##VIDEO ID:ddwIKbYKja8## good evening good evening everyone I would like to welcome you to our August 27th 2024 Board of Education meeting we are calling the meeting to order and it is 7:07 PM if everyone could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance reading of meeting notice 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 the provision of the act the Verona Board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the Star Ledger posted with the township of Verona and the Verona Education Association postings of this meeting set forth the time location and agenda were posted at the Verona Board of Education Office and on the Verona Public Schools district website copies of tonight's agenda and resolutions have been made available to the public via the Board of Education website Mr Cruz if you could please call attendance sure Mr wer present Mrs ver present Mrs Farrar present Mrs prisco here Mr Boon here we have Quorum thank you thank you moving on to our agenda I need a motion please to approve our routine matters um I need a motion to approve our minutes from our July 23rd 2024 meeting motion by I'll move it motion by Mrs brazel seconded by Mrs Ferrara are there any discussions seeing none Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Walker yes Mrs brazelle yes Mrs Farrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes motion carries thank you great thank you so much onto our agenda I am going to um now have the honor to call up our um athletic director Miss Laura pomi she's going to introduce our Rona High School cheerleading team and coaches I know the summer flew by I'm not doing the fall wrap-up yet it didn't go by that quickly this evening I have with us our amazing VHS cheerleaders and their coaches so I would like them all to come up behind me please this team has worked so incredibly hard in the last two years our program has grown so much under the leadership of our coaches and this fall there are 52 VHS cheerleaders our cheerleaders are always cheering everyone else on so tonight I want to recognize these young women this summer they went to the Pine Forest cheer camp and won many awards I want to highlight one in particular our VHS cheerleaders received the leadership award they were selected by 30 six teams at the camp for the team that other teams would want to join if they could this is a true Testament to all their hard work and dedication to their Sport and the Beautiful culture that has been created I am truly proud of each and every one of you and look forward to watching you perform and compete each and every week I would like to now turn it over to our coaches Kristen Gabel Robin Caruso and Katherine Farley thank you for inviting us today to talk about our summer experience at Pine Forest cheerleading camp this summer Verona cheerleaders had the opportunity to spend four days in gy Pennsylvania learning and implementing cheerleading skills and techniques from UCA cheerleaders from across the country Our Girls then performed routines based on what they learned on their last day of Camp to compete for various Awards they learned on the the awards and recognition this year we are proud to say out of 37 teams who attended this Camp Verona High School cheerleading earned trophies in the following categories allamerican cheerleaders we had 16 qualifiers large Varsity Camp routine second place cheer Championship second place sideline Championship first place varsity cheer routine overall Camp Champions first place beyond these awards for their performance they were also and most importantly presented with the leadership award the leadership award is chosen not by judges but by their peers all 36 other teams that attended the camp were asked if you could be on any team besides your own which would it be the answer was Verona Verona was the team that most teams said they would want to be a part of for myself coach Kristen gar arabel and Coach Katherine Farley this award means more than all the trophies combined the Town of Verona should be proud of these girls and the positive impact they make every day whether in Verona at visiting football fields or at a summer camp in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania they display morals a strong worth work ethic and a positive attitude and we are so proud of them all good evening my name is Leah Burns and I'm here to share my experiences this summer being a part of the Verona High School cheer team is not just about doing dances and cheers it's about the connections you form and the friendships you develop three weeks ago our team attended Pine Forest cheerleading cam living in a cabin for 4 days bonded our team in ways I cannot explain we learned immense amounts of material which will benefit our team on the sideline most importantly we won the banana which might sound silly but to us this means so much it means we demonstrated qualities of leadership spirit and overall positive attitudes winning the banana made everything feel worth it I would not change this experience for the world and I'm so proud of our team thank you good evening sorry I lost my voice my name is kamani McMillan and this summer I attended Pine Force cheer camp for my second and last year when coach Kristen first brought brought this up to my team last year everyone was looking around anxious and not hopeful but it was an experience that we'll never forget this year's experience was such a different one but definitely better in my opinion the first day we definitely needed that energy and confidence boost and that's what we got and that's what we showed until the last day the last day was truly something I'm forever grateful for we were honored to receive the banana which some of you might not understand but is very dear to our cheer Hearts four trophies and the most important thing the leadership award the leadership award was given to two teams out of 37 and it was given to the teams that others thought that they would like to be part of join and cheer with Verona cheer was sorry Verona cheer was sorry guys Verona cheer was brona cheer was given one of those and I'm very proud of that award and my team I've been cheering for brona high school for four years and this past year and a half has been the most positive fun and enjoyable cheer experience I've ever had I can truly say this is a family and like other families we have our ups and downs but we always make it work and we have a great time during camp we had a lot of bonding experiences which brought us closer and it'll always and I'll always remember doing the cotton I Joe every morning with my teammate Abby and Coach cruso um sorry um with the laughs every night along with the nerves for the next day the last day is also something I'll always carry in my heart it was a day I let my emotions out because there was nothing nothing that could hold them back anymore this team made me feel so proud and that's and that everything was worth it when I heard the call for the seniors to stand up all I could do is ball my eyes out because I knew this would be the last time I would ever get this experience again I'll always look back and cherish all the memories I've had with these girls in this specific group coach Kristen Robin and Katherine promised us a family and that's exactly what we have they've also promised us a program that we'll be proud of amazing experiences and people we will always have to come and they haven't given us anything but that so thank you we want to present our Awards to our ad and you could display them in a case the girls joked with her that they're going to need a bigger case for our trophies coming on in so thank you very much for trusting us with the cheer program these kids are absolutely incredible they warm my heart I had surgery in July and I was back coaching not even a week later because they're what makes me happy so thank you very much for trusting us with this program and we will take it as far as we can thank you thank you thank you so so much and girls and coaches it has been such an amazing experience watching you since you've taken over the program and your girls just seeing you out there and the excitement that you bring out on the fields and on the basketball courts and wherever you are even the when you did the holiday um High School everything that you've have touched has brought so much positive energy to Verona High School and to our community and I really look forward to seeing you on Thursday night at the football game in West Orange and all the football games coming up so thank you girls and thank you coaches for doing such a fantastic job with the program it's very much appreciated thank you I just I just also want to say it's so nice to see what leaders you have been for the younger girls they look up to you so much and that's a that's a blessing for all of us so thank you I know there I hear all about it yeah good job thank you you could go to Eagles practice Yeah Yeah they could go to Eagles you got you girls could thank you so much for being here all of you move on to your moving on we're going to our superintendence report with Miss Diane dppi good evening um just a quick I gave a staffing update last month but I wanted to re return to it um and I say this every time we talk about Staffing Staffing is the most important thing we do um research um shows that increasing student outcomes is directly related to the teacher in the classroom first and principal on the building second um we are suffering in this state and across this country with a massive teacher shortage um not just teacher shortage School staff shortage so uh we are struggling uh to fill two last teaching staff positions one of them uh we had filled um with a brand new teacher just finishing up a program um their certification had issues and uh they were unable to get certified and therefore uh removed their candidacy so we have a business opening at the high school and uh a position we've just been really unable to fill uh for World Language Spanish uh part uh halfe leave replacement that one we have um we we have contingency plans for both um we are actively seeking a business teacher for the high school and a Spanish teacher through January although we can cover the Spanish with six period classes and some jockeying around of of uh sections so um if you know any business teachers uh the other positions that we're struggling um to fill completely are power professional teacher aids lunch AIDS bus drivers and uh substitute staff while we have improved our ability to staff our own par professionals and what I mean by that is we had a mix of par professionals that were Barona employees and Par professionals that were agency employees that we're paying an agency a premium price to have power professionals um working in our schools um and uh we have reduced our dependency on the agency Paris significantly although not completely um we're really uh you know can I ask a question on that so with the agency we're not paying for benefits do our Paris work enough where we have to give them or offer them benefits they do not they don't work over the 30 hours a week whatever it is very good thank you yeah so we are looking for um support staff as well um as as teaching staff um specifically substitutes and as I said Power professionals lunch AIDS and some bus drivers um upcoming this week uh with regard to ready getting ready to open we have tomorrow day two of new teacher orientation we met with 18 staff members today um and we had they had their uh Verona bus tour with Dr Lanzo and uh Mr monelli always a fun day I'm sure they learned a lot about pizza and Verona um uh so that and our welcome back convocation is on Thursday our theme this year um and I didn't expect teachers to be here tonight so I'm giving away what I'm going to say a little bit on Thursday uh our theme this year is teaching on purpose with purpose and um the difference between teaching on purpose and teaching with purpose is very nuanced but there are important differences um and this this came about I was thinking about the theme of teaching on purpose and Mrs Simmons said to me do you mean teaching on purpose or teaching with purpose and so I looked up the difference between the two uh the two phrases and teaching on purpose has intentionality and which is what I had in my mind which