##VIDEO ID:5NJaddDFO7E## e evening everyone welcome to the bridgew Ron Regional Board of Education meeting on November November 12 2024 at the Wade building um call the Mee the order in compliance with the open puy public meetings law of New Jersey notice of this November 12th meeting of the bridge Board of RIT and Regional Board of Education was posted electronically on the district website provided on January 3rd 2024 by sending an annual written notice to the curer news Star Ledger bridgeo town clerk raron bur Clark and by posting on the bolon board bolon board in the harman V weed Wade administration building if you're able please join me for the Pres Allegiance pled aliance to the flag the United States of America the stands indivisible andice Mr Stars can you K the role please for your last time Miss K Street here miss Freelander here miss Huna here Mr Joi here Mr singer here Miss Lee here Mr Pepe here M lockran here Mr Walker here seeing that we have a quorum I'm calling the meeting to order Mr SARS has called the role now up is the superintendent report Mr Mr beers okay thank you Mr Walker so this evening we are going to honor members of our faculty and staff who have earned tenure completed an advanced degree and those who have dedicated 25 years of service to our district so I'm going to ask the the Board of Education and everyone in attend to join me and our esteemed guests down in in the gymnasium we're going to have a brief ceremony where we call folks up we're going to take a few group pictures and um then we'll come back all right thank you and and the reason why we're doing it you should know is that there are about 50 people in attendance and there's no way we can fit so we're we have an overflow crowd thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay so the second part of the superintendent report is the uh student safety ssds report which is updated every six months and it does have a a breakdown of the the incidents that occurred in each school and districtwide so that is in your folder under ssds 2023 24 under meeting materials thank you um next the agenda the student reports you guys ready to go thanks hello can you hear me okay perfect so um we're excited to be here we're just going to talk about what's going on at the school so first off as you all know the water main break in summer uh Ville last year no last week sorry um I can say from the students we particularly really liked it free day off school for the seniors it was great could get a day off four applications were due um yeah it was like a day or two I was actually like considering skipping to do my applications so this was really good um everyone got out really safe really organized pretty efficient I know a lot of the seniors were able to get out before like the Mayhem with the buses and the parents so that went pretty well um we also want to talk about an issue with students who are skipping on like assessment days or students who Skip specifically the periods that they have assessments so we talked to Mr hurger about um in the future enforcing better rules for makeups when they are unexcused so cut absences instead of like versus a parent doing a more even though it's unexcused it's still um there's still rationale behind it and we also talked about how like students we've noticed are using religious holidays a lot to claim them and skip school and something we deemed as like a Serial Skipper someone who's taking a lot of days off so we're working with Mr Hur to try and create like the best solution for that so that kids aren't taking advantage of um the religious holidays and other things and finally there's some art things going on around campus we have the fall play coming up radium girls so that will be exciting the marching band got second place of the state championship with their Journey to the Bottom of the Sea so that is also exciting and finally our win Ensemble is performing in Atlantic City at the state conference um okay next um I just wanted to discuss a student L fundraiser that we had for Veterans Day yesterday um and so basically our uh senior student council in honor of those who served our country um had a fundraiser last week where students were able to donate $1 to purchase a small flag and these flags were um displayed along the front lawn of the high school and it was just a really nice way to just commemorate and recognize um the veterans who served our country while also raising money for various Charities and then oh so now I have reports on um Bridgewater Ban's athletic fall sport like achievements and so first off the gymnastics team won their County championship and they're currently R ranked number in the state which is very good accomplishment and our field hockey and football teams both won State Games and made Solid runs in their state and County tournaments um Lucas disco in boys cross country after he performed very well in groups and he's moving on to um the me of Champions at hille Park this Saturday and then finally our girls soccer team won the division this year and um after beating Bayon yesterday uh we will be in the state sectional final this Thursday against Westfield and so due to our uh just very well very good athletic program um a lot of seniors are continuing their athletic careers in college and so tomorrow we have our Signing Day where athletes can sign their contracts to um like State their commitment to continue playing sports in college and um their friends and family will be there and it'll just be a nice day to just support them take pictures and commend them for their hard work I personally have people on my soccer team going to D1 or D3 schol for soccer and uh my friend is also committing D2 for volleyball and so I just think this will be a nice way to show our support and then lastly we have an update an update regarding the student advisory Council which if you're unaware is the group of students that meet monthly with um myself and my fellow representatives and uh principal hamburger to discuss just events and happenings and issues that we eventually bring up at these meetings and um the application form for the student advisory Council was sent out last week and uh it's due at the end of next week and then us with Mr hamburger uh we plan to just evaluate the applications and um pick students as soon as possible so that we can have our first meeting early December and yeah thank you thank you any questions for me I did go to Bon it was very windy there wasn't it I was surprised you guys had the first half against the win but you