e e e e e recession this meeting this meeting is being videotaped anyone not wishing to be seen on television may be excused can we rise for that black please to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay we have quite a few presentations and one one thing prior to our presentations U I'm sure that that you're aware of software um that has passed away this past weekend I'd like to uh have a moment of silence if we will um as a result of that I know it seems to hear you you can't hear it I'm sorry yeah I'm sorry about that I'd like to have a moment of silence for Sophia Bennett sore student here Washington Township who was tragically passed away this past weekend so uh she was a very active and bright individual that I'm sure many people are grieving about including the board so if we could just take a moment of silence I think we should stand thank you uh this board member Scott Liberty to say a few words who was very close to Sophia thanks BR um yeah I mean just our hearts go out to the Ben family to her mom Mary who is a district employee and um father Frank Mary little Mary little Frank and uh all the people around her Sophia was a such a special child special woman talented with singing and softball and swimming and touched a lot of hearts and there's a lot of geving people in in this district and um the family and everyone around could really use the support so I think that uh Administration did a great job getting grief counselors out and bringing out therapy dogs and stuff like that but it's going to be a long healing process and uh family and children need need our support thanks thank you Scott we have quite a few presentations and the first presentation is the Highland uh High School igle Scout project Joshua wakan I'm going to ask board member Sean Lindsay if you'll SA words can everybody hear me okay good even in the background peanut gallery we're good all right sweet um Josh you would wouldn't mind coming up please uh I myself and the board I'm honored to be able to present the certificate to you uh as everyone probably knows I did this last year for S uh and I'm honored that the board has chosen me again to represent at this Eagle Scout so in regards to that I would like to present the certificate to Joshua Wakeman in recognition for your hard work and dedication to your Eagle Scout project thank you for creating a safety gate in the ropes and traveler area of the playhouse and for building a storage unit to house props and costumes the Board of Education and the community appreciate your efforts thank you very much yeah yeah go for it [Music] did you no not really Josh you you want to take a second and talk about your project uh yeah I believe I um yeah I believe I have a PowerPoint that I would like to Showcase about the project okay all right Kev you got it all right Joshua where is the PowerPoint um should have been I think it was emailed okay do we have it all right all right so best lead plans so we have option wait a sec and go or you can spit ball it now I mean I you have it yeah oh you're good talk it through it perfect well a lot of them give Josh a hand [Applause] okay so good evening everyone my name is Joshua Wakeman and I'm here to talk about my Eagle scalp project to begin I would like to start with some before context I am a life Scout of troop 7123 in Washington Township and a current sophomore in the Washington Township High School I've had a love for theater since third grade since performing in Whitman Elementary and Bunker Hill Middle School and especially now being a member of the way off Broadway players in my high school I've started scouting as a first grade tiger Scout and fast forward 9 years later I am now a life Scout which is the second rank last rank needed before Eagle Scout I decided to take both of these interests and combine them into one big Eagle Scout project it will take place in the Washington Township High School 1112 Auditorium or as the students refer to it as the playhouse above the stage is a storage Loft which if we had the PowerPoint here I would show pictures but it's unorganized and it's a little bit hard to walk through it's covered head to toe in set pieces costumes or props there's a ropes and traveler area that controls the curtains and the backr grounds and sets nobody should be allowed to be there without given special permission from the teachers which is rare and usually never happens so to solve that problem I've decided to build a gate around the ropes and traveler area to prevent anyone from just wandering in and to fix the storage I decided to build shelfing units which would be 8 ft High 3 ft deep and 6 ft long across the 50t Long Loft once again if this was the PowerPoint before I would have pictures to show I have combined an estimated cost of the materials which come out at around $2,000 just rounded up now the way to get get that money would be to make a for me to make a video asking for donations posting it on social media and sending it to friends and family a lot of my family has had ties with scouting so I'm pretty not saying pretty sure but I am sure that they would love to help I also plan on asking for donations from local businesses in order for materials the fundraising money will go not only to materials but to feed and give safety equipment to volunteers my volunteers plan on being my fellow drama club students and my fellow Scouts I'm expecting to have at least three work days with about 10 to 15 volunteers per day estimated time of project will be about mid April to the end of June 2024 I've been working with Mr Weed Moyer Mr Anderson and Dr Hibbs to make sure that Bild time does not affect any projects that would take up the playhouse space thank you very much for your time and if you have any questions please feel free to [Applause] ask Josh we did a great job all right we're we're excited to see the uh the new Playhouse and and what you're going to do to make it a little safer and more organized I think what we could probably do uh Joshua is have some before and after pictures and that way we'll stay true to your PowerPoint how's that okay awesome great job thank you Josh uh we're going to make some presentations to the Washington Township High School track team and the wrestling team and I'm going to ask our athle director Kevin Murphy to join me at the podium Kevin thank you Mr Ross thank you to the Board of Education members and to our Administration as well for helping us recog ize some outstanding accomplishments during winter sports I like to recognize our four wrestlers that advance to Atlantic City first and i' like to have Dylan Michael Christian and Colton come on [Applause] up guys want to sign up here so um the start out sport near and dear to Mr Ross he's won a few wrestling matches uh first off we have Dylan guys want to face just back up a little bit U Dylan hell um I call him the four hes these guys um 23 and 10 Dylan went this season District 29 runner up region eight runner up and an njsa State qualifier Dylan hell Michael Horn 25- 10 on the season first team all Tri County District 30 Champion third in Region 8 and a state qualifier in Atlantic City Michael Horn Christian Hoops 33 and 10 on the season second Team all Tri County second Team all South Jersey district 30 Champion region eight runnerup top 12 in Atlantic City at the njsa state championships Christian Hoops Cole Hagerty 35-7 on the season second Team all Tri County second Team all South Jersey The District 29 Champion the Region 8 runner up placing seventh at the njsa state championships Cole Hagerty just like to say a few words coach ring could not be with us this evening but our wrestling team back-to-back District Champions District 29 Champions that we hosted and thank you again to the board and the administration for letting us host um such a prestigious wrestling tournament um to the wrestling parents that are in the room thank you for doing what you do it's it's an amazing commitment these young men are the the best of the best in the state of New Jersey uh they're joined by their their peers uh in our wrestling program uh I like to give a special shout out I don't want to embarrass him he's very humble but Mr Joe Hoops I call my director of wrestling operations for the job that he does with our youth program and our numbers are are through the roof well over a 100 in the youth program over 40 in the high school program uh and I just want to thank coach ring uh an educator in our district the teacher and along with his entire staff for what they do with our wrestlers and uh these guys are Aces so thank you and congratulations I just want to compliment not only the wrestling team but especially the uh coaches um my grandson who wrestled for a number of years and you guys were in wrestling though you start when you're this low uh Place second in the state and third in the state he's now at University of Rider but I really even though he didn't go to this school I attributed a lot of his success to the coaches at Washington Township and you got great coaches there and what you've seen today I think is a tribute to them so thank you coaches thank you Mr Ross um next I like to call up coach Chris Mitchell and his athlete his student athlete yesai Brown this young man up here is one of the fastest in the nation right now and I like to say a few words coach Mitchell move up here a little bit stand next to your athlete um this is an amazing stat when you think about it right now 10% of our entire High enrollment in Washington Township High School participates in our track and field program 10% just participation which is an amazing stat you're going to meet the other half of is duo in a minute but coach Chris Mitchell a teacher in our building he's done a phenomenal job um there's a lot of medals he was last year they were the indoor winner 2023 state championship track team um but he has true student athletes in his program and I couldn't be prouder of Coach Mitchell and what he's done and accomplished over two decades of building this program with his with his heart and I really comp you know commend him on what he has done the young man he is with is truly talented he's a true gentleman he's a pleasure to have in our building yesaiah Brown is enjoying a historic senior season he's the South Jersey group four sectional champion in the 55 hurdles he's the group four state champion back-to-back years as a junior n a senior in the 55 hurdles he's a New Jersey meta Champions champion in the 55 hurdles in the newbounds indoor Nationals he was the national runner up in the 60 hurdles he was named the New Jersey state track Indoor Winter track runner of the year and he was also named the South Jersey track performer of the Year by the South Jersey track coaches um yesai Brown truly a champion on and off the track and we're looking for big things and I don't want to say anything about college yet because I don't know if that's official yet but that's big big things are coming with that announcement we'll hold that it's a little bit of a teaser but yesha Brown congratulations our state champion coach Mitchell a man a few words but his love of his athletes say says it all I'm going to bring up the other half of this dynamic duo Mr Ross there's a lot of certificates here I'm going to let you handle all right that's why I bring Mr Ross he my stuff got all that right there coach Alexis fraction Mills Lexi fraction a tremendous educator in our health and physical education program at Washington Township High School uh she's an Alum and uh ran track for us exceptional career went on to Ryder University where she excelled and we had one of Ryder's coaches down doing a coaching program for us last evening and uh they remember her what she did at Ryder and we are so lucky to steal her I see Sean over there looking at me we're stealing teachers yes we stole her from Cherry Hill district and uh we will continue but we brought her home and I told the Cherry Hill superintendent we were bringing one of our own home and what she done with our track program is nothing short of Sensational so from bottom of my heart I thank you for what you do for the young ladies in our track program state champions and um I don't know how I'm going to have her speak in a minute I'm going to have her do it because we have a lot of them here and to our track parents I would be remiss as well for what you do day in and day out it's a season that never stops winter track Spring Track you go year round uh and it's a true commitment to your children for what you do and I know your children thank you and appreciate that the 2024 winter track team our minute Maids were the group four state relay Champions Under head coach Lexi fraction Mills assistant coaches Josh ol coach Olive come on up where are you saw you out there Karen Johnson I don't think coach is here and we share a lot of our coaching talents Chris Mitchell obviously our head boys coaches involved with our girls program Rich Boswick Tia Thomas our captains Dalia Beasley Dylan guli Dakota Jones Lauren Stanger great captains first state relay championship in 25 years for our women's program overall team scor with 46 points they were 17 points better than the next team the 2024 group four South sectional Champions this year in winter track the second ever indoor sectional track Championship with the last being in 2011 the team doubled the second place point total earning 82 points to the 41 where the second place team finished we had state champions in the relays the high jump relay of Dalia Beasley and Ash and Ashley Lopez the shop put relay of Ella carp and Laurence Stanger the 4x200 relay were state champions Dylan guli Alex Alexandria Le hetel Kayla deio and DEA Beasley I will turn over the mic to coach fraction Mills and she will recognize her student [Applause] athletes pull down yep um first I want to say thank you to the board for not only recognizing my girls but recognizing all of our student athletes here tonight um that means a lot to us as coaches that you guys acknowledge all the work we're putting in day in and day out um track and field and wrestling are some of the most grueling time schedules you can have when it comes to Athletics we spend 12 13 hours average at a winter track and field track meet so for you guys to understand that and recognize where we're coming from we really really appreciate that um ladies I'm just going to call you up and we'll make some sort of formation here um I couldn't be prouder these young ladies we had a vision from day one you know every coach starts the season like oh yeah like this is what we a to do and every's like okay Coach like sure sure and we really just kept instilling those values in them day in and day out to the point where they were like okay yeah maybe maybe this is a thing and to the point where they're telling me no we're doing this we want to win a State title we want to win sectionals we want to do big things so I credit that a lot to the upper classman who kind of took the Reign from me and we're like we're with you coach we got this and we're going to do it um so alphabetically I have Miss Dalia Beasley her little sister Lila who could not be here tonight Gabby chelick Kayla do taviano Dylan galoli Riley gramble Alexandria hell micaa how Ella Johnson Dakota Jones Ella karp Haley Kennedy am I getting too fast the girls are fast to coaches Cali lock Ashley Lopez Avery Lynch zarya olant Emma Rose Phillips kin Rodriguez Kaylee Russen Hannah CLE Carly Yoto Gian Shippy Lauren Stanger Taylor Stewart Zeta Taylor Burch and Rachel [Applause] Wilson you okay takeing them take picture than good in the spring so just you know just keep down but good it's good yeah get a picture track the back like against the screen yeah yeah whatever whatever you want to Do's not there okay no worries thank you guys again we really appreciate the recognition abely hey before you guys leave before you guys leave can just stand like we want can we have a round of applause for all our athletes and do a great job thank you and wrestlers too we'll do that and go out take a picture than you guys Dr hibs Dr hibs Dr hibs he's right there he's right there Dr