e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay I am calling the work session to order the Thursday May 9th burn Board of Education work session I have a uh roll call please miss Brock here Mr smaga Mr cantino here Mr Cross here miss pet here Dr Ross here Mr Sweeney here Mr zerman we have have a okay it is recommended that the board enter into Clos session for the purposes of discussing legal personnel and student matter and have that in form of a motion please and so moved move by Mr quino second second by Miss pellet all in favor all we are in closed session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay it is recommended that the board return to open session may I have that in the form of a motion please so move second moved by Mr Krauss seconded by Mr cantino all in favor I oppose we are in Open Session one one thank you uh roll call please Mr slam Miss Brock here Mr smaga here Mr cantino here Mr Krauss here miss pellet here Dr Ross here Mr Sweeney here Mr zurman miss federici here we have a Corum okay please rise and join me in Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you slam a reading of the meeting notice please the New Jersey open public meetings 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 any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with provisions of the ACT Vernon Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published an adequate notice has been provided and notice of this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting law uh just a quick note our next public board meeting will be held next Thursday May 16th thank you m item G public participation for agenda items only Endor students of any for any matter anybody in the public have anything to say the meeting is open anybody online does not appear so okay we are going to close the meeting to the public and move on to item e which is board goals now Jen pellet the lovely Mrs pet uh sent an email out with the draft of the 2324 board goals I took the liberty of making copies nice of those those goals so that we could than you write them up thank you sir rip them apart thank you thank you you're welcome also Dr Ross wrote up some notes from would mind just P wrote up some notes of our meeting from April 16th which highlighted some of our priorities from that meeting there should be enough from the other side if there's any extra go over that you have you didn't by any chance you print out of the goals that you sent around right no yeah some of those were interesting I I that's the I have those here so we could reference I do too okay just to say actually I did do some not yeah I did does one of them start off with each year District leaders craft CH here three four on this side here Carl I think there are some of them there yes they are right one two three maybe this one too okay I have that thank you if we want to look at the existing draft yes so those are meant to be Aral for this schol year so I guess it's just working off was something that we had did we have a v did we vote on them or no we were in mid I think discussion and then that was in August and then this Mitch left we have a friend just lot yeah and then you know what it was we had uh empty board seats and we said well we really should have a full board so we should build seats first and you know then we're going to wait till January and just yeah well here we are yes here we are that's the good news so the first goal that we drafted last year now we're not being held to any of this we can change them to be much simpler or much more complex for a safe and inclusive learning environment supported at every level from classroom to community where every student can be their authentic best sounds great sounds like a HK also I I have to clarify there's the that's a district goal right and then we have the board goals that support that District goal I think that's something we have to keep in mind because it's so easy to get them confused right absolutely right these are all district goals but underneath underneath there are some board goals which made me wonder is that a best practice to kind of use the district goals to guide our board [Music] goals it the other way around yeah I don't know I have the thing that Kelly shared with us yeah yeah the goal setting thing and it works in that order in her description it starts with everyone owns the district bowls they're collaboratively set with Russ and all of us and then the board goals are set by the board to improve our own processes and tasks that are owned by the board so the district goals would be what you just read um they relate to program instruction staff professional development facilities Finance those are district goals board goals have to do with our processes and procedures yeah that makes sense the board or the administration or both come together to create and establish District goals uh yes I think I think I was looking at taking the board goals and the superintendent goals and trying to blend them together uh I know it's a little bit late in the year this year but especially like we're only a couple months away from developing them for next year as well so this process might be a little bit later in the game here I don't know what your board goals necessarily are but I will try to F fit them in whatever our district goals are but I think that is it the board goals first or the district goals First District first but we are we talked with Kelly we are a little like behind because you all haven't had a full board and there's been so much going on but she was like better late than never let's start talking about them which is great so I don't I think personally I feel like we can move forward we know some of the things we want to improve as our for our board processes which we could talk about and set board goals for the where we want to support the district goals might be a give and take over the next couple months as we set in stone the district goals for next year for the 20 where are we 24 25 yeah I mean the district goals Drive what we want to deliver on and what you're you know it's basically Works in concert with you because I mean it says in your notes right the superintendent's actually responsible for trying to make them happen so we're we definitely need your input on what's possible because you don't want to set goals that are impossible for someone to achieve but we heading into the new school year you know it'll be nice to have them in place well that's the thing this uh timeline of board responsibilities provided by Kelly uh indicates that in September is the timeline for uh approving district and board ofed goals right so takes a while though I know I'm saying we before you know it'll be September yeah maybe we focus on just one thing tonight or one goal would be awesome no I mean that yeah I mean that then we can have two other meetings next two months and we'll have three goals right because that's what we have now right I mean we're not looking to really uh I think we maybe I don't know maybe we do we add another one or I don't think we're one I mean said we should have like three to three to four I think right you think was the average yeah I don't know if any of those others that I sent out were help actually this that you printed is really helpful for this conversation this first part is District goals those long you know those paragraphs there are district goals and then if you flip there's District goals and then there's board goals and you see how the board goals are related to training board Communications and Community engagement so I guess the conver the first our first question is like do we want to talk about District goals now and or do we want to talk about board goals I think it makes sense to me that District goals Drive board goals and also it makes sense to me that there are some things like one of the things we talked about is do we want to be a board of committee or there are some process things we could work out that I think would help us like immediately well that's that's of the of the things that we discussed at that work session with Kelly we're gonna change our our uh policies about committees yeah at least that's what the general consensus was yeah which is a good thing so some of that would be helpful I think for us to articulate today tonight in terms of board goals just in terms of our processes um I don't well do we all agree with the go District goals because then if we make the four goals and then we go back to make the district goals and then we have to redo the board goals because they don't fit the goals I think she's working just about processes of how we do this right so are we still going to govern by committee or or not are we going you want to change that that's that's what I'm seeing but right now seems like committees work yes and there was some discussion about having a policy committee or combining policy and something else I think the issue with the Committees though is that we're we're not doing the we're not doing it the way that boards that um do their business by committees do it like those boards apparently don't have this meeting right they don't they have the committee meetings and each committee generates you know a written report a report a more robust one than I guess we've been having and then drives decision- making like that committee recommend like the committee head right recommends whatever it is and then the board votes on it and what we've been doing is kind of both like we're we're a very hardworking board in one way because we have the committee meetings and then we also have the work that's why we're all always you know meeting like it is it's a little bit High you remember when I went to the annual meeting the new J school boards one um I was talking to people from other districts and they were like you have how many meetings so yeah they were all amazed you know because they have two for you know depending how many committees you on Charles had recommended a number of times the having a massive schedule which would really help I do think that would be good yes to drive this aspect too that's a that's a good board call yeah I'm I'm just wondering so we're this conversation is kind of all over the place to me and I'm kind of thinking like to me when I hear board goals I think what do we want to see improve in our district what do we want to see change and if we start there I think it would be a little bit more efficient I'm just that's actually the the definition of the district goal yeah so Kelly said that would be District goals and I do think that is absolutely the conversation that should drive us whether or not we're ready to have that conversation you know tonight I don't know but if we were if we could have this mini conversation about how should we structure how how can we do our meetings better how can we figure out committees which which how how should we be working it then we could make a plan also when should we do our district goals Al together yeah I think if we start with like you said the board goals are driven by the district goals so if we don't have clear and concise District goals which there's a bunch of them at the top of these papers you know and I'm looking through these papers and kind of highlighting and underlining what I think we should focus on I think the conversation starts there and then from the district goals we move out to board goals and then how we want to change our policy and restructure how our meetings go but I think starting with what we want to see and what we want to change that makes the most sense to me um forgive me that's what I'm thinking I think that's the question yeah I think that's the question so an example which pick one start with one so starting with okay drive student achievement in academic success across a wide range of needs within our student population to ensure the growth and development of the whole child and then the board goal or major activity that I underlined was provide board oversight over the department of special services to ensure we're meeting the needs of all students and I see through the hiring of a consultant that we're kind of working towards that already this has been a goal that we're working towards um and I feel student achievement and AC academic success a very good thing that we could focus on to me that I don't see in a lot of this is improving our state test scores well and I feel that's something of course yeah and I just feel like in this board goals major activities just seeing that in there would make is an example of what we could do to help the teachers get what we could do to allow the teach to do their jobs better maybe maybe concentrate or allow uh something or programs incentives to reduce absenteeism yes absolutely so there if there's more time in school there's more time learning the subject m i mean I think you already have it as a goal or something like i' have L half days next year no that's not that's not absente no it's contact yeah we do have a very heart rate and that's going astronomically up students Statewide it's Nationwide it is but that obviously doesn't mean we shouldn't work on it no and I'll provide like most of the uh most of the principles have absenteeism as one of their goals this year as well so they could I could gather their data and Report out on that as well like like what reducing it 10% they're all different across different VI I don't have them in front of me I right um I think in order to be chronic we had this discussion in the uh superintendent Round Table meeting um and if you're chronically absent if you have more than 10% of your kids chronically absent that's missing 18 days and even at 18 or 19 that's chronically absent um you have to do a um corrective action plan and I think out of all the schools in the county and we have some very small schools I think only only three schools uh met that criteria so like chronic absenteeism is a focus across and i' I've shared articles with everyone as well regarding that as and and what I would like to do is I'd like to report out and have the principles I'll gather information on the principles report on what they have done and what has been successful and what hasn't been successful this year and in addressing chronic absenteeism I actually have a chart I think I shared a chart with you guys early in the year of of what are absenteeism rate was two years ago what it was last year and pretty soon we'll have this year's um chronic absenteeism rate as well it does not appear to be going down I mean based on the numbers you gave us it's actually up this year and the year's not even over yet right because I'm looking at them now and it says uh 569 last year and for at 595 through March for the entire well I have to look at the different buildings that's the entire District I believe yeah are they they might be projected chronic absenteeism as well this is through March through the end of March March 595 uh last year was five I can't tell if this is 569 589 who's got better eyes I 2122 is 519 so it's been like the state it's been steadily going up despite obviously you're making a lot of efforts so I think the question well I'd like to Target the schools and see what they're doing at their schools yeah and and if you've got a SCH if we break it down by school and we find that somebody's doing something that's working then we share you know but like what can we do the board yeah to assist in that say it's a priority but that doesn't mean we're doing it no I think this would be a great topic to be on one of our committee meetings yeah where I can bring some of the principles in to talk about maybe maybe it' be on a curriculum committee or something of that nature and we can have a discussion and the progress we've made and