good evening everybody and welcome to the Board of Education meeting scheduled for March 19th if everybody could please rise for the flag salute i al to the flag the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation indivisible and justice for all that was so Mr Boyce can we have a roll call please yes Mrs Van Horn here Mr seral present Sir Mr Jess present Mr Carlson here Mr pontillo body Mrs crasa here Mrs Dale here Mr Kim here Mr Garcia here Mrs Rob here thank you please note that adequate notice of this meeting in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 intitled the open public meetings act has been provided by action of the board of education at its regular meeting on January 3rd 2024 notices to The Courier News and Star Ledger circulated in the school district and a posted notice to this effect on the board of education website and building Bolton board administrative headquarters 51 West Cliff Street Summerville New Jersey and also everybody please note that Mrs Dale is joining us virtually today uh and with that we are open to the public so if anybody would like to have a public comment we ask you to please go to the microphone at the podium um hi everyone my name is m v my name is Veronica gens um and I'm the president of the summer of High School choir and I'm vice president um and we're here today we want to talk a little bit about what the high school choir program has been doing these past couple months um specifically today we had um students from Vander choir Somerville Middle School choir and brur Central Middle School choir uh visit our Auditorium for the day to perform um songs for each other and have kind of a bonding experience so we performed for the three lower chirs and they performed for us and then we had like a recruitment session where we're trying to recruit um the elementary schools for the Middle School choirs and then the Middle School choirs for our choir um for the upcoming years and it was a really good experience and we just wanted to share a little bit of what we were doing and the reason we had this week is because we have our Showcase of the Arts on Thursday which features not only the choir but the Jazz Band The the drum line the color guard and the orchestra club and all different types of Arts at the high school and then in addition to our songs we're also going to be inviting all of those kids back from both bcms Vander and suberville middle school to sing one song with us all together as a big choir so we hope you can join us at 6 p.m. on Thursday um the instrumental part of the show starts um in the gym like right off the ramp of the high school and then at 7 we all move down to the auditorium where we have the choir section so we hope you can join us thank you hi everybody my name is Susan misler um a parent of Somerville High School freshman mallerie and um I reside in Branchburg I don't know if you need that 48 France Drive um I'm currently the president of the Summerville High School winter guard boosters and I wanted to just come here with a message of thanks and gratitude for your support um my daughter mallerie had the opportunity to join the the color guard and then the Winter Guard during 8th grade and what an experience it was for her and I'm just here to tell you about the dedication that these children have to this commitment um and to ask you to join us at our home show that we're hosting at bcms Sunday April 7th it's all day and we would love to see you there and we brought one of our members um the rest of them are are currently rehearsing as they always are if you know anyone on the guard um but Selena our senior Captain is here and she wanted to talk just real quick about the impact that g has had on her thank you um yeah my name is Selena verbanas I am a current senior and I've been captain for the last two seasons I had the privilege of joining Color Guard very early in sixth grade and it has taught me a lot about work ethic the Arts and my own leadership abilities and I would like to invite every everyone also to Veronica mentioned it earlier the Showcase of the Arts we perform at 6:45 this Thursday in the shs home gym um we also have the home show coming up soon which is a wonderful experience to see all of the work that eighth graders through seniors have put in through the entire season and it is genuinely one of the most impactful moments of our season because because everyone is so proud to show what they've been working towards and show it towards their friends family and the summer bille Community thank [Applause] you distinguished members of the school board drel friends Jamie Barta check waiting to New Jersey rumors of My Demise have been greatly exaggerated I wanted to speak this evening regarding some pending regulation being voted on in Trenton uh New Jersey Administrative Code 6A and specifically sub chapters 16 to 22 for fiscal accountability uh this is specifically related to approved private schools for students with disabilities apsds the board may be well aware of some of these developments but this pending regulation could have ramifications that resonate back into the district with negative impact back in February I took part in an open Forum to discuss this pending regulation uh various leadership and parents for many of the apsds through at the state came together voiced great concern as to the pending code how it might impact the services they provide to their students and ultimately very severely handicapped their ability to operate and ultimately ex without getting into a bunch of the minutia it would have increased enrollment requirements for those schools cap salary uh and cap salary increases additionally and it would reduce dollars that are available available for student rewards based programs which is extremely uh important for a motivating tool especially in ABA therapy