okay thank you um I apologize for the delay um quot session took a little longer than expected um we will move on to uh the next portion of our agenda which is special item a public comment agenda items only so this portion is for public comments on agenda items only first and foremost please remember that we aim to maintain a level of decorum in our board meetings we expect everyone to be kind and model the type of behavior that we are teaching our students each speaker should be courteous and direct comments to the board's president not individual board members and as per policy 1120 a participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comons by an announcement of his or her name residents and group affiliation if appliable and to maintain fairness each speaker will have three minutes to speak public comment is a time for the board to listen to the community and not to debate issues or enter a question and answer session so at this time I open it up for the public comments on agenda items only seeing that there are none we'll move on to reports we first have the superintendent report by Miss danah yes I have a bit of a lengthy one tonight hold on make sure this is okay um I want to provide an update on the progress of our school reconfiguration efforts I want to make sure people can hear me hold it um I had 15 teachers who volunteered to serve on the climate culture and Community Committee this community will play a vital role in preserving our cherish Traditions while also exploring opportunities to reimagine or establish new ones the committee is scheduled to meet next week to initiate discussions and I anticipate presenting some of their outcomes at a board meeting in late winter or early spring among their objectives are strategies to bring grade levels across the district together for events such as field days and the development of an Ori orientation program for students transitioning to a new building they will look at our beloved and wellestablished traditions like the clap Out programs like big buddies and safety patrol peer Pals and concerts all of the comments regarding these programs and traditions shared at board meetings or emails to me have been noted and recorded this is the committee that will take those concerns and help create a vibrant supportive Community for all students there is a lot of energy and excitement from this group and I'm confident they will bring innovative ideas to our school community the transportation committee is scheduled to convene on November 29th to debrief drop off procedures and look at drop off from the lens of reconfiguration internally we convene to discuss staggered start times and pickup procedures valuable input has been gathered from administrators teachers and our pair of professionals involved in drop off we will also bring these ideas to the transportation committee on November 29th for their feedback as a reminder that committee includes representatives from parents the bureau crossing guards and the police recognizing that change can be challenging our district mental health professionals have organized a series on change management the first session is scheduled for November 28th and more details will be shared in this Friday's newsletters parents are encouraged to attend with or without their children our school counselors social worker and psychologists will be available to provide valuable insight and support on the business office side our data coordinator has met with Genesis to streamline the process of transitioning students from one building to the next we will ensure that when principles need to organize classes for next school year all students are accurately placed in the appropriate school well in advance simultaneously our business office has initiated planning for the reassignment of Staff members between buildings this involves establishing a homeschool assignment for each staff member a crucial step for the audit purposes our aim is to complete this process well before the end of the school year creating a seamless transition for both students and staff as we progress I know communication is vitally important I'm going to start holding superintendent office hours on the first Monday of the month from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. where anyone can drop in informally and ask a question offer feedback um on our process I will host the first one in December and more information will be sent home about that too I want to report on an inspiring group that has formed at a Monclair College teach Asian-American stories mission is to ensure that Educators have access to the highest quality resources and training available so that all public school students in New Jersey grow up understanding that Asian-American and Pacific Islanders are part of the fabric of our nation and all aapi children know they matter and belong this group looks to empower districts and make it easier for educators to incorporate aapi history and contributions into their everyday lesson plans and I attended an event with Tony delusa um author of a book called The Invisible race um it was well worth the Friday afternoon drive to Montclair um I really enjoyed meeting him and hearing um from that author sponsored by this group on the agenda tonight you're approving Mr James and Mr Hensel to attend a teach Asian-American stories Workshop um on microaggressions next month I want to thank the professional development team for planning three days this fall of professional learning for staff the culture of the Riveredge School staff is very much one of lifelong learning our staff today is connected to the broader field of Education in many ways um this fall we spent time deeply engaged in studying how to ensure we include multiple perspectives in our curriculum we looked at our teaching of indigenous peoples and learned how to do that with honesty and accuracy in the most developmentally appropriate ways for elementary school students these past two PD days we looked at or the past one PD day on Election Day we looked at new standards in ela and math explored best practices and social studies um and spent time on our own social emotional Wellness as a staff I want to recognize this team Christine Moran nean Warner La Lauren pra Cara Quadra Chris Armen Elizabeth bovino Luchia Moran Caitlyn monori lindsy comr and Wendy Otis and I thank them immensely if you follow us on social media you saw all of the incredible ways our students celebrated Veterans Day I want to give a special thank you to Mr Ray Stitz and Mr Peter Marian from the VFW in the American Legion who included our students in the townwide celebration um I'm definitely already looking forward to next year finally our class three officers have been outside at recess every day and today they came to us with some suggestions of how we can make environment safer one of the suggestions was to create a map of designated spots for each adult adult to stand um and we uh decided