##VIDEO ID:a7EL9vC_od8## good evening it is September 12th 2024 and I'd like to welcome you to the South Bruns Board of Education meeting and to call the meeting to order please stand for 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 I ask that everybody remain standing for a moment like to have a moment of silence in memory of the 23rd anniversary of the September 11th attacks and to also remember those killed in the appalache high school shooting thank you very much read the statement of advanced notice for this even evening the New Jersey open public meeting act njsa 1046 also known as the Sunshine Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon the primary purpose is for board members to discuss and vote on board business in accordance with the provisions of this act the board secretary has caused notice of this meeting 48 hours prior in including date time and location to be posted in the South Brunswick Public Library the board office filed with the Township Clerk and communicated to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger it is also posted on the district website Mr palowski may I have roll call Miss Julie Ferrara M Laura Hernandez Miss Deepa carthic here miss Alicia Khan here Mr Roger Krishna yeah Mr Mike Mitchell present Mr Barry Nathanson here Dr Smith araj here Mrs Lisa Rogers present we have a quorum thank you Mr palowski I have um a motion and second to approve tonight's agenda Mr Mitchell Dr Raja second all in favor any Nays thank you next order of business is board minutes um excuse me board secretary Mr pri's draft of the minutes and executive minutes were posted on the board portal are there any changes that's for August 22nd no changes then the minutes stand as written and are approved okay so officially I'm going to welcome our new student board representative Miss uh Sam Samayra tutia was that correct yeah oh yay I did it so Samayra is currently an Ender classman representative for student council and she is delighted to have the opportunity to serve both her fellow students and the community in her new role outside of school suara has dedicated herself for seven years to being a student volunteer at Hindi USA teaching young children to read and write in Hindi she also enjoys doing Indian classical dance and inspiring young children to pursue their interests in her free time which I don't know how you do that Samra enjoys going on runs debating and spending time with her family and friends everyone please join me in welcoming sura it's all yours wait would you like me to say like my report your report y sorry I should have been more clear you may give us your report now sorry okay good evening everyone starting off with some School news students success successfully had their first full week of school our annual convocation will be held at our Auditorium tomorrow afternoon where we will welcome our class of 2028 to the high school and welcome the class of 2025 to their final year at sbhs I'm excited to share that our first home football game at Valhalla Stadium will be next Friday the 20th make sure to show up in your best blackout outfits activities is so excited to start the year with so many different opportunities for our students we will be hosting our club Fair on September 24th and 25th where students will have the chance to familiarize themselves with the variety of clubs our high school offers student council is organizing our yearly wear teal spin the wheel event to support prostate and ovarian cancer awareness students wearing teal will engage in activities and games with the opportunity to win prizes and have fun with the peers for a great cause moving on to Athletics the South Brunswick High School football team has gotten off to a good start at two two two Z against the north Bruns wake Raiders our gymnastics team has started off their season this past Tuesday with the meet against maror they did not win but they were able to have one of their highest season opener scores this year the girls tennis team started the season ranked number 20 in the state by nj.com the team opened up with rival JP Stevens and won their first match of the Season 5 sweeping all positions this win helped the team move up to number 19th in the state in the latest nj.com poll the marching band will begin its compet competitive season on Saturday September 21st at the hunon Central Regional High School followed by the 44th annual South Bruns Tournament of Champions on September 28th at sbhs the athletic department is excited to announce that they are in the preliminary stages of starting a Cricket Club competition for the upcoming spring 2025 season that's all I have for you tonight thank you and have a great evening great job thank you so much okay moving on the report of the president I just have a few items to cover uh please note for the board again back to school nights and if B um members board members plan on being present please notify the principles and Mr feder appropriately I also want to make a reminder to the entire board I need to to ensure that you are checking your emails at least two to three times a day timely communication is Cru cral for our operation additionally Please be aware that when a situation arises and this is all for the community as well our superintendant notifies me immediately depending on the issue there may be a delay in sharing information to the board as well to the community until Mr feder is completely confident that both students and staff are safe no communication will ever go out until that is done we have spefic specific processes that align with laws and regulations and it is essential for everyone including the community and parents to understand that safety is our administration's top priority notifications to the community will only be made once we are assured of everyone's safety in today's world where information can be disseminated instantaneously it is critical that board of education members refrain from communicating via social media about anything unofficial communication can lead to unnecessary confusion and misinformation in the community I appreciate your attention to these important protocols thank you next we will be on the report of the superintendent of schools Mr feder thank you welcome to our small audience but welcome um samyra congratulations and happy to have you here so to a year of fun and hearing about the high school thank you for being here tonight um so I have another guest tonight I like to start with a guest we have a guest so I'm GNA ask everyone to give a welcome to one of our newest assistant principles Mrs Stacy cats I'm going to talk a little bit for Stacy so I like to babble a bit uh Stacy's is our assistant principal at Brooks crossing that's Jamie macaron with her her her principal Stacy was previously at Greenbrook offering instructional support she's been a member of our district since 1996 joined me in congratulating Stacy to her new role as assistant principal of Brooks Crossing Elementary School thank you I'm very happy to be here and I appreciate your warm welcome I am so grateful for this opportunity I have um never lived in South Brunswick but I do consider South Brunswick my home I have been here for 26 years and every school I've ever taught in has been filled with amazing staff students families and a great Community