what what what is working what's not working but I think it's very clear that we want to make that a district goal or at least a part of our district goals is to reduce chronic absenteeism which I think based on what we all just said that's something that should definitely be on this list and I don't see it in our district goals so I'm writing that down and when we do these they definitely should that should be one of the things it was just discussion among a couple of us none of the other board members La weighed in yet yeah sorry so um I don't know does it make sense though what I mean what you you mentioned like I do think that it's always nice to have a goal that's quantifiable right so you mentioned a percent is it you know would you like to kind of advise us on a percent that we could a metric that we could shoot for I'm s to cut you off it's okay um I think we're getting too deep into it because really like I think we should like you're saying you guys agree that it's a problem and it shouldn't be a question of is it a problem for us it's we think it's a problem right we see it we or we believe it maybe the public believes it and we say okay let's put down this as a goal in Russia you should be coming back to us and saying how you're going to tackle that goal and right yeah because I think we're going a little bit I'm just saying that the Quant the the thing that I wasn't get was getting at isn't we're not supposed to tell him how to reduce chicas that's not our job but we can say with his input we'd like to reduce it by 10% or 5% or whatever's realistic we need like a realistic goal and then everybody in the district's going to work together to and I think there's different challenges at different buildings and we had obviously and the principles did make it a goal what their goals this year to achieve so I think rep 4 down on that will help us guide into what we might want to set as goals or what we might want to do to address this issue even further okay so it sounds like we all agree that that should be a goal it's already been a goal for the it's been a goal so we don't even have to put a number on it really we want to change the the flow we want to bring that curve going the other way would be I think we can always say improve chronic absenteeism rates and then then well well we improving the rates and still so but yes and and then then we could set set the Matrix based on what what we're looking at and we could all agree on that I think as a whole because you we we we approve your your goals right right so I mean if we tell them we want you to improve this you should be coming back to us and saying well this is this is attainable I can do 10% I can do that's yeah that's what I'm getting to yeah i' like I'd like the number that we're trying to hit because that's how goals traditionally work right you have a metrics and you're all striving together to achieve the metric and that's what you know that's what we can do that's our part is to set the goal and then it's up to but it does need to be reasonable so with your input you know to give a number like we're forgive me because knew are Russ's goals is that Russ's personal goals uh and that we evaluate him on are those different than the district goals and which would be talking I think what happens some positive but I think we set the district goals and then he uses those to set his own goals and then he shares those with us and we give him feedback on them okay if I'm wrong about that somebody please tell me so it sounds like it sounds like we are you know getting into like what are we would like our district goals to be in which case Carl you sort of let us off you know looking at this as a draft to work from is everyone is that what we're all an agreement that we're going to that we're doing yes so I I think we have to start with the top right we should start say what how do we reward it or we like the wording and then we work on the goal the goals on the bottom we are I guess what she's asking though is are is that what we're going to do right now because you never really finished the conversation of what are we doing right now we let we leaped into this uh I'll do the awkward work of just being like what are we doing now and then we can all confirm we all think we're doing the same thing think you leted you start off with a decent footprint was establish District goals right I think we should then Bo goals underneath that okay and so you want a district goal to be to reduce chronic absente on the district goal of number two which is Drive student achievement and academic success and then underneath that one of the board goals would be the chronic absenteeism and that which we think the way it's work yeah which which feeds yeah Russ do you feel fine having that conversation tonight because we talked about having board goals tonight and now we're talking about having District goals so you haven't necessarily had an opportunity to think about and talk with any of your team carrying these goals around for about District goals my own goals but I I was assuming that I was going to like this whole process I I had shared out my goals I think several months ago yeah and I shared out them again recently and it probably we probably should probably did it in the wrong order yeah um but I I was thought I thought tonight we were gonna come and see what the board goals were right so this is a little bit more of that if I had some thought prior in that we're forming distri goals I would probably reach out to my other right building leaders because I think they have made progress in these areas already I'm starting to have end of the year discussions with a lot of them and the the progress they've made and I'm waiting for the final data on some of the the other uh goals that they set personally and I think I think some of their goals are already aligned to what we're doing but so I'm going to throw something out there then what if we since we are a board of committees right now what if each committee um works over the next month on the committee related goals for each district goal that we already have the ones that we have so like the curriculum committee for example that's mine could come up with goals underneath each of the district goals that relate to curriculum buildings and grounds and finance could come up with goals having what are the district goals that's and then we bring them back to the full board to discuss but we do need the these District goals I guess it's getting confusing yeah yeah we have to start with that all right so we keep these District goals and then we just board goals to satisfy so let's yeah so why don't we do that we'll look at the four the are there four three okay we'll look at the three and see if there's anything there that we want to change and then we can each kind of as we do our committees um I was going to say because I think that's great you sign it to the committee yeah like this is like your student achievement you said curric right obvious yeah you know and there's other things student achievement can also be um student matters because the chonic absenteeism is that right yeah but it can be developed in committee so so we look at the four the three District goals right now and see if does everybody agree that we keep those does anybody want to see changes to those and maybe since Russ you haven't had a chance yet to talk with your folks about these District goals we keep this as a drafting meeting we we to the best of your knowledge and your sense you you know guide us with your perspective and then we can you can come back to us before we meet in committees you could always come back and say we talked about this but after talking to the director of culum this modification right exactly like how would that feel to everybody I think that's too much because it's really this should be our vision of the district right this is our goals it shouldn't be like we discuss and say what are we good at or what what what what have we done already it be like our vision is this we want our children to have this we want our schools to be this safe or whatever and that's it and I mean Russ you're so those are the board goals you're talking about no no District because you're no you're talking about the board goals you are talking about the board goals he's talking about District but it should be a vision it's it's got to be like you got to say this is what we believe our district is and this is these represent what we're going to focus on as a district and then we could come down we shouldn't work on the way the bottom up but I think ideally Charles it is with it's us and Russ who are building those District goals and the only thing I'm noting is that we didn't tell Russ ahead of time that we'd be talking about District goal so he hasn't had a chance to talk with his team which is fine I think we still could do it and I think it is I I I agree with your like umbrella level that we're at but it is collaboratively with him it's not just us telling him I think no I think he should have it but I think you I I think we're looking too far I think it's like Russ you're a super attendent you I know you have a vision of where you want to I've given you my goals for the last last how many months overall vision of what what you want this the school the district to be you want it want we want us to Excel and and student achievement and that and I don't think you need any I think you should be speaking from the heart here and and and showing what we need and I I think we can if you do that we don't need to go back and really for the district goals this should be really what we believe the district should I'm looking at these These are pretty close about everything I've talk to you about who I am and what I believe in in Vernon for the most part so we're pretty close but there might be a little there might be a little bit of a concern or tweak that I might want to talk to you about um and I I would do that in public session that's a very valid Carrie has a very valid point that uh we should allow the administration which is our our team to think about it and come up with some it might be even just be that they that we didn't think of something that they is a part of their vision for the school and that they want to make sure that they're in there I might add something say yeah that's what we want as well and and it's agreed and that's what the principles have been but I really take your point too that and you read these you can see that they are Vision you know like that is a conversation we can certainly have today without a lot of preparation or because if we go I feel like we go away today just like oh I'm not gonna let this done before you I'm not gonna let this die you know so if we we just went away and we do still tweak it because we still have the Committees right so the Committees if if we went that the plan gen propos which is point we should all be working on these together or individual groups now are these are these this year's goals or these next years because that's trickier for me as well yeah I think we accept we should accept what we have yeah and this should be next year now moving for okay good yeah okay because I'm I'm trying to what I what the point I was trying to get is trying to get closure with with the board goals and my goals so that hasn't happened yet either so for next okay then it's perfect timing I think we're right proactively give you goals for this but a lot of these goals that' be interesting no a lot of these goals have been worked on this year I just do we have to accept them no no okay I I think for me from what I'm hearing and from what I learned in the training session that we did it's that you have District goals then board goals and then the superintendent has goals and all those goals are based on our district goals and we have these draft District goals that we did earlier but we never formally adopted them correct so I think it's important for us to look at them and think about what we want to tweak and obviously we can't Institute them retroactively like you were saying but just looking at these and I knew we were going to be talking about this so I had thought about some things I wanted to see before the meeting um and that's I I thought we weren't G to go into that though now right because I mean I have a whole list too but like we decide we're we're yeah just to stick with the top level goal the the three top level goals bues I don't want to limit your you know your you got I just forgive me it's been a so but I don't want to waste everybody's time I want everybody's time to be effective um what what is everybody's thoughts about just going with what's current there and if anybody wants to change it we're all open to suggestions to change for the district gos did everybody get a chance to we want to take a couple minutes to just like talk through each one and and see if we feel good about the district it help if I read it out loud yeah sure yeah all right District goal number one Foster a safe and inclusive learning environment supported at every level from classroom to community where every student can be their authentic best supported at every level in the classroom and the community but it's good to kind of look at them all together too because at first I thought oh there's not really anything about achievement and academic success and then I was like oh that's goal too so I think uh goal two Drive student achievement and academic success across the wide range of needs within our student population to ensure the growth and development of the whole child and goal three is exercise fiscal responsibility in order to optimize the district's limited resources towards safety and student achievement treatment while continuing to pursue additional sources of revenue to fund what's possible and then there's like a summary statement in support of all district goals continue to improve board Effectiveness and Communications that will promote working collaboratively and efficiently in an atmosphere of mutual trust cander and results driven accountability why can't that just be a fourth because it's yeah yeah looking at it differently and thinking that might be a jumping off point for our like board board goals yeah that fourth one has like a board goals so in in the packet that we got from Kelly there's a sample and it's just a board goal that says to evaluate the CSA in a timely manner it's really more yeah I mean that's that's a goal and it's qack it's very important yeah yes and it goes into some specifics you know has the major activities yeah could be a fourth goal and then we could base board goals perhaps use just using this yeah exactly I I think that makes sense because it's odd that it's all by itself here so maybe we just make that District what do you think guys District goal number four just I guess I'm just wondering because it's it is Bard continue to improve board Effectiveness and Communications yeah I think it needs to be rewarded you know like it make it more towards the community in District but the aspect of having the board you know because basically saying the board is going continue working on self right that's what this is saying but how does that help the district right so what can we do as a board to help the district by helping ourselves yeah I'm with you it's like a philosophy or an assumption we're gonna there too oh yeah all my research okay yeah so I guess that's the only reason I do kind of see it not as a number four although I agree it's sort of weird that it's yeah nothing then it's like a yeah I would would like to see like that first page that we have or the first two pages we have five things leveled uh explained um or folded right if we had if we can match all five of them