school oh yeah I'm from uh call the meet order let's please stand salute stes of America theice secretary can you please take the Pres Dr Connors here Mrs cordino here Mr King here M Rashid here M Rivers here Mrs Sado here M Smith here M staer here have nine president thank you hereby of scway Township Board of Education has complied with the notification requirements of the open public meetings act for the announcement of this meeting date place on April the 30th 2023 in the following manner posting of the public notice on the posting board for the Board of Education and the administration building email notification to newspapers serving to scway the home News Tribune and the courent News email notification with the municipal cler at the municipal building on Lane this meeting is being videotaped is not an official record in or supplement to the minutes is intended only as a source of information that the public might utilize at a later date to familiarize themselves with the board's activities executive session be it resolved that the board adjourned to Executive session for the purpose of viewing and discussion of the Personnel agenda litigation HIV monthly reports and other matters pursuant to law njs 10 semicolon 4-12 B can I have a motion motion second second all in favor we are in executive session we have student representative reports all right um good evening everybody um I hope you're all doing well so we're finally into the second half of the year I feel like it's going by so fast um and like always the high school is really busy um this week is national school counselor week and so at the high school we have a lot of recognition things going on for the counselors we have morning announcements from the student government um recognizing each counselor individually um just so cuz of of course our counselors get to know us personally but many times students don't get a chance to get to know their counselors well over their years so this was a great week um in order to do that um the rppa Honor Society so the social studies Honor Society at our high school has been hosting guest speakers every month so this month they invited um Deans from and directors from the Ruckers School of planning and public policy um they're doing that next week actually so on Wednesday so I think that's just a great opportunity for students who are interested in going into Fields like of that nature um to immerse themselves or like learn more about it just within high school because I know we didn't have like we have a lot of stem things but we don't have much for um English and history so I'm glad um that we're slowly getting into that um the public forum seminar Club hosted a bake sale um um and all the proceeds from that went to Doctors Without Borders which is providing humanitarian Aid in Gaza um so that was late January and that was great I know it went really well um our mock child team had our countywide competition and for the first time in a lot of years we made it to semi-finals which was amazing um and yeah it was just an overall great experience um The Freshman seminar classes like they do every every year have began their well they just finished their door decorating and so each each class gets a country assigned um and then they decorate their doors so it's amazing to go around the school and see the many different cultures represented and they have like little fun facts to learn all about them and it's just a fun way of them getting to know a bit about each culture and then making like a friendly competition um and then with Valentine's Day coming up there's many fundraisers and like activities going on with that um the class of 2025 is selling succulents our class of 2024 we are selling Valentine's Day grams with like baked roses and candy and things of that nature and then as well as the GSA has a sale going on in regards to that so that's amazing um me and Tomy both are a part of day of dialogue which is a great initiative with Dr Gray and Miss April and we recently added Miss narab Becky and basically we we just had our first meeting of the year but and we added new um students new diverse perspectives and we just speak to um students experiences at the high school and how we can better the sense of belonging um for students of all backgrounds and I think it's really important especially just seeing like all the progress we made over the past two years whether that was implementing Halal food in the cafeterias or getting a prayer space for Muslim Students in school and even for all the other communities changing the health curriculum um I think to make it more inclusive I think from that group we've gotten so many great things so I'm glad that we we started those conversations this year um and I'm sure we'll accomplish um some great things this year um we're also both part of our safety ambassadors program so this just today actually we went to Eisenhower and we um taught the first graders um specific safety things so um there's five classes like each Partners go to each classroom and so we teach them things like fall prevention um don't run on the playground just basic things but that are really important for them to learn at a young age and making it as engaging as possible and that's something that we do through Robert with Johnson Hospital um and then also read Across America National English Honor Society is hoping to do that next month early March and we're just going to go to the elementary schools and read to them um from the national English AR Society so that's also always amazing and then lastly um the class of 2024 the senior class where hoping and we're B basically done planning a senior trip and so in June we hope to go to Six Flags um we're just finalizing the details getting chaon things of that nature um but I'm sure it'll be amazing but yeah that's it and I'll pass be thank you Rahim well unlike Rahim all the juniors are still in school struggling with their classes so um like Rah mentioned we're halfway into the school year and there's quite a lot going on um for underclassmen and juniors teachers have beg course advisement and recommendations um counselors have been engaging a lot with Juniors meeting with them all of this month actually to talk about their plans for the future and options that they could go through whether that be college or other career choices so that's been really engaging um NHS has been having tutoring after school um as there is a minimum amount of hours but I know they're opening it up to different methods um I know they recently started tutoring with the younger levels um and there's buddy ball with pgb pisc gives back on Mondays so there's a lot of tutoring um service hours going on um grup actually has their girl night tomorrow which is from 5: to 7: um and it's pretty much just for like girls to come and do a bunch of activities um there's bracelets and tote bags um and SL so it's definitely something to look forward to um spring Sports Seasons are coming up so tryouts and interest meetings have begun um I know girls boys girls and boys tracking field has started um softball had their interest meeting in boys volleyball as well um speaking on Sports we've had a great amount of wins this winter season