we we could use some more people um and so we are advertising for lunch aids to add to our staff and that position is posted we are looking for people who want to work during lunch from 11:00 to 1 and we are hoping there are some community members who may hear this and apply you can find that posting underemployment on our website you can also call my office and my assistant Wendy can guide anyone through through that process of applying can I ask a question any questions from board members or comments Yeah question Miss sure um so thank you for the updates on reconfiguration I was just wondering if this information has been uploaded to the reconfiguration page uh on our website so what do board members think about that in my mind that reconfiguration page was really to keep people updated on the process of reconfiguration I was planning on sending this as a communication to um the community um so as a communication but I can link that on the page as well if you think that would be helpful perhaps maybe we um just put it as communication from superintendent I know there's been a few in the past um if we just kind of put it as communication from the superintendent in one place then I think if it's relevant to reconfiguration as opposed to you right having you repost multiple things um I think that would be for for community members who might not receive your Communications because I think that would go to families so I think that's for The Wider community so understanding so on the reconfiguration page put like a communication and then whatever communication she sends about Miss sends about reconfiguration you can find it there right so yeah okay great thank you very much for the update and reconfiguration um I didn't catch the name of the committee that is going to oversee big buddies clap out I just want to I was I didn't hear the name of that committee I think we're calling it like the climate and culture and Community Committee yeah is there a a PR firm resource that can help us with communication to the community and make sure it's it's as effective as possible we have used one briefly in the past um it does come at a cost and so um I think I think that I feel like I I I feel like they I'm not I don't know I'm not I'm not sure not really I'm not sure I was that happy with them so yeah so there are companies out there that specifically cater to school districts um and there are a few at actually at the workshop that um that are always there they host uh workshops during the year I think for a large District often times there is a communication director or or a PR person or the budget to support that in a small District like ours it's it becomes a you know she wears that hat along with Wendy I know you do a lot of the social media posts um so it's a lot of the inhouse so I know we've uh consulted with them in the past for things um that they could help us with but it does come at a cost so um I guess the question is do we want to budget for that as a the board I do belong to the New Jersey Association of school PR professionals which are people who in larger districts that's their whole job um the in small districts It's usually the superintendent so there's a lot of superintendents that belong to that too um and I did go to their National Conference last year so they're a good resource for me too with communication okay just want to make sure you're get all the help you you you need in order for the you know Community or stakeholders are on board thank you I think if we can update the website excuse me reg on a regular basis that will go a long way right questions or comments yeah I think that's what we discussed last time that you know we need to have based on the timeline you posted previously we need to have like a monthly update on you know this is what we have accomplished so far um this is a goal for next month or you know what are the Committees are meeting if it's in journal or if it's uh um any of the board committees yeah um thank you for the update um just going back to the the Monclair session that you went to about teaching Asian um history so do they provide resources workshops for teachers to attend they do and how to incorporate that in our curriculum they do the one that I attended was free so that was nice um the one that um Mr hunel Mr James is very nominal so on the agenda um they are trying to get funding so that they you know they do understand that school budgets are limited um I did have a call with somebody about PD offerings and so um that's something they're kind of looking into I kind of told them like you know sort of where our opportunities would be like we have a half day in February um looking at maybe having something over the summer for teachers so um they're going to come back to me with some ideas and proposals um with prices and and see what those that entails because I was thinking about um perhaps you know setting aside time for teachers to actually do some of that curriculum work um oftentimes it happens in a summer um but I know the law passed it's been over a year and I know that I don't I can't recall if there has been time or focus on that so if we can and we can put it to curriculum committee for a future discussion but if that could be a focus um for the upcoming year in terms of budget and plan yes there has been work so putting on a curriculum committee agenda is a good idea and then we can update the curriculum committee on what's been done okay thank you um I had a similar question also since it's a law I mean if it's done through the curriculum committee is there any guidance from the state on what should be included because it's a vast Community right yeah there is there is guidance on the state in the state um from the state this particular group is realizing that teachers need more than just that guidance they need something like practical which is why why they formed um so um they're really doing some really good and interesting work because they they you know they're professors of education so they know very well what teachers need so they're trying to curate resources and get them into the hands of teachers and so their website's pretty um you know it's it's pretty good and I think they're just going to add to it so that is their mission is to say like here's some resources but we've done a lot of work with those resources too um so we have started that based on the Mandate um it's definitely something that we prioritize okay any other questions or comments thank you uh moving on to the principal report Mr Hensel is here tonight good good evening everyone tight better it's like an echo um so I'm back um I'm standing in for Miss heightman as you know and I wrote a report to give tonight and then though behold an email comes through from Denise she says I wrote a report for you so I think those of us that know Denise were not surprised so I said I would read hers so um if you hear eyes they are in Denise's Voice or bes his voice so um