with at least one goal then we know we're covering our basis right so a lot of the schools that I looked at just had narratives rather than oh yeah I saw things like this yeah so we can do it in every manner we want to speaking generally I really like what we have it's always nice to have a draft to work from that's like pretty solid yeah um and I'm sure a lot of work went into these whenever these were developed I think Kelly maybe Jen did yeah I think that they were built off of the prior everything that's why I brought them out now because they were built over the prior year and we just keep refining as we go but we we actually felt at the time and I think this is why we stole out on it a little bit um that they were too uh not the top part but the middle yeah they they weren't this why I keep talking about quantifiable because it's just very vague right I mean there's some things were really specific like you know lead and water but then other things were you know kind of just very vague like determine the needs of whatever student you know it was very um I of there were no metrics you were saying yeah there were no metrics and and then and when you don't have that then you're not there's nothing to kind of Monitor and check your progress on it's just like are we doing something yeah we're doing something but is it working you know yeah so we wanted to make it more you know to try to find measurable outcomes that we can you know and it's always scary to people because then you might not hit them but you know you can't you can't not set a goal because you might not hit it you know so and I would I would like these to be something that's useful not just know we did it yeah then push it aside and like every month you could say so how are we do an onboard goal and if we have if we have that for September I could bring that to the other building leaders to the teachers and we could be all on the same page and when I create my goals it's something that it's a common goal of the VTE members the administration and the board and so that we're working together towards those same goals yeah and you do have to be careful with them too because sometimes when you have a quantifiable thing like say you say you don't want to have as many kids get suspended then you're telling the administrators well just don't catch kids think are wrong that's so you have to be care I do want to see metrics but I also said we have to be very thoughtful because you can incent the wrong thing sometimes if you try if you don't think through your so yeah I agree I think when I look through the a lot of them are a bit vague like you were saying and I think making them more quantifiable and some of these like you said are very quantifiable like oversee P BOS remediation project at Walnut Ridge that's something we obviously work towards but it look like shortterm versus long term some them were like tasks and well they're yearly goals yeah but that was a project yeah a lot of them it led to safe and inclusive environment yes you're naming I mean clean water it seems like it makes a lot of sense to do in committees I like that idea because that that addresses the problem you're naming where a committee can sit down and really figure out what would be the specific measurable goal has to be a logical model to get from point A to point B AER what are your inputs what are your outputs and what are your short longterm goals and how are you going to measure them you can't you can't like leave them vag like like you were saying they have to like really sit down you have to send somebody home with homework to try to come up with a metric for each one then that's that's what we [Music] do all right so so yeah back to the one that's all three yeah I mean I do feel good about those three how do other people feel I do too yes Russ yes Ray okay then we're looking at four as more of before I was thinking I was thinking this the one I was coming in here but I think it also fits here but um talked about it at the meeting a policy committee I think Kelly and if we did a policy committee and there a couple things John was talking about just in the beginning of the meeting that really that's because those the board policies right we're talking about how the board acts and how the board does stuff that could be a part of the policy committee to come present that to you this is new policy we want to present as a board and this is what we do and I if we did that I think could almost eliminate this and just add it somewhere else like as a goal that we start a committee number four the yes I know and then start a committee and work on goals board goals and you know I would love to have those policy discussions in the committee because I think we'd be able to iron everything out so when we got here myself and other committee members could speak to the board as a whole as to what we've done and I think it' be a lot easier process of approving them and noting the changes we made I I agree with you but how do that can be can we put that in some sort of District goal yes so I I would say um which one is it is a number one in support all district goals the last one there's no really number four on it yeah yeah that that's what yeah four um yeah let's see yeah it seems to go there right because if we're and and the way we do this is as a board we improve ourselves right we work on ourselves and a couple of tasks where and then we can have task right improve the board as a whole task create uh policy committees um the committee Al Another task would be the committee has to come up with redo our own the what you say 100 the 100 policies or something policies that's where we that should be the focus of that group this year the workers on that and then you know and then we can uh you know add a couple more to man that's a brutal reading but but then you know at the end year we just say well we only got the three pages you Strauss Esme they go through those they don't just add or take away they just make sure that we're legally compliance right okay I don't know you read the board you read those those emails we get from the board um there's a couple things that like people like why did St even write this recently they were going back and forth like they're just changing language that previous boards put in as policiy yeah but if we had those conversations in a in a committee meeting able to follow up and a lot of times Strauss will answer and tell us why or if or we sometimes we do find out with with other superintendance that this one we are a little bit concerned about maybe this one policy so at at the session with that Kelly provided it didn't seem like we wanted to expand the Committees we wanted to contract contract them and kind of have three or four big ones consolidate yeah uh well we kind of did it with finance and buildings and right right and it seems to be working out well yeah yeah there was there was another one you said student stud with something else I thought I thought different name for it matters and community relations relations and student matters something like that so if we these changes that we would make to um the structuring of our committees and names and stuff what would that be put under as a district goal or it should be a board goal board go yeah so like that that Community relation student matters maybe we could put liaison in that too I'm not looking to anybody yeah but I'm looking to make our time more effective that would be good I mean it's just a thought no it makes sense to me because there's a lot of committee meetings all of a sudden you know well you got have a lot free time John in not yet I'm still work still waiting for it there were a lot of board committee meetings the last of mon just to so we should probably finish talking about goals if we have anything to say about goals and then maybe talk about committees right okay do we how do we feel about the goals well I think we're saying that the committee part would be a goal right we would improve our yeah our our our our structure yeah our structure so we would do that another as as we would figure out another time or we' do it tonight well we didn't we're still not clear about number four right okay yeah yeah well I don't know because I think we now we somebody there's a four missing on number just calling it number four I just put number four on it because just need to make more sense the one that says in support of all Mr calls that one reads as as a as opposed to do it I think that's why they didn't want to put District goal on there right but and you put it on here as number four then right I just shared it I didn't I didn't create this uh it was something Kelly shared a long time ago well because I think it could fit as well I think it could fit as number four on the bottom and that would the board would be in in number one in number yeah number one. four I see I see one four okay that makes sense okay I like that and why is it not Charles in your mindless under all of them like as it is why would why is it up under number one and not number two number three well if the board is doing this is well I mean it could go it fits in a couple spots right but it says it fits in all of them says in support of all and I think that's what but if you are you gonna if I had you have a goal you have three goals and you say all right this is how I'm going to tackle right you you have a plan you have a you have a road map how you're going to get it done but if you spread that one plan over three different items then who who's monitoring because and item number three may be the the the finance committee right so now they're going to come up with their own way of fixing this and then the the student committee is coming up with a different way to fix it and then at the end of the year did we ever fix anything because now we have to get have a discussion together and say well this is what I thought and this is what we thought and this fits my goal and this fits your goal but it doesn't fit the board as at a whole so if we if it we can maybe change go district one to reword it a little bit to say if it's there or put it in another one it doesn't really matter which one but put it in there but put it on one heading because if you spread it apart it's not gonna I don't see it's effective at all to be to be work on it because it's it's the same thing if every committee worked on the same project right just makes me wonder if then it's it's actually a matter of parsing out this broad goal and finding what belongs under rals one two and three Effectiveness relates to achievement efficiency relates to budget like maybe it a good idea to break that statement down to spread it out over the three goals that we've already established that we'd like to keep but I don't I'm not opposed to just putting it under goal one and and then we will because we're talking about District goals and then we will be talking about board goals and this number four is a board goal it will come we will be addressing it you know as we work through see how that relates to the district all number one of being safety that saying that's why trouble with that too yeah I I don't so let's not use that as an anchor okay let's just use the three goals that we have and then that that last piece we incorporated into those three goals in it in a way that that makes sense totally gets Incorporated but it doesn't have to fit under one specific section okay so let's can we agree that the three goals are going to be our like District goals and can we then give us some homework for the next work session for the Committees to do or each person individually well I don't want to say that we we should have committee meetings between now and the next work session but there are some committees sched we're already scheduled a bunch we need to redo the Committees we and there's supposed to be a new board member too right maybe we should do it individually for now but if you're meeting a committee and you wanted to and you were able to that be okay sure if we're going to do that but maybe we go back to who bringing up but um Define what those committees are so if we're going to change the Committees around a committee remove a committee then we should do that tonight we should do that tonight I mean okay I mean I'm gonna be here I don't have any other plans I think that's the next logical step like that's where my brain went next is to figure out what our committees are okay that's scary all right unless it takes more than five minutes in which case forget it in everybody's binder there's a list of on the other side of of the list is the list of committees from the notes all we had was change the student student life yeah so that was going to be community relations and student matters and then the to add and so I know we would would like to make the we have a policy committee but everybody on the board is on policy yeah that's that's we never meet we mean right right that's the whole board thing board makes policy that's what our function right but I thought we were going to do a policy committee that would then that's fine yeah I'm just saying there's one list to here so we'll do that I made a brief suggestion about I didn't really think it through though uh combining Leon with the community matter Community because it's our community I just thought what is le Comm go to the Town Council and try to make uh share services that kind of thing to the town coun but if we add in community relations that broadens it and it can be also about you know communicating which we need to do of with the community so that' be nice so yeah you guys are saying Leon and student life right would be called what is it called again Jen community relations and student matters I don't know that you can lump Stu well I suppose you can Community students are part of the community I don't know that you want Le own community relations student matters so can we go back to the first combination I totally like didn't jot it down so what was it what the first two that you wanted to combine oh I think that's what we're talking about okay yeah that's I didn't write it down I heard what it was saying you don't want put liaz on with that on with Community with student life it's currently called Student Life okay so student life is Comm but we were going to change it to community relation student matters but now we're thinking to combine it with Las okay wait that was at Kelly's that was at Kelly's recommendation as well the yeah she said there really was no Student Life committees really and I do see community relations if we think of it as community relations student matters makes more sense student life it's it's our community's investment in student matters which is that's yeah and we do cover this other like student stuff in curriculum so it's not like we're losing that I don't think so Lea's own community relations now is what we're deciding yes okay Le is on community relations yeah we where where's where's there is no right now community relations it's like a rename for student life we're sort of taking away student it and then we closed ex animated partly had a very short life yeah we're so fast move quick so there are nine committees existing right now well now there's eight okay eight there were 10 yes making progress negotiations is specific to didn't me every couple of years right so so they don't we don't always need a negotiation right right well negotiation can go with Personnel I mean that's okay right that's same yeah yeah okay there was really a meeting of the committee for personnel though I mean we do that when we go in close session so it's just listed here as a committee but it's not really a committee yeah it's just the board it's one of our things you know I don't even think