yes thanks Nick hey how are you oh yeah we're getting ready to start all right we'll help you what time is uh the event start tomorrow but thanks Nick bye thanks I'd like to call this meeting to order roll call please Mr Karate Mr roam present M barali pres Mr orello miss aelo presid Mr laurentino pres M rol here miss toric pres Miss Traverso here miss zelli here and for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible and justice for all amen adequate notice of this meeting has been sent to all members of the Board of Education and to the Bergen Record in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act chapter 231 1975 at this time please be advised that all cell phones and electronic devices should be turned off and we are going to begin with our student representative report hi my name is Olivia lash and I will be reporting on Washington School all three elementary schools the high school and the middle school so for all three elementary schools in April um they celebrated neurodiversity with spirit week and classroom activities where they brought awareness to autism and neurodiversity students thought of their unique qualities and what makes them special also the staff at the elementary schools celebrated bring your child to workday and it was a fun day meeting all the children and their staff members it was also anal day where students also learned about careers and explored interests for Washington School in April they also celebrated neurodiversity with spirit week and classroom activities and brought awareness to autism they also celebrated bring your child to workday and had a great time meeting all the children of the staff now for the high school uh for bring your child to workday we had almost 50 kids in the building the students did a great job as helpers and bringing them to different activities throughout the building there was also the best buddies Club um who had a friendship walk at CN Hall this Sunday uh AP exams and the njsla tests have also begun this week at the high school so good luck to all the high schoolers taking those exams uh congratulations to ninth grade Grace wean on throwing 100 strikeouts this season for the softball team also a big congrats to Jack artemisio and cersa Tumi on being selected as Saddlebrook High School's njic Sportsman Award winners a shout out as well to Mr ionello on being selected as the American Division ad of the year they will be honored at a luncheon on at the Chart House in wehawken on May 29th the Saddlebrook High School a letic department would like to send a huge thank you to our Recreation Department director Andy Gallow Diane boner mayor White and The Town Council for allowing the high school boys and girls lacrosse teams to use Veterans Field for practice and games this spring we are ever grateful for this working relationship between these two departments moving on to Middle School the Middle School celebrated neurodiversity month by having a spirit week for the staff and the students uh Monday was fun hat or headache accessory Tuesday was wear rainbow or tie-dye Wednesday was show or wear something you love Thursday was Saddle Brook spirit wear and Friday was comfy clothes which is every day on May 2nd the middle school had their Spring Concert thank you to Mr Ortega and Mr cuden for such a great concert we have some very talented students and they all did a great job we are also getting ready this week to start our NJ SLA testing in the middle school on May nth is science the 10th is science the 14th is Ela the 15th is also Ela and the 16th is math as well as the 17th is math the Middle School steam tank Club run by Mr Vel and his students have made it to the finals we are so excited and happy for all of them they truly put in a lot of time and effort uh Miss Josephson Miss sharp along with students from the njhs and react Club collected plastic and donated to the Meadowlands Rotary Club they are partnered with the TX company to recycle the plastic into park benches which are donated to various organizations in North Jersey the Rotary Club wanted to say thank you to all the students they have donated a bench to our school district thank you for all your hard work and recycling efforts thank you okay uh for the superintendence report violated yes I'm going to share a couple quick updates and then I will we will go move forward with some of our presentations I wanted to remind the community that we do have two of our high school students that are up for North Jersey player of the week voting closes 4 pm tomorrow Thursday you could vote as many times as you like but please vote for Grace Wan and Colin tayor softball and baseball respectively I also wanted to thank the Jason merer plumbing and HVAC company they did yes today today and tomorrow I believe um they are um awarding the winners of the contest of the art contents that they sponsored for their van in each of the school buildings and I was at um Smith school earlier today and the kids were so excited they were showing me their prizes so they awarded first first second and third prize in each building I wanted to thank them for involving our students let's see I wanted to congratulate we had 10 singers at our middle school high school who successfully auditioned for the New Jersey high school Allstate chorus almost 900 singers from around the state um VI for a coveted spot in next year's All State chorus and the accepted members will perform in a festival in November and a treble chorus in February um two concerts each one in Atlantic City at the convention center and the other at NJ PAC in Newark and then a special congratulations to Rachel Rosales who was placed fourth in the state and all four ensembles our high school concert ban concert choir Middle School concert ban and middle school concert choir choir received a superior rating for for their performances so congratulations to our music department I wanted to thank our staff members who participated in the best buddies walk that took place last weekend they supported us and represented us nicely so thank you to them and thank you to our parents for teacher appreciation week to is this week and every day I feel like there's tons of food in each of the buildings um they're really doing a great job supporting our teachers so thank you today was also School nurses day and I know I've missed I know there's school bus driver day day and principal day and vice principal day so just wanted to make sure everyone in the school community that you are appreciated um but I just wanted to thank our community for supporting our schools and last but not least the highlight of my day this morning was visiting Washington school they hosted a Muffins with Mom and it was very well attended attended the entire gymnasium was full and they really enjoyed a cute snack together and then they did an activity in the classroom so thank you to Washington school for hosting that okay moving forward with our agenda so tonight we are going to begin with the Rotary Club um they are going to come up here with some of our students from the National Junior Honor Society then we are going to move to a presentation by some of our staff members on the nurtured heart approach which is one of our dreams Grant initiatives that's districtwide and then I will quickly do a quick recap we um approved the budget last week but I just want to do a quick recap on the budget presentation so that way it um the public is aware of everything that we're doing here so at this point I'm going to ask the board if we can move over to the seats so I can have Miss J Josephson who spearheaded this initiative along with the Rotary Club and her students come on up sorry honey [Music] go is there only one can pass it around you can pass it around let me make sure you want to come up on the stage or you want to do it up front it's up to you can you guys all go in the [Music] middle my name is Maria heler I'm the president of of the National Junior Honor Society and with me is one of our advisers m Joe and some of our members we have Gavin we have Zed and we have Serena and then we also have the representative from the Roary um so the react club and the NJ HS have been collecting plastic from last year to this year to keep to try and keep it out of the land Fields this school year we helped by collecting all the plastic bags from the people at the trunk or tree and I can only imagine us running around trying to collect the plastic all the way was blowing the plastic we collected was donated to the meal lands rotary and then they give the plastic to