oh the CL the class thing okay so you're GNA do the you have to do the practice in person practical pieces on person that's the test part of it you do what on okay budget uh like to call this marate Board of Education meeting to order please notice this meeting has been forwarded to the Asbury Park Press the beacon tap into barnegate and plac in the foer of each barnegate Township School in a barnegate Township Municipal Building and has been filed with the Bara Township municipal clerk in conjunction with the open public meetings act thank you roll call please miss chy here miss konanza here Mr fedori here excuse me a second miss jeie here Mr imonte here miss Levy here miss tarnowski here Mr Sno here uh please everyone rise States of America and to the stands Nation indivisible Li and justice for all no uh no changes to the approval of the agenda as it stands please motion to approve the agenda so moved second roll call Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedorak yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes leevy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr Sno yes uh item number six on the agenda approval of minutes we have uh number one and two can I get a motion to approve one and two please so moved second Ral uh Miss churny yes Miss contanza yes Mr fedorak yes Miss Jeanie yes Mr Imon yes Miss leevy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr Sno yes motions carry thank you uh item number seven on our agenda is our student representative uh turn the floor over to Miss Jane havin yes hello um happy New Year it's my first meeting back since November actually so I just wanted to re introduce myself um I'm Jane havland I'm a senior and I'm executive president of the barnegate high school student government um and BHS had a great holiday a lot of events took place so it was really busy but a lot of fun for BHS students and it quick congratulations to all the new NHS inductees um that's happening in the auditorium right now so congratulations to them um we're currently gearing back up for the new year with a lot of events like the winter formal that's coming up on February 24th Mr bangle and Rumble are both super exciting barnegate High School events that everyone loves so just keep those in mind stay tuned for dates and details coming up with that and one thing I wanted to announce is that The Giving Tree was super successful and I'm honored to organize and create that tradition for the student government along with the help of Miss South and other executive officers and due to its success we are looking for another service project to take on this spring and we're asking for the community for help so if anyone has ideas if there's any local causes or service opportunities that anyone feels would fit BHS do a government well um please feel free to contact us any administrator for the high school um Miss Jackie south or myself um we really appreciate that since we really would like to get back to our community again this spring so thank you okay thank you very much for the update um item number eight on our agenda is the born Education Association Leon which is Miss Lissa morganoff I'll turn the floor over to you hi thank you just want to congrat the ba would like to congratulate the new board members we want to thank the Board of Ed and all of our admin for a successful PD day we had on Monday and we especially want to thank all of our staff but especially the custodians the maintenance the bus drivers for the two safe snow delays we had thank you thank you very much um item number uh nine on our agenda is our audit presentation we have uh Mr Brian Waldren from our auditing firm hman forina and Allison he'll give you a um presentation on our audit thank you let me know if you can't hear me I usually have a lot voice so if I can't Pro check I apologize um we obviously have a lot of people here are not here for me so I will make this as brief as possible um I know that Steve had uh provided the auto reports which would be in your big green uh red folders I think he might have provided also a two or three page little synopsis I'm just going to go over that in high level just so everyone could follow along if they would like to and if you have further questions Steve could um reach out to me and let me know of anything else uh first and foremost the most important thing here is that we have no formal recommendations or comments uh for the audit this year we have a clean audit opinion uh the opinion states that the accounting uh pronouncements are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles the government auditing standards and also the department of education requirements so it's a clean opinion the best opinion we can render again so no comments recommendations in your audit report this year uh we' provided two other opinions one of them is a report on internal control compliance uh we have no instances of non-compliance to report on then also the independent Auditors report on internal controls over federal and state programs as you can imagine the state and federal provides significant amount of funding to the school district so additional testing has to be done a significant amount of other grants uh this year we have tested various as you can see on both the federal and state side and zero comments or recommendations formally to to provide into the report so everything was very clean so hats off to to Steve to the business office and also to the board as well for that um on a high level of your regular main operating fund you had total revenues this year roughly $59 million compared to roughly $56 million in the previous year it's about a 4% increase uh majority of that related to State increasing in funding uh there was additional funding that came out this year and that corresponds directly as you can see with your expenditure increase roughly almost the same percentage actually 4.1% exactly so again kept in line with the budget this year so we had no overe expenditures as far as that goes and as an increase in our revenues correlates to our increase in expenditures uh an overall decrease you'll see there of our total fund balances bring us down to about $7.8 million in total fund balances that's made up of various reserves that the district has legally Capital maintenance some other types of expenditures as far as for future expenditures as well uh so again roughly about $9.9 million of total overall fund balances uh very strong balance is what we have here so not concerned with what we have and what we're utilizing in future budget years is roughly between a 20 to 30% which is really kind of what we want to see so this year you'll see about 28 point Sorry 28.6 amount uh that you see there the only other thing that I like to highlight typically I know here and we have a large facility for our food service cafeteria fund you'll see this year we had roughly about a $200,000 decrease in our fund balances this year across the state this year we saw significant decreases in revenues come from from the state and the federal levels when it relates to the co monies that we've been getting for the past two to three years so we'll start seeing those revenues continue to come back to what I'll call regular levels moving forward for the years to come so that decrease of a $200,000 leaves us roughly around a million dollars or so so total fund balances that can be used for Food Service purchases cafeteria improvements things of that nature um so again we've talked to the business office for many years now to to utilize continually utilize the fund balance in this specific fund for future improvements to the facilities for equipment and things of that nature but only for those types of items um but again so a strong year overall for the the school district you I specifically like to thank Steve uh for you know his continued service to us is getting through this uh I know it's a pain to get this audit we got done on time this is probably the earliest I've ever been here for the past eight years to do this presentation so we finally have been getting the information a lot sooner from the state so hopefully that will continue as we move forward as well but again thanks on behalf of the firm I appreciate the time tonight I'd be happy to answer any questions if anyone has any if not again see if you get a hold of me and specifically answer anything you have might have afterwards anything any questions I thank you again Mr wal appreciate the presentation the information and again thank you to Steve Mr Brennan and his staff for uh obviously as he stated a great report great audit