and this one just is crazy any gain on a sale of a building would profits back to the sending District so if a school ran a capital campaign raised $5 million and they ultimately sold it moved into a new building those profits if it was worth 10 would have to be divied up and go back to the school you guys would love it but it just seems not right so uh if indeed these apsds can enroll new students or in some kind of Armageddon scenario they didn't exist the public districts really aren't equipped to absorb these students from Staffing the services or from an infrastructure standpoint certainly some of them would fall into this category uh while I was there I actually had the pleasure of meeting with former New Jersey Commissioner of Education Dr gag leardi who has an advocacy and advisory firm for these matters by the way he spoke very highly of the district going back to when Dr DWI was here specifically my interest in these matters are my son attended apsds for 10 years and their services resulted in him going not from being able to speak and requiring a one-on-one teacher to today attending Somerville high school without assistance and taking part in many activities in the music department most recently being on stage with the speaking and singing part in the production of Mean Girls I hope everyone saw it it was great uh certainly certain students require a Continuum of Education often being in a very restricted environment and progressing to less restrictive or even back to public school so ultimately them is us we should be aligned with student based objectives and not operational metrics which aren't based in any kind of educational outcomes I bring this to the board's attention more from an awareness standpoint so let's say putting our future in the hands of Trenton is like building a house on Sand I would also from a personal standpoint like the person thank the board for their support additional support of the marching band and music program my forementioned son takes part in all these programs he will be looking forward to all of the remaining opportunities in the program for the remainder of this year including the showcase on Thursday night and certainly next year which is his senior year so you'll be done with me um so again much appreciated that this added funding is the beginning of a great partnership between the board and the bush Club thank you very much thank you anybody else all right seeing none we have a motion to close public session please thank you Mr any discussion all those in favor I oppostion motion C uh next we have approval of the minutes for January 15th January 17th January 23rd special meetings February 12th special meeting February 21st both regular and executive session and February 28th special meeting Bo we had a lot of meetings motion thank you Mr pontillo may have a second thank you Mr Kim is there any discussion all those in favor I I any opposed any exstension abion sir on all of them on February 21st same here you all right motion carries uh board president's report we have them so there we go we want superintendent report okay and I'm going to introduce Riley and Ashley for the high school highlights okay um so first thing I'll start off with I'll just cover what everyone already covered up here um the Showcase of the Arts is this Thursday and it's starting at six o'clock um first is like band in the color guard they'll be performing in the gym by the ramp so the main gym um and then they'll move down to the auditorium at 7 o'clock where the choir is and everyone will take the stage and um I just know all those programs have put in such amazing work they all put on such a great show so definitely go see it if you can and then um I'll also just highlight on the play um the S March 7th 8th and 9th um the shs drama club um and some people in the pit tech crew um costumes makeup all of them they put in such hard work and I was there the eth um the Mean Girls play was absolutely amazing so I just wanted to give them a quick shout out because they all did a terrific job um and now moving on to the hiking Club um the hiking Club is back in Action this spring um interest meetings will be held in Room 217 on Wednesday March 20th at 7:15 a.m. before school and Thursday March 21st after school at 2:30 in room 27 you can come he about the hiking trips they have planned for during spring break and after spring break and important information about signing up after each event this is a new club it started last year um I know the presidents have put in a lot of work just to organize all of that and they all seem to have a lot of fun um continuing on the interact club meeting has been rescheduled to this Thursday March 21st in room 308 um they're asking for help to make their movie night advertisements which is another big event that they partner with the Genesis Club um I'm not sure what movie they're showing or what exact date that is but um um I'll have further information on that the next meeting and then the Genesis Club um meeting is tomorrow and they're having a community service opportunity so Wednesday March 20th from 2:30 to 4:00 you can meet in the M uh in the cafeteria to celebrate an Easter dinner and then um they plan to do a spring cleaning around their around our school so don't miss any don't miss out on any of the fun and new members are always welcome as always and then attention Junior and senior girls the shs student council will be hosting the annual Powder Puff game on June 4th if you're interested in participa participating as a player to represent your teens's grade you are required to attend one of the two interest meetings which will be taking place on Wednesday March 27th at 7:00 a.m. and 2:25 p.m. in room 106 these are required meetings for information about participation and everything will be distributed to players