um I started my career at Dean School teaching second grade as a newly engaged teacher and my class attended my wedding ceremony I then moved to mommoth Junction school for 18 years and during that time I celebrated many Milestones whether it was my professional Milestones my personal Milestones or the Milestones of my students the last 10 years I have called Greenbrook Elementary my home where I taught instructional support and learned valuable life lessons from their Community a place where everyone comes together to support the staff the students and their families and now I'm so proud to join the Brooks crossing school Community where I've met outstanding staff students parents and working with Jamie um I look forward to the the school year ahead where we all work together for the success of our students I'm so lucky to have grown up here in South Brunswick um and I'm really appreciative of the board for accepting this and allowing me to become assistant principal I'm I'm so appreciative to the administration for bringing me on board and I look forward to working with everybody [Applause] thanks so St Stacy uh impressed years ago actually uh we we did our first strategic planning work Stacy was on the core team and she's been involved in other districtwide events and always steps up with the best attitude so um when she was Jim's pick it was a great way to we can finally say yes let's see you keep rocking and rolling because everything she does is fantastic so only the highest of expectations welcome aboard thank you very I also on behalf on behalf of the board want to welcome you um just quick note I've known Stacy because she taught my son um and we've known each other since they've been in elementary school at Mammoth Junction um you were were and still are a phenomenal member of this Administration you're an amazing teacher and Brooks Crossing is extremely lucky to have you good luck to you all right all right so we have a few things going on um just want to first start off first first week went well um you know it's a lot of buildup to the first few days of a school or a cyclical you know um program and so September brings that you know hype U from the from the educator side to the student side to the parents side usually very excited as the kids go off to school um but everything went well uh of course I will talk a little bit tonight about safety and uh of course what happened in Georgia which uh I believe was put down is the 200 200 something school shooting in a year 200 plus in a year so you know that's it's a kind of a crazy number but we'll talk about that as well um just also so you're aware this is National Suicide Prevention awareness week and this is the week where National Suicide Prevention awareness uh information on suicide prevention resources we share with all the District staff uh just so you know our staff goes through a suicide uh prevention training Evelyn was it every year it's an every year 2hour program um and we take it very seriously we want to be here for our kids when they're in their biggest crisis uh which it's leads me to safety so uh I'm going to talk a little bit about where we are as a district with safety a little bit and um a lot of this was prepared by um Jim Conroy Jim Conroy is our district safety specialist former chief of police of East Brunswick um municipality and now works for us full-time uh on all things security interfaces with the U police um and interfaces with our buildings on a regular you know daily basis um so what we did is we we had we had a situation uh Surly right after I sent out that letter um we had a situation where a student went on social media and made a claim that they were going to come to school with a weapon that was the claim that was it no target um enough that we take these things very seriously um through both the urging of the board and the urging of myself uh we sent out a notification on this even though there was no credible threat found by the police or by us um we do that to be transparent uh unfortunately there's this thing called a pool that exists in every town called Facebook and we have a beauty as much of a cesspool as any other town I'm sure of people that go on there for the sole purpose of causing havoc and for some reason which I'll never understand I will die never understanding why people entertain this it's bizarre to me but it continues year after year day after day we want to know why our kids are the way they are look at the adults look at the adults in this town who behave with their own picture sitting right there with their name right there don't care somehow Facebook brain has caused people to not care and moderators of the two sites one site is called Community one site is called residents I think that's really a private site they could care I don't care who they are you could care less what goes on your site it is a cesspool of nonsense there's no factchecking there's no interest in facts there's no interest in anything except causing havoc and what I don't understand if you have a site called South brunza Community don't you want it to be attractive for someone that might want to think of moving here I've said this before if I was moving here and that's the site that I landed on I'm done I'm find another place to live you would think this district is rought with every pothole on the planet of life if you watch that page Community page 8 10,000 people on that page I'm not even on it I only get told about these things when they involve the schools I can't imagine what else has said when it doesn't involve the schools I'm assuming the same nonsense where people don't care about facts don't even try don't even try there's lies direct lies known lies there's misunderstandings miscommunications and people seeking information with a zero chance of getting it there's literally a zero chance of getting information we have someone that went on Facebook the other day and complained about the cost of child care heck a worthy thing to complain about cost of child care is insane no question and then proceeded to go on a Litany of falsehoods Mis misunderstandings false claims but the beauty is let's have 50 other people jump in on that and make some more additional false claims because that it's fun how it's fun I don't understand my brain doesn't work that way but it's sad and what it does is it really makes you question why bother being transparent when that's the reaction of this community that's a tough one right because we owe it to the community to keep them alert and aware of what's Happening Now this particular instance wasn't an instance that required much information to be shared it was a non-issue however the timing of it of course caused us to want to do that board members and myself alike so we sent it out and of course that was then but that's funny and you got to dissect the post because it's more entertaining that way you have to look at the people that just start fighting with each other about nothing to do at all with the post itself it's another Facebook brain syndrome of some kind mind I don't understand it so you had these two people going back and forth at each other name calling bully this bully that insane but people love it it's like a car crash you know you're driving on the road and your road doesn't have a crash but you're you're