##VIDEO ID:dSQc4hAIyR0## good evening everyone thank you for coming out tonight we appreciate it um the board um met an executive session and we did do the salute to the flag so I am going to read the statement of public notice now this is a regular meeting of the B Board of Education of burnard's Township notice of the time and place of this meeting was provided and copies of that resolution were forwarded to the official newspapers as designated by the Board of Education and to the Township Clerk and a copy of the notice was posted on the bulletin board of the Board of Education offices for those members of the public who cannot attend our meeting in person a live stream link to the meeting is posted on the district website we very much welcome input from the public there are two times during regular meetings that the public is invited to speak one time is early in the meeting before the board votes when you may speak about any item that is listed on tonight's agenda towards the end of the meeting there is another P public for to address any matter of public concern related to the schools when you approach the microphone please state your name and address please also sign in with your name and address each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration no participant may speak more than once during a given public comment session the first public comment session will be limited to 30 minutes and the second will be Unlimited in order to run efficient meetings and to allow maximum opportunity for members of the public to speak the board reserves the right to set a different time limit for IND individual comments and the overall time limit for the public common portions of the agenda all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant May address or question board members individually please understand that public common portions of our agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered us opportunities to share your thoughts with the board the board and administration will respond to public comments to the extent possible any board responses to public comments will generally be addressed during board form or committee reports however all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when speaking comments may not be abusive obscene threatening or irrelevant please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections the board is not permitted to respond in public to comments about students and employees please also understand that the board will not be responsible for the content of comments made by members of the public members of the public are cautioned that they are speaking at their own risk and any personally directed statements they make May subject them to Legal liability to the affected individual if it is necessary for Bo for the board to go into executive session at the end of the meeting we will provide an estimated length of time for the session and whether any action is anticipated to be taken Upon returning to public session Jim can you call the role Please Mr salmon here miss white here miss light miss curado here miss mun Mr Molinari here Mr here M Chach here and Mr Shaw here great thank you first up Joseph what do you got all right good evening everyone so this pth month that Ridge has been as is a very common theme Here busy and remarkable so I'm excited to share some more highlights with you we'll start with our sports teams this time I have to begin by congratulating our Ridge High School girls tennis coach Mr Griffiths who's also math teacher here here at Ridge who has been inducted into the njsca Hall of Fame class of 2024 and honored as the 2023 to 2024 State coach of the year he led the team this year to a 10 and3 record and the girls have been uh they've had consistent success under his leadership continuing with the success of our girls Athletics the girls cross country team won the state section championship at Hell Park two weeks ago and across both the boys and the girls side the cross country team sent four athletes to the highest level of the state the state me of Champions our field hockey team won the county championship for the fourth year in a row although they did fell fall short of their state goals both boys and girls soccer also competed in the state tournaments and football Advanced to the group four section semi-final though we did fall short against Ramapo 2827 it was a it was a tough one our marching band also had a memorable season hosting an all day competition that brought together schools from all across the region they wrapped up their year with an impressive fourth place finish uh at the state section level Halloween brought creativity and excitement to Ridge with students and staff really embracing the festivities this year and our Administration brought their own spirit with everyone dressing up as Inside Out characters uh and they made a really cool memory jar activity in which 700 responses from students and faculty alike uh put little messages into the jaws of different emotions that were were connected to different administrators that was a new thing they did this year spirit week and our homecoming game also built on our great school pride and we had a great showing at all the events and lots of costumes were worn academically Rich franic continues to shine hosting a CFL tournament this path past month they welcomed competitors from all across the state and 14 Ridge students earned qualifications to move on and compete at the national level in Civic engagement r held a schoolwide mock election LED entirely by student volunteers and it was inspiring to see the high level of participation and thoughtful conversations it sparked among students and for many it was their first opportunity to engage with our Democratic process and our