##VIDEO ID:Ke-AnQWA4bM## e School update Mr B you're welcome I me to push you along okay thank you Mr Walker and and as you mentioned it is the first day first week of school we've got one week under our belt and um it knock on wood I'm happy to report that things have seemed to go a a lot more smoothly than they have in the past specifically with Transportation um and some of our our overall issues and and look we've welcomed approximately 8,000 students and we have slightly under a thousand employees so it's quite a large operation I'm not saying that every bus is on time but far more are on time versus last year and that that's really been our our major concern over the uh opening of school so I want to thank Mr stars and the transportation department for their their efforts in that area and as we know there there are a few other issues uh some hiccups that we experienc along the way such as construction at certain buildings Etc where things weren't 100% done but but now uh a lot of our projects are progressing and the major issue that that happened on time and the contractors were 100% correct was that the senior parking lot was paved in line really with two days to spare before school so that um well that that it actually happened on time found more parking and we did we found 13 additional parking spots so um no so so that was excellent if you've driven past basalone field or some of the areas in the schools you can see that it it's progressing at a rapid rate we're going to provide at the next Board of Ed meeting more detailed uh list of projects where we are Etc and we're also going to U we're going to have a a tour before our next our next meeting I believe what I'm thinking is that we'll start the tour at JFK school because they should have all their windows installed by that point so we could take a look at at what that looks like as far and also with the completed office and security vestibule and the like so look for that email in in the next couple of weeks but what I'd like to to provide for the Board of Education right now is just just a a quick update on our security procedures no like we as you know um I sent out a a a uh a message to the community both on on school messenger and it's posted on the website you know and I thank uh Mr Moran for his help with that so we did push out a message just to to let the community know what we're doing here in town and I should say in our towns and in our school district um to create the safest environment possible so if you bear with me for one second while I load this up I'll take you through everything okay so so I think one of the things that the Board of Education should be proud of over the last three years this this public body has been incredibly proactive when it comes to to school security we did a few assessments we developed a plan that would help us get to where we want to be and we're pretty close to that right now if not at that point not that there there aren't improvements that that we can make uh in our operation Etc but certainly we're in a much better spot than we were three or four years ago so I've I've shown this slide before and and when we look at school security I think it's so important that we don't just look at one scenario and and and we know that scenario what you know as far as a a school shooter or the worst possible thing that that could happen but there are a lot of things that can put our students at risk and our facilities at risk that we have to be aware of on a daily basis it's visitor access pedestrian safety traffic flow student and faculty swipe card management right we've got to see who's coming into our buildings or who's trying to get into our buildings camera management just to make sure that everything it is synchronous and works well together specifically with swipes and cameras phone system management intercoms and the two-way radios that Administration and security use for communications so there are quite a there's quite a lot that that falls under this school security umbrella that we have to take care of on a daily and a yearly basis and we're continually evaluating our practices trying to make them better so over the last year we've had quite a few systems updates and and I appreciate the support of the board and and of the community in providing these updates for the safety of our kids we've got additional feed on the ground right that this past year we approved two additional security monitors uh to join our team that brings our numbers up to 14 we have Advanced Camera technology and and what I mean by that is we've added additional cameras and and we made sure now that all these cameras are compatible and they're operating on the same systems we've updated our access manager management and monitoring meaning the swipe systems that that's the the graphic to the right it doesn't seem like a big deal but it's very important to make sure that that you allow access to certain people and that you know exactly who's swiping into your building and who is not right so you can get an idea of who's coming and then when you lock down you're building for you know after hours then you then you know that only certain people can can get in after a certain time so I mean the timing mechanisms and the like are very important for these systems and we updated that and it and it works a lot better this isn't a A system that you purchase but we've continued to uh collaborate and coordinate with local law enforcement and the office of emergency management meaning that law enforcements in both officers in both communities ritton burrow and Bridgewater they have swipes to get into the buildings they have access to the cameras and then we share a GPS monitoring system that I'll share with you on on a on another slide um where again we we collaborate and work together in the case of