the TRU Corporation and they make it into park benches I an example is right up there uh the rotary donates the benches to nonprofit groups in New Jersey and one was actually donated to our school to recognize our effort for the cause this week our club members and advisers worked with the rotary to assemble our bench our partnership with the rotary is ongoing and we are continuing to collect plastic I actually don't know the ex exact number all right yeah so um I'm Club advisor and I'm going to introduce um Mrs Ivon hasset from the Meadowlands rotary and she can fill you a little in a little bit um the original benches were 500 pound 500 500 lb of plastic so so it's about 85 large black trash bags and the trucks company has raised the raised it to a th000 pounds but we're we're still going hi yes I'm yon and by the way I I'm wearing my rotary bling I'm very proud of rotary and I'm going to be the president uh this coming in July and I got all guys in the club so I'm going to get some more ladies involved thank you yes they are yes a couple of them lost their wives and they're still looking now after they passed but and they have some money I'll I'll talk to you later okay anyway so you know it's funny because I I I have a couple of the plastic bags I mean this is a New York Post this is an example of what we miss when we're not looking for this type of recycling um there's all kinds of buy Amazon bags if you you buy a lot on Amazon they take all of that trxs um we started doing this about five years ago my husband Carl became the the governor of the district which was Bergen County paic and Hudson County and guess when it happened when he took governorship Co hit how do you be a social social organization when you can't be social can you imagine so uh fortunately rotary came up with another Avenue of focus we have a a six we had six Avenues of focus as an example one is literacy one is water uh one is uh maternal health and child care and as we do all of this within the communities United States or all over the world whatever you want to do another Focus was uh disease prevention uh Water Sanitation and treatment and they came up with the environment so when they came up with the environment my husband's saying you know we've got to do something with plastic and so we found he found TX Corporation was doing this which was really amazing and they set up a program when you go in and you set up a site for you and you start collecting plastic so we're in the business we do we we do a PO R and draperies and all that so we get tons of plastic from the fabrics and everything and he said I can't throw this in the garbage and that's when we found out Tru was doing this we found out that that is a retail value of $500 they give it to you free after you give them the plastic which is what they use to make those type of things the decks Furniture like that uh cap by the way capeway wicker we found out has all of those in different colors and all kinds of bars and and uh uh bar seats and outdoor furniture and tables it's amazing they're using this now for outdoors and they that'll stay out there forever okay but at least you're using it this stuff that's going into the ocean I just I looked up something the other day and it's it's really sickening what's happened so a lot of you guys if you're born before the 50s they actually started in this country to make a lot of plastic in 1950 but they said at that time it was just 2 million tons that's all that was being made at the time now they said it's about over 450 million tons of plastic is made in this country and where does it go in landfills and it ends up in the oceans uh in the ocean it's really really bad uh I saw a picture of a a beautiful shorebird and it had plastic all around it was stuck on it and it could barely eat because it covered its mouth at that point I said to him I said we've got to do something so we started doing this got Ellen involved in with her with her class and we're doing this all over the place this is one of the most easiest things you guys can do um you can talk to Ellen about little specifics on what well it's all the you know the little wrap around the uh water bottles that's recyclable also anything that's wrapped around Pepsi Coke any kind of bottles that's all sheet plastic that's what they call it that's all recyclable for tracks it's amazing what you pick up it doesn't take too long right Ellen I mean it was 500 lb now they' raised it to a th000 because so many people were giving they were getting benches like really quick they said wait a minute you know we we we need at least a thousand to give you a free bench but and so then you donate it so it's it's a wonder you get a little plaque put on it and say where it's from and I mean it's it's wonderful right to recycle it's a perfect circle it's a win-win how do oh it's not very long Carl doesn't take long does it couple weeks three weeks yeah there you go now even cereal boxes as a as as a as an idea there inside the cereal boxes that's that's recyclable that plastic they use and and I I'm trying to think what else am I missing but it's it's amazing when you start when you start looking then you say oh my and I see I see put everything on the sign that they're collecting there's the sign up there produce bags dry clean on bundles of toilet paper paper yeah yeah you're still collecting so yes you bring it here and then it gets to us and then you know oh you you know what we're down in only that does it yeah this is the only company we found that does it because they have to use it to to make their product so they use sawdust and plastic to make that it's amazing and like I said we're down in I'm down in East Rutherford in our business and the metaland club they just changed their names it was East Rutherford carlat and then uh clubs now we're going to be just a Medan so we're all down people are coming to us like crazy dropping off from all over Rutherford and East Rutherford dropping off plastic yeah now we know where to take it we take it to we found a Kohl's that's actually up in Wayne and they have a big 18wheeler there that they pick up plastic from everybody all over North Bergen and then they ship it down to them so it's a it's a great I mean it's nothing it's easy very easy to do okay any questions anybody thank you so much for giving me a moment to talk about it thank you and guys and they did a fantastic job thanks the thank the kids this is our future here they know about environment and recycling right they thank you very much guys oh yeah thank you so very much thank [Applause] you thank you very thank you all right thank you to our National Junior Honor Society students to miss Joe and to metaland Rotary for presenting us with this bench at this time I'm going to invite our director of special services Mrs Jillian collie I can't multitask that was harder than I thought um along with one of our social workers Mrs Jennifer Cannon and our behaviorist Miss Stephanie heslin so they're going to come up they are going to present to you on the nurtured heart approach which is part of our dreams Grant I'll let them actually tell you as I set it up for them so hold on oh thank you [Music] all right and perfect all right hello everybody um so we're going to talk a little bit today about uh the dreams program the dreams initiative that um The District participates in and then as part of that is um the nurtured heart approach so we'll give you a little bit of an overview of what that looks like and some of the uh things that we're doing across the district um so the dreams program actually stands for developing resiliency with engaging approaches to maximize success which is quite a mouthful which you understand why they made it called dreams instead um this was part of Governor Murphy Murphy's strengthening youth mental health initiative a few years ago um it's a partnership between the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families um so we actually were selected to participate during the 2122 school year we started um we really just focused on Smith School uh it was the first year that the grant was kind of getting off the ground and it was a little bit of trial and error um with the state trying to figure out what exactly um was going on so we we focused on Smith School that year um and then we did apply again for the following year to expand it through throughout the rest of the district um we were accepted but the state decided to defer the program for a year till they kind of worked out the Kinks and then we were um awarded