##VIDEO ID:S7IhoMr0euE## everyone I'm going call to order the bridge wood Ron Board of Education meeting here on September 24th 2024 at 7:30 at the Wade building in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey notice of the the September 24th 2024 meeting of the bridge R 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 Cur News Star Ledger bridgew Township Clerk R and B Clerk and by posting on the bull board in the Harmon v Wade Administration building if you're able please join me rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance of Al to the flag unit States stand Mr Stars can you call the role Please Mr josi Mr singer here Miss Lee here Mr Pepe here Miss kist Miss Freelander here miss Asuna here miss lockran here Mr Walker here seeing theorum we moving next item the agenda is the superintendent report Mr beers thank you Mr Walker so before I hand it over to uh Mr aini for our Hib self assessment presentation there were just a few things I wanted to share with the Board of Education and the community um as far as uh what's going on here in the district so um as far as the referendum goes there there's a lot going on as we speak basalone field is scheduled to reopen to the public on Friday September 27th for uh home football game versus Ridge currently the facility is open for all of other sports we've got a temporary CEO for the bleachers so we're able to use the facilities and the locker rooms are ready to be used as well so teams are going to be moving moving into both the boys and girls side um today the finishing touches were being placed on on the Press Box and the sound system so it should be all systems go really at this point we're moving back in the waight room is set up and it's just a matter of finishing up the uh restroom facility to the left a as as you're looking at it so tentatively we're we're going to plan we're going to shoot for a reopening ceremony on October 24th like a grand opening um and and again we're awaiting completion on a few items at the facility like I said the restroom facility they've got to do some touch-ups on the bass alone monument that was uh redone put in place but they're they're going to do some things to clean it up and really make it look look perfect and and that's still a few weeks off window projects are ongoing with Van Holton in progress Bradley Garden Set uh to begin JFK has been completed uh some of the board members came with me today to to take a quick tour to really look at the progress media centers have been completed in all of the primary schools intermediate schools and middle schools so again 10 buildings over the course of the last two years have have all received a media center update so this is big for us some of it was done with referendum money some was done with General budget funds uh and Reserve but um there it's a really beautiful space in in all of our buildings and they're quickly becoming the learning Commons um for our students and for our teachers groundbreaking at the middle school edition is due to begin within the next few weeks so once we once we get the date for that I intend to invite the board to a a groundbreaking ceremony one night um uh at the future middle school edition spot so there there's a lot of other exciting news that came across this past week so one is that as a district we're really excited to announce that we're planning a a full day kindergarten pilot for the 2025 26 school year at our Title One schools those being Adamsville primary school and JFK Primary School full day kindergarten provides the opportunity to optimize conditions supporting the academic social and emotional well-being of our students through developmentally appropriate practices all kindergarten students at these two schools will be able to attend the pilot will be focused on it ensuring the facilities materials schedules curriculum instructional program and Staffing are all ready for a successful districtwide launch in 2026-27 highquality full day kindergarten programs lay the foundation for creating a positive engaging and Rich experience for our youngest Learners and we're thrilled to kick these programs off next year and then finally we received excellent news on our graduation rate within the district uh we went through graduation appeals made sure the numbers um uh worked out matched up and and I'm happy to to announce that our graduation rate for State reporting this past year is 96.3% which is indicative of a 2 and a half% rise from 2022 to 2023 and a 3.8% rise from 20 20 to to 2020 21 so when you look at the difference there and and looking at a at a cohort of approximately 700 students a year you're talking year-over-year of 25 additional kids between 25 and 26 additional kids getting across the line and and it's quite an accomplishment and it's been a two-year work in progress obviously 96.3% is not where we want to be we want to get it as close to 100 as we can but I want to thank I I want to start by thanking the high school teachers counselors administrators for making this goal a reality it didn't right these numbers don't happen by accident and that's what I want to make clear what it takes is is a focused intervention and we took a look and and we uh put in place learning Labs targeted interventions and students uh supports they were developed and put in place in Rapid fashion and and it was really the combination of best practices funding and highly competent people working towards a common goal so we're not prepared to stop until we get to 100% but I want to thank the Board of Education and the community at large for The Firm support