good evening welcome to a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act and that advanced notice required therein has been provided this is a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills at which formal action may be taken the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda roll call please Mr Baker here miss Balor here Miss Cooper here Mrs dgr prey here miss gills Mr Joyce here miss Nathan Mrs Santoro here Mrs Ry here and Mrs frienda here okay executive session the open public meetings act authorizes a public body to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which specified topics are to be discussed under the circumstances where the public consideration of such such topics will clearly endanger the public or where the personal privacy or guaranteed rights of individuals whose activities or Affairs are to be discussed would clearly be in danger of unwarranted invasions and the matters about to be presented for discussion clearly meet the circumstances test of such that the Board of Education of Somerset Hills now adjourns its public session to reconvene an executive session for the purpose of discussing the following Personnel student matters contracts negotiation and litigation can I have a mtion to go into executive please miss Ry and Miss okay thank you very much okay good evening everybody um and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you if you look under the report of the superintendent and your agenda you will see that we have many um good things to report on this evening and starting with our student representatives and many recognitions so we're going to give that over to Dr brochel to get started thank you Miss frienda great to see everybody and great to see such a full house tonight we do have a great group of kids uh and some of our staff members to recognize tonight for some great work uh that has been going on in our student groups uh the first group that's going to speak to us tonight are from from the middle school they're from the eighth grade science team and uh Ali black is here and uh you may recall that this is her second time uh speaking in front of the board so Ally is uh representing the um the eighth grade uh earth science team and uh we're going to invite her up and um she's joined uh by Nico Stefani and true to form um Nico never goes a day without wearing shorts and uh he said I said just wear shorts tomorrow too he said no I'm going to go with some pants but um we have Nico here too so Ali and Nico representing the eighth grade so come on up guys good evening my name is Nico Stefani and I'm representing bms's earth science team over the past few months I've had the pleasure of being a part of the earth science team and I've had the honor of attending multiple competitions with my peers representing this the BMS science team the competitions that I've participated in have been an absolute pleasure always thoughtfully organized they've run smoothly and they've been a great opportunity for me to meet people from other schools and grow closer to my classmates during the test portion of our competitions we take a 50-minute test consisting of around 70 questions and after the test we're generously provided with pizza soda and great company not only are the competitions a great time but our weekly meetings in which we prepare for the competitions are another great aspect of the team Mr King does a great job of allowing our meetings to be educational and preparative but also allowing us to have a fun time with our PE peers while we've learned so much because of how great my whole experience has been I'd like to thank all those who made this a possibility especially Mr King the science team in general has exceeded expectations at every step and it's been an incredible experience there there I'm going to turn over to my teammate Ally black uh to give some more background about the BMS earth science team before each competition we take a qualifying test the top six scores compete in the upcoming competition we are the only Middle School earth science team in the league as well as the state of New Jersey we compete against other high school teams while we have not received our official Statewide results I can tell you with conf confidence that we had great scores and results this team was not able to compete for a few years due to the pandemic but the team has been brought back and has been just as successful the earth science team would also like to thank Mrs McMillan for filling in for Mr King at our most recent competition we're halfway through our competition season having having completed two of four SE competitions so far in other news BMS student council held a successful candy gram fundraiser supporting hugs for Brady we raised $740 with over8 00 lollipops sold we're getting closer to our goal of $2,000 overall this has been a successful February at BMS thank you for your attention in time thank you Ali and Nico and from the high school we have Gabrielle and Madison who join us again this month um good evening I'm your student representative for BHS Gabby denola we are wrapping up the sports season right now at BHS and each of the teams have had some very important accomplishments the winter track team has just finished their season Where The Boys team won the North two group two sectionals we went several Runners to the we sent several Runners to the group championships and several qualified to go to the Nike indoor national championships boys basketball team is qualified for States and they are actively playing in the game tonight the fening has just recently lost in their state tournament but the girls are still going they're competing competing tonight at 6:30 I don't know how when the wrestling team has had a fantastic season Nick finale Nick volani Dave Brothers Chase caponegro qualified for the Regionals wrestling tournament and freshman Gabrielle Rudy finished second in the Skyland region for ski team the girl just finished fourth place and qualified for the NJ s championships the boys have also had an impressive season with their last race being their best performance the seniors are also doing some pretty amazing Project Graduation work right now they are running the senior Fashion Show on March 9th where students are sponsored by local stores and businesses and dress up to walk the runway in front of their families and peers make sure to stop by they have also just finished the night of the Stars event where students were dressed up as their favorite actor TV show character celebrity or really anything else and attach and attended the event at the Old Mill in good evening I'm the other student representative for BHS Madison fugia activities are well underway at BHS so far the School Musical is scheduled to take place in the first weekend in March the BHS Crimson is putting out another print issue in the first week of March and has also just published another online issue if you would like to check that out the Bernardi and yearbook is also well underway where students are working feverishly to put together the final touches on their winter Pages be ch's magazine the Pinnacle is still accepting submissions until the end of the week students can submit literary Works artwork and anything else that they see fit to be published in the magazine new this year the flut the flutterflies club ran by Sophia and andelora parente are running a fundraiser with st baldricks where multiple students are shaving their heads to raise money for Childhood Cancer a shout out to the students in their commitment they include Juniors Ari Rosen and Matt ferano and seniors RJ Bowski Kaden K Mitch daen and Logan Richie this is happening the night of March 7th and there's a QR code on the club's Instagram if you would like to donate Harvard model Congress is also happening this weekend from Thursday until Sunday the students that applied and were selected to take part in the program go to Boston this weekend where they interact with other schools and have a mock Congress simulation thank you we have some student groups to recognize tonight and um going to take some time to point out some great um some great achievements that these various student grp groups have earned throughout the course of the last few months and um the first group that we are going to recognize is a group from the Pinnacle and the Pinnacle is a literary group at um at Bernard's High School uh I have a resolution here um that honors uh many of the um or is almost all of the um participants here some of whom graduated last year and came back and some of whom uh whose parents um are serving um to to receive on their behalf uh first we're going to bring up Allison Snider um I don't know if Allison is here tonight there she is come on down Allison Allison is the adviser of the Pinnacle you do uh Green Team and all sorts of garden things okay yep congratulations thank you you're welcome so like many of our advisers Allison uh spends uh a lot of time does a lot of beautiful work with these kids and uh they really uh have achieved great things uh the students that participated in the Pinnacle uh ended up um uh with a resolution here tonight that reads whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and Commendation to the dedicated magazine staff who perform at the highest level of publishing with creativity effort and positive attitude um uh whereas uh particular student is part of the Bernards high school and serves as an inspiration to peers and staff members alike whereas this student is creatively engaged in writing and art making for Meaningful purposes now therefore be resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend these students for their first place recognition in both the National Council of teachers of English recognizing excellent in art and literary magazines contest and and the American Scholastic press Association review contest well done when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns this day it does so in honor of the achievements of these students uh the board secretaries directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 21st day of February 2024 I'm going to call up some students some are here and some couldn't be here um and if there's a parent out there representing a student please come on up and we have a resolution here uh first resolution is for viona Vitali vanika Gupta if you're here come on up yeah unless I get to bring these home congratulations Ava Highland Emily Pang chaana Ania saranin Morgan Sykes pret th Marley beers Anna Carolina Bola manade Valentine Christian Rose Castello Ella D rasi Addison Dunn Jessica f Emma grow Joseph Kalinowski Georgia Kissle Jack Lopez Stella McDonald CNO Kaylee McGowan Kenny Alana natii Abigail Sebastian thank you Evan Seeker Claire Taylor accepting on behalf of her daughter is mom Katherine 80 uh Katherine's mom here we are member of the class of 2023 gra Gabriella Pini conratulations Megan sherley is studying in Scotland but I believe her mom may be here Mom well let's clap anyway uh that culminates uh the folks from the Pinnacle so one more round of applause for that group some beautiful work uh certainly taking place at the high school uh we also have a group of um growing uh French students at the middle school working under uh miss Patricia cupper who is all the way in the back here is a teacher of French I'd like to call her up come on up Patricia okay Miss Copper's been doing some terrific work and really encouraging kids to uh kind of go outside of their comfort zone and engage in some competitions and we do have some folks uh that have earned some accolades uh for academic excellence in the