is why I chose teaching on purpose um the phrase suggests a deliberate or conscious choice to engage in teaching it highlights the idea that um a teaching is done with clear intentional decision rather than uh by default or by chance uh and not to say our teachers like wing it they don't but there's a difference between planning lessons based on your content era and your knowledge and planning lessons with regard to more um uh intentional decision-making so an example a teacher who plans lessons meticulously chooses specific teaching methods uh and actively seeks to meet the educational goals of all the students in that class um teaching with purpose um is a slight difference this it has meaning and impact so the phrase emphasizes the underlying goals or reasons for teaching it conveys that teacher is driven by a deeper Mission or vision and uh focusing on the outcomes of broader impact of the teaching activities so for example a teacher who designs their curriculum or their instruction to Foster critical thinking to promote social justice or to prepare students for real word challenges that's teaching with purpose so in thinking of that I don't think we want one or the other I think we want both and um since we're rolling out a new instructional model and teacher evaluation system uh starting in September uh we're going to be continuing to uh the work we started last year deconstructing or unpacking the New Jersey student learning standards creating specific learning targets from those standards and creating lessons with purposeful Target task alignment and I think that's um what is missing from many school districts the idea that we have standards those standards have been uh approved and and supported by Boards of Education both state and local and um they are rigorous our standards in New Jersey and uh to make sure that we're not just writing objectives but we're writing tasks we're writing lessons that have tasks that are aligned to both the rigor of the standard and the standards intent um that's teaching on purpose the idea that the class the kindergarten class of 2024 graduate will graduate from high school in 2037 um think about how quickly um things have changed technologically over the past 10 years um my son is 26 years old and while he watched Blu-rays my nieces and nephews have never plugged a Blu-ray into a DVD player um everything is streaming they don't really know cable because all they know is Netflix and Hulu and Disney plus so the the speed at which not just technology changes but our global economy changes means do we know what it's going to look like in 2037 for these our graduates we don't so we need to prepare them for the ability to think critically so that they can adapt to any role that is not even been thought of yet and that's teaching with purpose so I think both are are really um appropriate um we'll be using uh and part of that teaching on purpose our new um uh instructional model and evaluation model have three elements in planning and they are planning standards based lessons and units aligning resources to standards and closing the achievement Gap using data so and when we talk about achievement Gap here we're not talking about achievement gra Gap that you hear like we have an achievement gap between the urban schools and the Suburban schools we're talking about differences in achievement among students in a single class or a single section um so in order to do that uh we are going to be supporting teachers uh with um using Atlas uh Rubicon to not just house curriculum documents but also lesson plans so that we can have a centrally loc location central location centralized location I just should say for housing lesson plans where teachers can bring up their curriculum documents and write lesson plans with the curriculum open on the same screen to ensure that they see the standards that they're teaching for the units that they're teaching and be able to do that very difficult work I will say I mean typing into Atlas is like typing into any Rich text box right you can type into Google and cut and paste it into Atlas that's not the that's not the difficulty the difficulty really is is unpacking standard understanding the content and and and the intent of the standard the rigor of the standard and creating tasks that support that that's hard work and our teachers are wonderful teachers and I think we owe them the support in order to to support them in this new Endeavor that we're that we're getting into um and uh we we started this work last year and I can't give you a lot of as I said last last month I can't give you a lot with regard to njsla because they are still embargoed but I can tell you that we saw growth in ela in grades three 3 4 5 6 7 and8 I'm sorry and nine in math we saw growth in grade four S8 and Algebra 1 in the n9th grade um interestingly enough While most of our grade level goals at our schools we did not meet our goals but our goals were rigorous um at at the least we looking for 10 percentage Point increases and at the most 15 percentage Point increases that's a big jump but you're never going to do a chin up if you don't put the bar above your head so uh I I'm very happy to say that FM Brown grade three and and this is what you're going to hear on Thursday so I'm sorry to repeat it uh FN Brown grade three in ela exceeded the school goal that we set for them uh of we set a goal that 56.9 or 57 % of students would meet or exceed the grade level standards on the njsla ELA um 61.4% met or exceeded grade level standards the baseline from last year was 43.9 Forest Avenue School grade three Ela met their school goal of 63% um their Baseline uh last year was 48 % these are Big increases hbw grade 6 exceeded the school goal of 62.7 so 63% um 67% met that grade level standard and their Baseline last year was 52.7 grade seven hbw exceeded the school goal of 73% with a a 76% meeting or exceeding grade level standards hbw grade 8 Ela exceeded the school goal of 69% with 76% meeting their um Baseline in 2023 is 59% in math Landing Avenue School grade four exceeded the school goal of 63% with 67% meeting or exceeding the grade level standards their Baseline was 52.7 and hbw grade seven exceeded the school goal of 59% with uh 68% met or exceeded um and I have to say uh while they didn't meet or exceed the goal the algebra 1 um students at the high school made huge gains with a 12 percentage Point increase um teaching on purpose leads to results so um with regard to hbw uh I'll speak to a couple different things now we have been talking about changing the fifth and sixth grade all the whole schedule but specifically to increase the time that our fifth and sixth grade get in language arts literacy the state recommends for those two grade levels 90 minutes a day they get 45 minutes a day um so we have added two um elective Cycles not not elective two cycle classes for fifth and sixth grade one is in fantasy reading and the other is in historical fiction reading so that students will get a full 12 weeks of additional coursework in language arts literacy until we get to that full schedule change in 25 with regard to our cell phone policy uh survey a parent survey we had 938 respondents uh which for me is a record for parent respondents um I've not done a survey here in Verona but I've done many in my former districts this is a a good response and interestingly enough from day one they say never look at the responses to a survey within the first week because they're going to change this didn't day one we had a flurry of responses 72% of of those parents that responded were in favor of um a no smartphone no smart device policy during school hours and um 16 point about 16% were not in favor and about 10% were unsure starting off today after 938 respondents um we are at 73% supportive uh 16% % uh unsupportive and about 11% unsure um the main reasons and I have to just pop over here one second I'm sorry I just closed something accidentally the main reasons uh that uh the supporters indicated that they were supporting is to reduce distractions in the classroom encourag face-to-face social interactions decrease the likelihood of cyber bullying and promoting academic Focus um and they were uh by far 92 86 71 and 86% uh the nose um were mostly that they need to contact their child during the day at 45% they worry about their child safety at 83% and um worry about their child not having a phone with them um I do want to clarify and I tried to do that in the last email to get people to answer the survey to encourage people to participate in the survey this no cell phone would be during class we're very happy to have kids have their cell phone walking to and from school or driving to and from school we think that's very important what we don't want is is the distraction that happened in class and for two years I have made it uh very obvious to this community and this board and the teachers that we are looking to improve academic outcomes for kids I don't think that includes for me anyway I don't think that includes um allowing students to continue to distract themselves with phones having said that I want to go on record to say this is going if we choose to do this this is going to be a huge uphill battle and um whether or not we're successful at at having a a no cell no smartphone no smart device and I mean no smart devices because kids get texts on their on their uh smart watches as well um we'll take a lot of um perseverance by our parents by our teachers by our administrators um but I think we can't go out with the message of we want to improve outcomes for kids and and and not consider this so the our next steps for this is um creating a committee of teachers and administrators to say okay what is this going to look like how are we going to do this and working toward ironing out that policy trying to be proactive in it so that we are not um we don't have unintended consequences that we're not looking to put a Band-Aid on something that we're going to have a policy that long-term is going to serve the students of this district and let me see do I have anything else I guess since I I I I'm going to speak to why many why I think many of you are here um some misinformation went out about uh something that's um being discussed at hbw and I just want to start from the beginning so um we have 703 students at hbw we have two school counselors two years ago uh uh my predecessor hired a Hib investigator who happens to be a school counselor and um at that time they had a need for a full-time person just to investigate our HIV allegations here we no longer need that we have reduced our HIV investigations significantly I think if I can remember what I reported from the ssds we had two investigations at the elementary all four elementary schools combined this year but what we do have a need for is another school counselor at hbw so rather than reduce that position because we're not in need of an HIV investigator anymore we converted that to a fifth grade counselor unfortunately that fifth grade counselor does not have an office where she can counsel kids so she kind of was placed in a quasi office SL closet that has a large sewer pipe running through the back of it that every time whatever bathroom is above that is flushed they listen to the flush go down the the pipe um and it's it's a very claustrophobic small room and we are looking to find space for her um the the most obvious space is in the school counseling office in the school counseling Suite the only there are two rooms in there the conference center and Mr Lancaster's office I personally don't think it's a good idea to have disciplinary actions taking place in a guidance office in a counseling office so the decision was made we got a find a home for Mr Lancaster so that we can keep the counseling office in the counseling office the counseling counselors in the counseling office and take discipline out of the counseling office so we started investigating a whole host of sites and uh I have to be honest with you the unlikely site that um seemed emerged as the most feasible was in the media center in that rear egress hallway where the teachers make their photoc copies so we are releasing money this evening to have an architect draw up plans to see what that would look like now if we are to put that in there we're