with their main teacher or six- hour block and then have whatever else with the specialist teachers it's just not possible we can't well at this point we haven't found a way to make it work and we've turned over an awful lot of stones trying to figure that out so as I share this with you yes it's we're we're showing a lot more flexibility in the decision process and maybe some of that is is is just my trying to help too many people all at the same time I'll take that but um what's being proposed what's being discussed was brought to you and to the public and to me because the goal is to provide the best educational outcomes for our kids and so obviously we've got a lot um in my notes this being recorded too so we're going to review that that we can work with we have the public comment that we can work with we have emails parents so we we've got a lot of inputs to work with to devise something that's outstanding um the vote doesn't take place tonight which is merciful so this way we have at least a 10day Salvation period to to piece things together from this and and obviously we take it from there but there's gonna be more ideas that are going to come into your minds maybe later on tonight maybe first thing tomorrow morning and I say that to the people who are in the audience as well um and we'll we'll work to do what's best Dr bordis something you said um you know improving instructional outcomes you know that we went through this with the high school not too long ago we kind of came to the conclusion that more time in the building does not necessarily mean better results um don't know what that means you know obviously preschools much much different but um you know just something we went through not too long ago looking it y moving kind taking a few minutes off the day and I think I feel like I'm channeling Sam here but um I remember being in this room a number of years ago when we um were moving from uh half day kindergarten to full day uh and there were questions about why are we doing it what is the instructional benefit for it and I remember somebody asked the question well how much instructional time are they are we gaining actually with their teachers in the classroom from going from half day to full day and the answer from from the board at that time was they were getting 12 minutes of actual instruction time um go going from half day to full day so more time in the building does not necessarily mean you're going to be getting a lot more ABCs that there's other things you're putting in there as well so again that's just something that popped to my mind when you when you mentioned that I remember that discussion from a number of years ago so any for what it's worth I just wanted to ask a question from the other angle to and um I'm kind of springing this on you so you can get back to me on it but what is the impact on the gym gym music art teacher media specialist schedule in having and not having these anymore so like what's happening there are they being diverted elsewhere they if we know at all that's yeah like well it gives us greater flexibility in scheduling and and I can assure you that time will be used so whether it means that we're using um the LMC teacher to push in for certain units of literacy instruction um whether it means rolling somebody into what we call an RTI block which is where if I have to meet with Dr Sheridan to review students on her roles for RTI or irrs meetings I have somebody I can roll into that classroom as a cerificate staff member for coverage and when that's embedded in the schedule it gives you a chance to have more of those onetoone meetings as principal it was hard to schedule those times with teachers so if you have a staff member certificat you can roll to the classroom it helps you so we would definitely U maximize the time we have with those staff members like there's no way we'd say you know what guys you get get an extra X number of free minutes now yeah I have I'm sorry and sometimes I S quickly and sometimes too where that really helps a lot and this this bailed me out a lot when I was a principal is uh you can use them for enrichment blocks during recess as well and um for for me as as principal when I was at Hillview I had so many kids during recess who wanted to go to the media center and and really celebrate the world of Mrs Monroe and I don't blame them at all um but that was a really comfortable place and it was it was exciting too they had chess club they had whatever else but if I if I had those openings in her schedule where I could schedule the enrichment blocks it helped me out a lot because during the lunch recess period I had another place where I could send kids and it helped we were always short lunches as well but um those enrichment periods you can do them with music provide lessons you can do them with art so there is a lot that you can maximize there question so I'm not so concerned about what other public schools are doing in terms of their prek program because our kids can't go to those programs but parents do have choices on prek programs there is a lot of private schools around here that do prek um have prek I don't know which ones have full-time versus just half day but do we have any of that information readily available that we can see because again expansion is our goal right um it's something that we want to have people continue to enroll and and we're obviously looking for ways to expand and room everything in between but the schools that they do have a choice to go to do we know the details of how many hours there are there regardless of what curriculum their curriculum just hours yeah the