Bernardsville Bernardsville Middle School French program we have a resolution that reads whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and commodation to those who perform at the highest academic level with effort responsibility and a positive attitude while embracing a love of language uh whereas particular student is part of the Middle School French program and her passion serves as an inspiration to her peers and her staff members alike whereas these particular students are dedicated to learning French language and culture through listening speaking reading and writing now therefore be it resolved by the board that the members of the Board of Education hereby commend the students for their creative writing essays uh recognized by the American Association of teachers of French uh when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns on this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by these students and the Board of Education secretaries directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the board on the 21st day of February 2024 our first Honore from the Middle School is Maria karov conratulations David hore Stella strubel those three students I believe earned money for your hard work correct right so congratulations we have a fourth student from the Middle School uh who um earned similar uh similar Accolade in French and um uh her name the name is noga Ben Shimon congratulations great work being done at the at the middle school for sure congratulations back on to the high school Dr James Ferrara is a physics teacher here at the high school and has been doing a lot of great work as well um in his classroom and also with the students that participate uh in the physics Olympics and I'm going to ask Mr uh Dr Ferrar here he is Doc good morning up it certainly fits in the trophy case right so we do have some recognition uh there's a highly competitive uh process that um that doc has overseen his capacity as a physics teacher uh we have resolutions here tonight uh that that certainly um give commodation to our dedicated students who perform and compete at the highest academic level we have students uh who saw the Merit in investigation and research as well as grit and determination when applying principles of physics to problem solving and to design uh these students are part of Bernard's high school and they certainly serve as an inspiration to peers and staff members alike now therefore be it resolved by the Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend these students for their extraordinary accomplishments along uh with their team who plays second overall in the physics Olympics hosted by the New Jersey section of the American Association of physics teachers when the Somerset Hills Board of Education adjourns on this day it does so in honor of the achievements of these students and the board of education secretary is directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on this 21st day of February and our first Honore is Kian schogger Garrett senior PR Nash Stope Aiden vinus Fiona Vitali and Tiffany Zang we have um one more round of applause please for the physics group thanks as is our um as is our practice we have a retiree on the agenda uh this evening um that uh historically we read out a resolution by the chair of the Personnel committee uh that would be Miss Deon prey um take it away whereas Marcel craer has been employed from September 2001 through June 2024 as a school counselor and whereas she exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism in her duties and now therefore be it resolved that the sumerset Hill School District and Board of Education recognize Marcella craver's retirement effective July 1st 2024 and extend her congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement interestingly as we move through uh the agenda we're moving away from our uh student staff recognitions and we're going to talk a little bit uh about finance and um at at any point during the year we are in um one of three budget years uh one of the budget years that we're going to talk about is an audit that was done last year uh that offers a an independent review of the financial and fiscal practices of the school district and um we do have Joseph stout here uh who is our guest from our auditing firm to talk about the audit with the board and to review some of the information found in the report and he works um with uh Supple Clooney and Company Joe you'll notice Mr Marco clapped for you yeah okay the fun stuff is over no I'm kidding um thank you uh Bor and uh Brian for the nice uh warm introduction um we have completed your District's fiscal year 2023 audit and have issued two reports the first report is the auditor management report it is required by the New Jersey Department of Education and outlines the different areas of compliance that we audit these areas include payroll the records of the board secretary and Treasurer federal and state grants purchasing food service and Student Activities any audit recommendations as a result of our testing would be included in this report your district has no recommendations in this year's audit the second report issued is the annual comprehensive financial report or acfr which includes the district's financial statements and our opinion on those statements the district received an unmodified opinion which means that the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles one of the more informative schedules in the acfr is exhibit C1 which starts on page 94 of the report the results of operations of the general fund are reflected here with variances from final budgeted revenues and expenditures reported other informative schedules in the acfr include exhibit j4 on page 141 and exhibit j17 on page 162 j4 shows a comparison of the governmental fund revenues and expenditures over a 10-year period while the j17 shows a 10-year comparison of enrollment operating expenditures and a relative cost per pupil an area of the report that the board may find interesting is in the letter of transmittal prepared by the district superintendent which begins on page three of the report the district reported SAT and ACT scores for high school students in school year 2023 which were significantly higher than State and National scores there were nine students from the class of 2023 named as National Merit commended students with one student named as a finalist the class of 23 also had 37 students named as advanced placement Scholars 24 as AP Scholars with honors and 37 as AP Scholars with distinction in in addition Bernard's high school was named a 2023 AP honor rooll Gold Member I would like to thank the board for the opportunity given to our firm in allowing us to perform the audit for the district as well as the cooperation and assistance provided by The District's Personnel during our audit engagement are there any questions um now I've been reading your audit reports last 16 years okay so I most of the board members um when you first look at this it's very daunting to understand all the information in there um can you tell just tell me how many members of your organization actually spend time here just um something sure uh normally we have a team of about four sometimes five working on the audit okay um usually it takes roughly two weeks in the field um with a lot of work done out of the field on generating this report the report is like like you said it's it's pretty involved and it it takes a lot of time to put it together so with all the sections in the report um which which area is the hardest to audit would you say uh it it's I would say the um the front part the financial statements um getting the um the gby statements together because there's a lot of adjustments that go into adjusting the board secretary report to a gby format right and it takes a lot of adjustments to get to those numbers get to those numbers so so how about in the back um know all the federal um grants I I know that's you have to do that by law and it's very time consuming but but is that relatively easy each year or is it or is it get or is it getting harder since the co there's been a lot of federal um covid grants that have come in which um have made it more involved as far as the federal and state Grant testing um so it it it is pretty timec consuming to generate those numbers as well right so I noticed the the one of the big changes this year is our subscriptions um inclusion was that difficult this year or was it difficult for our side and your side I think both sides um you know Jenny would uh say that it was time consuming um there was a firm um debt books which helped with generating some of the information for the district but um it is timec consuming to get those numbers uh together um so do you have to verify each each of these subscriptions you have to look at a yeah we have to review them and make sure that they're um relatively accurate as far as their how they're being reported by debt books and by your District right yeah and I think it's interesting for for our other board members in here you've got display who were the highest taxpayers in our three towns right um You should take a look at that everybody that's in the J J section as well yeah so that's that's very intriguing and and I know my concern is uh Pharma up John is moving out of that building and they're the highest taxpayer in our district so that's not a good thing for people no makes the ratables higher for everyone else makes the ratables higher yeah um one question the only one I I the only question I have with any of your display if you go to page 163 sure and this is just for my own knowledge or so this this display is how many square feet in each building and how many students in each building what changed in 2019 for the high schools on number of students allowed that's has anybody noticed that why why would it go to fif that might be something I have to look into um yeah it's just it's just um the capacity of the students I noticed that yeah um it could be that it was a catchup over a few years that maybe it was a a catch-up number to get more in line with but I would say in this High School to have 1500 students as a capacity would be almost impossible that's you know so I'm not sure how like it's just it's just weird because if you look at Bedwell and the Middle School the square footage is the the number of students per in the building allowed is the same yeah the square the square footage for the high school is obviously much larger um right right so it just there's something happening that that estimate of the capacity yeah I'm not quite sure where that came from yeah it just seems weird but I think it shows you I mean it does show what our enrollment is because in Bedwell 2014 we had fought we had 640 now we're down to 454 that's a huge drop and then in the middle school we were 585 or down to 49 459 the high school has been holding more more steady through those years but um there's no way we're going to put 1,500 kids in this building I just there just no way um thank you for your Indulgence on those weird questions no thank you for showing an interest okay I want to thank you for pointing out the um the test scores because I think I've gone through seven of these now we've never talked about test scores in the audit report so thank you that's great because it's always wonderful to um you know hear about the success of the district the students and the staff and all the hard work they're doing so appreciate always appreciate an opportunity to applaud that so you're welcome thank you very much I'm back moving along here tonight we have uh some some news to report first set of news is that