um great bookkeeping So yeah thank you yep thank you very much right um item number 10 on our agenda is our committee reports discussion um each month we have the chairperson of each committee report out on what is happening in their committee so I will turn it over to the chairperson I guess first up is finance which is M turnowski Finance uh met on January 11th we did an overview update of the district's projects and updated the board members on the status of the beastro we went over the RFP for Food Services we uh did an overview of the timeline for the budget I also uh made a recommendation to have a board of ed Finance sheet drafted uh for all members with all the acronyms and terms with definition so everyone can have a reference sheet to better understand both finance and the budget as a whole I I know s um and uh we'll meet again next month all right thank you Mr teli uh next up we have education which is Mrs churny hello um thank you Mr President good evening everyone the education committee met on Monday January 8th at 9:00 am as you can see tonight on tonight's board agenda that we reviewed and will be voting on our monthly motions one through five which are barnegate Township School District Field Trip locations continuing education requests field trips and outof District workshops in Old business the director of student services discussed the influx of special education students coming into the district and the rising costs due to individual nursing Services the director explained that nurs nures in our district are picking up bus runs to Aid students who need nursing Services while traveling to and from school the director of services uh student services also shared that homeless students are increasing due to this increase costs for these students are rising currently the homeless student count is at 70 in our district this will be something we need to consider and address during budget time that will significantly impact our budget also in Ed committee we discussed njsla linkit benchmarks the committee discussed science benchmarks in fifth grade through six the director also shared linkit summary of ela math benchmarks for students the director of curriculum discussed Board of Education goals for the school year grade level expectations as well as climate and culture expectations the committee had discussions also on um artificial intelligence in the classroom which that conversation will be continuing forwarded to governance in February the committee also discussed Barnette High School midterm exams which will begin on Monday January 22nd and run through January 25th a letter was sent out by the district you can find the schedule on our website discussions on communication courses at the high school which we are currently offering are broadcast journalism public speaking art of communication digital Communications and also FM radio station steady cam operator course also channel 22 Communications course was also discussed and conversations to not only promote and advertise sports but also to highlight children that are excelling in academics such as gifted and talented and students who were accepted into college will be showcased our next education meeting will be held on February 13th thank you Mr Cherney um last is Personnel because I don't think there was any other met this month was there yeah I think this month there was no other committees that met so Personnel was the final one and I am the chair person of that committee um there was several positions that we uh you could see on the agenda obviously for armed guard position custodial position and we have on our agenda the hiring of a hopefully new ba um after tonight um we'll obviously I'll address that more after it happens but uh we did have a meeting also kind of wanted to point out that um Dr lat list had worked with us for the new board members to uh update them on the process procedure the resumés everything that went into the ba search um obviously they were not board members at the time and we wanted to get them to up to speed so we had a um meeting with them to update them on everything get them up to to speed on um the process the individuals and how we were alled to rob the person on the agenda tonight so and that was it in our Personnel all right next is our superintendent highlights information comments I'll turn the floor over to Dr lais we have a number of exciting things on uh tonight's agenda um first first we would like to invite uh Mr O'Brien up uh so we could uh recognize him uh through our reading of the proclamation go whereas Sean O'Brien did faithfully and conscientiously serve the barnegate Township School District as a member of the barnegate Township Board of Education representing bar barnegate Township and whereas Shan O'Brien has served as a member of the Board of Education from January 2020 December 2023 and whereas Tron O'Brien has performed his duties as a member of the board of educations in the best interest of the students and citizens of barate Township School District and whereas as a result of his dedication as a member of the Board of Education Shan O'Brien is earned the right has earned the highest respect and deepest appreciation of the barnegate Township School District its students community and administ now therefore attach School District acknowledges the dedication which Shan O'Brien did faithfully and conscientiously perform his duties as a member of the Board of Education Board of Education wishes to commend and thank Shan O'Brien for his years of dedicated service to the school district its pupil and staff extend their sincere best wishes in his future endeavors that the resolution shall become permanent part of the minutes of the barn Township School District Board of Education of Ocean County that the board secretary be directed to cause a copy of this resolution to be appropriately reproduced and delivered to Shan O'Brien dated this 17th day of January 2024 all right next can I please invite Carolyn Johnson up to the microphone so we could recognize this month's upstanders good evening the upstander program is a wonderful opportunity to recognize and celebrate students districtwide who demonstrate a specific Bengal Pride trait these traits continue to enhance the positive climate in our school as well as the home school and Community Partnership that plays an essential role in our Student Success this month our students exemplified acceptance for the A and Bengal Pride we are very excited to present students with a gift card from one of our local restaurants Luigi's students when you hear your name please come forward and join board president Mr Sarno and superintendent Dr lwis to receive your plaque and gift certificate first we have waim Calderone Vine has a very warm personality he is such unique ideas and a wonderful outlook on life he values conversations ideas and different perspectives from everyone his kind and accepting nature does not go unnoticed which is why waen is so deserving of this upstander award congratulations waen next we have Leila jinsky Leila is such a wonderful and caring student she is always very accepting of all the students in the brakman theater company she strives to make fellow peers feel accepted and included by helping them during practice and preparation for the show she has offered her assistance without ever being asked to do so and does this most in the does this in the most kind and caring manner keep up the great work Leila congratulations Quincy demer quiny demonstrates unwavering enthusiasm in all aspects of his education his exceptional dedication extends to his involvement in various clubs where he consistently portrays a supportive attitude towards his peers with an eagerness to assist Quincy frequently volunteers his time and effort to help others in any way possible it is for these outstanding qualities that we proudly present quiny with this award congratulations quiny an G di displays the upstander trait of acceptance every day in the classroom she is always kind to all of her classmates she has been observe comforting students trying to make them smile and giving them a compliment she has great empathy for others and understands that everyone is different as she Embraces that Sienna is so deserving of this upstander work for acceptance congratulations Sienna Violet [Music] Brinson Violet is an overall wonderful student and continuously shows how accepting she is with her peers she was the first to welcome a new student in her class with open arms she invited them to work with her noticing that they needed help she has shown such patience and