and I'm a little biased because I'm a track runner myself but I'm proudly extremely proud to say that the girls track and field team has won GMC championships this winter season um and the the boys winter tracking team track team uh won their first GMC winter track championship and they and W won the New York New Jersey state group for Relay championship for the first time in school history so it's really exciting um congratulations T um so there are a lot of bo uh boys that place in the New Jersey state group four Championship qualifiers who actually meddled at this past weekend um and as well as the girls there was a couple girls that were selected um so that's super exciting um I know how hard they train and how much effort that goes into running dur even during the co or something I did not choose to do this year but I know it's a lot so good for them um moving on to the clubs uh today actually right now a Chinese New Year um Chinese Club is hosting their New Year event in collaboration with piscato gets back um and it's just to celebrate the culture and there's activities and it's open to the community so that's really great um I know Spanish Club hosted NOA Latina last um and that was super successful um it was just a dance there was food and music and it was very Lively so it was really exciting um and HOSA actually had their Regional competitions this weekend and two students placed so that's some great representation from pway um FBLA um their SLC trip is coming up soon so objective testing and competitions for the trip in March has begun this month so a lot of preparations going on um and as well as mentioned earlier counselors are very engaging so they actually are planning a college trip um a college fair trip to the Expo Center um in March actually so there's about like 30 plus colleges attending so it's a great opportunity for juniors um to go see what's offered um as well science League they just had their second exam today um and we're actually currently chem league is actually current second in state so that's really good um there's two more exams so we'll see how we are towards the end but that's all I have excellent um I have a question yes you talked about piscatway gives back is that a club yes so piscat back um we pretty much provide like service opportunities um out for the community how to get students and volunteers here at the high school involved in giving Outreach back the community yeah how long has that in um group been in assistance uh 2021 Tim O'Reilly started really great thank you guys thank you very much and congratulations again on the track um everyone is thriving and I see them practicing now yeah I see you guys outside I'm like have talk to you I would be cold but congratulations again thank you for coming out this evening and giving us updated reports on what's going on in the district we truly appreciate it and of course I know you're going to leave so be home thank you next on the agenda we have the president's report Sumer president's report for February 8th 2024 February is Black History Month a time for us to celebrate all the important contributions made by African-Americans in its effort to make sure that our children learn about these great men and women when they are young and continue to build on that knowledge as they grow old our schools many celebrations observations and lessons for Black History Month are available to see on our website black history is a American history our administrators and teachers work hard to celebrate the diversity throughout the year but this month it's important to emphasize figers who may have been historically overlooked and deserve our respect and recognitions congratulations to the PHS track teams for an amazing season the girls and the boys as Toni so nicely said earlier both swept the GMC championships on January 21st with individual titles by tabi Ferguson okay this name got me Kirsten a Ashby Madison Morgan Morgan Jean and Noah Grant the boys team also won the state group for relate championships for the first time ever with a dramatic win in a 4x4 relay by Desa Stevens Skyler MC McGee J Jamari ainson and Noah Grant and that's it for my president's report I must say spending the amount of time I spent at the high school to see all of these athletes not only Excel in their sport but also excelling in their education to be the well-rounded individuals that they are uh right now we have some of the track team volunteering at the concession stand we have wrestlers volunteering at the concession stand we have cheerleaders volunteering at the concession stand but what it gives them is an opportunity to give back to the school and to their fellow Sportsman while they're not actually practicing and or having meet or a game that day but it also gives them the opportunity to be at voice to be seen and to do something they wouldn't normally do I'm also starting to encourage other kids who are not athletes to also see if they can be a part of the concession stand and work there because they're at the games they know students but also just let them know they're welcome to be a part of that as well it's not just strictly for the athletes because they need to also earn community service hours because everyone needs to make sure if their desire to go to college does exist if they have everything they need in their portfolio so that nothing holds them back so like I say it's great seeing the kids all over the district and doing the things that they're doing but supporting and encourage one another which is just a tremendous thing to do and to have here in this diverse community that we have and that's the end of my report next we have the superintendent's report thank you very much as usual uh check out our superintendent report on our website under the superintendent Corner highlights this month include uh PHS Advance placement family night that we had for our parents uh science scholar collaboration some art and athletic awards and uh visits from our community from military personnel authors and entertainers we're really happy uh that they give back to our schools and also a calendar of our upcoming events um for the board our unsung heroes uh event for the county is scheduled for April 18th at alridge High School uh you were sent some information um uh by my office if you could respond if you would like to go unsung heroes is uh a program where each High School nominates a junior and a senior uh who have uh overcome some kind of Life challenge for uh for their successes that they have so we have nominated our two students and we won't reveal them tonight but um our event is again April 18th please email my office if you'd like to go we have to give them a number so we're really excited and it's one of my favorite events of the evening of of the year it's really it's really great so I hope you can come uh our Ed Foundation our red Foundation is formed to uh raise money to give uh students scholarships and whether it be teacher grants or School needs or things like that one of our biggest uh fundraisers is our designer bag Bingo which is uh scheduled for March 8th at 7:30 pm at Our Lady of Fatima in the cafeteria there um and we hope you can make it please let us know uh Glenn you