the staff had a very good that's a really bad Echo very bad Echo um maybe put it on your tie instead I think it's just it's like rubbing on your yeah better a little bit is it possible to decrease the volume a little bit or don't I think it's just echoing because it's loud I maybe now it's better that I'm kind of like past that speaker all right so thank thank you um for for Mish hyping here so the staff had a very good professional development day on November 7th staff were actively engaged and especially like the wellness activities in the afternoon sixth graders in both schools helped out with the Veterans Day breakfast as hosts and servers Cherry Hill had fourth grade students make special bracelets for our community guests The Children and Families enjoyed the breakfast all of the fifth and sixth grade students walks Memorial Park to enjoy the Veterans Day ceremony they participated with the Roosevelt School students Patty McGee has visited visit Ed our fifth and sixth grade teachers she's modeling Ela lessons for our teachers and students uh this has been a positive experience we are scheduling fourth grade theater lessons as well as third grade dance lessons with mayo Performing Arts the second grade teachers and students were involved in the community fair today guests rotated around the classrooms to share their expertise with the students um Miss Hyman hopes all of our Cherry Hill School families and Rosevelt families are getting ready for Thanksgiving next week enjoy this time with your family and most importantly she says she is feeling much better and hopes to be back on December 4th so that's from Miss Hy thank you any questions or comments from for members I think I speak for all of us that we want to wish Miss hman well and we cannot wait for her to return okay moving on to cour secretary report Miss Nalan thank you uh one of the items on the agenda A1 is the approval of the Region 5 agreement meaning that we are um each year we reaffirm our uh participation in region five as do all the other member districts so I just wanted to let you know what that was um pack the pickup is our Thanksgiving food drive we did this for the holidays also but for Thanksgiving this year we're doing pack the pickup it's going to be November 16th and 17th at the Cherry Hill School in the front you see the pick pickup truck is already parked out front there'll be um music outside and apple cider and people will bring uh gifts for the local food uh gifts food and frozen turkeys or shoppr gift cards for um the local food pantry on November 20th and 21st the pickup truck will be in front of Roosevelt School so I just wanted to let everybody know about that um I just wanted to uh briefly go over the cops grant that we had applied for and we were awarded um the cops Grant is a grant given out by the Department of Justice um there was 206 recipients in the United States there was three schools in the state of New Jersey and we were very proud to say that River Edge is one of them um the total approved projects was for over $430,000 um so the grant will cover about approximately $323,000 worth of those projects and River Edge portion would be 107,000 um the items that will be covered under the grant are access controls which are upgrading our doors uh window film over the um parts of the school that are exposed vide video surveillance cameras and radios for the administrators and staff um including um the grant award is in there because they can they the grant writer can continue to help us for a nominal fee but that is already covered within the grant it's uh $1,500 a year but that's covered within the grant itself also um so I just wanted to share that information with you this evening I think Mr Langley will be sharing more of what we've been doing in finance and Facilities uh committee meeting thank you any questions or comments from board members okay um moving on to one question is there a timeline on when to use that grand by years three years okay I I I knew there was some kind of expire exp three years we're planning on doing it though as quickly as possible okay and the way it would work is we would purchase the items and then we would get reimbursed um for you put in for reimbursement as you spend the money okay so looking for our own vendors we we go through our own vendors as opposed to recomend well you have to follow Federal um procurement laws so yes but we do we do have a plan and that was part of the grant um when we applied for it God and we also I I don't want to forget what you were saying last week or two weeks ago is that we had the support of the community we didn't get the grant alone we got the grant with Riveredge uh the burough of R Riveredge and the mayor uh the wreck department the shade tree the police um there was many other the library uh alphabet there was many participants in supporting us to get the grant that wrote letters uh recommending us for the grant um I think um just witnessing like how many different parts of our community we needed support from and getting support from them showed how important it is for our school district to be um having those relationships with all of the different stakeholders so I thank you Miss Dan and N Tano for doing that and taking the time to do that not just for this particular grp but just in overall um because I know those were just the byproducts of your relationship that you already had with them um and they were very happy to support us in any way that they could in terms of um whether it's to write a letter of support I Know Chief Walker had many meetings with the grant writer um and along with you as to how how our schools work with the police department and the municipality so thank you uh just I did share with Chief Walker that the um grant writer said and he does this all over the country um and he said he has never seen um a school district have as strong of a relationship with their local law enforcement that we have um and so I told Chief Walker I mean that's a testament um to things that I've gone on long before you know I have been in the superintendency but literally Decades of that relationship building um that he was really impressed um and noted that to us so um it was that was helped us get the grant yeah any other questions or comments okay um moving on to the president's report um so I just want to say congrat I know it's unofficial not official till the day after Thanksgiving but um congratulations to Miss Brown Mr Cohen and M delandro for uh the election and we're looking forward to to um the new board in January thank you Mr Solomon thank you Mr kakos Mr Fus and uh Miss lanyan for running I know it's it's it takes a huge commitment um to volunteer to run on um for a seat like that so I just want to say thank you um Miss napalitano and her office will reach out to the new board members on fingerprinting um I also want to mention that on the 20 um I wrote it down oh on the November 29th um during the day there's