participation this school year districtwide so it this is of no cost to the district um we have mentors that are assigned to us through Bergen's promise um we meet with them two times times a month usually one time virtually um one time in person with our our Champions team um so the Champions team is made up of two to three staff members from each of our buildings and we kind of get together to discuss um different projects different ways to roll out this initiative across the district um as part of the project two staff members are trained to be trainers in the nurtured heart approach so two years ago when we did it um myself and Jamie cavello the counselor over at Smith School were trained and then this year here um Jennifer Canon and Stephanie hlin were both trained and they are kind of taking what they've learned and TurnKey training to staff members parents um we had a a um talk at parent partnership night I can't get my words out um they're providing onetoone coaching with our staff members and really pushing it out to to all of the buildings um we have some dream swag so we have some cool t-shirts that they have given us we have swag for all of you so don't worry we have for everybody um mugs t-shirts you know we've been able to provide breakfast and lunch to staff at times to participate again all of no cost of the district through this program um but really um another big piece of it is access to the nurtured heart community so there is online message boards there is um training websites through Ruckers University there's materials curriculum all types of things that we've been able to utilize so I will let these ladies share a little bit about what nurtured heart is just kind of a a brief overview and then if you guys have any questions all right okay hi everybody my name is Stephanie hin and I'm Jen Canon yeah hold it okay okay so this is the nurtured heart approach and this is the founder and creator of the nurtured heart his name is Howard Glasser and growing up he was actually that difficult child that we all know so well um he ended up becoming diagnosed with ADHD and he had behavior issues and mental health issues so he kind of knew from the firsthand standpoint what it was like for a child like that so he built his approach based on that um so he has a long background in family treatment clinical studies and also educational leadership so what do um NH focus on it focus on connection with others it's building the inner wealth of yourself and others so it's kind of building up like the self-esteem and how you present the first part of your day you're giving your energy to the positive and you're not giving your energy to the negative which would be like a tantum you know something going forward um being clear about your expectations and resets for discipline and disregulation so we'll go into that into the next slide Okay so in the nurtured heart there are three stands and basically I think two more main components to it so we're first we're going to tell you about the three stands and the other kind of very crucial components um so stand one is absolutely no I refuse to energize negativity I will not reward negativity with my energy connection or relationship so what does that mean so you're not giving attention to the adaptive behaviors so you're not ignoring it but you're not you're giving it a spotlight in a room to highlight it all so you're not fueling the fire so what you're going to do is you're going to kind of give an example of a child's meltdown you want to do the example that we did um say like with Leo or do you oh you just want me to go in okay we have a fake child named Leo so that we practice with when we're giving St and there is one point that he's kind of going in and kind of disrupting the class but the teacher turns it into a positive behavior so you're not engaging in a back and forth with a verbal conflict when a teacher remains regulated and neutral you're turning away from the negativity so sometimes like as a behaviorist I tend to see this that sometimes inadvertently that behavioral child can end up getting a lot of attention um it might not be what they initially started having the Tantrum for but it gains attention naturally um so this really the point of this is that our energy our attention is is not going towards that we're we're still going to handle it but we're going to be regulated we're going to be rationally detached understanding sure so the absolutely yes is you're giving that positive energy to something that they did correctly okay so you I relentlessly create and energize positivity and success I energize and nurture firsthand the experience of success so you're not always bringing out the negative you're highlighting the positive so you're not energizing the negative you're just highlighting the positive so they get that positive uh connection with you and building that relationship yeah so this is the fire that we want to fuel we want to fuel the positive fire um so what does stand 2 look like um it can really be very broad all of this in nurtured heart approach is really a mindset and it can be a little bit different for everybody um so it's pretty Broad and it can extend to wherever you take it to um so some examples of what it could look like include highlighting student achievements um just giving attention to positive things like Johnny built a tower and he's been working on that Tower awesome Johnny you were working so hard on that just giving your attention to that um praise that's not just good job praise that is Meaningful genuine and then you know you got to get that behavior specific in there um they know when you're being genuine and when you're not um so that's really an important piece um stand 2 looks like building each other up and teaching the kids how to build each other up um setting up the classroom Spotlight towards those kids that are doing the right things that's where you want to really gear your Spotlight um and giving out positive energy to positive things around us so it can be anything it can just be you are sitting so nicely and quietly thank you for that it can be something as simple as that you know anything I was going to say the shoes but I was like I know or just I love the way you walked into the room today you know or you know you have a nice smile on your face just giving it that positive genuine connection to that student yep directing it posi so stand to applied I can write the first letter my name you know so you're highlighting the talent successes and the skills you know you're not going to point out if there's like something wrong in the way they spelled their name is uppercase lower case you're just like wow you did it you spelled your name you know just giving them that positive praise and reinforcement and then down there is the brights award at Franklin School I can't see that after they did the brights award um sorry I I blocked out their faces but they're all so cute they go over there they they take them all afterwards they go out into the hallway and they hold up their envelope and they're all smiling so big they're all excited um and they feel so proud and they take a picture every month and then Jim puts it in the media side in the hallway and the kids always walk past that metus slide and look at it you know so that's like you know it gives back over and over and this is just another example of Stan 2 U this is one of our amazing teachers in Franklin School um she really energizes the positive she's so good about that she took this classroom and turned them around this year because she's able to not gear her attention towards the negative and she really highlights the positive just but you could tell just by the way she's looking and interacting with the class taking that even though they could be on a break and playing she's still taking that time to Foster that relationship with them building that positive Praise by sitting there playing with them she could be sitting at her desk and just out something but she's taking those couple of minutes to really enjoy what they're doing and have them talk freely and about their excitement of the day or what they're building absolutely so stand three absolutely clear I always provide a true consequence I set an enforce clear limits and clear consequence in an unenergized way remember video game logic so absolutely clear what does that look like um you know they need to know it's it's people sometimes adults assume that kids know all of what we're expecting and the truth is a lot of times if you probe a lot of times they don't