are are you are they supposed to n let you know if they're coming yes please yeah so if you can just email myself or give me a call I'll let Dr lotman know and we'll get you on the list to be able ACC and that concludes my report thank you Dr relli uh next we have personnel and Labor Relations Miss Nancy um be it resolved that the following motions identified as items a through F be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the roll call please cordino um yes to all but abstain to a or abstain from a Mr King yes M rashed yes M Rivers yes M alado yes M Smith yes M Stafford yes Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes motions Carri um public comments from the floor I do not see anyone from the floor so can I have a motion to close public comments from the floor motion can I have a second second all in favor okay public comments is closed we have uh all four committees have reports being read tonight so put your listening yours on okay first we have curriculum the curriculum committee met on February 5th 2024 to discuss future Educators Association social emotional learning ESL family nights and more New Jersey future Educators Association known as njfa principal Chris bald Kelly chilis Julian alisone supported the formal establishment of the chapter of the njfa at PHS current EA members amria saor and Jack Jasmin cast castalanos advocated for the chap and spoke of their experiences activities included speeches Partnerships with the district fundraises recruitment via the pway experience internships course preparation for student educator careers guest alumni and Hometown Heroes students will attend a conference at rder University in the spring social emotional learning Dr Laura Hamlet gave a consent presentation concerning the many different aspect of our District's seel curriculum which falls under the umbrella of our multi-tiered systems of support she elaborated on the overall goals anchored around the students belonging in the casel five core comp competencies self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsibility decision making which is a framework that helps cultivate skills and environments that Advance students Learning and Development positive behavior support in schools Dr HCK also described the pbsis initiative which provides a frame foral in schools along with the tiered models where elicit instruction takes place Dr HCK outlined the poist of the character education mentoring in a District's partnership with the Haven Miss Nancy cardino discussed the possibility of having therapy dog programs Dr relli we said we were going to talk to you about this pressure on um ESL family nights glenisha gerado MO and amria de gave a brief overview of the ESL family nights K to 3 4 to 5 and 6 to8 which was a goal established by Dr basille to meet the needs of this population assess assessive assessive technology was introduced where parents used a QR code to an application called the talking points that would allow any question to be asked and answered in their home language an overall view about the ESL program was provided along with with curriculum and other resources curriculum gate review curriculum guide review Scot Hood explained the proposed Ela course modifications at PHS which would offer alternatives to English 3 and English 4 offer to 11th and 12th graders currently the courses are offered at one grade level or the other based upon popularity and requests from students the purpose is to increase student choice in Real World engagement the courses are mythology and comprehens compr compreh composition race and gender and literature specul and liter literature students enrolled in courses will meet requirements for English 3 and English 4 respectively artificial intelligence Dr baville explained that we are monetarily pausing discussion with the committee regarding AI until the district has done further research and work on developing a framework and policy more information will be forthcoming federal funds update Dr basille gave a brief overview view of the federal funds and their usages he informed the Committees of the following purposes and allegations for the school year 2023 24 Title One targeted assistance at six Title One School Eisenhower Grand View Arbor Shore quibbletown and PHS $937,500 71 title three language instruction for multilanguage multilanguage learn ear $25,995 486 title for support for academic program $794 43 ESS funds expire in September PHS Italian classes Dr baville explained that the Italian teacher has been on leave and gave the committee an update on what has been done to continue the instruction of the classes this has been a difficult this has been difficult due to a limited number of qualified instructors efforts have been included seeking a qualified long-term substitute speaking with other districts exploring countless online synopses and Anon anonyms explore platforms investigating a possible dual enrollment agreement with Morris County College which fa due to a lack of available time in the Morris County teacher schedules the district currently uses three advanced level Ruckers Italian students the Ence curriculum and a certified staff member in the room during the class periods plans for next year are being discussed additional topics Dr Gordon asked about the possibility of additional languages being offered EG Creole or a course in or Club Dr basille explained that the difference between creating a new curriculum and starting a club Dr Lieberman mentioned that need for Parental instructions and support in math using videos produced for parents and that's it for curriculum um with curriculum I must say we had a very productive meeting a lot was learned and a lot more is to be learned uh the videos for math for parents to be able to go on to the p uh PA Piscataway website and to be able to click a button to to see how to help your child do their homework because a lot of the parents do not understand the math that's being taught and unfortunately everyone's not able to get a tutor and even with a tutor you may need still need additional time so that would be great to have instructions online where parents would be able to assist their child um and Nancy brought up the the part about a therapeutic dog and like I explained to them we use those in courts for Force the children so when they're in court and they're talking and they're testifying and they're giving their true feelings they have the dog where they're with them it gives them Comfort but it allows them to say more and do more than they normally would do without getting anxious and worried and fiddling around they're able to talk they get relaxed and you get more information out of them um it's definitely something Nancy and I were really on board with like yeah we could see that happening and we have set some money so we to do a little research and and see some of the districts that are making it work and um maybe reach out and see logistically how they were able to do it with allergies and you know who how do you get the dogs and who's responsible and you know how often do they visit I'm thinking it's more of um dogs come and visit periodically not that someone's responsible for housing right you know a dog although