a webinar for new board members um called three Rs roles responsibilities and resources um it's actually for new board members but also a refresher for not so new board members if you would like um about generally our roles and responsibilities um but they're also having the session uh in person at the next Bergen County school board meeting so if that's not at a time that works for um anyone you could attend the December 5th uh Bergen County Schoolboard meeting right here at the High um Hackensack High School um that session I believe is starting at 5:30 um so anyone that wants to register can contact Mr paano to do so um I also want to encourage all board members to attend the meeting whether virtual or um in person they are actually going to discuss school district uh PR planning and managing effective Communications that's the topic for the night um so if you are going to go in person um they provide dinner at 6 if you're joining virtually it's at 6:45 so um I think it's just a great way to be connected to our County um and get updates from um njsba but also any legal updates that we can get from Statewide and updates from um our um interm executive County superintendent um so that's it for my report any questions uh moving on to committees uh we'll start with finance and Facilities I know Mr Langley has prepared three quick slides I feel like I should have gone back before you then that's all right whatever you all right so this is all the reconfiguration stuff we talked about um some of these we went over already in Prior reports Frontline position control changes that's the movement of teachers in the system um we anticipate moves for tenard staff to be on a BOE agenda in February um Genesis student moves that's the process of moving all the students in Genesis um we're going to meet with them to review the best process for that um and we can also use address data to help anticipate um movement um transportation Transportation um budget account changes um some of the account names are going to have to be Chang in the budget um that's kind of a minor item but it's something we talked about um transportation students currently receiving busing to Newbridge Center will have to be split between Roseville and Cherry Hill we do not anticipate any additional buses or expenses for that um the current bus will just make two stops um for facilities classrooms to self-contained classrooms three of them will be moving from uh Newbridge Center to Roosevelt we only anticipate one room needing any kind of renovation and that is for replacement of bathroom fixtures um not even any kind of renovation just the fixtures in the bathroom nothing else um and then as far as alphabest goes um there has been a meeting with them they will present um any proposed changes to the full board in February as well we can go to the next slide uh the cops Grant was covered all this grade stuff we're going to get the total spend is about $430,000 that split 7525 um between the Grant and the district um so that's a good chunk of money um we talked a little bit about the tech technology budget for next year we're going to look at that against the fiveyear plan and assess needs by grade level to see what definitely needs to be in and out for that um budget calendar will be on the agenda in December that's a preliminary calendar right like don't we don't have the date um the dates on the governor's address yet or when the budget software will be out so we don't have official dates we can calculate based on past gotcha okay and then uh we had talked last time about policy review for facilities um using our facilities and we'll look at those at the next meeting and then I have one other slide these are all of the grants that we have applied for and received in the last three years um that's a lot of Grants and as you can see the total of the bottom is 3.1 million um which is quite a lot of money for a district this size I think any other any questions or comments from board members about the finance and Facilities committee report just a question on alphab best is what do you mean changes to or in anything regarding reconfiguration because the student populations are going to be changing at the different schools so I guess space resources if those need to change yeah we asked them to come up with a plan to present to the full board on how they will accommodate all of the K3 students here and how they will um accommodate families who may have two different pickups so they're thinking about that um and they're going to come you know with any recommendations of space they might need for us from us um staff ratios uh projected numbers of enrollment um and how they could accommodate families that might have two pickups okay thanks um I just wanted to say thank you for the reconfiguration segment and just uh ask to all of my other board members from the community uh for their committees this is just a great format and I think it's really transparent and it just holds us accountable and it's um I think it's something that um for those in the community asking for transparency can really grasp and appreciate so thank you very much for kicking that off finance and Facilities no problem um Miss napalitano can and these are a lot of grants that we've received in the last three years can you um just explain a little bit about the process are these things that are automatically given to us do we have to apply for it um sure actually um some of them are available um some districts do apply for them some um don't it there is a lot of work not only in doing the application process the maintenance process and the um bookkeeping process of um applying for reimbursement the tree Grant was um a very short window um and we we saw the opportunity and so we were I think one of three Bergen County districts two two only 2K through 12 that got that and we actually did that in conjunction um M danah reached out to the Shay Tre commission who worked with us and is continuing to work with us on this grant so um it's not just applying for a grant but it's giving all the background uh needed and all the documents um that are necessary uploading them so it is quite a lot of work um the cops Grant as I said we worked on that we worked on that week weekly we had weekly meetings for um since last January um before we um finished the Grant and submitted it and were able to obtain it um the car's Grant was something we got that was prior to covid um FEMA was a grant that we got um for monies for time in the building um many districts did not get the FEMA money because during covid they closed the building down our custodial staff and some of our office staff was still here in the building and because of that we were able to get uh FEMA money for keeping the building running um erate money is money for technology for wiring um that's available each year that's based on your free and reduced lunch um uh the Carissa Esser 2 um and the ARP Esser those were both