understanding with her classmates from the beginning of the year and for that she is so deserving of this recognition congratulations Violet all right and we have Gage gassenheimer come on up Gage is kind caring and accepts all of his friends for who they are Gage encourages his friends to follow classroom routines and is always willing to lend a helping hand when they need one Gage we are we are all so proud of you and we love that smile that you're wearing congratulations Gage let's give one more round of applause for our upst all right we have a few more exciting things uh for you guys so uh letters a through f are going to I believe have Mary camarada Pat McGee Frank panula Tracy dubc and John germano if you guys want to come up to the mic I'll let you guys all take your respective turns honoring uh the various groups so without further Ado uh miss camarada you will be leading us off thank you congratulations what a cutie so tonight we'd like to celebrate the winners of the Patriots pen essay contest and the voice of democracy audio essay contest I have with me tonight Mr Michael mcmanis who's chaplain of VFW post 100092 as well as Mr Lenny hemly who is the commander of the post yeah go right ahead guys I want to thank the VFW for their constant support of the school district this year we had veterans come and speak to every history class in grade 6 to 12 and their powerful story certainly provided inspiration for our students every year students in grades 6 to eight participate in the Patriots pen essay contests The 2324 theme is how are you inspired by America I'm proud to announce the following winners please come up to the day for a picture with Bo of Ed president Mr Sno and superintendent Dr Brian lwest as well as our esteemed BFW guest so T place from Rob obms toova allong and Taylor landwell and our first place winner this year is Kylie O'Hara Kylie also won at the district level which is essentially all of Ocean County so awesome job Kylie so we could do a picture of the Patriots pen people that would be awesome thank you my friends taking pictures yes Kylie's also receiving some extra goodies that um she was not around when we came and gave them Awards in school oh don't lose that one that's a most one that's our cash prize awesome job thank you guys could actually go good job guys all right so the high school students annually participate in the voice of democracy essay contest where in addition to writing the essay they must record it I would like to thank Mr sguera who has recorded several essays in the recording Arts lab the 2324 theme is what are the greatest attributes of our democracy and I am proud to announce the following winners so please also come up as your name is called um our second place winner who was a previous winner in the past is actually not I don't believe she's here but it's Allison sojack she's the swimmer so and our first place winner also much like Kylie placed at the district level uh this is the fourth year in a row that a barnegate high school student has one at the district level so we have a little Dynasty going which is awesome and that is Katherine War oh soet so sweet cine good for some they get some goodies there too yeah you need your picture great job and I just wanted to thank all the social studies teachers who support and help select the best essays and all the students who work hard and their dedication is exemplified by their success so thank you [Music] everyone appreciate uh let me just start off by saying thank you to the VFW for your partnership um recognizing academics and scholarship is fantastic and I couldn't thank you enough for the contributions that you regularly make to our schools um with that Mary also I know Mary that program would not be as successful as it is without you so thank you very much for your contributions to making that a success here too what a wonderful way to start off our barning G brag uh highlighting the high school um if it seems like we're a little bit uh here and there uh with this presentation it's only because tonight we're also recognizing Scholars right across the hallway so our National Honor Society the uh Robo chapter of the National Honor Society is going through their induction right now and they're inducting 29 new members into the National Honor Society for barate high school so even in their absence can we please give them a round of applause as you can imagine as part of that induction they have mentees and uh many of the mentors that are in that program are coaches and teachers uh so we're we're bouncing back and forth trying to cover double duty uh but I have my administrative team here uh Mr pulo vice principal Mrs Tracy dubec vice principal and Mr Gano athletic director that are going to Aid Us in this presentation this evening um because we have a lot of great things that we want to recognize and highlight about our High School uh this month's barnegate brag we shine a spotlight on some of the most remarkable achievements and initiatives that Define the spirit of barnegate high school we'll be talking about our interg club our girls volleyball our Esports the improvements that we've seen in our attendance program and initiatives and Dylan's wings so to start us off I'm going to invite Mr pulo up to the mic thank you for the opportunity to showcase what we have going on here at barnegate high school um the first thing we're going to talk about is our interact Club um for those of you who are not familiar with interact uh they basically are centered on community service okay they look at the needs that are within our community community and they try to address those needs now the need tends to be greater during the holiday season so the points that I'm going to show you happened over a span of 45 days and involved over a hundred students here at barnegate high school okay so it kicked off with uh recognizing our teachers at the Thanksgiving feast prior to their Thanksgiving feast so um the interact Club working with our uh special ed class rooms held A Feast for the staff where the staff were able to come down interact with the students break bread and you know basically just be recognized to start off the holiday season okay as a thank you um they followed that up with a the organizing a food drive and not only organizing the food drive they went to the food bank and organized the food bank to be able to better assist those in the community that were in need over the holiday season so these are the before pictures where they're basically just taking in all the donations and then after where everything is clearly organized so that they could utilize the space and address the needs as streamlined as possible okay uh after that they began working with the Rotary Club here in barnegate um to do the elf program where they selected um families in need uh came up with lists and we had our MD class our BD class and the um the club itself go to Target and you know they basically fulfilled the lists and if you take a look the kids had a day they filled carts they did you know they they filled these lists and made the holidays super special for those in need within our community now our two advisers who could not be here tonight both Miss Davenport who is over at NHS right now sponsoring a student and Mr Peters who is one of our basketball coaches so he is at a basketball game could not be here but um when I told them we were going to recognize the entirety of the interact Club they were super excited about it because you know they're upping their game they're trying to help as much as possible there are over a hundred students that need to be recognized for this program we do have um certificates that we're going to start Distributing to them tomorrow many of them are over at NHS or at basketball or other Sports so they could not be here I do think we have a couple of interact people here today um so I'm going to ask them to come up and basically just tell tell about their experience in the interact Club hi everyone I just want to say thank you so much for supporting uh the Rotary Club I'm with the Barnet rotary this year we actually helped 75 children uh just for the holidays alone and they are directly affected uh they're all within in our community which to us that's what we do as Barnette rotary so I see lots of members here that are a part of it so thank you and thank you for helping us and these are some of the kids um a lot of them are scattered around doing lots of things so let let them tell you what their experience is hi um my name is Haley Anderson I'm a junior and basically I just would like to thank