we need a committee personel I I kind of agree I think that's just I think they just listed here to say this is how they're handling it with the full board you know so that it doesn't look like we're not doing it at all maybe so you don't count those as committees then so eight seven six we're down to six wait which ones are you counting personel un personel and policy I mean well we're gonna make policy different policy yeah we are gonna oh actually no we're back up to seven back up to seven policy okay um so curriculum and policy no no culum is a big a big one yes you don't want them longer student services right if you're there you goal service special service say that I don't know if they go together what did you say special services in curriculum no no they don't go together one's completely all the special needs yeah actually those two you want to Bas your curriculum off of what also is happening with quarter of the population half of the population whatever turn out to be it's too broad that would make it too broad yeah just too much tackle because all the curriculum is technology as well yeah that's true okay yes and you remember the length of our meetings is already tough without the special service in there somebody name Jen takes a lots of notes Sor from from a partnership what is partnership it's the me meetings with uh representatives from every building uh every uh the associations and the administrators and the central office and the board and just to go over things that uh to make our uh schools a better place to work it's an example of something would be like if they having a problem with an air conditioner that's not getting fixed they bring that up at partnership and it usually gets fixed like that and it's just a nonthreatening ven not unrelated to Liaison or not related to it's not liaison is the whole idea is it's this entity this is internal it's it's our staff and yes students right so we need to be kept separate okay yeah you wouldn't because who comes to Lon is from the town you right couple them with yeah right right okay um so from my understanding it sounds like we want to rename Student Life to community relations and student matters and we're thinking about combining personnel and negotiations um we're thinking about combining liaison with the newly renamed community relations and student matter Andy from that's determined by a full board to creating a smaller policy subcommittee or committee like a a committee like this like like this yeah okay I just want to make sure I'm following everything corre no I think you got it a good summary yes and so far that's as all that's as far as we've gotten yeah okay does anybody have any better ideas no do we want to talk about who on these committees yes oh yes right I know typically it's the president and the vice president who get put their heads together and do that I promise to do that by this Thursday okay okay do you need to hear from people about what they want can I ask that you email me your requests yes for what committee you'd like to head be chair and what committee you'd like to be on I'm not going to guarantee that you'll get them all Ray and I will discuss them I can't uh do anything about Finance I have can't have any participation in that so you're redoing the whole board or just the new people let's just do the whole board because we're changing all of these okay and then we have to change the policies that reflect this what what do you mean by that give your summary a lot of work to do right I think e way to say it though is just draw an X to Student Life and then put a slash after Le Zone and write community relations and that we're not going to call it community relations and student life we're just going to call it leaone community relations right right yeah and then um policy becomes a committee so you just cross out full board under policy good new committee I just T you right negotiations is not necessary anymore for while well we still have um they still well no you're right yeah that's true did okay year right but then next year it comes right back up and if you want to look at some other boards to see what they have as commit that might might not be a bad idea too okay all right great all right so for the next board meeting a next session we're going to go over the major activities within each of the district goals okay we should all just be looking at that now home exactly okay and I appreciate everybody's home they did obviously everybody did some homework thank you thank you for printing everything out and oh yeah trees I don't love that but made it easier okay can we move on yes I don't want to rush things or give make sure everybody opportunity to say something thank you very much everybody thank you thank you and and I'm sorry Ray's not here too he loves this stuff item F boards board reports summary so um I can fill in because um Mr zman wasn't at the last finance committee meeting so I brought my notes but um I I wasn't knowing that I was going to do this so there a little rough um so at the finance committee meeting we um talked about the isip um overview we had people from um MW well right red yeah okay thank you um John borest and um a man whose first name is Wyatt down his last name anyway they explain the concept of the EAP which involves an audit of our infrastructure to identify opportunities for um Energy savings and operational savings and with whether an esip makes sense for Vernon which is something the board has to decide basically we would have to conduct and if I get anything wrong right please pipe up because like I said um uh the board has to would have the district would have to conduct an audit and that can be contracted for a fee or we can uh request it through the new JY Board of Public Utilities which will do it for free but it takes apparently there's like a 9month wait time so that's not IDE deal and that audit determines potential savings on investments and Capital Improvements uh and then if the audit determines a certain well which it will will determine how much we'll save there's a rebate available through the program of 30% of that savings so we would get that money up front Okay see I'm going I'm doing something wrong I can tell that would only be for certain parts of like which I think we went with solar there might be like a 30% depending on how we went about that okay so that was an example of of okay an example some incentives rebates in there but it depend on what the project is and okay yeah because they were talking about the fact that we spend about a million dollars a year on utilities and they were saying that if we can um they usually get a certain uh percentage savings and then we get we get a rebate back uh for that cost and that helps us to finance the um project right y okay so in any case um the uh decision has to be next I think to decide whether or not we're going to move forward with the audit right then committee meeting and it's on on the agenda for Monday all right okay um and then the other things we talked about were the fire inspection update um the Walnut Ridge filtration project cosmetology building ramp repair which I think was done or is being done no let see which one was it the cosmetology building ramp repair uh so that was a review of um one of the projects that was presented as part of the budget so that will be part of next year's bu okay yep okay and then the window project at Glen Meadow and then we talked about the recently completed projects the vths stairwell and the vths concession stand um and then we discuss the second proposal and the possibility of the uh a 4161 legislation being passed so that was finance committee meeting thank you Jen and now um I'll do the curricul I haven't had a chance to read the report yet okay so the curriculum committee meeting was held oh I forgot to say the finance committee met uh April 22nd it was myself Charles saglia John Krauss Mr Rogers Mr slam and Mr bener um the curriculum committee met April 17th I attended John Krauss attended Charles magley Avan gagle asro and Nick glasso attended um we talked about the high school class waiting and the GPA calculation methodology which the school's been work the district has been working on Mr gastro reported that um principal young and 11 High School staff members have met five times now this is a really intensive Endeavor to go through grade weights course weights and um GPA formatting and they're close to finalizing proposed changes so that's exciting um with regard to GPA they're discussing the waiting of CP ACP honors and AP classes looking at Best Practices and what would be most beneficial for students um they're also considering a potential transition away from numeric grades to a 4.0 format so in our new um format I'm supposed to ask if there are any questions or comments about each of these items anybody have any questions can you say more about the 4.0 format no no it's fine no I can say I mean you know right now we're on a numeric yeah and there they're uh I guess a lot of districts do 4.0 and also that's sort of the context apparently that you know is is familiar to college admissions and things like that and and so they're just looking into whether it makes sense but there are some um there are some challenges there um that have to do with um the you know you lose the specificity of a of a number because of the 4.0 format gives you a little bit less I think detail of how a student is doing so you know there's some concerns about whether we want to trade that one thing for the other is that right yeah I've been out of other schools where you you would either get like an A+ an A or an A minus whereas at Vernon you get a 96 91397 up to 100 but we convert those to a 4 whatever right but other school other schools will have for the marking period you have you know each marking period an a an A minus an a a B+ and an A+ and then there's a scale to on a 4.0 to transition instead of a numeric average yeah interesting it's interesting because when you look at every school every school does it a little bit different so do a numeric average but we still have the 4.0 kind of thing going on there but I'm not sure how they do it we do as well but I think what they're looking at is what is a 90 in this level course honors and yeah the waiting sure because the waiting didn't seem to equate to the degree of difficulty um and so they were looking at that and also they discovered in the in the process that uh the waiting inside each class were also different like how much you get for participation versus like the in the English classes they were waiting participation higher um so so they just want to look for first of all consistency within each department on the waiting of of grades within the course and then the waiting of the courses at levels so it's it's it's sounded so simple when we said oh we should be visit but it turns out they are it sounds as if they're very enthusiastic about it because it did seem that you know once they got into it that there were things that they would prefer to change so it was a good thing to have been brought up so so that's the good news um but a lot of work and a lot of work is going into it and our district should really appreciate all the work that those um staff members are doing um so the second thing we talked about was the VT uh the high school schedule and that um is also a lot of work um an ad hoc realignment committee has been meeting and um they are going I think they're going to send out a seventh grade survey they had did not do that yet because uh I think the change isn't taking effect until September of 2025 what's that committee um it's an ad hoc realignment committee and it's uh to um assess potential schedules to adopt in place of what the high school currently has which is um was supposed to be a temporary measure where the I don't even know what it's called where they have the unit lunch in in the middle of the day um it's like a double period and then they have classes kind of uh the kids change like they might have like music first period one day ma math the next they've been talking about rotating drop loock schedules for several years now but it's about having Buy in and discussions with with the staff and it's also getting the uh contract align appropriately when it is right yeah so there so within the limitations that we had with the contract they moved to the current schedule so now they're trying to get the ideal schedule which would then be part of the negotiation process with the next contract um so yeah and the goal is to have two sample schedules to consider by the end of May um and like I said that change would take effect in September of 2025 if and when it if if it's something that we do um then the next thing we talked about was the school profile change oh that's our document about our schools that we um you know publish and they're uh looking at updating the profile to to just they're looking at different profiles across other districts and trying to figure out what what would make ours um better and those profiles go out to colleges those are the profiles yeah that colleges look at and they also go out to the folks who rank us you know so when you see Vernon's rankings they they have the information about SAT score ranges the average score the number of AP classes are offered things like that and then the places that rank school districts look at that and that's part of what they you know rank you based on so you know it's important to have it uh in you know in the best that we can get it so uh then there was a um any questions about that um then there was an update on the uh culum changes to address the new standards because we've got new English and math standards from the state so they have to go back and U change the curriculum to address that um we talked about substudy um that was a response to the board's request for data on the number of students in substudy um so the administration reported back that the numbers ranged from 0o to 184 uh that's in one period 184 kids um and that was over a 3-day period in April uh with two or three staff members typically monitoring so um in response to concerns regarding the noise level and the challenge of monitoring large groups of students um in substudy uh the administration reported that they were introduced as a cost sating measure and also at a time when we had a short we had difficulty finding Subs um it's that's not as much of a concern anymore but um but it's still obviously a cost sa me yes 84 was it was over the it wasn't one period right it was over the course no that was one period was yeah um that was the highest though uh the administration also stated that the students in substudy have the option of using the library the guidance office or the cafeteria if the gym is too noisy so um any questions about that okay so then we also talked about the math curriculum presentation we just did a little like conversation about how that went over and what we could uh do differently and whether we should do more of that kind of thing um there were uh there was a not to maybe possibly talk about bringing a teacher next time to talk about how they feel about the program um just to get a staff members perspective if that's possible um we talked about AP testing there are 137 students taking AP exams this month out of 177 register so that's a pretty strong participation rate which is good news because obviously I don't know if anybody knows but we were paying for the test in hope of getting more kids to take it um and they're still taking it even though they're paying for it so that's good good luck this week and this month oh my gosh yes and they're going on right now so everybody uh you know send your good thoughts and toward all those kids taking