funding sources that um were available to school districts um right after covid um the uses of them were for various items like um upgrading your um putting in air purifiers upgrading we uh upgrading your univ ventilators um different things in the building as time went on um a lot of those supplies weren't available um to up do upgrades and then you were able to amend your Grant so a lot of those monies that we spent did our upgraded our technology so we were very fortunate that we had extra money and that's how we did um all the access points in the building and all the wiring so we were able to go back in and amend the Grant and use it for that so we had connectivity in the building the climate awareness Grant was one that um Mr worked very hard on um that was $6,600 um and that turned key to our students to learn more about climate change uh the SDA emerging Grant will is money is going towards the boilers Alyssa's law was the grant that's the um Panic alarm that we have so that we can set off an alarm and the building shuts down uh the high impact tutoring Grant is something that we just spoke about um we're going to put out an RFP to have a tutor come in um and that was a grant that um Mr Warner also worked on and Miss Moran and we worked in conjunction with orell um on that Grant um the rod Grant is the one for the boilers um we were just awarded that we're waiting for our final letter um and that's 40% of the total cost so um that's a million too offset um for $3 million project of two boilers and um roof repair just so I mean it doesn't I think it needs to be said just so everyone's clear in the community that that impressive number of three plus million dollars isn't it's it's intentional everything has to be used for what it's for we didn't just get $3 million of free money that's correct it has to be intentional it has to be written it has to be accepted and awarded um it's it's not an easy process um these are it's being a grant writer it can be a full-time job um in some schools that that's just a full-time position because it is it has to be intentional it's been written um with the correct essence of the law um they send it back you send it back in again so it's every day you never know you know and just so to explain to everyone what happens if you don't utilize all those monies for that specific that intended purpose of the grant so some of the grants like I explained the r s are in the pra we were able to amend them and rework the purpose of we what we needed then instead of because that was three years ago or two years ago right so our our needs changed um there is on the table some monies that districts have still out there that they weren't that they did not use um and I think that's uh public knowledge that some um districts were not able to use All the Monies that were available whether it was because of supply and demand chain or be able to get items in so just to add on too because I think I I think what you're asking is um some of this grant money like the cops Grant and the tree Grant like we have to spend the money and then we get reimbursed so um so we wouldn't get the money if we didn't spend the money thank you um some of the like our besser and Carissa we're accountable it's the same thing we have to so so we have to submit to them what we spent and then we get the money I just don't want the community to think that we're holding on to money no no that money is not in our hands that money is available to you you have to use it in the right intent spend it and then every month we go in and ask for reimbursement obviously you couldn't afford to float that much money and not have it come back in so and you have to spend it in with the proper purchasing procedures and follow all the rules of how to purchase so it's not just the work of writing and getting the grant you then have to follow up regularly and make sure that you're documenting appropriately and giving reimbursed that's correct and they're very especially with the like the arester and the chissa from the county office I mean they it has to exactly match what we said we were going to use it for um and if we submit something and it they don't think it quite does they send it back with explanation um and that does happen then we have to explain ourselves and make it clear and give her the documentation or we have to adjust what we're spending it for because they they won't approve it um and so there's it's it's a lot of back and forth so there's a lot of accountability with with grant money um and it isn't just like you get a blank check one last question so I know you said in other districts there's grant writers it's like a full-time job so in our district who does the work um myself Mrs danahe uh Mr Warner um Mrs Moran thank you than you any other questions or comments I wish I had a slide to show I will be prepared next time um so curriculum and instruction met on October 31st um we we had a couple things on our agenda one was continuing our conversation about World Language curriculum um miss stanah and miss Moran had updated the committee about their conversations with Riverdale and ell um so what we learned was that in Riverdale right now in middle school they um offer French and Spanish high schools offers Italian French Spanish Mandarin and German um and so we thought about what is our Focus as a district a k to6 District what's mandated um and a lot of the conversation went from um looking at it through a lens of cultural immersion versus language M Mastery um we don't expect our students and the state doesn't expect our students to have Mastery if anything I think it's like novice there's like tiers of levels of where they expect students to be um but perhaps we can use the opportunity to explore and expose our students of many different languages um and then we started discussing what would that look like um Miss Crow had a great idea of um trying to incorporate it in Library community time um as one way to you know bring about different languages as opposed to thinking of it as just one subject or one language or additional language that they're learning about um Miss Dan also shared a little bit of different ways other districts dists are teaching the language for example um there's a district in Central Jersey where the Spanish teacher pushes into the classroom for 15 minutes a day every day as opposed to having like a 30 40 minute week block um as a way to reinforce that conversational Spanish and introduction um instead of doing just one weekly so um the conversation's ongoing um I think Miss Moran and Miss Danny will have some sort of vision for our district and then from there we can move on to what is it that we're looking for in terms of personnel um and where we want it to go uh one specific thing that I um Miss Moran did mention is um she doesn't recommend distance learning or online platforms as a way to teach the language um so that was a question I had that she had brought up so I'm