I might volunteer um if that's the case um so but I do think it's something worth looking into because we can use it in so many different ways especially considering the needs emotionally of our students and then additionally offering the additional English classes for the students because we're learning that keeping them in that box and offering the same course over and over again everyone's not interested in it so let's give them something new which is what we are doing and giving them the opportunity to explore something they never would have considered going into or studying and I can tell you personally as a junior I his Junior who's going to be a senior and has had discussions with his English teacher and um strongly considering one of these new options for for an English class for next year so I think it's great that we're expanding not just saying these are for juniors and these are for seniors right so that um you know students have more variety to meet that fouryear English requirement yeah and not just the same typical cookie crter stuff that has is other districts too but again we're always ahead of the game so we're contining to do what we always do and that's the end of my report for curriculum next we have culture climate and community relations what about policy and legislative oh that would help too policy and legislative I like giving I'm Sorry Miss Brandon no problem uh the polic policy and legislative committee met on February 1st 2024 to discuss the policy updates on religion and schools videos or audio recordings in schools non-resident students and more proposed policies the committee approved for the first reading a proposed update to policy 2270 religion and schools incorporating recent guidance from the United States Department of Education proposed updates to policies 3324 and 4324 in including new language prohibiting audio or video recording of Staff or students except under certain conditions the committee added language requiring building administrators to publicize this prohibition to staff students and school communities updates to policy regulation and regulation uh 5111 eligibility of Resident and non-resident students to incorporate recent updates to relevant statutory and code Provisions the updated policy and legislation carry forward the exemptions for non-resident students in the current versions and the on the area of legislative Mr Rubin briefed at the committee on several legislative matters including how the new sick leave statute is being applied in practice and Senate Bill 1812 establishing new criteria a new CR criteria for determining whether a special needs child child qualifies for classification under the category specific learning disability and that concludes my report thank you Miss Smith uh next we have culture climate and community relations Miss Sado call yes um the culture climate and Community Relations Committee met on January the 16th 2024 to discuss um positive messaging Community Partnerships wellness and more under positive messaging the monthly themes quotes and Mar key images for December and January were shared and discussed including December's theme of generosity and giving and Marquee images for Muslim heritage month and Martin Luther King Day in January the committee discussed the possibility of sharing weekly quotes via social media uh School displays or and or School Communications in addition to the Marquees um Community Partnerships an update um was shared about the recent for recently formed partnership with Junior achievements um of New Jersey the PHS future Business Leaders of America the FBLA students are receiving training from Junior Achievement to engage in a high school Heroes day where they will visit the MLK and Arbor intermediate schools to teach students about financial literacy the committee will consider reaching out um to Malcolm Jenkins Foundation to inquire about community outreach efforts related to financial literacy the district um asked Jersey Caris about offering science presentations at Arbor um in the meantime the volunteers they they volunteered to engage fifth graders classes in at Arbor in Black History Month trivia activities in February the committee discussed ways to keep the outdoor libraries in King School that were made by Jersey car's volunteers um back in October to keep the their books stocked um a suggestion was also made to reach out to the Piscataway Boy Scouts um about building outdoor libraries at other schools Wellness Services the committee discussed the results of the school start time survey and the letter Dr relli shared with the school Community those who attended the Haven night um in November M shared details about the event the committee discussed its uh suggested revisions to the family night refer that were used as in the advertisement for the event and in new business the committee discussed the next steps for the district um to work with Dr Lindy Stevenson the lead researcher from District uh Equity audit in the coming months and she will be conducting focus groups and semi struct sem structured interviews with small groups of students families and staff um just as an aside um when when we were in the meeting what most people were um really getting engaged on and um discussing was um two things uh in the financial literacy piece um the culture and climate Community Relations Committee actually you know brought something up to the um the group The that that Junior Achievement thought hadn't thought about which is engaging both families and students in like a workshop about finances so um they thought they' never done anything like that um so they're going to be taking it back to their administrative side and you know taking our suggestion and seeing about that so we'll have more on that in the future um um Dr Gray was able to partner with um the libraries in town in order to be able to keep books stocked in the two um you know libraries uh small libraries that were made at the at Arbor um and I believe it was King was the other school yes King yeah so we we worked on that um but the committee also felt that we might look explore and expand around that so that other uh elementary schools and um intermediate schools might be able to have these small libraries as well so um in the future we're going to follow up with the um boys girl Boys and Girls Clubs of americaas to find out if they can um produce these little libraries for other um you know schools so there'll be a little more Equity uh across all of the uh um the playing fields so um that's pretty much my report I think it's it's great that you're uh you can you know considering reaching out to the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation who you know is promoting uh financial literacy at this time and making that connection seeings I was just here uh you know with that book signing so that'd be that'd be a great thing to do thank you next we have fiscal planning and operations Dr coners well the fiscal plannings and operations committee met last night um and to discuss the 2024 2025 budget um project assessments Food Services and more on the 2024 to 2025 budget the committee reviewed the uh 2425 preliminary budget draft information worksheet that are