talking about a 100 square fee a very small office that will not take up any of the room where students interact where the stacks are where the student tables are where the circulation desk is this will not even it will not even breach the egress the egress will still be there so I know I got a lot of there was I I didn't get a lot of emails I got several emails I spoke to some staff members I saw some Facebook posts this if this project moves forward it is not going to take space from kids it is not going to take space away from books we are not Banning burning or boxing books we will have to move about 150 maybe 200 books to other places on shelves but I was there today there is space on those shelves to move those books and just before just to try to make this um more clear for the people that came out tonight because they're concerned about libraries I serve on the uh on the Verona Public Library board um it is statute that the superintendent of the local uh School District do that but I would say um I don't know a colleague that does it um they send their representative to do that I choose to serve on the library because I'm a reader and reading is fun but I support reading I support libraries um in my former district there was my predecessor there uh cut libraries down to halftime we had only part-time libraries one of the first things I did when I became superintendent there was reinstated full-time Library services at all of our schools I'm a library supporter this is has nothing to do with the library it has nothing to do with Mr Lancaster it has to do with providing safe counseling services for all of our students in in a way that is best practice so I'm be more than happy to continue the discussion it is an agenda item so at some point you will have an opportunity to come to the podium and uh tell me what you think about what we're doing and and make any comments that you would like I could you finished or no oh yeah I'm yeah so with this we're just paying gu de car Rabino to do a a a sketch of what possibilities we we could employ if we wish to yes it's about $4,000 right now it's I know we're releasing 20,000 because we cannot spend maintenance Reserve or capital reserve funds without asking the board to release the money so we're going to make a change somewhere in that building So eventually we're going to need money to make the change ultimately the goal down the road is to address the poorly designed space in the main office and create a conference room office is there the cost for that right now is very cost prohibitive it has to do with a multitude of things that I am not a facilities manager but it has to do with hbac it has to do with duct work it has to do with um where our hubs for telephone is and clocks are there's just it's very complicated and um I won't do it justice if I try to explain why the other rooms that we looked at aren't good fits ultimately with the next referendum that spacing has to be addressed because I like to call hbw Hogwarts because to me it's like got like hallways that go nowhere and and like it's just very convoluted and hard to one point you have to go up you have to come downstairs to go upstairs uh um we've done a lot of referendums in Verona over the past 20 years and we've added rooms here and added Wings there and we need to think about if we're going to continue to use that building for four grades it's busting at the seams there is no office space and it's we have to start thinking about that but Mr Cruz will attest we are bonded out right now so another referendum at this point is not feasible and not recommended so uh unless there's an emergency which this is not an emergency this is something that we can fix um that's what yeah so right right now we're paying about $4,000 to have the uh the architect come out and draw the plant and and towards your other point um about the the cell phones I if the survey data seemed to be strongly indicating that parents would support this um I'm just My worry is that you know I remember being like a first year teacher right when cell phones became like a everybody's got him right um and and school's initial reaction back then was let's ban cell phones and it it it kind of worked is but it it really didn't and then you know 15 years later they said let's let's all do bring you know bring your own device tce to school and they kind of flipped it 180 um I I think that if this group puts together a real solid plan as to how exactly they're going to look to enforce it and the the what if is about what does a watch count as a cell phone or is these Google Glasses or anything else I think if it's a unified you know approach by every administrator and staff member of the district then I think it can work but but I I agree it's going to be an uphill battle because it's a lot of leg work and there's going to be a lot of parents who say I Little Johnny got home because of the cell phone I know you spoke about we're going to bring the phone but but we're going to not prevent the kid from bringing the phone into the building now we're putting a lot of onus on you know a child to responsibly could to tell if if they have a phone or if they don't um and you know I think it can work I just think it's going to be a very Paramount project for you and your Administration to to undertake I agree with you and I I do also um want to just piggyback on what you said because it wasn't just cell phones you go back even further it was calculators right we we as a result of of calculators coming out we were scared to death kids were not going to learn math because of calculators and then calculus became ubiquitous in society and we now know that as a result of calculators we can we have made math more rigorous and Rich because we asked them to do things with calculators that they would not have been able to do otherwise spell check same thing right we weren't let we were turning off spell check so kids could learn how to write without spell check again we we sometimes learn how to write better when grammarly says that's a passive cloth right so um over and over and over and you see your writing improved if you if you use those ubiquitous tools same thing with AI generative AI is going to be ubiquitous and so that's why we wrote a policy last year that said we're not going to ban AI we're not going to prevent students from using AI we're going to teach students how to use it responsibly we're trying to like my cell phone is right next to me we all have cell phones all the time this is you know when they said we're not not going to have a calculator with us all the time yes we do we have a calculator with us all the time we have a cell phone with us all the time it's teaching students when it's appropriate to be on their cell phone and when it's not appropriate to be on their cell phone and helping them as adults make good choices because I have to be honest with you I don't always make a good choice with my cell phone I get hung up on some content that I I look at the clock I'm like oh my god I've been watching this for two hours like where did that go I should have been writing I've been do I'm and not at work by the way not at work but at home on a Saturday morning I think where did the two hours go it went here it went there so teaching kids when it's appropriate to be on their cell phone and when it's not and it's not appropriate to be on your cell phone in algebra class in English class in science class we have Chromebooks we are onetoone district all of those apps that we need kids to be able to use they get on their Chromebook we don't need them to have their own device step down off Soap Box I have just quick two quick things um one with the cell phone thing I would encourage that you go and talk to districts that and and I'm sure you've already planed to go visit them see their schools see how it's working um talk to the teachers if they'll let you just to kind of see what hurdles they had to overcome that maybe we can avoid um and then second with HB um you you kind of spoke a little bit to it but there were other areas that were considered and that you looked at and that you whatever and I'm not going to ask you to go through every one of them because that's um but the were Ries this just happens to be the one that you think because we don't have the plans yes we don't know but may be the most appropriate um yeah there's one other space that's a contingency space um unfortunately if we go with that space we lose a staff restroom so Mr Lancaster and Mr galich didn't want to lose a staff restroom um so they came up with a better solution in their mind was a better solution so um we do have a contingency plan that it's going to be up to the architect to determine whether or not that's a feasible space and uh and let us know whether it's cost- effective and feasible and and and then we'll make a decision at that point um I I just have two questions off of that um on on both plans uh the hbw and uh this cell phone policy um what is our time frame for rollouts on both that's a good question and I don't have a time frame because this really to be honest with you while I know this is a national movement I didn't really consider it for Verona until a parent approached me and um I sat with her and then I started reading more and more about it and I I thought this is something we and to be honest with you it was not uh something I wanted to take on because of the difficulty of it and I don't generally run from hard work but this is work that I don't directly control like I can make the policy I'm not in the classrooms enforcing it I'm not the principal in the building enforcing it so um that always is scary to me when you're going to try a policy that you really can't control yourself um but looking at at some of the data and looking at some of of uh what what what happened with engag after the pandemic and and at home learning it got worse we have learning loss as a result of the pandemic to begin with we need to start looking at how we can reverse that and part of that the experts have come to the conclusion that distractions in the classroom significantly limit um students acquisition of Knowledge and Skills is is there any learnings from some of the state policies I know our neighbors are look are going forward and then there's some other states in the country they're doing are there any learnings from from from those folks there's some articles that show some research um I I have to be honest with you I I they're all relatively new there's not a significant amount out there and I'm not sure that a state policy Statewide like I think the fact that we surveyed our families and our families want it and I know in in Ed Council when we meet with our teachers our teachers have brought it up so when you have teachers wanting it and parents wanting it is very different then when a state says we're going in every District no cell phone I think also this is this was kind of what I wanted to say I think it's very hard to get data on a policy like this because it's really discipline right it's really in the classroom are the rules being implemented so I think even though we're going we're starting to see already policy across the states I think it's more of the research on the impacts that phones are having on our children that we have to to kind of keep our eye on um I also think that you know taking you know as a parent taking my own feeling right off and just looking again at the the amount of support that we have from parents we have 73% and I think that as a community this is saying this is what we want so I think as a community this is something that we would have to really come together on when we're thinking about those next steps and creating those next steps and maybe similarly to how we have the strategic planning um meetings to decide on a plan for that this is something that we can invite parents possibly into as well so that we can hear their concerns get their their you know their because at the end of the day right if if I'm a parent and I know this Rule and my child text me during the the day it's my responsibility I believe to say why are you on your phone you're breaking the rule right if I don't do that for my kids they'll keep texting me um so I think that it's important that when we're thinking about our