glad she mentioned that um and so it's an ongoing discussion um I think it's on our agenda for the next meeting that we're having I believe November 21st so um we'll keep updating the board as as more of it comes to a fruition um the other big topic we talked about was reconfiguration in terms of um so i' asked Miss Den to look at perhaps keeping the third graders at Roosevelt for one year and sixth graders at Cherry Hill next year for one year to minimize the transition those two groups of students would have to have um so specifically in curriculum and instruction we looked at it through the curriculum and instruction lens Miss Maran and Mr Warner um shared some challenges um in terms of curriculum for doing that um particularly just programming and the Staffing for example like band you know if we have sixth graders here um you know and and the rest of the students are at Roosevelt how would we figure out where these students will go for banned do we have to bust them to Roosevelt um same thing with like ESL intervention interventionists um the idea was to minimize travel of our staff um and so this would not be I guess ideal in that way so I think as more conversation went on the it became more of a it's a two-year transition and so a lot of the things that we're hoping for in reconfiguration would have to wait one more year um in terms of like Transforming Our steam labs and our library it would have to wait to fully transform them until it's fully reconfigured um one of the big things that came up was um Dr jaffy was sharing that it would be a huge challenge for our students in Building Bridges building connection and building Pathways I believe mainly because those are three classes are moving the the fourth through sixth graders are going to move to Roosevelt however if the sixth grade um Cherry Hill students stay here their peers are not moving with them to Roosevelt so that's a huge consideration to think about when um keeping students here um for sixth grade so um and then for possible topics to be discussed at our next meeting um field trips and opportunities for inclusion for our building bridges building connections and building pathway students continuing the conversation of World Language and the vision for it in rived um and then having a followup from our njsla report um and how the PLC professional Learning Community how those are contributing to to help raise the achievement of our students particularly in El and math and then in those groups where we saw some gaps um at the last report that Mr Warner shared with us so any questions yeah so just to get a straight Dr Jeff recommended fourth fifth and sixth Building Bridges all those programs not to move over to Roosevelt and stay at stay at no um NBC no he would he would he would want those students to move right however they would ha they would kind of have to move and and here's why um because the children in those programs mainstream so the fourth and fifth grade would need classes to mainstream too and so they would have to be there the challenge is that you have sixth graders who have friends here and now you're taking some of our most vulnerable children and putting them in a school where their friends are not their friends from their mainstream classes are not and so that's really the biggest challenge to this is is those children um in those classes the sixth graders is that clear that's a l clearer okay so for curriculum purposes do we have do we have in place anything that I mean now that they're going to be in a less restrictive Paradigm are we going to have programs surrounding instead of just saying here here's your peers you know how are we utilizing Community time now are we is it is it being because from what I hear it's you know mainstream class has Community time at at um 3 o'clock or you know 1:00 whereas the actual you know um Building Bridges class has Community time at 10:00 and they can't they can't sync up so it's becoming ineffective Community time now when you have that in when you don't have that matchup the community time becomes worthless number one and number two now you're you're you're no longer making them ready for a transition like this right because the community time is is off are we addressing that curriculum wise or you know are are we doing reverse inclusion because the world is becoming more inclusive where special education children are are are I mean I should say special education I should say children with special needs or adults with special needs are now in the workforce um a lot more a lot more than before do we have programs where I think one teacher called it reverse inclusion where where there's uh mainstream children being exposed to the nuances of a potential special needs child right so that they can be acclimated and you know as they as they grow they're familiar right is that something that we're addressing at this point oh a huge um gain in reconfiguration is to take our self-contained classes and bring them more into the fabric of our communities because right now or we we have begun to do this this year at Cherry Hill and take them out but historically they were in Newbridge Center um all of them were here and they were not into integrated um enough into the full community another challenge that you bring up is a is a big one is that sometimes our children that are mainstreaming because of their programs and services our children in our self-contained classes because of the programs and services um really Drive their educational program for example their Community times might not be synced up where it may be a appropriate in a child's IEP for them to mainstream into a community time but the way the schedule is the community time is not at a time where that child can access that program so one of the big gains with reconfiguration is syncing up our schedules better right so that that doesn't happen so when we put all of our fourth fifth and sixth grade together we can sync up our schedules and hopefully that doesn't happen so when we when they go over there all of their programs and services are following them so they're they're not losing anything they OT their PT their speech all of that is following them all of the classroom configurations that they need in terms of their individual workspaces that's all following them um to prepare them for that um again the children who are going to be in fourth and fifth grade need no preparation their friends are all going with them um it's those sixth graders so if the decision is that sixth grade stays at Cherry Hill and our sixth grade building connections Building Bridges and building pathways are moving to Roosevelt we will have to do a lot of work with them and it isn't going to be easy for those children because they have friends that they've made for all of these years in their main when they mainstream those children in sixth grade would be staying here it isn't possible for us to keep our building bridges building