of this ongoing initiative again there were dollars behind this right and and and we had to make sure that we had these targeted interventions people in the right places doing the right thing getting our kids across the line and uh and finally I want to congratulate those 25 or so kids who put in that extra effort and got themselves across the line I think a lot of times what it takes is really just convincing a young person that they can do it and and and also demonstrating that there's someone there for them um and it and it's going to help them get across the line I again I I I always say as teachers and admin administrators we can't allow kids to fail we can't allow it meaning that okay if we fall short in one place we've got to make sure we have the intervention so we can make up that credit and continue to move forward and I just want to congratulate the whole District um uh for making this a reality it it's an excellent stat and um we're going to continue pushing until we get to 100% so again thank you for your time now I would like to hand the program over to Mr Alan aini who's the direct the supervisor of guidance at the high school who will take us through the yearly Hib self assessment thank you thank you and good evening everyone again my name is Alan ium supervisor School counseling at the high school and also one of two anti-bullying coordinators in our district I'm here tonight to present our annual report as mandated um by the anti-bullying Bill of Rights that came out in 2009 uh and what this uh self assessment does is it reflects the implementation of the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act in our school district in each individual bu district and also uh in each individual building and the period that this is reflective of again is July 1st 2023 through the end of school June 30th in 2024 again this is required of all public school districts in the state of New Jersey at the end of the school in June each of the school safety teams school safety climate teams U meet to do the self assessment the uh the state has put forth a rubric in which uh there are various about 26 different components that each team rates itself on across the various elements that you can see posted here uh one of which is Hib programs approaches and other initiatives um that's as noted in the programs initiatives the approach that we take in treating one another in approaching HIV uh concerns in our school district uh the second is training on approved policy again this is related to staff and students in our district uh explaining to them what Hib is um uh what are programs we have uh implemented into our district to help combat this problem the other is other staff instruction and training programs uh for example one of the things that all staff in our district do uh does is complete a safe schools training uh it also has to do with anti-bullying Specialists or abss they're training that is conducted throughout the school year it also addresses curriculum instruction on Hib and related information and skills again for example one of the things that we rate ourselves on is the adherence to the week of respect uh week of respect is coming up in our school district uh annually the state provides it it's begins with the first Monday of each October and it lasts for the duration of that week the next is Hib personnel and this again is related to abss and school safety teams uh they training ongoing training throughout the year school level Hib incident reporting procedure again this is a process for how allegations are reported in our district there's a mechanism in which uh students parents members of the community can report allegations of Hib anonymously there's also a link within our on our website in which uh those individuals can also report an Hib allegation hi Hib investigation procedures again this is specifically related to how we investigate allegations whether we're following State mandated timelines um as indicated by them and then lastly Hib reporting how do we report uh our incidents um to the state according to State guidelines just a quick uh summary of uh how the assessment Works each each one of those components is rated by the school safety team on a scale of 0 to three zero meaning does not meet the requirements three meets exceeding the requirements and totaling them all up a school grade is maximum it could be is 78 so our schooles can be anywhere from 0 to 78 this slide uh shows each school's self assessment again it's subjective to that school there are specific criteria that the state gives us examples of what would demonstrate meeting or exceeding those expectations as you see as you can see in a district average uh is a 75.6 four again that's an average of all 11 buildings and then I've broken it down into a primary average and intermediate and then individually for the middle school and the high school within the primaries you can also see the individual scores that the schools uh rated themselves again not much variance in the total scores across the across the district also reported is uh again on the scale on a on a graphic of our self assessment scale U over the past three years beginning in 20 2121 202022 uh for the primary schools intermediate middle and high school again you don't see much variance uh if anything some of the scores have gone up over the years and as you can see for the intermediates has gone down slightly over the past year the next slide is uh a report of our allegations that occurred during the 23 24 school year and again I want you to understand that allegations are unfounded