um recently the middle school and high school music students were able to connect through a group of articulation sessions they're getting ready for for pops night uh pops night takes place on April 18th at 700 p.m. uh so please uh feel free to attend share the news and um it really is uh really is something great and we had a great article um that U my office put out um for this event Pinnacle Pride we heard uh a lot of the great work that took place tonight um 42 students they work tirelessly to create a quality magazine they all contribute to the PIN Pride uh they entered the recognizing excellence in art and literacy magazine contest run by National Council for teachers of English they earned first place for an exceptional publication uh they also uh entered a contest with the American Scholastic press Association review uh they earned a first place for the Pinnacle and also uh best Photograph by uh Joseph Morandi that's his iguana uh and it's a great shot and uh we were sad to learn in the writing of this article that the Iguana uh has passed away to greener pastures um yeah Joe was uh Joe and my assistant had a moment um so yeah sad um but a great shot let's play Bowl uh we have a Unified sports program that began at the behest of uh burnard high school students uh who worked closely with the administration uh for a period of time who felt that a Unified sports program would positively contribute to the opportunities for all students uh at the high school this winter we debuted our bowling team and uh that was started to uh place an increasing number of students here at the high school uh to have opportunities in Social settings with their peers uh was hugely successful we look forward to expanding uh certainly to other seasons and are pleased with the progress so far uh so that's been uh that's been certainly new newsworthy as has uh our budding French Scholars here that we recognize tonight um that were also recognized to be an American Association of teachers in French and um they were also recognized by the only French Honor Society uh for middle school students in United States uh so we had a great time uh honoring them in their schools um few weeks ago and certainly a great time here tonight I know that it's uh was an important night for them our Food Services Representatives uh held a dumpling contest uh so we voted uh with our stomachs uh you know Miss DeMarco and I had lunch at like 10:30 or whenever the high school kids eat lunch right and um I made it my business to be first in line and you had the choice of three uh options Korean sticky uh Korean sticky Wing Tai lemongrass and Nashville hot students had the opportunity to vote through a q Q code uh with the Korean sticky wings far outpacing the competition uh so this was a really cool event we got to meet the chefs uh from mashos and all of the uh the higher-ups from mashio kids really loved it and um I thought it was a great event so uh you know I never like to miss a meal so um it was great dumplings at 10:30 bedwell's been doing some beautiful things in the area of kindness um Mrs douly uh the folks over there called guidance duly um because there's two you know there's math dly too um they have guidance du's been doing uh some great work in the area of kindness uh there was a kindness challenge uh they sought to create kindness by creating motivating bookmarks for kids that were spread throughout the school positive messages with sidewalk chalk did some other decorating things like those um those coffee cup uh things that make sure your hands don't burn decorated them not sure what the the name is uh for those I'm sorry Coffee Co cozy there you go so uh a lot of cool work uh special recognition goes to uh the bees link club uh as well and that was in the local press uh certainly the Olympics of physics we celebrated tonight uh second place in the New Jersey American Association of physics teachers contest and we have uh Bernard's high school student uh Ty Hanratty ninth grade is uh the the high school everyday hero he's modest and he's kind he's willing uh to help others and uh whether you're a child or not uh he's a hero so uh we were happy to honor and uh recognize him and announce him tonight uh we have a um newsletter that was recently uh sent out to District families that you can find on our website we have a slide here that shows all sorts of different things that uh the kids have been doing and my assistant got very crafty with all the uh all the V work on the uh on the slide so we honored veterans we visited museums we vaulted uh volunteered and we certainly valued learning so uh we do take uh a great deal of time and care to put forth the district newsletter uh we do get uh feedback from residents and parents alike that they like um the content and certainly um feel free to uh to continue to promote it as uh as you would in in your normal settings but those are just some of the examples that you'll find in this month's newsletter uh we expect the next newsletter to be out just before the spring recess uh so if you're looking for any um a way to fill up your social calendar the high school is presenting a March 1st 2nd and 3rd uh Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dream coat uh here in the pack so uh get your tickets and you can find more information on that on the district website under the district news tab um so um looking forward to that certainly going to make a transition uh for a bit here we have um something that's called the Somerset Hills Community Partnership that that grew out of a uh a parent uh here um who has over time talked with and met with me and Mr Catelli and Dr Butler and um a host of other folks uh looking to um kind of broaden um how we serve all of the residents in the Somerset Hills and uh we did have an initial meeting uh with some partners and we're looking to grow this work out which is why I'm talking about it tonight but you know have having having a voice uh in this work and a voice in this community is such an important uh part uh for me and for the district and for our values uh we did partner with um a host of groups thus far uh the burrow of Burnville was um was represented by mayor Kos uh we have the Bernardsville Public Library which is kind of serving as the central Hub and and the leader in all of this work uh the literacy Volunteers of Somerset County greater riton Workforce Development Board of hunterton and Somerset County uh preschool Advantage community and crisis and certainly the school district here uh so what we ended up doing in our initial work session together uh in our partnership was to examine what we felt from our particular lens and and you'll notice that we all kind of all of the different folks here have a different perspective and a different lens and a different Lane and a different role that we serve in the community so we wanted to kind of share out in a broader way what our um what our thoughts were from from our own perspective so we thought about what the needs were for the Greater Community we thought about what some of those barriers were uh what types of services and resources that we were aware of that were available and also what kind of like we perceived to be the dreams to kind of Advance this work forward uh so a lot of um spitballing of information and sharing out um just being generally aware of uh what the greater needs are was an important piece to to folks because you had some folks as an example at the school district level that that may not understand what goes on in Workforce Development and vice versa uh food security safety trust um engagement coordination and promotion of what those needs are uh bilingual assistance healthc care assistance and also helping our younger parents parents that are um you know parents for the first time walking them through how to hook your car seat into a car and things like that um were were seen as needs uh there were some barriers that were examined fear stigma public transportation uh the barrier of time uh hours of operations uh the barriers of having early academic interventions uh having our roles uh complicated um our cultural norms our Valu systems and also um the barrier of not always knowing how to connect a Somerset Hills resident to particular services that may exist uh in town um we took some time to talk about what types of services are available uh certainly there are translation services uh historical Services um there's value systems preschool communication Services we have Prevention Services there's employment support uh education uh Eng English as a second language instruction general education development diploma instruction uh immigration services and resources and some other uh levers in the area of intervention and supports at the Somerset County level and in the area of Dreams uh the the the group uh wants to continue to meet uh would like to develop some technological connections for folks um want to develop some bilingual Liaisons uh ride sharing Services um above and outside of what some of those crowd sourcing um opportunities are uh a knowledge of different needs not all of us are aware of of all the various needs uh that folks have um inter agency coordination in the area of Grants and this was a a really big opportunity particularly um at the municipal level the county level and the school district level uh preschool and having some Community Services um coordination uh so in the future uh we will endeavor to get back together and to help develop an inventory of services to help craft a long range plan um to examine the various roles that Community agencies out and that Community agencies have and to broaden our Partnerships uh so as board members or audience members uh one way that you can contribute to that is if you feel that there individual people who you who may want to contribute to this work or if there's a organization that you feel like is is local to the Somerset Hills and may want to contribute to this work um I you know you can certainly refer them to me and I can send them along to the folks that are um helping to spearhead this work uh but it's very um it's been very productive and it certainly it's it's important that we have connectivity with the community and we have kind of a space there where we're able to share you know our lens and our experience um to uh what the needs may be um so um more to come there uh brief transition here we are uh making a technological transition uh from our current student information system database software It's called Power School uh and we are transitioning to a new platform system um we're about in the middle of our transition here I'm going to speak a little bit about what those items are how they came to be and you know how the district is is planning on executing this work uh moving forward so we are transitioning uh sometime in the summer to a new student information system uh program called Genesis um and we're moving uh away from power school and I think that in the world of technology in the world of apps and world of um you know staying a breast of your child's um your child's progress sometimes switching platforms can be somewhat stressful and we're here to help and we're here to make it not so stressful whether you are a parent or a teacher or even a child uh so there are some functionality pieces here that are very important to us uh the first uh certainly are student teacher and parent portals uh to be able to communicate um from the schoolhouse to your house um kind of expanding that reach is is an important piece here uh student management functions allows for um administrators to easily store and retrieve um student information