coaches and captains what I mean by coaches um the football boys for both the seniors and juniors have a chance to coach the the flag football game and I will shout out just to give Riley some motivation that my gr did beat the seniors last year so we are trying to go back to that um and then also just more um scholarship opportunities for seniors Somerville High School is very fortunate to have local community groups and organizations who sponsor scholarships for the graduating seniors in order to be eligible for these local scholarships seniors must complete the local senior scholarship survey which can be found in a few places uh the link has been emailed um to our school email in addition to being posted on The Daily Bulletin the class of 2024 principal messenger and on the monthly scholarship newsletter that is posted on the shs website the deadline for completing the survey is Monday April 22nd so obviously you can find it in a lot of places if you're interested in applying for some scholarships and then as always Branchburg Transportation offers a lake bus it's only available for students staying after for sports clubs and tutoring um and then students must sign up in the main office each day prior to 1:00 I know I say that at um and then the senior class trip is June 3rd at Six Flags it is $75 including transfer and ticket fee you must sign up in the auditorium hallway at 1210 on the following days Tuesday April 16th Wednesday April 17th and Thursday April 18th so the deadline to sign up is April 18th and no exceptions Mr bino will be there and all information is found on our senior class classroom so I'll pass it off to right I'm just going to start off by saying that Ashley the Juniors were coming in hot this year just putting putting that out there before anys and now the 2024 shs College and Career Fair will take place on March 26th from 6:00 to 7:30 in the gym representatives from over 80 colleges universities military branches and local companies will be available to meet with students and faculty just to talk about fure and there's a Spanish club meeting this Thursday in room 108 after school to learn all about Costa Rica try authentic Costa Rican dishes and even snow cones which sounds pretty good to me will be on sale for $5 all are always welcome and going back to Ashley said I have the Winter Guard here they'll be hosting their annual Winter Guard show on April 7th at Branchburg Central Middle School starting at noon and running until 6 Spectators can come at any time students are $10 and adult and adults are 15 and obviously they put in a lot of hard work so that be very fun to go to and Thursday March 21st is World Down syndrome day to help raise awareness Down syndrome International created the rock your socks campaign so next Thursday wear your brightest craziest or M mismatch socks to celebrate the diversity and unique abilities of those with Down Syndrome also just a reminder that the school calendar has been updated lot with like the days that we have to make up and stuff so you can check that out on the summer website just to keep up with the changes and the girls basketball team held a pink game to raise money for the Steeple Chase Cancer Center the girls team raised over $1,000 for cancer research and the patients at Robert Wood Johnson and congratulations to the Vil February student students of the month for nth grade we have Darwin Jimenez and Carlos CC for 10th grade NATA orus baroa and Ellie ugis for 11th grade Olivia Ray Davis and Ian Carlo Nora and for 12th grade Paul gallotto and Evan vaness a a lot of our winter sports team had very successful seasons and very sad to see it end I can say so myself but spring sports are underway all sports have completed their try out process for the spring season which started last week March 14th and they're all very excited for the seasons ahead which includes boys and girls tracking Fields boys and girls lacrosse boys and girls golf Boys Tennis baseball and softball and most teams have their first scrimmages coming up this week so all very exciting thanks thank you thank you thank you I do have some highlights also from vanir in middle school which I like to read the week of March 4th to the 8th vanir is celebrated read Across America with the theme being reading is always worth celebrating students listen to a mystery reader in the morning and try to guess who the re was there was a scavenger hunt where students had to find book characters throughout the building and the week ended with guest readers going into every classroom to read to the students students were able to visit the Scholastic Book Fair with their classes uh during the week of March 4th to the 8th to purchase a variety of books posters and other reading materials the book fair was run by the Somerville uh prek PTO with assistance from Mrs White the librarian as well as the support of the ddv staff March 7th was our family literacy night where families came in to celebrate reading through various activities spearheaded by the vdv teachers fourth and fifth grade teachers attended science professional development through a series of workshops at rvcc fifth grade students attended the theatrical production of Cinderella at rbcc the fourth grade classes learned about the Lenny lenpy culture and history through an inperson and interactive assembly bdb celebrated the 100th day of school school students dressed like 100-year-old citizens or created a shirt with 100 items 100 gumballs 100 tayor Swift music song Etc students did different activities with the number 100 VDB staff participated in professional development about trauma enforced practices and restorative practices that they will be able to use to meet the needs of the students in the middle school on Thursday February 5th 15th um SMS 6th and seventh grade students participated in a workshop