stakeholders that you know everyone's included in this roll out or in this plan um and and then hopefully we have that buy in and then we can kind of follow through and I you know I personally do believe that we'll see positive impacts especially when it comes to student achievement and experience because I think that stress you know there there's a there's a certain amount of stress that comes along with our phones checking it checking it you know all that so if we can alleviate alleviate that for the kids too but again going back to the data I think it would be very hard to see the data on how these are implemented in schools at least for the next five years you you know and then it would even be questionable whether or not the data we're seeing is whether they're using it or not or is it because we're you so I think that we should really just stick with our data that we're getting from the survey with that yeah and and to Mr Walker's Point earlier um he and I were talking it's not just self like some sometimes you go into a class and you're allowed to eat Doritos but you can't have your cell phone and sometimes you go to the next class and you can't eat in class but you can have your cell phone that really has been a pro it's been a it I haven't taught in a classroom as a teacher in the cageball world since 2008 I used to argue then it's when I make a student use a hall pass to go to the bathroom and my colleagues don't it becomes problematic that's no it's the same story as it was with hall passes or or I can't I'm so old I can't remember the other issues that we used to have the differences between who allows kids to follow who makes kids follow the rule or encourages kids to follow the rules and who doesn't that's an age-old story that's not easy to fix whether it's we're talking cellones or any other um uh rules and regulations of decorum in schools like the what you said Diana about it's we we know that you're you're telling us that you want to make this a thing where we're teaching kids responsible use of cell phones but we we can't really do that without the discipline component um I totally like the idea of let's instruct KS a reasonable use of cell phones uh I'm just fearful that this this is going to become a discipline Log Jam um if it's not if it's not put together the right way so I I guess whoever becomes on on it's not a board of ed committee but whoever becomes on this parent and Community stakeholder and teacher and administrator committee um you know just kind of looks at the whole big picture of it um because I would hate to see this become a disciplin log Jam I think Chris this this this is this is another I I believe important thing so I think that the issues I would I don't know if to this this to be fact but I would imagine that the majority of the issues we see are in the middle school and high school not necessarily at the elementary level I do think that if this is something that we want to bring in right this is a cultural change as far as the way that we do things in the district I think that we should also consider how we can support the elementary schools and the elementary teachers in um providing this digital citizenship instruction a little bit more right we teach our kids I think I've said this before meetings but we teach our kids how to play on the playground and swing on the swings and do all these things and then we hand the phones over right without that same reinforcements constantly so I think that if this is something that we do want to roll out that we should consider what this looks like at the elementary school and how we can kind of support that instructionally really and tough and somehow um to to build that it's part of the culture and you it is more a problem at the middle school and high school but what is a problem at the elementary school are digital watches thank you any other comments thank you moving on to our business administrator report Mr Cruz yes uh good evening everyone uh so I hope everyone is enjoying the last week of Summer um summer definitely flew by uh our as uh folks could see in our buildings our builds and grounds team is wrapping up preparations uh to ensure each building is ready uh to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our students and staff uh in finance uh we finalized the June 30th uh reports um uh closing out the fiscal year of uh uh 2024 um so in in in the um resolution uh tonight there's the secretary's report treasury's report and transfer reports all are in agreement uh one of the the the piece of information that uh was sent out in broadcast um uh uh late last week was uh via Aon Square was the free lunch applications along with the income eligibility information for this upcoming 2425 school year I'll be sending out a reminder later this week with that information just uh ensuring that folks um submit those uh applications all eligible families participate with that and uh submit their applications before the end of September uh one uh highlight that I want to mention is that we are still using uh my school bucks uh for the meals collection for our pomptonian meal accounts uh the there is a flat fee of $3.50 so $3.50 so you if you're actually depositing $100 that might not sound like much but um someone like me that avoids uh uh ATM fees I try to avoid them I go to my own bank uh 350 might be a nuisance um but honestly in if in a large this is this is um a new change that um the parent company heartland's um solution that owns my school bucks um um changed no matter what the amount is it's still $3 so there like a minimum fee or minimum M you have to buy before so this is actually when you're depositing the money into the account into the school launch account oh you have to pay a fee to do that yes so then if you're using it it doesn't matter if it's a debit or credit card it's still 350 or um uh in order I did speak to pomptonian if there is someone like me out there that wants to avoid $3.50 uh the solution will be uh to write a check to the Verona Board of Education in the memo you um list out your your child's name the student's name and ID and send that uh uh with your child to the school uh the cafeteria manager will apply that um that same day that um she will take that check deposit it loaded up um into that lunch meal account and ensure that that actually check gets uh cleared if the check doesn't clear um there's going to be an issue that she'll probably put a stop and and reverse that do we get any Kickback to the district for those transaction fees or is it all to the financial company no so there it's their way of covering their their credit card transaction fees um um the and the crazy thing is that it doesn't matter you could deposit if you're if you think about it um if I'm spending $800 in my kids account and I went just want to do $500 I could load I'm not sure if I could go that high but I could load uh the maximum amount and still be charged as $3.50 so the the the the point is that don't just do like $20 transactions and get hit with 350 do a larger transaction if you can um and pay the $3.50 for the online transaction um fee if I recall you you did look at other alternative and they all have some sort of feed structure so yes we did um this summer we did look at three um other companies that have similar platforms uh for point of sale so um the with that point of sale uh system it's not just the online platform it's also the point of sale registered transaction at in the cafeterias which is at hbw in the High School uh so we did compare apples to apples um the uh the cost of actually um subscribing to their their service is one and then also the uh the online transaction feed some of them had um different uh transaction fees some of them were uh smaller at the at the lower end it made sense but then if you're depositing $100 you're you're ending up um paying $3.75 uh so it didn't it comparing Apples to Apples we we decided to stick with um Heartland with my school bucks Diane or wh I don't know if either of you might know this but have any of the ed Service commissions ever tried to band together to kind of get some kind of kid because I figur every child's going to make three or four deposit the parents will make three or four deposits throughout the year times all that money times all the kids we have if if a bunch of schools got together and might be able to get some kind of Kickback have you ever heard of an edge service committee doing this I have not nor have I but I will tell you that if you check your credit card statement if you go to restaurants the restaurants are now charging $2 to $3 S charge if you use a credit card to purchase dinner we've started using cash in restaurants to avoid paying or3 yeah uh so so that was one of the pieces um we are going to revisit it again um uh our food service um um contract is a is actually at its uh last uh year of the five-year contract so we are going to go out for an RFP this spring evaluating um uh food service provider and also the point of sale at that point uh to ensure that we're we're providing our our students and families um the the best uh service possible there and then finally resolutions um E5 and and E6 M Miss uh Mrs deppi she already shared a little bit about this um which is the the um the proposed uh withdrawal of $50,000 from our $650,000 maintenance Reserve uh so these funds will be used uh for essential Roofing repairs is one and also the mediate space in um um for uh to address the uh it's also a growth issue um as as Miss lii mentioned it's um we always need to like maximize the uses of our space and that's something that we will have to continue thinking um uh into the future of actually planning ahead um and this concludes my report for tonight thank you nor does anyone have any more questions or comments moving on to our student representative report Mr Jack lson all right so I just have a couple things to report out on so all of the Fall Sports preseason have begun and games will begin later this week as well as early next week this morning all of the captains from the fall teams went to West Essex High School for a Leadership Summit where they got to hear from motivational speakers and then also this morning incoming freshmen had their orientation at VHS sophomore Junior and senior volunteers took students on tours answered questions helped with lockers and ran Icebreaker activities with the students and that's all I have thank you thank you very much wishing you a good school year to the board on to our committee reports uh finance committee I'll take this one Mike um thank you Mr Cruz uh hit a lot of it um but just to go through a couple things we talked about the payment we talked actually you hit like all of it so it's a good report thank you um just to update on the playground because I just because that's in there um we're in the middle of mediation we finally got all the different parties in the room so now if they're going to be pointing their fingers at each other they're going to all be pointing in a circle I guess um so hopefully we can get that resolved and get those uh playgrounds that we paid a lot of money for to be used um safely and for a very long time and I think that was pretty much it for finance thank you anyone have any questions moving on to our education committee so I think Missy jeppi also spoke to much of what um we spoke at um at at committee um I think the updated curriculum that aligns really directly with the professional development that is going to be given to ensure that the new njsla standards are being met that the teachers are getting the support that they need um in order to make this transition to the evaluation system uh or valuation program I should say uh we we spoke also about some big shifts that have happened um over the past year 18 months um so some of them being the life skills program that we're now able to offer at the high school which we're all I think really happy about um it's fully functioning now with the kitchen and all um so we're really excited to to go full full force full full force this year um also the in-class inclusion support in all elementary schools for grades three five I'm sorry three four um in all schools so that was another big shift um also we have two I think it's all schools as needed as needed three four yes sir um we