scored three goals so great job I saw that so good job and Lewis finished really strong at the meet I got I saw him he was only about seven or eight seven or eight 10 seconds back from first place so he had had a really great race and that is a brutal Cross Country course so for you've ever thank you I'm gonna take a little liberty here we've got a young man here a student who'd like to address the board so I'm gonna open up hum comment or a young man here if you'd like to give you a little early so you can get back home and get some sleep because it could be a long meeting so I want to punch it so if you more than like to talk have a moment for public comment there's a microphone right over at the thing so just please um a little bit you can see the turn it this way please introduce yourself and uh good evenings everyone today is no good evening everyone my name is Dante by host and I would like to introduce you to my book D Dino Works a cake despite a big akake um I've been wanting to write this book since in second grade I've wrote I actually wrote the book and came up with the idea in second grade with my teacher Mr glin the story behind my book would be like um like I wrote it took a lot to think of but it took a lot to publish it um and I would like to thank Jennifer for allowing me to be here um my dad my mom Sasha my illustrator and miss mclin my second grade teacher um now do I have time to read the book or it's a it's a pretty short book so it it won't take too much time but while while he gets it I I just wanted to thank everyone here not only for the opportunity to have him come and and thank you all and and read the book but um the inspiration that you all engender in the schools to allow a seven-year-old at the time to get inspired to write a story and it was all inspired by authors that came to the school and it showed him an example of like what you can one of the many things that you can grow up to be right he came home ranting and raving talking about that wrote the story one author of the month for the story that month and he kept telling us I want to publish it I want to publish a book I want to be a published author when I grow up and we're like why wait until you grow up and so he refined the book he edited it he came up with concepts for it we Illustrated it and it finally became a reality and uh I'm just so grateful for the school district that you guys Inspire that kind of learning it's super inspirational for a parent to see that that's what happens and uh to have an opportunity to have a now a nine-year-old that's a published author which is very cool so thank you all and I'll let him read the book now dino bakes a cake despite a big mistake once upon a time there was a T-Rex named rexie who loved to bake his favorite thing to bake with Pera cakes and he's ready to get started first Rexy pours in the flour next he pours in the water then cracks two eggs into the bowl oops Rexy dropped the eggshells into the batter he didn't realize it and baked the cake he pulled he pulled the cake he pulled the cake out of the oven and said oh my oh my my cake is full of eggshells Rexy was upset but knew he had to just try to just try again rexie mixed all the ingredients in the bowl and baked another cake 25 minutes later Rexy pulled the cake out of the oven and said Mama Mia this is awesome he's from Italy he sold slices to customers who love the cake wow this is W his customer said and if you can make and connection the people tried Rexy the more people tried rexy's cake the more they loved them he became the most famous Baker around my original [Applause] hey Dante can you do me a favor because it's live streaming can you say the name of your book nice and clear nice and loud so everybody at home knows what it is the name of my book is Dino bakes a cake despite a big mistake is is it for sale on Amazon it's for sale on Amazon now we ordered some copies to donate to other school Li we're going to get them in about a couple of weeks or so and then we'll them out perfect congratulations awesome thank you so much thank [Applause] you thank you Dante um appreciate the leaveing the board let me change around the U agenda um next up the agenda is the is the is the yeah maybe later the board's president report I'm gonna we have tonight we're gonna go over a little bit talk about our board self- evaluation and we have Patty Reese here who's our njsba field service rep hi Patty how are you it all I can send you well I sent you I think barer you have every everything that I sent out and and well um the self- evaluation and then I did a summary analysis which is in the front um right there um for different things uh and uh you know you've done this I think this I saw in your transcript you do this just about every year uh and it really is uh helpful uh a helpful tool in the board assessing uh the board's performance and your individual performance as a board the uh board self evaluation um assesses asks you to assess in nine areas of board governance uh and uh in U on a scale of one to four those nine areas are uh planning policy student achievement Finance board operations board performance board superintendent relationship uh board staff relationship and the board and the community as I said it's on a scale of 1 to four uh and um at school boards we consider any U scoring of three or better to be a board that is well functioning uh effectively or functioning effectively if you look at the um the summary sheet um which is should be in the um the brochure that I sent out gave you uh it lists the on the top all the different the the nine areas and what the total uh graded score was that that you did uh as you can see um most of yours are at three or above three uh and um with the average for all nine being 3.1% or 3.1 um in uh in there are uh 513 scores or 57 indicators Ty times nine board members in um 167 times uh board board members rated uh whatever the the the indicator was as commendable um and 232 times as good so 77% of your um ratings are good or commendable which really is um as much as I know that some times there are struggles amongst boards uh this kind of a rating really does show that you're trying at least that that you're working hard to to to uh in your board governance to promote um you know the functioning of the board um I I will say that um in January we are rolling out a new board self- evaluation it's the first time in 15 years it's been updated uh so we're excited that it will um better reflect the workings of the board today as opposed to 15 years ago so I