called lead you during the workshop students were exposed to and delve into valuable lessons centered around respect tolerance mindfulness leadership resilience communication and team go on Monday February 12th our sixth grade students visited the male Performing Art Center to see the performance Harriet Tubman in the Underground Railroad class meetings were held to uh outline building accomplishments and areas where we could improve on Monday February 26 students visited Princeton University the trip was organized as a component to our celebration of black history month on February 28th counselors from shs visited the Middle School to discuss scheduling options with the current eighth grade class as they prepare to become pioneers on Thursday March 14th Mr Smith from the pitini stem outreach program came to talk to the seventh grade 3D modeling and game design classes about rapid prototyping and 3D printing this is Mr Smith's fourth visit to SMS and we're excited to have him return to speak to more students thank you that's it great thank you ladies you can go you like you don't have to stay for the rest of the meeting thank you once again for your reports good luck with spring Sports Lu seniors against the Juniors she's gonna need it we'll make them stay and you can go all right moving right along to the report of boards committee reports we're going to turn it over for finance security buildings and grounds which I believe is Mr Garcia tonight yes uh thank you Mr Mr President tonight the board will be voting on a tenative school budget for the 2024 2025 year upon approval by the board the budget is submitted to the county superintendent of schools for his review and approval a public hearing of the 2024 2025 budget will be held on April 30th when the board will vote on the adoption of the final budget the finance committee has been meeting since early November reviewing progress of the budget development process the committee began by setting budget goals reviewing enrollment projections and prioritizing capital projects as it turned out the district was able to secure $ 4,246 1800 in state grants representing 40% of five capital projects that are included in the proposed 2425 budget Additionally the district will use $300,000 in Esser funds towards the cost of boiler replacement at Vander School incidentally the district also applied for and received a $2,275 grant for the preschool addition renovation project that was budgeted for in this year's budget the 2324 budget the committee also reviewed the programmatic section of the budget to ensure it is aligned with the changing needs of our student population the committee reviewed the revenue side of the budget as well fortunately the district received an additional 43 $1,625 in general fund state aid the Board of Education meeting on April 30th will include a budget presentation as part of the public hearing on the 2425 budget that will cover all these areas and More in Greater detail that concludes the finance report Mr President thank you Mr car uh now motion to approve that items 1 through 10 be moved upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools we have a second pleas thank you Mr Van Horn is there any discussion Mr Boyce yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carls yes Mr pontillo yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes and motion to approve that items 11 through 20 be moved upon the recommendation of the interm superintendent of schools thank you have a second thank you Mr van is there any discussion Mr Boyce please Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carlson yes Mr pontillo yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs fabrizi yes awesome thank you and I just like to thank Mr Boyce for all of his hard work on the budget I mean it is it is not an easy task to put together a school budget especially when you get your state aid the last week of February and you have a very short time to turn it around and provide it back to the state so thank you so very much for that I also want to just commend Mr for working with the committee we we had a lot of questions some repeat questions and very uh clearly uh explained them to us in detail help us all understand resulting in the report that we able to get tonight thank you awesome all right moving along to technology and curriculum and instruction Mrs Dale hello uh can everybody hear me okay yes yes okay perfect all right so getting into curriculum we actually met twice due to having to reschedule a meeting our February meeting and our March meeting um I'm just going to do a quick recap of both of those and there's a few things that Dr brel hit on during his report so I won't go over that part okay first of all there is new curriculum to be approved anatomy and physiology grade 11 and 12 units 1 through 4 chemistry grades 10 11 and 12 units 1 through six and Engineering in design and development grades 12 grade 12 units 1 through 4 back on the first meeting which was February 28th we started off having a discussion on multi- language Learners formerly uh known as English language Learners or ESL Learners so we discussed a little bit of the background of the program and um as the current administrators came in some of the changes they made for example um making the registration of MLS more consistent among schools and the reg and also the registration process uh currently we have 123 mls in our district from more than 18 different countries speaking more than six languages and basically the goal is to meet them where they are and to show progress so the next thing we discussed was the fact that the curriculum department is working very hard on a new online platform for curriculum this hopefully will be a lot more easier for parents to navigate and more user friendly we got a little sneak peek at it and it looks