also have uh two Mental Health Grants that we that we have uh one we were approved for um a dreams Grant which is developing resiliency with engaging approaches and this is something that will be offered to teachers across um the district J Ed and it's really um I and I picture it is almost like a lens that you can use when you're when you're working with students um so I think being able to offer this to all stud to all teachers is is really excellent so I was really happy to hear about that and then also we were approved for a ruers bog Center um Grant which is um basically like a Consulting where red girls will come in four times throughout the year and this is to work specifically with special education teachers um to provide professional development but also feedback which I think sometimes the best professional development that we can get particularly when it's from an outside source and it's not necessarily an evaluation so it's even safer for teachers to to feel safer I should say not not literally teachers can feel safer um um so those were kind of some big uh big big shifts that we were talking about and now as we move into the 24 25 school year the next phase is really that professional development so now things are kind of been put in place and now it's time to provide that that professional development to ensure that systems are working you know the best that we can and we're monitoring adjusting and moving as needed um and that was really I think the other the other shift is at the high school the selectives that are being offered um so we have what we hear typically electives and then we have courses that we have to take so this is something new where students are able to take um their mandated courses so if they have a literacy course course they'll take that for half the year and then they can choose or select the second half um which is really nice so they'll still get those same mandated credits but they'll have some choice in their um education which is is great so that's something that's going to be started this year um and I think that was it really just to reiterate the selectives are for the 12th grade 11th to 12th grade students um and they are on True Crime creative writing humor and literature mon ERS in literature band books Latino literature page to screen yeah sounds I would like to take them I me too I just love the fact that we're offering a a class that allows you to read band Books thank you does anyone have any questions or comments moving on to facilities and operations committee yeah I can I can take that Mr WKA um a lot of the the big highlights came from um Mrs DJI as well as Mr Cruz and Mrs uh visala I'll um I'll clean up some of the scraps that we have worth noting all of them important of course um District wide uh over the summer we were conducting uh some lead water tasting testing excuse me uh filters um are also being in the process of installed on all of our drinking water uh sources um um the uh Verona High uh Press Box is um proceeding forward one thing to keep in mind um that we should particularly pay attention to on big band nights as well as football nights is that um this uh administrators are really going to need to focus on uh the max maximum occupancy as well as uh keeping people from hanging out um or standing on the St airs uh right around the Press Box um we're also investigating some um other uh areas of need um around um the some of the sports facilities uh more to come on that in the coming weeks um also um uh we're uh being creative with how we manage uh custodial uh availability to make sure that all of our facilities are um uh present their their best foot forward um and and um that's pretty much the highlights uh Beyond what's already been discussed for facilities thank you all and Mike I want to thank you for taking that meeting um I couldn't make it something came up last minute but thank you for taking that meeting of course thank you Mr Boone does anyone have any questions um policy met after we had education yesterday right policy Mr okay I'll take it I guess um most of the policies are just general updates that we get from stress as may change in language a little bit here and there the one I did want to highlight um is the new attendance policy that's been revised um I believe it was was it reported out at the last meeting I know I got an email about about our attendance yeah it was reported out at couple last couple meetings um um that we are we're low um if you look at our attendance num um and we all know that going to school really helps educate the student it's it's you know um so we have tightened up the policy um so that parents you know you no longer can call your Elementary School principal and say we're going to Disney for a week in October because it's low season and expect those absences to be excused um listen I did that I want be honest I did it um so it's just to try to get everyone understanding um the community the teachers the parents um that going to school is important um I ask every parent take a look at it um it's in draft right now we have two meetings before we approve it um just so you understand and also now when you're reporting attendance it you have to go through Genesis to report it um which is something new for elementary school they're actually not doing Elementary in September we're going to unroll that but middle school and high school yes high school started last year yes so you have to do it through Genesis you um to make sure it gets recorded appropriately um there are you know there are excused absences um the one that most people are kind of taking the back of is that sickness is not necessarily an excused absence um that is actually a state thing it's not a Verona thing um so and I do not please do not send your kids to school sick but you know there are I think it's like 18 absences built in before there's you know major issues so you know keep your kids home when they're sick um and please take a look so that everyone knows um what the new policy is and that there's no questions and if there are questions talk to the principal at your school they would be your first line of contact UM and they'll be able to help you out um if you have any questions Mi Mrs verzal on on on that policy uh for some of our students are who are in various uh travel clubs where they might have to take a long weekend going down state for um you know a softball tournament or whatever um how how are those uh absen is going to be charted going forward if it's a school sponsored activity it's not school sponsored not school sponsored um the state recognizes those at as um unexcused absences um the way it works in most school districts is there's there's two types of absences excused and unexcused the state says that there are seven different reasons for excused absences things like um if you working a voter if you're working an election if you are take your child to workday if you are Juniors and seniors get three uh excused absences to do college visits if you're getting your driver's test so there's a whole list of excused absences that are State excused and then the state says locally you can create a policy which we did that says you can excuse um local like so we chose to say if your child is ill and you send a note um that you know something in writing rather than just calling in so we have a record then that is an excused absence as well it's not an excused absence in in the calculation of chronic absenteeism so even if you send us a note my son has strep throat he's not going to be in this week um we will excuse those absences they still count toward the calculation of um chronic AB absenteeism um but with regard to credit loss they would not count toward credit loss because we have made that a local policy change the difference is just um we used to have what was called Elementary excused absence and that was for anything as long as the parent notified the school and as a result we have schools that have more than 177% chronic absenteeism chronic absenteeism is anything more than um 20 ABS or more than 18 absences a year kids are in school 180 days subtract assemblies and all the other things that we do with kids the learning If You're missing two days a month or more that's a lot of time not spent in the classroom that's what we're trying to reduce I I agree with that but I think that it's hard to make the direct correlation between we less time in classroom equals less student achievement simply because some of these Google classrooms have gotten so much better and right when when we were kids if you were out that lesson then you missed the lesson yeah um now you you can miss that lesson and and still you know we we heard you you told us how the the test scores were grown up at every single grade level then Denise is telling us bad or or poor attendance you know not not nonideal attendance so I I just think it's a tough line for a district to walk when when you got the state saying if you're sick stay home and then the school saying but if you stay home you you you your your grades are going to go down but I'm not sure that's actually the case um so I do want to credit the teachers for making such awesome Google classrooms and we know that people pay a lot of money to take only online classes so we know that learning can happen there um so I I just think it's a tough thing for the district to kind of enforce too to too strictly yeah I don't think we're enforcing it too strictly we we've put into the policy if your child is sick we'll excuse it yeah I I mean if it's excessive we may ask for a doctor's note but um yeah we just aren't going to excuse Disney World and Bahamas thank I never took my son out of school for Disney any comments any other comments on policy moving forward we are going to move on to our public comments on agenda action items so anything that we are voting on this evening please um you have three minutes to come to the podium please state your name get my timer started hold on a second okay thank you good evening my name is Jen kleinik hbw School librarian since 2007 teacher on staff since 2001 I'm here to offer my opinion on the idea of using part of the library for an administrative office tonight I will address three of my concerns the book collection privacy issues and the overall atmosphere first if an office is added to the library I am concerned that bookshelves will need to be eliminated it is my belief based on experience with 25 students in the computer lab and at least 25 students in the media center several periods of the day and sometimes more we will need to maintain two egresses for the safety of the children I'm concerned if that is what the architecture and the architect finds that will impact the shelves and thus space for books second I'm concerned about confidentiality issues with having an administrator so close by if an administrative office is added to the library I hope it is soundproof and private while an administrator might enjoy the joyful sounds of student learning and my favorite the joy of the book fair it would clearly be inappropriate for a student who was reading quietly to overhear appear being disciplined third will the atmosphere be the same libraries have changed for the better since I was a kid no more shushing I want students to feel like the library is the place where they can be themselves they are allowed to talk laugh and be silly especially at recess will they feel comfortable to act that way with an administrator nearby or will it be awkward like it is when I pop into the basement and my teenage son and his friends look at me like I'm an alien finally to everyone listening here and at home I promise you I will always do my best no matter what to make the hbw library an outstanding and safe Learning Community for everyone including teachers and staff but I can't do it alone I need Verona to show how much it values its School library I live in a home with one bathroom so I vote Library uh to please keep the library intact and find another space for the office because I think that would be best for students thank you thank you good evening my name is Maria Dean kazanis I'm a Verona resident a parent of a VHS grad a former attorney and an educator I stand before you today to express my deep concern regarding the recent decision to