stopped in traffic because everybody's got to look at the car crashing on the side Facebook the South BR Community page is a train wreck it's a car crash waiting to happen it's sad that that's what we want our community to be I don't understand it I can't even say it's not even all of you because darn it it is you sometimes it was this week it was you the Board of Education felt let's jump into the cess pool member truly unbelievable to me not all of you but we live with it so I'm going to keep doing the job I do here I'm going to tell you the facts you might not like the facts you might not like my answers you might not like it at all and I can live with that but argue the facts argue the the challenge you have with the information because at least it's real information and while there's certainly people on the other side the residence page that loves to say everything we say is false yet to prove one thing that is false just continue to say it's false it's more fun to say it's false whether they have proof or not that's the beauty of social media which gets us in trouble with our kids because our kids are learning they're growing and they make mistakes and they do things that cross the line and whenever it's going to be a threat there's no as you saw in my letter to the community there's no we were kidding I was just joking I was playing a game in this particular case both the parent and student came in with an excuse they came in with an excuse and wanted the administration to believe that one of the words was misused it wasn't meant to be that word it was meant to be the word gold not Glock the gun and if you read the whole rest of the text it would make absolutely no sense but what we have right now or we have parents that will defend defend this let's not defend let's work together to come up with the best solution to support all the students and the community so in true fashion as the letter told this community we were not listening to those kind of things at all they don't register and it didn't register um there are people on Facebook who want me to tell you the name of a minor are you serious am I really going to be able to put out the name of a minor really and then get arguing about it and mean and slanderous about it serious that's what we're coming to it's not going to help anybody so no we're not going to put out the name of a child no I didn't put out the school because we were told by our lawyer as we've been told many times before what you do is you don't make it identifiable unless there's an actual threat that needs to be addressed and there was no actual threat which was said in dark letters multiple times throughout that letter didn't seem to matter and I get that this is heightened awareness people are heightened I get that I ask if you're heightened about something you want information there were a few people that emailed us directly thank you for that but I'm telling you if you're looking for fun Facebook is your perfect place it is absolutely entertainment don't even buy tickets for Six Flags roller coasters are nowhere near as fun as watching the car crash that that thing is on a regular basis especially if the school is mentioned go especially now oh my God now it's you have um the election now so it should be it should be a ball of fun then of course you have the national news which is even more fun at this point but South Brunswick I can't worry about National South Brunswick I wish there was a way to shut down those sites or make those sites about the things that would help the community it doesn't help this community for anyone looking to move here hurts your property value same people week after week day after day and no one seems to care just keep throwing more fuel to the fire it's truly amazing uh that's actually why I came today because I should be home right now but I honest I feel that just needs to be said I probably have to say another hundred times before this year's over unfortunately but when it comes to safety we take it very seriously um are buildings you cannot get into during the day so they're locked fully around um when a student makes a threat we are instituting probably something something near a 30 plus day um ban from entrance into except one entrance where you are searched and checked every day that could be upwards of 30 days or more that way we are addressing anything we also heavy on the seal side the mental health supports that's a big part of this anything you read about any of these crisises always surrounding a mental health situation so we are heavy into that we integrate that with our disciplinary side it's not just about discipline we're looking to help a child learn even when they make a you know what we would consider an egregious mistake school is not a place where you get know people call for the expel expulsion of everybody we don't get to expel so the reality is we cannot expel a child for a first offense of making a um arbitrary claim which is what happened here that does not qualify for expulsion if the district tried to expel they would lose and then have to pay damages to a family for that however if the same child wants to do it again now we're in a different different conversation so we are we are doing everything we can number one is protect uh what Mrs Rogers alluded to is uh Communications come out when they're ready to come out they interface with police on occasion I need their sign off sometimes there's legal involved so I need their sign off it's not so easy as Scott just sighting is going to tell the world this information um so so it it it follows it follows a process to get there sorry it's not always as fast as people would like but we do our best to communicate all the things we can and when I put out a letter like that that's the information that's going to be shared there isn't going to be a follow-up with more information being shared doesn't work that way now will there be people that know exactly which student this was absolutely because there are students that saw the original post but that is not ours to deal with we don't we don't make those determinations everyone who makes any decision knows the consequences could be that you will be known you will be caught you will be dealt with as a result of that and we're hoping that our school our parents starts with our parents not our kids our parents support the kids by making sure they understand these mistakes these jokes these gests don't exist in South Brunswick and when they do they'll be met with dire consequences on a regular basis so we have security staff we have threat assessment teams which I wrote about I kind of made that letter about threat assessment we have threat assessment teams that um assess a child when there is a potential or concern for harming self or others um that involves a high level of mental health membership on that team as well as on the admin side we try to get to the bottom of what's going on why would a kid make a statement like that what's what's the reason and we try to get under the skin of that as we know what we heard about appalachi high school was that particular person had been turned in before that was already on the radar and of course that's scared to hear that um but we're doing everything we can to monitor sadly when you get on list like that you're going to