hips you check with them and somehow or another my glass just went in with a hand in with a handeld my hand you got him good that was outand all clear my hand shake all right we have another up Mike I we really know how to clear room all right okay so um way to go brother thank you thank you um I Mike dilio proud Bunker Hill principal thank you for um having us here today I'm here with um one awesome teacher from Bunker Hill Matt Potter who is our teched teacher and um we're also honoring Mr Frank Libby who taught part time at Orchard Valley in Bunker Hill last year but teaches fulltime at Orchard Valley this year he could not be here tonight definitely want to thank the board of ed for allowing us to be here tonight I know you have a packed schedule but thank you very much I want to thank the administration for doing this and um people who don't get recognized sometimes is Matt pacina Kathy Cary and Kevin lindstad they wrote a nice spread about Matt Frank in the program and and I pretty much going to just highlight what they said for the for the general public so um Matt and Frank with our technology program um were um awarded um from the international technology engineering and education Educators Association ITA program of Excellence award for the 2324 school year um and they were honored and there was a meeting in Memphis but actually we we weren't able to attend but typically um this award is given is one of the highest honors given in that society and that organization and it's not just nationally it's um worldwide um and BHMs in order to do that you have to be nominated by some other source other than you know um what's in the district so we were actually nominated anonymously which was a really cool perk and um we were nominated and awarded because of our specific involvement in the uh multiply disabled and autism programs that we have at school and what we provide students the opportunities to participate in an inclusive kind of setting and and many of you know the programs we have at Bunker Hill but um what um part of their elective cycle um they push out sometimes into chorus and art and drama and things of that sort but we really focus on life and tactile skills with Mr merrow in art and Mr Potter in um tech ed and So based on what Mr Potter does and the three-year cycle that we have at Bunker Hill and in all the middle schools both um Mr Potter and Mr Libby were awarded for this honor um the U president U Charlie McLaughlin said that it is inspiring to learn from these leaders and we should feel proud to be connected with these colleagues and I would Echo those sentiments as well um I have the privilege of observing many many teachers and have over the course of my career both here and my other school and um one of the things that I've learned was you know coming from a school I I was originally an assistant principal at Gateway and they kind of showed the programs that came out of people from the College of New Jersey and that had a robust program at the time and and meeting Mr Potter when he interviewed for the job it was it was refreshing to see what he brought to the table and things of that sort so I just want to reiterate that um Mr Potter and Mr Libby in our teched program at the middle level are one of 26 um Award winners throughout the country and throughout the world and we are the only representative from New Jersey so I think that um merits a lot of Kudos and uh Mr Potter so proud of you you're doing such a good job with our kids as is Mr Libby so I'd like to give him a round of applause thank you everybody I appreciate the time okay moving on uh school and community relations Dr hips y uh I have three things to report tonight all sources of Pride uh so the uh Washington Township High School is celebrating the achievement of 44 seniors who have successfully obtained a seal of bi literacy uh the total represents 88.5% of all seniors with eight different languages included three students even passed in more than two languages the seal that is placed on the student diplomas and transcripts recognizes a student achievement of intermediate to high level in speaking listening reading and writing of a foreign language in addition to the attainment of the proficiency level on exams number two dance concert uh wths uh dance department and dance company will present their 21st annual dance concert entitled games on Thursday April 18th uh at 700 p.m. in the rbpa this performance will showcase the talents of hundreds of high school students and the evening will also include eighth grade students from Bunker Hill uh and Chestnut uh Ridge Middle School dance teams Reserve tickets are $15 and $10 and can be purchased through a link on our website lastly um I want to thank president Ross and Mr Liberty Liberty who uh had the uh I think we all have the honor of attending our uh Roc inspection and it was amazing so we had uh members of the Washington Township High School Air Force Junior Roc program welcome James Garcia to campus on Monday uh March 18th uh Mr Garcia is the regional director for Air Force Jr Roc Region 4 sub Region 2 based out of Montgomery Alabama he was at uh wths to perform a full inspection of the school's corpse from curriculum to budget to drill team and everything in between he conducted briefings with Administration attending the cadet's unit briefing inspected the drill team and then gave out leadership coins and top performance Awards so congratulations to all of our students and staff that helped with the seal by literacy uh we're looking forward to an amazing dance concert on the 18th and congratulations to everyone that was a part of RC in the inspection and thank you gentlemen for coming to that hon to be there yeah so good stuff correspondence um have a motion to approve the letters of discipline correspondent is listed so move second all those in favor opposed approval of the minutes uh ask for approval of the minutes for February 2024 have a motion move second second all those in favor oos motion carries old business uh would to ask our student representative uh Mr Mill to update us on school yes thank you Mr Ross um I first just wanted to apologize for my absence last week um I checked the time and actually while the meeting started I was in line for hagrids roller coaster in Hogwarts at Universal um for the senior trip so sorry for that um and and like the same regard I don't have an actual report this month um because the month of March at the high school has actually been one of the craziest ever between Deca States the musical NJ GPA testing and senior trip um I think I've been either um on a field trip or outside of school more than I've been in it so I didn't want to um have one of my meetings this month however I plan to jump back into the regular superintendent's cabinet meetings and my own personal forums after spring break for the month of April um and then two more in May and June um how ever in my own humble opinion some of the above um topics that I've already discussed were quite successful so the first one I would like to talk about is just the musical um and I know numerous board members have brought it up last week but again just from um my perspective we had amazing crowds each night for our spring musical the prom and I wanted to thank again the board and the administration for allowing us to put on such a heartwarming and special show that truly did touch the hearts of numerous people and I urge everyone who may have missed the show um to really look into the message of intolerance and bigotry the story of the show was quite amazing and it enlightened every single person who was in the audience um and I know we had numerous people come back again for um a second um time after seeing the show once so I thank everyone for that and then also just a senior trip I would like to speak on behalf of the class of 2024 and again thank Administration and the Board of Education this trip um for anyone who might not know has recently shifted from being Disney Center to Universal centered which gave the students so much more opportunity um on the resort we stayed at the Cabana Bay Resort on universal um uh property we gained access to the water park and it was just an amazing trip overall and the class of 2024 proudly left with no disciplinary action in place and we had the best bonding experience ever so again I would like to thank you all for that and that's all for the month of March but I look forward to real business again in April can I interrup Eddie so thank you that was awesome by the way and I agree with you I think that's the best ride in the history of mankind that is amazing I would also like to commend uh all the staff members who went on the trip and our seniors because we don't have any discussions about any disciplinary consequences I'm glad they had an amazing time um and I also want to reiterate how proud we all are of you and everybody that was in the play and then worked with the play Andor volunteered um it was truly an amazing production uh and I think you described it perfectly thank you're welcome thank you um I want to clarify one one quick thing under all business um guys I I want to I want to just clarify um while I can't go into specifics about the Personnel Cuts yet that are that are being presented and discussed with the board I I want to just clarify and I'm we can't do that I just want you to know um this has been a very tough budget where we're trying very much to focus on keeping Township on the right path and and and doing things that um are going to allow our district to move forward there's there's growth that we have to all come through and experience together but I just want to clarify that a these conversations are all very hard and that over the course of the next month we're going to present uh what will be our our budget and then the board will vote on that um and we are we we take all these situations very seriously I just want to make sure everybody understands that and I know that I've only been here eight months um but I I came last year in May after the First full budget was struck so some of the issues that we're seeing unfortunately are just things that have compounded over time that we have to really analyze in our district and have to look and just so you understand while again not going this specifics when we have a budgetary gap we have a responsibility to to meet that budgetary Gap we can't we can't go into a a budget and be in the red it's just we're not allowed it's it's it's totally against the rules so we have to balance the budget I just want to make sure that you understood that I was really only here since May we are going to look at at cuts and I I mentioned this in the budget presentation across the board um but we're definitely not going to look disproportionately at at anyone at the bottom of of the pay scale um there's there's cuts across this entire District um this budget will focus on on things like Innovation it will focus on programs for students there will be a ton of support for our students in this in in looking at the budget we really try to prioritize student offerings here and that's been very important to every board member and that's also been important to all the administrators that that we've had conversations with uh we are in the middle uh over next year sorry for capit projects just so you know we are going to have um about four main ones two of which are the same we are going to look at two roofs and we're going to look at uh two building sets of windows that are desperately needed to take place um we did that uh running through the business committee and then we're also getting 40% relief from the state through our Rob grants and we are also going to balance that with uh the energy audit which uh I'm I'm pleased to report that I learned today that our last walkthrough will take place tomorrow which means that uh that will put us in a place where they can finalize the audit and then let us know the first set of audit numbers which will then lead to a second set of audit numbers which will then lead to hopefully a whole lot of projects that can be done for free uh through the Energy savings which we're we're very we're very uh excited to do I just want to clarify too um and just very respectfully that while we have needs in District and we want to make sure that we put money into our capital reserve which allows capital projects for those of you that don't know how typically this works you know at the end of a year the board will usually pass a resolution to put money either into a capital reserve or a maintenance reserve and that is where we can do projects typically the following year we are um we are going to about within a million dollars uh stay I think it's about a million dollar Scott that we set through business to leave in there a district our size that's actually not a lot of money to have in capital reserve which is why we have to be very mindful of our decisions in the future so that we can take some of the excess money in our budget and place that into Capital otherwise districts that that don't have money into capital reserve eventually come to a point where the only op there's two options either a you don't do the work that's needed uh or B you have to explore alternate options you know one of the questions that was asked last week are we exploring Outsourcing uh any staff members or are we are we exploring the a referendum for next year I we are not recommending either of those things just to be clear um but in the end absence of having money in your Capital Reserve Districts then have to do referendums typically for things like Paving and roofs and and Big Ticket items just because you can't sustain that in your normal budget and that's that's where we are but I just want to make sure that I I I just I just clarified that you know our we're not the the the structures that we have while while I say things like we haven't done a good job with painting um over time um we haven't done that and I'm not calling out any specific person for that there just hasn't been a priority on things like that here which I I tend to I I like things to be pretty for our students I don't think it needs to be expensive but we shouldn't have peeling paint and things of that nature but I don't want you to get the impression that um that you know OB is going to fall down it's that's not going to happen but we do need a very good plan working through the board to make sure that we just have a good plan for capital projects moving forward and the budget that we'll present will have I think the best plan that we can physically do in this moment thank you everybody I I think I had something in old business too is that okay yeah sure I had talked Scott and I had talked a little I had said that there was a time I thought four times a year when you review the goals of the district and the goals of the Board of Ed and to help with that if it's okay with Dr his and Ralph I put together these packets and I have extras if anybody wants to look at them of what it's just a guide as to what you can do every month as a board and it really does help because it does say in here that four times a year we're supposed to report on District goals and um board goals it's a suggestion it's not a mandate but it has things in there like a board retreat planning that it has all kinds of things that to me if we could look at this at least a committee or somebody and put together our own calendar for the year and maybe you have it and I don't know about it to me this would be a helpful thing to keep the board moving in the right direction as far as what focused on for the year it has good suggestions of when you do budget stuff just all kinds of suggestions so I made a copy for all of us the lawyer Dr hibs and Denine if you don't mind I could put your names on them because some are high l so Mar that you could each have a copy and maybe at our next meeting we could talk about this okay um in executive session I did hand out a copy of all the goals District goals to Super attendance goals our goals so that everyone has a copy of that and uh we can put that on the agenda for uh thanks me other old