okay they're not to be grouped and they're group and they're reported sep separately from confirmed cases of HIV as you can see the number of allegations again across the different levels over the past three years the next slide is our confirmed HIV cases uh they were investigated and uh the criteria put forth by the state was applied and as such they conformed or conformed to the definition of an HIV uh situation and as you can see the number of incidents uh across the primary intermediate middle and high schools and then lastly um what's going to happen during the 2425 school year uh again the school safety teams meet on a regular basis um most we begin in the fall uh with a general meeting in September school safety teams can meet as often as they like they can meet monthly they can meet uh quarterly U but they have to meet at least twice a year I do know at the high school we meet um once a month um the members of the school safety team meet to discuss uh initiatives and things that they have they're interested in in doing at the high school again the part of the school safety teams continue to monitor the implementation of the law making sure that we're meeting the requirements uh as put forth by ABR again the the school safety team's plan for the upcoming school year and they address any areas in which they feel that Improvement can be made and again as a district as as a counseling department as Hib uh most of the all the abss are members of the counseling department again we focus on character education mental health and wellness throughout the school district and this aligns with our current goal uh one of our district goals of climate and culture any questions yes ma'am questions um first the number allegations and number of confirmed does that have any bearing on Rebecca please use the mic sorry oh the number of allegations and confirmed um situations does it have any bearing on the score itself no it doesn't the uh the allegations and the the confirmations are not related to the self self assessment is according to those components how are you implementing the law it has nothing to do with the uh allegations or the confirmations that's totally separate those happen once an allegation is made are we following the prescribed process as dictated by the state of New Jersey and most in 10 times out of 10 We are following those guidelines and when this was all done the self assessment is what happens next is it just for self-reflection or is it with the state and they come in and say why is your assessment so low or why is it so high the state reserves their right to do that um but it's more of a self-reflection it's kind of like okay let's look back on the year what have we what did we do really well what are some things that we could do better and then what they'll do is they'll meet in the fall the team again and say okay this is what happened last year what can we begin to plan for beginning September October November throughout the school year to address those issues as best that we can ma'am um I guess my question was regarding the slide on the confirmed um hibs when you guys are reflecting on that data does that help steer or drive any programming um it does I mean you can see that there is a drop like um for 2023 2024 in the middle school and the high school but it shows that it went up at the intermediate so I'm just curious how you use that data to help Drive anything to remedy that I think with within each school if you're looking at specifically the intermediate schools where you see an increase over the past school year of the number of confirmed cases uh it again depends on the population that's coming through um and um we're dealing with those particular what what you'll find is you're going from primary to intermediate schools kids are growing older they're they're starting to experience more things and they're trying and they're I would say they're testing the boundaries right they're saying things that maybe they're not sure whether they should be saying or not so I know that what the administrative teams and the counselors have been doing at each building is assessing each one of those individual situations as they come forth and saying okay are are there patterns developing and if so how can we do various things to address that and I know in each of the buildings throughout the school district they are doing different programs to address things in general climate and culture then also specifically to certain populations if that's what what's indicated by the data thank you for that you're welcome um in 2021 to 2022 there was a time period where kids were still or students were still remote is that correct would that have had an impact on that in the in the 20 2021 I think is when covid hit right that was at the end of the 20 2020 2020 and then into 21 we still had a hybrid type of schedule going at that time uh where kids all kids were not back in school at that time so was it hybrid ful back fully back it all blurs 2122 was hybrid oh no 2122 was hybrid were back you were back F time 20 okay thank okay so I mean yeah we we saw an increase of cases as when kids came back to school because now they were interacting more with one another you know when they were obviously when they were homeschooled or when they were at home during covid we did have some incidents but we saw a significant drop because kids weren't interacting with each other to the extent that they were in person with each other there was some incidents happening in you know over the over the cell phones internet things along those lines we did see