business administrator ad Ministry of liazon puts together every year and the committee discussed the proposed tax levy state aid and major expense categories so we discussed our source of Revenue and then we discussed our our expenses uh on the on the revenue an important date coming up is uh it's leap year February 29th but that's the date that the state will announce uh state aid figures so um keep your fingers crossed there that um unlike last year where we uh got a decrease that um we either stay the same or get an increase facility capital projects the district received notification of the award of 17 $7 7,487 in emerging funds to be applied to the piscato hco wood shop dust collection system project assessments Spiegel Architectural Group has provided a proposal to complete acoustical assessments for the uh PHS Anthony Jim and admin building multipur purpose room the cost is $13,900 Spiegel has provided a proposal to assess pascet high school media center remodel options to include an Esports gaming area their cost is 12,500 the PHS Woodshop dust collection system bid specifications will be available February 13th door hard door hardware project bid specifications are being finalized as people recall uh that uh we in our long range plan A lot of it has to do with um safety and this is a project that we're trying to go after and do the this door hardware project spel has provided a proposal to complete civil engineering work for Paving of the piscato High School Bus Loop to complete summer 2024 Paving bid specifications and the cost there 6,500 on our Energy savings Improvement uh program esip The esip seens Remains on track to complete the building management system upgrades in early April on Food Service uh the percentage of students eligible for for free or reduced lunched is similar to Prior year in the range of 35 to 38% there was discussion here because we also try to bring in any uh new legislation that has passed that could affect our district in terms of categories one in food service and there's one out there now where um the governor's passed a um it's going to be 224 above of the federal poverty level as the income for being eligible for uh uh like a free and reduced lunch and this is sponsored by the state so that's going to help in that category um uh the second bullet point here is that I discussed uh the criteria for forming an ad hoc committee for meal charging policy what this is about is that we passed a resolution in 2016 that no child should go hungry well covid hit uh the people were getting um meals the students getting meals just Department of Agriculture so people got used to having you know uh free meals The Narrative on that is that people in the community often ask why don't we have Universal free meals and but the truth of the matter is that it's very expensive and it's something that we really truly can't afford to do unless we get uh at the federal level money coming down in Universal uh uh uh free meal legislation so it's a complicated issue um and so uh you'll see a walk-in resolution under new business that I'll introduce we are forming an ad hoc committee we're calling it Food Services meal debt um uh committee and what we have to look at is there are couple of policies 8500 on food services and then there's another one I don't know the number but it's unpaid meal charges in that there are criteria for um when people aren't paying and what we do as a as as as a board and remember we don't want to shame anybody we this is all about just making sure that if people can pay in the curtain system that that we have a way to get and communicate to them um and so we're forming a committee so that the committee can look at the detailed information and make a proposal to the full board on what we do going forward because we're now now add about a quarter of a million dollars in in in unpaid meal charges and um it's not fair to everyone and so we want to make sure that we're doing the right thing but again we have a we have a resolution no one goes hungry the community don't don't be worried people get get fed we just want to make sure that we're doing you know the right thing here um The Advocate is a is a as a is an is a uh is an organization has become working with the District kind gathering information for Food Service management because um we're going to be it's the fifth year of sedexo so we're going to be doing uh requests for proposals um and the district will be switching from a f fixed price contract to a cost uh reimbursable contract New Jersey school business leg legisl um this is here I want to emphasize this is that um we now have uh the governor has uh recently announced and uh his intention to nominate a person named Kevin Demmer to serve as the next uh commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education and this is a big deal because um uh he this person has experienced uh he previously worked at the New Jersey Department of Education holding several leadership positions but including the assistant commissioner and Chief Financial Officer so I put my hat on as a the vice president for fin for the New Jersey School Board Association we now have a way to start talking talking to someone at the highest level about what's going on with state aid Etc and he has a financial background which is good um and then I discussed uh several bills that were signed in law by Governor Murphy and under consideration by the Senate and assembly education committee nothing really comes to mind David I mean that was really Earth shattering but uh um you know we stand on top of those things especially if they affect our transportation food anything like that the business office update the committee reviewed the current balance in the January 2024 NJ arm and that's not uh adjustable rate mortgage that stands for New Jersey there's a program called New Jersey asset and rebirth Management program uh we've been very very proactive and uh you you remember we vote on it voted on it and gave our business administrator we wrote a policy uh to take uh for example $15 million and invest it in this Asset Management program and it goes by basically current rates of these um and and we're doing pretty good um and I think so far since we've invested it through we've made about $465,000 on that 15 million so we're always looking for ways that you know like any like anybody has a budget that to bring money into the school system anywh we can and uh that was that's a great initiative uh by our business uh administrator business office um then we uh reviewed information on that uh the other thing that's still sitting out on the table is that uh in from the past uh you know we've had solar panels out there besides the ones that are in the Energy savings Improvement program and what how you make money there is that you actually keep track of like the solar panels have these Gat systems and they they conver kilowatt hours into what's known as uh sres or solar renable energy credits and so and so and then you sell them so that we've been and uh so we're selling some of the final last ones um because we're reaching the end of their 15-year qualification um in June of 2024 and then uh we reviewed a report of expiration dates for other District