business I just want to make mention that we are proceeding with our town hall um we've talked Dr hibs and I have talked about it shooting for April 29th I think that's a Monday um the next board meeting will have specifics with uh basically on uh uh the makeup of the of of the administration the board and uh uh the uh community at large so uh we are proceeding with that any other old business yes I like to report out since uh last board meeting about a week ago I attended several functions in the district um Saturday I see Mr diso here uh I was uh able to um take a few kids from Wedgewood school to see their play uh dear edua what a u what a fantastic job done by Mrs Dickerson and the set design by Mr appelby um the kids there were so talented uh they were truly engaged enthusiastic and just enjoying the their roles and having fun it's such a it's such a wonderful experience to be there uh it just the time really flew um it was interesting too how the teachers and the colleagues that work with Mrs Dickerson actually turn the allpurpose room into like a a mini theater and something that they they they had hanging on the walls were t-shirts of every play or musical that they've had in the past 20 20 plus years it was fantastic experience and Mr dilio got to be proud of your staff and students it was a great experience thank you um yesterday I had an opportunity to go to Wedgewood they had a song fest there uh under uh the direction of the of their their Coral director Mrs D the principal uh Mrs gear Greer made a really U made it really welcoming to uh parents and grandparents and and Guardians by having two shows they had a show at 10:00 and they had a show at 2:00 probably over over 50 60 students participating singing about seven or eight songs they were into it and it's a delight to see uh our kids perform the way they performed it was really a wonderful experience I see Mrs Greer back there okay it was great job thank you um also uh today I had an opportunity as the board liaison to go to Chestnut Ridge and I uh was there for their principal's list breakfast um they had particip ipants there and from all areas of the music department um and also I haven't been in that school in a long time uh recently I think our schools um updated the lockers and they have about five different colors the school is so bright lots of lots of artwork out uh clean I mean it was impressive uh it was a wonderful experience uh to be there and I appreciate with the counselors Mrs petski and Mrs McMullen uh did today and every day at that school I also want to uh mention I think I brought up as a board member I was uh I saw the presentation the board presentation and historically in this district there was always a slide that indicated not specifics but gave information about what areas and the numbers in those areas and I was told that we were going to have that slide but the slide actually was very very Eric and U I'm just wondering uh and i' I'm a resident here 35 plus years and I frequent visitor of the board meetings especially when there's presentations and I know um Mrs Rector I sent you the slide you did last year that was the one I was referring to and I just wondered why we we deviated from the way we've done it in the past yeah that's why changed yeah was in executive session and was fully aware of this answer and the the advice was given by your partner I mean what you guys are talking about it I'll just jump in so um the reason why is because there were three different iterations that usually doesn't happen in the last minute so as a board we didn't even have the opportunity to review the final presentation because we had a quickly direct Janine as to what we were going to end up voting on that night so as a board member and you included we all had the preview of what it would look like and I think because of the nature of what happened prior in in session which I'll be careful with what I say that there were several iterations and that was really the issue and I think Janine trying to put it together at the last second um I I think typically we have a little bit more detail but because she was put under the gun to very quickly change it because there were several iterations put forward that should have never have happened in the first place because of backdoor convers ations and different things so I'm just going to jump in while you guys were talking that was my preview and and I'll tell you why we're talking about it you know uh there was a very concerning email that was sent to the Board of Education from Dr Hibbs that outlined a lot of what I just talked about very concerning to us and you know hopefully moving forward a lot of those ethical concerns can be addressed but I think this again I'm glad you're brought it up Miss Baker because that's kind of part of the problem in terms of Us coming together as one unit nine board members not five not four so um if things seem tense tonight at least with me I'm going to tell you it is because to get that letter from our chief School administrator prior to a meeting to let us know what's gone on and a recap of it is completely disturbing so I think for you to even ask that question in public to play Kate to whoever wanted to know um why there wasn't detail is disturbing and I think that is it's a disgrace to the board as we're trying to move forward as one unit to bring that up is terrible it if I can um it's my understanding that and I was not in the meeting my partner was but I understand it was the advice of my partner um because it dealt with a Personnel issue or matter and that that that slide was removed that's my understanding I'm not going to say that's true and for transparency sake and I'm going to say this very respectfully um we're not allowed to talk about what happens in the executive session but Mrs Baker was in the room for that for that advice and the original the original slide had way more information and was told publicly why it couldn't be given in public it was spoken so not sure why it was like she didn't know so not okay so basic I finished so basically what you're saying um what we've done in the past probably we probably shouldn't have been doing then if we if we were given advice that we shouldn't do that not talking about specifics it was it was just numbers okay I I to be clear I was not at the meeting I was not at your prior board meetings where that slide may have been shown all I can say is it was the advice of my partner legal advice and that's the reason that the slide was removed okay the last thing um I'd like to put a motion on the floor uh there has been some discussion that we can look at the budget and I like to put a motion on the floor that we have a budget meeting on Saturday April 13th uh for any board member that wants to go to talk about what what are some of the things that we could look at and uh offer to the superintendent as a recommend um that's to ask now my calendar if I can second there's a motion on yeah there's a motion on the floor so let's see if there's a second I'll second okay now discussion can we modify to have an additional meeting not with a specific date pardon me can we maybe have a motion to me if you want have an additional meeting but not of a specific date if Dr H doesn't have his calendar yeah we didn't know until right now so I don't know what I'm doing can we maybe use email to communicate before the meeting so we're all looking at each other I guess the question is are you in agreement that we have a special meeting to review the budget yes I believe that we've talked about that several times we can work out the specifics the date and all is anyone opposed to that because I think the budget the one of the things that I want to make sure is that it it's a meeting that's open to all the board members and that would have to then be advertised so that we could all go to it anybody that wanted to go if you don't want to go you don't want to go but the people that want to go should be able to go okay so we'll work out the specifics with that and try and have an extra board meeting yeah yeah ABS I I have a great idea I have no problems with having that Adam could you possibly weigh in on what could or could not be said at that meeting if it's in public I thought it would I thought we would we would open in public but we then would be going executive yeah dep depending on the topics that are to be discussed you know you'll have a fullsome discussion about the budget but to the extent you're going to talk about any staff members um my suggestion would be if you know ahead of time that you're going to talk about specific staff members that you rise those individuals and if and if um if you need to go into exec to talk about a specific individual you certainly can it'd be a regular board meeting so you have all of the tools that are at your disposal at a regular board meeting at the special board meeting the only difference would be it'd be on a different daytime that's it and I I just think for the public to understand we have attended budget but we're going to be voting on the budget at the end of April and there is time in between to make adjustments and that would that would be that would be uh time to do it if I may um there's still that motion on the floor so to the extent um we're not going to call the vote um we we don't have to call the vote but you do have a motion and second on the floor um is there any reason why we shouldn't vote I think everyone said that they're an agreement anybody in disagreement the motion was for April motion was for April 13th that we all agreed that we just well I can I can amend it to a time so you're amending that you asked if we could have a meeting I think every board member said yeah we're okay for a special meeting we have to coordinate the date and the time the reason why I said 13th is because it's really difficult to get people with their work schedules end of the day and this is certainly going to be something that's going to take some time and that's why I suggested that date so whatever we come up with is better than nothing so then we have to amend the motion to reflect not a date but to have a special meeting in April correct Adam I'm sorry I'm doing three different things sorry I said so the motion has to be amended to not reflect a specific date but to reflect a meeting in April prior to the the final budget vote correct correct to the extent that the board would like to vote now on a meeting date other than April 13 the motion would have to be amended however if the board wants to leave the date open so that it can be coordinated correct offline the board can certainly do that as well just like you would do with any other regular meeting so the motion has to be amended in order for us to vote to the extent you want to change it from April 13th corre yes want make that Mo I just said that I said it could be amended to any date in April second I just a roll call on this so this is going to be a roll call on a motion to have a special meeting on some date in April about the budget right okay yeah Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr de Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Tomac not here Mr Ross Yes okay so we'll coordinate that and we'll get information out to the to the board members we we'll try and check with uh with everyone prior to that okay any other uh old business yeah I have some old business uh so everyone there was a statement that I made last week regarding the budget and uh after I made that statement it was brought to my attention that members of this board had perceived what what was stated to be quote out of line and quote a possible violation of board member ethics I was also notified that what I said was largely inaccurate so in light of these comments phone calls emails and in the spirit of transparency uh I'd like to make an apology to absolutely no one for absolutely nothing um I'm a board member and I will exercise my right to vote as I see fit and I have the opportunity to serve on this board and this these members of this board we tout the word transparency and we say words like you know we we need to be more transparent we need to be in front of the public the public needs to know these things and that was that was the purpose of my statement to bring to light what the bud and the deficit that we're in how bad it really was without saying too much information so there will never be a time excuse me I got a statement one second there will never be a time when I apologize um to to I'm sorry I would never apologize for being the only member to make a statement that brings to light the disproportionate impact of these bailout options that's what I think they were that's what I think they are and I still feel that way my vote is my vote and I will unapologetically vote the way I see fit as I stated previously we are we work for the taxpayer we work for everybody sitting in these stands who is a resident of this town and it is our job to make sure that our one and only employee the superintendent keeps that in mind whenever he crafts a bu or whenever there's cuts that need to be made or whenever we're implementing new software student information system a new weight room bleachers Etc so just wanted to clarify that and hope everybody on this board and uh uh members of this governing body understand that thank you thanks [Applause] Steve um okay totally respect your right to your right to an opinion Mr Sano I absolutely agree with you you I am absolutely your employee and I I always do as I'm directed I think it's just really important though to make sure that we portray accurate information uh this budget as presented did not go after disproportionally um what was stated it actually when you see it it's actually quite the opposite that's a b our infrastructure is absolutely not crumbling that's that's an inaccurate statement which makes people think that the Sky Has Fallen we are absolutely putting forth innovation in this District we have put forth more Innovation since May than I think Township has seen in the last 10 years and if you need evidence of that please let me know and I'll be happy to do so um so again I'm not being adversarial but I think it's really important that we put forth Just accurate information and you know I'm not above saying that all of us can including myself can always do things better because we're all human but I think it's really important that we don't we don't actively put forth things that are just not true now opinions are opinions and I respect Mr Sano he's got opinions and he's he's a man of conviction and I respect that but we have to still portray accurate information great any other old business well I just want to say this really quickly um that it was said Mr Serano that it was a perception uh it was not a perception what you stated was I hate to use this word it was categorically inaccurate it was it was not correct we talked about it in uh executive and there were a lot of opportunities for board members to ask very specific questions um I hope that you take that opportunity to do that um because it was not a perception it was what you were stating was inaccurate information and I wish you were here for executive session um because I think that there's a lot of misconceptions and perceptions of what's Happening Here here I think that anybody that's looking out in the community can probably tell very quickly what's happening is that there's um a certain base of board members that are together and others that are not typically because the others that are not is because we're not included in special private meetings that happen Mr Serrano that you're also a part of so I just want to say this and clear the air since we're being transparent I can say a lot of things that were transparent in a lot of different committees that I was a part of um board members asking Sean Sweeney to look up their friends to see how many years they had in to see if they could protect or not that happened that happened in a committee so I agree with you in terms of transparency I wish that everyone would be transparent with what's happened because I think that there's just