everybody from the high school um the staff import Mr Peters Mr simler for allowing us to really be able to have these opportunities because it is rewarding when I tell you every single time we do something whether this was the target trip when we made the fees for the teachers it's just so rewarding for all of us and I know we've all talked about it and like other schools around they don't have the opportunity like we do and I know it's a small school so there's a lot of us that try to get together and help and it is really rewarding and so thank you everybody um hi my name is Kylie I'm a senior here I am one of the officers of interact Club um the reason why I like interact Club is I like how there's so much kids in the school that is involved and I like how we help so much with our our community and Rotary Club and I also like how we always are like together and we always have like the special bond and we always encourage kids to be involved and to be you know like um to be involved and like to be like nice to um yeah to feel good basically um and that's basically it again I would like to thank you all because for making this possible this is one of our uh bigger clubs you know there's between 80 and 100 kids in the actual Club so you know thank you all for making it possible with that I'm gonna ask Mr gero to come on up for the SPS team hello everybody uh my name is John jown director of Athletics Bara Township Schools it's good to see everybody uh first I'd like to thank the Board of Education and our superintendent for the continuous support that you always put towards our students in all of their extracurricular activities one thing I always said that was great about barnegate I had two kids that went through the system there's something for everybody here it doesn't matter what you're into it doesn't matter what your passion is there's something for everybody and I always encourage the kids to get involved so we got a couple of great things to share with the board of Ved and it's because of your support that we're able to give these kids these opportunities before I get into the the two teams that are going to come up does anybody here Bowl anybody anybody like to go bowl it's a fun activity well out of the entire state of New Jersey right now barnegate has the number one highest bowling Aver average in our sophomore Jamie White she's got a 208 wow nice out of every single kid not grade not school not she's got the single highest bowling average in the state of New Jersey and something simple like bowling is like a testament to what you guys give to our kids because there's five or six kids that love that and there's five kids that play lacrosse and there's 20 kids that play soccer and now I'm going to bring up these 10 kids that are state champions in Esports the first ever Esports team we've ever had in our district they went out won a State title in the beginning and now they're here for a repeat and I want to bring up Coach Brown and I want to bring up coach Zar who could talk a little bit about them because they're in the trenches with him every day so guys why don't you come on up and share uh good evening everybody uh my name is uh West Brown I'm the coach for the League of Legends team we're one of the two teams that uh won the state championship this year here uh up here I have uh the League of Legends team Aiden gusy Jason W Justin DN Renzo montza and Aiden Cronin uh this year they went uh completely undefeated 20 and0 in uh in State play uh went to playoffs and finals and swept everybody and it wasn't even close so um we're really really proud of them and then we also have our uh our Valkyrie smash team here as well Kayla Crawford delini fetcher and Khloe zaken let me just pick this up so my name is Joe SAR I'm the coach for the valkyrie Smash Brothers team and as just like the League of Legends team they also went completely undefeated throughout the season went 5-0 in the regular season 2 and0 in the playoffs and it was not not even close they destroyed every single game I am proud of these girls um and we're going to come back and get another one so yes um and if you take a look over behind Dr ls's left shoulder we have a banner that we're going to proudly display in our our uh School uh repes uh recognizing their achievements but we can't be remiss if we don't talk about Coach sers who is currently sponsoring a student over in National Honor Society who has put in to uh countless hours and and leading our girls and boys to amazing achievements so I just wanted to thank them too I wouldn't be fair not to recognize her and thank you Mr McGee for bringing that up all right I gotta get a picture there going UND and if you notice they're wearing uh sweatshirts that were purchased by The District in the Board of Education recognizing good and since we're on the topic of winning state championships I'm proud to present our girls volleyball team now one of the things I want to tell you about the girls volleyball team real quickly is we have a firste head coach in Emily Dan and who has come out of nowhere and took our girls straight to the championship and she's sitting there saying this is easy I we got coaches throughout the state that have been trying to win a state championship for 20 years her first year she's spoiled so not only did these girls win their second state championship in three years so two of the last three years you're looking at the best of the best um they've also won the shore conference be South Public School title they also made it to the fin final four of the shore Conference tournament which is with all group sizes group fours group threes parochial and uh got to play at Georgian Court um and at this time I'd like to bring up our coaches coach dansson and Coach colella so they can share a little bit of their time good morning hello good evening I'm Emily dances in and this is uh Ariana colello uh this like you said this is our first year that we took over the girl girl volleyball program and it's now our last because we get to retire now I'm just kidding I'm excited for next year because a lot of us come back um this was obviously not our whole team like he was saying we have a lot of girls in National Honor Society or they have siblings that are in National Honor Society and a lot of our girls are just at practice for volleyball because that's what they do all year round and that helped a lot with the um winnings of this year but like um Jano said we had a really great record I think it was like the second best record of all time like through this volleyball program we went 22 and five um won B South um we won the Morristown tournament which is like a huge that was that was probably the most fun day um we won we went to the short Conference tournament at Georgian Court and then we won our section in States so next year we have very big shoes to fill that we did to ourselves but really thank you so much for the sweatshirts thank you for the support um this is a really awesome town to be a part of and I love coming here every day and I'm not just saying that um I think we all feel the same way I have a lot of Pride being here and being with these girls and so does uh Ariana I know I could speak for her because without her I would never have made it through this season because we're kind of one and the same but thanks Dono thanks everybody and congrats girls it was all you not me back what a wonderful way to start off the evening with some accolades for those teams congratul congratulations again ladies and Gent on your success in your sports and activities um almost two years ago a little over two years ago uh the administration for the district began talking about um changes that were needed and student needs in the district we engaged with the Board of Education and stakeholders find out what uh our our resounding uh wants were for the district and one of the things that came back was the social emotional needs of our students especially coming out of the pandemic um working together collabor ation empathy were resounding topics that were brought forward as we looked at different programs to bring in um delegation uh we put Mrs dubec vice principal uh to look at a couple of different programs and bring some programs forward we evaluated different programs and the program we ended up moving forward with um was Dylan's wings of change um and I'm going to invite Mrs dubec vice principal up to the mike to talk a little bit about Dylan's wings and the wingman program good evening and I'd like to reiterate what everybody has said thus far is that we appreciate your support in being able