do encourage you in the spring maybe uh to to look at that again um to to do the board self- evaluation again um different things with the board self- evaluation and assesses how you feel uh you function as an individual and how you feel the board functions it does help the board board identify the strengths and weaknesses uh that you see in your board functioning in your board governance um it it also helps you maintain uh or look at uh a greater understanding of board roles and responsibilities and I'm going to go into some of the comments uh in here um just briefly uh about um board roles I think there are some that there are some um comments that uh are ambig ambiguous on what you might think uh your board roles are but it also helps you as a board look at what or identify what uh different areas of uh expanded board training might be useful to help your the functioning of your board um and you know does fulfill your qac requirements of board governance to continue to do your um your uh board self- evaluation um but if you look at the charts and and this I think Barry sent out the updated one today um and and you're happy to say that nine of your board members uh you all nine completed your self- evaluation uh and that is reflected in the one that was sent out this afternoon uh uh in um so it shows what everybody what everybody did again it it's a um it's an anonymous uh tool so that you don't know who said what unless you won't up to it and you don't have to because it's not required uh but if you look at the different charts chart one plots the value that you give each of the different nine um areas um and and that for how important it is that you feel as a board as an individual as a board that is to board functioning um so you're looking for um to to for it to match board performance to what the board determines how important something is uh so in chart two we're looking at the full board score uh full board in each area as opposed to how you indiv how you give your individual score uh it's just looking um it's useful at looking at the correlation between group performance and individual performance it's not um in the task areas in the areas on the left which are considered task areas it is normal for um the board to be viewed as more effective than the individual um in in almost all areas individual performance was rated higher than board performance which is also not unusual uh you know you as you rate your performance um against that of the board uh and and in chart three you're looking at uh it Compares last year's re uh last year's findings to this year's findings um and that's important just to see if there's been any growth uh in any areas of growth um and in most of your areas yeah in five of your areas from last year um you you have seen growth which is which again is helpful in in determining how you would like to to um progress um if you look at again the um the summary that I put in your packet um I I put each area and I picked um a glow comment uh which is based a glow comment is something that um that all these comments come from comments that board members made on it the so the glow common is a is a positive comment and then a grow comment which is uh something that you might use that needs some further exploration or further training or uh just further review uh by the board um um and and know just just to help you kind of focus a little bit on on that a lot of um this is also very useful and I understand you're going to be looking at board goals in December and January this is a useful tool to help you identify what might be areas of growth uh or different board goals that you might uh look look at in in the new year um the there's also um in this a summary of major challenges as identified by you by the board uh and um suggested areas for um additional Focus it's a summary it's by no means an exhaustive list that list is in um as you have all written it is in um in the full evaluation uh so when you move forward with your board goals um you would look at you know you would look at that as well um some of the comments that that I saw in here and I thought that may uh as you're moving forward with looking at board goals maybe or additional board training um especially if you have any new board members coming on in January something along roles and responsibilities uh some of the comments that that I picked out um I saw several comments looking at the daytoday questioning the day-to-day operations of the district which really is not within the board's purview uh that is really the administrations the board hires the administration to make sure that your day-to-day operations are functioning um and just uh one of the other things I put in your packet is as you go forward processing the board self- evaluation uh for um for discussion whether you want to do it I know you have a full agenda so my understand was to just really put this information out there for you to digest and and as you move forward uh towards doing board goals next month or the month after but some of these questions are helpful um to help identify um help you focus on different parts of the evaluation what was the most interesting observation contained are there any strengths that you see that that it points out or weaknesses for that matter and so as I said as you move forward with your um your board goals for next year uh I'm looking at you look like you have a question okay uh I mean does anybody have any questions about it's like almost like an info dump and I know that you got it um today uh I do appreciate that um you know you you all got it in by yesterday so that um it gave me a little bit of time to to to get this ready just want to say thank you for taking the time to to assemble all this and put all this together especially putting the uh synthesizing the comments in those sections I think that'll be very useful and I'm sure took some time um my one question is I know we're sort of like at the end this would be close to the beginning of next year are there many boards that will do a self- evaluation twice like one in like February March and then because it might be useful to compare the same board beginning of the year end of the year is that a common practice it's it's not usually it's it's done once a year and frequently in your packet is the is a board evaluation calendar frequently it's done um uh after the superintendent's evaluation is done because that has a statutory deadline this does not this is a best practice and and helps boards uh govern themselves better um it it us