biggest difference is going to be tra that they don't no and I understand all that I understand there's so many variables but I'm just hour just black and white hours like you know are they getting out at three are they getting out at two are they getting out at 2:30 and that's kind of what I want to know so you're not asking about other school districts we actually do have some information about other school districts you're asking about nobody's sending nobody can send their kid to one of those yeah so like CH I want to know you know what again I want to 615 yeah so I just and it's not a daycare I understand this is not daycare but free you know there is that fine line between prek daycare and why parents are sending choosing to send to prek versus daycare so that's just some information I'd like um in terms of me making my decision and I don't know you know how we can get that or if we have that I think it's something that we we have um I remember seeing it when we did the rates there was the competit the uh yeah competitors it might not have been the exact times but it was durations and stuff like that I think that's maybe a couple of months ago I think we could find that yeah and and I'm glad that you you mentioned it too like there's so many variables like like what we can offer is we have certificated staff you know got it but they can offer greater flexibility too because they're not you know part of collectory let's be honest most people are getting paid $14 an hour so that's that's why they're there till 6 7 o'clock at night you know I mean the the head of the the director of the place is not there at 7 o'clock at night you know um but they have that ability to do that we don't have that ability to do that we have certificated teachers I mean there's a huge difference but nobody's asking for six o'clock at night we're talking I'm talking about between any between two and three what is you know yeah so we have uh we have a lot of things that we brought up I think uh good discussion I think there's a lot of further things we need to look into um I think you get a pretty good list going there I hope I hope you're okay hope your wrist didn't fall off from writing uh I think at this point I want to move on to another topic so no offense uh yeah we could be here all day which I guess the fact if we could be here all day means that we need to look into things a little bit more um so with that I'm going to move on to another topic and we're going to go to CIS where there's two discussion items the lap pit Grant update and the uh March 5th PD day so we are the lap is the learning acceleration program high impact tutoring Grant which we um we were awarded back in early November so this targets our grades three and four students who were most at risk and um so the data is now coming in uh we're about to make our first um interm report to the state of New Jersey so overall I just wanted to give you guys a little update that um the tutors at the three elementary schools are really positive about the the growth that they're seeing in the students um that they are um addressing their needs to a range of methods including using the concrete math manipulatives modeling worksheets and gameplay um they found that the small setting really allows for that immediate feedback and fostering a conducive environment for learning which is really good um teachers have noticed um increased confidence in the students in those small sessions so that's really really good um parents have expressed um positive uh feedback and gratitude for the additional support uh the teachers are sending home uh reports monthly to parents which proos it's great to have that communication but it also makes it a little bit difficult to see um significant progress when we're we're doing two days a week um and over just the four weeks so um recognizing too that that might it might pose a challenge um where parents may not be seeing that growth but I was looking at I have to get better at doing data in a spreadsheet and my spreadsheet that I I started putting together is such a mess I'm me so embarrassed but I can see um through the schools that I was looking at that their students are increasing from that need support into the approaching to the achieving um in areas of um Tech structure summarizing identifying evidence identifying theme things like that so and in in math their number sense and things so it's all it's all really really good stuff um really one of the only only concerns that the teachers had was the attendance and some tardiness um and there's not much that they can do about that teachers themselves but um because it is just a couple sessions a week if students are tardy or absent it makes it difficult to kind of catch up but other than that everything seems to be going swimmingly this goes throughout the school year it's a this will go through till May till the end of May yep y so um so good stuff happening there and something I was interject with too um especially knowing it goes all the way through May and we're now entering the high testing season yeah when when when I hear you saying that the teachers are seeing increased Confidence from the kids yeah that that's the game Cher and I think you all know I've spent a lot of time professionally focused on standardized test prep and if if you want kids to succeed it all starts with what they internalize about themselves and their abilities and so you're working with kids who we've identified as those who could really benefit from that increased skill focus support and then to have the confidence part imbued in them is is just really fantastic so I