owned Sol solar panels so that's what the fiscal uh committe is up to and uh anybody has any questions just David can I'm sorry can I ask you one question David can you explain to me the difference between the fixed price contract and the cost reimbursable question contract same question uh with the um with the the food service contract um so a fixed price contract which uh a majority of the country uses so I'm told um is s in our case sedex pays us um or is able to charge us a per meal price um $3 so the the what they're able to charge us is $3 for every meal they serve and that's it cost reimbursable is they bill us the costs and we you know the it's the actual cost that they spend now how how is that different or why uh is one maybe better better than the other the fixed price contract and the example I used in the in the committee is let's say we were serving um you know just regular uh Deli meet and as a district D went and said we want to serve BS head meet sedexo could say no because they bid on the contract for X price for every single meal based on that lower level of meat deli meat okay so there's no mechanism for them to do what we wish and provide a higher quality meat cost reimbursable they say sure no problem because we're going to just pay the higher cost of the BS Head meat as opposed to the lower cost deli meat so that's the difference between and a simple example of the difference between the two so your fixed price would be fixed prices for each type of meal or for each student per meal served per meal served yeah and they I know that we have like premium meals and we have regular meals so what happens is is the premium meals are translated they their equivalent equivalence uh there's a conversion factor to make them just like a regular meal so to speak and then they charge us bit more the price for the regular meal okay I see okay okay so if I'm understanding right now uh many of us here have high schoolers um that the high schooler decides to eat uh extra big boy meal I I'm making that up but I don't know what it's called U extra big boy meal my child decides to get and so the district pays for the part of it that's not extra pays for the $3 part of it and then whatever's extra the parents paying for or how do that work so the meals there's two types of meals in the cafeteria right um the ones that meet the government requirements right and the reason that's important is is that in order for us to submit it to the government for them to reimburse for their portion portion Etc it has to meet those requirements both for health standards and even quality of food that's why you know you might think oh yeah fruit is great right well they say you can only have like half a cup of Fruit for it to qualify for that meal you can't put two cups of fruit because a kid loves strawberries and say Well they're strawberries they're they're healthy right no it doesn't qualify right okay so that's your your standard meal and uh a free and reduced child gets that meal they don't pay or they pay the reduced price and then students who don't qualify for free reduce can pay for that lunch and those are the lunch prices that we set and we advertise okay currently not pay 275 three and three and a quarter right then we have the uh really only at the high school level only at scho the allaha cart meals which is chicken tenders and fries which tastes great meet the federal government requirements we can't submit those to the federal government uh they can't be reimbursed um for because they don't comply right correct they do not comply um and you know state will come out from they have what they called administrative review schedule um and they come out and they monitor our cafeterias on an annual basis we're responsible for monitoring sedexo and the cafeteria and making sure they're serving you know the appropriate meals that's one of the things Advocate does for us um and in addition I go out to cafeterias from time to time um along with some of my staff and just observe and make sure that they're following the regulations so anyone who could follow that and is interested in this after we pass the resolution to talk with the board president if you want to be on that committee because this is the types of things that discussions we get into because it gets complicated and when ends up happening sometimes meals get don't get paid for and that's why we start to acrew these unpaid balances so it's very complicated but if you're interested please um I have one more question well I I just want to go one more thing about the fixed price cost reimbursal right so we used to be cost reimbursable and about five the last time we went out to bid five years ago we went to fix price um couple of reasons the state was really starting to clamp down cost reimbursable has a little bit more oversight involved okay and um the state was really trying to clamp down and I think they were pushing districts towards fixed price because so much of the rest of the country does it to be honest with you it's easier easier for them and also easier for us you know the statements are just much simpler to read um so we did that uh in that fiveyear period um I've been convinced that the state has relaxed their uh monitoring we still want to Monitor and make things sure things are done right but cost reimbursable two things one it should give the the Food Service management company more flexibility so um and we want certain meals yes and let's say there's a um when we had cost reimbursable previous I made a push for sedexo to get a better quality white muscle meat chicken meat and they were able to do that because we were just paying the cost uh we were under cost reimbursable at the time that's another example example of a flexibility that we have because I'm saying we're willing to pay that added cost to deliver a better product uh for the students um the other thing is what Advocate tells me is that we will get more active we have to go out for RFP this year that's why we're talking about this contract we will potentially get more biders interested in Piscataway you know whether we want to change or not I always believe it's good to look at all the options of people that are interested in working here so he gives us the best price and and service right um the cost reimbursable should solicit more proposals for us to consider fixed price there's a good chance that sedexo would be the only one that would bid and sedexo has improved their service the last couple years but it's always good to kind of keep your eyes open um just one question if we switch to the cost reimbursable will the cost per meal for the student not related it's a separate issue so there is a a resolution to raise the price of the student the price of the lunch for students that pay this does not impact free or reduced priced students they will continue to receive you know the reduced price or the free David when you say it'll we'll just pay more it'll in essence just reduces our what we get from them at the end of the year as our contract wh from from sedexo oh in a cost reimbursable well as part of their RFP proposal they will submit a a guarantee right that they will promise us we will return from the food service