all those stressful tests um qac Readiness preparation's underway there's concern across the state that a large part of that um of passing qac is related to the New Jersey SLA achievement scores and scores are low across uh many districts so that's going to be a challenge uh we basically have to get everything else perfect if um in order to pass so we're going to be working hard on that um ACP honors enrollment initiative uh that was an initiative by the district uh Administration to increase uh to encourage students to pursue more rigorous um curriculum choices to to move up in course level um so they're working and they're also working with um sesex Community College on dual enrollment alignment so students have more opportunities to earn credits in high school for college um and are exploring um an Associates program which is where you would work with the Community College to enable students to take classes in high school and I think over the summer and earn an associates degree while still in high school so that would be really exciting um we talked about technology update we talked about ways to incense students to be responsible for keeping their Chromebooks in good condition um apparently that's been a challenged so we're working on that uh the district is also participating in a Varsity Tutors demo that will give students um access to 24/7 chat tutoring Services essay review and On Demand classes um which is really exciting because it's free um which we all thought wow that's kind of worse to catch but apparently it's going to be great for our students to have access to that so any questions okay good thank you very much J you're welcome um so I also I guess have to do a special services um because so to take deep bre the last one oh okay do you want to do it I didn't take any notes do you have notes I do oh great great okay thank you so special services met April 26 at present we're um this colani myself Mr Sweeney Mr Fay and Mr Rogers um we received an update on outof District placements which are currently at 30 or were as of that date down from 26 at the start of the school year and down from 43 since March of 2021 which equates to $1,950,000 in annual savings so that's great uh the average out of District cost is $150,000 a year including transportation we also discussed two neighboring districts that are seeking to place special needs students in Vernon and the Department's working with the VA to set tuition rates which will need to be approved by the New Jersey Department Ed but that is of potential influx uh of revenue for us so that's exciting um we discussed the applied Behavior analys program anal wait I don't know what word that's supposed to be but it says something like analysis program uh opening in the high school next year oh the ABA program yeah enabling Vernon to keep two students in District next year for a savings of up to 150,000 to 180,000 per student um we reviewed Department goals um and then and uh we heard from Michelle Gardner who's been Consulting with the special services department um and she shared some updates but I'm not going to get into that because she's going to be presenting her final um report on May 14th so we'll get we'll all be getting a copy of that at that point okay thank you very much they were good it was that's I remember the the special services committee yes and it was a good report from M looking forward to the results I think it'll be exciting to hear from her liaison uh yes um my understanding is there's been a development but I'm going to defer to Mr slam to explain that uh so we've been working with the town on a shared services agreement um there had been some previous meetings uh with the town uh they put together uh an agreement based off of that uh we kept it fairly open-ended just in case there are you know future opportunities to work together um that is on for the town approval I believe on Monday um so there are basically the goal of this of this being uh you know when you're working with some private companies there's going to be you know the profit and things like that included uh so hope there'll be some savings for both the on the down side with some Services we can help them with uh and then on the board side which ultimately will in both instances help the uh taxpayers at burnning so who is reviewing this uh agreement for the board uh so I shared it out um just before the meeting actually so just a little bit ago uh to the lon committee um it has been reviewed by the board attorney just to make sure there's language in there has been reviewed also by the town's attorney to make sure there's language in there on the town's part um and essentially um what would happen is that we if we were provided a service we would build them for just the time and if there's any materials and then vice versa if they provided a service they would bill us for the time and and who determines what qualifies as a shared service so some of the things we have been discussing up until this point let me see I can pull up the email um does the contract include specified no it keeps it pretty open-ended it just says Outdoor Services um that's yeah so some of the things uh would be like some catch Basin repairs we have catch basins around the district that um are in need of repair there's at least four that I'm aware of there are probably more we're going to do an inventory of everything um in addition to that there's um some sweeping at the end of the winter that we usually uh pay for that I believe the town has a sweeper um there are some vehicle repairs uh while we do like simple things like oil changes and things like that in house that we can handle like more complicated things uh the DPW does have uh mechanics my understanding is that mechanics that can do that some of that work for us so that would be a savings there um and then one of the things looking at is also pavement patching um which I think be pretty beneficial and then in addition to those items we have historically had a shared service agreement for fuel so let's say we this goes through and we have Paving and patching work that needs to be done how do we know that it's a competitive price so before any um that was some of the language that got added in uh before any Services provided we provide an estimate to each other of what that would be so then you know obviously we could see if what would be the the better Advantage for uh the district or the town uh and ultimately the taxpayer and I'd like to be able to oversee how things are going how do we how does the board maintain oversight um oversight in terms of what services are being completed or yes or about to be completed would be something that I would like to know ahead of time really uh so that could be provided probably a lot of it's goingon to be building the ground space so probably go through that committee be reported out through the buildings of grounds committee um ultimately it falls under purchasing because we're going to be purchasing something so obviously you know I would be reviewing all the purchase orders and siging all purchase orders before they went out um because was it's still purchasing it's just purchasing at a reduced price at hopefully reduced price than what we would otherwise have to pay going somewhere else and then other other types it could be Revenue right uh wouldn't really be we will be it would something for them there are a couple things like that they were looking at in terms of maybe electrician or pumers that we have on staff that could assist the town um but it wouldn't really be Revenue so much as it'll be reimbursing us for a time that our staff would be spending to fix something for the town and then vice versa for you know the town reimbursing them for time uh for their staff to you know help us address things that we can handle in house here anybody else have any questions about this thank you B is that good m oh that covered it yes thank you thank you uh negotiations um anybody here on negotiations yeah I could address it we met um Charles myself um Ray Mr slam Miss dver and our lawyer and we negotiated and and came to a terms with the BTA and they we resolved their contract that evening have they they have not approved it yet have they I don't know if they've voted on it yet the they approved with with everybody there they approved it and we all signed all fine but I think that have to bring it to their membership for a vote okay thank you welcome we may have had an update today really okay hold on through that's okay uh the BTA unanimously approved the contract changes as presented in the M Moa and ratified the new contract this afternoon so we plan on putting that on for the next meeting okay so thank you to the negotiations committee and those who helped the negotiations committee Ray and Miss deor thank you uh the partnership committee met today um was a very quick meeting U just a c of the items that were addressed were uh some uh boot service issues with the uh from the staff and they will be meeting with this the Food Service uh company to discuss uh staff lunches which uh are not as good as they were last year I guess uh a couple of security issues at ring Hills that there uh Mr vankirk is on top of and we discussed the second question and uh hopefully to get some support from uh the teachers who live in the district for second question in nove November and that's the general summary was uh there was no food so sorry about that special services we did Student Life there was no meeting yeah no nothing to report okay review the public agenda item G anybody have any questions about the public agenda [Music] it's next week they will it will be in the library uh it will be in the gym I believe uh with the they're still up in air about where it might be you have to have it in the gym gonna be tons of people there thousands that's not what my secretary it's just retirees and all yeah acknowledgement of teachers of the Year things like that she she's GA good good he's Gathering down and he's going to attend to see what what's about Vue there'll be cake those it's no cby this would be real cake have real cake matter where it is we were just concerned about the last time we had in a gym it was hard to understand people so if the number if the number is is manageable we'll have it here but if it's a larger we're done Gathering data next week well it'll be the gymnasium or okay yeah that makes sense it's a nice time it's it's to see all no matter which room we're in it's going to be a great time uh what else do we have in the um if there's no questions about that H superintendent report Char I don't want Rush did you I say page and through you okay oh okay I have to say actually I enjoyed it this time was like very complete mhm yeah take a good thank you I know everybody participated too great uh super letter letter H uh superintendent report uh number one harassment intimidation and bullying random drug testing and school safety reports attachment ws1 and also number two the enrollment reports which is attachment WS2 yeah that's is a that your recommendations verion uh letter H it is recommended that the board approve the following faculty staff appointments assignment changes leaves mentoring resignation requirements salary adjustments stiens student teaching terminations and transfers as listed it should be noted that there's an [Music] agendum okay may I have that in form of a motion please as so moved second move by Mr uh continue seconded by jent Miss pellet and roll call SL Miss Brock yes Mr smaga yes Mr cantino yes Mr clus Krauss Sorry Miss pellet yes Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeney yes motion carries thank you Mr item I uh so we just have informational items this month we have a list of Professional Services and reappointments uh it's included as an attachment do you want me to read this over does is anyone give us a chance anybody want look over it need to look read okay I looked it over I read it now these are not contracts they just we're approving them for the 24 25 school year if there's a contract with somebody that gets reviewed at the time of renewal is that correct um so it depends on um the position so for example um otter we went out for RF District went out for RP PR started uh this ofia was selected generally there'll be a letter in this instance there'll be a letter from the Saia after the the current year letting us know what the fee would be next year at which point I would try to negotiate um uh usually there's not another approval for that right but um what I would say is that any of these positions even though they're being approved now for the full year that doesn't stop us from an area that we haven't gone out for RFP uh going out for an RFP during the year and making that change at any time because I know at one point it was mentioned thatting yeah because I know at one point it was mentioned by I don't know if I think multiple war is that there are some other areas that not necessarily because someone's doing you know of poor job with Professional Services but because there hasn't been RFP in a while that we may want to go out and we get bettered uh Financial Arrangement yep Charles I just right I the the copy I was looking at I didn't look today to see if it was a different one but it says draft on it did anything change it still does it still does yeah we still dra yeah yeah so this is just a review so this is informational um it would be on next week next week okay thank you thank you Mr slam anything else is there anything on amum an addendum no just that was the only thing I yeah no addend for the section okay item J public participation I'm GNA open the meeting to the public please identify yourself sign in please sign in uh Scott Castle from Glenwood um just a couple of quick things it was good to hear that the shared services are still moving along and uh just my opinion is I think it's great that it's more open-ended because I think the more you try to lock it down uh and the harder it becomes to be used the less it's going to be used and I would be really surprised I mean I think it was a good point um that was brought up about you know we should make sure that we're not overpaying the town for something we could get cheaper I'd be really surprised if the town can't do it cheaper than any other contractor that we have um the other thing was it was interesting listening to the goals I I I actually liked that um and just my unrequested two cents are I think uh Mrs pellet had the key point which is you need to have metrics on goals to track against because otherwise you just have generic statements that get interpreted 80 different ways um you know again I have to do that kind of thing at my work so you have to have something to track against and also you have to track them at some or you don't have to but it's recommended that you track them at some kind of you know standard interval you know if it's every two weeks once a month once quarter whatever it is but so you know kind of how you're how you're moving along and do you need to make adjustments as you go along not just set the goals and that at the end of the year see if you know you made them or not so um the last thing I had in uh I think this happened to me once before too where I had a bunch of comments on the or questions on the budget and I happened to pick the meeting that Mr slam wasn't at today I have some uh comments on the statement that Mr Zimmerman made at the end of the last meeting um I I'm G to throw them out there anyway because I think I know where he stands and I'm hoping that the rest of the board doesn't stand the same on a lot of the the points he had um but I personally when I was listening to them I found them kind of uh you know condescending maybe maybe insulting