be you're going to be watched I mean you're going to be watched when you say you're going to do something harmful to a school with weapons you're going to be watched and um I'm hoping our parents fully understand the best way to help a child at this point is not to come in with an excuse that is as ridiculous as it gets don't do that we don't need to find excuses why it happened it happened we try to deal with it make sure nothing else happens in the further now I think this is the second or maybe the third prosecuted father down in appalachi prosecuted parent well parents have responsibility for their kids so you know not get the Poli of it but you got to look at all of it so we we look at everything and we do the best we can um keep our place safe we work very tightly with our police there's an SRO at the high school who lives there we have two other sro's who float around and then we have Daniel one of our lieutenants who uas who is um around as well also the police have provided us four or five Jamie four or five do you know how many the new police that are going to be floating around did you guys get introduced any your side of Town's clean you're fine you have Stacy you're good um but there's four or five new cops that have been trained that will be stopping in in the schools on a regular basis they are not they are not assigned to us but they have been instructed to when they are not on a patrol they are to be in schools and making their presence known so that that was a new one for this year so we're excited about that um we're just going to keep going we're going to keep doing that we'll keep the the families informed um you know and we're going to do that so it's sad whenever you know start start the year with crazy news of another shooting and of course that gets everybody riled of course it does why would it not um we just want to be do our best to tell families we we do our best to maintain safety here that is our number one priority Above All Else and we have a lot of Staff around doing it so we'll keep moving on that on the uh same front we have um another post on Facebook about before and after care costs um fully fully support and believe the cost of of child care is through the roof it is through the roof uh if you're trying to get a a um toddler or baby cared for could be up to two grand a month in this area for one and if you have two it could be you know almost close to four um our after before school program is not cheap um there are some facts I want to share because of course Facebook takes it to all new levels of insanity um but we used to run the before and after Skool program as a as a as a courtesy to our community and that meant that the district taxes the taxes raised by every other person in the community subsidized the program of other people's child care now when you you're not losing money hand over fooot you kind of you kind of survive things but when it's time and you have to start going through your process of what is not going to be here next year we said what else can we do we know we still want to support families who need child care that's that's a that's a given but if we keep doing this ourselves at the rates we would have to pay our prices were about to go through the roof we had just raised them right after covid I think 20% increase um but we we just couldn't we couldn't manage it our our costs are more expensive than anyone else's costs because if we're if we're doing it ourselves we have to pay the rates it's a different rate setup so we used to have a very big staff that was on first floor there were two administrators there are about four or five secretaries um Kim I think there was some other there's just a lot of people down there back in the day yeah full staff running running it and and then the people we have to pay of course you know you pay rates you want to pay good good people and and we do but it was coming to the price we were going to have to charge our families was going to be astronomical more than what Champions is charging now we do not so we're factually correct we do not oversee Champions champions is a vendor Champions uses our space and they pay rent other than that they run their own show if someone has a question they go to Champions that is who can help them and unfortunately if they can't help you sometimes the answer is no sometimes the answer is no not everybody gets exactly what they want unfortunately would love to be able to do that too but if we were to take this back over we would be raising everyone's rates and we don't want to do that or we'd have to subsidize again which we can't afford to do nor is it appropriate for I think taxpayers to be paying for other people's child care so um we're we're doing the best we can we do when we hear about Information With Champions We will check with them uh find out information all that information was done and found out and shared with the original poster who after posting it and being I think told a thousand times go to someone who can actually help you not Facebook cuz Facebook cannot help you that person did reach out uh to to me as well and so that was at least helpful we can now address situation we will not address the things that go up on Facebook I'll I'll talk about them here for my own entertainment but there's no way we're going to govern by Facebook people want to go there for their answers and their information they're sharing enjoy but you're not getting the information from us the board should not be resp responding inter interacting interfacing it all with Facebook nonsense even if it's not nonsense whatever it is that's not your role or responsibility as a board member you don't serve as an individual you all know that um but anyways as far as before and after care the one thing uh that was brought up to us that seemed to make sense was why can't they charge less money if you're only using it for 3 days or 4 days instead of 5 days well they've done their own math and their decision is they charge the same for three four or five days and I I understand the thinking because you can't staff you still need the same number of Staff it doesn't change your cost of operation to do that especially if your kids can choose any three days they want or any four days they want and the kids are coming on different days you still need the same number of staff so I'm assuming that's what their reasoning was David spoke with them and they did confirm that they are not an in a position right now to do that without raising prices even higher for everybody else so at this point un the answer to um the question we did receive on Champions is um we are not intervening and telling them how to operate that would just be us operating and that is not what we do uh we did bring it up to them and if more families are unhappy about a certain thing they're they should reach out to them as as I'm sure they will if there is an issue as of right now um that closes that issue as far as safety we will continue to inform the community um even though I know what happens when we do it's still worth it to speak to the 99% of the other people that are just happy to have information and try to do the best they can for their kids and not look to see how we can take down the whole entire town in the process um with that said we have back to school nights