know those expectations and they really vary from adult to adult too um so providing those clear expectations is really important um rules and procedures are well known and understood so you can see those classrooms where the kids can run themselves cuz they know that routine they know those specific expectations um clear expectations means not being wishy-washy I mean it you know really if you go by by this approach you're really not supposed to bend at all but you know honestly I think the best you can like you say you got to follow through you know you got to follow through don't say it if you're not going to follow through um reviewing expectations before a lesson I love going into certain classrooms because they sit there and the teacher sits down and she shows them pictures of what she expects um or she reviews exactly how what she wants to see um and then you see them all you know quickly trying to get themselves together um it's really a wonderful antecedent procedure and then they're able to be successful you know and they're proud of themselves and then you know the class can run itself and what you can actually see too before we go into the next one is you're starting to see some of the students regulate themselves like taking that deep breath like they could almost feel like the Behavior coming on and they're starting to learn now to step back and we call it reset which they know to take a deep breath or to just like close your mind for a few minutes and like count to five before they're getting to that escalated Behavior approach in a classroom so they're learning with all the expectations like oh I can do this too and calm myself down okay so where are we so these are just some examples of a class rule in a classroom I follow directions the first time I use my walking feet and I keep my hands feet and whole body to myself so it's just it's just very clear to the children um you know in Washington School one of the things that we do every month is we'll talk about it but we go into the classroom and we review the rules with them and seal approaches um and we always go over this we always go over it with pictures um and we also act it out and they enjoy that part you know when you act silly and you're falling down but it really helps them to understand truly what we're expecting and why um okay so there's a couple of other really important parts of this approach and one thing is building that inner wealth in our children ourselves and others um so we really need to do everything we can to help build us so that we're stronger on the inside okay so here are some examples how we build um in wealth in school so far so we have our formal umal activities you know in our class at Washington School all of the prek classes meet in the gym in the morning and it's led by a different teacher each week and it's like whether it's following directions of get your sillies out you know head children's Knees and Toes um using language that is respectful and kind um sharing genuine compliments praise when they meet individualized success even our little preschool students KN when you're genuine or not genuine because they know that trust they know you know they start to build that bond with you and they know when you're you know upset or if you're know like Angry so it's positive to you know keep it genuine so they follow that clear expectation um as we build our own empathy we can build the inner wealth of others naturally so I was just thinking about this teacher when you were talking um there's this teacher in first grade she's I just learned that she's only teaching two years Miss bronnen oh sorry she's an amazing teacher she's an amazing teacher um but anyway uh I was I went into her classroom the other day and every time I go in there I'm like Amazed by her and I wasn't sure whether I saw connection from her because with all of her kids she has this like connection with them they they run to see her in the morning they run to see her after snack after recess um they always tell her all their stories in the morning um but at the same time like the last time I went in there with another student they were having this really awesome classwide conversation and I was just like amazed because the kids in there felt so empowered to talk to share their information they were talking about something some sort of like social studies topic and this one the teacher brought up the the person they were talking about and then another kid shared and then this one girl got so into it she stood up and she's like no but I don't think that she should have done this because XYZ and everyone's like yeah but I mean for me I was like wow it's like connection and inner wealth because she has this beautiful connection with each of them where they feel that confidence you know but at the same time because she sets up that um environment that safe environment it builds there in a well so I mean again it's like they they do all go back and forth right and it goes back to building that same the trust with the student cuz they're so excited to even shared like the little thing on the weekend what's going on I was there one time and somebody shared that they tried something new for dessert that they made with their mom but they felt you know they were so excited then somebody else oh I did this so they just all have that connection of even building talking with each other and building listening skills and everything as you're building that positive praise so inner wealth happening in Saddle Brook so here we are um when they feel good on the inside they are more open to learning and celebr celebrating them and their special days so here we have some activities that we did um one of them was going towards um when we did nor diversity week and just doing little projects with them going forward or if it's celebrating a birthday or you know just enjoying class time and you know feeling confident to raise their hand yeah and to me those Smiles that they show here they're all genuine Smiles though to me that's the type of smile that we want to see cuz that's when they're open to learning you know and they're they're feeling strong on the inside you so inner wealth building built in S Brook with oural lessons monthly and weekly secl lessons to promote inner wealth building um here you'll see at the bottom left they um Stephanie was doing an activity with them um was that the Slime that you were making the sensory Bott the sensory bottles for that one and then it's just listening but they're all excited to learn and we tied in with what are their emotions and you know what do emotions look like so we bring we kind of tie it into everything during the day yeah we've been trying to generally go once a month into the classrooms to teach some sort of seal topic and relate it to emotions and behavior um because it's it's especially important in the young ages uh but also like some of the classes we do weekly social skills but but um that's kind of what we're using to formally introduce that inner Wells piece and then lastly we have connection so what is connection it's forming really that positive relationship with our students and each other and getting down to the level literally so if somebody's coming up and they're upset and especially if it's you know somebody's a little shorter than you getting down to their level and talking to them because you're having that eye contact and that also helps build that positive and genuine relationship with them showing respect and genuine care for students and colleagues playing with the students as we saw earlier taking that five minutes out if we were on a you know playground with them um just getting to know them you know doesn't have to be playing a game you could just sit there talk you know like oh what's something fun that you do over the weekend so again it's building relationships talking to students about their interest which I just said and listening to students when they talk that's a main thing is you know really listen to them and put yourself in their shoes as what they're trying to uh say cuz sometimes it's hard for them to explain what their emotions because their emotions are so big so again it's back to relationships that's this whole thing some it's something that we actually do every single day that we don't realize it's just written out for us in a you know a way to understand but we all do this every day if we take you know five minutes to learn yeah yeah it's a mindset and I just want to like just highlight that listening to students when they talk um I thinken