typically it's done in the summer uh and at the same time uh the discussion the conversation about um and setting board goals for the coming school year I mean board goals are like like your District goals we recommend three to five and they should be interrelated all your all the goals should be interrelated certainly with your strategic plan and your District goals but something that for board training um the board goals or simply to um not simply but uh about uh board operations thank you you're welcome usually follows with the retreat follow Retreat following it we just didn't have the timing to do that in this time frame to get it done um so the next step would also also go through some of the the challenges the glows and and the um growth areas and also how this aligns with our strategic plan because we just finished that last year our strategic plan got done so some of this does see how I was mentioning the Strategic plan in there and how they align too and that's how and I know the administration used plan in our district goals in quite moving them forward too I mean you typically do your goals your board goals in in because I looked back through your transcript and so you typically do it in December January um so changing that would be a change for this board so you know really it's whatever works for the board um but it it might be useful to to see especially with the new tool coming out um if there's if there's any change or continue on the same path you've been you've been doing for all these years any questions so I supect we're scheduling another retreat in January do board goals in those areas be in touch the put them in there once we fin your calendar I don't know what's your schedule the next president will have to take care of that a lot of my early J if you want me to come in and out a lot of early January is booked already for ethics trainings late January early February it's not any questions from anybody else from the board I mean and that the the good news is you're almost to your board certification I pulled your transcript and we have um your qack res results we're going to get the next step is um after that you have all the credits it's just now checking some of the other boes the board self evaluation and then the teach contract so hopefully we can get which I think was actually sent to you during our break Stars took care of that so that's there so thank you thank you Patty wel appreciate it have a thank you you have a nice short ride home you're not very far away which I truly appreciate after having gone to Hudson County thank you I have nothing else for my board president report moving on to committee committee reports acemic academic committee Mr Joshy our next meeting is uh December 5th December yeah okay thank you Mr Joshy commun Miss kalist so um I know it says on here I'm not doing report but we are because we just had a meeting um today at 6: PM virtually in attendance was myself Mrs Freelander Mrs Asuna Mr beers Mr Walker and Mr Moran um so we started out by discussing the H school um policy that has to do with Athletics the committee discussed allowing hom school students to participate in school sports many of the surrounding schools allow this the committee recommended moving forward with allowing homeschooled students to participate in School athletics the policy will be updated to reflect this change I think Mr beers yes do you do you want to add anything to that sure if I could just interject I I did print off some copies of this policy that I placed in in front of everyone this evening so if you want to take a look at it um please do the the only change we would make is on page one where you see at the bottom under number one say homeschool children are not eligible to participate in the high school inner Scholastic Athletics program of this District if we just cross that out now I also provided a another sheet for the Board of Education and these are the njsa New Jersey homeschool guidelines this is what schools follow when allowing uh homeschooled students to participate so so are we gonna do we decide to do it tonight or next month because if there wasn't much discussion we had talked about putting it for first reading tonight because it's just taking out one line and allowing the students so if we want it if everyone's okay I mean we could have discussion now I don't know what you guys want to do so procedurally how would we go about this to have discussion we would probably do it under it would be brought in under policy we could modify a policy or do under new business depends how you want to do it you could have a conversation about now it's it's gonna have now or then I mean depends how you like to do it um is there is there any objection to moving forward with the change of the policy kind of thing should be this just be a first reading so be this just be a first reading we looked at potentially doing expedited reading because it would apply for winter sports but it will not because the time frame for physics to get in was um October October so that there was no way no way for the any homeschooler to comply with it it also probably gives the administration a little B time to digest and put the process in place Miss Jones and your crew and that you know areas like that you know so that sometimes gives them a little more time too so we could do it now and you know it would if we did the first reading this evening it' be second reading in December would be official so then it would be able to be implemented for the spring Sports we could you know operationally if they don't want to do it this year you could wait till next year we could actually put that as part of the policy too so just I'm throwing ideas out there so and just for context we do allow homeschooled students to participate in school activities not in Scholastic Athletics but we we have have a number of kids who participate participate in the theater program music program Etc okay perfect I'll move on all right that was our first topic the second topic we talked about was the committee discussed having one board ofed meeting per month um May would be the only month that would still have two meetings due to budget hearings um and January sorry due to reor um other than that we could put other meetings on if necessary but the goal was to have one a month um if anyone has any objections let us know the committee agreed though to move forward with one meeting per month any questions how does that work in terms of um Hib receipt and adoption or and affirmation in subsequent