seniors were also able to get out and vote in the real election on November 5th we also had the privilege of welcoming career representatives from uh a lot of fields including Apparel Design project management Financial Services planning and psychiatric research over the month these visits provided students with a lot of insight into potential career paths sparking curiosity to think about their Futures in new ways and again our counselors have been an incredible resource for the seniors navigating their college application process they've hosted more workshops covering the comap SR essay writing and more and their dedication to helping students reach their goals is truly appreciated especially as they worked until really the the last minute and the final Bell uh to get our students November 1st early deadlines in uh especially for me personally that that was a big help shout out to miss Kel Wellness Day offers students a much needed opportunity to recharge with activities promoting mental and physical health and finally the ridge drama club delivered an outstanding performance over the weekend and last week of radium girls and it was a powerful reminder that Ridge really does excel in the classroom Athletics and also the Arts we we really do have all facets and last but certainly not least we now have a new breakfast uh hot bar set up in the lunch area of the cafeteria for before school Mr Gil Matamoros our armar coordinator has worked consistently to try and put out the best food options for our students and as of today we now have asai bowls coffee overnight oats yogurt parfit and hot breakfast sandwiches amongst many more and I must say the asai bows are what impressed me the most uh yesterday in our next meeting I do hope to have some more news on how our restoring Focus initiative is going including insights from uh a new guest speaker so that's all I have for now but as always I look forward to continuing to update you as the weeks go on and thank you so much and have a good night thank you Joseph any uh questions comments for Joseph no no congratulations on a excellent season um it was a great game you guys had a great season congratulations to all those student athletes and and extracurriculars uh for the fall play marching band uh and especially to seniors you know if it's your last last Harrah it's a very special time for everybody so um and and to be doing college applications at the same time probably not an easy task I don't think anybody relishes those times but uh thank you very much Joseph we appreciate the update um okay we're up to board president comments uh I just wanted to say um thank you to everybody who um ran for the school board election congratulations to uh Robin who's not here tonight Brett and Michael who uh will be coming on to the school board in January and for uh Mr Lou and Miss Gupta thank you very much for for running it's no ever everybody that runs or tries to come on to the board it's a it's a big decision to make for you and your family um to volunteer your time so uh appreciation to all those who who do who do so um we're up to superintendent report um there's four items can I have a motion for those please uh Dave and Jen um Nick you want to give some insight on the sure uh good evening everyone so we have um an item tonight that only comes up once every few years the uh state of New Jersey does a accountability review with a public school district uh once every three years all the public school districts in New Jersey are reviewed by uh the staff at the county offices so we have been working through that process it is our turn this year uh being our third year we're part of a cohort that um is being evaluated right now so as part of that process we have to submit a self-scoring to uh the county superintendent uh we have to upload that uh information into the state's database so the first item there is uh for the board's approval to do so um the U scoring that we do the self assessment that we do is called the District performance review uh that's divided up into uh several key areas of the district like finance and construction programing um we have reviewed all of those scores uh with our Board of Education committees uh and we had a meeting last week on Friday with the qac committee thanks to Janice for serving as the board member on that committee and we went through um all of the DPR scores again um we uh are self assessed was very positive um so we are hoping that the state agrees when they do their review of our self assessment that um we were compliant with all the different areas uh that they asked us to provide information for uh the second item is the district goals uh we've talked about a couple of times and hopefully uh my edits are are um in alignment with uh the feedback that the board has provided uh item three is our school School Bus evacuation drills U just a regular item every time we run our drills we have to provide that information for the board agenda and the Hib report for November 18th any questions comments about um what Nick reported on the district goals I'm sure everybody took a look they were updated based on the conversation we had last time so points out all the edits that we made um do you have a question Keith yeah no just um if we're going to comment on the district goals um I think they're good they're robust uh I think they build upon what we did last year and I know there was some concern about there being too many goals and I agree that that can become become a concern I don't want wouldn't want to see it get any bigger than this I wouldn't want to see it get much smaller either uh the superintendent is the only employee in the district who is responsible to the board of education so I think by having robust goals we have more points of data