and and particular data points uh there's certainly the the opportunity here for what we call timetable management those are all of your class schedules your master schedules your bell schedules uh will all be kind of housed in there uh as will all of our attendance features um the accurate and efficient tracking of of our attendance information is critical and uh the management of um our grade book all go into the the development and composition of a student information system so we made the change uh some of this uh kind of predates me as I was on boarding and some of it doesn't uh we we decided to move in another Direction um primarily or one of the big reasons was Genesis is a local uh New Jersey company uh it does speak to our connectedness to the New Jersey State Board of Education which is connected to the New Jersey Department of Education which oversees uh a lot of monitoring for us uh we have the we have the uh quality single accountability Continuum it's called qac um we go through a uh a monitoring program uh in concert with the Department of Education this uh particular program does speak to our needs in in kind of that area of compliance um we find that uh Genesis over time has become extremely efficient uh for us and it's also gives us the opp the opportunity uh to customize um a bit more to meet our desires in a way that is more economically sound than um than other models uh so there are uh there are host of issu a host of um opportunities that we look to capitalize on as far as the implementation of um Genesis uh moving away from Power School uh at the end of the day we are looking to enhance uh communication from classrooms to homes uh from classrooms to school counselors from classrooms to uh administrators from classrooms to kids and we feel like um this allows us to kind of meet uh those goals of enhanced communication uh parents Guardians will see uh some change although uh a lot of the a lot of the user interfaces may seem similar um we find that the Genesis model has an improved and enhanced registration process for students uh and families new to the district that certainly can be entirely online um will move us through um move the move us through the process from introduction to um onboarding uh very quickly and certainly will provide access to non-english uh to documents for non-english speakers uh in an expedited way which is important to us um there's family information on there that that can be filled out a really in real time um there's some forms there that we're looking to um have more more of a digital uh forward- facing aspect uh as we move away from kind of paper and and and and Pen um for some of those processes and um some items for families that are connected to students like their attendance their grades um IEPs 504s and and some other matters um inclusive of Transportation the instructional staff will have uh greater level of connectivity in the area of curriculum and instruction um unit planning lesson planning um a catalog of District curriculum apps will be available um on that interface uh there will be a grading app aspect to it as well uh and uh student progress oversight um is uh certainly an area that we find um great enhancement in Genesis um that you know only will allow the teacher to have um as much information as possible in order to be uh as successful as possible with uh with a student or a particular group of students um from an Administration standpoint uh there's some enhancements in student m management and student oversight um class visits class trips office visits dances your your typical running of the day um and uh anything that's kind of outl of the master outside of your master schedule is um has become highly streamlined in this program uh we've seen we're going to see enhancement enhancements in our student services work particularly in the area of nursing um and and also in the area of inter Scholastic Athletics which will assist or allow both Administration and parents to track teams look at rosters uh schedules uh there's uh some important njsiaa matters eligibility rules injury status um some particular forms and examinations that come up um from time to time uh we started this work in the spring of 2023 uh really is kind of like a multi-year process uh where we plan we Implement where review and kind of tweak some things out uh as needed as necessary uh currently as of last month we began the data conversion process which is um pretty significant process when you just kind of think about all the data that's inside a Power School uh we're converting that uh over to uh Genesis um and then in um the for the remainder of this year we are kind of in the train phase for uh applicable staff members uh as as it arises we began that work about two weeks ago um on a kind of a subject specific basis we're learning how to create the master schedule we're going through all those trainings create your bell schedules you know kind of create everything you know that we would need and um different roles are are are sitting for different training sessions they're an hour hour and a half at a at a pop and um you know just kind of getting the great getting the training piece down uh we look forward to uh engaging with the teachers towards the spring and certainly uh throughout the summer as we as we work towards the first day of school in September uh we will have an official transfer between power school and Genesis in July uh when everything is kind of uh shut down from a from a grading perspective uh we haven't kind of targeted that date but it's highly likely to take place during the month of July um from kind of like a go live um go live perspective so uh a lot of people are assisting in the implementation of this work uh we have our our business administrator our assistant superintendent oversees a lot of this work our director of it we have a database administrator uh Chris Griffith who really is leading a good bit of this uh implementation um particularly in the data piece um on the on the data transfer uh we have applicable administrators and District staff members that were engaging as well and um we work closely with a Genesis Implement implementation team of five folks uh as well and um certainly we will start to develop what our needs are when we identify what they are as far as like future Outreach with community members with parents um in order to uh get to the point where uh a we're able to go live and B we're able to implement for the first day of school um during the fall we will certainly solicit feedback and um try to uh work out any of the uh technological challenges that may come to um our attention through this transition so a lot of work um taking place in uh the area of Technology instructional technology and uh and management here um we have a uh budget Retreat and budget adoption that adoption will take place on March 13th uh we have the pathways to success that has been um uh issued last week and our next Edition like I said is prior to Spring recess uh as a board we have an upcoming training session in April on the evaluation of the superintendent that's an annual requirement set forth by the department uh we will continue our feasibility studies we have a focus group session set for March 27th takes place at 6: p.m. uh in the high school media center uh that is our um uh third engagement in um in examining the feasibility of adding LED lights to uh OT field um and certainly we're just in the information gathering stage uh the focus group did request additional information um particularly area of lumen um Lumen information on the field in the stands behind the stands in the end zones pole height um cost benefit analysis Etc uh we continue to work on a formalized communication plan and one last reminder to uh follow our news on our website in the district uh Tab and uh that satisfies my superintendent's report Miss frienda thank you very much Dr brochel um as always a tremendous amount of great information and I just would like to take an opportunity um we had a so many wonderful recognitions here this evening and I just want to highlight the work that you and your offic are doing regarding um press releases and the news that is being put out into the community to celebrate um on a monthly basis uh the the am the amazing things our kids are accomplishing and the way our staff is leading them in this community so that is that is something new it is something fantastic and I think it adds a tremendous value to the district so thank you very much okay um we are now going to work move into our first public comments section that's public comments for actionable agenda items only we very much welcome input from the Public Public comments are welcome at this time on any actionable agenda item towards the end of the meeting there is a second public forum on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes my I lost my place that's what happens when you read from a script you will be at three minutes you will be interrupted and ask to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or an inaccuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with New Jersey statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel public comments will be limited to 30 minutes a reminder for all parties and attendance to remain respectful and that there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt a speaker's comments thank you in advance for your input is there anyone that would like to take the podium at this time no okay then can I get a motion to close public comments uh Miss Ry Mr Joyce thank you okay then we are moving on to the report of oh no minutes I need an approval for the minutes I need a motion for approval of the minutes Miss Cooper and um Miss Nathan thank you is there any discussion roll call please Mr Baker yes Miss Balor yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D gray yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathan yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes and Mrs Renda yes thank you motion carries thank you back on track I'm all organized Now we move on to the finance committee Mr Baker thank you um the finance committee met uh February 6th for a half an hour all members were attended in in attendance along with Dr brochel and Mrs DeMarco we talked about three items um first item was the financial audit which we were we were presented with this evening and we're going to vote on accepting it um I do want to say uh I think we should thank Mrs DeMarco and her staff for having a clean audit you know when you handle $50 million of taxpayers money and the number of bills and checks we write every day it's amazing that it balances at the very end some of us can't balance our own checkbook um sometimes um but I think it's remarkable achievement so I I I I'm G to thank you and besides what I talked about before when when uh when the audit was here I think it's good to note for the taxpayers are our um assets values are now going back up uh which means it spreads the taxes more fairly than in the old days especially with our dispar disparity of huge mansions and smaller homes so it's a good thing we're going we're going back up and there's some good displays in here about about that so um so I'm I'm I'm proud that we that we got through another year of the audit we all talked about the budget uh which you'll be hearing more next um at our next meeting so at the last meeting I reported that we had about a two we about a $2 million gap we're down to about 468,000 remarkable Improvement we want to get it to Zero by the board the board retreat and I'm sure Dr brocho and Mrs DeMarco will get there um some of