meetings same thing with policy so now instead of doing it within one month we're doing it within two that's that's question and that doesn't run fou of any Hib regulations in terms of timing no the law specifies that you would do it at the next scheduled Board of Ed meeting so and I do know a lot of schools do one so it's not uncommon that we to SP about that okay any other questions regarding that yeah I guess one one question on that how would that affect uh from the Personnel side if we make have to make a quick hire um I know during the summer there's a it's possible to get people on without because we have fewer meetings during the summer would there be anything like that um if it's you know if someone gets hired the day after a board meeting are is the district and they stuck are we gonna is that could that be an issue yeah the the situation you were describing is one that plausibly could come up where somebody's hired right after it we have the dates of the meetings published though so for the most part administrators time kind of the recommendations for hires around when the board meetings are um and typically the the things that are um more or L minute would be things that are uh like a leave of absence that was unexpected which really could happen at any time um in the summertime we do pass the resolution that authorizes the superintendent to to make like to to offer contracts U so I know some districts that have one meeting do that throughout the year as well um I don't think that we need to do that but that is something that's out there as a possibility if we found that it was necessary mostly it would just be that people would have to they wouldn't be keeping track of a board meeting every two weeks they'd know that there's one a month and that they would uh time the hirings around that thanks you had mentioned that other districts uh do this one one meeting a month I'm just curious what other districts of our size and I know Westfield does I know Somerville does okay I believe Woodbridge Township does now too and they're yeah quite a bit bigger than us I think cool I know P does [Laughter] too I wonder if this needs to be discussed in other committees as well because it's U it's a change if we're going to the that's going to affect all committees and the whole board really sh and and what we're doing is proposing it to the whole board yeah right so we we decided it would come out of this committee we we're proposing it to the whole board and there's really no action to be taken until the board reorganization meeting in January where we can approve it amend it Etc but we we thought it would be prudent to to put it out there to say look if there are any adjustments that we need to make to it it provides us the time to really look at it get feedback from from the members and and we know that uh uh you know we'll have a new member come uh January and and it'll be the responsibility of that new board to approve this this measure but do I have that correct it's not something that we would do yeah it happens at the reorganization meeting but we're you know he's bringing it forward to talk about because majority of the board will be this group of people so it's having the conversation about it you know and that that is then done on the reorganization agenda the first meeting in the first week in January so it's not final and yes we'll have committee meetings next month it's more than welcome to discuss it the commity meetings so absolutely so you can have that conversation seems to be good gives us plenty of time in my opinion the thing I I would think about there is that also changes the opportunity of the public to come and it cuts basically the opportunities the public has um in in in half did the committee discuss or consider what might you be open to possibly either changing the meeting times or restructuring things a little bit just to make it a little bit easier for people to come and give public comment like we saw tonight we had someone go go first which I think was a great thing so thank you for that um either moving up public comment I mean that that that could be a broader discussion but we didn't talk about that you didn't talk about meeting times or anything no we didn't get into Times okay just to understand well I know it meets the legal requirement it does elongate the Hib process right it makes it a longer period of time before it's resolved potentially it it depends on the timing right where you could say hypothetically if if something occurred right well first we we've got a number of of months in our calendar where we only have one meeting per month I think we have four or five yeah we yeah we figured that out yeah so there's that part and and then yes it it could elongate it for a few moreth more weeks until it's finalized uh by the Board of Education well the it's the affirmation it's the receipt and the affirmation of it the process still goes on it is a code of conduct right Hib is a code of conduct so that process initiates whatever the incident was and resulted with that it's just the the way the law reads the board has to accept and affirm right so technically the process is ongoing correct um I have a a question regarding the uh the reason to do this I hear our fellow board members talk about how uh there's ways to to still manage having only one meeting per month I yet need to hear what's the benefit of moving that way the most precious thing everyone has especially those in a volunteer position is time and we have to ask ourselves if you can do it in one I I think we could take the other part it's not to to uh you know go against you but just to say what the theory behind it is well if you could do it in one meeting why would you do it in two right so if you could get a job done in one you know you know one interval of time why would you add another I mean that's really the case and and it's a it's a decision for the Board of Education to make I think um our board members here who have decided to volunteer their time to serve with in mind meeting as twice a month at least I won't and I think there's some virtue in handle things in a timely manner which meeting two month two times per month would help thanks okay uh the last thing we talked about was uh we had a Walkin item and we discussed um with some new website changes that the um committee discussed that the high school guidance counselor's email addresses um are not listed on the website uh there is a place to message them through the website um but it might be easier to have their we their um