to do these things for our students last year in about the springtime we started to implement the program Dylan's Wings the wingman program Dylan Wings is a foundation established in honor of Dylan hawkley who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting this uh unique leadership program brings forth activities as a catalyst for compassion and empathy it's a movement that inspires us to create a strong inclusive community this video presentation will provide a window into the inspiring journey of our students as wingman showcasing the meaningful connections they've forged and the impact they've had thus far our sincere Thanks goes to Mrs Rua Miss BM Gardner for their leadership in guiding these students and we are looking forward to seeing the growth and the further impact this program has Dylan's Wings has a mission of spreading kindness and empathy in communities it is unique because Dylan's Wings is not a club or an organization but a movement created by its members after the tragic loss of his son during the Sandy Hook mass shooting Ian Hawley was moved by the outpouring of support that he received from the community at large he decided to memorialize his son and the Infectious light that he brought by creating this movement hi I'm Amanda Ford and I'm a wingman last year I had the opportunity to join Dylan's wings and as one of the things that I'm proud of St during my high school career I wasn't sure what the program was at first but I fell in love with the message last year we were visited by two trainers and spent two days learning about how we can roll out Dylan's Wings here at BHS what is so special about Dylan's Wings is that it is not an assembly that students just sit through or a PowerPoint it is games and activities that get students involved in thinking we are asking them to think about each other and what draws us together it is all about spreading empathy and really creating a community within BHS we started by first facilitating sessions to teachers during their professional development days each department was able to experience a new game for us wingmen it was an awesome experience to see a more human side of our teachers plus it was eye opening to learn what it was like to teach a lesson not just learn it this month we visited the Freshman Gym classes for our inaugural sessions we wanted them to get to know each other better and start the process of creating a community my favorite part was seeing the transformation of the class from the beginning to the end they started really quiet and shy and then by the end we had them running across the gym laughing and working together at the end of the day I felt so accomplished and proud of the work that we were doing the symbol for Dylan's Wings is a butterfly its message comes from the quote it has been said that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane halfway around the world we asked our wingmen one word that encapsulates the what the movement means to them to me Dylan's Wings is change Dylan is our butterfly his life has sent a wave of change Across the Nation as you can see by our words this movement means something different to each and every one of us meaning that we each bring our own special Edge Dyan Wings is a movement by us for us the impact that this movement will'll have on BHS is something that I cannot wait to watch grow Dylan's Wings has a mission of spreading kindness and empathy and communities and I believe that we have already taken steps to make that happen the impact that this movement will have on BHS is something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life and I'm so thankful to be a part of it and again we have students all over the place right now I know uh we have some in the back Amanda Ford m r but uh we're really excited about this program and what it's going to bring to our building thank you again continuing on with student successes um one of the initiatives that we launched over the summer very early on um was addressing chronic absenteeism in our school um we came up with an objective of really identifying our students um looking at the attendance rate trying to create a positive environment that was engaging for them that made them want to be here at our school um it very early on started with uh messaging making sure communication was in place so as you uh can see if you want to advance some slides again please Perfect um we started off with a summertime video um that went out to all families and we were thank you very much um we were targeting the families to make sure they understood what absenteeism does in terms of academic impact but also the importance of it in terms of Student Success for our school um we also targeted students that were at risk that in previous years uh exhibited chronic absenteeism we made sure we reached out to them before the school year ever started um what you see up there is um from back to school night a slide uh is only one piece of probably 12 slides in the back to school night presentation we presented to students as they came in the building on the first days of school we every month put out on our side on the road so students can see and families can see how we're doing with not only coming to school but coming to school on time and finally we send out those accolades those newsletters at the end of each month to families to say hey this is how our freshmen are doing this is how our sophomores are doing this is how our juniors are doing it's important um identifying tardies we know that you know as winter comes on and the driving comes a little more hazardous for our Juniors and seniors to drive that's something that we want them to be attentive of of getting here on time um but we have seen successes um we developed a team inside of school uh so multifaceted part uh of our mtss process of course uh during our mtss process attendance School attendance is one of the the contributing factors that we look at um we have a committee at that level that is made up of counselors and is made up of teachers and um I'm sorry is made up of counselors and principls and administrators at that level that are identifying students that are risk and putting intervention in place but at the teacher level we have an attendance team that period two and period four meet during the school day and they're identifying students that are approaching they're just looking at real-time weekly reports and identifying students having those convers ation to let them know where they stand communication of their standing is important what is all of these interventions done what do it meant um I want to show you a year-by-year comparison so on the left we have 2022 23 school year 23 24 snapshot up to this point 90% to 100% doesn't leave a a big wiggle room for improvement right it's 10% of improvement but what you can see is present each month we're going up attendance has been up more students are coming to school by two to 3% on time almost by an average of 3% each month has been improved so more students are coming to school they're coming to school on time which means they're in class which means they have a better chance for Success academically so I want to thank everybody from the guidance counselors and child study team members um that are on the the uh committee I want to thank our attends team members that are going through the reports each week identifying working with Mr Jared Burke uh to to attack attendance initiatives and I want to thank our students and parents most of all because our students and parents are the ones that are getting here on time making sure that students arrive here safely and are ready to learn each day with that uh that concludes what I have in terms of attendance initiatives but it doesn't conclude the many wonderful things that our students are doing here each and every day today was only a very small snapshot of what you saw with academic success I wish everybody could be over in the National induction seeing those 29 students go up on stage lighting their candles and being recognized for their academic success there are many great things happening at bar high school and I am proud to be thank you Pat for uh making sure that the chronic aism was the thing that we closed with it was the most exciting topic so I appreciate that no I'm just kidding there's a lot of really amazing things going on at the high school um as Mr McGee just uh touched upon that was just really the tip of the iceberg uh big congratulations to this year's and NHS inductees uh congratulations to Esports team if you look at the very short history that they have um but