an emergency and uh and we also purchased a security vehicle last year so people can get around the campus especially the high school in in uh faster time so now the other updates and part of this is the referendum part of this is from the normal budget we've secure vestibules in 10 schools we need a different solution to the high school as you know secure vestibules wouldn't be practical because we have really 11 different buildings so in all the other schools we have a secure vestibule at the front entrance and that's a that's a photo of the middle school so that's what it looks like there's a window on the on the right hand side that's where where visitors come in during the school day and they Buzz through the first door if they need need to drop off something for their student they leave it there if they're picking up their student or have a conference then we Buzz them through the the second door we've also enan enhanced our communication systems all right um and and a lot of that has to do with the phone systems and the intercoms and how they sync together so now what what's nice is you're able to have an all call or a lockdown from any phone in the in the district right if you have the right code Type in your credentials you can do that and right from the phone system you can punch in the code well you know security and certain folks can type in the uh security code and it can lock down your building all right meaning all your swipes are deactivated on the outside an alert goes off and um and it's it's really a large security enhancement we have Panic buttons and all of our schools there are multiple Panic buttons and that was part of a New Jersey law that that I believe was passed before 2022 but 2022 all schools had to have theirs installed we had ours before that and uh and I think it the Board of Education and Community should know that one of the things that we do every August with local PD both Ron and Bridgewater is we go through and we test each one just to make make sure that it works the signal comes through Etc guys go to each school give it a test and uh make sure everything's working and and geolocation technology has been in place for approximately five years this was another initiative from the state of New Jersey gcn is is the uh company that that uh and they do it for a lot of schools in the state of New Jersey there's a geolocation system and there's also a way for law enforcement to get a map on their phones as they come in in case of an emergency U to see where where things are and and a lot of times this is used for a health emergency so EMS knows all right uh you know someone's down in the hallway in whatever wing and EMS can at least have an idea of where to park the vehicle and and get to where they need to go with our assistance so that's all in place and um finally Bridgewater rton school district and law enforcement collaboration we we have conversations continually with law enforcement and in both communities I believe we have an excellent relationship with both they have access to the camera access and and all that technology swipes and keys are shared TR we look at traffic patterns pedestrian walkways active shooter training um that that we've done together with both PDS and with our team they're also members of the threat assessment team and um and uh we we reference uh local PD when we have a Handle With Care situation obviously Handle With Care it for those who do not know what that is it's when there's an event that that happens in a Young Person's home um the night before and it can be a whole host of items from a medical emergency to to an arrest to you know there's a whole Litany of of items where law enforcement needs to report it's it's a great law and a great idea where they have to share that information just to know hey you know th this young person just so you know before they walk in there was a traumatic event at their home last night and just so you're aware of what transpired so we can be prepared to help the student when they come back to school one of the few things that comes from the doe that makes a lot of sense but that's all the topic and and um again the the last part and this is another thing that came from the Department of Ed and and it's the whole the whole practice of a threat assessment team now we had something in place before we called it this but but what the threat threat assessment team legislation did was codify the procedures that you need to to go through through to Monitor and evaluate any threat within your school this is the same procedure in any any school throughout the state of New Jersey and these are the folks who are on that team so you have a school counselor or a professional with counseling credentials so what that means is when you many times when you get up to higher levels meaning the middle school or the high school you'll have a guidance counselor a school sack a school psychologist so any of those people can be on the threat assessment team it's someone who who has a clinical background in uh in um in this area teaching staff member an administrator school resource officer or security director we have both of them on there as our our Sr SRO as part of this as well as as a member of our security team and that would be uh the director it's either Mike or Ted they would come to these and a school safety specialist who's who's trained in these areas and and what happens when there there's a school threat that rises to a certain level this team evaluates the situation and they make a collaborative decision on on the best the best route to uh proceed right whether it's there's no threat we need to send the kid out for maybe an evaluation um should law enforcement get involved in in more detail Etc I mean there's a whole Litany of options but anytime there is a threat we bring