Pathways and building connections children here you can't keep two children from one class three children from another class like we have to bring them with us and we can't keep all of them here because then there's nowhere for the fourth and fifth graders to mainstream too and then you have the same problem with them that their friends are all gone anyway right so um that is a challenge it's a challenge can we just make Community time one time time for everybody I mean that's goal that is our goal with reconfiguration that's the goal good and believe the teachers want that too you know the teachers want a consistent Community time um that it's either at the beginning of the day the middle of the day the end of the day that we can make that consistent but that's um that is definitely a concern um what do we think the time frame is for making a definite decision on yes or no so um we will have to make a decision by February okay because I I do we would like to have the board vote on moving the tenur staff in February to allow our business office to start to transition those people um you know start to move them reassign their schools like we talked at Finance facilities so um that decision will have to be made you know I would say um you know by the February board meeting so the board can vote on the tenard staff and where they're going gotcha so I have a question on the W language issue you mentioned that we had meeting I mean the committee had a meeting and then there's a follow-up meeting coming up right so is that going to give a direction of you know where the school dist School District want to go in the future and that's how the plan is going to be yeah so I think in a future um I'm not sure if you will be ready by because we do have one scheduled next week um on the 21st um but I think the goal was to have a vision for River Edge so that by I think it was February we know exactly what type of position we are going out for whether it's just someone with a World Language background um or specific language um or it could also be um you know there was also discussion with thean and Dr elbow about possible like opportunities in the future for sharing Personnel in certain cases it's just it's very tricky because the high school definitely needs and they're also um feeling the need of keeping their their well language um teacher so I think there's just different options right now so I think it's still in conversation but we have to think of it also as for future needs um knowing the teacher shortage knowing that there aren't many people going to get these certifications um there just aren't many teachers out there that are um certified to teach World Language so what does that mean for our district um and I know we're not the only ones going through this so um so I hope we're hoping that once we have a clear vision of World Language then we can kind of go out for I not kind of we will go out for have a clear idea of what personnel to hire I think we're looking for something we can sustain right um because we had a wonderful Spanish teacher for you know two years and then she relocated so and then so you know that could happen at any given time so how do we build a program that we can sustain um my administrators and I go to all of uh all over New Jersey to job fairs we travel down to tcj for job fairs we go to Rowan for their job fair um we go to uh you know Montclair Drew University we go to all of those job fairs in the hopes of um finding people really early and the colleges tend to have their job pairs in March um that's when they kind of start so we want to definitely know what we're looking for so when we go to those job fairs we can actively um recruit there and try and find somebody um before anybody else buring County gets them so I like the idea of collaborating with the middle school and the high school because you know you're sending the kids over there so if it's you know aligned that would work better for them um unrelated topic you know just because you mentioned about the collaboration um not now at least in the future if there's anything could be done to have the sixth graders better prepared to be ready for mle middle school cuz uh I mean I know from you know my own personal experience it's a shocker first week second week third week you know because uh um you know they have period based costs everything is different and I spoke to a lot of parents of kids who just moved to you know Middle School right so if anything Elementary School will do so that you know at least towards the second semester get them used to that middle school style or whatever it is so that you know they they don't they don't go through that hug huge transition phase where they are kind of lost and you know it takes some time to like uh I mean it's all of a sudden they are becoming adults and the responsibility falls on them everything so that would be a great you know idea if you could do that so I can just answer one thing and it does go along with curriculum um and reconfiguration is that for sixth grade to teach um one subject all day like they do in middle school so um you need to have a subject area specialization and some of our sixth grade teachers have have it so we have some sixth grade teachers that have a math uh subject area specialization meaning they can teach math all day long um and we have others that have Ela so we are hoping with reconfiguration to have our Middle School become more departmentalized so children do start switching classes and we can bridge that Gap I agree with you I think the gap between our sixth grade and seventh grade is huge and I would like to close that I love that we have our sixth graders here we keep them here another year um and have that you know that nurturing environment but I I do firmly believe that we need to close that Gap that we need to start to make our sixth grade um resemble a little bit more of a Middle School sixth grade is a middle school year um there most towns it is Middle School right again I love that we have them here um but I think we have to bridge that Gap um and so I am talking to some teachers that I know have um strong uh affinity and uh expertise and things like social studies saying like all you need to do is take the test and then you can teach social studies um and so I do have teachers that are interested in doing that um and I've said that um you know the board would pay the the practice fee so I am really trying to encourage our teachers to do that and get their subject area specialization it's a nominal fee that the board can pay for them to take the test so um I do have teachers interested in that going forward when you have vacancies then in sixth grade you can go out and hire for a sixth grade science teacher or you can actually put that um as a requirements so right now we just look to hire Elementary teachers if we find a middle school teacher with subject area specialization it's very attractive to us um but we've never