coming up and uh just thank the board for you know you guys still are in one of the most thank thankless positions and you get to see and hear all these things all the time and um one of the things that comes up sometimes from the board is what do we do like what happens when a parent comes to us or parents are always coming to us I hate to be the teller of bad news but that's never going to stop no matter what chain of command we put in parents see a board member they want to share with somebody that's normal and you shouldn't avoid that all I ask is that once that happens you share with me that it happened if there's a question that's coming up but the other part you do do two things is send them to the right place CU you're not the right place often I'm not the right place send them to the person they're having a question about a grade A board member cannot help with a grade but the teacher might be able to and if they've already tried the teacher you could tell them all right well let's try let's try the assistant principal if it's a if if it qualifies or the principal in that case you know if you already tried the teacher but people you know it's it's human nature to go to the highest level they think they can go and try to get help that way and it it's an important remembrance that them coming to you is a good thing that means they believe that you can maybe help them and the best way to help them is to get them into the right place and inform me so I could help do that for my end as well that would be my last reminder to the board and after that I'll turn it back over to you thank you Mr feder um before I ask if the board has any com comments or questions I just do want to make two comments um one this board of education will always stand behind its uh superintendant when it comes to imposing um any restrictions regarding any child that causes um a problem such as this one child did um there is zero tolerance for anything like what took place in this District um that at the next business operations meeting when we do have that meeting um I know that it's being scheduled I'm going to ask that the chair uh do a complete review of the policies and softwares in place and to determine if there's anything stricter that can take place and that would include things of loss of Club ability the loss of Athletics and the loss of National Honor Society um if you are doing something to that extent there's no place that I feel and we will get the board's approval on this through the chair or through the committee for um anyone to uh take place in these activities if you threaten this school district and finally um I just asked the parents what did you do before Facebook where did you go you went to the principal you went to the vice principal you went to the district website think before you act on social media think go to the principal go to the vice principal go to the district website for information with that I'll ask if anyone has any comments or questions from the board to Mr feder anyone no Miss caric yeah so I just have uh one comment uh to make uh firstly I you know thank you to uh Mr feder for sending out uh the note on the incident uh it was good to get a heads up early in the day but what had happened and so I'm very glad that we took all measures to sort of resolve that issue um also I just want to make a comment I did hear the frustration in uh Mr feder's voice about board members making comments on Facebook Etc maybe utilizing it rest assured that uh I mean most of us act very responsibly right uh we're not using Facebook for for these kind of sort of responses um that being said of course of course I mean it's not it's not going to be the norm where this Administration spends the better part of the day looking at social media and trying to figure out what's happening because that's not our official mode of communication if something is happening if something is bothering a particular family or a parent or a caregiver Guardian the the board is always open approachable please come talk to us to the official channels right so while I see while I hear the frustration in Mr feder's voice because of all of the things that he has to deal with uh I want to assure him personally as a board member that there is ex there is caution in the way we act in the way we sort of conduct ourselves but uh you know the reminder is good it's it's helpful to have it but certainly we all understand um you know the impact social media can have on all of us and uh all of us are trying to use it responsibly so I just want to make sure that you know that that's sort of understood and it's not like you know we have to be reminded every now and then and of course there are if there are some slip UPS then you know we are all adults and we will all sort of own up to that slip up so I think uh that was my one comment and the other one was uh regarding the sort of understanding that yes you know certainly I personally want to make this comment that if people want to use social media to express their views about the school or the administration you know those are our first amendment rights they're free to do so um but that's not our official sort of channel so while Mr feder has taken the step to address some of these comments uh if I mean going forward I think we we want to be clear that that's not our you know that's not the place where we are going to be sort of looking for feedback and addressing those issues cuz then that'll be very difficult for us to sort of you know react to everything that's happening out there in the world there just too many platforms that it's that it's just unsustainable thanks thank you anybody else Dr Raj just take closer just a um more optimistic uh uh to be more optimistic um South Brunswick is actually a very uh nice town to live and Facebook is it doesn't really reflect the town actually is or the people that live in in in South Bruns Facebook is just an aberration aberration yes problem as well anyone else all right moving on thank you Mr feder for your comments more um now we'll be moving on to the board committee reports and liaison reports um for business operations any update yeah we we moved our meeting to October so we didn't meet just one thing that is more of a lay on thing uh uh the legislative Comm Committee of New Jersey school boards has a meeting in October but it's going to be live so uh there's usually not room for uh outside members but I just want to make everyone aware both our assembly uh people will be our guests great in October so great look forward to that all right education committee is not here no update Laura Laura sorry my apologies Laura is out ill tonight and she is our chair so we'll move on to that uh finance committee forgot about that the finance committee uh has not met uh as of yet um so whenever we do meet I will be glad to share a report with you very good thank you thank you and policy you are on we will actually I'm going to can I mic Finance just so everyone knows I'm not sure if I got this you yet it's kind of fresh there is a draft Bill done by VIN goal who's a democratic a Democrat um senator in Mammoth County his bill is a workup of the funding formula yeah as well as some other changes so I can't what is today Thursday I was there yesterday um a group of us met to go over the bill and I even