a lot of mudsling going on and unfortunately it's at the expense of our superintendent who just started eight months ago he didn't create the budget issue here and I won't blame one board member board president presid superintendent this is a combination of a lot of things that happened that we now have to address and I think that's a fair statement so I hope as board members that we begin to act ethically when it comes to tough decisions because I got to tell you this is just one tough decision wait until others come down the road because budget is tough I don't think anyone likes the budget including Dr hibs it's not um it's not pleasant but we have to do that as board members we have to look at the budget and make the best decision that we can with what we feel is right so I hope that everyone doesn't start running away from decisions that we have to make not implying that you are just saying in general let's be transparent though all the way through not just part of it okay that's what I'm asking from everybody up here let's be fully [Applause] transparent okay maybe uh we can address something on so Eric I'm I'm sorry Dr hibs let's schedule a meeting we'll go through I want to learn every single line item of the budget how we got into this mess and uh how we're going to get ourselves out of it with a proactive plan yeah I think uh so M ran as as I offered on Friday I'm happy to do that um I don't think it's I don't think line item it there's our budget is hundreds and hundreds of pages but I you know I'm happy to have that meeting happy to give Clarity um you know the reality is is that there are times when school districts I want everybody understand this that you face budgetary shortfalls ours you know we can't continue on the path that we are on and still be successful and if you know the budget that that I'm going to put forth with a lot of hard work with a lot of people in my opinion is the best budget we absolutely can to help Township move forward and to allow us to address Capital needs allows us to address sustainability um so happy to have that meeting um let me know your schedule um G and I will do it we'll work through we'll actually bring in um Carissa as a new assistant ba2 so she be a good learning experience for her and I can show you you know where the the the budgetary shortfalls came from you know as per the conversation yes or last week I apologize not yesterday um really we have contractual increases uh we have benefits and tuition those are the three main the three main people or or items that came calling this year that we simply don't have enough to cover without cutting from the existing budget um you know and I I think without saying specifically I I think there's there's things that probably could have been done over the last few years that could have been conversations that probably should have been conversations here so that we weren't in this position and I just want to be honest with everybody here I came here eight months ago I had absolutely nothing to do with the last budget let alone any other budget that was struck in Washington Township period nothing Z zip nada nothing I I simply came here eight within eight months and my responsibility is to close millions of dollars in a shortfall this is not what I want to do I understand what this is going to do here I understand this is real people that we're talking about because for those of you that don't know the only way to close something like that it's not with pencils and it's not with supplies it's with people which is a real conversation and I I I I lose sleep over that Mrs Bloom conveys that she loses sleep over that everybody does because these are real conversations that really need to happen but at the end of the day I just want to be honest I'm going to give my recommendation I've been I've been an administrator for a long time I know what I'm doing I care about people I'm humanistic but I also will lay out the bottom line if my if my and and and my my recommendations do not have to be taken but if they're not taken I just want to be very clear about what will happen to Township it will be decimated by the end of next year we will not be sustainable saff if I have to make the kind of cuts and recommend the kind of cuts two years in a row we will not be sustainable period the the point hold on if pain must be felt across this District if there must be cuts across this district and there's no other choice let it start at the top of the mountain with the person who's leading this organization forgoing his Merit pay that's all I'm going to say because he wasn't able to be rised and no we're getting into talking about um the superintendent's employment he was not Ric and so we shouldn't be going here V still counselor let us start with the CEO if you will the person who's Sor let's start with the guy who's leading the ship by the way you can't say that let me wild is totally inappropriate this is what I'm I'm not talking about cutting I'm talking about let's start at the top of the guess what there was a contract that was negotiated in good faith let's start at the top of the mouth you better bang him cuz he's still talking work our way down we have the floor stop what's matter it's ridiculous I've said it a couple times you're going to G me said it a couple times now we cannot discuss the superintendent's appointment without him receiving a rice notice the superintendent did not receive a rice notice my knowledge and therefore we should not be talking about the terms and conditions of his employment here in public or even in executive session at this point and just saying that's an ethical violation can't do that and that's and that's you know we reference the we referen some of the issues that are are happening here behind the scenes you're seeing this firsthand this is this is there's there's many issues here and you know I will continue to work hard for the the kids of Washington Township and the staff in my heart that's what I'm doing and I'm going to continue to do so but that's an example of just what we can't do you can't you can't go on camera and literally and say those types of things it's just it's not okay and I'm going and although I'm not supposed to talk but I'm going to anyway I'm not allowed um but I think it's a good idea that you speak with um Dr HS because a few things you mentioned in your speech about irresponsible spending a few things were projects that had to come out of like onetime shot deals that we had to make um you talk about some things that were actually like detriment to our budget that were saving money so I think I think talking to Dr Hibbs will help clarify some of the things because it was like the opposite of what you were saying so I think it's a good idea AB all right can I can I say one um good since we're already going to have a meeting with the full board to go through it should you wait till you have that meeting with all of us and then if you have more questions to talk to Dr hibs and go more detail just cuz your time is valuable right I'd like you working on things of moving the district forward if you're going to already explain it to everybody maybe have that and then if you still need more go with him um cuz I'd like you to be doing more of the cost-saving ideas like you've come up with with r transportation to save over a million do and redoing technology to save a million things like that so depending on what you schedule it that's good idea I mean I'll do whatever it is asking Connie um yeah I just Dr hibs and Mrs weter uh when we have that meeting uh the the budget is uh electronic correct so it's a it's not it's not like the friendly budget got a a big long budget right is there some way that we could get that budget maybe the past audit that that was done uh prior to our meeting whenever we schedule it that we could look at it and if we have questions we could bring it up then could have it ahead of time is that a problem is it it's electronic correct yeah okay so we can have that prior to our meeting thank you if we if they want it if board members want it thank you okay moving on it was a long old business okay um we have a motion to open the meeting to the public on agenda items yes so agenda item only oh yeah you didn't hear about that no it doesn't say it on the um it doesn't say it on the um says open public meeting it doesn't say anything about agenda items so due the fact that it doesn't say about agenda items I'm going to get up talk and it's not going to be the agenda it that's what it said your in the state that so it's my understanding if that it was not on the uh public it's on our agenda here on agenda items only so that's something agenda it we Chang policy I'm I can we make a motion to have her come up and and yeah let her say what she has to say anyway everybody can suspend the policy right correct we can suspend the policy for the meeting have to do it to everybody can vote to suspend any policies that it has it just must be done by way of a formal vote so to the extent that the board wants to wants to suspend its policy uh that requires agenda items only it certainly can it must do so by vote okay well uh the board did vote the new policy in that the first part of the session was on agenda items only but okay if you're telling me it's not on the public that's our mistake that's our mistake and I'll ask the board if they will suspend that and open it to the public on on all items problem Mr are you making a motion I am okay you have to say the whole motion make a motion to suspend uh 0167 for tonight's meeting so move 0167 to the extent that it requires the first meeting to be on agenda items only at this Mee at thisday at the current meeting today tonight that's a motion second have a second discuss discussion so just just to be clear are we amending this policy just for this meeting okay just after we just amended it or changed it last well that's because that's because Scott as I indicated we apparently didn't put it on the the handout that that we have out there and that was our mistake and we'll correct that and to be clear we're not amending the policy the motion is suspend motion to suspend the policy for this meeting only just just so you know we' we've I don't think we've ever had anything on any sheet that said where agenda items fell we directed to do so I just want be clear that I feel like we didn't do we well well hold on a second if we said that it was on agenda items only anything we put out shouldn't that say on agenda items only no it didn't say because you don't typically do that because because prior agendas and look I'm all about suspending the policy because I didn't vote for it to begin with because I don't like it so I just want to be clear but uh on the agenda on our regular agenda we didn't say anything like it's open it was just the AG like public participation there was no designation so we should have probably directed to make that designation so there wouldn't be confusion it wasn't on there before in general about all items are we changed the policy it's our mistake that we didn't put it on there yeah let's just go forward with it well let's go forward okay so it's suspended for this meeting only all those in favor local Lor you Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes M Deo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Tomac is not here Mrs Baker yes and Mr Ross Yes okay okay having said that I have two cards up here and I'll call on Patricia k I apologize again that we didn't have it on the agenda anybody else want card yeah anybody no problem um I really just want to talk about policy 5756 um I'm asking the board to repeal this policy but before I do so I want to explain why number one the first concern is keeping secrets from parents that's what the policy says not to tell parents when the children come and they want to change their name from uh Johnny to Kim or Kim to Johnny number two the policy also States a biological boy that identifies with a as a girl can go into the girl's bathroom everyone in here should be angry I'm hot about this you should not be allowed to go into the girls bathroom you're a biological man and many situations have have happened where girls have been raped because a boy came in the bathroom with a skirt on right now in Virginia there's a $30 million lawsuit behind this because his daughter was raped every male every father every grandfather every Uncle should be a highly upset and should be voting to repeal this what are you what's going on I'm upset about it also it says in 5756 if I am a male and I identify as a female I can play on a female sport we have had girls hurt behind this nonsense you're not a female you are biological male strength is totally different than a girl why are we not addressing this I have a list of over 25 districts that have repealed this but we keep saying litigation we're in litigation we're in litigation I heard it last week I listened because I was directed by your superintendent when we sent out an email yeah I was copied on that email that asked a question what is the procedure to repeal 5756 one week went by nobody said anything we sent it out again what is the procedure to repeal 5756 and we got an email from you Mr Hibbs that was unprofessional yes that's my opinion and just like you have an opinion and never let them shut you down to your opinion my opinion it was unprofessional cuz you told us to look at the the meeting yes you did you directed us to look at the meeting we didn't ask you what took place at the meeting we ask you for the procedure to repeal 5756 shame on you to respond to us like this litigation has nothing to do with it there are three districts that are in litigation right now because they changed policy 5756 not because they repealed it I'm done with this if other D districts can repeal it you need to put it on the floor for a vote I'm done with this why aren't you done with this I don't have any children but I'm going to fight for every one of them you're not going to come in the bathrooms and rape our girls do you hear me why are we not like I said putting it on the floor for a vote now I am asking that we vote on this somebody make a motion and vote on this this has to be done people and I make copies if you want to know the school districts here they are you can look at them every school district that has repealed that is on that list what are we waiting for for somebody to be raped we should be proactive not reactive people you want to wait for your granddaughter to be raped you want to rate for your child to be raped what are you waiting for let's repeal it tonight let's put it on for a first reading thank you I respond to that that's the attorney will you respond to that please sure my understanding is that board um utilizes St Esme policy 5756 um which is based upon the guidance that was issued by the Department of Education I am aware of uh the other districts that Miss Klein mentioned I happen to live in one of them so I'm very familiar with it um and you know to the extent that I know that there are Boards out there that have um amended the policy I'm aware of Boards out there that have abolished the policy totally um you know that's that's really all I can say on the issue that's abolishing so I just want to clarify as the superintendent um the email came in to me asking about the policy to repeal and I'm going to read my email hello we will not be repealing the policy at this time please watch the board meeting from last night for an explanation sincerely dror HPS so and then I actually responded back to my board President and Vice President letting them know that I replied to this person as well letting know that we would not be repealing it um so that's a it was not you entitled to your opinion for sure um but that was in my opinion not a disrespectful response the procedure not whether you were repealing we asked for the procedure to repeal as for the procedure you didn't give us the procedure you said M we're not going back and forth I get it and under the advice of the attorney um he didn't say that he didn't say that you can't repeal it we can't go back and forth he didn't