think that's great so and then tomorrow is our last PD day of the 2023 24 school year I know right um so some good stuff going on with PD um that I've I've I've witnessed and and then I'll talk a little bit about here but for our Elementary uh teachers tomorrow it's the last of our ready math PD so we've had a two-year contract with curriculum Associates tomorrow is our last session um if we feel the need to extend um I certainly will talk to Miss Mora who's our math supervisor um about that but um I'll talk a little bit more about that um about math PD in a in a minute so um so our K through five teachers will be doing that um Dr shery just texted me as well that I think we'll we'll use some of the uh preschool time to talk about some of the questions that came up tonight to address some of the concerns so they'll have time tomorrow to do that and then the other other uh staff we doing some um CPR training just quite an array of uh of stuff but it it really is um just really that last part of our math uh PD training for our elementary teachers for our middle middle school and high school teachers we're continuing um with providing some small group differentiated instruction PD we began that the curriculum and instruction team began that in February and we surveyed the staff to see what additional questions or concerns they may have had so we've structured tomorrow's PD to address specifically three of their primary areas of concern so um we have rotating sessions that the supervisor team um will cycle through also with the uh building principles at Hillview sorry at U PV and the high school so it should be a jam-pack day of good learning for uh for all our staff so with that said um I also really want to thank the board for allowing us to send cohorts of teachers to conquer math PD so I sat in um okay I'm not a math student and Dr Shir is probably gonna text me and say yes you are um but I am I I am not a math student um and I have struggled for decades to understand algebra and yet I attended the conquer maath algebra PD and I actually got it um I felt really very good but the activities that they're doing are fantastic Nancy Schult has been doing such a great job um it really we've we've purchased additional manipulatives for our High School and Middle School classrooms so it it's just making math visible is really can help make that abstract much more concrete and that for me is what did it because I learned math through I don't well Sam you might remember I mean you you folded the piece of paper into 16 little boxes and you had to complete the problem in one little box and it had to be in that box and that's just not the way math is is done today um show it was never visual never visual show me the work yeah so um so there to see this and fun game ways that teachers can that students can use this to understand patterns and things like this all that are very very important in algebra so I have a whole new appreciation for algebra so I feel I feel good about that yeah so that K through five or one through five for the con K through five or that was one through this is K through 12 so we are sending so we U Miss Morana and I we've identified a a a cohort so we're we're calling this group that's going this year for two years cohort one and next year we'll send cohort 2 which will go for two additional years and it is it is well it's really more one no it's K it's K through 12 well 11 could be some 12 teachers in there but 12th is not mandatory for math but we have um teachers who teach statistics going Algebra 1 Algebra 2 geometry and then uh grade six seven eight algebra down there and then K through five so it's been great everybody loves it it's right in town beautiful facility Nancy Schultz does a great job so thank you for that so that's it that's and if we have Staffing shortage we actually have a new algebra teacher ready to go so one more benefit no no no no no no is conquer map something you'd like to continue next year pardon me is conquer maath something a professional development you'd like to continue for next year yeah because we we've we've signed up cohort 2 so cohort 2 is going to start next year and then go for the two years after for the next two years so cohort one will finish next year so we'll have an overlap cohort one cohort two year two year one and then cohort two will finish and that should pretty much cover the entire District okay and then the ready math um professional development did you get a lot of good feedback from the teachers is that something you think you may need or you think I I don't know that we're going to need it I mean the the um the program is pretty self-explanatory the teachers the really RVE reviews about it I made a point went and do a lot of observations and math walk this year at the elementary school they do seem to like it the kids like it um the the math manipulatives again it's making those those abstract Concepts much more visible um and to see it really can help understand um those really those more difficult Concepts especially as they you know move up through grade levels so next year the math standards have changed so the primary shift is really impacting K1 all right a little bit with two um so those standards now are at our edgey planet platform so the teachers are starting to relook at curriculum and weave them in um they may want some additional PD next year but if if Nancy Schultz addresses all of that so I mean I think I think they're going to be okay yeah but we'll see awesome thank you thanks anybody else anything for uh these topics all right moving on to FFA we have five items the budget the attorney