listening can go a really long way when you connect with other people children whoever it is I think anybody you ask they want to be listened to and especially kids like you know a lot of times we're really busy and we have a lot of things that we're doing and so we try to do the dishes while we're listening to them but they want someone to genuinely listen to what they're saying um and have an interest and ask questions and dive into their world with them so if you just do that it's so easy to make a connection with them and so here here's our gym teacher Mr Rogers everybody loves Mr Rogers everybody loves oh I'm sorry I did it again I'm [Music] sorry yeah so here's some connection applied for you and then in the end in the end um in my world there are no bad kids just impressionable conflicted young people wrestling with emotions and impulses trying to communicate their feelings and needs the only way they know um I mean they're kids you know one of the teachers that was up here I'm not going to say her name um she she always says that she always says they're kids we just need to teach them and she's right and just I just want to say like one takeaway that I really took from this training you don't realize how much just that smile and greeting in the morning starts everyone's day off I like we all have stuff going and I'm not going to say we don't have a bad day and that's not going to happen but the way you present yourself to your child and also think about maybe something that happened at home and the way they may act that day but if you present that smile in the morning that could really change their mindset for the entire day and you can build that relationship with that child so that's my one takeaway that I really stands out with me and we have swag now yeah we do have swag and as you can tell these ladies are very passionate about this um we we pick them for a reason to participate in this um but we are excited about all the things that we're doing in the classrooms and how we're kind of spreading this message across the different buildings um and you know we would happily provide additional training to parents or staff members so if there's anyone interested definitely don't hesitate to reach out to us because we have books and all kinds of stuff that we have access to that we'd be happy to share so thank you ladies I just want to share so there's a monthly dream meetings that we have in the district and it's more of a support system so these ladies are a big part of it we have a whole team in the district and when we have you know we've seen an uptaken behaviors especially in our primary grades and we have a support system now where we meet with the dreams representatives and our in District team and we're able to share what's happening what we can do what we've tried already what's worked what hasn't worked and it really has helped us as a district to kind of figure out because every in every child is different from the other so it really does help us as a district to figure out how best to um make that child successful and make them feel good about themselves so thank you to those three ladies and broe hanenburg is here too our superviser of special services the four of them have really spearheaded this entire initiative in our district and not an easy task we started out with Jeff Smith School to years ago and this year we're districtwide so from Washington to the high school so a big thank you I'm going to let them give you swag could we take a 5 minute recess um and I'll let them give you some some of their swag and we can have a little 5minute break and then we'll Rec convene thank you motion e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay thank you I'm doing a quick recap we actually approved the budget last week we did a full presentation last week but I did want to just provide a quick recap of the budget these slides are posted on the website um so you do have access to them so I'm just going to go through a bunch of these our board members thank you very much for their support B essentially our budget is comprised mostly of our teacher salaries and benefits our staff salaries and benefits all the contractual items um which are our custodians our power professionals our secretaries and teachers benefits out of District tuition Transportation that's the bulk of our budget there's very little left that we're able to use these are the buildings and Fields that we're responsible for these are some projects that we that we're working on um that we that we're doing over the summer I believe so concrete repairs HVAC repairs repairing some of fencing in um in our school buildings these are the sample of the items that are included in this in next year's budget band uniforms which were a need a funtronic floor for Washington School which we're really excited about um to support our youngest Learners uh a lot of Technology items are included on there and flexible seating and then you can see to the right what's going to be used with eser funds and title funds and final site is our website so our website's going to be reimagined as well we also have new Staffing so with um our students we definitely have seen an increase in individualized education plans or I PS which is our special education program and with that has come the need for more special education teachers as well as a speech language pathologist because it's mandated if it's in the IAP we must Supply it so we do need those positions so those positions were required to have um and tier 2 mental health counselor we've had since covid and we're just seeing a great need to keep a tier 2 Mena health counselor in District as well as a full-time custodian we looked at um our custodian and their square footage that they're responsible for and we were in need of another full-time custodian this is the slide that impacts our community members so we wanted to make sure we shared this um your taxes are projected to increase $233 for the average house assessed at approximately 46200 which comes to $19.44 per month so as I shared what was included in the budget and then this is some of the items that we're celebrating that we have completed over the course of this year um I'm not going to go through all of these but we do have six new courses at the middle school high school for next year we focus a lot on the youth mental health first aid and team Mental Health First Aid our parent partnership nights our security veses in each of our buildings are completed we do have a threat assessment team in the district working hard on mass notifications you receive texts phone calls and emails from me as well as app notifications we have interactive displays in our classrooms we're starting to put those in our smartboards are old our smart projectors are not working anymore and the parts we are irreplaceable so we're purchasing the interactive displays which look like televisions and you can interact with them and we have some new student bathrooms here we had um some ESL family engagement nights we had three of them over the course of this year we have some athletic accomplishments and then a lot of our clubs that are really growing in our elementary schools as well as our middle school high school with very dedicated Club leaders and um students so they're doing a lot of good in our district and it's nice to see them so active so that is I just wanted to do a quick budget recap please take your time go through the slides if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to my office and and um I told you was a quick recap and we um we will answer any of your questions so thank you want to make sure we share that and we are now going to continue with the rest of our scheduled meeting so thank you I know I got this is perfect for [Music] me I didn't see any [Music] py you're shut down poy poy all right so we go to you now right yeah okay okay so we're going to go with to the business administrators report Mr Karate thank you president ielo uh just a few items I have after tonight's what's on tonight's agenda we'll be moving forward with the renovation work at coolage school uh and I would like to set up a tour of the building for the board members so they could see the building before and after so we set that up in the next few weeks also on the agenda tonight is the bathroom uh project here at the middle school high school will also be awarded tonight and that work will be done over the summer we're working with the architect to uh put together plans to replace the roof areas that were noted in the referendum