say that you didn't say that attorney I'm listening you didn't say you can't be healed you said you live in districts and you know districts that have so again in an effort to avoid a back and forth because this is public session where public can address the board but not entertain a dialogue with the board um I'm just going to reiterate my statement I'm aware of boards that have um amended the policy uh tremendously I live in one of those districts that Miss Klein was probably referring to I'm also aware of other boards that have abolished it completely I'm aware of boards that have kept it the way it's been written by Strauss Esme and so it it is up to the board as to what it's going to do I will also say because I did say it previously that the Strauss esate policy appears to be based upon the guidance by the Department of Education which says that there should be a board policy that's all I'm going to say last clarification I I am not aware of any sexual misconduct in any way shape or form that has taken place regarding this policy in every one of our buildings if anybody does have knowledge of that I'm sure that would have come to me um my team has anything ever been reported about sexual misconduct anybody no about referencing this policy specifically okay just want to make sure we clarified that piece I don't want people walking out and saying that kids were raped at Washington Township High School Mr Lucine I anything about um in reference to the last speaker um these are tough issues right you know it's tough to make a call them I'm more concerned about the intellectual level of this school district and the example set by this board of education Mr Sano I've never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life you act like we can't see through you I have a question Mrs uh Chilla brought up a an eth Ethics letter or something that the Dr hibs wrote about the conduct of board members or whatever it was all right why don't you read that letter for us since you're so transparent Mr lucarini why don't you read it and get gav okay get read it you know why you won't read it besides the fact that the Lord is interjecting right here you won't read it because this place is been politicized and you're one of the ones who's politicized it okay that's it all right I know I've been around longer than you and I'm smarter than you and I know that this is a problem in this district and the politics affect the education of our students and I'll give you one right off the top of my head and Mr Sano I don't expect you to know this so it's not a uh criticism of you um we ended up with a principal at Orchard Valley Middle School who's um when I was there whose conduct was just unbelievable and I came to a conclusion based on my own conversations with her when I mentioned certain politicians names she had a big smile on her face and then she act acted uh arbitrarily and capriciously in relation to a lot of things all right and it was all up in the air as to whether I was right or she was right who's telling the truth all I know is I made a comment before I left uh teaching over there I said that place was going to implode and it did and you and everybody else cannot deny that otherwise I got to go back and start talking about that so I'm more concerned about the ethics of this board that it's politicized and I think it makes a difference in terms of the public trust right when you sit there and say I'm going to talk about this and I'm going to let this but then you don't do it about everything then I got to question you all right now last week this guy back here I think it was say back here this Mr Bloom uh got up the microphone and started talking for five minutes about me and people were calling me on the phone yo L this guy's talking about you do you really think I hung up laughing once I heard the name okay hung up laughing because and then I had to go back and listen to it painful painful intellectually not what he said about me he forgot to mention that we stole beer from the uh Lakehouse when I was 16 so that makes me a bad person and therefore we have to dispel everything on I'm saying uh that was accepted for five minutes by the lawyer although you aren't the lawyer by drct hibs by Ralph Ross uh the gavel didn't go off at all during that time what did that argument have to do with my PO position that this place is politicized he mentioned nothing other than as proof that it isn't okay and I'll give you one right now Mrs Baker's conduct to her and what she did in the past is important if it reflects her attitude as a board member now if it if she just acts on a whim and who she doesn't like and who she you know who she likes at a particular time and doesn't have a reason for it okay but when Karen gar and Ralph sits there and does nothing nothing and the entire board did nothing about her all right and uh you know they all defend okay when Mrs Garrison a former teacher also um made some comments but a republican on the other side made some comments that were seen as anti-semitic on a Facebook post I understand that Joe bandor called her in he didn't demand that she resign but he said you know for the interest of the public trust even if he didn't believe it he knew that you can't have that happen all right not one person has said anything about this woman and you know why you don't say anything Ralph you need her for your fifth political vote thank you perfect timing okay okay Mrs G hi everybody I can't say I uh after watching some of the board meetings I can't say I miss being up in your shoes cuz there's a lot going on um but I did you know watch last board meeting and I had a feeling policy 5 um 5756 was going to come back up so I did want to bring up my point of view which I know I've said I've said before but I want to share again because I'm speaking from the place of teacher I'm speaking from the place of advocate most importantly I'm speaking as a mother this policy offers among other things protections to trans kids by providing them them with the ability to share their name and their pronouns and use the bathroom that they need without fear and without shame some trans kids don't need that safety net because they have parents at home who in whatever capacity they deem fits their family or supportive some are in positions where they live with family members who would make them shove their true selves right in a closet or who would shame them for some kids the only place they feel safe and they feel comfortable is in a classroom with teachers that they've confided in because they don't have anybody else and lately there's been this big push for parental rights I get that I do I want to know what my child's doing in school I want to know what they're learning what they're reading I want to see who they're spending time with I want to know how to help them I'm just like any other parent in that respect and I think that honestly we all want the same thing we want our kids to be kind we want them to be happy we want them to be healthy we just don't agree on how to reach that goal however if my kid is not coming to me with something as important as their gender identity it is absolutely not the role of an educator to come to me with that it's my job as a parent to know my child and know how to communicate effectively with my child if that's if I don't like that's not the school problem that's a me problem that's a me and my child problem that is not the place of the school it's a home problem it's not academics it's not curriculum it's an issue of whether or not my child thinks they can tell me something and in the days where we have Life 360 and we can see where they are at all times and in the days of their social media use and all their technology it's it's never been easier to see what your kid's doing so it's not the place of the school to have to tell me when my child is struggling it's just not so I don't buy into this idea that it's the school's place these policies are in protection for kids who need it and trans kids right now need it they are struggling their mental health is a direct result of the fact that they're being bullied constantly so when we say things like they're being raped in bathrooms that the trans kids are the reason it's a scapegoat it's a scapegoat and it's a lousy thing to do and it's just taking kids and putting them in the lawn of fire for something political and that's not fair that's all I wanted to say thank you Mrs gallinero yeah I think that was the the biggest issue I think when you're generalizing any group of kids it's just it's not right I mean you can take any group of academic kids sport kids trans kids straight kids homosexual kids you can't say they all do this they all do this it's just it's asinine really did wearing dresses that's a okay motion to motion close to the public move second all those in favor I oppos okay report of the superintendent items items 1 to four second second discussion roll call Mrs Chilla yes Mr de Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mr tomac's not here Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mr Ross Yes instructional affairs yeah yeah two two items items uh number one and two discussion discussion a motion motion motion second all those in favor no discussion it's discussion discussion I'm sorry go ahead just just wondering um we're voting on the danelson OB observation over Marzano um would it be wise to hold on that in terms of the amount of money that terms of help in our budget we put it off for a year um as I I don't I don't know if you were here but we talked about this is actually about a $20,000 savings annually [Music] okay thank you any other discussion just so you know there there is a is it about a $2,000 annual cost Dr Nathan is that about what that is yes about 20,000 right Absolut 22,000 it's about 20,000 savings a year and just just so everyone understands um we are moving to a new student information system next year Genesis and they have for a lot of reasons away from Power School there's also a significant savings there as well but they have a module built in that will allow us to have it all be incorporated under one umbrella in addition that will also allow us to do our online vouchers that we've talked a lot about Dr hibs it's true too uh if we St stayed with Morano we would have had to play some kind of U um rights to to Marzano and that would have been costly correct going into the Genesis Program absolutely the fact that we're doing away with Morano we don't have to worry about uh the rights ma'am okay thank you of course any other discussion have a roll call yes Mrs Mr de Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mr Tomac not here Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes and Mrs Chilla yes Mr Ross Yes okay policy first and second reading uh items number 1 to 15 have a motion so move second second discussion yeah so um I'm just reading Scott you put together a some questions about policy and I think others had similar questions um I just want to see with some of these I don't know if we can group it or not or what policies here we have to approve tonight as a first reading but I feel like there are still questions and I read them in policy U Mr Sano I know you reported out on the policies at length last meeting I just feel like there were still a lot of questions and some of them the response is or we need to further explore it so I just don't know if any of these policies and Dr hibs you could maybe you can guide me and tell me are any of these critical that we have to approve tonight if not I would like to ask that we put these back in Committee just to it seems as though the responses are further explore it that I I just don't know if any of you are critical that we have to approve a first reading tonight I don't uh Mr Sweeney how many of these do we have to explore um I don't think any of them are Urgent no no that's not my question sorry how how many of these required exploration not whether or not they're urgent or not I guess based on based on questions yeah because we can talk about the answers to any concerns here yeah I some the questions that came up uh can you talk any mic Sean I'm sorry thanks the questions that came up were can some of these policies be Consolidated into one um that's something we can explore typically Strauss Esme if they do have the opportunity to consolidate they will do so that was not in the updated um recommendations hey Sean just pause there for a sec so in in your capacity as an HR Director you know I'm going to ask for your opinion here and and Adam I think you should weigh in as well Strauss es me is the company that we pay that actually analyzes all the New Jersey Code 18a uh 18a and 6A and they formulate those those rules into policies and regulations policies are controlled by the board regulations are controlled by Administration so I I don't think it's in my opinion just my opinion it's not wise to just for us to randomly pick policies and put them together when when there's profession that actually do this work that's I think that's a slippery slope and I also think that it's probably not fruitful work for us because in the end we want to make sure that we're still following the advice of Strauss smme because for those types of policies they typically follow 6A and 18a yeah um so think of it like this uh Strauss SM is a clearing house for they they take in the legislation that's new uh any any changes to the legislation any bills that come out and then they they create the policies the as Dr Hib said the policy is the overall overarching um position of the board the regulation is the action items that the that the administration uses to carry out the will of the board that is the board policy with that being said a lot of times St Esme will um when they adjust their policies based upon changes in the law Etc they also look to see what other of their policies are tied into let's say you know we might be talking about home instruction but the home instruction policy may also you know tag on to you know physician approval or School physici requirements so to the extent that these policies may be linked to each other and I don't know because I haven't reviewed any of these that are on here um it's certainly possible um so I would just caution the board that to the extent we're going to and I'm not using this term in a negative but if we're going to be cherry-picking policies um I just want to make sure that they're linked to something else and then we're only getting like half of the story if you will in the in the other policy is is it worth any discussion on the questions and we'll do whatever you want if you want to pull them all we can pull them all um I just want to make sure that you want to P it's only a first reading I think a lot of the questions were mine there was like five policies that I was reading I'm like oh these all look the same and given that we have thousands of policies maybe we should try to consolidate but I totally get if it's from the service that we pay don't want to create unnecessary work or get us in trouble yeah also if I can what might be helpful um is Strauss puts out when they do policy updates they'll put out like a little digest summaries of what the changes are and why might be helpful for the board members to actually get that um because it's it's almost like cliffnotes if you will you know why are we doing why are we making this change what does the change have in it Etc I think it's just real quick ones for the board to read that would through a lot of the the questions SE yeah and that's what I use for any question that come up think about how many less questions you would get you're going to get a lot of reading you got it everybody's got homework car you're asking you're asking to to hold them no I mean I'm okay with going through a first reading so it's not a second final reading I'm just saying there were a few board members today just trying to like wait does it say this I'm there definitely are questions here so you never should vote in my opinion on anything you're not comfortable with so if there's anyone here that we want to pull you can let