the things that we did uh to get lower we've um reduced the number of special education placeholders we usually put placeholders in based on people moving into the district who have special EDS needs so we we modified that number um we postponed some maintenance projects that you know if you think about your own house you always have a list of thing to do some things at the top get pushed to the bottom some you know things like that so I have things in my house I've been working on for 30 years and haven't got there yet um our medical insurance which is which is over $5 million um we're going to we talked to our broker we're going to lower that from a 10% increase to 8% and that's our best guess um we also are lowering lowering our substitute uh expenses because we're going to have six full-time substitutes in the high school um and we're also not we decided we can't for to do a school security specialist this year but maybe do that next year um so that's the budget and you'll hear more about that next month um the last item we talked about was printers and copiers there there's a motion on the agenda number for number 12 most most people know about about printers and copiers the trend nowadays is to go to single station multifunction printers and copiers instead of having everybody having their own printer um so we're going to change vendors get rid of all the old printers and go down to 12 um in various parts of the schools and when you print it doesn't print you you go over to the machine you take your tag like Dr brochel show show me your tag and he's GNA go over he's going to touch it and he can print all his jobs and I do it at the library we have it at the library I do it every day and confidential things are not sitting around you realize oh I printed a job I don't need it so you so you don't waste paper so there's a lot of advantages to this also you get more exercise walking to the printer um so we're going to prove that um and I'll turn it back to Mrs frienda that's my report Mr Marco I believe there's a resolution to be read in yes uh I'd like to read in a resolution which would be Finance item number 15 resolved that the Somerset Hills Board of Education approves the settlement agreement in the matter of McCaron versus Somerset Hills Regional School District docket number s m1114 d23 it is further resolved that the board president business administrator and the board attorney are authorized to take all the necessary measures toate effectuate sorry this action of the board okay thank you very much at this time uh may I ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through 15 on the agenda I'll move Mr Baker in a second can I have a I have a question I just need a second and then we can do discussion Miss Nathan and now discussion thanks I'm sorry Mr Baker I'm just confused about the printing process I've been out of the classroom for a while we used to have our own printers in the class classro and if you needed a bigger job you went to the main office is this going to put more of a burden on the teachers if sometimes things came up last minute or I forgot to print something or I needed additional copies so you're telling me there won't be printers accessible to teachers in the classroom that's correct yes no well well so oh well I think there's some accuracy to that statement um we have hundreds of teachers we are moving away from having hundreds of printers and hundreds of toner cartridges due to the cost so we are substituting in many cases not all but in many cases we're substituting the um classroom printer for a centralized printer um copier and um you kind of get used to it I guess over time um there is a uh an understanding at the elementary level that there are some different needs uh down there with the little guys um so we're also kind of trying to thread that needle with them too um working through the grade level leaders um for so the teachers will have kind of a shorter run because there are some unique needs down there but I think in large in large terms at the district level we are uh we're going to have this uh set up you know where it's kind of send it to a printer and and and honestly I send things out to print and then I can go over to the middle school for a meeting and print it there you know I'm always kind of on the move and on the run so um there are some features to it but we are taking out that that big feature of having it like right next to your you know at at Arms Reach almost because the cost just became prohibitive over time okay and what do you I don't know if you can predict the Q weight will will be I've never personally experienced one I mean you may have like somebody in front of you so like you would go wouldn't be days no no no so you would put it there and the job is there ready and waiting and so when you get to your machine you punch your cod in you bring your card um it you know flies right out okay yeah so and if someone's ahead of you just go to a different well I just push them out of the way like you have you know yeah yeah so you either wait or you go somewhere else so it's uh like you know you kind of have those options um I've never waited with like more than two people in front of me so it's a nice way to catch up have two people yeah I only have to push two so um so yeah it's it's different you know but I will say that the teachers have been really understanding of of it and uh you know it's not easy kind of having a new process but um yeah it's not easy on the not easy so thank you y is there anybody else no okay roll call please miss Balor yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D Grand Pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay thank you moving into facilities and operations Mrs sandoro okay okay um so fno o met on the 6 and um all committee members were there we met for about an hour some of the things that we've already voted on and discussed um we spoke about in um eano from a facilities perspective but I'll just touch on those quickly as I go through um the first thing we talked about was the Bernards High School capital projects the and this is a we voted on this in fno already but the turfin media center work uh came in under budget so we were voting on a resolution to utilize the remaining money from those projects for planning and implementation um work around the BHS track and the baseball and softball field assessment this year so we just all voted to move though that that budget that we had remaining to those projects um we talked about the district rols from a facilities perspective and that we wanted to update those based on what we've completed and the work that we're considering for going forward um everybody got an email from Mrs frienda about our board goals so we SP uh spoke briefly about that and that we will be scheduling a workshop with Gwen thoron from New Jersey school boards to develop our goals in the spring time frame so um Mrs frienda already updated everybody on that um Dr brochel gave us a bit of an update on the middle school student management um he discussed with the committee something that's called the principal determination report and this involves hibs the personal um sorry principles determination report allows principles discretion when evaluating whether an incident should be reviewed as hip we do not currently have that as part of our policy in the district and it's Dr bral's recommendation to continue not to have that so at this point anything referred um that is could potentially be a Hib will be investigated as a hip and um he just thought that that allows for continued consist consy in applying Hib um policies so you know the committee was in agreement with that he gave us a brief update um that we've had the same number of referrals um from first semester 2223 to 1 semester 23 24 same number of referrals for hips um but that our discipline incidents are down and um at that point two weeks ago we had no out of school suspensions at the middle school and so this discussion was pertained only to the middle school and then you've heard much about The copier if you read Mr Schwarz um report and pathways on The copier you got a lot of information in there so we had also discussed the copers um budget updates um included funding the repair and replacement of the Bernards High School track and that's going to be done through the capital budget next year um Administration is putting a placeholder in the budget for baseball the baseball and softball fields but we'll know more what we need with regards to that project once the assessment is complete um we are going to allocate money for a third sleo um uh in next year's budget however as Bob mentioned the district security specialist will be put into the budget likely for 25 26 we had gotten some feedback from our sessions with regards to permanent lights as well as last meeting on um the outdoor parking lights the outdoor lights around our facilities and some of the neighbors had provided some input that there seems to be a lot of lights so our Administration took a lot um an inventory of all that as a committee we discussed it it seems like we have an approp riate amount of lighting the direction of some of that lighting maybe could be looked at so that it's not shining out directly onto allot so we're going to further investigate that but we certainly heard the feedback and want to um take a look at if there's any anything we could do to make some adjustments to that so our Administration again will just kind of continue to evaluate that Dr brochel mentioned the next meeting for the permanent lights on the field is going to take place March 27th um and I think that covered it so I'm going to turn it back over to you Mrs frienda okay thank you so then at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through three on the agenda I will make a motion Miss Santoro and Miss Ry and discussion um Dr B uh quickly sorry do you mind because I know there was some discussion around the hip process that you're recommending I'm sure there are some parents out there that think they're too many hibs some that think there aren't enough you know could you just describe why you recommend keeping it that way as opposed to having a principal recommendation sure it's a great question so the um the district has the option to allow a principle to um after doing an inial determination um to review initial facts and utilize a a mechanism which is called the principes determination report uh what that does is it um it sort it s side steps an official investigation um and it it kind of rests on the determination of a principle right and I think that that puts a lot of onus on the princip principle um to you know it on on one hand I guess you know it may be viewed as advantageous for them to have that ability uh but on the other it also uh opens up um it opens up the process to some possibility for inconsistencies uh so from an from a perspective of being consistent to the process I feel like not having that inside of your policy is is um the most prudent way to to approach it um and so everything that you know goes through the official referral process gets you know goes through the investigation Paradigm and there's no questions for consistency right yeah now the the the determination process is isn't solely the principles uh it does go through with superintendent approval and then that would be approved you know by the board in in our monthly meetings but um I just feel feel like if if the mechanism is there if the process is there we should just U utilize the the traditional way of of examining these matters Mak sense yeah thank you is there anybody else for a discussion