great so really exciting when that will be completed and we will have that up and running online um there we discussed the SEI literacy 19 students pass this in the fall and 79 students um are planning to earn this as of June earn their COI literacy as they graduate high school there was some P PD on February 20th at the middle school and high school they had training for the new Ela standards coming out and vanir will have that on a different day upcoming day at Vande many of the teachers participated in a rating program using schoolwide which is the writing program they use it band of year um preschool updates from that month that uh one thing that they shared was that the preschool currently had their clothing unit and officer Nikki came in and showed their her uniform and the preschoolers love that that was a really nice uh Community involvement there and there's also some discussion on preschool teachers going to observe in different schools so going to our meeting last week on uh Wednesday March 13th there was an update on the reading program selection a form was sent out asking teacher for Teacher volunteers to be part of this committee it's a very long commitment which will involve choosing evaluation tools piloting programs and many meetings so we're hoping that some teachers can volunteer their time for that there also was discussion on involving parents in some way possibly as part of focus groups as needed so it won't be such a big time commitment but you know their V their input is definitely valued and wanted on this as well the curriculum administrators let us know about a climate change education and resilience Grant so excuse me this is a grant that has been submitted we are not sure if we um are a recipient yet but this grant involves studying climate change and developing Positive Solutions Mr scamba is a high school teacher who has been very involved with this grant if chosen Mr scamba High School student students and many other community members will be creating a rain Garden at the high school and Mr sco will also be involved in writing some curriculum which will be submitted to the state next up summer reading 2024 is very similar to previous years with some updated book lists from Librarians and the next thing is summer programs which we weren't sure if we would be able to offer this summer but luckily we found some funding and and uh we're able to offer lots of great summer programs for some of the children in our district so um I'll just go through a little bit about the summer programs the first is called The Jump Start program and this is FOC focusing on reading and writing skills for targeted students in grades 1 and two so that'll be about 24 students total who will be invited into that program in middle school there will be language arts and math support for seventh and eth graders by invitation only and also in Middle School there'll be an instrumental music and theater program as there was in past years there will be a multi- language learner program uh with about 40 students and this one I I found pretty interesting it's it will involve walking opportunities to learn about the language and local places such as the fire station and the post office and places like that there will also be enrichment for grades 2 through five and the program will be Monday through Thursday for about four weeks so about the month of July a little bit shorter than it has been in previous years and of course we will continue to have extended school year for special education students as well um so there has been some Next Generation science standards training at rvcc Mr Shaker took three teachers from each fourth and fifth grade to work with Consultants there on the Next Generation science standards there has been scop training where a a cohort of teachers from middle school and high school have been involved in this um so I believe it's a a few different days and on the first day they were taught some strategies to use in the classroom to help teach multilanguage Learners and then they were given time to go and try the strategies out in their own classrooms and then reconvene to discuss and share so on you know the next training day this resulted in a lot of positive feedback from the teachers some of the strategies and involved we're using visuals word walls tpr peer-to-peer communication and the last thing is that the NJ tessel I believe it's called is the national bilingual conference and this is open to all teachers not just ESL teachers it's a three-day conference in May and so far we have 24 teachers that have signed up to go and that also is Grant funded so that is being paid for with Grant and I need to drink of water any questions on any of that no we're good thank you all right so a motion to approve items 1 through nine be moved upon the recommendation of the interim super contend okay thank you Mr pontillo is there any discussion Mr boy please yes Mrs vanor yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carls yes Mr pontillo M Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes okay motion to approve items 10 through 16 be moved upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools have a second second thank you Mr kimik is there any discussion Mr Boyce please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr Serio yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carlson yes Mr pontillo yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr Kim yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs fritzi yes all right thank you Mrs Dale much appreciated a very good report and now we're going to move on to item C athletic and Student Activities Mr seril I have no order so please bear bear with me but uh Mr President M and vice president three minutes y you have three minutes uh thank you thank you very much um just first wanted to report