and the order RFA uh RFP a lighting update and the auditorium carpet repair in this room okay the first item the budget um we just received the state aid numbers and all the numbers came in flat they accept special education Aid and school choice Aid uh special education aid went up$ 254 4,000 and choice aid went up uh $33,700 so it's not a lot um once the budget is complete Dr pis and I have to review it uh before a summary goes out to the board obviously this will take place in the next few days uh so we should uh get it ready for the next board meeting um for approval any questions were we anticipating flat or was that a bit of a hit no usually you anticipate at least 2% yeah so it is a hit but it's not it's not we haven't lost any Aid a lot of districts have lost aid so wow we're lucky yeah and the funding formula is pretty flawed and it's it's an Open Secret in education but some of our neighbors uh took it on the chin where Butler lost 24% of their state aid and then uh the town of botin got 48% more state aid like look a park got 19% more so um we we we talked about this briefly today looking at what happened some districts like Jefferson lost 5% of their state aid and they getting crushed in terms of budgeting um the fact that we made out as we did fact we didn't get hurt but was actually a huge help so I think we did okay yeah it worked out yeah any any other questions on the budget no the second item I have is the attorney RFP um I'm looking to send that RFP out on the April excuse me March 15th um we do have a copy from the previous RFP number of years ago which we've modified and still has to go for attorney review but I'm hoping to get that out by March 15 to have it board approved uh early April the auditor RFP I haven't started working on that yet but that I'm hoping to get out within the next three to four weeks uh obviously because we have two other rfps that are going to be going out this year one of them is going to be the before and after CARE program and the other one is for a new physician so obviously there's going to be a push between now and the end of the school year to get those done and to get them board approved any questions on the on the rfps you say position position position yes position could be the same well I think he wants to leave so that's why we're putting it out there could be the same one yes it's possible any questions on y please no the lighting update uh we're still working with the contractor to get a quote on having some of the fixures replaced um so that's going to take a little while it's not going to happen overnight um I understand it's going to be very expensive if we replace the whole system but we're hoping to replace just the oldest fixtures first any questions on the lighting do we do we know when when is Beauty and the Beast I don't remember off the top of my head when are they playing because that's what we're I'm sorry when when is the school play do we I don't know off the top of my head Beauty and the Beast April John's gonna be up at Home Depot so the issue is they're like nonexistent anymore right like the system needs to be replaced because it's so outdated it's at it yeah it's it's yeah it's pretty outdated but it looks like something we can kind of do in pieces we're looking to do it in pieces if we can yeah okay so that's taking a look at the whole system you have an expert coming in taking a look to give us a quote as to what it's going to cost it's not going to be cheap I can tell you right now yeah and and I don't want to um speak out of term but I think from our conversation with Dwight as well that a lot of what we have is actually obsolete now because of yeah because of what what kind of bulbs you can put in and you just the the technology and lighting this this room's not very old but it's changed an awful lot in the last 10 years and I tell you just from installing these things theatrical lighting is couple hundred thousand to million dollars y any other questions onat so I mean so that's not covered under an because it's not improving any kind of ecological things anything like that right even if it was if it was covered on the reip it would have been done already right okay but again it's not covered under reip really because it's not an energy savings measure unless unless they change to some kind of fixture that was like an LED or something like that but the thing is they don't use it all the time so it's just not it's like a oneoff type of use right it's not like a light in your classroom that's on every day right so just by its inherent nature it's it's not efficient right any other questions no last item I have is uh the carpet for the auditorium this room here um the insurance company has paid us so so we're ready to go that way and it's going to be replaced on the week of March 18th so it should be should be done soon I haven't seen the pattern but I understand the principal has picked it out well yeah it's just the aisles and the frontier yeah any other questions on the carting yeah I would ad no thank you okay uh moving on to policy four items managing equity and education policy and regulation updates uh the addition of a vandalism regulation 7610 recommendation not to include a regulation for honoring student achievement which I'm sure we have a very good reason for that and general policy and regulation guide updates do you want to start with that one first are you nervous about it yep wherever you want to go first U all right so the first one actually is is pretty straightforward there were changes made to a New Jersey Administrative Code um and that that impacted uh pretty much all