we can evaluate Mr Mar caran on push the school district to be better uh identify developmental opportunities so I think robust goals are good I don't think they should expand much further than this but I wouldn't see want to see them contract much further in future years either but for what we have right now I think I think they're very good I think there's a lot of uh specific measurable time bound items in here that will move the district forward so I'm in support of them great any other comments just I'll make a note on the last one um one of the goals was about strategic planning which um we're going to be undertaking and uh Nick has sent out in the SOS uh request for comments or ratings on the thought exchange um it's a very open-ended question what do you think we could be doing better what do you think we should be focusing on for next year uh or going forward for the next few years so if um folks from the public can log on to thought exchange and post their votes or or review others votes um or review others suggestions that would be great um Jimmy want to call rooll please Mr salmon yes M white yes m light oops k Mr molari yes mran yes Miss chipc yes and Mr Shaw yes great thank you we're up to public comment on agenda items uh as a rem reminder this is about agenda items come on up uh state your name and address sign in with your name and address and then you have three minutes to speak about agenda items okay I'm going to close public comment on agenda items we're up to the approval of minutes can I have a motion for that please Dave and Jen Jim call the rooll Please Mr salmon yes M white yes M curado yes M Mr mullinar yes Mr yes for the public session abstained on the executive session M chipo yes and Mr Mr Shaw yes great thank you we're up to the finance committee report there are 19 items can I have a motion for those please Janice and uh Keith um there's a report um Jim do you want to read this one out since you did the minutes here okay um so the minutes from the 10th are available uh the committee looked at the um updated budget calendar for the 2526 budget want to get a little closer there s right um the the committee met on October 10th uh they looked at the updated budget calendar with a focus on the 2526 Capital project list to try and get that nailed down so that um we can get out to bid early and hopefully get the best pricing um we looked at the fiscal uh DPR that that portion of the qac that pertains to fiscal we reviewed our self score uh in committee um we also looked at uh student transportation for school uh related activities bids for field trips and after school sports um comparing uh 24 25 prices to when we went out to bid versus 23 24 not surprisingly prices have gone up um however the um the district is is doing well with the uh lease of the bus and the in-house driver that we were able to find and hire so we're um so the routes that we're able to do with that driver and Lease bus are actually cheaper than what we were paying at the 23 24 bid so that is good and we will look into seeing if we can get another another driver and another lease bus um we discussed a a rod Grant roof project that we would be looking to do in the summer of 25 at Mount Prospect uh the district has a raw grant for that and that was included in the list capital projects for the upcoming budget um we looked at Debt Service um refinancing options for the future nothing um happening at this time but just to know what what options are available we discussed a couple of direct install projects there's uh two projects that we will qualify for the program is currently uh suspended at that point in time we were waiting till October 15th to announce whether or not the program was going to be reinst ated um surprise ending it is reinstated but January 1 um and we are we discussed that Mount Prospect didn't qualify for the direct install program at that time um however since the development of fixing the building automation system at Mount Prospect we're hopeful that we might be able to get that building to qualify for direct install uh at a subsequent year um we discussed um um some voluntary prescription program changes that our insurance broker had um made available to us in our self Insurance uh fund and number nine was the recap of uh four capital projects for inclusion in the 2526 budget The Varsity Field Turf and drainage project which is pending uh the D Loi um receipt for that project the offer mentioned Rod Grant of the mount Prospect roof uh Mount Prospect playground wall replacement which is in need of repair and uh a districtwide uh flooring project which will focus on flooring in multiple buildings throughout the district thanks Jim any questions for about Finance no uh most of the agenda items are standing just I would point out item number seven which um Jim if you want to give like a quick um that's about the agreement between the town and the school district providing job opportunities for um special education students uh yeah that's a um an an insurance agreement that we we've done in the past and um we have uh programs where some of our um uh special needs uh uh students will will work in in various uh capacities and so um we annually adopt this this insurance policy and those those opportunities are provided by like for Township positions or or things like that um that's why we have the agreement with the town uh yes yeah so another I think it's a great collaboration that we have um for those for those students so uh just wanted to point that one out as item seven um okay can you call the roll please uh Mr salmon yes M white yes M curado yes Mr Molinari yes Mr Amin yes Miss chipo yes and Mr sha yes okay thank you we're up to the Personnel committee report there are 23 items including those listed on the