that the Athletics Activities Committee to me for the first time this year uh we met last week on the 12th of March uh we reviewed we reviewed something things such as uh performance metrics for the fall as far as enrollment which stayed which stayed set in some areas far like field hockey has gone up significantly so um we highlighted the over 50 clubs that the bill offers um and then uh you know most of the teams I mentioned met or exceeded their averages we also discussed spring Athletics starting and definitely some of the Milestones that been met we kind of recap some of the Milestones from from 23 since we didn't have a fourth quarter meeting um all the meetings for this year second third and fourth have been laid out our next meeting will be in June uh second week in June um also something that was nice was they they discussed a program um to uh Ally with the teachers to help students proactively meet their eligibility requirements for clubs and activities um you know there a small small pool of students very small that yes sometimes do not meet and this is actually to have that discussion early on with those students and it seems to be working very well there's been approximately a 56% drop that so which is good so a pleasant surprise to see that um now I am going to go here uh really quick with thanks to Dr Davis and Dr Foley as I call them um you know really quick in 23 field hockey donated $155,000 in blankets to the Megan Rose Bradley Foundation um soccer recap girls did make it to the suon county semifinals and uh so which is a great year for them uh girls tennis uh with two girls advancing to the quarterfinals of their County tournament they also won their first round State match boy soccer made it all the way to the semifinals as well uh football you know it was a good discussion about football because if it wasn't for their schedule where they lost four games by six points they would have gone undefeated so and it looks like this year's grouping is going to lend more towards the team that they're going to have so we're kind of looking forward to that um moving forward to also some other quick highlights here and these are some real Milestones that the vill uh should be proud of Dylan Leonard achieved the covered 100 career point for the Bernard's middlex summer Rel hockey Alliance quinnn Karan secured The 1,00 Point Club for boys basketball so did Junior Brady Shire on February 12th in 22nd respectively aliv malado who led a fantastic um girls wrestling program she netted her 100th career Victory on the mat Fabian Akuna and Ryan kman moved on to the state finals for uh wrestling also in Atlantic City and Harley St stuzzi and Emily hurl and Val malado also moved to the state finals in Atlantic City Sophia Douglas earned a spot in the meat of Champions uh and Charles Yang competed in the swimming meat of Champions for the breast stroke so girls basketball uh let me tell you I I was at that semifinal game uh against uh Neptune they lost very late in the game by a combination by total of four points um but their biggest highlight of the year is is the pink game on February 1st where they raised over 7K um over the last 10 years hosting that game so a big thank you to them as well uh going on to clubs I'm going to do some quick hits here okay the winter coffee house which I think which I think is a fabulous idea that Mr Ferguson's put together um you know if we think of MTV Unplugged and all the Coffee House channels this is a wonderful way to showcase the individual talents and also the group talents of some of our musicians and singers so that was held on the 23rd some fantastic solos Duets and small groups uh the chorus also sang on Valentine's Day naturally on the 14th and then for Black History Month the ocella choir saying lift every voice and sing on the 26th du during all the lunch periods uh Hey mock trial okay the mock trial congratulations to them on winning the Somerset County mock trial championships on the 21st thanks to Katherine Patrick who won the awards for best attorney you know in uh in the county in the county finals so will now go on to compete in the regional finals which they already did and okay the drama club uh I can't say any more to that um I had the privilege of being there Saturday night I guess I can say from my from my testimony at the stage of my students of of my U of my kids and my friends and their kids to just to see their kids now older and the talents they have singing and dancing probably one of the best choreographic plays that I may have seen here um it it was F it was wonderful and uh oh you know I walked out with a lump in my throat and uh I I I applaud everyone from the stage hands even the uh even the gym teacher we had a cameo gym teacher appearance from a brother of someone in the crowd today here so I think that was even fantastic so uh nothing more to be said about that but excellent thing so uh the Winter Guard made it to the finals of WGI Philadelphia Regional championships and won with a 67.3 and I guess there is something coming up uh on April the 7th that they'll be competing it was I can't remember you know they're just exing actually they are hosting the home show you're right that is the home show so um the the interact Club had a wonderful wonderful food drive collecting 2 28 lbs of food so now I'm going to go into some other stats here girls Hoops I mentioned finished 12 and four and they lost that game by four points but we have some end ofe stats Kayla lber Kay lber is on the county map with 334 total points averaging 13.6 a game Charlotte Taylor 12.9 points a game and 360 totally total points Emily kig with 236 total points 8.9 a game rebounds Emily Emily let's do it again with 196 rebounds for the season averaging 17 G and Lily Taylor Charlotte sister with 115 rebounds averaging five a game so all conference