okay roll call please miss Cooper yes Mrs D gr pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay thank you um next up is the report of the curriculum committee Miss Cooper thank you the curriculum committee met Thursday February 8th for a little over an hour committee members in attendance included Mrs frienda Mrs Santoro Mrs Ry and me administrators in attendance included Dr broel Dr Butler and Mr Catelli Mr Baker also intended in Mrs Gill's absence we we began the meeting by discussing field trips and professional development requests in the area area of professional development tonight we'll be voting to approve several faculty members to become AP test readers in June this is exciting because it's likely that their participation will benefit both our teachers and our students our teachers May benefit from enhanced knowledge of the test a broader exposure to a wider range of student perspectives and the chance to exchange ideas with other teachers and college faculty ultimately our AP students will also likely benefit from their teachers increase from familiarity and experience with the material and the test and the chance to collaborate with their um their peers we then uh briefly discussed the revised drafts of the District calendars which we'll be voting on tonight the only difference from the previous drafts is the extension of the President's Day Holiday from 3 days to 4 with a delayed opening on the Tuesday following President's Day for professional development um one point of concern among some committee members is that we're starting school the Thursday after Labor Day which can be very difficult for parents given the lack of uh traditional camp and child care options for the days after Labor Day the administration will look into potential options to alleviate some of the challenges of Child Care on these days for interested parents um this prompted a discussion of the need for data on the advantages and disadvantages of starting school early in the year which as has been the trend in some of our neighboring districts the committee asked the administration for data and their recommendations regarding the start date and agreed that making a decision on this topic should be a goal of the board since we've been discussing it for several years we briefly discussed summer programming including math and Ela support for multilanguage Learners uh today we'll be voting on the extended school year program for the summer uh next Dr Butler informed us that the state has not yet issued guidance for developing updated comprehensive Equity plans when this guidance is provided the administration will move forward with its development uh then Mr Catelli joined us to review the status of plan planning for bedwell's new bilingual program he began by discussing the curricular resources needed for the program based on the administration's research and visits to similar programs his team has identified two potential curricular options for the literacy component of the program Benchmark Ed and hmh the administration and teaching staff will continue to evaluate these options his team has also started to build support for the program in the community and in uh in the in the district raising awareness during the kindergarten registration process and reaching out to families of students who might benefit from the program after registration they will also be meeting with the staff in the Bedwell HSA to discuss the program in more detail he also let us know that the Administration has decided to have the families of the students who participate in the program next year uh vote to determine the name of the program moving forward uh we then reviewed the district's comprehensive and holistic approach to integrating the department of education's anti-bias mandates into the curriculum it is an impressive impressively comprehensive plan that seamlessly integrates these important Concepts into a wide range of subjects in all grade levels ultimately the goal of the plan is to encourage tolerance Foster feelings of belonging promote accept acceptance and help students become better citizens by enabling them to recognize and avoid bias and respect the differences of others some committee members thought that this may be an informative topic for future curricular presentations to the public and since at its budgeting season Dr Butler summarized uh curricular needs of the district from a budgetary perspective these budgetary needs fall in five categories a curriculum writing curriculum subscriptions and support professional development contracted Services which may increase due to the ending of ARP funding and textbooks and other curricular materials including new materials for our digital digital Arts programming Dr Butler did indicate that the cost of curriculum writing might be greater this year due to the need to address new Ela and math standards finally Dr Butler gave us an update on the March 4th professional development day during this full day of professional development teachers will have the opportunity to learn about a wide range of topics and hone a variety of skills including sheltered instruction World L language portfolios Ai and education updates and teaching math in in Elementary Middle School supporting students through loss iniversity culturally responsive teaching huddle strategies to support multilanguage Learners specialed co- teing and Lifeline Suicide Prevention and that concludes my ort thank you very much okay so then at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through n on the agenda make okay Miss Cooper and a second second missor okay and any discussion um I know you're going to speak about it at another meeting but what can you elaborate a bit on the comprehensive Equity plan the comprehensive Equity plan is something that the state requires all schools to um to create and submit to them every 3 years it's been on hold for the last two years due to the pandemic um a new one should be due for implementation next year but the state has not yet given us the parameters of what belongs in that plan what usually goes in that we usually audit everything that we're doing to see if there's anything that we need to work on and we do that through variety of you know looking at test scores looking at um facilities looking at everything that we need to and then we develop a plan to see if there's anything that we need to work on so adding that bilingual self-contained classroom helps like that's part of the equity I think that would that would definitely benefit us okay thanks anybody else okay roll call please Mrs D gr pre yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Balor yes Miss Cooper yes and Mrs frienda yes motion carries okay thank you and moving on to Personnel Mr Grand Pride policy on Personnel met on February 8th for just about an hour um Miss Ballard Miss frienda U Miss Nathan's in replacement of Miss gills and Mr Joyce were present and Dr Nel joined us for the policy portion as well as Dr brochel in regards to Personnel um we talked a bit about um a service agreement that we voted on in finance um that currently our ba is undergoing recertification so in order to make sure that we are covered if we did need to have a larger purchase agreement we're in a shared services now with Somerset County until that recertification is complete um and we also talked extensively about um the budget process in regards to Personnel I won't reiterate what everybody else has already said um in terms of our trying to close that Gap but I will touch briefly on some of the extracurriculars that are still within our wish list um so there was discussion of the great out outcry we had in terms of volleyball for students coming out and a hope to hopefully be able to do something um towards the Freshman level within this budget as well as the ongoing Community discussions that have been present um to potentially see what we could do for the middle school as well with some sort of volleyball and potentially um wrestling although Logistics are still being completely figured out and nothing is for sure those discussions are ongoing um in terms of opportunities for the next year um and other than that we reviewed our tentative agenda for person okay thank you um so then I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through 14 on the agenda I'll make the motion Mr Grand Pre and a second Mr Joyce and is there any discussion okay roll call please Mrs Santoro yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs de Grande yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes and Mrs Renda yes motion carries okay thank you and back to Mr gr pray for policy okay so the policy discussion um surrounded um substance abuse regulation 5530 um the current regulation was presented to us by Dr Nigel to revisit discussions that we had begun over a year ago um we did review the current policy and that its current focus is on possession distribution and consumption but does not have any warning on intent to distribute and does not allow for any ranges in punishments based on situational needs for administration all consequences are currently discrete and concrete um additionally we did a comparison or we were presented a comparison in terms of similar size schools and other local districts to review what their policies and regulations were and the ultimate goal and the committee recommendation was to continue a review with Administration that would allow for including of high schooled student input counselors from the schools and um other administrative team members and to return to the committee with recommendations for potential change the goals would be to find a balance with discipline and also the support of the therapeutic angle of a way to help students to seek help um and not just focus on removal and discipline for the students um to move forward in a positive fashion the committee did voice that all changes would still be focused on the ideal of removal of drugs and alcohol from The District in the schools and would also incorporate consideration for new types of drugs that are more recently altered in New Jersey laws and surrounding certain drugs that are emerging um and I believe that was the extent of our discussion okay um there are no action items to move this evening but if there are any discussion amongst board members regarding to the policy okay roll call oh roll call we're not voting force of habit okay moving into our second public comment session public comments are welcome at this time on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes you will be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the Podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium Mr Marco will be setting her timer that will be visible to everyone in attendance please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or an an accuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with New Jersey statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel a reminder for all parties and attendance to remain respectful and that there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt the speaker's comments thank you in advance for your input one okay thank you this hi Alison labr from 10 Steven Street in Bernardsville I'm here to speak tonight after seeing what happened at the last meeting there are a few things I feel need to be addressed last month Sylvia stood and for some reason felt she needed to speak on behalf of a former Boe candidate if Miss Emory Clark had an issue with the election then she should be the one to get up and speak however instead Sylvia does this is not because this is something that the board can