invited Senator Wickers um Aid Kaye who's awesome in into the meeting as well so it was a group of superintendents um the education Law Center these they're just super smart when it comes to the budget and the um formula um NJ ASA and um that's who was there and we just created a whole list of feedback we want to give to the bill so that hopefully we're not going to be back in the situation again there's some stop Gap measures in the bill for things like um if you're under adequacy for example if your local fair shares those issues that you've heard me talk about for last three or four years a lot of those are addressed there's some key issues in there uh with how the formula actually functions which would change the wealth factors from one years to 5year averages and that that's a giant one right that was one of our main ads uh as of this minute transportation is still not in there as far as extraordinary aid for special education which is unfortunate um but that would be help but there is specific language about extraordinary Aid and to fund that at 100% in this bill which would force the issue and not leave it up to Governor after Governor to decide what percentage of that money will be paid every year so it's a very good first run no idea on where it's going to go but I just want to give you a heads up thing that I was talk we'll talk about that Finance meeting when we have one but um it's a quick update on that just a quick question I don't know if you have the answer or not um our Charter Schools being addressed in that discussion as well as to the funding and the and the pay that is being happening at the senior levels at Charter School nothing in that bill is this is a a bill designed to do one thing not a bill designed to do 50 cuz when it starts it becomes that bill yep jul Julie was actually in the meeting as well Julie Boris from sa our schools was also in the meeting so anyway thank you quick heads up everybody appreciate it moving on to policy update from policy and also we'll just go jump right in to the reading of the policies thank you Alicia Miss con excuse me so we met uh prior to the last board meeting on August 22nd in attendance was myself Deepa carthik Laura Hernandez Lisa Rogers Scott feder David palowski Evelyn Mamon suzan born and kimer Mallo white we went over alert 233 and all the policies that were a part of that as well as uh two other policies and we also discussed the potential cell phone usage policy so for first read we have policy 0141 board member number and Term Policy 22000 curriculum content policy 3160 physical physical examination policy 4160 physical examination policy 5337 surface animals policy 5350 student suicide prevention policy 8420 emergency and crisis situations policy 8467 firearms and weapons policy 9181 volunteer athletic coaches and co-curricular activity advisers assistants policy 2365 acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence policy 9160 public attendance at school events I ask that my fellow board members please take a look at these policies and email any questions that they may have thank you second read will take place at the next meeting so as Miss Khan has stated I highly encourage every board member to review these policies ask your questions in advance to get the answers you'll be more than welcome to state the questions that you asked at the next board meeting so the public is aware of the questions that you asked but this way the answers can be taken care of prior to the board meeting and those answers then can be communicated to the community yes Barry Mr nathon just a real quick thing to piggyback something that Scott was saying so the uh Workshop that's coming up in Atlantic City there is an app uh now that you can go on it shows you what classes are available and meetings and where it is and uh and I know Lisa and I uh unfortunately uh ran into it if it's in the classroom and you don't get there on time you will be knocked out of you will not be allowed in the classroom if it's in the auditorium it's a different story now I bring that up because uh this year Vin goal is back on the day with the uh uh the majority uh uh uh person the senator from New York and the two Republicans that are there are the two that normally come to the uh uh committee and they're both of them are well engaged in education it's going to be in the auditorium too and based on what Scott brought up I I think that's going to be a uh again a interesting thing especially with been there so I suggest you take a look at that that is Wednesday afternoon but uh don't quote me on the time but it's in the big uh Auditorium uh before the uh the guest speaker the guest speaker is interesting it's someone from Sesame Street that's been there a very long time and she has a major educational background great so she's going to be the guest speaker so want to mention thank you real quick um your policy committee had two late additions to our list the 2460 special education and policy 2468 they're on our agenda I think Alicia you may be working off our original document so just note those two are on the agenda as well what was it 2460 6 2460 special education and 2468 independent educational evaluations language updates thank you thank you for that okay anyone else nope okay moving on public comments okay the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meeting are available to the public at the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office to permit the fair and orderly expression of comments we ask that participants be recognized by the presiding officer and preface comments by announcing his or her name place of residence group affiliation if appropriate and by completing the signin sheet please print legibly or we may be unable able to document your name for the permanent record each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic Mr palowski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining all statements shall be directed to the priding officer no participant May address or question individual board members no discussion between a participant and respondent shall extend the three minute timel the first public comment is for consent agenda items only there will be a second opportunity for the public to comment on any matter Mr palowski has anyone pre-registered we have yes we have two pre-registrations is it for the agenda I'm I don't know if it's I don't know if it's for consent agenda or for public comment on U additional or other matters are you the two so just is your is your topic related to an agenda item or something they completely separate safety we good I talked about it in my on the agenda he mentioned it so it's on the agenda it was okay so we have an new an new and Je jugar come on up yep come on up if you don't mind just once again just state your name spell it and print it do we have the document up there yeah if you could just we have it we have it oh we have it right I'm sorry you don't need to write it because you signed up sorry oops can everyone hear me yes okay great uh hi everyone my name is Anu jar this is my husband je jar uh nice to meet you all um we are new to the district not new to the community but it's our child's uh first year in elementary school we had some concerns and really more like questions about the safety Protocols of the school