addendum um can I have a motion for those please Dave and Jen um Sean do you want to see if there's anything to report out based on that the report from the October meeting yeah we met October 18th and given the nature of most of the items be discussed I can't report out publicly we talked uh about a couple of lead replacement positions and how we were covering those positions we talked about our qac review in Personnel that Mr markar had just mentioned the DPR uh we talked about a professional development opportunity for an administrator that the board had already approved at the last meeting and uh the administrator from the middle school did give an update on the whams AO program and the uh management of that program and there were some follow-up questions that the board was going to address and unfortunately everything else I can't discuss uh that's it y thanks Sean any questions for about Personnel no okay Jim call the rooll Please Mr salmon yes M white yes Miss curado yes Mr Molinari yes Mr Amin yes M chpok yes and Mr Shaw yes thank you we are up to the policy committee report uh there are two items there um can I have a motion for that please Janice and Keith and Dave you have some reports yeah it has the October 11th policy meeting here but there was also one on the 6th November 6th I was going to report out on both of those if that's okay uh and the both of them had a lot of the same agenda items so I'm only going to repeat them once um so the the 11th meeting the one item that was different is the second reading for policy um related to student voluntary random drug testing and the only change in there related to um that the I'm sorry the consent form is now electronic as opposed to a paper and then in the meeting on November 6th um the first item that was discussed was the qac um and Nick noted that the district feels that they have addressed all indicators under operations and self assessed that 100 out 100 the second item relates to transport student transportation uh this policy does not currently have any specific Lang language relative to dropping students off in the afternoon currently we do not allow a student to be dropped off if there is not a parent at the stop to take them home if they are below third grade this language exists only in our transportation handbook but not in policy this is largely largely an elementary student issue since you must be at least third grade to be dropped off without a parent present if this is not possible the driver is supposed to bring the student back to school however when there's a sibling who is at least third grade we have been flexible with this rule Nick would like to add language in either policy or perhaps the transportation handbook that would document allowing a parent to have their older SI sibling walk their younger child home from the bus the next three policies they relate to um use of computer networks um student discipline and Ai and we've discussed these at a couple other meetings already uh the committee talked about all these and that new language is not ready to pre propose yet committee input on these technology issues is still being collected additionally staff are attending conferences on AI and collecting information on schools are dealing with it and then the last one we did a first reading on the school calendar um and we're gonna we were voting on it here that's if I could just jump in Dave I did check on the uh last board meeting and we did do the second reading for that policy you you had asked about the other the other thing I I wanted to make sure everyone noticed the second item under policy committee besid Ides the calendar there was a Nuance in the policy itself that called specifically for three days to be designated uh on the school calendar as holidays that would get used as school days in the event that we had to close school for like snow um the language change in item two there is to change that from specifically three days to one to three days would be designated as holidays that would be s to school days if we had a closure and lost the day of school just quick footnote I wanted to make sure everyone knew why that other policy was on there and that allows us to U be more consistent with the calendar we're actually proposing that I believe only has two days not three uh for holidays to be used as snow days so then if we designate two and we have like three snow days or something then we tacking on to the end year end of the year okay just so everybody knows yeah yeah or if those days happen after the holidays have passed all right any questions uh for about policy nope June 2028 calendar my kids are gonna be graduating that's freaky oh my God all right uh Jim call the rooll Please Mr sammon yes Miss White yes Miss Cado yes Mr Molinari yes Mr Amin yes Miss Chach yes and Mr Shaw yes thanks Jim uh k curriculum committee me uh report there is one item can I have a motion for that please Janice and Jen um no report right okay um any questions about the voting item for curriculum um just just one comment I had an opportunity uh to read the human rights textbook I thought it was excellent I thought it was a good choice it's an honors textbook it took some really um thorny topics and presented multiple sides in an unbiased fashion be great for promoting discussion amongst the kids fully and supportive that was a good P any other questions concerns comments nope okay Jim call the rooll Please Mr salmon yes Ms White yes Miss curado yes Mr Molinari yes Mr yes Miss shach yes and Mr Shaw yes great thank you we're up to the wellness committee report um Janice has a report from October 30th thanks J I do um the first item was The Joy Roots whams professional development committee administrators shared feedback from 20 William Anon teachers and