operation and the cost reimbursable contract the meal price goes the prices won't go up the meal price is set by the board right and the uh recommendation that's on the agenda is to increase lunch only not breakfast and that price has been the current prices we have have been the same for 12 years 12 years yeah we've had the same price for 12 years so how are we going to keep the price the same to the student but at the same time we're paying more no the price won't be the same to the student okay so it will go up sorry the the contract with let's say sedexo or whoever wins is not related to the price of the students the price to the student Isle based on what we have now and then there's a board resolution which is is recommending increasing the lunch prices to the students so that's separate from the contract which EXO or whomever a potential winner would be and that mostly affects a raise of the price of the current student lunch which has been raised in 12 years that mainly affects all the students in you know k through eight because they don't have as many much flexibility to get those extras that the high schoolers get right um I get what you're saying it would impact high schoolers but if your point is the high schoolers also have the option to buy the peninis that we're serving yes they have ability to drain my bank account is what that price increases and have access that's that also a separate issue so the the allart meal price is its own pricing mechanism right it doesn't have anything to do with with what we set the base price of so the B what we what we're proposing is the base price of what a regular standard what the government says you should have on a plate meal is correct okay I just want to know what we're what we're talking about thank you of course okay thank you right that's all for committee reports next on the agenda we have the approval Amendment Miss Rivers I'll be it resolved the following Mees be approved estimated second you have to read the part where you come down you haven't done it before so you'll read where it says reorganization meeting January 4th 2024 then that'll be voted on then you'll come down to the next one where it says business meeting January 11 2024 and executive session January 11 2024 then that'll be fed on as well okay let's start again okay there you go being resolved that the following minut be approved as submitted reorganization meeting January 4th 2024 yes all in favor I I any opposed and then the um business meeting January 11th 2024 and executive session January 11th 2024 motion motion have a second second motion second all in favor okay it's approve next we have FAL plan and operations Dr Pounders he resolved the the following motions identified as items a through F be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the role Mr King yes M rashed yes M Rivers yes Mrs Salado Cowen yes M Smith yes M Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Dr Conor yes M Cher yes motion's Carri policy Miss Smith be resolve that the following motion identified as item a be approved as presented second can you take a role Mr secretary M rashed yes Miss Rivers yes Mrs Salgado C yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Mr King yes Dr Connors yes m yes motion carries Mr King be resolved that the following motions identified as items a through F be approved as presented second take the RO Mr secretary M Rivers Mrs alado yes M Smith yes Miss Stafford yes mordino yes Mr King yes M rid yes Dr Connors yes M Cher yes motionful Services M Cino there we go there it is okay be it resolved that the following motions identifi this item a be approved as presented take secretary Mr s c yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Mr Kate yes M Rashid yes M Rivers yes Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes motion car administrative auxilary M dra be it resolved that the following motions identified as items a through D be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the M Smith yes M Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Mr King yes M Rashid yes M Rivers yes Mr Salado C yes Dr Connors yes Mr CH yes on the top of page 15 whereas the bcat way Township Bo resolv sorry be it resolved that the following motion identified as e be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the role Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes no yes to everyone but yourself yes to everyone but myself I need the Stafford M cordino um yes to everyone abstain uh yes cordino Mr King yes Mr Sheed yes I'm abstaining from s Rashid Mr Rivers uh yes abstaining from the rivers Mrs Salgado Cowen yes um staining from Nancy Salgado Cowan Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes abstaining from Miss Cherry thank you uh old business Dr con I've got a a couple of things F first I wanted to um I know Ana was at the uh new board member orientation sponsored by the New Jersey School Board Association and I just wanted to read something because you know hopefully people are watching this in our board meeting that it often appears that we vote on things and not have a lot of discussion but what we teach out in the new board member is that often times it appears years that members of our audience have we take action with very little comment in many cases it's a unanimous vote before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent schools the superintendent is satisfied with the matter is ready to presented to the board and S referred to the board committees members of the board committees work with Administration the superintendent to sure the members fully understand the matter and when the committee is satisf with the matter in other words gets put on the agenda so there's been a lot that goes on before we sit here and just say boom boom boom and I just want to let people know that um and the public the second thing is that you know as you can see my theme is training um you know uh and the next thing is that the New Jersey school boards offers is a board certification um I mean the more I'm involved in this the more I am thoroughly convinced you know from you know the past 20 years that effective governance does there's data that uh uh result in increased student achievement and so when we have effective governance we we serve the students much better um and therefore um our next session in board certification within new school boards is going to be student achievement they did a task force uh our field representative will come here uh after that session I put a link in that invite so remember it's Monday February 12th please take a look at that because um you know that after that session we'll be halfway to another board certification and it's always just really great to learn um and the other comment I wanted to make was about uh and we're in Old business we're in no business yet right that's old business we're in Old business I'll stop some business that's it okay anyone else in Old business Sarah um old business not um just more of a from the superintendent report um I know you mentioned AP courses and I know ninth graders are now choosing electives for next year um what is a good way or how is a good way for them to pickies because I think now is the time for