cases as such as that and that was going to be my next question um not so much about the data but observationally have there been an increase in cases that have been either a result or in part a result of electronic it's always been that way I don't think there's been an increase in electronic cyber bullying it's always been a case uh I think majority of our cases are still in person students saying things inappropriately to each other in person and there is a high number of of of cases however that do come to our attention and it's something that happened over the weekend on Snapchat that spills over into the school and it's just another case where okay now something happened outside of our walls and we're we're tasked with dealing with that right and and that's the difficult piece that we deal with and I'll be honest where folks will say well what are you doing well I I wasn't home with everyone this weekend when this went on and yes there are a number of cases where the way the law works is if it has a substantial disruption to the school environment and that covers things that happen outside and and there are plenty of of text message or or or Snapchats or what have you that come from a kid's bedroom right and and yes that becomes our responsibility to to deal with those issues because it affects the school day absolutely spill overcome May El question questions thank you Mr aen um please yes ma'am I have a comment about this um I feel like we have been charting tracking the number of HIV for this years and I wonder have we been doing things that's different from the year before trying to lower those cases how do we see a response of those you know we try we try every day to try and lessen the amount of those allegations you know it's as Mr beers has said it's hard to control what happens outside the school walls if you will and a lot of it does spill over um we look at the data we try to address as much of those situations as best we can I think you know developing relationships with students between students uh relationships between staff being role models of how we should behave as as Citizens we try our best to do that unfortunately you know once they leave our walls we can't control what happens outside there and again there's that spill over and then we're left to deal with that so we do trust we have some U you know for example at the high school we have a couple assemblies coming up in the month of October in which we're dealing with drug prevention and also bias and Prejudice so we're trying to address those as best that we can you know sending that message out to kids that this this is unacceptable Behavior unfortunately we can we're not they're not puppets and we can't control exactly what they do um but we do our best to try and minimize that as much as we can glad to hear those programming trying to address that particular yes do you have also um programming that addresses it from a digital citizenship perspective uh the the program that we have upcoming deals with it on both both sides it deals with it on a face-to-face basis as well as from an electronic perspective and Miss cotas has also said she works with that quite a bit right digal Miss Miss cotas Jamie cous yes so she also works with digital citizenship in those areas also too so it's a multipronged Pros so you're not the the guidance department is not the only anti it's it's a full District effort areas so we try to address it both from an elementary to an intermediate to middle school and high school level because each kids's a little different they're all different and another thing I I mentioned to Bob right here note is um the cell phone policy keeping that technology where that's a lot of as you know that has been a lot of things what happens can keep that at a minimum too so you're making every day you make an approach of some way so that's one step from a larger standpoint I think the district I thank him for that any other questions thank you Mr aen thank you have a good rest school year thank you anything else okay um next up is the president's report um I'd like to thank Mr aen for that report and I'd like to thank Mr beers for you know the information about the graduation right that's something I think that the administration took a whole part of both the high school and the guidance Department Mr I and everything to move those kids forward so they're all achieving so they could get them across the line and that's significant Improvement when you're a large District like us you know I think sometimes people feel we they're a little bit lost where they found somewhat they got those kids and they try to find them and they found them um also uh I'd like to thank the administration for the announcement of the the pilot pre the uh the pilot of the full day kindergarten program I think that's an excellent excellent idea and moving forward Mr fond is his group and brought it to us attention and committee I think that's um a nice way to find out way to perfect it before we open up full-time so I think that's a great effort they're doing um also I think um M thank Mr beers and the administration we got a tour of um JFK tonight we saw the windows are gorgeous you know I'm like very substantially done um cleaned up the entryways the new new new secure entrances um also then the start of the the the it the aition system is a major project because one thing you don't realize is how much more power you need so they've actually had you was like there were um six and you five inch conduits to run all the the high voltage lines that are needed so kind of all the