these people together and and uh we have Professionals in every building that get to the the bottom uh you know of any situation so I just wanted to give the Board of Ed and and and the crowd here tonight and and the community and an idea of what we're doing the procedures that we're looking at again nothing is full prooof but as we know there there's nothing that's foolproof but we continue to to look at our Pro processes really try to to improve on on what we offer our our entire School community and that's our students our faculty Administration parents everyone um so that's what we're doing right now and um I'll open it up to any questions from the Board of Ed at this point it's more of a thank you um I did notice that there is now a crossing guard staffed at John Christian by the high school in the morning and that is tremendous because it's been many close calls over the last couple years so I just wanted to say thank you for making sure that happened thanks that's always been a PO point of concern locking down the schools by phone is that remote or does it have to be on site good question it can be either okay and the police have that option too um the SOS do yeah the people who are in the buildings sure and then what happens once your building is in lockdown right a lockdown means exactly that no one comes in from the outside so the only there there are few people who can move around the building at that point uh that you call lockdown and that's really the whole purpose um you know especially in a in a campus like the high school where if there was a dangerous situation you would want to contain it to an area and that's the whole the whole purpose but yes put law enforcement and security those are the PE their swipes work in any instance so um I I have a quick question the swipes so they all so give you a count of how many students are in that building so in a case of an emergency if everyone swipes in you will know that X number of students are in 800 building it kind of keeps a count of who's in and who's out in a perfect world The the issue right the issue with that as we know is someone swipes and then the door is held open yeah passing time AJ there's three 2,000 students moving the doors don't get swiped each time the reason I'm asking that is in case of an emergency you know how many kids yeah we we would know in general how many would be in an area but um that's true because they leave the door open and everybody rushes in yeah yeah sure it's more after hours before hours to to make sure that the people who should be in your building are the only ones in there the kids can swipe in at night for events students H have access during certain hours not I mean not for not at night time it shuts down school yeah one thing I want to just be careful everyone is security is a conversation there are certain topics in public we can't discuss and some operational so just be sensitive in what you're asking okay just because it's one of those areas that you know you're sensitive um for the security vehicles how many do we have and are they primarily just used at the high school we have one and it's at the high school the SRO have one they have police vehicles that go other places but that'll be a probably a place to invest in the future another question um and I don't know if this is going to be too whatever uh for the Panic buttons does that automatically initiate a lockdown or is that something that then goes to security like yeah the idea of a of a panic button is yes all of those I should say this it it automatically calls 911 it's an emergency that's what any other questions M bear any more else in report so at the end of Mr Beer's report I have a hand carry motion um and I would like to read it be it resolved of the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent appoints Kevin lsky as school business administrator board secretary owner about November 11th 2024 at an annual salary of $200,000 prated pursued to the terms and conditions of the Department of Education approved contract 99424 is there a motion so moved is there a second any discussion Mr beard would you like to expound a little bit please now we're excited to add Kevin lomsky to our team as as a business administrator to fill the shoes of Mr Stars who's retiring after 22 years of service and um as we all know Kevin served as the assistant ba here for a number of years and um he's he's well respected and uh you know both for his competence in the position but but also for for the person that he is and we're ecstatic to really have him to to welcome him as a member of the team and um that's it Mr lsky was going to be here this evening but I think the FAA had some issues so that that delayed him arriving and getting here on time from where he was where he was previously but we would like to welcome Kevin I mean he was a a great sourcer when he was here for the four years Mr Stars he had great tulo under Mr Stars so it was exciting to have Mr STS can you call the role please miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kist yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries Mr Mr is anything else in your report next up is the president's report first thing I going to say we're going to have the Boe team building at 6 pm on October 1st thank you for those who are replying so I got M the majority rules on that one so I got that information um also um thing is um a little side note Mr beers Mr stars's birthday is Thursday so if you'd like to send him an email his birthday is Thursday it's the speed limit by the way just for anyone wanting to know those things but so moving on um that's all I have to see I think it was a great start the new year I'm very glad to see you know I think administrators look very happy I don't see a lot of gray hairs Mr Stars the buses have been running