even at times just the way that they were they were put out there um I I really didn't like it but as my wife will tell you you know she thinks I'm a high head so I was just you know maybe maybe it's just me but then when I mean we had a pretty good crowd here and they all kind of got up and left pretty close to after that happened and in talking to them in the park paring lot I guess that was kind of how they took it too so um and I'll I'll add to that I I did try to handle this offline I sent a direct email but I didn't get a response and some people don't like talking you know oneon-one so that's why I'm bringing it up here um but I just wanted to hit on a couple of the points from that um that you know bothered me and I went back and listened again just to make sure you know it wasn't me uh you know being overly sensitive or whatever I don't think I'm overly sensitive but uh the first one was and these aren't in any particular order it's just things I wrote down I jotted down as I was listening um there was a statement that there's one group that's missing from these meetings and that was referring to uh parents that have schoolage children aren't at these meetings and somehow that was equated to basically they're not here because they approve of everything that's going on so that's why they're not attending the meetings and I can tell you that um I know for a fact that that's not true like I'm not just making this up um but you know even you know when my kids were younger they've graduated from here everything went great but when they were younger at seven o'clock you know we're doing homework we're getting home from Little League whatever so we don't go to board of I never even thought of going to a board ofed meetings so you don't have time to go to board ofed meetings that was not my endorsement that everything was was great that's why I'm not heading to the board ofed meeting I was just busy so I think that's why a lot of uh parents don't come there you know don't come to the meetings my in my neighborhood um I have a l a pretty big bus stop right by me we have a lot of young kids in there so why we my wife and I started attending these meetings were you know I love the school system here which is why we moved here we specifically my wife I would say specifically picked Vern and we moved here from Wayne because of the school system so we hear from the younger parents the problems and the concerns that they have about the schools which is why I started coming to the board of ed meetings I never I never went to them anyway so I am positive if you pulled parents at the bus stop my bus stop any bus stop you're not going to get a ringing endorsement I actually heard last week they were talking I guess there's some school in Hamburg that they put together where uh they do homeschooling or something like that and they hire teachers and stuff that people were thinking about sending their kids to so there are definitely concerns out there so I think it's it was a crazy statement to assume that because they're not here they must agree with everything that's going on um the other inference that kind of came from that to me was that the people that were here because they don't have children in of school age age you know their opinions weren't as valuable as somebody that did have have somebody there and again maybe on that one I'm taking in you know I'm assuming that's what he he was affirming because I did get that from that and that's what other people got from it as well could be wrong on that one that's just me saying that but I think in these kind of uh meetings we need everybody's input no matter who they are whether they have kids in the school system they don't whatever we need everybody to to to voice their opinions I mean I have people that call in I don't agree with anything they say but I'm glad that they call in because they care about what's going on um so I don't think that kind of tone uh for what you're saying is is of any value in these meetings the next comment was on taxes and I'll try to be a little bit quicker but on taxes and how you know I don't like to pay taxes you don't like to pay taxes we have to pay taxes and to me that was again just totally I guess tonee missing the point like I don't come up here and just rail because I don't want to pay taxes obviously I don't want to pay taxes but I don't come up here and say I don't want to pay taxes this everything is horrible what I say is I don't want to pay taxes and not see some kind of benefit from my taxes and I don't want to pay more taxes and not see some kind of benefit so that's why I'll usually say it would be you know it would have been an easier sell had we seen even small incremental improvements in something um anything like that you know in test scores which I'll get to in a minute but in test scores or anything like that that would make it you know a little bit easier I don't think anyone that I've seen when I come comes up here just to complain about taxes it's about what are our taxes doing and during the last meeting it was even stated that if we um if we go through with this well I guess we're going through with this uh over 2% cap tax increase that we're doing which is a large tax increase but we don't uh do the even larger tax increase which is the second question what happens in the district and it was everything stays status quo you know we're going to be below average now we're going to stay below average that's what we're getting for more of our tax dollars I'm not arguing the the budget point or anything like that anymore but I I think that it's it's really tough for people to swallow that um there aren't more Cuts things like that that are that are happening so um you know in the I think we've seen in the local in the state in the federal any of that just throwing money at the problem never really seems to solve it so I think we need a more defined plan that we can put out there on what's going to change and how we're going to improve it and then lastly on the the test scores um the statement that Mr Zimmerman had had was something along the L lines of you know education doesn't work like that uh the scores don't mean he didn't say the scores don't mean anything but they don't mean that much and I don't know what that means if it's just like we have a feeling in the air how the schools are doing or or what it is but to me the scores the test scores mean a lot and and on the standard testing you know it's never perfect you're never going to have a perfect standard testing that's that's just the way it is but what I guess I get from them is that you know you're always going to have kids that underachieve they overachieve on on the school testing I actually listened to a podcast the other day and it was it was about Newark schools but they were talking about the standardized testing and how some kids will underachieve because they get nervous some kids overachieve but the guy I don't remember the guy's name that was was talking about it but basically he was saying first of all the combined percentage of those two the over Achievers and The Underachievers is not that great so most of the kids just achieve what they should on those tests so you get an idea of what's going on and then also what I found interesting was the percentage of overachievers and Underachievers basically stays constant no matter where you look so you can look in California at standard testing you look at here whatever the within a couple of you know small percentage points difference it's the same percentage so what that tells me is we are all basing everything on a standard testing group now whether it the testing needs changes that's that's one thing but the the basically the two things I get from the testing are one is can you say with confidence that we're putting the kids in uh position to be successful in either careers uh or college whatever it is because they're achieving in math and science and whatever and then the the second thing is we we do have something that is an Apples to Apples comparison so we can look at districts in the county districts in the state say we're taking the same testing maybe it's not perfect testing but how do we stack up against them and what I've seen is you know Vernon right now is not stacking up that that well so how you can say testing doesn't matter is beyond me and I would also say that if our scores were improving or we were in the top of the state or the county or whatever it was I'm almost positive that Mr Zimmerman and probably other people would be saying how great the scores are look how great we're doing so it's like if they're doing good we can mention them if we're not doing good scores the testing doesn't mean anything so I I really feel that um testing is just not perfect but is really something that you can we should pay attention to and we shouldn't throw aside um there were a few other off-the-wall comments but I'll I'll end it I mean I guess you know in the end I want to believe that all of us everybody here me everybody else we all want the district to do really well we have different paths to get to that I mean some of us concentrate on I rail on about cutting administrative cost other people think we should do different curriculum whatever it is we all want to get there guess minus one but I don't think I don't think we're in that grade of a position right now and I'm hoping that everyone else sees that too I don't I know there's no quick fix for it um but I don't think we get down on the people that come here to to express their concerns you know even if they don't have schoolage kids here I love my town like I love living here and I want all those kids that I see in my neighborhood to have the same thing my kids had my kids did great here I love this schools here I'd brag about the schools here when we moved here like that's why we came here so I want to be able to say you know moving forward brag about my town that this is how great it is not I don't care you know I could say I don't care because my kids aren't in school anymore but I do care so and I would not mind tax increases that were improving everything and getting us to the point that's there um so I just um I guess I'm glad to know where Mr Zimmerman standed or stood on all of this because I he hadn't talked much in the ones that I went to so it was good to know that I'm just hopeful that the rest of the board does not have similar feelings on these key points that I had um and you know that we can you know all kind of work together and get to someplace where that the district is in a better spot so sorry for the long ramblings but that one bothered me for two weeks now so had to get it out there and I'll be yelling out in the parking lot later as well about it thank thank you anybody else in the public you want to so we see all right um open the meeting to online um we have Dennis Hart Denise Denise Denise Hart Denise Hart I'm sorry I it's okay it's not the first time I've been called Dennis um I have a couple of questions for Mr slam um first of all can you can you give me a brief summary I'm sorry I can't convey this to other people who have asked me can you just give me a brief summary on what tax levy is so the tax levy is the authorized amount that the district can raise as part of the overall tax rate of the town so for I don't have the exact number off P my head for a previous year um but essentially it's the authorized amount that we can raise in taxes and there's a two% cap on that which increases that Authority each year uh with a few exceptions which I believe I've talked about a couple of them in the past okay because I was a little confused used um it was a little over my head the um the email I had sent you and I was specifically asked besides what's being put on the ballot for us to vote on the two items um when you responded I I just didn't understand the 2.71 is that the tax levy and is that it going to be in effect regardless of our vote uh yes so uh if you look at the presentation uh I put online um there is a chart on there which will basically give kind a breakdown of the different revenues the district has available to it uh here in Vernon the largest revenue and really one of the only ones that we have you know somewhat limited control over is the tax levy the next largest revenue which unfortunately we have no control over um as we've seen in the past you know five or six years is state aid uh that can change it really any time that the state looks at that state aid formula and changes it um some districts it's been very beneficial here it's obviously been a huge loss in Revenue um but kind of get back to your question so the 2 point uh 7% That's the increase from last year's tax levy um sorry the current year's tax levy to the next year's tax levy that's part of the budget process that's separate from the separate proposal um and that 2.7% doesn't mean that everyone's taxes would go up 2.7% because that increase is split differently over the tax base of the town so it has to do with you know ratables and essentially what uh it's each individual's house uh taxpayer's house would be um assessed at so it's the assessed value not the market value that ties into some of those uh some of that other information that was my um presentation and then also my response uh to you just to try to assist um knowing that some people have been reassess it's just knowing uh how they could calculate what the estimated tax impact for them individually would be um understood I just it's a it's a lot of lingo and um I don't I don't convey it to other people as well as I think I understand it which I don't always understand um in reference to your uh attachment in the paperwork this evening um the WS2 attachment when I emailed you I emailed you about enrollment over the years which will take me to my question for um Mr Rogers after this but you sent you put in there a link to the state site I went to the state site and my numbers are not matching what you have and I'm I'm not sure if I'm reading this wrong on the state information uh where it says um advertised enrollments so basically that the numbers that you would see on so each time you see numbers it's going to depend on when when those numbers are from because enrollment is GNA basically constantly fluctuate throughout the year um the numbers that you see probably in user friendly budgets would be probably from February uh or maybe early March um if not that's how I do I don't know how the hell it's been done previous Pas uh sometimes they may use numbers from October so the number you see in tonight's report is probably a more current number since okay I'm assuming I didn't see the T and what is that for this month yes it's for this yeah so it's this month's number okay um well I'm actually going back to 2022 because um what I don't understand is when the advertising enrollment on the state form says on regular on Roll regular fulltime that's our full-time students what is on Roll special ed those are are those all special needs children are they IEPs are they the whole um gamut of everything that falls under special services because because looking at the numbers just don't coincide exactly with it's off a little and I'm just trying to understand what these differences are you better R you said you're looking at the WS2 attachment and then and those looking at the WS2 and then I'm looking at the advertised enrollment for the state so let's let's look at the 2223 column the very bottom number says 2,989 students so that's in District and out of District um in that total number so in District we had 2,952 students is that what that that would be all the students that were enrolled in Vernon and and not going to Tech or um any other school unless it was special needs that