counselors who participated in the two-day Joy Roots training um staff felt that the joy Roots team understands the specific issues that are facing middle school students and teachers um they felt that the training was especially B beneficial to help them better understand and meet their students needs including for authors and receivers of harm the committee also discussed teacher response to the Joy Root's October 2 professional development session and that was for the entire 140 member Wham staff 100 teachers responded to a postsession survey 99% said that the SE session was in alignment with William anon's building goals 90% recommended continuing to work with joy Roots both represent an exceptionally positive response and many commenters shared that staff want to learn more for example teachers who had not participated in the two-day training would like to see an actual restorative Circle so that they could understand how they might be used in their classrooms Miss Fox and Miss Udo are working with Greg Lucas to develop the next Joy root session for Wham staff which is scheduled for January 29th Miss hudu shared that conversations about the topics that were covered in the October second session are still continuing among groups within the school including the Viking voices character education committee and the Viking Way disciplinary committee a recent disciplinary incident was resolved with a student and their family using the restive pra practices learned through Joy Roots both the student and the family responded positively to the process and felt it was an important learning opportunity both Miss Fox and Miss hudok emphasized that the primary goal um at this point has been on building a supportive community and strengthening staff student relationships that's been the primary work of Joy roots to date in response to requests from board members administrators are gathering data from a number of sources including Hib and disciplinary reports Panorama survey responses and feedback from teachers and students on the variety of programs that whams has underway to address School culture and climate Miss Fox Miss hudok and Miss Smith are in the process of outlining possible next steps should the district decide to continue working with joy roots or with another provider administrators are gathering information regarding staff interests and costs for each option and they will present their recommendations to the committee at the December 19th meeting uh Panorama surveys Miss Fox shared information information regarding the numbers of students participating in the fall 2024 Panorama surveys as compared with spring 2023 the overall response rate for all six schools in Spring 2023 was 82% Panorama survey permission forms were included in Genesis for school opening in 2024 responses from the Four elementary schools ranged from 93% to 99% from whams 91% % and from Ridge 71% responses to the equity and inclusion survey were 95% for whams and 76% for Ridge surveys were taken during the month of October and results are being compiled these will be shared again at the December 19th Wellness committee meeting and for professional development on November 13th there was um a building based sessions for grades K to grades 6 to 12 had information literacy sessions or building based sessions on January 29th um K to5 will have building based sessions on the Let It Grow uh program from restoring Focus uh grades six to8 will have their second Joy rout session and grades 9 to 12 will have Department based sessions with regard to restoring Focus Shan beavers the director of it introduced the first session in a series called technically speaking on October 28th Mr beaver's presentation parental controls for personal devices offered parents tools and resources to provide guard rails for their children's devices uh Mr beavers also shared his own family's experiences with further restricting content using apps and features provided by cell carrier ISP and wireless network providers 30 people attended this event at the ridge pack Dr lvic held a book talk on Stolen focus by Yan Hari on October 29th at the ridge Media Center attendees engaged in both full group and small group discussions and requested a second session to delve more deeply into hari's themes the second technically speaking session was scheduled for November 4th in the whams media center Miss Fox spoke about Genesis and the family portal and uh EXP all the information available to parents through the Genesis portal on November 12th uh second restoring Focus Round Table will be held for students in grade 6 to 12 and their parents in the whams media center a book talk on the anxious Generation by Jonathan hay will be held tomorrow November 19th at the ridge Media Center a virtual presentation for parents on the wham's program half the story about social media influences will be held on December 2nd and pediatric neurologist Dr swamini Sinha will speak on the topic of restoring focus at the elementary level on February 3rd at the ridge pack this is a returning uh presentation from parent requests following her talk um earlier in the school year and we are grateful to Dr Sina for providing an evening presentation for those parents who were unable to attend the morning session on March 6th this the film screenagers element Edition will be shown at the ridg pack at 6 pm. a third technically speaking session is being planned on the topic of artificial intelligence additional information regarding date and location will be shared as it becomes available all restoring Focus events begin at 7M those interested May register through the restoring Focus website at bernardsboe.com and the final uh item that we discussed uh board members had met with the ridge student government Representatives prior to