us know our processes they they run through committee and then they come to you guys but if there's questions always you can you can ask questions on that we're happy to address so um I could specifically um it's the equity policy so K2 K3 K9 K10 and K1 and K12 those are just I think at least the ones that I grabbed to just kind of say okay wait what are we doing with all these so okay but again like I said I'm this isn't a final reading either I'm okay to if we're trying to not back it up and say let's do a first reading we're going to go back and talk about it before a final reading I'm amenable to that as well I just would like to have like a little bit of conversation I agree that's why I was like well it's first reading then maybe we can revisit but how about how about Sean actually can you give me those again Mrs Chilla sorry K2 K3 K9 K10 K1 and K12 is what I have Sean you got all them how about actually send you the the blur from stra we'll do that through an email and then if anybody has any questions or concerns we can bring that as discussion next session is that board amendable to that could we get those c not could we get them for policies when we get policies like this make that change because I felt like it was so involved and deep I couldn't look at it for too long I had to look at a little bit and come back it was really heavy so I I think honestly Sean maybe we can just embed that into your your policy Dock and then that way everybody will have access to it and you can read it at your leisure that sound okay put in the board packet yeah we can do that too um I I think I think is everybody okay with the first read then knowing that we're going to give you information and then question is that the same for the regulation so like 12 which is the regulation on curriculum content it was like one paragraph it look like it was incomplete is that from Strauss yes most likely now would that be now would that be considered an abolish at that point because literally the whole resolution is deleted there was no abolish no no so great great question Sean so an abolishment will be where it's actually gone and sometimes that happens for those you who don't understand or don't know um what'll happen is as code changes and is Rewritten they will abolish certain policies and then put stuff into other policies or information into other policies no what what Strauss did for this regulation is they determined that all the things that were in here were not what should be in there and that what should be in there is basically the regulation that uh is is down bottom Sean I can't recall was this one a homegrown one or was this a former Strauss curriculum content regulation 2200 was this is that make sense the question yeah I was homegrown I was homegrown so in other words we had a policy that deviated from strauss's in other words we didn't follow strauss's recommendation so what we're doing now is now we are and also also board members just because like I'm a little wonky and I I like policy that's my area just so you know Strauss doesn't always put out a regulation for each policy there may be some policies that just have no regulations that are comp with got it that's perfect thank you yeah any other questions one one on that on that specific R so for instance on that K12 the r going on curriculum last sentence say superintendent or designation will develop a procedure to address and eliminate any impossible bias in the curriculum what is that policy like I don't want to set us up where we say we have a policy now we don't and then probably have a b policy or Equity policy that t Okay so and I think it's a procedure too not a policy so we would you know Dr Nathan can you just I mean how about for next board meetings I think it's fair to ask you right now can you put together just a quick um not even quick an explanation whatever you feel is appropriate for the board on how we address and eliminate possible bias in the curriculum awesome we'll um we'll put that in the board packet is that okay and then anybody wants to talk about it we can talk about it perfect thank you is that good Dr Nathan you're okay with that okay thank you very much anything else I have R call Mrs Chilla yes Miss de Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs blo yes Mr Ross Yes okay Student Activities Communications as for a motion for item number one I move second second discussion roll call Miss Deo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr Ross yes Human Resources motion to approve uh human resource items number 1 to 26 move second discussion roll call a question uh no I just I wanted to uh recognize a retirement today U sorry scottan step on to here but um I'd like to uh say congratulations to if I botch us I'm sorry uh Linda winoski uh she was an elementary teacher Thomas Jefferson for 30 years so congratulations on your [Applause] retirement one okay okay roll call any discussions on that motion carry Human Resources again items we to do aoll Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker uh yes to one two and three abstain number four yes five to 26 Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr Mayo yes Mr Ross Yes f finan and Facilities motion to approve items number 1 to 29 so move have a second second discussion you have discussion have question go ahead uh number five account transfers um I'm just wondering uh number three there's a transfer from uh tuition expense 35,000 and it's added um I'm not sure is those numbers 110000 1 0 0566 what does that mean and what's 11 150100 320 is am I reading that correctly that we're taking $35,000 out of tuition expense and we're putting it in another account and what is that account yes so the first account where the money is coming from is a tuition account and the account number where the money is going to is a home the home instruction budget so that transfer is based on the needs of a student so that occurs when when that that particular line item needs money is that it like correct okay thank you I also have another question number 19 please um I just wondered uh what was what was the date of the RFP that was advertised do you have that have that handy the date that we we did the RFP and where was it on our website yes so when we um advertise it goes on our website and it goes in the newspaper yeah do you have the data when that um I can see if it's still on the website I I don't have the RFP in front of me but I can try to find it any other questions well wait wait a minute so you you're going to get back to me then on the date is that it you'll get back okay I have another question uh number it's the one with the lawn service is the bid uh let's see bid number 25 um 50,000 for landscaping I'm just wondering um isn't that done by our own people don't we have people that work on grounds yes so um that is a bid so we have been in the past bidding at out portions of our property for a contractor the if you look at the this exact agenda item it's actually being rejected because um they didn't Supply the correct bid documents so right now we're talking internally about whether to go out to bid or see if there's a way to bring that back inh house cheaper okay we we'll update the if if I read that correctly it went out to 14 people and we only got one respond and does that mean all the other 13 was they had a problem with the documents or they felt that the money wasn't enough we no no no when we go out to bid they have to tell us what they're going to charge us we don't specify the dollar amount okay so of all the people we sent it back only one person put in a bid but we had to disqualify it okay so are we voting on that or no well it you're requ since we're rejecting the bid you're required to vote on it yeah okay reject all Bs y thank you thank you sure thank you very much that's all thanks thanks for getting back to me jine and Dave on 18 appreciate you answering the question there anything else anything else anyone okay roll call Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs bloom yes Mr Chella yes Mr Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Ross Yes uh special education motion to approve items number one and two so moved second discussion roll call Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes M DEA yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Ross Yes okay negotiations uh we have uh no action items for this we're supposed to have uh a meeting this uh this afternoon and that was cancelled Sean that'll be rescheduled okay okay new business any new business I have new business Connie yeah um a couple things uh going back to the plays I'm just wondering um to have some understanding why the tickets are $10 and the reason why I say that um I'm just wondering when uh our kids are going and families are going you know you could have a three kids in a family a mother and father now you're spending $50 is there I'm just wondering how do we establish $10 and could it be lowered for like what like what exact that before like the other words I happen to go to the to the Middle School play and the Middle School play was about maybe an hour and 10 minutes and I just you know and I think that it's important to get as many people to come out but that adds up so I'm just wondering I'm not talking about the high school okay the high school is a different story I'm talking about the little kids talking about the middle schools I can speak from personal I came from I participated in the drama club at Chestnut rage for three years as well um I know personally just at Chestnut rid the ticket sales were $7 usually but I understand if they are $10 a Bunker Hill there's a lot of behind the scenes that goes into it I know for and for the high school they're actually $15 um a show because we have lighting we have sound we have actual people that we have to pay just to be there as on top of costume costumes every wres for the show you have to pay for the show to be able to do it so there's a lot of things especially within the programs that if we want to be able to continue prospering in the program we need the funds for that and a lot of it comes from the ticket sales Yeah question I have this the board the board uh give any money towards these things or is it the parents paying for it through the tickets I paid the 15 bucks yeah I mean yeah I'm not um I'm I'm not prepared to to talk on this tonight I wasn't really giv any heads up on it so I'll be happy to pull out what the um what the actual line item costs were um and I have no idea where the $10 came from in any way shape or form um and it always could be adjusted either up or down to answer the question can I sorry um I just want to acknowledge Eddie what you just said um there's a lot of Truth there is a variable in price between middle school and high school but uh a lot of times the ticket sales from my knowledge is that those drama clubs use that as a fundraiser um you know there are a number of students that participate that um to Eddie's point you know that we have to help them them with their costumes we don't just have like you know and not every parent has the funds to be able to costume their their their child so that's considered a fundraiser um and that's the reason why because the school district can't fund everything 100% right there is it's just like any sport or anything there's lots of fees associated with sports uh drama club is no different pretty much I think every club that we have has some kind of a fee associated with it and often times those booster clubs um the the um the advisers of those clubs want to raise funds and fundraisers and able to help support those clubs because if we just relied on our budget then they probably wouldn't go off to be honest so that's the reason why I could be wrong and I don't want to misspeak and if I have Dr Hibbs you can correct me the next meeting but from what my knowledge is is that's considered a fundraiser for the club Dr hibs I appreciate you looking into that as to uh where that money's going and if there's some way that we could look at lowering it in addition to that something I was wondering if maybe we could kick around and maybe the principles would weigh in on this we have uh elementary schools that feed into the middle schools and you know I think our kids having the opportunity to see plays learn how to be an audience person and also to see what's what's what's ahead in in the middle school you know I think it it all started with me when I took my granddaughter to Mama Mia last year Terrific show and the very first thing she said is I want I want to do that she joins the drama at Wedgewood and I took her to Bunker Hill on Saturday has there ever been a discussion where we bring we bring our fifth graders over to descending schools to see their play we have buses inhouse it's not a long you know it's an hour an hour and 15 an hour and 20 minutes place to let our kids see what they can get involved in later you know we're talking about the performance uh you know performance art academy we want to try to encourage people and I would really like to uh put forth that next year we we try to bring our fifth graders over to the ascending schools and let them see those plays the plays were terrific I mean the it was just really great at Bunker Hill that I happen to see and um I plan to go to Chestnut Ridge I couldn't go to the uh go The Orchard Valley but I heard that was great so you know let's showcase those those things I don't know does anybody have any disagreement on that I we do do that right now um I know when I was in fifth grade we had a um an orientation at Chestnut Ridge um where all the hille and Wedgewood kids came and we went through stations around the entire school and one of the stations was a performance of a 25-minute snippet of the musical that that middle school I think that's great but I don't think it's consistent okay what I'm trying to say is something consistent the descending schools go to the middle school to see the show it's consistent though whated is describing under and also we um similarly this year I kickstarted um that at the high school level where we invited all three middle schools to come see our musical for our invited dress rehearsal and we actually it was kind of short notice but we had the Orchard Valley um drama club a program of over 40 students come and see our show as well so I know that that's already in the works um just at like a student level but I can speak for myself when I was in six grade which was like years ago but also for sixth graders who I've talked to they have that opportunity right now okay so so we're saying our our Middle School about this make it look like something pardon me Eddie why don't we talk about this in student cabinet and then hopefully you can come to the middle school one we can push that down why don't we see if we can talk to you know both Mrs Gerber and Mrs uh Dr n and we can see if we can make this look like something and to have your input on yeah yeah and as well Dr hibs maybe if you talk to the elementary principles and see what they think about it Mrs Mrs Garber is going to do that all right thank you oh last thing last thing um there was some Community uh concern and uh I attended the high school student uh cabinet and Dr hibs you weren't there that that day you you I forget what you were doing something important I know but anyway um Eddie brought up the fact that in the bathrooms um you know could could the district consider getting a like you know how you have smoke alarms vaping alarms apparently there's a lot of vaping that sounds like may be going on and to to kind of curtail it because some people some kids are refusing to go to the bathrooms I don't know maybe Eddie you want to talk a little bit about that you brought it up you brought it up um yeah that's okay um I have had the opportunity to speak with some students across New Jersey and more schools have them than don't um where it's a system that not just a regular smoke detector and I've looked up prices they range anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per detector which I understand costs that can be a little bit um challenging um