district um this is maybe stuff that has already been considered by the district but being that we're knew you know I I thought similar to not going on the Facebook cess pool better to come to the people that you know could actually answer our questions um thank you um so I wanted to know if any of these things have been considered by the board in the district and if so what's sort of the outcome of that conversation was number one was I understand the doors are locked to all of the schools but have metal detectors been considered for the school entrances I also wanted to know about um uh bullet proof glass in the doors and the large Windows because I know for example in the Sandy Hoke elementary school shooting the doors were locked but the gunman just shot through the window and just walked into the school um I wanted to know about uh Panic buttons for like teachers and staff members um that could call the police immediately um I also wondered you know for example in stadiums and concert Arenas uh people have to have clear bags right I don't know if that's ever been considered as a rule for students to bring in clear backpacks or clear lunch bags so that you can see you know that they're not bringing anything dangerous in um and finally I think we talked a little bit about um police officers and it sounds like maybe there's one or two always at the high school but is it possible to have one or two stationed in every school at all times um because I personally you know just as a concerned parent I'm scared to death to send my child to school every day this state of this country and how frequent school shootings are are just terrifying and while I appreciate all the steps that you guys mentioned I know that school shootings happen in districts that are doing exactly all this so just curious to hear what more can be done I don't know if you have anything to add yeah she covered it thank you um thank you you want to address you if you're comfortable I will um well I was well why don't you start and then I can I'll follow I just wrote down couple of the bullets yeah oh that word um the uh metal detectors um we have no installed metal detectors however if there is a thread of any kind that is made that is Then followed up with daily checkins that include metal detectors but we do not have any right now that enter into a building you have to go through a metal detector one of the challenges we've we've come in with that is um at the high school for example we have um you know up upwards of almost 3,000 kids and so you don't have a one door you would need the material then you need the Staffing to man them new series of protocols and systems at this point we have not engaged in that um financially um it's a very big expense and I think the district this year is probably going to have to start looking and saying hey what has to go because we have to do some of these things MH um bulletproof glass we do have a it's not Bulletproof however there is a um David can you explain that so we have David's our business administrator overseas building and grounds okay about 7 years ago we went through and did a vestibule upgrade for all of the entry checkpoints into every school so there's multiple uh lock doors and what we call holding tanks for people to come into the buildings uh where their IDs are checked um you talked a little bit about Panic buttons they Panic buttons the but the the bulletproof uh film exists on Windows and some of our middle some of our schools has a uh bulletproof um barrier between the sheetrock and the finish wall that allows for for protection so that's that's considered and put in place when appropriate okay uh the Panic buttons we have a program called Raptor that anyone could launch a full Lockdown from their phone at any point um anyone who has any of our staffing can do that that was a change when we got here you were not allowed to do that actually it would only be allowed to be done by the front office so now it is available for anyone who anyone we have a full system that does also some other checks so if you came into the school you would have your license would have to be processed to make sure there's no reason you shouldn't be in the school that's all part of the same system and you said that's on the phone is that sorry the Raptor system that's on the phone of the it's uh we we have we we we we pay for the system to be completely available there's also um ways to do it otherwise in offices but that's how we do it here clear bags is a recent conversation actually you'll see a policy coming out about clear bags okay um for sports sporting events as far as the whole school that actually was recently brought up by a board member to consider so that's could be one of the things that gets considered as we go through this year okay and the last one southw Police Department Station did schools um it's a fortune for us we have to pay for that out of pocket the township doesn't doesn't pay for that so we have to pay for that um that runs right now we pay $365,000 for three full-time officers and a part-time person so if we had to go to you the 12 it just it's just back to the what do we we don't have unlimited funds so what goes so we can do certain things but those are rich conversations I think you asking about these things is is intelligent smart and helpful for people to hear that people are trying to find out what's the best way to take care of their kids so thank you very much for coming tonight you can follow up with theil emails sure um and you know to Dave or myself and we could um spend a little time with you if you want to come in and talk too okay yeah thank you that would be great um I appreciate you going through the points um I do have a couple follow-up questions but I'll I'll reach out over email yeah send them over to me thank you I just also just want to make a comment this is one of the things that we're going to be doing at the Dex business operations meeting is to go through the Safety and Security understanding it thoroughly um and asking if there's any recommendations that could be made looking at Best Practices things of that nature um as Mr feder had mentioned um one of the things that we were looking to do was have a police officer at every school but unfortunately we can't afford that um we have reached out to the um the town um and we will I will as well as many other people and you can too reach out to the town and ask how can the township support the schools in terms of having police officers available um so when you speak with Mr feder I know that he'll update with that with you and and he knows that um if things need to be pushed we can do that as well through the the community we the board the the administration can only do so much when it comes to the actual Township but um there are other options available so yeah that's kind of what I was thinking in terms of follow-up questions is can people chip in money because I completely understand like fund issues you know within the the board send me a couple I'll I'll shot you an email thank you thank you much thank you very very much we really appreciate that any other registrations none Mr nope can't talk sorry any other registrations no none anyone in the audience that would like to make a comment seeing none we shall move on Stacy you guys don't