the October 14th Board of Education meeting we heard directly from students on a variety of topics including the later school start time its effect on their sleep and their schedules triple tier transportation and other items um that students wanted to discuss one board member suggested returning uh to what we did previously um before the pandemic and meeting with student reps at all School uh the committee agreed that hearing directly from students at all grade levels provides essential input into board decisions and the wellness committee plans to start those meetings with student Representatives at all schools after the New Year beginning with whams the next Wellness committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 21st thanks Jenice any questions uh for about Wellness Genesis report no I'll just um give a shout out and recommendation for the February 3rd um topic with Dr Sinha um I went to the one that was at Oak Street and she gave kind of like a short form presentation and it was really interesting to learn about her um clinical experience dealing with uh really young children and um anxiety and stress and things like that and how that uh influences her um diag diagnosis uh when she delves into um use of screens and things like that so uh I highly recommend and um go going to that on February 3rd which is here um all right we have uh facilities and operations report from October 10th Keith yes so this is a little dated so if any if there's any significant updates maybe Jim could just hop in after uh but all right so work order status so I'm not going to go over to Total because again that's probably dated at this point it's LinkedIn to minutes if you'd like to see it Mr mickley does anticipate all heating work orders being ready in time for the cold season and they will continue to work on AC orders to to continue to get get ahead of next year's cooling syst season the committee agrees on the importance of having the work order system running accurately and inhering to the maintenance plan and to that end hbac orders are now going to be categorized into the following buckets emergency work orders five days or less standard work orders 30 days or less longterm 90 U days or more example the of that is the steam trap project at Oak Street school I will not go into the current HB the work order status because again at this Point might be a little dated if anybody's interested it is late in the minutes uh maintenance uh let's see same thing um there probably a little bit dated at this point uh we do have the average resolution time at the for the maintenance orders to 2641 days which is pretty good and it's continuing to improve and the community feels so as well so we did receive feedback the community that there is a Improvement in District Maintenance and it's a much better spot the district's in than it was a year ago good job and it was great feedback from the principles as well on Mr mickley and his efforts um tracking the numbers that we've been tracking it's going to help the district also when it comes time to negotiate new contracts come December the district's new asset management system also appears to be working out well uh Transportation update uh athletic athletic routes are higher in cost as was referenced in finance but the district's lease bus is helping uh better than standard route prices even considering Fuel and driver costs we did have one subscription refund request and that deadline is now passed it was October 11th and Mr R looked into Sustainable New Jersey was a program that a student was inquire about and more information is being gathered on that it was uh about sustainable energy usage in the school district if I believe if I remember correctly construction project updates so Ridge High School HVAC units are now on site and they were anticipated completion at the end of the month thinking at the end of last month so I think we're in punch list phase now so they're all in excellent uh the ridge Ada walkway the asphalt was scheduled the asphalt's in yep and uh there's good feedback on that so far a discussion was had on how to make Lea field still more accessible and options including new handicap spaces behind the new gym are being explored the ridge Varsity Field Complex we still waiting on the Department of Environmental Protection and Mr R has been diligent and following up on that as you can see yeah no nothing on there it's it's state government they're not accountable uh multiple Cafe serving lines AC equipment upgrades they were ordered we're still waiting delivering schedule uh direct install options and these were referenc in finance but a bit of back background on that uh options are linked in the minutes Cedar Hill Oak Street have projects that will qualify for Mount Prospect we could use a rod Grant to help pay for the rtu portion which is 40% but because of overall use energy usage Mount Prospect doesn't qualify right now for direct install now at the new uh building automated system an option would be to defer for year gauge if the automated system lowers its overall usage then see if we can qualify for a direct install next year and also save the rod Grant uh the committee recommends that to proceed with the direct uh installs on Oak Street Cedar Hill and wait on on Mount Prospect and see how the usage goes there was a water main leak at Cedar Hill that was under investigation fixed fixed very nice uh Mount Prospect roof a $2.1 million raw Grant this is a need not this is a need not a want and this will be in the 25 26 year budget we're going to bid it on the winter and work next summer the Cedar Hill C uh canopy quotes uh it's a PTO donation the committee's uh concerned about Aesthetics and functionality and we're soliciting other ideas at this point uh let's see