but what these do in particular is detect smoke that comes in any capacity in the bathroom not like in the size of a fire whereas like the school fire alarm would go off but a vape detector um and I've heard from numerous schools that the only way that kids get around this is if their head is fully into the toilet and that's where they blow the smoke so at that point um that would be an issue in itself but um they detect and they would stop um it's actually it's aerosol I can speak to it yeah so it's it's actually aerosol that it detects and there's there's really good and there's really bad with this I don't know that I don't know that there's more districts that have them than don't um but for sure I think we all can agree that um and not just vaping but it seems as if smoking now is becoming much more Vogue with our younger generation which is a concerning concerning thing my wife actually said something infinitely smart the other day our generation is dealing with the effects of not wearing suntan lotion our this generation here is going to be dealing with the effects of vaping because Vapes are unregulated and kids are inhaling bits of metal into their lungs we're going to we're going to pay a price for this later on for sure um so I'll be happy to look into what this is but there's probably a significant cost and I've heard that U at times they're very problematic um and I could speak to that just from um my district has them and um what they do is they'll they'll send a notification to whoever has you know that there's unless the person's right outside the bathroom by the time the staff gets there um it it's like a great idea and I was like oh this is great it's going to solve our problems but you have to have like a lot of staff to make it effective cuz someone has to be like right outside the bathroom with the with the app cuz if you get it and you're um you on the second floor by the time you get down there they're they're gone so but it's a great no yeah 100% it is a deter for I didn't mean um when I said more schools in don't I was just mostly it was this is a kind of Niche it was um in the njdfl the New Jersey drama and forensics League more schools there have them than don't um but they I like to your point I understand like it's not but it became an issue in the super attendent cabinet when there were multiple regards of students saying that smoke was blown onto them while they're using the back which is not appropriate that was that was the toilet and it's Dr hibs don't don't we have monitors I thought are they we do not have them now I thought we had monitors outside the bathroom high school there are monitors there's um you know really I mean the reality is is that there sometimes all human beings make questionable decisions you know we have to have um I think people in motion around bathrooms and we have to have checks and I think staff members need to be assigned duties at bathrooms um because that's really what will shut down those types of behaviors so also too I wonder would there any be any grants out there that we'd be able to look at in terms of the cost I mean um it is expensive it's another it's another dollar figure but are there you know maybe looking to see if there's any grants that we could get for something like that we can we can always you know we can for certainly we always are out for Grants as well y sure so just a quick question I'm thinking about it from the way I do my own work standpoint you said that the detectors are actually are they I'm thinking of my own terms are they independent of the actual fire alarm system in the school or are they integrated SE they are separate really I think they are what happens is um um sty hit the nail on the head you'll you'll get notification um Vape you know Vape detected in in bathroom C1 um but you know it detects it detects any aerosol so it's hairspray yeah spray for sure I don't I don't I don't use that so I won't set that off so so in theory I mean I'm just saying I don't know how many I don't know I don't have a layout of the buildings and all that but let's say that we have let's say we have 50 bathrooms in all of our buildings which I'm sure there's more but I'm just throwing a number out there so you're saying it right5 $500 to a piece you're looking at like on average yeah yeah and then there there's ones that actually that detect a multitude of things so for instance there's um the market now that detects High sounds too so if there's a if there's a yell or something in a bathroom it will or a shatter of glass it will detect but and look there's good and bad with all technology um I can I can certainly put together some prices for for us to see um but you know I I'm told that you know at some point they RI out a toilet at OV and throw it downstairs um I'm a little concerned about what a vape detector would do in that moment um if the poor toilet could I think it was a toilet was it a toilet yep it's a toilet um if the poor toilet couldn't stay bolted down I'm a little concerned about what a little a little circular thing would stay hanging um so there's there's good and bad with everything yeah and I just I wanted to quickly um the only that was just like the cuz when we had brought it up um that was just like the first initiative that was taking place and I understand it can be a discussion now and I also wanted to shout out the bathroom monitors that we have at the high school right now because thanks our system they know what's going on um and I appreciate them so much it's nothing that they can control or the administration can control at all it's just right now at a point of the generation that we have I think that we have to we have our job is to educate kids about good choices um and I think that we have to hold kids accountable when they make bad choices and help them understand the gravity of those of those conversations um but you know we should not be doing anything with vaping in school we should not be having them there's consequences or having um any smoking apparatus let alone one that might have drugs in it in our school um we don't condone any of that and we try to teach kids to make good decisions think Scott's trying to get in it's going make a joke it's late I guess we got to add um to the code of conduct ripping out throwing down upon probably the highest level offense I'm I'm hoping there's probably another joke but we can't say it in public but you know okay any other new business I have I have a few things go ahead one thing is I was wondering what happens or what we have done and I want to read this so the public hears it it's policy 0134 it's board self-evaluation the Board of Education will conduct a self- evaluation on a periodic or right regular basis in my opinion it should be on a regular basis in the event the board determines to conduct a self-evaluation it will adopt an evaluation instrument that permits individual board members to record their assessments of the conduct of the board in fulfilling its responsibilities in acade in accordance with applicable statutes and administrative codes the assessments will be tabulated by the board president or njs a field service representative and presented for discussion at a regular meeting of the board in which the superintendent will be invited to participate the board will formulate as appropriate goals and priorities that will serve to guide the board's future conduct and I think this is something that we I don't think we're doing it can someone tell me if we are we do we do a yearly um uh board evaluation through uh school boards through njsba when does that take place spring now spring I it does happen I can't even remember it's be a fourth one too and then the school boards it gets tabulated and then it comes down to um the board secretary goes through it and then kind of gets together and sees where we all fall and is it discussed at public meetings I don't remember did we do you remember if it's discussed we discuss it discussed at public meetings yeah I think so yeah okay I just I just we'll check on that which school fact that well that's part of it to we got a lot to do this month we got the uh superintendent evaluation we got the budget we got the special meeting yeah cuz if you look on that calendar I think it is right around now it'sing on that so when when sorry Pat when when we're doing the ethics training that would be a good time just to do the retreat because that's what Pat's referencing is a retreat I mean that's when it's typically done so maybe if we could just do ethics and the retreat all in one that would online but we haven't done it like via retreat but we have done our um self evaluation I think it's very detailed I think if it's long worthwhile it but I think this says that Scott Scott's contacted School boards on our uh Retreat so to speak so uh so you begin it in may we get it in September it's I I just look the last we got an email the last one was on September 13th 2023 from Ela alestra who's the old board secretary it comes she forwards it it's from school boards takes you to a link to school boards and you do the evaluation there I don't know about the readout though that's good just real quick though what P what you're describing is we used to have the field W come in and facilitate an in-person Retreat and ethic Trin that was I'm saying that's what you're describing which is what we used to do do that last year we did not it was online and I think I don't know if this was I can't speak to it because I don't have any idea but I'm assuming that when Co hit we just continued that online I don't know I have no idea but I'm saying in the past historically it's been an in-person um activity it has not been online yeah that needs to go back to that the other things I had were years ago we had a parent advisory committee do we have that anymore and if so would we think about maybe reenacting it you're looking at me well you weren't here so you might not know no I I was not here um I I think you just have to be careful with that just my opinion is because and it's not I don't value the community I Valu the community greatly um so if we're going to do Town Hall meetings that's kind of a way to gather feedback um because if if if you have a committee then you have a certain number of people that can offer feedback and what if their feedback is not congruous with other people who are not on the committee so Adam not my B here um certainly the the board can decide if it wants to to have a parent advisory committee um there's there's certainly nothing wrong with that um as Dr Hib said there are pluses and minuses but you know it's really at the board's you know will if that's something that the board wants to wants to uh to think about for sure I know at one point to they had where you got together all the presidents of the different PTO and sometimes does that still happen yes ma'am yeah and then you go into there and you get feedback there sometimes um yeah I I definitely have attended I think one of those meetings this year um led by Danielle I believe um yeah I mean that that meeting was more of how can I support you um and what are the great things that are going on um I don't think it has to definitely even be that's for things that people don't like but just to give the public a chance even in that to give you some feedback on what's going on in the township yeah I think yeah yeah I mean okay for sure I mean I'll I'll do whatever on ask to do okay and the last thing I had was I'm always harping on the board of education goals so we don't have to harp on that tonight but I have one suggestion when I'm researching them they talk a lot about the smart goals even to be used for word goals me again yeah but my point was we have all these nice administrators over here who are experts in smart goals yes so when we're doing this maybe it should be a two-part process that we make up with make up what we think our goals are but talk to them to get to ways that we're going to show that we're accomplishing those goals to make it more of a a fluid document not just okay these are our goals and then none of us ever remember what they are again I think it's a great concept to involve the administration for sure in in helping you achieve your goals that was it anything else but no anyone else okay uh let's see I have a motion to uh go into public or open the public session so moved all those in favor iOS okay we'll start out with Mr Rini the first one yeah Mrs Blom I hope the goals uh or within those goals there's something in there about the example we set as board members in terms of the arguments you make right and what you accept as legitimate Arguments for where we are today and I don't think listening to five minutes of your husband talk about my email being suspended actually has anything to do with the success of this school system in fact I would think my obvious dedication to the schools in many areas which I'm not going to mention tonight uh would far outweigh the suspension of my email which was written in criticism of the wtea and their longstanding winking at the administration and Mr Fleming didn't like that cuz it was getting too close to home okay now let me move on to something else and speaking of legitimacy all right I heard a former board member come up here last week to talk and it's not the first time she's done it and talk about how wonderful things were when she was here right and we all listened to this and Mrs Baker you were a big critic of this person and now all of a sudden without any reasoning you jumped on this all right so uh in listening to that then I heard her say and it's wonderful that we have prek in um I hate to tell you but if I'm a parent in this community with a prek kid I'm I'm thrilled to death that we have prek but don't tell me you're so wonderful cuz my kid's getting on a bus and he's got to go to Pitman all right that's like starting oh we're going to have a basketball program but we don't have any basketballs all right so we allocated ex amount of dollars but we didn't figure out where we're going to put these kids and that's and all of you sat there and just listened to her pontificate with her stupidity all right all right now having said that this is going to blow the lid off of everybody and you're immediately going to say somebody on the board told me this but I got this information from somebody else and he wouldn't tell me what board member it was and I can guarantee it wasn't Carol okay I can guarantee that and wasn't Carol Jilla who gave it to me I'll strap myself up to a polygraph test and and testify to that right here in front of everyone but this man read that letter that you wrote Mr Hibbs okay so somebody up here sent that and it wasn't chill somebody said it to this guy and then he read it to me all right and the content of that letter strongly suggest and supports that Mr Ross Mrs Baker Mr Sano are not working in the best interest of students and are working politically if you're lying then uh according to the way this guy was reading it there's a lot of witnesses to a lot of the things that you were saying in that letter so so if you're lying they're going to have to be lying too and I don't think they are based on what I've seen here in terms of the conduct of these people and I'll go back to Mrs Baker she ran for the Board of Education and she told everyone in the community don't vote for a slate and I know why she said it because I was friends with Mrs Baker back then because I thought she had integrity and the reason why she said it which we discussed a million times was because you run for late you're getting money from outside sources those outside sources don't have any care about the lawyer no offense Mr lawyer but your Law Firm doesn't care about the status of what we're doing in Washington Township they don't care about whether there's a teacher in Mr lucarini please don't speak for my firm okay well I I I I'm speaking in general okay and I all right you want to say you care that's fine all right but that's not the main point of this the main point is that those Mrs baker said this and then within a month's time flipped and never gave