solve or change but rather she does this to disrupt the meeting and create chaos if we are going to talk about an argument regarding the election then I want to hear hear both sides because there is a completely different side to this altercation yet Sylvia chose only to share one side regardless I believe that the that these are both moot as the altercation was between two private citizens none of our board members I do not believe for one second that either miss friendo or Miss Emer Clark should be held responsible for something that a private citizen says in typical Sylvia fashion rather than speaking about issues that the could be dealing with she was extremely unprofessional and continues to make a mockery of the board there's work that needs to be done and rather than focusing on what can be better or acknowledging the amazing goals that the board has accomplished Sylvia chooses to create a circus lastly what I really felt cross the line was when Sylvia's last comment and I quote Miss frienda had a smug face I'm embarrassed that an elected board would verbally attack another in in public like this we expect better than this from our children and I most certainly expect more than this from a sitting board member also uh Mr Joyce last week you referred to miss Emer Clark as a sweetheart to work with it is 2024 women do not want to be called a sweet thank you okay thank you Miss labera hi sujan Beckerman Gladstone New Jersey as a little background my kids were born here and went through the somerset Hill School District from kindergarten on with my son graduating last year from the high school and my daughter who is currently a junior I can confidently say that my children have enjoyed their experiences in school and benefited from their education in this District however in all my 13 years here in this District never have I witnessed such ter terrible vitriol being spewed against our Board of Ed member from a fellow Board of Ed member along with her supporters until recently I watched last month's board meeting and I was appalled by the behavior of syia Sylvia gills and her supporters during public comments I believe we have certain expectations of our elected board members to conduct themselves in a civil and constructive manner yet Sylvia gills an elected board member LED an aggressive attack on Sam frienda her fellow board member over the alleged actions of her husband it was obvious to me watching the recording that this was a planned and coordinated attack led by Miss gills and assisted by her supporters I'm certainly not condoning the alleged actions of Sam friend's husband but Mike friend's actions are not Mrs friend's actions he is his own person and last I checked he is a private citizen and does not work for the Board of Ed I would hope you I would hope you miss gills will never have to be judged based on your husband's actions and interestingly enough I found a clip from the March 15th 2023 Board of Ed meeting under the discussion of of Ethics commission where you miss gills inquired about your husband possibly posting on social media and confirming quote so my husband can post things that I can't control unquote and then further wanting additional clarification you said quote but I'm not held accountable for his behavior right so I find the basis of your attack on miss frienda extremely hypocritical because in your words Mrs gills Sam frienda should not be held accountable for her husband's Behavior regardless this entire situation is a personal issue yet it has been unnecessarily dragged into this forum by you miss skills where it's affecting your duties as an elected official whose job is to help ensure the success of our kids' education this has to be done collaboratively and I'm baffled as to how you think these attacks on someone you work with is in any way helpful to the goals of this District the taxpayers of this District do not want to see the divisive bickering and personal attacks between board members how is this serving the children of of the school district you are creating unnecessary chaos and disruption to these proceedings with your antics please conduct yourselves with decency and compassion please get back to the business of serving the children in our district and show up for them by being good examples of how to behave and work with each other instead of tearing down your PO fellow board members I'd also like to commend the superintendent the board and especially Sam frna on maintaining your composure and professional demeanor while being so viciously attacked by Miss gills and her support shame on you miss skills and shame on your supporters on the way you aggressively attacked a member of the board Miss Beckerman that was Miss Becker job and you're making it that much hard for the board to successfully do your jobs our children are watching our kids deserve better so please and that's 3 minutes thank you is there anyone else that would like to take the podium this evening hi I'm Katie long Crest Drive um we have lived in Bernardsville for the past 15 years I have three kids in the district all in the public schools first off I'd also like to thank everyone on our school board um for all of our school board members for putting up putting so much of their time and effort into educating our kids secondly after last month's board meeting I wanted to make sure that I came here to express my support publicly for Sam frienda not only as a board member but as a person the Sam I know has dedicated countless hours to understanding the challenges our district faces and collaborating with the many stakeholders to identify and Implement Solutions the Sam I know is a great listener and seeks out the many different constituents in our district to understand the needs of their children and their families the Sam I know deeply appreciate appreciates every person that it takes to keep our children safe and thriving in our schools from the bus drivers to the teachers the administrative staff the custodian staff guidance counselors power professionals the police officers the Ami not takes her position as president of the board seriously is diplomatic humble and puts egos aside for the job that she needs to do the Sam I know is a caring and thoughtful member of our community and a thoughtful neighbor I feel lucky to have her working for the best interest of all of the children in our district than thank you thank you Miss Long hi Heather Ike 60 stone fence road Bernardsville for years I've watched in awe and with a grateful heart all of the things Sam frenda has done in support of our children in our community I was thankful when she stepped up to serve as co-president of the Bedwell Elementary home in School Association then volunteering again to be corresponding secretary for the BMS HSA and serving as co-president the following year I marveled at all the resources Sam helped to bring to benefit our district during the four years she served on the Board of Trustees for the the Somerset Hills Education Foundation in the Years leading up to her 2019 election to the Boe I was inspired by her dedication and passion for Education which compelled her to attend each board meeting month after month as a private citizen just to be sure she knew exactly what was happening in our schools and since her election to the board I've watched with Pride as Sam Works tirelessly to ethically serve all of the children in our community and those who work within our district you see there are there are people like Sam who are just so inspiring those who truly walk the walk and give more of themselves than anyone really should and then there are those like the disrespectful disruptors who come to these meetings month after month seemingly intent on becoming a Newsmax sound bite behaving in a rude embarrassing and downright frightening manner like last month's meeting so as you you listen to those speak tonight I ask you to consider the source do you know these people what have have each done for our community and are they discussing relevant District business or are they trying to make a mountain out of a molehill and I encourage everyone to do a quick Google search on Miss skills who seems to be leading the the charge to disrupt and derail our school board I think you will find her behavior since moving here from Springfield eerily familiar to what you read some might say she seems to have a Playbook to divide malign and incite through Embellishments truths and downright lies just like we saw in her campaign to get elected to this board but our little Community will not be divided we will not let partisan politics creep into our school system we reject the three- earing circus that is trying to ride into town from Washington DC and we fully support Sam frienda on our Board of Education it's why we reelected her after all so thank you to Sam and all of the board members who choose to serve with dignity free of agenda and with collaborative spirit I am truly impressed by your rest straint and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for volunteering your time thank you Mrs I is there anybody else who would like to take the podium this evening hi Mike long 22 Crest Drive in Bernardsville um I also would like to express my support for president San frienda uh but that's not actually why I'm here at the podium tonight I think the words that came before me spoke very eloquently about some of the issues that are in my heart as well um I actually came to speak about a topic that I've spoken about many times before which is the development of the athletic facilities at this at this uh School District um I know that the turf has been completed and we are working on the lights Dr brochel I appreciate your leadership in that effort and I look forward to the dialogue that we're continuing I think welcoming all the stakeholders in the way that you have and the way the organization has um has proven to be both eye opening and I hope get us to a place where maybe not every last person will be happy with the results but that's what happens when you live in a community that pulls together um I just also wanted to speak a little bit about in reaction to something I heard at the meeting last week or last last month and that was a suggestion that putting up lights would only benefit a couple nights maybe a couple teams and I also don't want to give the impression that I'm suggesting the lights be on 24 hours a day and there'll be kids everywhere I'm the co-president of the Somerset Hills youth football program and the vice president of its lacrosse program I don't speak for every member of those programs and I don't speak for the programs formally here tonight but I've seen a lot of things and I've coached a lot of kids and I can tell you that I'll set the scene for you I'm not talking about bands and well I like the band but I'm not talking about massive outrageous events that are being that are occurring there at least that's not what I'm what I'm uh trying to Envision I'm talking about eighth grade boys and girls seventh grade fifth grade fourth grade kindergarteners to have an opportunity to get a little extra practice time to get another game in we have I think Heather how many was it 18 teams in the in the lacrosse program every single one of them to play a game requires a rectangular field and it requires time and it requires coordination having another field that's available again we're talking 20 kids on the field 30 kids on the field maybe 25 cars in the parking lot these are not massive outrageous events and they can occur on week nights under normal hours um so I just strongly recommend that this that this board continue to pursue this