and we expect that to get most of that work done this summer as well and we are still waiting for the njde approval for our application for the turfield and lights we don't know they don't they don't reply too often to you we're trying to get information but it's a slow process and Mr o'donell supervisor buildings of grounds is working on Gathering uh quotes So we approved like Miss Vietti said the budget last week and we're moving forward getting uh projects in line for this Summer that were noted in the budget so there's a lot going on um but it's all good stuff for the district that concludes my report okay oh we're going to go back to the superintendent for a moment thank you I have one more I wanted to inform the board um that we are working with a grant writer right now there was a grant that came out for school safety and we are working with this grant writer to develop a grant to um to include within our building some door access controls and um AI with our cameras to follow around and a whole bunch of other things um but with this grant part of it is to ask support from certain members of the community so there will be letters that will be or emails that will be sent out with a template of a letter asking Comm community members to write um a letter of support in support of the grant so I just wanted to share a little bit we just had our first meeting um so we're we're going to have weekly meetings and we will give you more information as we have it uh I have a quick question on that who's going to be writing the grant the the person that we are working with okay thank you okay all right at this time can I have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items and policy only motion second all in favor I any opposed would anybody from the community like to speak about agenda items only so what's on the agenda Okay no Okay okay so then can I have a motion to close the meeting motion second second all in favor I any opposed okay so we're going to go to board action items so we have b232 4.40 through B2 32442 can I have a second second discussion does anybody have a question or want to discuss anything okay great then roll call please Mr Karate M toric yes Miss Traverso yes melli yes Mr roam yes Miss barali yes Mr laurentino yes M Roloff yes Melo yes okay uh Mr traversa education and curriculum at the recommendation of the superintendent I make a motion to approve the following items E2 32444 through e232 4.47 have a second second any discussion the field trips are one of our ABA classrooms to a sensory gym and on one of our clubs at the middle school high school is taking a trip good okay can we have roll call please M toric yes M Traverso yes zelli yes Mr roam yes Miss barali yes Mr laurentino yes Miss rolloff yes Melo yes okay uh budget and finance Mr ramond okay at the recommendation of the superintendent I make a motion to approve the following items bf23 24.95 to bf23 24119 I have a second second any discussion questions I will share 116 is um to continue the playground building at at Washington school so it's awarding Fe to of plround equipment and then I also wanted to share 117 that's a partnership with southb and jointure commission who they have tons of resources to offer us as a district um for example if we have a child that needs additional speech services or OT or PT Services we can contract with them if we are not able to fulfill those needs within our district as well as Transportation as well as emotional regulation impairment supports so there in uh professional development and curriculum writing so it's a one-time payment and then we are a member of them forever thank you any does anybody else have anything they want to share okay can we have roll call please miss toric yes Miss Traverso yes Miss Elli yes M ramondo yes Miss barelli yes Mr laurentino yes to wall but I'm have stain under bf23 4.95 check 216 2490 M rollof yes M iello uh yes all but I'm in bf23 24.95 I'm going to abstain from check numbers 2121 2453 65199 and then mbf2 32496 I'm going to abstain from item number 108 yes everything else okay okay all right so we have facilities and operations Miss toric at the recommendation of the superintendent I make a motion to approve the following items f23 24.12 and f23 24.13 can I have a second second does anyone have any discussion questions no okay can we have roll call M toric yes M revero yes Miss Elli yes Miss ramondo yes Miss barali yes Mr laurentino Miss Roloff yes missel yes okay policy Miss rollof at the recommendation of the superintendent I make a motion to approve the following item items policy 23 24.4 Second any discussion okay oh okay roll call please M torck yes M Traverso yes Miss zelli yes M ramond yes Miss barali yes Mr laurentino yes Miss Roloff yes Mella yes okay negotiations nothing we can report at this time okay all right thank you all right Personnel Mr laurentino at the recommendation of superintendent I make a motion to approve the following items P2 32476 through P2 32484 second any discussion or questions sure um first I want to just share that we do a lot of our discussions on Mondays which is why it might seem to be quiet tonight um P2 32477 number one is um Mrs Schwarz replacement at Franklin um as a music teacher and number two is another substitute nurse that we're really excited to keep on building our sub nurses across the district anyone else okay roll call please miss toric yes M Traverso yes Miss Elli yes Mr Commando yes Miss barali yes Mr laurentino yes Miss rolloff yes Miss aella yes to all but in p232 4.82 I'm going to abstain from item number 10 okay okay so now we're going to go to committee reports um budget and finance Mr aam do you have anything for us uh no Ray fill that out all uh week well Monday I'm sorry okay facilities and operation Mr toric no negotiations at this time cannot report anything we are meeting though okay um policy this rollof at the next meeting okay we met tonight so next okay um all right so then we're going to go to Liaison report melli yeah let me just pull it up here okay um Franklin school has not had their PT wait a minute we're doing this for the bcsb oh all right do you have last night we went to the um school board's teacher of the year presentation and acknowledgement of board me Members Mr akamondo is acknowledged for being a 10year term um trustee and um other than that it was it and I want to congratulate him 10 years Mike thank you it was a very nice evening and it was very nice to be able to share that moment with him absolutely oh okay uh the Education Foundation Miss toric n okay uh CPAC Miss traversa nothing at this this time okay the township do we want do we want to we did meet with um with the township Lea we had a Township liaison meeting we spoke about um safety precautions that we can create um specifically in this building with um in regards to crossing the street um making a concrete walkway maybe a Crossing path and signs pedestrian walking signs flashing signs we spoke about Cambridge at Smith's school um that sometimes people don't realize it's a one way off a Saddle River Road so maybe putting a cone or another sign there so we we kind of brainstormed different um safety precautions across the district and um and also to the board members we spoke about um the communication with the events the town events and the Board of Ed events and as you saw today the township was kind enough to share their monthly calendar with us and Gina Galvin was kind enough to put it on our goo calendar so that way and they said they're going to do it monthly so I really appreciate their partnership so thank you to the township for that yes okay thank you uh okay so PTO PTA liaison um Franklin School zelli okay now just let me pull it up one second okay Franklin School hasn't had their PTO meeting yet it's going to be meeting next week but they're on their agenda their K through one fun night um was very well attended and the kids had fun teacher of the week family sent in treats each and every day lunch from the PTO will be tomorrow the sixth grade trip is May 17th the buy 1 get one book fair week is 520 they're planning for field day and they already ordered the Field Day shirts they're get getting ready for graduation and tomorrow I don't know I guess she put it in so the staff is getting Panera nice Panera okay thank you okay uh Smith School Mr oam yes okay sorry this real tiny Smith is celebrating the uh teachers and staff all week with lots of goodies thank you to all the families and local businesses who have chipped in shout out to Grumpy's pizza bagel run