you're good okay okay um there was uh one thing on Old business um you all received a copy of the goals for 24 to 2025 um I received comments from Miss Cari as well as Mr Mitchell if you got too would like to make if you don't have to if you don't want to but if there's anything that you want to say about the goals because I'd like to move forward with them if possible we'll do another read and then um if there are no other comments we'll move to the next meeting to implement the goals as a vote so miss caric or Mr Mitchell any comments do you want to make any comments it's up to you you you don't have to just pull out the documents I'll just do that I want to wait till the next one we'll do a u motion to accept and vote at the next board meeting I just want everybody to have a chance because we did adjust them and I just want to make sure everybody's okay with them if you want to just wait and we can do the um review it's up to you you want to review your points um wait on it we can wait okay miss carthic any points I don't see my comments in the in the document but you see them you saw them I saw the comments yeah so I um actually Mr Mitchel had the same one one of them was the same so I'm going I haven't had a chance for personal reasons I haven't had a chance to update so let me do that this weekend and I'll send them out again and if anybody has any further comments um I'll see if we can incorporate them and then we will have Mr palosi placed this on the agenda for a next board meeting for new business to vote on the board goals okay just just give me one one minute sorry yeah let me just pull up I didn't know sorry that we were going to be discuss I know it's totally I apologize I I had some issues I had to deal with uh at home and I just get a chance to stay on top of it no no that's fine did you accept my comments I don't know why why why I incorporate I think I forgot what I did I I have to go back and look I think Mr Mitchell had the same one and I'm going to incorporate that your comment um will be incorporated as one of the tactics associated with Community knowledge around board responsibilities that was one that was your comment yeah one of one one was that I think the other one was also sort of that we uh when we have our our meetings and when folks come in our community members come in and they Place either you know a grievance or a complaint we have a Tracker in place to ensure that those have been addressed right and then we have closed that communication Loop publicly because the community has heard that complaint and then anybody who's listening in at a at a later Point knows that those you know those complaints or those those points have been addressed I think I added that but forgive me I don't recall up top of my head but I'll make sure that's in there I think because Mr feder and I we had that conversation as well yeah um so we'll make sure those two points as well as Mr Mitchell your points as well all right and I'll resend it out and then we'll vote on it at the next meeting any other comments great thank you okay so that was old business Mr palaski if we can keep that as old business thank you uh no new business at this time um the next uh item is the con consent agenda walk through Mr py this uh evening's agenda is short sweet we have a bills list some transfers some financials we have a donation we're approving some Transportation routes for uh displaced students we're approving parental Transportation contract we have some no bids received and uh recording receipt of no bids received we're authorizing some disposal of some books or awarding an RFP for uh some Mental Health Services we have a memorandum of understanding with the Board of Education and the middle sex County College to do with dual enrollment program we have expense reimbursement for travel uh we have our student field trips out of District placements some tuition for students that are coming to attend South Brunswick Township Schools and we have a professional services for some uh students with special needs other than that you have your personnel agenda really quick short meeting or excuse me short um consent agenda this evening that's my report any comments or questions for Mr poal no comments no questions great oh yes for on on the um the hire uh the companies were hiring for mental health have we had an increase in the need uh to have more companies hired in the last I can't I really your consent agenda is just approving the contract for that organization to perform mental health services within the district that couldn't be specific I can't tell you don't know if there there's an inre or decrease or we in the need for that service anyone else can you speak a little louder I can't hear you at all yeah the mic is on Mike I it completely slipped my mind okay I'm just going to pull that up so in the consent agenda we had the superintendent's recommendation for the for the mental health services right I saw the um uh the quote that we received from that one particular uh you know that Institute or whatever it was significantly lower than all the four uh the three or four other vendors that came in do can you tell me why that difference was so significant they all received the same specs and it it was that it was a big difference actually right that's why we do what we do the other three quods were somewhere in the same region of 100,000 odd I think was the if I 109 123 yeah and then this one was significantly so I was wondering if there was a difference in the spec itself there wasn't it was it was the same spec same specs we put the same specs in all the rfps W we're not allowed to change those specs we have to be very transparent with with what services we're requesting yeah that kind of sort of you know caught my eye a little bit like I was just wondering okay thanks anyone just so you know if you're ever interested in seeing any of the rfps it's all part of the backup yeah it's all I was just going to say it's all part of the backup so the actual writing of the RFP which the vendors receive is all in the backup so you'll see that the RFP is consistent for every single vendor it's just the way they price their product basically okayed okay all right any other comments questions all right may we have um maybe we have a vote yeah we're to do a little roll call oh yeah we have to do roll calls I'll move it all right hold on I need a motion to move Mr Nathan's in second Dr Raj may I have roll call why do I always screw that up uh Miss Julie Ferrara accept Miss uh Mrs Deepa carthik yes Miss Alicia Khan yes Mr rajer Krishna yes Mr Mike Mitchel yes Mr Barry Nathanson yes Dr Smith araj yes Mrs Lisa Rogers yes motion carries thank you sir okay this is a second opportunity moving on for public comment on any matter you are reminded of the previous statement made regarding public comments rules of policy 0167 do we have any registered uh comments anybody registered no okay nobody I know I have to ask if there was anybody registered seeing that there's no one registered or no one in the audience uh we will move on and close the second public portion of the comments before we end please note our next scheduled Board of Ed meeting is set for Thursday September 26th on behalf of the South Brunswick Board of Education we wish you a good evening good night South Brunswick