the amazing things that they've accomplished in that short period of time um it is nothing short of exceptional uh so congratulations to them uh volleyball team again the success that they've had over the last few years has been exceptional so big congratulations uh to them as an order the interact club and then uh their parent program the Rotary Club um they do so many great things for our school that go on notice and go behind the scenes um the elf uh uh program that they run is is truly exceptional and and the hundreds and hundreds of kids that that's impacted over the last few years is is is uh nothing short of a miracle so a big shout out to the Rotary Club and a big thank you to the interact club and uh and and the students that are part of that and the advisers uh Dylan's wings I had the opportunity to to watch a lot of their events uh recently and it's uh it's it's really um what makes that special because we've also uh utilized challenge day over the last two years and challenge day is is is an awesome uh experience for our students it breaks down a lot of barriers a lot of walls they got a a a really cool experience uh being able to be in a room and and and open up the way that they do and the empathy that comes out of that Dylan swings is truly special in the sense that it's an ongoing effort um throughout the year so uh and it's really it's driven by the students um uh the student leaders that that are a part of that so uh I'm really excited to see where that goes um that's a that's a magnificent program um and I'm like I said I'm really excited to see where that uh that up um I'd like to Circle back to the audit report uh and just uh thank and congratulate the business office uh year after year we continue to have clean Audits and and Steve and your uh Team really do an exceptional job so thank you for all of your hard work um again you talk about the unsung heroes of the district that's there's a lot of hours and hours and hours and hours that go into making uh the finances run and and and making sure that we do have a lot of these opportunities and um all these amazing things so congratulations to your office again for having another clean audit um and uh with that being said I just like to touch upon uh our new ba um that uh you know hopefully will be with us going forward uh after tonight um but uh Kate vassel we're excited to to have you aboard uh so congratulations uh is in order there um and I think that touches upon that's it on mine thank you thank you um next on our agenda two for the vacancy to fill it we have um Miss Colleen Angus and Mrs Lauren wasburn both uh put letters of interest in um so how we are going to run the interviews we are going to do the interviews in public um whichever interview e goes first the other will wait in the main office um we're going have Mr Brennan read the questions I think he just selected uh short time ago four or five questions that you know he felt was pertinent um and afterwards we'll obviously have a public comment uh as we're required to before discussion so with that who do we want to are we gonna go by who put it in first that one yeah yeah we could do that Tom Russell um by who uh who entered miss wasburn m wasburn go first then Angus yeah Miss Angus second so if Miss Angus would like to wait in the main office I guess and we're going to do same questions to both candidates so it's it's not you know no different so questions just one added thing in case the board didn't notice I placed um obviously the questions that you saw but the second page is an evaluation sheet uh that you can use uh as you hear the responses to the questions okay all right whenever you are ready Mr Brennan Mrs wasburn again thank you for taking the time out and putting your application in for the vacancy I will turn it over to Mr Brennan to ask your questions and be comfortable and answer I well I don't you want to wait till Dr L comes back in uh sure we can wait for him is there any way you can uh just share which five by number oh I'm sorry so we can yep not a problem at all so for the reference the board has a list of a number of questions that was um recommended by the New Jersey school boards Association it was a list of 13 of that we picked about five out of uh interest of time and relevance uh so we're going to ask questions one two four 7 and nine thank you all right so hi hi Lauren um why do you want to be a board member um so obviously I spent the last year as a board member um it was highly impactful for me I've spent the last 14 years working in higher education so I really have a passion for Education both pre-graduation and post-graduation as well so I've worked with adult students I've worked with uh new grads um soon to be grads really all across the board so to be able to impact the life of a student from a larger aspect than I have in the last 14 years so why I want to hopefully continue to be a board and continue to serve my community is there any specific issue that prompted you to apply for this vacancy um Student Success is the most important thing to me that all of the students in our district have the same um opportunities across the board um and I want to be able to represent all of those students so that's really important to me and just make sure that I can impact in any way you know any of the success that they have across the board so Student Success is really important to me I think that we've had a couple really really great years and I'd like to continue that um Trend going forward okay what specific skills would you bring to the board um as I stated I have worked in higher education for the last 14 years I've managed a team of people for the last 10 years um I believe that I'm really good at building relationships and maintaining relationships creating teamwork um in an environment where maybe it doesn't exist to begin with um I'm somebody that keeps a level head no matter the situation and I think all of those aspects are um important in a board member what do you see as a role of a school board member um as as a board member I think uh the most important thing is to uh provide your opinion but in a way that it is going to be respectful and um contributing to the greater good of the board um I think that's really important to me I've tried to do that in the last year um to always treat everyone with respect um and and I think that's really important okay and then last one here is it's it's kind of a two-part question so I'll ask it as two several questions what areas would you like to see strengthened in our district uh the first one always important to me I did spend um let's say 13 years um in the skilled trades uh that side of postgraduation higher ed um CTE is really important to me the presence of that in our local high schools across the board not just our votex I appreciate what our votex do um but not every student is going to go to a votech I really believe that we need to have that aspect in our um Regular high schools as well so that all students have access to it and they don't have to go to a votek to have that experience okay um and kind of along the same lines are you aware of any issues that you believe the board should be focusing on um I think as a state as a country we've started to phase away from the CTE in our schools um I worked for a diesel tech school for almost 10 years and I saw high schools across the board take away their Auto programs um and some kids when they come to school that's the only reason that they're coming to school because they want to be able to go to that shop and work there so losing those kind of programs that make kids want to come to school I know that Barn's done a really good job in implementing programs that make kids want to come to school but I think losing other programs such as Auto such as wood shop those kinds of things I think that's really important that's all the questions that we had thank you thank you thank you Miss wurn appreciate it thank you you can obviously just take oh you could take a seat because you're not you already heard the question you already heard the questions and answered them thank you everyone Kidd we had refresh in the main office sorry good hi Miss Ang we're gonna have Mr Brenan ask the same Le five five questions five yep five question questions and again take your time and um Good Luck thank you yeah Mr Right everybody ready ready Colleen uh what do you want why do you want to be a board member so I'd like to continue in a position of a board member after being off for the last couple of weeks um because I fa that the district I have a really interesting