really advertised that where we're looking for specifically a science teacher or a math teacher Ela teacher so that is definitely an area that I want to grow and so um we do have some teachers that have that and we'll be able to departmentalize uh more in sixth grade any other questions or comments okay um moving on to motions to be acted upon can I get a motion for A1 I move to approve item A1 as stated second any questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss Crespo yes Mr kirakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes Mrs Kang yes can I get a motion for A2 move to approve A2 approval of Hib second questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss Crespo yes Mr kirakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes Miss Kang yes can I get a motion for B1 move to approve B1 EST stated it second any questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Mr Crespo yes Mr kakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes Miss K can I get a motion for D1 through three Mo to approve D1 through D through three as stated any questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss Crespo yes Mr kirakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes and Miss Kang can I get a motion for E1 through four any questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss Crespo yes Mr kirakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes Miss Kang yes um can I get a motion for G1 through three a motion to approve items G1 through three as stated second any questions or comments roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss Crespo yes Mr kirakos yes Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes yes Miss Kang yes is there any old or new business that the board wishes to bring up just a question on that HIV um overview for the parents I know there was a communication that it's it's in the process it's coming soon yes we chose a date it's in January okay um so I'll start um advertising for that in December but then make sure people are reminded in January um I don't have the exact date on me but um Mr fery and uh Dr Alor and I did deci side on a date so and it will be at um the Riverdale Middle School auditorium okay be open to all River Edge and riverdell families all River Edge and riverdell families yes thank you um and I really do strongly encourage parents to attend even if you've never been through the process um you know it's just something parents should hear what that law is um and have some clarification on it because it's very specific it's a very specific specific law thank you any other older new business at the board wish should up uh we will move on to the second portion of our public comment time so again first and foremost please remember that we aim to maintain a level of decorum in our board meetings we expect everyone to be kind and model the type of behavior that we are teaching our students each speakers should be courteous and direct comments to the board president not individual board members and as per policy 1120 a participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his or her name residence and group affiliation if equable and to maintain fairness each speaker will have three minutes to speak and we also request that comments related to individual student matters be directed to the child's teacher principal or superintendent as not all issues especially once involving individual children can be addressed publicly in board meetings public common is a time for the board to listen to the commune and not to debate issues or Ender question question and answer session if a matter needs to be addressed further the superintendent will follow up with you after the meeting so at this time I open up to the public I just want to take a moment thank to was a pleasure Brown are not final we wait see if they are look forward toab I'd like to address that with you if that's okay um so we are a walking District um no school is more than two miles if someone um asks we will walk it but at this point there is probably um in our estimation no student that would qualify for transportation but we would gladly uh walk it if that happens um alternately we are a walking District but because we are ascending District we already provide Aid and L for those non-public students um that have that go to a montau or another um a non-public uh school that would be eligible for transportation so that cost is already um being absorbed by the district sure it would have to be walking from there is not there is not a house that we know of that I mean we we will walk it when we find out um it's door to door and so glur not now correct I be mil so we will look at that when we get there at this point we're not there we've I've talked to the middle school and the high school in regards to which is the furthest house away and we're not aware of anyone but we would be gladly walk that and and um look at that then we do River Edge um does own a bus a small bus um that could be used for such Transportation um many other districts have small buses that do that so if it came up we could we could accommodate those students but I said at this point I would have to wait until we actually walked it to make sure yes you actually like a surveyor you take that walking that walking wheel stick and you walk from one door to the door of the school you don't Google you don't no so it's it's as you walk um I've done it in other districts my colleagues have done it in many districts so it's it's not a Google map I hope well I would have to find you know we have to move all the students first in in our software and then we would look at this point we don't know of any student but obviously if if we do find of someone that is we would be glad to look at that thank you um sorry thank you sorry so thanks everyone thank you may I ask um on that um because it just seems like to be a gap if we could just Public Service Announcement if somebody feels that they fall with out if they fall outside of that two miles if they could just let our office know as soon as possible but right now it's premature right but I mean if they were to you can kind of if I lived two miles and I have to now go to to Roosevelt in September I can send you I'm a I'm a family that qualifies that and then we kind of get some visibility would that be and then and then Mr palano and I would walk it two people need to walk it not not not saying not to walk it just saying no no I'm saying if they do if somebody reached out to us yes we would put them on a list and then when it's time we would go out and we say so we can say if you feel you feel like you are or you are please let our please let our offices know and we will know yes great thank you can I get a motion to close move roll call please Miss Brown yes Miss creso yes Mr kacos yes M Mr Langley yes Mr Solomon yes and Miss Kang yes thank you everyone for being here our next meeting is December 20th at 7:30 here thank you