would be that would be under or everything would be under added district for special needs and um Tech and Pope John or wherever else we pay a charter school so basically just kind of I think the answer your overall question any line there in the userfriendly budget that says on Roll would be in District students whether that be regular Ed or special education and then in private placements that um generally in private school placements in other districts that's going to be your out of District special ed so when it says private school placements that means we're sent into a private school um and then for sent to other districts it means that it's um a special education student that's going to a public school okay other been our own okay um where where I'm going with this is and this will now be directed to Mr Rogers um because I I I imagine maybe you'll have it at the next meeting it the conversation came up about class size um and looking at this chart the WS2 our class sizes I mean our student enrollment size has not changed significantly since 2018 2019 what changed significantly for a brief period of time was the number of teachers we had and now we have a vote for 16 more teachers um which is in hopes that it will relieve the sizes of class as well as hopefully help with test scores but yet we actually have less students than 2018 2019 2019 2020 um we still have less students and this is where I'm going to be just really trying to hone in on where are the class sizes that needs 16 teachers um what's so different from before covid to where we are now that it just helps support the reason that you're asking for us for our vote in this uh election for more when when we're we have less students well like like you said the student population overall has not changed that significantly over those years and like I said from last year to this year we lost 52.5 uh total full-time staff members um so we're looking to bring back and I I even have it more detailed on the spreadsheet I presented as far as the number of teachers I know Jen and I were a couple off but we're not asking for all those teachers back we're looking to bring back a portion of those to try to bring the class sizes to a more manageable level and to provide those multi-tier systems of supports that have been talked about from the Anova Mount presenters as well as uh our special services director about those are integral in in the learning process as much as bringing class size to the manageable level and Mrs Hart usually what happens is I can tell you this year where I would put those teachers but next year what happens is we look at an influx kindergarten populations uh change significantly over the summer and to to be looking for the the best need and probably look looking at we could probably reduce it from the high 20s to around 30 to the mid 20s or lower 20s uh by adding a teacher at each grade at each building and providing uh multi- theer systems of support for those students as well so I have a little thing going on right now with um acquaintances um of mine who have had children in the school system currently in the school system and who have graduated any time within the last eight years um and some of them have multiple children and the question of class size um it it because everybody's got a history with class SI I pulled out all of my daughter's school pictures from kindergarten through sixth grade because that's what you did you took that Home Room picture I think only Middle School really changed classes for every class you had the house system when my daughter was in when it was still Cedar Ridge and um Rolling Hills separated and it just goes back to that question about class size like my my daughter had some some classes 23 21 20 I think the lowest class she had was 19 for a home room picture um so you know there's like we're look I guess what the parent and that other parents had similar some had um as much as 24 so it wasn't like there was much more than what my daughter had there really wasn't but what is a significant class size I mean where that's that's really question and and some of the people I spoke to who do work in the community work in the school system um did mention that some some classes in some schools do have an excessive but not all so what is that number well those several several classes that are of the size I believe we had members from the community uh coming to board meetings early in the year about some of the first grade sizes some of the second grade sizes some of the third grade sizes even even 4th through 8th uh you're you're in the high 20s some of the classes are are 30s and physic classes are are extremely large as well I I brought those I tried to talk to those numbers at the last meeting as well but we would be targeting those numbers that um like the high like I'm not talking about 22 23 that would be wonderful um we're at the point now after losing all those staff members last year you're talking about I think the gentleman early in this year we had a we had first grade classes of 28 we had uh we had uh third grade classes of 28 as well we had most of the classes in four through eight uh in the high 20s to 30 and just to take that uh one teacher and add to a grade level we're not affecting all the classes but instead of 28 some of the averages may drop down to 25 or 24 uh to get it in a more manageable number to uh hopefully have more success to be more align lines of everyone that talks at these board meetings about talking about the success of their kids and even the numbers you presented to us tonight those are some of the numbers we'd like to return to in the district that provide that same experience for the students and parents that are in the district right now to what the people that are talking at the board meetings are talking about that that they had with with their children and what I had is my with my children as well so understood and again going back to the number I guess the question now becomes what was the number of teachers we had 2018 2019 all before Co versus the number of teachers because when you say 50 something staffers very honestly like 40 I just want to rip out of that and say it just doesn't count that was a that was money that was used from a grant so um that was that was sweet when we had it but we wouldn't have had it had we not had covid and all of that so we had 2,985 students in 2018 2019 according to this WS2 report we have 2,895 students in District as of September 2023 what's so significantly changed and I I I can see some differences even in you know yes we Have you talked about average class sizes and I talked about some now I it's number of teachers all right Mrs Hart I we're going to have to move on to the next person okay I'm sorry here's her M cut out anyway you didn't cut her off no I didn't cut her off okay um all righty next we have Martin parer okay Mr parer good evening good evening you can hear meum so I just want to make a comment you don't have to respond I tell you a short story less than five minutes in about 2011 2012 I went to a robotics competition in Mount Olive and I liked what I saw so I contacted the superintendent there and I had an extensive conversation with him he's not the superintendent who's there now I think that was two superintendant ago there but he told me they made five years ago back then they said they made a five years plan and that five years plan broad Mount Olive from it was a port Coast it's regarding your Port Coast at Broad Mount olives from a ranking of about 190 to 210 to a ranking of back then of 72 in the state which I would call a significant uh Improvement I have there part two of that stuff PDF still here and I could send it to you you can maybe get part one from them and it might be helpful from you to to copy it it was not some basic statements part one was like 110 Pages part two is 77 pages of documents in detailed planned out and the board in regular intervals helped the superintendent do that and got periodic updates after that wam decided as a contrast to make a passway to Excellence too yeah and we had community members who participated and we had uh Board of at uh special groups and task force and Etc who worked on this for about a year and after a year it came up to a vot and the only thing the B of had back then I think was about 2014 2015 voted on after heated discussion was our new mission statement which you still have on the top and if it should say in the mission statement we are going to provide an environment for something like where the kids can reach the special goals well they are the best goals for the kids or if it should sell we should have an environment where the kids can reach their best goals under the constraints of the tax bur P tax burden yeah and that what came out of it now I hope that your deliberations will produce something similar to M Olive that Propel us into the top 100s with a detailed plan plan with measurable successes like we want to have on our ELA test this and that result Etc yeah and take it from there yeah and if not make adjustments okay and then make another plan our problem was another problem with our approach was that as soon as the process was finished of making this we received like so often a new superintendent like since I think 2012 13 14 something like this since Dr Alfieri who was here for about I think six years we have been changing superintendent every two years on average yeah so and that new superintendent back then said I have my own ideas I know what I'm doing so the whole plan got shelf yeah and no body on the board spoke up so what I'm hoping for and what I encourage you guys for is to make a plan and then execute the plan and then re-evaluate the plan and keep doing that and make a detailed plan not a plan that says something like we want to make a safe environment for the students du duh we all do that how do we do that are we going to hire more police are we going to buy some stuff like some cameras or stuff that all should be laid out and yes it will take some collaboration between board members and the administration and maybe even some uh input from the public yeah and then we don't know how long if we going to have the same superintendent for five years if the superintendent change have a means in the plan to hold the new superintendent to those calls yeah say yes please tell us your opinion but here we want our whatever our QX scores to go up we want our this to go up we want to have more police officers we want to have more cameras more teachers we want to have maybe less teachers in one end and more teachers in another end and we want to supplement like Mount Olive supplement the um the engineering part with f FTC and FC all the way starting in third grade all the way up through High School continuous and they went from a seven eight 7 to 15 member team to a 300 member team in high school during that and their admissions to different schools go up it had things in there like uh to better colleges went up it had things in there like what do we want our schools to look like every time you walk into a school the school speaks to you every year a hundreds of new students go into a particular school for the first time Mr peringer we have the report okay can I see it but you have Mont oliv's report we do yes yeah so please let's work toward something like that thank you for your recommendations okay you're welcome bye bye Angelo all we have Jessie paladini Mrs paladini good evening good evening um couple of comments just um couple of observations um I do want to address um Ray Zimmerman's comments I don't want to bash Ray I've known Ry for a long time and I believe that Rey is a good guy but his comments at the end of the last meeting were just so offensive and it was shocking and I even um immediately texted Ray and I told him that within one minute of him making that statement I got six different private messages from outraged parents by what he said now I'm an educator so I will always be interested in education both my sons went through the Vernon schools and got excellent educations um but I'm also a grandmother who has grandchildren in our schools to be told that I don't have the right or that I'm not a stakeholder or that I shouldn't be commenting on things in our schools I just thought that that was so so horrible um a comment and I also want to reiterate what Mr um casselle said when he said that just because the parents of children with schools there aren't that many of them there in no way does that represent that they're happy with what's going on my own son he has to take his kids to football to sports to Scouts to all kinds of things not to mention homework and and that kind of thing so I'm not going to be labor rais comments anymore but I'd like to know what you think about such a comment anyone are you talking to me well Mr Zimmerman is entitled to his opinion as are you and I'd like Mr to address his own comments if he feels the need I'm asking you what do you think about saying that you know the parents that don't have children shouldn't be commenting what what are your thoughts on that the parents said he didn't say that look I'm not gonna parse what he said basically what he said was the parents who have children are not the ones who are here and basically he made those people who don't currently have children in the school made them feel as though their comments were not important and were irrelevant or whatever however that was that was your perception of what he said I listen to that I listened to that statement that he said number of times after the meeting and I did not get what you got I just told you that I was paraphrasing and I'm not going to parse it statement so I guess you don't want to answer that question Mr Sweeney and if you don't answer the question about it then that means that you must feel the same way so I didn't ask I did not get that perception of what you got when he said okay well what was the perception you got that was his opinion and that's and I was not upset with what he said I that was his opinion okay well well I'll tell you what I will um I will transcribe what he said word for word and I'll email it to you and I'll ask you then okay thank you did Miss pellet want to say something yeah I I'm I just want to say I mean I know I've known Ray for a long time and I I I my impression of what he meant was that he felt there was another not that anyone who spoke didn't have the right to speak of course they have the right to speak but that the PE the the people who weren't at the meeting were possibly not at the meeting because they're satisfied and those he was talking about his hypothesis was that if parents were very unhappy they would be coming to the meetings I don't think he meant to say that anyone who doesn't have a child doesn't have a right to speak that would Ray would never say something like that that's not how he feels I I that's all right thank you can you please define for me community relations you mentioned something about a goal being community relations what do you mean by that it's the title of a committee yes what does it do well we are still talking about it but uh the committee the student relations student matters was the commit the name that we came up with it was it was um community relations community relations and student matters and it's kind of replacing what Student Life did it's more about Outreach to the community or at least this is how Kelly explained it during our training session um it's changing away from being solely about students in the district and also including the community outside of the district listening to people making sure people feel heard Outreach to the community right okay that's what I got from it okay thank you for that explanation Mr