allocate $220,000 for architectural plans as I understand it to create additional Administrative Office Space by removing a portion of the hbw Middle School library this decision is deeply troubling the hbw library is not just a room with books it is a vital resource that supports staff and students academic and personal growth it provides a quiet space for study collaboration research and also Fosters a love of reading and Independent Learning by reducing this essential space we risk sending the message message that administrative convenience is more important than our children's educational development libraries are the heart of a school's learning environment and preserving spaces dedicated to reading and learning is more crucial than ever especially in an age dominated by digital distractions the decision to shrink the hbw library contradicts the very mission of the Verona Board of Ed and that is to create environments where students can Thrive academically and socially disciplining students in this space is Contra to that goal I urge the board to explore alternative solutions that do not come at the expense of critical student resources such as the library there may be un other underutilized spaces within the district that could be repurposed for administrative needs without affecting our students educational resources the $20,000 allocated to this project could be better spent enhancing the library providing additional educational materials or supporting programs that directly benefit our students in a time when every dollar counts it's crucial that we prioritize our spending to serve our student needs most effectively I respectfully ask that you revisit this decision the F future of rona's children should always be our top priority and maintaining the Integrity of their learning environments is essential to their success thank you for your time and consideration I trust the board will act in the best interest of our students I prepared this with the idea that it was two minutes I understand now I have three I speak with um some Authority on this because I am a school library media specialist and I work in the South Orange mwood School District I work in a K2 building and my library office was taken over in the last two years by the child study team our building is beautiful it's over 100 years old we have two toilets for 80 staff members so I get it we are in the process of making a new beautiful building on the back of our current building but the child study team comes into the library with parents with administrators with other profession speech pathologist and the child study team the counselors and the students themselves and I can tell you how awkward it is I can listen to every word they say and oftentimes parents can see their student outside in the library and they know what's going on and this is a K2 building so I'll stop but I do think that that's the last thank you thank you very much for your comments thank you I just want to clarify one thing These funds um can't be used for instructional these are this is a reserve account so the district has stored money in capital reserve and maintenance Reserve there we are limited to what we can spend these funds for so while we could spend the money on another maintenance activity we could never spend it on buying resources and materials for instruction thank you good evening my name is Dr Monica Taylor and my sons Michael and Griffin Wilner went through the Verona schools and are now 24 and 21 I have a PhD in language reading and culture and I'm a professor of teacher education at moner State University I'm speaking tonight because I was disappointed to hear of the plans to reduce the size of the library at hpw to create an additional office just as the library and Town serves as the center of a community the library in a school provides a neutral communal and Democratic space for students teachers and even family members when my children were at hbw weekly I would volunteer in the library where I had a chance to witness firsthand the value and importance it played in the lives of all of the school Community uh community members I noticed the diverse range of students who spent time in the library and thought about about the significance of there being a place for kids to feel safe and welcomed as a former Middle School teacher I know how Middle School is often a time when kids don't feel like they fit in the library becomes a safe haven for those who maybe are not sporty or popular or for kids who are artsy lgbtq or even neurodivergent in fact my son Michael was a creative kid and he spent many afternoons in messenger Club at the library and to this day he's still good friends and in touch with many of those kids because he had a space to nurture those friendships also the library can offer a calm space for kids to breathe and take a moment to regroup and this has never been more important as we continue to Grapple with the epidemic of anxiety and depression among our children and reducing the library would mean reducing the number of books and other resources to which the children may not otherwise be exposed Mrs Klein has always provided such an incredible range of texts for our kids to expand their Horizons and consider perspectives beyond their own and Beyond the small world of Verona so I guess I asked do we really want to reduce these opportunities for students couldn't there be another way for us to find space for an office thanks so much for allowing me to share my perspective thank you can I just ask for Qui question um my understanding is we're not removing books we're moving books okay if we go through with this hi my name is Avery Gaffney and I'm a rising eighth grade student at hbw I believe that tearing down part of the hbw library to build up offices is unfair to the students there are many clubs and activities that take place in the media center that are crucial to students education I personally have spent countless lunch times and recess times in the media center finishing homeworks and essays and tests and I can thank many of my passing grades and me not failing classes to the library um furthermore as a student of hbw I understand how important the library is some some like activities that go on in there are the VIP Club the messenger club and then classes that are moved to the library and then obviously like Bor Chromebooks checking out books um map and njsla testing and Book Fairs the library makes kids who don't feel comfortable eating in the lunchroom or spending races outside feel comfortable being in the library and especially because of the amazing activities books and teachers like Miss Klein who um are there I firmly believe a school should be about the students who are there to learn and build a future and I just don't think changing the layout of the school is worth Je izing like students wellbeing and thank you for your time today and please rethink and think about like you know tearing down the library to make offices because it's very important to students thank thank you ay hello I'm Deanna p ponas and I am now going into freshman year at VHS this library is very important to staff members and students like me as a forance as a former student of hbw the library helped me a lot with my work when I needed help it was a great place for me to study in in quiet when school life was just a little too loud and I feel that putting an office into this Library will limit the amount of space that kids get to express themselves this library has help has helped so many kids in the past with with school life and just the amount of stress that Middle School gets because my middle school my middle school experience was quite stressful and I hope that no kids have to ex have to experience it but library but the library helps anybody who just wants closure and just wants um a space to read and to have activities and to just talk to teachers when when homework work in school is just way too hard so I I strongly hope you reconsider this decision and decide to help the library students love the library just as much as I used to and it will be unfair to take away that experience from any new students thank you thank you thank you I just wantan to because I want to make sure that I'm understanding this and I and also especially first of all thank you for coming up here it's so corageous it's nerve-wracking up there um but I I think this is really important especially for our students because I think as adults we kind of understand what an egress is and we understand some we have more experience but I think mostly for our kids would the look of the library the the the area where they are I just want to really make sure like would any of that change so if we were in this space here and this is where we typically would come in for argument sake would that still all be available in the space that is currently okay so there is no tearing down there isn't any so it it would would all be the same so I think that this is just important especially for because this things like projects like this wherever wherever the office ends up if it ends up anywhere takes time so if we get it a May it's not going to be till September right takes a lot of time typically so I just want to make sure that the students know that this isn't something where their your your space is taken from from you even as you're in there this year you're starting school on Tuesday just it's really important I think that the kids understand that because that in it's self can um create a lot of anxiety for it for for for all of us but especially I think for our students yes I just want to make sure just one other thing the entrance to the office would be from the hallway outside so they wouldn't be going through no actually I I double checked it would be um let's say that uh I'm trying to this is so dissimilar this this room is so dissimilar from that Library so when you come in the hbw library from the what I what I think is the main entrance right across from the faculty room with the um computer lab on the left Mrs Clinic's office up in the back the circulation desk that you know the uh where the all the tables are and then the stacks are to the right if you make a right there's another kind of internal hallway that's lined on one side with Stacks half stacks the other side is a wall that has a copy machine and some seating and then another exit so an egress is an exit the space that the office is is proposed to go is over in that spot where the copy machine is currently not where the students sit not where the tables are not where the stacks are um and I I have to be honest I I don't know how much students use that area um my understanding would be they would be at the tables in the stacks with near the circulation desk near library media specialist um and then so then if we vote tonight um would we then have an opportunity to see the plans once the architect draw draws that up yeah we're just the only thing you're voting on tonight is releasing the funds right so then once the next so then the the plans would be something that we'd don't able to yes you would you would have to approve the construction project yes and the plan and the plans that you mentioned the money we're withdrawing is $220,000 but that's not for the architectural that's not the total it's 4,000 for PL correct I just want to clarify that I think it was mentioned that so I'm sorry and maybe I just need to go to the library I haven't been there in a couple years um so the entrance to Mr Lancaster's office would be through the library yes you'd have to well and the reason for that is has to do with something Mrs clck brought up the egress um we don't want to change the egress because there are students that need to go out both doors there are a good number of students in there if we were to block that entrance you reduce egress you reduce safety exit so it's actually considering to put the office back so when you when you walk in that door you walk in there's uh there'll be an office with a with a door or you can walk to the right of the office and down into the main library or exit the library so it's kind of like a little bump out of the wall refer to the guidance office so there are the guidance office and then there's like a is there like a communal space of the guidance office