different process that has to happen and then staging and coordination so quite an effort going on there um I had a meeting I want a little update at work about workshop at with the border of directors so workshops coming up I just beers everyone seems to be notifying what's going on as you go down there they they mentioned you know please download the app it's coming in there also in the when you go down if you're going for the day I would recommend parking at the convention center but if you're going and staying night they recommend that you park at your hotel and then transport take the Jitney over to the the the center um there is U several sponsors for free lunch and lunch and learns all week so there's a ticket you can get at the njsba booth for that um there's also a county meeting coming up a week for October 10 10th October 10th at the at the suers county VTech I forget the topic if anybody can remind me of the topic I'm not sure is it AI I think it's AI yeah it's about AI artificial intelligence is there football game that night also um kind of interesting I had an njsa meeting too and one of the fastest growing Sports in the state of New Jersey is girls flag football so it's a it's a it's a probationary sport now in the spring but it it looks like that might potentially come in as a full-time sport in the fall of 25 so some interesting news there growing um that's all we have I'll talk more about the retreat in in New in Old business meting thank you next up um Community reports academic committee Mr Joshy okay we met last Thursday September 19th at 5:30 virtually in attendance were myself miss cestry Mr pepy Mr Walker Miss Jones Mr beers Miss Mia and Mr Morello uh the first item on the agenda was policy the uh committee reviewed the following policies and the relevant stress asme alert the committee recommended that the optional language of the attendance policy should not be used as it complicates the policy unnecessarily these options remain viable through practice the committee also recommended removing language specific specific to horses from the service animal policy as it would not be a viable option in the district wasn't that miniature horses yeah it wasn't full siize horses horses um the policies moved to First reading and these were policy 2200 curriculum content policy r5200 attendance 5337 service animals and 5350 student suicide prevention any questions on that question okay um two questions one was about service animals I noticed that it had leashes and then that was crossed off um I only asked because I grew up very fearful of dogs and for anyone else in the school who came in and there was a service animal that was not leashed I would walk out of the school right I mean now I wouldn't but then I would and I'm just wondering why we why that would be Poss yeah so that's this is for first reading so that's a one of the things that uh I think one of us somebody did picked that up I think we don't have any service animals right now in the district but notic that we discussed it and I think that's just a reflection of believe that's a reflection of state law but I'm not 100% sure on that yeah but that has to be a leash because even if it is a seeing ey do yeah especially like if we have a a drill with like an active shooter kind of thing like the kids are hiding well they have to yeah control the animals and the other question was about the attendance policy with the Civic event it said that it's only allowed as an excuse absence if it has a five-day advanced notice yeah um and I believe when they were you know when all the kids were out going to events uh for climate change like these things don't necessarily come up with a five-day advance notice if they want to engage so I'm wondering if that is a requirement from the state or is that just a amount of time that we put in okay we'll bring that up at the next meeting okay any other questions yeah t along I think that's the uh addition of the service um sorry Civic event I think that was a good thing uh I hope that the students are aware of this change um I think um um it's important that uh students are learning about how our society works and engage civically um I have a question uh regarding the uh Animal Service animal uh so um you can email it to me later on as well this is a first reading so yes policy sure okay let do their B yeah and again these are all you know for first reading so any comments are welcome for our next meeting okay all right moving on item number two Bridgewater eron High School cross country calendar which is up on our agenda was reviewed by the committee and there were no questions item number three High School final exams Miss Jones reviewed the elimination of exams for high school for this school year BRS will no longer administer 100 minute final exams during the final four days of the school year this assessment will no longer be equivalent to 12% of a student's overall final grade in its place brhs will use summative assessments which is similar to a regular test or project given within a marking period the content is summative rather than cumulative reflecting the overall course outcome rather than a strict measurement of of all accumulated content and skills and I think Mr hamburger had uh conveyed this message to the parents uh this past Friday because there were some questions so that has been um information has been given out to the parents so where all the marking periods now 25% of the grade no I think uh the midterm is no longer right there's no midterm and there's no final so so yeah yeah so it's just 25 question um do we have