a reason why to the public and didn't think she Ed the public an explanation okay there are some major ethical problems Dr hibs and in a way I commend you for maintaining your professionalism and in another way I condemn you because in by doing that you're allowing it to go on thank you and I'm leaving Mr Blom because I don't think I anyone has said anything important up here this evening bye including you okay okay M Watson take don't take your meds take my meds dude I know why he email there's the example right there goodbye Goode yeah go ahead yes you can say my full name my full name is Rita Watson I live in Washington Township for better than 30 years and when I was young my father would bring me here with his friends they were all Italian I told an Italian joke and I just want to let you know that has everything to do with how racism is in America it was not an attack on an Italian person I use Italian men because in most of my life I have been around Italians my whole life okay so I'm going to tell you the Italian joke first but first you I did not put myself on Facebook Twitter or Instagram that would have been someone who were watching me when I said white white and black are separational tools that was in place by my white notice I said my white grandfather to use as a separational tool to keep us apart white for me is that my white grandfather was willful hateful ignorant towards everyone when he came on this land he sto this land under a pretense of what I'm going to tell you is the Italian joke this is my Italian joke and when I said it I was surrounded by Italian Young Rich men cuz that's my flavor okay one Italian joke one is 100 never let a vicious man own your land because if you do he steals the land and all of the wealth that's called the musolini argument when you're a pure bad Italian you going to hear the old Italian man say that joke three guard all ad dominant men because ad dominant men are the men who keep Italy Italy he will keep the look Italian that smoothness of Italian he'll still speak Italian he's going to keep Italy Italy he can be in America he could be on the roof but he's an Italian he's going to keep that Itali 500 guard your woman now for most of you you don't understand that but it's very important that you guard your women because the women train the children in ignorance and hatred so if you have let's make it Germans versus Italian a German man come in and he attacked that woman and he says that okay it's well it's called the propaganda a German blond hair blue eye Germans themselves some of them was against it so now you have an Italian woman let's say she's gorgeous drop dead gorgeous long wavy hair a base like a olive oil suntan screen type of beauty just a beautiful Italian now she's got to change what she is from being an Italian to being a fake German she's got to Blind her hair change her language change her God and then teach her children to be that fakeness can you understand that some of you can cuz I got this from Italians okay now we're going to do 700 I'm jumping around a little bit 700 is you take all of the tus Ming 100% And then you take 90% of the Florence men I'm picking with these two groups okay you put 100% of tuskin into 10% of the land of FL Florence and then you take the other 100% of Florence into 10% automatically you got an argument you have oppression you have ignorance and you have hatred and now what you do is you pet let's say pet Aces for black groups is called one the hustlers or the beers you Tred to make me seem like I'm a hustler or a beggar or I'm a bad person raw I've never hustled and I've had give me stuff I don't have to be a hustler but that's the first group I call the Malcolm X group Hustlers and Beggars then you have the pet Aces now my cousin called me white bread white bread is the equivalent where you teach me how to be the perfect German if I was Italian for the perfect white person cuz I'm private school educator so when I said my kids did not get a quality education here it's because I went to private school and I'm also with Rich white Italian men like I said my favorite I pick with them the most right so now you're training pet Aces perfectly educated and trained to ass simulate conform and emulate that's what they are becoming so instead of being a perfect Italian having the perfect language you can say whatever you want of course because these jokes are long-term jokes and normally I say them to men but in understanding racism in America you have to be able to have a conversation where everyone is sitting at the table and not lying to each other you have to be truthful and first you got to see the racism the ignorance the oppression cuz really racism is about oppression you steal their land you steal the wealth of their land you steal their language you still a culture and you still a God you don't have standing with someone sorry like I said you can't hear that at Harvard Oxford yeah trust me I've been pushing it and you put me on Facebook Twitter and Instagram thank you I love you for that okay uh I just tell you hi everybody thank you for uh letting me speak today just wanted to talk about uh something that Miss Blom said uh Miss Blom I don't know if you remember Andrew he's in he's a junior now so um you're a great teacher to him and and thank you for saying some things um so at Bunker Hill I'm just going to use Bunker Hill as an example and then segue into something I want to say at Bunker Hill I'm just middle right now here on middle management but at Bunker Hill I'm the head Bulldog I guess so to speak so I I have a responsibility that I have to set the compass for everybody so whether I agree disagree or whatever I have to stay at an ethical line all the time politics no politics it's all about ethics it's all about what a bulldog means that a life of purpose is rooted in the service of others so I have to do that and then I have a code of conduct to abide by to make sure along with our school strategic plan that's has smart goals goals thanks to miss Henry I have to make sure that the code of conduct is aligned to the smart goals and things of that sort I also have to work with highlevel professionals to debate some topics and it's only because through that debate and that hard work that I'm able to accomplish what I can at Bunker Hill it's not perfect it's not always pretty it's not always correct but it's the best we got sometimes I say that because I as a as an administrator who's trying to do that to try to run a building with 600 kids to try to um work with hundred some odd teachers I I'd like to request to take the temperature down a little bit as far as what we have going on when I come here I need to know that this board has my back so when you guys are infighting with each other it makes my job and all my 11 friends really really really difficult and the only thing I ask is that we realize that we're here to take care of kids first and foremost and individually I believe 100% of you are here to do that um you guys in your in your roles you're either former teachers teachers school counselors your highlevel Professionals in your jobs there is no way no way that that would be allowed in your job your your bosses would laugh you right out right out of your workplace and as as an administrator in this building I can't look Eddie in the face who's one of my daughter's friends and say hey I'm giving you the best I got Eddie but I can't do that because we're doing infighting and I need to know that this budget that is really hard and and my bosses have spent hours trying to preserve the best that they can I need to know that on this meeting that you're going to have sometime in mid April that you come to that and you put your egos aside and you say I want to do what's best for the children in here because I got three and you all have children in here and and it's it's all I've got so I love this place I'm a bulldog that's what we do and and I need I need to know that you guys don't all have to like each other don't have to agree but at the end of the day in that meeting in April you have to come together and say yes we have budget cuts what is the best thing we need to do for our staff and our students to make sure that that those students Thrive so that when a child is in elementary school and wants to come to a play they have a play to go to and when when when I got track team here that's number one in the state and kids are number one in the state that that that boy has hurdles to jump over so that he can go to a good college or that Eddie can get a scholarship if he wanted to because of his awesomeness in singing and playing if we don't come together we'll have none of that and I just I know there's be Cuts I just need you to think about the kids while you do that and not about what other personal gain you guys got going on so I don't know if that's good to say I don't know if that hurts me in any way with my stature in the district but I just need you to know that I'm hurting because you guys aren't getting it together I need you thank you thank [Applause] you Clin I promised myself that I wouldn't get upset every time I come up here but it seems like it I get excited um disappointed um upset but I'm calmer now and I want to clarify something U I have nothing against transgenders not at all when I said a 15-year-old old young man wearing a dress I was referring to Lon County there is in Virginia there is a case right now where a young boy did go into the bathroom wearing a skirt and he did rape a young girl that is what I'm referring to and I'm saying I would like for us to be more proactive versus reactive I would hate to see this situation exist in Washington Township or any other place I also want to say um I know Dr Hibbs asked someone if we had sexual issues or something in the school I never said that we did and I want to make sure everybody understands that I never mentioned that Washington Township was facing this I said proactive versus reactive so I wanted to say that straight I'm glad that we have an attorney here tonight that has clarified some things because the last time when I listened to the meeting that took place last week um I got the impression from the attorney that was not it wasn't you it was another attorney that we could not even entertain addressing 5756 because of litigation I'm sure a lot of you felt the same way and heard him say that now we're getting a different view that says it's up to the board and it is it's up to the members of the board and I've been saying this all along and um for Mr hibs is or Dr hibs correct um St corrected you deserve it you're Dr hibs right no yeah right okay well Dr hibs when you sent that response back to and I was copied on the response you didn't answer the question whether they decided not to you did not answer what was the procedure to make this happen and that's what we're looking for other districts have um given me some advice and that was one of the things they suggested that I do find out what is the procedure for us to repeal it and that's what we were seeking so when I stand up and ask for you to make a motion maybe that's not the procedure but I need to know what is the procedure so that we can follow it that's the professional way to do things and I always try to stay professional so we were looking for an answer what is the process to handle this but I I just want to make sure that everybody understands I never accused Washington Township of doing any such thing any sexual activities at all um I uh I'm excited to see that hopefully we will have some positive things come out of this board I hope that we will maintain professionalism but I also hope that everybody feels on the board that you have a right to your opinion and to your vote don't allow anyone to intimidate you to vote something that you are not in agreement with thank you um can I talk um I know you were talking about that we want to make sure our students are safe um but I just did a did a quick search um UCLA uh School of Law Williams ins to that transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crimes so I that's also like a statistic that I you know pulled up in two seconds and honestly I do have sometimes concerns as far as the bathrooms and locker room but it's not for um it's for our our transgender kids because I worry for their safety because of how other people treat them it's not the reverse it's it's the other way for for me personally um so I just want to put that out there as far as a generalization that um our kids to be safe it's it's the other way it's the flip of I think what you're saying and something special about our school that is really it makes me happy to see and I think it would make everyone happy to see is that we offer three gender neutral restrooms throughout the school um in all different locations for the students who feel more comfortable doing so as well as alternate changing locations for students um if in in place of the locker room so if they don't feel comfortable going into a locker room um either of the sex that they were signed at Birth or that they identify with they have multiple multiple options to go around that so um I know at Washington toship High School students do feel safe right now job okay uh Jenna Shel hope I pronounced that right thank you very much um I thank you for allowing me to come and address the board um I'm a student teacher here in Washington Township and I had the pleasure of coming to the meeting tonight uh this is mostly directed to Dr Hibbs and um Eddie as um there was the discussion of ticket prices for the plays I have previe experience volunteering in um Winslow Township High School in their drama program and they tend to offer either at the MAA show or on sometimes at that second showing that they may do on the weekend a family pricing so that families can come with children and they do do a lot of fundraising and do a lot of scholarships for their theater program um I can get you in contact with um the woman who used to do a lot of the ticket sales and the um the stage crew um adviser and uh Savannah Buck hold's Hefner who is the um theater teacher at the school and she can give you guys more information on that to allow those families that may otherwise um struggle and they also have um a partnership where the elementary kids do get to come and see the rehearsal um for the plays at the high school so I just wanted to offer that as extra Mia thank you so much 100% we can work on that yeah thank you for your comments scano thank you to board members who who mentioned their support you know in how trans kids are treated and welcomed in our schools I think that's so important um I'm big on statistics um one of the things that I use is there's it's it's really hard to find statistics for lgbtq youth particularly because so many of them don't feel that if they share their information they're safe so um there is a pretty large scale study of u3 to 24 it's a run by the Trevor Project um which is pretty well known nationally and um their latest one is a 2022 one and you know it it's scary 45% of lgbtq Youth seriously considered attempting suicide this year um that they lgbtq youth who felt High School support from their or high social support from their family attempted suicide less than half the rate of those who didn't fewer than one in three trans and N I can't even talk non-binary youth found their home to be gender affirming so when we have that policy it's to protect those ones because that's a huge number of kids who don't feel like they can be okay in their own homes and they need some place to be okay um and the most important one for this purpose is lgbtq youth who found their school to be lgbtq affirming report lower rates of attempted suicide and that is the most important thing we're not talking about people's comfort as far as I'm not sure I want to be in the same bathroom as someone else we're talking about the mental health protections of kids who are 100% an atrisk population thank you thank you anyone else with the yellow cards okay uh motion to close to the public move all those in favor I oos motion to uh adjourn so move second all those in favor I e