eth graders you mean so you can't pick an academy if you're already in you can you can the best way to do it is through your counselor okay yep so that you can go in as a 10th grader the latest uh but the best way to do that is through your your high school guidance counselor anyone else with old business new business I know there's some time you're going to start off uh the or the secretary is going to pass out the resolution uh uh according to our policy 0155 on board committees paragraph three is that um in order to form a um an ad hoc committee we you need a resolution from the board of educ uh from the board members and then once we do it it's very similar to our board committees fiscal legislative policies the board president uh appoints people so so uh I'd like to make a motion to approve the formation of a ad hoc committee for the purpose of um of looking at our uh Food Service uh you know meal debt issue and and then making some recommendations I'll second can I have a Mr secretary all in favor okay that's approved to good and I'm happy to join that when you're taking the names but I can get the names between tonight and Monday I this is covered not a problem uh couple other things some advertisements is that um New Jersey school boards also you know has a delegate assembly and they have a big policy manual and the policies get changed by putting in resolutions if we as a board want to put in a resolution to the uh delegate assembly to add to their policy book which they use to Advocate our legislators uh we have to have it done by May 18th uh you know a lot of times we you know so if you feel strongly about a resolution something you know come to me later and I can tell you what that process is but we normally haven't done I don't think we've done in long time time um you know an example I'll give you an example like South planfield came to the delegate assembly and I'm and that's what remember at the beginning I I'm the representative to the delegate assembly Chantel is the alternate and Playfield had a resolution in it passes through various stages they have a very uh uh a lot of migration of students so in the end what ends up happening is that you know their graduation rates are affected because kids leave and are still on the books and they can't account for them and that's type of thing like a board of education would write a resolution about to the New Jersey school board so it becomes part of the policy so that that eventually you could change something about it that's that's an example of resolution uh the other thing is that middle sex County school boards um the uh next meeting uh is Wednesday March 6th um and this is going to be a uh the topic of that you and the the state officers get out to every um County meeting now and and the programs for this one's going to be teacher shortages just to you know to relate this to an example that happened tonight when uh our president and the uh the board but a chairman of the uh person of the curriculum mentioned about the Italian class this would be a good example of like a we we can't find Italian teacher that's why we don't have one is because there's a teacher shortage and and that would be the topic that's going on but it's it's even better because the person that we got to give this talk is the Senate education chairperson Senator Vin goal and he's key in in the legislature so don't miss the opportunity to hear from from him and how he's they're trying to address this issue of teacher shortages the uh other thing is that unsung hero um I'm going to be there anyway so um as one of the officers of New Jersey school boards so that's there that and uh that's it other than everybody heard about um uh you know the state officer of New Jersey school boards we got to go to Washington DC to be part of a national advocacy uh Institute to go to to uh you know uh visit with our New Jersey legislators and their staff and um and it was just one of the most exciting things I've done as a school board member in my 15 years to be able to go into um you know the uh the representatives uh buildings and the Senate buildings and sit and um and have talking points and and and have uh them listen to you about special education funding uh at the federal level about mental uh student mental health about uh School staff shortages about um you know Universal School meals was one of the topics and when everybody around the country is doing this with our legislator you know they hear it and then they go into the session and so it was one of the funnest things I've done uh I got my picture in a in a in a school whatever and I and I'm telling you with these staff I was using a lot of examples of Piscataway we're very proactive on the mental health issue are the government right now is they're modeling a program after Piscataway and the program is when we get with the Haven now they're trying to get 15 districts around around the state to work with universities to get the you know The Graduate students in Psychology to work with school districts in a win-win situation we did it 10 years ago and so I I'm just trying be proud of yourselves be proud of the district we come from and and we're telling everybody about it yeah I I do think with the teacher shortage and having the curriculum meeting and talking and having that that future teachers um you know talking about this club and the excitement right the students who are in it and really again down the pike having them come back and you know uh possibly work back in this District so I mean that is such a win-win um educationally for meeting teachers in the profession so if you can Inspire kids now and then want to come back and teach here that that's a good way to start solving um some of your staffing issues and your teaching issues and you know I did say to them too there's a there's a lot of of money out there for when you are going back uh into teaching especially if you're coming from the same area that you live in and there's a lot of bills that are being worked on to reimburse some of that tuition so it's we're again ahead of the curve and trying to solve our own problems everywhere in addition to that on Monday night while we're doing the research we will be addressing our board goals uh Dr Manelli will be emailing everyone or o a copy of the old goals um which are up on the wall what you can do is take a look at it and see if there's anything new we need to add add to it as far as verbage or things that we're doing or not doing but please bring your thoughts with you let's look at this and say okay where are we going next what do we want in writing what do we want to look at and say okay we're working on this and this is what we're going to achieve so we'll be working on that Monday night in addition to the two courses that Pat will be uh getting us recertified in you'll get those goals email tomorrow morning it'll be in word format so you could type right on there or print it out and write on it whatever you want um anyone else in any new business I say we just sit here and stare at each other I'd like to make a motion to close the meeting okay second all in favor we know we know that that is not a that is not new information for us a lot of nice job everyone