nods Kaylee Charlotte Emily All Conference Team first and second second note and then an honorable mention to Amaya Miller boys Hoops fought strong ended 12 and 15 but Brady shy 453 points for the season 16.9 a game Brendan p go nine blocks over 27 games and let's not forget if you haven't seen the video his buzzer beater back in back to beat Bernards in February okay swimming the boys finished six and five 4- two in the conference and ended up third in the r division as the girls closed out the two and two in the conference with a four and five record uh for the girls the last meet against mum they came up big 113 to 56 Valentina Flores Ava pear Sophia Fontaine and Jasmine Ortiz gones finished first in the Meer relay with a score of 2 minutes 25 seconds and 58 100s if I have that right they also took first in the 200 meter individual and 200 meter free the boys lost their last match to mendum 9674 but not without a tough fight from Domingo Gotti who took first in the 200 meter freestyle at 20353 and Santiago Fernandez uh in 50 m three taking first at 353 wrestling under coach the boys ended up a 137 record held the strong showing in the state finals girls all right Tiana Nan with an this is girls fency I apologize Tiana Nan with an epy record of 12 and 14 Isabelle Balman with a foil record of 8-4 casar and wi with a saber record of 25 and 20 in boy fencing Jeffrey tavers 2716 record in the foil and Ian DEA with 30 and 12 record in the F please don't ask me what the f is I do not know so um going to go to robotics um Dr pillo and I had the privilege of being at their unveiling last week for their new Droid named Waltz okay and not Not only was he introduced he went right into competition uh before I speak to that uh if I remember correctly U Dr Peno this was the biggest crowd for an unveiling that they've had I think it was over over 100 people there um and Mr President Madam Vice President we so impressed by their showcasing not only the competition the games their robot um we did ask them to come and present next at next month's meeting orry have to push that back yeah yeah that's I'm saying or in the future in the so but with that said they they put together their share of Sweat Equity in preparing for this year's games called Crescendo um they competed last weekend at the Montgomery High School for the first of advents uh after facing challenge after challenge coming as a result of substantial damage to the intake mechanism that team persevered and let me tell you how Okay after 12 qualifying matches paid off as they improved their abilities on field to end the qualification Sunday and because of that they were chosen as a second pick of the alliance six which consisted of teams from Montgomery and Hunter in Central High School they lost their first match but then ran the floor to win every match after becoming the winning Alliance of the entire event and this is the first time in seven years they've accomplished that feat and the first time they've won an event in the area since 2010 so I'm just going to give them Round of Applause so they are competing again this weekend at Warren Hills High School and they are working hard to prepare uh and repair the significant damage that the robots faced in the last competition they again always Tyler and the team always want to thank the entire Board of Education uh for W support to these initiatives um upcoming events to close out the Winter Guard home show at Central I at Central Middle School in Branchburg May 4th is the Neville plumber track and field event right here at the vill I think is the the third annual uh so and then uh this Thursday as mentioned there is something going on it has to do with with showcasing the Arts I hope you can all be there I definitely intend to so um Mr President Madam vice president that's my report 10 minutes 58 seconds and 100 and thank you for the fortune and just so I'm clear had the football team not lost those four games they would have been undefeated I just want to make sure I want to make sure that I heard you correctly right so if they didn't lose those four games they would have been undefeated yes okay I just want to make sure I heard that Luke as always a very good a very good report but they lost those four games by six points but even if they lost them combined by points dere would you mind if I just added some something quick to that it depend if your quick is 5 seconds or less then yes if it's not then the answer is no it's a lot quicker than Luke's quick so all right you go I might cut you off so go ahead I know that Luke mentioned the Mean Girls play which I went to as well and it was wonderful I also wanted to mention the Middle School play they just performed into the woods this past weekend and it was wonderful so congratulations to Mrs Edelman who was the director as well as the cast and crew of into the woods they did awesome well done good very good very good all right thank you both and Luke we bust your chops but always very good how you highlight the students and all of our activities it's it's appreci reflection of the fans and that key excent all right uh policy committee real quick uh several months ago uh policy committee had a very quick discussion on the establishment of a cell phone policy we asked Mr Stern our board attorne attorney if he would put together some information for us he did some research on five districts and provided that to the full board uh the policy committee we be reviewing that information to determine if we would like to come up with a student cell phone policy as well and as everybody knows Mrs uh Dale is virtual tonight we just so everybody knows we do have a virtual policy it's part of our overall public and executive session policy number 9322 so we just want everybody to know that you know people are allowed to be virtual in accordance