we've had a pretty good start so one of the best I've seen since board so thank you all the staff students and parents and everyone in the community for doing that can can I just ask for the team building on the October 1st does that replace another meeting or the other it's an additional meeting it's an additional meeting okay we wanted one some more before Mr Stars leaves of course everyone in there we looking forward to having them with us he may that's great any other thing that's all for my report commit reports academic Kenny Mr Joshi our next meeting is is on September 19th gotta thank you Mr Joshi um commun relations miss kist our next meeting is September 16th at 5:30 virtually thank you Mr singer allance facilities and transportation committee our next meeting is also September 16th at 5:30 in person you guys are working on any conflicts or attendance there yeah we figured it out gotcha you said virtually no I said in person okay uh if you're attending then we should have quum fig it up personel committee M Freelander our next meeting is September 17th virtually thank you any delegate or liais on reports uh from the burrow of raran um on Sunday September 22nd is a big day in town uh probably the biggest day in town all year the John basalone parade which is really the only parade like that um dedicated to a single individual a single war hero in the country um so it's it's a really big event uh a lot of uh students a lot of uh people from town will be involved including the Bridgewater uh ran high school marching band uh the robotics team is is involved I think they'll be again they'll be there again this year um a retired three star general uh uh Ronald Coleman of the Marine Corps will be uh giving an address uh afterwards as part of the uh more set monial part of the evening and uh if you're uh any Mash fans Loretta Swift Loretta Swit thank you will be uh in attendance she was supposed to be there last year the parade the whole parade was a wash out last year but uh keep your fingers crossed for for great weather um and uh a great day for Ren and the and our veterans and for remembering John basalone so hope everyone can uh come out for at least part of it thank you Mike I just want to add to that that our uh BR RAR and marching man will be performing that day thank you any other delegat Le is on reports Mike did you have anything for the delegate assembly they want get back to you when's that due October 1st correct I for I mentioned the date of the last meeting I think it's October 12th is the date that jumps out but I can double check and if anyone had reached out to you about we talked about some topics for any I hadn't heard anything um but if anyone has any ideas we still have an opportunity um if anyone wants to bring anything up thank you any other delegate or ladies on reports seeing none um this is the first part of the meeting individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following actual aims to the board of education at this time in accordance with the 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 a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website seeing none um we're go to item 10 approval of the minutes August 21st 24 regular session minutes do I have a motion is there a second second any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the role please mruna abstain Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee abstain Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries approval of action items Personnel 255 through Personnel 256 07 07 sorry thank you very much 07 no problem so move second any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the role Please Mr sunna yes Mr Ji yes Mr singer abstain on Personnel 2507 yes and everything else Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe abstain on Personnel 2507 yes on the rest Miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries curriculum 25-13 through 25-16 do I have a motion second any discussion just just a question about the the formatting usually we see the at least in the past the uh and I have to stay on it for a conflict but we would see the uh like 25 15 and 16 listed on the agenda are they in a separate document just because they're are a lot of them and we're approving for the beginning of the year or is that um it's in a separate document because there it's not um the class trips it is um special education program got it and they're part of students goals through their IEP so so one is the community- based program where students just uh are learning skills that you need to interact within the community like paying for food making change that kind of thing and the other workplace locations are pre-employment practice so they're specific to education I mean to special education and approved by Dr Sylvia and I think it's um this works better operationally for him to be able to manage them got it all right thanks it's it's great that they're in so many places I think it's a wonderful initiative I as a former work based employer location for this program um we're not anymore but my own business did it I just want to thank there are so many businesses on that list and thank you to the community um because it's tremendous that so many kids you mean at one point we had like 25 kids because they were lacking for place so it's great that there's so many now it's a great program anyone else Mr Stars can you call the RO please miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe abstain on curriculum 2515 2516 and yes on 13 and 14 Miss kist yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries business 2 5-27 through 25-30 is there a motion so moved is there a second any discussion one thing I would like to thank is it's it's lovely that our music department has received several instruments from m m bender and the