cantino um the high school currently has 95 students is it not accurate that it was built to accommodate 2,000 plus students because that's how many we had at one time but now we only have 905 there that just just a quick response to that that's all it is accurate it is accurate that you your statement was accurate all right thank you very much um I just want to point out that our enrollment is still consistently declining not by a whole lot but every year it does consistently decline in the next school year if the numbers stay what they are it'll be going down to 2930 from 2945 so I just um want to point out that they are still consistently going down um Anova mat I am um a little bit obsessed with reviewing Anova mat and I want to thank Mr gagi asro for giving me the text because I've really been going through them with a fine tooth comb I write textbooks and um right now we are revising our New Jersey math so I wanted to take a look at it I'll say it's intriguing it's interesting I don't know why we need to teach children math this way but I'm not completely done with my review so um I don't want to say anything about it but I will say that I have spoken with a number of teachers and they are not happy with an Nova Vernon teachers in elementary so I'm wondering if you bring a teacher to the next meeting that will be or to a meeting that will be very interesting to hear what they have to say but I kind of doubt they're going to tell you what they really think of it they're not going to say that publicly um just just a note I'm not going to make a determination on on Inova mat yet other than to say I don't really understand why we need to teach children math that way um Mr gagas was also going to tell me what other districts in New Jersey use it and he forgot to tell me and quite frankly I forgot to ask so I'm still interested in what other um districts do you know how many first grade classes there are Mr slam Mr Rogers do you happen to know nine or 10 nine or 10 okay I'm not off the top of her head we'd have to get back to an exact number okay yeah I don't I don't need an exact number I'm just trying to figure out where those large class sizes come from if there are only 221 first grade classes you mentioned first grade um the resolution for the shared services I'm very happy to see that and um yes the resolution does specify the kinds of services that the township will will do for the schools and I want to thank mayor Rossi um for having come up with that and and also thank you to the school board for going along with it um I think I only have one last thing Mr slam I have to tell you I don't think you are understanding tax rate because I asked you a question about it a couple of meetings ago and you didn't really understand it then and when um Denise discussed it tonight you did not give her a correct answer the tax rate has nothing to do with the assessed value of a home the tax rate is the tax rate and then you take that tax rate and you multiply and divide by you know what your assessment is and that sort of thing but tax rate has nothing to do with assessed value and I wanted to tell you that maybe um you could speak with somebody on the municipal level uh the CFO perhaps who could explain that better I mean you do a wonderful job with our finances so thank you you know you're very explicit you're very responsive to any questions or that sort of thing but I think it's not accurate to tell people that the tax rate has to do with the assessed value because that's not really accurate when the school board strikes a tax rate when a municipal government strikes a tax rate that's the tax rate for everybody in the entire town what I'm sorry go ahead I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt no that's okay I'm basically done go ahead and I was just gonna say if you go back to my presentation and then also my explanation earlier uh the I was talk she asked a question uh I believe about the T tax levy increase which is 2.7% and essentially what I stated was that although the tax levy itself is going up by roughly 2.7% that doesn't mean that there be a felt tax impact on uh taxpayers in the town of 2.7% because there's other variables involved such as raids if you go back to my presentation you will see the tax rate listed and I mentioned I believe in my comment earlier and then also in the presentation that you would take that tax rate and multiply it by your assessed value for an estimated tax impact for each individual considering that some people have been reassessed right right okay um yeah that's that's that's accurate I don't think that's what you said but that is accurate um and just because a tax rate goes up does not mean that somebody's property taxes will go up it could go up it could go down um and and and and reassessment is the same thing a lot of people get really upset about reassessments but when you're home is reassessed that doesn't necessarily mean your taxes are going to go up they could go up they could go down and um I think that's everything I had to say for now um K to six more okay yeah and and basically I just want to say that enrollment is still going down um I don't know what'll happen when Ryan Holmes comes in if it does come in um I do have one more question and I don't expect you to answer it tonight because you might not know how many students go to our schools from the Appalachian Hotel does anybody know maybe you do know I don't know okay I'll um I'll put that in the form of a question to Mr slam tomorrow and thank you for your time thank you anybody else that be I'm going to close the meeting to the public and miss fi do you have anything for us no I okay very good it K open board member Forum I'd like to address some of the comments today I I want to let everyone know I share a lot of the same goals that a lot of the people talked about today as far as increasing student achievement and uh pride in in in the vernant uh education system and uh and what we offer students here um we have had a significant in increase in AP participation students are taking AP test this uh this week and then and next week as well we're very uh interested in seeing uh the scores that we get from The increased uh enrollment as we increase opportunities for kids to take AP assessments as well um when you look at the state assessments I've said before about um a score being one measure um I do take scores and I look for improvement and from last year to this year we if you look at the growth tables we have made growth across the board in in almost all grade levels on state state assessment scores still not where I'd like them to be as of yet but again it's one measure and we're showing growth in a positive measure and I'm looking forward to that uh looking at growth for next year as well um I know other people may have talked about status quo but status quo for when I talk about status quo it's it's the same class sizes that we have it's the same multi-tier system of support that we have and I'm hoping to take the status quo that we have now and return to what we had prior and I'm not talking about bringing everyone back but they'd be in a level where we could have uh for the amount of investment we have having success in those areas because right now we are lacking some of the multi-tier system of support and we do have concerns from the public uh teachers and other people in the community about class sizes I'm not I'm not throwing people across all the classes either I'm looking to bring back some of those some of the staff members that I think are essential to to have the biggest impact on uh on education here um again um most of that most of the housing market is flooded right now uh most of the people are in houses um I want to I too want to have the same level and same successes we've had in years pass and I'm excited about the the the growth that we've made um from last year to to this year and and where we're headed and and I really do believe in in what I've talked about and what I think is uh necessary to help provide the same level of Education that everyone's talking about tonight and I do have the same goals that people are talking about tonight um with and concerns about education in the Vern Township School District thank you um um board members yes you've had enough I want to thank the town okay you can thank the town in a second I just wanted to ask about our standing since this is an opportunity to tell people and we didn't really talk about it um it's is it next weeking that that would be the I'd have to give you an exact date usually usually uh Mr gagle asro and Dr Chef were heavily involved with the planning process standing is on the 17th I think if that's a Friday May I just want to take the opportunity to tell people to please come out to it it's such a great event and I happened to see something recently and realized that was happening very soon and I hadn't heard anything so I thought we should mention it to the public the excitement there is it's a true Community event where all stakeholders are involved with with uh providing a uh a CommunityWide event that's well received and well attended and well supported by the entire Community whether it be sea vtaa uh teachers students and community members uh please come out it's so much fun kids it's a great time thank you J that's a good idea it's the 17th so we have another board meeting bring date yeah we've been getting it in the digital backpack but maybe the um like yeah more promotion in this coming week be great it is such a great event out every which way so I just thought so impressive so fun um I'm reminded that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week yeah yes I saw some teachers today and I commented we appreciate them and uh we extend that to all of our teachers and staff we appreciate them very much did they have the lunch yet I think they have different events scheduled every day okay which why I don't think they mind my house every day is teacher you know partnership I don't think they mind missing some of the snacks today because they think the sea does a great job of providing a a variety of different things for our teachers and and and staff members who are you know integral in in the education process of our students like to wish all the moms out there happy Mother's day which is com on Sunday happy Mother's Day to all of you yes weekend this is slam your turn you got five minutes that's not enough time um I just wanted to thank the town we're excited about the shared services uh agreement that's in place um when me we uh back in October when me and Mr Rogers reached out to the town um they are very receptive um and they were very excited Mr Rossy mayor Rossy sorry when he came in board was like full steam ahead uh all about it so I I just want I appreciate them working with us and I'm looking forward uh to us to continue to work together and I appreciate the conversations we're having about education and about community outreach um we're using that this opportunity to to bounce ideas off of each other and had to for for me to reach out I think Mrs paladini talk about it before reach out to the community a little bit more about our education process rather than just through the digital packback directly to parents that know about our standing but having other community members know about our events as well intro just had a question um did we when's the deadline for the board member yeah we still uh should I continue with my public service announcement we still have a vacancy On The Board of Education the deadline I believe is Monday is that correct right just and as of today at this point in time let me just check my phone we have not received any applicants big zero yes how do we advertise the board ofed opening it's on our website I believe website and social media and in the paper uh traditionally here it hasn't gone in the paper okay I thought maybe that's May it's the board's fault for not showing how much of a good time we are having here and how much really honestly it's a it's a very fulfilling position um I'm rewarded you know all the time just by doing this service I just think it's wonderful I wonder if there's any additional way we can get it out I don't know yeah I think I think we put it in the newspaper before not not I've seen it in the advertiser yeah the advertiser I I kind of think that's where I saw it when I applied well unless we extend the deadline it's not going to do us much good Advertiser that's right if we receive no applicants by the deadline can we extend the okay we have because I know that that there's I'll have to do some research but we have 65 days we have 65 days to fulfill fill the position and I don't know what to do if we don't have any applicant I'm just gonna grab somebody off the street me you're sitting there 13 is correct okay maybe we can vote somebody in in absens they'll never talk to us that's true all right anybody else I just want to say um you know I heard a couple people tonight and and I feel bad that some people maybe feel that they're not we don't um us as a board or us as individuals don't appreciate it but um with the board opening I guess I'll try to sell that a little bit too is we all are here and I think we all dedicate our time I mean I didn't come to meetings for many years um I've had a lot of kids go through the system and uh I didn't I didn't do but didn't mean I didn't care I I was always caring how Vernon did and I still do care and that's why I decided to to make a change you know in my life and and join the board and see what I can do to help and um doesn't mean it was broke totally broken I just mean that I thought it was my time to help out and get back to the to community and you know I just wanted we are a community and I think we all need to recognize that once in a while that um and I hope people don't take too too offense to things that are said um we all say things maybe um off the C cuff sometimes and um but I think generally speaking the people I work with here um I know for myself I I do appreciate everyone in the community I I think everyone has a voice and I think everyone should always have a voice um I I would love if more people came to the meetings um and I would love it even if they didn't couldn't come make it to Mee as they watch the meetings themselves on YouTube and then you know make comments or or got the word to to us how what they would like so um again with this I would also say you know here's an opportunity we do have one extra spot and we have three days I hope somebody you know people could step up and um I would love this time to see 20 20 people just you know trying and apply because it would make us feel I I think for me myself and make me feel better that um we're all a team we're all on the same side you know and we all want the best we all have different visions of how we get there but I think we all want the best for Vern and and for the students here so true it's truly a rewarding thing yes it's a great way to make a difference and I want to say I share um most of Charles sentiments that every comment is welcome we live in a democracy and going to a board of ed meeting volunteering for the Board of Ed it's all a part of participating in democracy so everyone's opinions are welcome always speak up when you have something to say we're here to listen that's what we're here for um and I hope we get volunteers yes for that vacancy because we really should be a full board and there are a lot of good ideas and comments this even day from from the commenters in the community and I'd be honored to work with any one of them absolutely would anybody else like to say anything all I have to say motion to close so moved second second by m fav hi oh see you next week thank you everybody thank you