Mom's Organics uh Olive Garden Starbucks Clyde's talion ice and the elet park Diner uh the spring book fair is scheduled for next week uh they will host family night on Wednesday May 15th and they are currently hosting a coin battle to raise funds uh for field day the staff member who has the most money in the jar will get pied in the face thank you to Miss Murphy Miss Chapman Mr Nick and Miss plumber for volunteering good luck and their next meeting is May 22nd Uno thank you thank you okay long School Mr traversa yes long school has just completed today their uh three-day I believe it was three-day book fair and the teacher appreciation week is also still currently ongoing they are thanking all families for their generosities of donations Andor support upcoming fundraisers field day will be held on May 31st with a rain date of June 7th and their Tricky Tray is being held on Monday June 3rd at the pamis Elks Lodge long Memorial School families can currently purchase admission tickets at tables of 10 any interest in that should be referred to the PTO of that school and they are still looking for donations of EEG gifts gift cards baskets and so forth thank you okay thank you okay for the middle school high school uh I want to say thank you to the PTO for arranging all they've done for the teachers this week I know that that's not a small Endeavor so it's greatly appreciated I thank also the community for donating and for sponsoring the teachers and if you still want to sponsor a teacher you can do so please email PT o SB Ms HS Gmail I'm sorry Gmail yeah gmail.com and you could let um s Matel us know who is the teacher you would like to sponsor their lunch um and then they will have a meeting possibly at the end of this month they have not scheduled anything but once they do it'll be communicated to you through U Mr Mish and it'll be on the website as well um okay and that is that Washington School M toric yes so um this Friday night will be uh Washington's movie night it'll be for Washington School families and they will be watching migration in the in the gym um and um I wanted to note that there uh were muffin the muffins for Mom event today that the muffins were donated by a parent and apparently according to uh Mrs Vietti they were they were [Laughter] delicious is that it okay all right do we have correspondents no no nope okay old business do we have any old business yeah yeah go ahead got two quick things you know in our board goals it says increase the number of presentations at Boe meetings by students and staff and we come in each month and we watch these tremendous presentations that the staff get so it gives the public an opportunity to see all the great things that our district is doing I just think under miss viet's leadership with your leadership team R used the words tonight uh in his presentation moving forward I really feel like we're moving forward in a very positive direction offering people sou a great education so really our staff teachers Miss Viet all just want to recognize you for the great job that you do and at least now we see it and my second thing Mike I apologize I missed the meeting last night but doing 10 years on the board I've done five and you've done twice as much as I've done so really thank you for all you do thank you for putting up and giving 10 great years of service thank you so much I appreciate that that was very nice anything else old old business oh new okay new business through the chair uh first I want to thank uh the New Jersey school boards for the recognition and then you guys for all the kind words and you guys for having uh faith in me and voting me in all the time so thank you so much and U so I don't forget happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there oh thank you Mich and uh enjoy okay anyone else can I share oh absolutely um I want to first I want to say congratulations to Mr aelo what was that award that he won again I honestly don't know because he didn't tell me American Division athletic director of the Year director of the Year congratulations to him and I want to um just uh congratulate Grace we again on her accomplishment and tell you all that she is up to 127 strikeouts at this point she's doing an amazing J she's doing an amazing job and she's a freshman which I don't know what that was said so congratulations and congratulations Michael happy Mother's Day on that note I'd like to thank I acknowledge my husband he didn't even tell me that he was honored with this so I had literally no idea until I heard this tonight so I'm very happy for him I just want to congratulate Michael again but I did think it was mandatory the meeting it's okay you got points for it anyway just say Happy Mother's day we'll see if we can take your points away okay um does anyone else if I yeah absolutely I forgot um and I apologize to the community usually the meetings are not this long but I um forgot to mention I'm having my second or third superintendent student advisory council meeting it's the morning of May 21st it's a Tuesday I did send out a Google form it's for every it's for high school students um for our students to sign up and we meet in the media center and we have some bagels and we talk about our schools um it doesn't have to just be the middle school high school but how we can improve we get their input um they had some great input last time about you know the the bathrooms at the Fieldhouse and the girls bathroom didn't have a mirror so we have since oh sorry we have since installed a mirror and now I'm requesting a full length mirror so we'll see if we're able to get that I walked in I'm like well it's half a mirror um but they do have some really um valuable input with our courses that we're offering at the high school and just with our procedures um in the building as well so I welcome all the high school students to sign up and join me the morning of May 21st you do have to register on the Google form so I can make sure we have enough Bagels so thank you I for the bagel um okay thank you anyone else okay so okay at this time can I have a motion to open the meeting to the public second all in favor I any opposed okay someone hold up you could come up I just have to read a really long thing really long and [Music] um I think so I need the the really big version okay all right here we go residents are requested to State their name address and subject matter in the event it appears the public common portion of the meeting May exceed 45 minutes the presiding officer May limit each statement made by a participant to five minutes duration issues raised by a by members of the of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of others other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those afforded uh or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments okay thank you um my name is Sahara Salem a parent of two students at long Memorial um hopefully a third student um does this work because I can't hear my hearing is bad to allergies um sadle River Road 787 is our address um um so we're here um as a community um to request a couple of things we've emailed um Miss Vietti about and I'm hoping and I'm sure most of you are aware of our requests I want to keep it short um and respect your time um I wanted to congratulate you for the 10 years and I think it might have been 11 but that's a long time so thank you and I just also wanted to recognize that I do appreciate everything you do for our children and our students I know it's not easy and you guys work long hours um and your hard work doesn't go unrecognized I'm always praising Saddlebrook schools I love our teachers and every time I come to these meetings I learn more I just learned about the program you have I shared my information cuz as parents we need to learn how to praise our children more and we tend to forget that so I appreciate the programs that you offer and hopefully we could all benefit from them and I'm sure we do um with that said um we're here today because we have a couple of requests um and I don't want to go into details about each request again to be respectful of your time um the first request and these if you consider them requests we're also here to help facilitate those those requests it's not here to dump some jobs on you and hey figure it out no we're here as parents community members to help in any way that we can and anything you need from us we are more than willing um so the first request would be that we would like to see that Aid umid is a holiday for Muslims and we'd like to see it off we have two eids a year