of the policies that you're seeing most of the policies that you're seeing up for first reading at the next meeting and really all that's happening is at some point in any of those policies they um listed out protected classes or protected categories um and they've expanded the definition of that things like race gender all of those um the administrative code has expanded that to include anything that falls under the New Jersey law against discrimination so rather than now have an enormous list of all of the protected classes and categories the language in each of those policies says anything covered under the administrative code in in you know in legales so not a lot of major updates on those it's just the language change to point to the revised code um and I realize that I realized kind of late that you have the entire Strauss SME packet in backup so I hope you all had fun with that that's what Mike and I get to go through every time we get one um for the next meeting you'll have the individual policies With The Changes outlined uh a red line so that you'll be able to take a look at them a little bit more clearly um one of the policies that is in that packet to be update I'm sorry regulation to be updated is a regulation we do not currently have so we have policy 7610 for vandalism we do not have the regulations in looking at the regulations it does outline um a much more specific process for what to do in certain situations uh Dr poris liked that kind of a way that was outlined and thought it gave us a lot more guidance for what to do in certain situations um and so we're recommending to bring that regulation as a new item for our policy book um for first reading to the next meeting I didn't see that in there um it's you know like page 13 something like that we can I'll make sure that you get a copy of it um thank you but it's in the it's in the pack up packet and backup yeah I just realized as I was looking at it there's there's no pagination in in my packet um but yeah they did send us the vandalism one all right I'll check yep and uh and yeah Karen's going to work on doing the individual ones she was so busy formatting the school calendar she didn't have time to sufficiently and there are so many of this this was a heavy it was a massive packet yeah so it's not a lot of changes it's just a lot of um policies um so the regulation regarding the honoring student achievement we do we have the policy so we have had in place the honoring student achievement policy it is not the policy um that is undergoing any changes there are associated regul ulations um and similar to the vandalism one we were looking at this and at some point in the past a conscious decision was made to not adopt the regulations but to have the policy in place which does guide a lot of things and in going through the content that's in there and you have this notes in backup um it's it's very explicit and in a sense like over legislates what we should do um for certain achievements and even had wanted a list of like this is what we are going to honor High achieving band members with it was very very detailed um and I think in a lot of ways you know would would make it more tying your hands than than providing any kind of guidance whereas the vandalism regulations really provide us with Guidance with what to do um and I'll let M Dr poris speak to that a little bit more because you had a good rationale for that I did steal his language the over legislate was his term no but that agree yeah and I like how you broke it down too because I mean one of the recommendations is to list specific plaques and certificates given for band Orchestra course School newspaper chemistry team no that that doesn't need to be on the books for policy um it wants us to list specifically where we're going to post and and publish honor roles and awards um which is supposed to be Tethered to policy 8330 despite the fact it's not actually listed in policy 8330 so I I just felt like there's there's a lot in this regulation that is is unnecessary and and to the language you use that it ties your hands in a way that's just to me entirely unnecessary a lot of this is already covered honor roles are are um explained in the student handbooks that are approved every year academic awards are covered in policy 5440 National Honor Society is also covered in in policy 5440 so to me this one would just be headaches waiting to happen yeah and having read a lot of our policies and regulations over the years just this just has the feel of one that is is the board going too far essentially to have it on on in our policy manual um especially because those things are addressed in more appropriate places like the student handbooks guidance that the principles would refer to and things like that comments or questions on that all right and then the two policies and their Associated regulations that were part of this um packet and not of the um language change that is really what all of those initial ones fall under the bilingual education and reg uh policies and regulations are being updated and much of it is removing the term ESL and English language Learners and they're using the language multilanguage Learners now again that's a change in Administrative Code so the updates to the policy are just to align with the administrative code um my interpretation of it and I think this is in our discussion is it doesn't really have any impact on our practical application of the policy it's not changing anything that we're doing um it's just a a reference to multilanguage Learners um instead of the terminology of ESL or El and then similarly with um 24 31.4 