this throughout all high school it used to be a senior exemption right right but why do we do it throughout the whole it'll be throughout the whole I don't believe there will be senior exemptions so no senior exemption anymore but every grade in high school don't have finals anymore right okay correct um a lot of the colleges still do have final yeah right um I wonder if that was like in our discussion um to to consider the transition between from our high school and going to college they're going to have to go through some adjustment well some some colleges some classes have final exams some you know in college some have projects you know they give a whole semester long project so you know it's a mix mixture of everything but some do some colleges do have final exams but some don't depends on the class I think yeah I just want to make sure that our kids going through our high school are prepared for our next stage of Life absolutely and and and look part of the theory on on uh final exams is as follows if you have a culminating activity or culminating test of some sort assessment and and you do that that marking period by marking period that actually has more value from an instructional standpoint because it's data that you can take action on meaning this if a young person takes a you know a a a u a test at the end of the first marketing period I can see who's struggling and who's not who I can who I can help out now final exam it's really not it's not actionable data it's data right it's a test that's where you are but from an instru standpoint um it has less value right it's a it's a it's a final exam a final test and you're right what what happens is you do have inequities where some kids uh can get exempts some kids have to take it um and what the whole idea is to is to not lose two weeks of instructional time and to gain that instructional time and and we can do some type of of uh internal assessments within those classes and and there there are plenty of high schools that have gone to this model Y and uh and as we know we have well 40 plus percent of our kids take an AP exam of of some sort so I mean kids do get that that practice for for college examinations and just on a side note uh my daughter just graduated high school and she's in college and she came back this weekend you know about colleges and all that uh a lot of our friends um commented it's just new you know they're new right now they just started that our high school actually do prepare our kids really well you know with the APS and all of that so they felt like this was nothing new to them as far as the rigor of the classes and the expectations they were right there so we trained them pretty well so it's it's a good thing it's just not on the side note anyway also in a college class you're spending a little Li mited amount of time with your professors are in class it is a lot of self-driven instruction if you're with if you have a class that that you're teaching all year long you're spending 60 minutes a day with a group it's teachers have a better sense of what the kids are learning along the way and don't necessarily need that last bit of data like Mr Beer said okay I just want to remind the board that we abolished the uh midye and final examinations policy back in August of 2022 so in case anyone was curious right moving along um K through six mtss overview uh Miss Mia provided an overview of mtss which is multi-tiered System of support inres K through six in response to questions at a previous academic committee meeting uh mtss is a PR framework that provides targeted support to identified students at different levels of intensity all students receive tier one class instruction a smaller percentage of students need additional tier 2 support which is supplemental instruction with a focused goal a smaller percentage of students may require tier three services which occur in a pullout setting Target a specific goal and include different resources any questions on that okay item five full day um kindergarten pilot as Mr beers uh mentioned before um we discussed the full day kindergarten pilot plan for 2025 2026 school year at our tier one sorry Title One schools which is which are Adamsville schools and zfk school this pilot will focused will be focused on ensuring that the facilities materials schedules curriculum instructional program and Staffing are all ready for a successful districtwide launch in 2026 2027 any questions on that okay item number six gifted and talented discussion Miss Jones reviewed data specific to gifted and talented services with the committee highlighting the following there has been an increase in the number and percentage of students receiving gifted and talented services this shift is most significant in grades K through three third grade as Services have been uh expanded to include small group in investigations and cluster grouping in third grade math additionally Services were previously not offered in K kindergarten first grade which is an improvement um change as well Miss Jones also reviewed the process that expanded Services Consulting with an expert implementing an equity audit using surveys and focus groups to collect stakeholder feedback researching evidence-based practice using data to drive decisionmaking and implementing Universal screening Miss Jones reminded the committee uh that comprehensive information on all of this gifted and talented program is on the district's website any questions on that I have so what's our size of enrollment for our talent uh you know I had that uh information it's in the materials in the file yeah