perspective on the district being highly involved in most of the youth activities in town um and I feel that the board as a whole needs multiple opinions and perspectives and I'd like to continue in it okay is there any specific issue that prompted you to apply for this vacancy I wouldn't call it a specific issue but I think that our district is leading in the right direction educationally wise you can see that in the data harist meetings and I after leaving again I'd just like to continue what we've already started and what we laid the foundation for last year okay what specific skills would you bring to the board so as a nurse last year I was on HST and I think I gave a good perspective there my opportunities of working with other community groups throughout the community allowed us to interact with them and bring in suction machines to the district at no cost to us and I think that I have a lot of experience in grant writing and that kind of thing when I do again all my volunteer work so I think that that's something to look into and something that benefits the board okay what do you see as the role of a board member so the role of the board member is policymaking um and not to interrupt with the day-to-day visits of or day-to-day business of the district but allow to Give opinions and perspectives in committee meetings and here tonight okay um last question kind of a two-parter um so I'll give you the first part what areas would you like to see strengthened in our district so as far as strengthened in our district I think we have a we're going a long way still in teachers and staff being comfortable and wanting to come here and continue to work so I think that's a big part of it it also still see that we are I don't think our job is going to be done until every single one of these children is at or above grade level okay now are you aware of any issues isues that you believe the board should be focusing on exactly the S the same questions I just answered because if we don't have teacher morale we don't have anything to give to our kids and educational wise we still have kids that are underneath grade level okay so there other questions thank you Miss anguis we appreciate your time and and for you putting in application for the um next on our agenda is public comment for the vacancy so it's this portion is specifically dealing with the vacancy if you have any questions comments regarding the vacancy it's now your opportunity to uh speak so I will turn it over to Mr Brennan okay uh barate Township Board of Education appreciates and welcomes public comment advice and suggestions when it is intended to assist the Board of Education please feel free to speak to the board during this special public session on the current board vacancy comments and discussions will be limited to one five minute period per individual unless requested by the chairperson to continue on a point of clarification in accordance with Board of Education policy each participant must be recognized by the presiding officer must preface their comments by an announcement of their name address and group affiliation if appropriate your anticipated courtesy to the members of the public and board is appreciated all right thank you Mr Bron with that to motion to open public session please how you speak the mute button M yes Miss konanza yes m m Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr Sno yes all right floor is open with that the floor is open is there anyone that would like to speak or question comment directly on the vacancy um seeing nobody nobody on the floor here anybody I don't see any anybody online okay seeing nobody all right all right that I guess give me a motion to close public session public session please roll call hello hello hello somebody there somebody's online oh all right sorry cancel that motion um we have Mr Lynch uh you're can you hear me Mr Lynch uh can barely hear all right well we can hear you here so uh there's anything that you want to comment go ahead on dealing with the vacancy oh vacancy yeah this is just for the the board vacancy portion this isn't the regular public comment portion oh okay I apologize since it's easy to sorry we know normally have two uh public sessions so that's okay we'll remember to look for you uh during the regular public session okay thank you right thank you again Mr Lynch anybody else no we'll just continue on with the roll call to can we now yeah continue with the roll call to close public session please miss Journey yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr sna yes okay door is closed thank you um next item on our agenda is executive session resolution executive to discuss the vacancy so can I get a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the board vacancy please rall please miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss leevy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr CNO yes um we're in exec 709 few minutes hopefully not too long do we have everybody all right can I get a motion to close uh executive session so Mo second second rollal okay Miss churny yes Miss conin Anza yes Mr fidor yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr s yes all right we're out at 7:30 all right so next I guess uh as far as the vacancy goes we will open the floor up to any nominations for either of the two candidates and again I want to take a moment before we do that to thank both candidates um miss wasburn miss miss Angus again thank you for taking the time out putting your resume your application in um coming up before us and answering our questions and um again we we really respect and appreciate your time um you know to be here and to be uh seriously considered for the position so thank you again on behalf of the board um but now we will open up the floor to uh motion for the candidates and the board will vote I make a motion to appoint Colleen Angus to the opening for Board of Education member second okay any other nominations or is there I make a nomination um for Lauren marburn to um for the board vacancy second okay um all right brenon a roll call can we do a roll call I guess on the first order they came the order that the nominations were given so I guess Miss Angus first yep so this roll call is to appoint Miss Angus to the board vacancy all right and with that can we just are we just how about we just do a show of hands or a yes for Miss Angus instead of going through each board member since there's two that's fine it doesn't matter to me all in favor of Miss Angus you want oh you want a Voice vote okay all in favor of Miss Angus please say I yes I I I how many was that I feel like a roll call probably D Mrs Le Mr Imon and Miss turnowski okay you got that Steve yes I had Miss leing yes all right so let me just repeat it so uh we have for the eyes we have Miss Mr fedori Mr imonte yes Miss Levy Miss tarnowski yes all right so I guess the next question would be nay if we're doing The Voice vote we're doing a vote for Mrs wasburn would be next all right okay so we're not we're not doing yay like Voice vote that I'm recalling it's like Yay nay extensions it's just two candidates and you're picking two one each you're picking on each candidate so you voted for one candidate you have the vote for one candidate now let's have the vote for the second candidate right but I only had the people that said yes so I'm assuming the other people are saying no yes okay that's what I'm saying say yes but but you also have I'm abstaining from yeah there could be abstain is there anyone abstaining H so like yeah we either do a roll call yes no or abstentions or we do a Voice vote which is all in favor so there was no abion there was no exstension so there there's four no so there's four not okay which would be for the record uh miss churny miss konanza miss jeie and Mr s thank you motion doesn't pass right so that motion does not pass all right so now we have on the floor for Miss wasborn um I guess we'll do the same thing so is all in favor of Miss Washburn yes so that would be Miss churny wiconsin Anza yes Miss Genie Miss jeie I'm trying to scroll down make sure I got everyone right just um and Mr serner are all correct okay so now NOS motion is there any abstentions okay so then that's by default the nose would be Mr fedori Mr imonte miss leevy miss tarnowski correct that's correct okay so that motion does not carry so with that we have a non-majority for either candidate which again I apologize to both of our candidates um you know for that uh at this time um what the board has ultimately I guess come to a decision on is that we will um have the opportunity