and the regulations for prevention and treatment of sports related concussions and head injuries there was new guidance released by the Department of Education I believe it was um and their recommend it's to align their recommendations more closely with the CDC but essentially all of the processes that are outlined in that policy and the regulations are the same so the return to play progression recommended by the CDC is what we had that is still in the new one um and it's just titled slightly differently but there's no substantial changes in our practices or what is going going to be expected of us for that questions comments all right thank you Mr Dy all right nothing to discuss under other and uh under the board Effectiveness committee nothing really to discuss over there next time we'll be voting on Improvement approving the board goals that we discussed in our uh Retreat and at this point we're at our second opportunity for public comment members of the public may speak once for a maximum period of five minutes by the clock during this portion of the meeting public may speak on any topic during their five minutes and if a member of the public raises a question they should direct that question to the board of President and please state your name and sign in before we begin ask Mr Portis you said that you were going to vote in 10 days for the uh preschool Mr Gibbs you also said you were going to go out for RFP for the before and after care in April I would just ask that we have all the information and all the facts before the vote happens because that could really impact people's decisions on whether or not to enroll within the program the other thing for the RFP I would say the current solution in place with preschool has them going from the preschool to the boys and girls tub on a bus Which if we were talking about transitioning from class to class to special as being a problem I think that putting 30 to 43 and four year olds some with iips and some gened on a bus could have a bigger impact on so I just want to say when you go out for an RFP please conclude maybe on-site services so that was it John Nan Sunset Road Pompton Plains I'm here uh representing the high school music parents um our jazz band this week they're going to their first uh the Jazz Band Festival they're going to start competing um the Jazz Band out of the high school here so they're going to be over at Wayne Valley Performing uh this year of course is the biggest jazz band Festival in the history of New Jersey so that's what we're jumping into we have over 50 schools competing across the state and then uh our kids will be uh critique scored and instructed by Jazz professionals uh immediately after their performance there um on Friday the music department they have their field trip to Boston they all take off uh six o'clock Friday morning come back Sunday we have uh 84 students going and 10 staff and parents uh at chaperon um and then um at the end of the last board meeting uh Mrs Dempsey brought up something in her new business regarding um activities that get a lot of support maybe should get a little bit more closer look with funding so I did a little bit of homework uh for everyone while you make your decisions so this is going to be Mr strier 10th year as band director so I kind of broke down his history here when he came in his first three years as the band director the band size was 56 students average in those three years they won one Nationals one States the next three years the average band size was 70 students in that time frame they won nationals and won States and in the last three years the band size average has been 79 students and they won Nationals in 2022 uh Mr strier also brought in in his third year here he started indoor percussion and Winter Guard groups in in in the winter season as a a way to raise the level of the marching band because then those percussion students and the guard could have another season practicing to together right everyone can take concert band and practice their instrument but you need special programs um for those types of of skills and this year is the first year where the the interest in those programs has grown so much last year both of the directors for those programs got buried and implemented auditions and cuts to the program this year they just could not handle the number of students with the staff that we could afford to support them with um just going back to Nationals competitions I mean I've said many times it's very difficult in a small school like this to to keep up with the demand of this music department but um at Nationals Panic High School right we have a student population 650 680 somewhere in there of the 18 schools they were competing with one from Connecticut had 620 students the next closest school to banic had 97 students and it was cab Callaway School of the Arts from Delaware so they're all on that path that's what we're competing with we had five schools that had between 1,000 and 1500 students we had five schools that had between 1500 and 2,000 students and there were still three schools left over their student population is over 2,000 students so this is the the funding and the the the size of these schools we're trying to keep up with a lot of the schools will also almost have like marching band is Varsity their pep band is their JV kids who are freshman sophomores they dream of being on the marching band and they don't get there until they're good enough musicians students whatever you know they need to show on the field where Mr strier takes one all and now takes eighth graders and makes national champions out of them you