email addresses listed because teachers we can find on Power School easily to find their email address guidance was harder to find so that was the last thing we discussed any questions we adjourned at 6:31 and the next meeting will be December after uh sorry January a new committee thank you Miss lri um Finance facilities and transportation Mr singer the fft committee met on November 4th at 5:30 pm in attendance myself was in attendance was myself Mrs suuna Mrs lochran Mr Walker Mr stars and Mr beerus uh up first on the agenda was the business agenda review for tonight's meeting the ba reviewed the draft business action items for tonight's meeting with special attention to the purchases and Professional Services agreements for the basalone phase 2 projects the recommendation of the committee was to approve the action items if there are any questions on that they can be addressed during the action item portion of the meeting up next was a projects update Mr Stars informed the committee of the five bids that have been advertised uh and their bid opening dates current projects are either in or nearing the punch list phase excluding the HVAC project which is expected to be completed over the next summer uh some of the bids that are being opened uh in the next couple weeks are the Bradley Gardens Cafe uh bid opening is scheduled for next week I believe the 21st uh the electrical upgrade bid opening is also schedu scheduled for that day and the auditorium Renovations bid opening is going to be December 3rd there was no recommendation at this time any questions next we had other matters the committee informed was informed that the bleachers project has not received the final CEO or certificate of occupancy due to fire code official issues the architect will attend the next fft meeting to present the issues and the agreed to resolution of said issues the committee a Committee Member asked about the body microphone request raised at the last board Ved meeting and the appropr process for making that request there was no recommendation from the committee uh but the committee was informed that the microphone request should go through the chain of command which means that it should go either to the appropriate department supervisor or the principal directly are there any questions the meeting was adjourned at 5:30 pm and our next meeting is December 5th 2024 at 5: PM where we will welcome Mr lsky thank you Mr singer personel committee Miss Freelander our next meeting is scheduled for November 19th thank you any liazon or delegate reports yes just one for the uh New Jersey uh school board's delegate uh assembly their um December uh meeting is on the 7th so that will be uh 3 days before our next meeting I don't think they've published their resolutions yet so if I get something I still am never sure if everyone gets that or just uh certain people but I'll make sure that everyone gets a copy of that handbook and if you have any uh feedback on uh the resolutions I'm sure there'll be at least a couple there were 14 last time uh you can let me know they should be coming they had a resolution meeting on Saturday okay so I think we by Friday night they should have them out for Del so they should be soon so they might be able available for the School Association me next week too definitely anyone who wants to come down I know we have had a few people interested I think you could imagine you also be able to tune in uh virtually as as well that seems to have been consistent so I'm guessing you can thank you Mike anybody anyone else delic yes Miss Lee um last week um I attended the um thew celebration at the biology Temple here in Bridgewater I want to say uh congratul to the community and I also want to commend the students uh who presented the culture performances and I uh commend them for their participate in the community service as well as raising the cultural awareness of our diverse Community thank you any other delegate lead on courts seeing none I'm going move on to open public open open public comment individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following ACS to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording this meeting will be posted on District's website no this is the first one you look so you know engaging there so seeing none I'm going to close open public comment thank you uh item 10 approval of minutes October 29th regular session October 29th Clos session is there a motion so moved there any discussion seeing none Mr Stars can you call the rooll please miss kri yes Miss Freelander abstain Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries action items Personnel 25-13 is there a motion I moved second any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the role please miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries curriculum 25-33 through curriculum 25-36 do we have a motion so moved is there any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the RO please miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries business 25-57 through business 25-65 is there a motion so moved any discussion seeing none Mr Stars can you call the role please miss kry yes Miss Freelander yes Muna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer I'm going to abstain on business 558 and business 2561 yes and everything else Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes M lockran yes Mr Walker abstaining on business 25-57 yes on the others motion carries yes okay thank you Mr special services 25-15 is there a motion so moved any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the role please miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Joi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries other 25-13 through other 25-16 is there a motion first second we got a first the sir a second second thank you is there any discussion if they on the Hib they' have to be in closed session seeing none Mr Stars can you call the RO please miss kist yes Miss Freelander on other 2514 I'm voting no on 2711 94 everything else yes Mr sunna yes Mr Joi stay on 2513 yes on the rest Mr singer on other 2514 269 576 I'm sorry 26 269 576 I will abstain yes and everything else Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss lockran I'm going to abstain on 2513 I'm just going to no on 2514 and yes to everything else Mr Walker yes motion carries policy we could introduce that policy in this point because there is none there or we could do in our new business which would you like to miss g i I think we should do it under policy um person feel free