Liberty Corner art room cabin tree uh we're getting quotes and prices on that committee is supportive replacing them and the next meeting is going to be this Thursday at four o'clock thanks Keith any questions for or about facilities Andor operations no I think um just say that I hope that the um the maintenance Improvement is also a reflection of um Jim and Bill mickley U moving more of the in-house um positions I mean moving more the maintenance positions inhouse so we have two HVAC engineers and a plumber on staff now and we're looking to um further increase our in house maintenance staff so that that's really great that that's working out well um we are up to Liaison committee reports any leison committee reports Jen yeah um this is um the update from the October 16th CPAC meeting I'm just going to highlight a couple of things um they started by thanking the district for uh the developing the new disability curriculum that we um shared out um a couple months back about um the elementary school and the lessons that have been built um then they uh talked about um the sensitivity training and ask questions in terms of whether we could have um some training for fourth and fifth graders in addition to the third graders the district is now creating afternoon lessons to be presented uh at whams in small groups um for sixth graders and they're very happy about that we talked about postsecondary um issues such as the NJ GPA exam which is State mandated um for exam for required for graduation and the exit exam is given in the spring of junior year the goal of the conversation was to confirm that everyone was on the same page about requirements for students with disabilities and that every student had an appropriate Plan before junior year uh then we talked about um what they were doing for communications and they circulated a parent survey to find out what parents in the community wanted to learn more about and they asked Mr markarian in fact if he could use thought exchange for that as well um then U Miss oconnell shared um that the special Services Friday folder is going to be announcing a series of self-contained program spotlights and they're all open to the public um and uh the CPAC is specifically hosting um a series um for transition series for education to parents um what they need to know as their children move from different transition years so from elementary intervention from early intervention to preschool disabled preschool disabled to kindergarten Elementary School to middle school middle school to high school and then High School into adulthood um and then we don't meet again until January thanks Jan any questions about the CAC report or any other liaison committee reports yeah Janice first yeah um I'm just excited about that transition series um I know that that's something that you know developmentally we take for granted when our children are in general education that things are a little bumpy in the beginning for a couple of weeks but with um some of our children with special needs they really do need some additional support both at home and at school so I think that will be a really great series and I would encourage parents you know to to participate in those in those seminars I think they they'll be very worth your while thanks sh Keith yeah it's along the same lines actually so uh the T last Township committee meeting on uh November 12th they recognized uh local businesses that were uh working with Ridge B uh Ridge based learning to help some of our special needs students gather skills and job experience in the community and uh you know I'm just going to read them out because I think it's worth doing again just to highlight local business that are helping our students uh and if I miss one please forgive me they came fast and furious and there's a lot of them but Hills of aat uh Washington House Pizza anapoli Riverwalk Pharmacy barers Coffee House Priscilla's Pantry Ridge Sweet Shop the YMCA uh Department of Public Works uh the burners Township Town Hall uh Riverwalk Pharmacy and uh I think that's it again forgive me if I missed one but it's definitely a reflection of uh you know how generous not only local community members are but the local businesses too in supporting our students thanks Keith um any other liazon committee reports questions no okay um we're going to open up public comment on um any topic that's relevant to schools so if you have a public comment please come on up to the mic say your name and address sign in with your name and address and then I'll get you three minutes okay we're going to close public comment uh we are now up to board forum is there any topics for board Forum that anybody wants to throw out there you got something Keith yeah I you know I'm gonna give a shout out to Cedar Hill school here because I saw in Mr markarian's SOS Express uh the collage I did for recognizing uh local veterans on Veterans Day family members who served I I thought that was just excellent so uh it's good to see the school doing that um I think that's the sort of thing we should definitely be highlighting and uh yeah happy BR anday and uh Happy Thanksgiving next week thanks Keith any other anything else for board forum for tonight no okay um so we're going to make a motion for adjournment I just say uh you know our next meeting in December we have about a month uh so like he said Happy Thanksgiving to everybody um please come for our meeting the choir Al capella choir is coming we three kings are we getting that that was my request no uh I don't I don't probably don't want to repeat from last year but that's that's one of my personal faves but uh we'll see we'll see so uh all right um motion for adjournment uh Jen and Dave all those in favor I all right everybody have a great evening thank you very much