there's a very tiny conference room um in in the guidance office it's the only conference room in the entire school so we actually considered making the conference room um an office but then you lose any private space if you have parents if you have so we're trying to so ultimately recreating the space in the main office is our goal but it's too complicated to do right now there anyone else from the public that would like to come up my name is meric Cain and I am a proud class of 2023 hbw graduate I enjoyed my time here but it wasn't that fulfilling till I got to experience the outlet of the library during some free moments in school when when I heard that board of education is thinking of taking away Library space for another Administrative Office I became confused and I wanted to say something I found the library to be the perfect Sanctuary where me and friends could go get to get away from all the loud stuff that was happening during lunch in recess not Everyone likes all that activity and the library was a perfect way to find peace and happiness making it smaller or adding another set of eyes to in invade kids space is not promoting educational growth it is also a step towards the removal of books and the digitalization of everything that just makes me sad reading while holding a book has literally gone on for centuries some things that should remain sacred while times may be difficult I can wait s anyway I told my dad that I liked hanging out there and asked him what some of his Fondest Memories were of going to school and of course he said the football field and the gym I said stop it I mean inside the school and he said that's easy the library it was the center of all the Student Activity I met old friends and made new friends there every day while the times may be difficult different I can relate to what he was saying that's where I became friends with Blanca I have a brother in hbw now and another arriving next year and I want them to have the same opportunities and Outlets to think and hang out that I did the sacrifice of space in the library is the last place you should look it is the one room in the building where all the kids can learn find the quiet space can work on homework while also socializing and meeting up with friends I am sure you could find other places to fit in an office rather than cutting from the one space where you should be where should be which should be expanded with different learning activities and more books thank you thank you good job is there anyone how are you my name is Josh Jacob so I appreciate you know all you guys had a great example on Civic engagement for my incoming sixth grader there so I appreciate your time especially in the summer and your evenings so um you know I I I don't think that you can really teach uh uh the love of books yes so I don't think you can really I just want to thank them for their civic engagement but I don't think you can really teach the love of books or reading I think that's a behavior that students learn through modeling and just like cell phone usage and the way we act and uh uh and set an example is really important and so when you say the library is off limits to uh something like expansion or an office whether it takes floor floor space or not I think you you know you set a tone um and you know my son who uses the library every single day um really appreciates the space and you know any kind of change to the vibe um I don't think would be welcome so I I know that the vote is to release f and it's at a really early stage but it's obviously so important to us and perhaps you know more public engagement if we can be involved in the decision involved in desde and ultimately vote uh if possible I'm sorry and and ultimately vote if possible on what uh what comes of the decision I think would really appreciate because it's an important space so um thank you very much thank you no sorry hi my name is Megan Walsh and I live at 95 Fairway um I was calling to speak on behalf of the library too um my daughter who was going into ninth grade wasn't able to be here because she's at a practice but um she spent many recesses in the library um she just said the library is a breath of fresh air compared to the fast-paced school day and acts as a stress reliever for me to study and relax with my friends um the library is a peaceful alternative to Winter recess spent in the cafeteria Annex and Auditorium which are often loud and overstimulating um I guess the that's from my daughter but I guess from me some questions that I have is I not sure where we are in the process or a discussion of getting rid of the house system and my understanding is that might change um classrooms change rooms like I'm just wondering if that is something that's happening and sorry I might have missed some meetings if that's not happening um is this a little premature to be looking like will space be opening up in the future if there will be a reshuffling of like classroom space so just something and maybe I need to watch the meetings more but um just just an idea um and and something to consider and just to reiterate the library is a very special place and you know I do think there could be some privacy issues um with kids who Maybe are having some disciplinary issues um you know being paraded in in and out um if there's more private setting to do that in so okay to answer your question the house model is changing for the 25 26 school year it we haven't made a final decision on what that would look like but it looks like we're trending toward a 56 house and a 78 house thank you very much hello hello um Kim I'm a power professional at hbw in the seventh and eth grade lld um classroom special education and I hadn't really expected to talk today because I don't have any paper with me but there were some things I heard today about um the library and I think what stood out to me was I know I work at hbw and I know it's you're right it's like Hogwarts there's like little nooks and crannies and there is not a lot of space probably to put people I work in a teeny tiny room with another teacher and usually like six kids no windows we have a little window on our door but I know it's it's tight but I think the thing that um seems important to me is when you mentioned that putting a disciplinarian in the area with the counselors didn't seem good because counselors are doing calm and relax things and the disciplinarian I mean Tom's great and there's no really wild crazy things happening but kids have eyes and kids see what are what's happening and they you know they're like whispering and they're nervous and you can see I'm nervous anyway um I think that having that in the library kind of changes the vibe there and you know maybe some kids that have disciplinarian issues or what have you maybe they won't go to the library now you know maybe they might sneak in little corners and read and just relax and that might be a place where they were calm down but I think that the vibe change to me um is important for the kids especially these days with anxiety and seeing their friends and I know Mr Lancaster is going to be really busy with everything he does but I still feel like the presence maybe of him might change a little bit of the feeling there so to me I'm thinking of the kids and how they feel and thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else that would like to come up I'm gonna shut my alarm off so I don't get scared hold on one second you everyone for coming out and speaking we're going to move on to our our agenda um you are welcome to leave or stay if you want to hear the rest of the meeting um we do have another open public comment section at the end we're moving on to discussion items new business and old business is there anyone that has any um so miss Pereira and I it's it is part of the packet but we thought maybe we would just mention it up front um it is at B9 E9 under it's it's under Finance oh yes it's the resolution to compel pilot funds to be shared with Boards of Education um this is a resolution uh Miss Ferrera and I um drafted to present to the New Jersey school boards Association delegate Comm committee um the delegate Committee of the New Jersey school boards um they vote every twice a year in December and may on policy initiatives they would like to see the school boards as a total undertake um there's no enforcement of law in these resolutions there's no you know we pass it it's not gonna it's not necessarily going to happen you know next week but we thought it was important enough um not just as a Veron issue but it's a Statewide issue um in Verona we've gone over the numbers in a couple different meetings of how the pilot funded um development has impacted our budget by removing by not just but by removing taxable land from our budget um but also by potentially increasing enrollments at the schools where we don't get school funding for because under pilot you don't so we drafted a resolution that um we are asking the New Jersey school boards to speak on our behalf to legislators to legislators to change the Pilot uh law that would require towns to share their pilot funds with the school districts in the same percentage that uh their tax revenue is shared I think it's also just on that note it's also important it's particular it's specifically when the pilot um when the developments will impact a school so for instance there are some situations where there there are U like assisted living homes in that case obviously the school wouldn't be impacted because there wouldn't be children in those so you know in the resolution we we did add in there that really the the board I'm sorry a representative from the board so whether it be the superintendent the ba has a seat at the table when these decisions are being made and then that new pilot um initiatives that will impact or potentially will impact enrollments at the school um at the school level are voted on also by the school board so that we have an equal say as the Town Council and everybody else I do want to say um I think that we do need to if you look at one and jsba yeah one the way it's written right now and I I thought I had changed it but maybe I didn't it's saying that any Oh I thought you I thought I did change it yeah um so I I just want to make an A A Change on the Fly um do I have to make a motion for that Mr Cruz you do okay so I will make do I do it now or later you're you're my probably do it when we get to that okay we're gonna change that to make it just for pilot funds for development that will impact potentially impact the the school the school enrollment um so okay that's it that was it I just wanted to talk about that if there's anyone had any questions yeah um Miss Bala Miss Ferrara thank you so much for doing it I think it's it's really important at least to have have a say in it um at the risk of beating a dead horse from my perspective anybody who's listened to me knows that I am not a fan obviously of the pilot program um from the perspective of it is used used and often abused by communities such as ours um and those in West essic that frankly don't need um pilot to encourage development um the pilot program when it was initially taken off was to encourage development in areas that needed development um are our friends at the State uh the njba advocating for and I know this is not our scope but are they advocating for a better focus um at the state level on how pilot is even used and implemented like I said it was never written and never designed for a community such as Verona to begin with so I um I can only speak to the last delegate assembly that I attended which was in June um and there was Tom's River had proposed a pilot uh resolution um and it was voted down um because it was too it was too broad and it was it had a little bit more to do I'm trying to think off the cup here um sorry I didn't mean to put you on the spot no you didn't at all you didn't I don't remember exactly honestly I don't remember the exact language and I don't want to report it you know in incorrectly but it was it was not voted on and it was the only one um it was out of I think I think 20 resolutions it was the only one that spoke to Pilot funds um and that's what really sparked Miss gella and I to put this together because it is impacting so many districts across the state so