to so what yeah we need to we need what is the what are you moving to do she was excited you moving your chair you moving your house a microphone what are you doing I'm making the motion to introduce the um policy for uh Athletic program that's uh what's this number 2431 as amended as recommended by superintendent second y just be clear the introduction means for first reading right correct it' be for the first reading we thought about discussing X reading you can have an X reading but we don't need to I think in this case and um any discussion just want to clarify that the recommendation of the administration is to accept it as amended correct correct there's no issue with home homeschooled students being in our Athletics programs yeah great thank you just for transparency I just want to bring up to the board in the meeting today um I just expressed concern over it being fair to our students that are in school um but in discussions with everyone I believe this is the right thing and agree that this is the right thing to do because it's um polic by njs a um n a and another a those two and they'll make sure that they are following all the same regulations that our students in house have it actually follows falls on the N makes the rules but it actually falls on our Administration to ensure that they're adhering to the rules so and then it goes but so yeah it's my only thought we didn't discuss in committee is do we do it in the spring or do we wait to start for next year just I just assumed it came in to effect after we did it we did yeah I'm just my assumption I'm just thought on the administration there I mean is that does it spring what I thought just because it'd be a clean start with the new year season all right I'm just asking we just have to look at just like we talked about the uh winter sports what wherever the fall deadline is for um new athletes for spring Sports then that's would have to be updated so people are aware of when that deadline is that is on the district websites I found it I just want to thank the administration I think this is something that the community was really backing and uh and I'm glad to see it come to fruition again we're we're not talking about a large number of students here there's a handful each year who who inquire so just just so we know the context of how many kids we're we're talking about they have to try out make absolutely and and just to clarify I know that this the what we eliminating language for the high school inter Scholastic program you mentioned that students can participate in activities is that just at the high school level or is that in clubs or Sports of the middle school and on we've got kids in clubs not not in athletics at the middle school but in clubs okay would this change affect that or not necessarily yeah okay yes across the board yes so the answer would be yes thanks not I assume any more discussion Mr Stars can you call the role on the motion for policy 2431 as recommended by the information for first reading Miss kist yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Joi yes Mr singer yep Miss Lee yes Mr pepy yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries now we're up to the second time for public comment individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matter any matters in accordance with board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on District's website good evening everybody Jeffrey Brookner 16 Nicole Terrace Bridgewater I just um came to this meeting to recognize and honor Peter Stars I know you guys are I um I think you're doing something later but I I wanted to have an opportunity to just say congratulations on your retirement um the district will miss you I had the pleasure of serving 12 um years with on the board of ed with you as as my you know comp what's the word I'm looking for Compadre and um Mentor some times on the on the finance issues um I know that you you know you're not one who wears your emotions on your sleeves outwardly all that often but I can tell from the passion you put into the work and the results you get that you really care about what you do and the district is very lucky to have had you for all these years um so congratulations on your retirement I do want to hear what you're going to be doing after um and I also was asked to pass along the message Jill Jill Gladstone wanted to be here and was unable to make it um Lynn Hurley said she was going to try to make it in late I have not seen any evidence of her but um so I don't know who else might be out there but I I know that you're well thought of by the um small community of suckers I mean former Board of Ed members um so thank you for your Devotion to the district thank you Mr Brookner my name is Laura Crest I'm the president of the Bridgewater rat and Education Association um first I mean everybody went home before us right so just a c shout out to our staff who are awesome and um you guys for supporting us and putting this on and thank you for recognizing people publicly and I think it does mean a lot um and mostly I did laugh when he said that about Peter never showing any emotion because but I you know what well I just realized it was your last board meeting I'm going to tell you what I was shedding a tear out there I am sad that you are leaving there are so like we cannot discuss this publicly but there are so many stories that Peter and I maybe he'll put a chapter in the book I plan on writing about what it was like to do this for 24 years be 25 years be a teacher the grievance chair and the and the president of the Union but honestly uh you know what you did a great job whether I agreed with you or not and um I agree with Jeff wholeheartedly and you put that he said that well like you don't wear your emotion on your sleeve but you definitely are dedicated and we're very thorough again whether I agree but you know I'm in all serious in all seriousness you're you you're going to be missed here and I and I appreciate getting and having known you and I don't like change so I'm a little upset about it good luck okay um I think you made a great choice too okay so um thanks talk to you guys soon next time see Peter's leaving distracted me wholeheartedly um congratulations on your winning of your board seats or reelection I should say so congratulations and congratulations to Jeremy who's not here but I'll congratulate him when I see him yeah she just have one because sty just reminded me um only I we've discussed it before about having a set email address for the entire board to receive