Della family so thank you very much for those instruments are always nice to help enhance the environment and and then then whether they came from they go get put to good use with our amazing students anybody else Mr St can you call the RO please miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kist yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries special services 25-8 is there a motion Mo second any discussion see none Mr Stars can you call the rooll please miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries policy 25-2 is there a motion so moved any discussion um I would like to make a comment about the firearms and weapons policy I think it's important it is on yeah you're not not I'm not speaking to it okay I think it's important that we have a uh firearms and weapons policy it's tied to our security of our uh our students and um the the school community staff and teachers I want to remind people to read the policy and find a list of the definition of the weapons as well I know in some it's not in the um in the policies self but it might be in the handbook of each schools so that you know what are considered weapons um it's important that students know the expectations the families know the expectations um since we have policies and there's uh uh consequences if students violate some so read the policies and read the handbook in terms of what are defined as Weapons thank you any other comments see no Mr Stars can you call the rooll please miss Huna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kry yes Miss Freelander yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries we're up to the second open public com comment of our meeting individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any manner in accordance with the board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be post on the district's website now it is okay so um yeah hi everybody I haven't been here in a couple of months so happy September I just want to report that the year seems to have gotten off to a very solid start and uh I haven't been to many of the buildings but I can tell you the Middle School looks great I mean I'm not even going to comment on the bathrooms we all know what they look like and what they look like now okay it's unbelievable that there's actually tile that's not broken no one will get cut in the bathroom anymore okay so um but in all you know I want to thank the administration and the board for working with us um the bre un reorganizing the extracurricular activity guide the St guide for that um both parties agreed during the last negot negotiations that the stip and pro guide and process needed to be updated um and so we want to thank you for really working with us on that because there were so many activities in there that were no longer being used and uh you know we really don't have a process for meeting the students needs they have interest you know as time goes on you know certain activities fall fall off and others become popular so now there's a lot we are developing a process to um make that easier and this helps free up some of the space on that guide and some of the monies on that guide to make that possible so we appreciate that um and also I just want to mention that um the breas when there's um an election season we always send out a questionnaire whether it's to board members or to the Town Council and so we sent the uh questionnaire out to the board candidates so we hope that the candidates will complete the questionnaire so we can share each candidate's um experience as well as their interest in being on the board and uh that information again I stated in my email but we that doesn't mean we're supporting anyone but um we will be like sort of the conduit of information and that will go out to all Brea NJ njaa members that work in the district and live in town okay so and uh go John bassone I was thinking about Mash when you said that I was like oh hot lips remember that okay yeah I didn't want to use but all right anyway thank you it's nice to see everybody I hope you had a good summer see you soon any more public comment see I'm going to close that is there any old business just want to briefly mention uh in line with M what with with what Miss Crest was saying the njsba has a candidate briefing on September 24th at the votek so if you are running for uh One of These Fine seats uh I suggest you uh go attend one of these briefings uh where you can learn a lot about what it actually means to be a board member thank you Steve any other old business any new business I want to make a comment U so people have been comenting about the great crowd that we have today I remember last year about this time the first meeting afterwards we really had a big crowd and we heard the uh Transportation concerns that the parents have I'm so happy today that none of that is happening we have really nobody here to tell us about issues I have to say that um uh as a parent myself uh one of the best is delayed but I got notification everything went smooth and I want to command the team for a job well done thank you very much any other new business seeing none we are going to go back into close session and so sorry we probably we will take no action when we come back out and anything else so whereas discussion by the board is required on matters that expected expect are exceptions to the requirement that a public body hold its meeting in public and whereas the topics of discussion are personnel and security whereas is this expectation that the details of discussion may may be public as soon as the ises May issues may be acted on publicly be it resolved the board entered in a close session at this time is there a motion there a second all those in favor I those opposed we're going into CL thank you for everyone for coming this evening and go