with that policy as long as they follow the items listed in that policy uh moving on to Personnel may I have a motion to approve items 1-9 based upon the recommendation of the interm superintendent of schools and appointments and salaries are contingent upon verified documentation what number is she so we had a motion right Mr Mr Front have a second thank you Mr Kimmi all right um please note that that will exclude item number two the top one miss Tara Griffin as she has declined the offer of employment that was extended to her and as part of our discussion I would just like to highlight item number one uh miss Patricia Hellwig who is retiring um while I am sure she is ecstatic to be retiring and to enjoy herself uh the district is sad that you are leaving um as a parent who had two daughters who you had at Vander ashleen I believe in second grade and Kaylee when in the music program you were an impactful caring teacher they learned a lot from and they are better adults because of you thank you thank you so we we wish you well and we hope you enjoy very and we hope that your foot gets better so you can enjoy it better I I do want to add I I know you Mrs H since I was a child since I was little you've seen me grow out through the schools and I want to give you a personal thank you for always being such a kind and caring person in the community um it's really heartwarming it's weird for me to be on this side and to accept your retirement but um thank you so much you're welcome as I sit here I counted that I've had eight of your children four children two children and grandchild right so a board of nine 10 and I had eight of you so we're sorry I just on that I mean I I you know want to really thank you as well I mean it's it's you know we're we're far removed from Vander now you my oldest is now graduating high school this year but you know I have one who is Nathan who's got into the Arts who is at Mason gross now who you know I think your influence other people's influence on him over the years has just been um You Know instrumental in decisions that they make and and you know it's it's one of those things that you know they may not remember all of that but I think you know the the contributions you make you know to to all of your students um just something that you know you should just be so proud of and and you know just a career you've had is just something that uh we're all very proud of so thank you for your service absolutely and Ashley and Kaye were very sad to hear that you are going but they wish you well anyone else all right Mr Boyce please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes m Mr Jess yes Mr Carl yes Mr pontillo yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes if we all voted no she could have be no she could she could uh and may I have a motion to approve approve items 10 through 20 based upon the recommendation of the assistant superintendent schools whereas um documentation will be formalized for their hire so move thank you Mr sh have a second second thank you Mr Kim is there any discussion Mr Boyce Mrs Van Horn yes Mr Serio yes Mr Jess yes Mr Carls yes Mr pontillo yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes and Mrs fabit yes all right moving on to Old business is there any old business that we have this evening you are seeing none may have a motion to close Old business please thank you Mr vanor have a second thank you thank you Mr shil any discussion all those in favor I opposed any extensions motion carries is there any new business yes yes Mr vanord yes last night uh Mr pontillo and I attended the Somerset County School boards Association unsung heroes Awards and uh it's a student recognition ceremony for honoring students that don't always get the recognition they deserve but make our district all our districts a better place and Somerville had a young lady Joy Beth Sanchez Castro who won that award for Somerville high school as a 12th grader so we're very proud of her congratulations that's great any other new business all right seeing none I just wanted to bring up one thing um I know this was mentioned quickly before by Dr Brock Cal but I just wanted to um bring up the read Across America celebration at Vander this was the first year I was able to attend it and it was just a wonderful wonderful event and just brought so much joy to the children so I just want to thank all the teachers and administrators who were in charge of putting that together especially Mrs White and Mrs Hagerty that I know were leading that and all of the other teacher volunteers and Miss FR as well I know she had a big part of it so thank you to the teachers and to the administrators who made that possible great thank you I think the readers get as much out of that as the kids get out of that it's probably what a highlight for me for the year is to participate read Across America it was wonderful it's a great thing it really is all right any other new business no seeing that may have a motion to close new business please so move thank you Mr vanor have a second thank you Mr seril any discussion all those in favor I any opposed any extension motion carries we do have a need to go into executive session this evening to talk about personnel and matters covering the uh Collective negotiations and attorney client privilege so may have a motion to go into executive session please motion thank you Mr pil may have a second second thank you Mr kimmick is there any discussion all those in favor I any opposed any extensions so move we are in executive session public session at 9:07 uh we are taking no action may I have a motion to adjourn please thank you Mr pentil may have a second thank you Mr shil is there any discussion all those in favor any oppos any extension so move we adjourn at 9:07 thank you very much everybody hi Stephanie I'm G to hang upks jie