goal so that we can get more kids off their screens out of their houses and on the field so thank you very much thank you Mr long is there anyone else that would like to make a comment at this time okay um so my name is Jody Sebastian I'm at Stone Fence Road in Bernardsville and I just wanted to comment today um I have three kids that have gone through the school district I have one that's a freshman in college and I have two that are still in the system and I just wanted to thank the Board of Education recognize their accomplishments that they've had since Co um it has been a very challenging educational opportunity and if you look at the years that are coming our kids are placing very well in colleges they're doing very well on their scores as they said through the audit and I know my daughter is at tus right now and she has just been brilliantly prepared for college and a lot of it has to do with what all of you have done during covid and working with the education um through these years I appreciate the fact that you guys are all so focused and you can like block out all the nonsense that's going on and really focus on the purpose which is to take care of our children I have always been very grateful that there are a lot of people that I know that are on the board with as Mrs frienda Mrs Santoro we're on the fields cheering for our children we're supporting our kids at musical theater and the Productions and my kids have grown up with these children and I'm so grateful that I don't have to worry about what's going on in the schools because I know that I have friends and family and parents that are making good decisions for my children so I just wanted to thank you for all your time and to be able to block out everything else to focus on what's most important so thank you thank you Mr Sebastian hello my name is Mary and I'm not used to microphone sorry my name is Mary and I am on Anderson Hill and this is my first Board of aded meeting so thank you and was reference to last month's meeting and that's what brought me here and I'm sorry that that what happened last month is what brought me here but I felt it was really important because volunteering and what you guys all do is extremely important I have one child who went through this school district and I couldn't be more thankful for her education and there's plenty of people on this board that I couldn't be more thankful for and this community I love this community I'm not from this community I moved into this community and I've only had positive in this community and it's I just wanted to make sure negatives are very easy it is very easy I tell my kids I coach a major swim team in in this community and I tell my kids when they start giving me negatives you got to get me one positive give me a positive next so I just wanted to personally thank the board because you give a crap our kids are being better for that and there are plenty of people on here I mean Mrs de D Grand Prix I mean this woman could not give more to youths this is one only one place that she comes and gives stuff my child loves the library that's due to you Mrs Ballard and only you that's all it is my daughter was invited to parties when she didn't have any friends by Mrs santora and had her in her house and I can't even go through and I'm sorry Mrs frienda what you have done for my daughter cuz again I'm not from this community but these people have picked me up and picked my child up and the role model that you've given her she respects you so much every single conversation she has with you and I can't thank you because it takes a community to raise children it does not take one mom and dad it takes everybody and when people drop their kids off to me as a coach I take that personally and hope that I can teach those children how to behave and how to have that so thank you all on this board yes even you miss skills thank you all on this board because you're volunteering your time and you give a crap thank you thank you Miss Corey is there anyone else hi um Jen lying 34 Dayton Crescent Bernardsville um I can't reiterate enough Sam last month it was just it's just too much right it's just it was too much and everyone that got up here eloquently spoke and we're here for the kids and that's what matters most so I'm going to talk about another topic um lights so I too have been on the board for football um for youth sport for high school and now on the lacrosse board um having lights on school Fields is crucial for several reasons um firstly it really extends the usability of our facilities um allowing for after school um Sports um practices games and events um to take place even after um dark again to Mike Long's Point not we're not asking for you know to stay on all night long um this only enhances our the students and our children's access to um physical activity but also Fosters a sense of community engagement by allowing these evening um games that parents and other community members can attend moreover well it Fields contribute to um safety reducing the risk of accidents and providing a secure environment for students coaches and and Spectators um additionally illuminated Fields can also serve as a valuable resource um for hosting extracurricular activities fundraisers and Community Gatherings um really by enriching the overall um educational experience and straight strengthening um ties between the school and and our community um you know investing for lights for our school Fields is not only practical but it also enhances the overall all well-being and the cohesion of our school and Community thank you thank you Mrs lying is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time no okay can I get a motion to close public comments Please Mr gr pre and a second Bob Mr Baker okay thank you um we will be moving into supplementary matters now the views and the views and opinions that are expressed in supplementary matters May are the um expressed by individual members of the Somerset Hills Board of Education and are solely those of the individual board members and do not reflect the views opinions policies regulations and or positions of the Somerset Hills Board of Education Andor any other individual members of the board if there's anyone that would like to make a comment during supplementary matters at this time I would so I'm going to try to unpack some of the things that were said about me um starting with Heather Ike who seemed comfortable with slandering me you can Google me and nothing will be found that's anything close to what she has said um and any IND it's an individual who last year when I ran I'm sorry 2022 when I ran was nothing but disrespectful to me so I find it pretty hypocritical and that's what I can't stand when I stand sit here I I despise the lack of transparency and the hypocrisy I despise the diversity the equity the inclusiveness unless someone doesn't think like you and that's what I've experienced as a candidate and as a board member um some of the other points the reason that Holly may not have spoken is there may be pending criminal charges so it would be I'm sorry there's no there's no uh audience participation during supplementary matters thank you uh pending criminal charges so it would not be wise for her to speak publicly on this matter um again the giggling I don't know what is funny when somebody threatens someone else's life threatens that they should get an attorney and threatens that they should get a realtor insinuating that they should move that is scary enough that the individual fear for her life and went to the police how that's humorous anyone you can shake your heads no but it didn't happen to you so you don't know how you would react so she feared enough that she went to the police and I said this all clearly and it was all factual last month it was all based on the police report on the body cam video and on Sam statement to me because I did follow a chain of command and nothing was done it was just brushed under the rug I don't understand that way of thinking and yes there is another side I just said it and some people thought it was humorous that there might be a crime committed here and yes there was a third party I mentioned it last month it was Sam I'm sorry Sam as soon as you posted it on your campaign Facebook page you became a party to it we have to hold ourselves accountable and we have to be transparent and that is not me creating a circus that is me giving the public the information that many of you did not know and when I pres um there was there was no aggressive attack I couldn't have been more respectful again please because that's respectful correct I stood there as I was instructed to do which turned out I didn't really have to and I spoke calmly and respectfully to everybody and what I thought was disrespectful was when I was speaking or other people were speaking uh Sam and Adam were speaking to each other so they weren't even taking in everything that was being said that's disrespectful um and I I'm sorry I don't know who I can't remember the name um when I asked about my husband posting on social media yes he can post on social media if I participate in that then I'm just as bad as he is if he posted something bad that's the difference if Mike frienda had posted something and it had been left at that that's a different story but once Sam participated she became a party to it that's the third person in this mix that as soon as it's posted as soon as it's mocked she's a party to it and I don't understand I get that you're all friends with her I don't understand how you can excuse it you can walk away because the truth hurts I get it I I totally understand it I'll wait till everybody's gone Sam can be your friend Sam can be 98% perfect but this was an egregious act on the part of her husband and on her part and I'm sorry if you don't like it I'm sorry if you don't agree with it but it occurred and it's all factual you agreed with me when we met privately that it did happen you did I mean this is your chance to at least clear that and say it's a factual as I said last month this is is not a matter for the Board of Education this is not a matter to be discussed in this forum I am not going to engage on this matter it's absolutely a matter for the board when we're adjudicating HIV cases and we have adults on the board acting in an intimidating and um bullying and her harassing manner to the point where the target went to the police and as the target was going to the police Sam is calling her we can only guess why I'm not going to make that assertion but you can't have somebody here I'm I'm not asking the board to adjudicate this I'm not asking them to decide if it's a crime or election interference what I am saying is this occurred and this should give us pause to think people can shake their heads no but it occurred it's in a police report it's in the text messages it's in her campaign Facebook page and it's in the comment sections where they're mocking the post like it wasn't enough that this person fear for her life let's laugh at her so I mean you can I'm going to repeat the remarks that I made last week you can all leave if you feel more comfortable or if you want to listen to it you can but everything I'm saying and about to say is factual all supported by documentation by video by text all of it and as I'm saying it I'm speaking as a board member not for I like to make a motion to adjourn please this is not appropriate I just wanted to mention unsung heroes coming up read your emails for we got an email right before okay but there's a motion to adjourn on the table we can't continue to um is there a second to that motion Miss r okay all in favor