know so uh one other thing I I I looked up real quick 2015 when mythra strier was hired his his band director stip in was $4,180 next year it's going to be $4 4,742 so that's a average raise of $50 a year for a band director who stayed here for 10 years and I didn't tell him this part but if you factor in inflation he actually lost like $700 by next year but I I didn't I didn't share that with him and then the other thing I looked at um marching ban has right now on average 79 students the next largest Varsity activity has between 50 and 60 students a year the district has five stiens and six volunteer positions for the marching band for a grand total of 11,000 $819 to instruct those 80 students in the other vcd activity there's six paid positions and four volunteer positions for a grand total of $ 32,600 $55 uh this past season we we've already had a budget meeting the band director for next year and he's requesting on the order of8 to $110,000 increase uh just to keep up with again the the students achievements are rewarded with now you're competing in a bigger level a more difficult level and that's what he's facing on his end so between the Board of Ed marching band stiens and the parents we give the staff 27,878 last year which is still short of the next closest uh Varsity activity so I just wanted to do a little bit of homework for you I know you guys are in the middle of your budget and uh I'll be back next week for that meeting as well all right thank you all right uh close public comment all right uh as far as the vote yeah the workshop obviously is tonight and then the Action meeting is scheduled 14th and um I never passed the buck but it is actually the the board president's agenda so I I make recommendations um he can he can override me for what's on the agenda um but I would like to have something in place that we can that we can plan around but I'll respect the wishes of the board sorry to thr under the bus there I live under the bus it's all good nice you get enough of it at work I'll just I don't know what that just was um oh of course it was um and then poor transition to the to the bus notion but um yeah if if we can get anything on site that'd be great um we got to make sure that we can provide adequate space for it as well we realize it would be pretty brief um before the kids would get bust out if they do go to the Boys and Girls Club but yeah we're trying to take all these different factors into consideration um you know I feel like with with everything that we arrive at we uncover more information that that's that's useful for consideration if not just for this decision but just really for overall Improvement so um we'll take prek in with the the RFP um great news about the the Jazz Band um it's pretty impressive they have 50 different schools over at Wayne Valley um happy to hear they're taking a trip up to Boston so they know there should never be a tomato and clam chower just make sure that they keep that in mind when they order food up there uh as far as uh looking at the funding for activities um G us a lot of food for thought about the the different sions obviously that's something that's part of the contract so I think that would be looked at with the next U the development of the next collective bargaining agreement um but there is some compelling data there and I am quite proud of the fact that we are a very small school that participates on a very large stage and doesn't just participate but actually excels and um it happens because of the people behind the program and that includes the kids obviously but also uh staff members families community at large Mr ster really is the the central point in that and spoiler alert I did a podcast with him and miss finnon last week it's going to be pushed out probably this Friday and it it was it was really good um I think it was actually pretty long too but it was I was inspired to to do great things and I can't play anything beyond Hot Cross Buns on a recorder which I'm pretty sure I can still play which is probably very impressive to everyone um but yeah a lot a lot to think about with um with with the sipon and his position um I think my negotiations for my contract are coming up and probably about a year or so we we'll be talking Mr naon about your representation fee and uh we'll we'll take it from there all thank you Dr poris any board member have any unfinished business I do um I just wanted to get I think in October I brought up um some concerns in regard to the high school drop off and pickup uh particularly the drop off um lack of um crossing guards and signage do we have any update so I put out a request for a comment from the board and I think I received no comments to be honest with you maybe two or three people maybe zo so maybe uh we do that again collect stuff and then go to the town with it that was the plan back then okay please let me know how I can support because I will absolutely support this uh this need again if if you're not a High School parent if you want to just take a ride um to drop off in the morning between 7:23 and 72 28 so Brian why do we what do we need comments for it's an absolute zoo I mean so take video it's no no no no what I'd like you to do is respond to the email where I said put your comments and writing so I could bring them to the town and get them addressed that's all okay well I've spoken with town and Sir you're where I I I did let the township manager know that um once we have list of different concerns we will we'll set up a meeting he he's he's receptive to it obviously we get the police involved they manage crossing guards as well as the traffic flow