notifications and I know we said no um but I would have gone to the dwali event but I did not know because I was not included on Thea just people are going to the website I think what's happening is They're copying pasting and then like sometimes somebody gets left off I was left off of one earlier this fall too so just a good point to know like if there was a way for outside groups when they wanted to send us invites to be able to send it all at once or have some way of Distributing it so nobody gets left off sorry is there a way I mean how sometimes you get communication like with the council agendas is there is there something like that can be done if they send a request through the ba or the superintendent you know in those emails I don't know because I mean sometimes you get a lot of you know get emails that are say to the board members it gets to the board members okay that be one way to do it you know yeah I think like on the website you know how like we have that menu how to contact the board it could be for Community invitations or announcements please email just so that people aren't trying to copy and paste just a simple thing to add a little language there I want to second on that can we Revitalize the email the H board function Doug wasn't real positive on that correct he he didn't our board attorney wasn't really pleased that we had a full board from an oer standpoint because then you are communicating to full board and could be considered a meeting some of the conversation I with Doug but we can discuss it some more Bob your thoughts on that look I I serve at the serve the board um we've been told by the district attorney it's not a good idea it's not a good practice um so it's it's up to the board if they want it and then we'll add it in I mean trying to I'll stop talking perhaps we discuss in the community relations next time there will be a new committee okay but remind them moving on to a different topic of old business I would just want to wish happy birthdays to Barry Barry Walker and Bruce Moran and uh happy future birthdays to Mrs lockran and Mr Pepe oh then Happy past birthday to you I forget that it's a jam-packed Friday through through Sunday of Barry Bruce and Mike I can only imagine that party thank you very much Steve so thank you Steve any other old business seen a new business old or new new yes is because you know upon retirement is new business I guess yes all right so I also want to say some uh words about Peter uh just to embarrass him if nothing else um it has truly been my pleasure to work with Peter over the past 5 years um even before I became a board member it was evident that Mr Mr Stars was the consumate school business administrator and board secretary as the boards that I saw relied on Mr stars for his guidance and his knowledge and very clearly trusted Peter without reservation that trust was earned through literal Decades of Peter keeping the Financial Security of BR at the Forefront while ensuring that BR had the necessary resources available Peter is a little bit intimidating at first but the reality is that he's exceptionally welcoming incredibly patient and as we saw before really very funny Peter as a ba has all the skills that are that that are needed he's got unquestionable integrity and uncan the ability to recall details of projects even those undertaken well in the past a calm demeanor in the face of unsteady Waters and knowledge of what it takes to truly run a school district but beyond that Peter is just a wonderful partner for the board while decisive and confident in his decision-making Peter is open to ideas from outside of his office and open to questions regarding his decisions the Bridgewater ridan Regional School District has been fortunate to have Mr stars as its business administrator all of these years and I count myself lucky to have been able to have these few years under his guidance thank you Peter with that I'm happy to make it the motion that he [Laughter] wants not there yet I don't have any big words but thank you so much for putting up with uh the Layman version of budget talk and for walking us through some really complicated stuff it's been great thank you just just thank you for serving the students of the community and always keeping them at the Forefront of all your decision making and for your time thank you I just wanted to say I met Peter in 2013 in the hallway um introduced himself and he had much less gray hair then so um Peter welld deserved retirement my friend I wish you all the best Peter do you have any words yeah Mr stars is I always felt accomplished when I got an email back from with more than one sentence in reply I I felt that I asked the you know because he's always short and to the point so very succinct he has been a steadfast pillar in that office and weathered many Financial areas that you we don't know and one say I think you know his first answer to you need something is no you can't do that you know and and from a financial standpoint that's sometimes a good answer you're not the one you always want to hear but always we were on sound financial ground he is respected throughout the county in state for his mentoring of our new future board member I our F future ba and many other board me Bas throughout you've had you know I know Somerset County you have many friends there and will be respect you know have talked highly of you um it was great to see a workshop and you know because you're a rock star down there so we thank you for coming for you are famous now so it was great great to have you um sincerely thank you You' been educating me in financial side of things and just done amazing you know two referendums I don't know how many superintendents I don't know how many board members um and the wave bildings look the same except for new windows will come after you leave and air conditioning so we're trying Peter we tried we didn't get there close enough for you but heartfelt thanks I'd like to wish you a happy retirement you know I hope your golf game goes better than mine if you and you start you know doing that and um thank you and I I think we have something for you you know just a little something from the board Bo and just to say appreciation and thank you for 22 years of service and enjoy [Applause] yourself and guys I baked all night so there's some cupcakes and uh everything in the back if you'd like to grab something I'll entertain it I'll entertain it I'll entertain toour oh come on you're not gonna give a speech I'll entertain a motion all those in favor we're journ thank you e