we don't expect a week for each Eid we expect just a day um we just had Aid after Ramadan um and they are excused absences for our children however I do tend to struggle with whether I should let my kid attend that day or not um we have an upcoming Eid that falls on the kindgarten graduation my son's graduating kindergarten this year soid is that Monday and it's a struggle do I go to mosque do my prayers and have the kids you know commemorate the festivities and they love it and enjoy it cuz we do our prayer and right after they have bounce houses and cool things at the mosque for the kids or do I have attend my kids's graduation and he graduates skin Garden once so you know to balance that it's it's hard and it's not just me we have at least five students at long that are uh graduating kindergarten this year who are Muslim Muslims that practice Islam um and then this request doesn't just go for Muslim Students we'd hope that having off helps students ask questions about why they're off and that they learn about Muslims and the beauty of Islams and Islam and how not that different Muslims are in what they practice than you know most other monotheistic religions um and that's one of the requests the second request would be to integrate um something that New Jersey had recognized American Muslim Heritage Month as January and the governor Murthy had put out um um a proclamation um stating that January will be um American Muslim Heritage Month um and we I had emailed a whole um you know website to help also integrate that into our classrooms and I don't expect us to celebrate it the whole month but it would be nice if we put it in like I know we have like a last display at long if we have something there where kids could ask questions and learn and then maybe add it to like a a lesson plan where kids could ask questions and learn about accomplishments of American Muslims and their history um and contributions to the United States and I think that would help also eradicate a lot of the islamophobia that's happening and continues to happen throughout the years since I mean during my time it started in 911 and then it just continued on as we um engage in different conflicts I should say the third request and I think we we agreed that we do it is um uh holding um uh uh fairs that are for people to uh what are they called that you want Multicultural fears thank you Multicultural fears so everyone could feel comfortable in displaying and teaching about their cultures and Heritage and that goes for all you know cultures not just just Muslims and not just um Middle Eastern or um so these are things that we would like to see in sadle Brook um and um we'd hope that you'd consider and also take our hand in helping facilitate any of this anything you need from us we're here and willing and able to so thank you and thank you for your time thank you thank you thank you hey good evening vad Malik 270 Hillside Avenue I just want to support and everything she said I don't want to repeat the words word for word but I have a seven-year-old daughter in first grade at Franklin School her biggest question is how come they get off for Christmas and we can't observe eat so I would really appreciate if you guys take it into serious serious consideration thank you for your time thank you thank you my name is Basher shik and I moved here from Hillsdale uh I was in Hillsdale for 34 years and 2014 I moved to selbrook anyway I work for the City of New York as as a principal engineer at Buildings Department uh city of New York also has uh um the Eid holiday the Muslim holidays for the whole city public schools and I believe recently last year or so Paras had declared that too and some other towns fire loan so appreciate if you can you know consider this for our town the S Brook you know uh like this sister said you know we support her proposal thank you thankk you hello everyone um my name is Jessica um I'm at 37 Ral Parkway I'm a Saddlebrook High School alumni I'm also part of the EMS Squad here in Saddlebrook and I'm also an ICU nurse at hackensac so um thank you again for everything you guys do for for us I've definitely um seeing all the hard work that comes into making schools what they are so thank you um something that I will say from my own personal experience though um is there's definitely a need for people to understand um Muslims in the community um same as other religions and cultures but especially at a time where in America it's very difficult to be a Muslim especially I think it's definitely necessary um there are I believe 42 other schools um in New Jersey that do have off forid so I think that it would definitely be a good thing for Saddlebrook to be a part of that um I never felt unsafe in Saddlebrook um people knew I was Muslim um and I never felt that I wasn't welcome although I do feel that there is a lack of education for students um especially um the younger students and especially in high school um I think of course it has to do with them um getting that education at home and it has to do with you know Al education for their children and I think that in high school you were old enough to also educate yourself as well but I think that as a system it definitely can come from us as well so I think it's definitely done um and there's a need for it and if there's anything you guys need from from me or the community we're more than happy to help I mean I I think I can speak on behalf of you know the Muslims in Saddlebrook that we are definitely feeling the acceptance although we definitely need um more representation so thank you for your time thank you m o a t i thank you good evening my name is Jon I live in 25 Alberta uh Drive um I lived here since 2009 uh we have three kids that passed through you know S S Brook wonderful school system and um you know my daughter is mahina me she wears a hijab and all her friends welcome her for who she is and it's a wonderful you know Community we're in and we love it here but we'd like to you know voice our voice and um you know get the support and we've been given the support but for you to go extra mile to to make it more inclusive for us that would be great and thank you thank you s for initiating this whole thing thank you y thank you thank you uh good evening everyone uh my name is Shahid shik uh I am uh 428 vanes is my address uh I'm a civil engineer PE by profession and I work for US Army Core of Engineers um I have a good very very good reputation at work as well and since I came to us from India I have been living in selbrook and I moved for to Alwood park for like 2 three years I said no let's go back to sleb that's that's the best town to live in and since then I'm here I have three kids my daughter already graduated from here she is in NGIT right now mother two are one in high school one in one in Elementary so I support sister who started the communication with the Board of Education and uh I I hope you guys consider it and saluk has already recognized Muslims this year by celebrating Crescent uh lightning which we did during the start the month of Ramadan and that was well appreciated to everyone and there was a big lot of people who showed up over there mayor was also there our Sheriff uh who is to be Sheriff cougler hope he wins the this election this year so he was there as well so it was supported by our whole community so I on behalf of the Muslim Community of salberg I will request you to please consider these three points and we see n said any help from us like which days you need and all those stuff we can communicate accordingly thank you very much thank you so much thank you anyone else all right can I have a motion to close the meeting to the public motion second all in favor I any opposed yeah I've um I just first of all want to thank our community members for representing the Muslim population thank you for expressing um all this information to us you have sparked a conversation so please know that um I did share all the information with the board we have started talking um through all the different items that were shared with us we will continue the conversation and I will be in touch um with the people that previously emailed me so um I will definitely follow up but I thank you for being so kind um respectful and thoughtful in your presentation so thank you okay thank you okay say something no no okay um okay at this time I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting motion second okay all in favor I any opposed okay have a wonderful Mother's Day everyone good night thank you for I didn't know you were here oh