um our our security team is not allowed to serve as crossing guards except obviously on our premises um nor are they allowed to direct traffic with the exception of course of being on our premises so um I found that the the township has been a willing and very capable partner um and police have been Sensational so if there is something that can that can be managed we we'll do it um take it from there thank you um do we have any uh Dr porz I forgot to email you any um feedback in regard to the ski trip because I mean I got nothing but fabulous reviews from my kid but I didn't know if you had received any I'm sure the school got it that one didn't quite make it its way up the organiz ational ladder to me doesn't really have to either but U but when I did talk to Mr zasi he said the kids were really excited about it and I know that the teachers went had a blast they shared some pictures I know that those were in Mr sow's updates lot of smiles look like it went very well thank you this is unfinished business from 10 minutes ago but um the vandalism regulations start on the 65th page of the PDF so if you're looking at it in backup and you scroll down to page 65 of 116 you will see it page 63 is the policy which we already have minor updates that's there too noted thank you anybody else how about new business any new business and I'm sorry um I was gonna put something out for the unfinished business on Thursday the veterans wall committee is going to be meeting again um I just have to say that that group has been putting forth a tremendous amount of work did a site visit up to Butler to check out what they had we've also gotten a lot of the logistical ideas from them um I've been in communication with our architect um gave uh some ideas about possible price menus for donations as well as anticipated costs um I included that in the agenda which I know both Mr Bloomer Mr Sanic you guys are part of that group the agenda actually has the responses from the architect as well as uh the updates that M mcmah provided but pretty sure we're going to be going a lot more public with um information about this project it's it's a great it's a great project it's one that's been um in in process for four or five years obviously it's stalled with covid but I feel like it's really picked up in Earnest and I'm excited for what this will ultimately look like I think it's it's going to really be a tremendous addition not just to our campus but really to the community at large related new business but not um will we be using the architect to help us also determine what the Ruth kellet oh I'm sorry um dedication is going to look like um and a really exciting note with that um uh coach Bondi who spoke um at one of our meetings and has been involved with me for about a year and a half about talking about different possibilities for this and she got me a lot of information um someone with whom she's friendly wants to donate um a I don't it's a plaque or or what to um to honor Mrs KET and I don't know if it's already happened or if it is going to happen but I know she was setting up a meeting well Mr cipo was setting up a meeting with her and with Mr hazler to determine the best placement because we want it to be something that's public like you look up right by the scoreboard you you know what the name of our gym is and also there has to be something that honors the person and and speaks to Legacy we we don't want something that's like one of my PowerPoint slides where you can press 800 words into a very small space we wanted to be efficient Pros but also really get to the nature of why we felt it was important enough you know and we have nothing like that in sj's lobby there should be something there to honor who Stephen JJ race was so where we didn't get it right there at least not yet we're going to get it right here so we'll probably be in touch with Frank about some but the wheels are in motion with that as well great thank you any new business board member announcements um tomorrow Tuesday March 5th um Panic CPAC along with the Lincoln Park CPAC will be hosting an event um with an with um a representative from span the parent span parent advocacy Network um at the at PV in the media center you can also join via Zoom this is an informational session um to discuss um what makes a sustainable effective parent L special education Advisory Group as well as some other um really important information um I attended the ptea friends of Education dinner that was a lovely time um the PTA does a really nice job of um of really acknowledging people who support our students um and our programs also I attended the pths band Tricky Tray which was phenomenal um ton of people ton of prizes um nothing quite like the support of the band parents they do a phenomenal job but it was awesome had a really good time I only won one prize but that's fine I'm not better for the record I went to six Hillview tricky trays I didn't win anything until the last one and it was an autographed Eli Manning poster I'm a New England Patriots fan I gave that to my my youngest son yeah that's you you were second in line Mr bloomer anybody else okay uh we do have reason to go into executive session tonight to discuss student matters no action will be taken we will adjourn from there our next meeting will take place on March 14th here at the high school and the next meeting will include a presentation of the budget for next school year I encourage everyone to attend the meeting and review the presentation for the budget and provide your comment uh is there a motion to go into executive to ex session all in favor I any oppos good night than