to address this again in February February's meeting um we will let both candidates know if we are going to address it again February's meeting to have another vote another discussion on it we won't do another questions um we would just be again the board deliberating again um to see if we can come to a consensus on one of the two candidates um if that that does not happen our attorney had told us that the county exact County Executive superintendent then after 65 days which would be March 4th would uh select a candidate to fill a vacancy um so again I apologize to both of you um at this time and uh we will keep you you know updated on uh what we plan on doing for February's uh board meeting okay so again thank you both we greatly appreciate it and again we apologize that we could not uh come to a consensus at this time all right right all right next on our agenda is new business obviously we don't have that the is President remarks information so a few things I'd like to address um obviously I'll scratch out the new board member again thank both of you again um and thank you for obviously your service too for the time that you served on the board um I just wanted to take minute on behalf of the board thank Dr lwis his staff um our whole District our buildings and grounds crew our maintenance crew um for the two days that we just had with the delayed openings um you know he kept us informed kept us up to speed on everything that was happening um everything went off without a hitch no issues no accidents no um problems in the the parking lots with ice anything like that with snow so again a great job to them uh thank you again and goes right down your right down the staff to um each individual that's out there whether plowing shoveling putting salt down the bus drivers um everything on down the line again so it went very smooth no issues and we're greatly appreciative because again obviously student and staff safety is you know Paramount in the district and is uh you know most important so that was U you know again great um the I guess National allor Society and dues tonight we unfortunately were not there um but again on behalf of the board want to thank congratulate each of those and their family that were inducted tonight um you know that says a lot I'm not exactly sure how many were there were 29 students um you know again something to be proud of something to be proud of as a district as a town as a community um the students being inducted into the National Honor Society so congratulations to them and their family um my notes oh again Mr McGee is still here I think there he is I want to thank Mr McGee for the presentation tonight um showcase in the high school and the great things that are going on here in high school from um success in the classrooms to success in club success in the athletic fields um that's what you want to see you want to see the positive things again that are happening you know our main F focus is always education but all those other things keep our students I know even myself when I was in school without those outside things sports clubs all those additional things that drove a lot of individ individuals and still does to come to school to want to succeed in school to continuing uh involvement in those partic in the sports clubs and everything else so thank you again tonight Mr M um and lastly want to again we're going to be voting on a new ba tonight um proud to uh you know proud of the work first of all that Mr Brennan has done he isn't leaving us yet but um proud of the work that he has done over the the time that he's been here I was here when he got hired um he's been a great asset to this District but tonight we want to eventually take the time to welcome our new candidate our new ba um met her a couple times she is very engaging very open very uh answers any questions you want makes you feel very comfortable and um she seems like an open book which is very important when you have a ba um that will share things so again hopefully congratulations as we move forward so that that is my comments for tonight next on our agenda is item 17 the regular public session for any discussion questions comments um from the community so I'll turn it over to Mr Brenan all right uh the bar at Board of Education appreciates and welcomes public comment advice and suggestions especially when it's intended to assist the Board of Education please feel free to speak to the board during public session comments and discussion will be limited to one five minute period per individual unless requested by the chairperson to continue on a point of clarification public comment at special board meeting special meetings of the board shall be related to the call of the meeting in accordance with the Board of Education policy each participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and preface their com comments by an announcement of their name uh address and group affiliation if appropriate your anticipated courtesy to the members of the public and the board is appreciated all right thank you Mr Brandon with that can I get a motion to open public session please second second roll call Miss churny yes Miss conin Anza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr Sarno yes all right we're in public session is there anybody in our live audience that would like to comment anybody in our online anybody online that would like to comment and now is your time see anybody all right I don't even see gentlemen up going once twice all right can I get a motion to close public session please second roll call Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss Genie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr Sno yes all right all right thank you um item 18 on our agenda is finance motions we have motions one through eight can I get a motion to approve all eight please so move second roll call Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes Mr Sno yes all right motions carry thank you item 19 on our agenda is education committee motions we have one through five can I get a motion to approve those five please go moved second roll call all right Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedorek yes Miss Jeanie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski Mr Sarno yes motions carry thank you item 20 on our agenda is education committee information there's just one there just information for the public to review nothing for us to vote on item number 21 is Personnel committee motions we have motions one through 10 I get a motion to approve those 10 please still moved second Ral Miss Cherney yes mcin Ana yes and I'd like to welcome Miss Van Tassel to our community Mr fedorek yes Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr Sno yes all right motion D congratulations massel officially part of the barnegate family good luck thank you all right item number 22 on our agenda is Personnel committee information again just information for the public I think there's just one item there and lastly is item 23 executive session can I get a motion to move into executive session discuss uh hit reports Personnel matters and legal issues please mve second roll call Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr Imon yes Miss Levy yes Miss turnowski yes Mr Sno yes um not sure how long it shouldn't be too long that will be an executive session and uh again thank you for coming out close executive session so moved roll call was that Regina and George right um Miss jurny yes missc Anza yes Mr fedori Miss jeie yes Mr imonte yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr Sno yes round of executive 827 okay under item 15 new business I think we have two motions am I correct yepe okay motion we want to guess we'll break them up motion yeah the second yeah motion number one is motion to approve our hi report as presented by Dr lwis in executive session can I get a motion to approve that please so moved second roal okay Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedorak yes Miss jeie yes Mr Imon yes Miss leevy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr Sno yes and motion number two under new business will be read by Mr Brun uh motion to approve the super superintendent's recommendation of on administrative leave for employee number 6795 can I get a motion for that number two please so move second roll call okay Miss churny yes Miss konanza yes Mr fedori yes Miss jeie yes Mr IM yes Miss Levy yes Miss tarnowski yes and Mr Sno yes okay motion carries good okay all right with that can I get a motion to adjourn please all in favor I I thank you Bo we are meeting thank You2