to to answer your question I don't I don't think so that that there is anything right now I I could definitely be wrong and I can look into it a little bit more because now I'm curious um but I do not think so I think that in in a lot of ways unfortunately we have school districts and we have towns and we we unfortunately I think as a state maybe country we don't we don't um we don't speak enough we don't work together enough right this is not I'm not just I'm not talking about Veron I'm talking about the state so I think um to answer your question no very so much yeah I I do like that you put this together I think it's a strong initiative and it might work right um I think to your question Mike do do I think the school boards Association is going to move the the compass on this even a little bit I don't think it moves the needle at all um I think they're more close related with the state and they are you know the varying interests of all the different 600 school districts in the state um but but I don't think this could hurt and I I appreciate that you know we're taking a chance on this thank you yes I really appreciate you to doing this um going out and pulling this together so and uh Mr velli you have been very with everything with the affordable housing and the information and um reaching out to the council prior um you have been very instrumental on on this so thank you so much for everything and um just going back to some email that was sent out I guess um I just want to make it clear back on May 6th I attended the township council meeting and I was speaking of the numbers of students that I've you know just going off of the amount of apartments that are being built just over up at the community center over there and I spoke and because they did a presentation from Conifer and he assured us that there's not going to be that many students coming from there and I really do hope he says he they build these projects all over the place um but I do hope they are correct but I did go to that meeting to address our concerns saying that I feel that we are going to have issues coming out of there um coming from the students that are going to be coming out of there financially and spacewise and everything I did not agree with the the numbers that they they were projecting but I think it's important to note even if we if we do go with the 100 students or less than right the the cost per pupil were at about 14,000 so 17,000 so if we even look at 100 students at 177,000 per pupil that is still a lot of money for $40 million budget so I think even you know we are getting the numbers up 100 from the demographer we did our own numbers right but either way even if we go on that low end that is still a significant amount of money um that the district is not going to see where we typically would see that per pupil right that's how the formula is written um so either way it's it's has an impact well I think to the the unintended consequences if we do get 35 or 40 students right depending on their ages right now three of of our four elementary schools are at Max Capacity and um so Mr Cruz and I were on a call last two weeks ago I guess two weeks ago with Conifer and the Town Township manager and the assistant manager and they basically told us told us the same thing they told uh at the community at the meeting that this is not they they do projects like this all over the place and this is not going to affect um it's not going to be that many students and they also told us that of the 7,000 people on the list a thousand more than a thousand are already Verona residents now there's a flaw in that thinking because those Verona residents have dwellings now and if they have children they're big enough to have children in those dwellings so they move to the new housing who moves into their housing so um more could potentially more children in addition to that we we part of our Revenue stream is for tuition in students so if we're starting to get an influx of students that live in Verona we are going to have to say no to any tuition in students that are coming from West Orange uh and I don't mean those students that are placed here uh through special services because we have programs that their districts don't have I'm talking about parents who elect to place their children here from Bloomfield mostly from West Orange I think the max of of of our tuition and kids are from West Orange I know I don't want to put you on the spot but ballpark how much is that oh actually it's on the agenda it's on the agenda is there a total there I don't think there's a total though and some of these are our staff so it's hard to it's but it has to be it has to be $60,000 it has to be $60,000 right especially with the fact that going forward we we're still charging a returning rate those returning rates as they age out will go to the new rate which is significantly more expensive more pricey than we had been charging in the future so that's another reduction in income that we we will realize with the addition of these H this housing unit so just for that those thousand people that are on the list from Verona there's no barrier to entering your name on that list I can enter my name on that list and I miss Brisco did so there you go yeah um so there I am sure a certain percentage of those are just people who saw the sign on the side of the road on Bloomfield Avenue and said let me put my name on the list and see what information I get um I do hope that a lot of those units do end up um helping our Verona residents that are currently there is a um pref a preference yeah there's a preference yeah um so I I do hope for that because I think that is um what they're not necessarily intended for but a good side benefit um there is a but there is a according to the way they run the applications there may be a preference for Verona residents but if you're not there to to apply in person you don't get that and then then they did say it's first come first served right yeah your application as from what I've was was told their understanding is that the application has to be fully completed and it's first come first serve so if you even are a Verona resident and your application is incomplete your application's going to go to the bottom of the list is the way I was it seems to be so and certain Listen a certain number set out I think only a couple for former forly homeless families which again very from agencies right from agenes I welcome them into the community but you know there are going to be I I don't know how they can look at that that unit and say that there's not going to be or there's going to be minimal students it it just doesn't make sense how many three bedrooms are there I don't have that information for you had 26 26 three bedroom and I believe there's 52 two-bedroom out of the 96 units so and I I thought I mean I'm not a m relle you may know this better but I the laws for affordable housing I thought if you had a three a three-bedroom you can't just get a three-bedroom if you're a couple no you have to right have enough people to fill the bedrooms right yeah and it's it's it's I could probably find it again I'd have to look um it's very deep into the 140,000 in tuition in oh so a so if we go on the low end 100 at 17 right that's 170 plus the 140 and and that's assuming that there are no Services needed right that's 177,000 per pupil is Jed right right right it's Jed right we currently have 16 or 17 L students right with one ESL teacher we have we actually have more than 17 we only have 17 that take Services Services right but again if we're thinking about service is needed right there's a that's it's a massive shift yeah again and again glad we had the discussion regarding this all right let's so now wait I forgot where we were on the agenda sorry everyone discussion items new business old business that's it anyone else on anything with new business old business okay correspondents do we have any correspondents seeing none I'm going to go on to our resolutions so I need a motion please to approve resolutions A1 for personnel all the way through a13 so moved motion by Mr Boon I'll second second by Mrs fera are there any discussions none Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Walker yes brael yes it's going on Mrs perar yeah Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes motion carries thank you moving on to our education resolutions I need a motion to approve resolutions B1 all the way through B10 so moved motion by Mr Waka seconded by Mrs Vela are there any discussions seeing none Mr Cruz if you can call W yes Mrs Rosella yes Mrs Farah yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boone yes motion carries thank you thank you moving on to our Athletics and co-curricular I need a motion to approve resolutions C1 through C8 motion by Mrs Barrera seconded by Mr waa are there any any discussions I have nothing speak Mr Cruz if you could please call W yes Mrs Rella yes Mrs Ferrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes motion carries great thank you moving on to facilities I need a motion to approve resolutions D1 through D2 motion by motion by Mr Waka seconded by I'll second Mrs ferara are there any discussions Mr Cruz can you please call roll Mr Walker yes Mrs Vela yes Mrs farrara yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boone yes motion carries thank you moving on to our finance resolutions I need a motion to approve uh resolutions E1 through E9 this is where you have to make the motion change I'll I'll motion make it easy you have to do it after yeah motion by Mr Boon seconded by Mr Waka any discussion yes I would like to make a motion to amend E9 um sub paragraph one where it says so that it now reads in all new pilot agreements between municipalities and developers which potentially impact school enrollment the fund shall be paid to the municip paid to the municipality shall be shared with the school district at the same proportional rate as the taxable property you do need to vote on the on the change I'll make a motion to move you'll make it I'll I'll second to make that change seconded by I'll second it right okay Mr Cruz if you could please call roll on just that change right E9 yes for e99 Mr wer yes Mrs brazel yes Mrs Ferrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes yes excuse me so motion carries on the E9 agend so now I need motions we had a motion and we just need to vote for the others correct yes all of all of them yes all of them all of them so Mr Cruz if you could call roll Mr wer Mrs verzal yes Mrs Farrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes motion carries on E1 through E9 thank you thank you and moving on to our governance and policy Mo I need a motion to approve resolutions F1 through F2 I'll move it second move by Mrs rala seconded by Mr WKA any discussion um just a a quick obvious question um actually you know what I I withdraw my question I answered it so thank you okay Mike thank thank you Mr Cruz if you could call roll Mr wer yes Mrs Ral yes Mrs fer yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes motion carries great thank you moving on to our agenda opening up the uh public comment you have 3 minutes anyone from the P public comment please state your name as you approach the podium once recognized clearly State your first and last name for the record if you refuse to give your name we will not allow you to speak you will have three minutes to address the board there will no be cross dialogue during this public portion if there's any questions that can be answered only the superintendent board attorney or board president can respond and we'll do so at the end of the comments it will be granted one time to speak and there is a total of limit time of 1 hour for public participation again please note there will be no back and forth and we request that you please refrain respectful thank you anyone then okay all righty our next schedule meeting public meeting is September 10th 2024 beginning confidential session at 6 p.m. and the public session at 700 p.m. in The Rona school learning comments uh I need a motion to adjourn our meeting Mo motion by Mrs rosela seconded by Mrs Ferrera um all in favor I I it is 9:03 pm and our meeting is adjourned and wishing everyone a wonderful school year thank you thanks guys see y all need