it's in the I know I saw it somewhere it's in the file I think I think it was shared with us no yeah it's in the it's in the um Community file you can see the numb yeah it's in the academic hang on a second you can see the total number the number tested the percent of the population yeah the graphs and uh it's under committees academicals committees academic agenda material sorry thanks yeah it's in the committee folder if you look at it I I'll this yeah thank on the backfire okay and we adjourned at 6:45 our next meeting is October 24th at 5:30 thank you AJ Okay next up on the agenda community relations Miss gist who Stacy's taking time for Miss yes I will be reporting on community rels um the committee met on September 16th virtually at 5:30 p.m in attendance was chairperson Miss clist myself and our alternate Miss Lee as well as Mr beers Mr Walker and Mr Moran um agenda item number one we reviewed policy 9181 volunteer athletic coaches and coach curricular activity advisers the committee agreed with the recommendations were there any questions on that okay the committee reviewed policy 2431 athletic competition in relation to homeschooled students we discussed students who are currently homeschooled participating in high school inter Scholastic athletic programs we would like feedback of the board regarding this topic currently our policy does not allow homeschooled students to participate in inter Scholastic athletic programs we would like to discuss this or if it should be changed any questions on that we allow students to participate in other extracurricular activities though correct they're homeschooled but correct this is in regards to athletic Athletics okay thanks and with Athletics the njsa does have a list of requirements um or if you would allow homeschooled students to participate that they have to abide by and as we discussed at the committee homeschooling today is very much is very different than let's say 20 or 30 years ago where these young folks have a transcript Etc you can see where they stand from a credit standpoint right A lot of them are are applying to colleges and things like that and um they have actual transcripts that that they could submit to to ensure eligibility just like our students who are educated in District was there a recommendation from the administration in that regard um honestly I'm agnostic on it I can tell you we get a few um requests each year and it it really is the the decision of the board so I guess the information I could provide is there's not a ground swell of kids it's not as if we're going to add 100 kids were athletic programs things like that each year we have a handful um they participate in different clubs and and the like um and we had a request this year and that's why I brought it to the committee's attention but again you could you could count the requests on on one hand in a given year does this only apply to homeschooled specifically or could a child who's going to a private school also they're ineligible if they're at another proper SCH yeah yeah that's a that's a good question because home school is sort of like a they're not home they're correct it so it would be homeschooled only and um now we get into the the state rules on on athletic participation you you have to participate uh in your home school so I know it's plan words here uh you have to uh participate where you live all right and um there there are exceptions to the rule for instance if a student um attends votech they can they can be a part of our Athletics teams so there are kids from that from that school who still do participate who are on a half day program they come back they're in the band they're in different different uh Athletics so if you if you do attend a private school let's say you go up to pingry well you're you're in their activities you wouldn't be in hours and the state's pretty strict on those eligibility requirements so if a school offers that sport that's where you participate I'm just wondering why just because votch has athletic teams just not all of them I so if the votek has a team I don't know if you're allowed to be on the high school team I think it's only the V doesn't have it only if it's a different right yeah yeah students at votch are considered enrolled in the district or not yeah I'm sorry but home school is a whole different situation so I don't want to go down a rabbit hole of votch versus this it's really the handful of homeschooled students uh whether we allow them to participate so would this go back to committee then um to change the policy or could we do that now we could have the first reading yeah what would you want to change to so you discussing you all lot per them permit them or not yes that's what was the topic was that we needed to decide whether we are agreeable or we are not and and I want to follow that that question with would the language then read that it's at the discretion of administration or is it open-ended I think it has to be up to the njsiaa requirements Am I Wrong well they they they're pretty comp strict in the requirements that they have to transcript eligible of residency you know same same compliance like that but it would be up to that they meet the qualifications the physical right so if they meet that then the administration approve it should yes you know they're always may be in situation but that's their job administration's job is there like a model policy in stra Esme or something we could look at to maybe start from yeah we we have the policy that allows the Board of Education to decide yes or no got it and then if the board decides yes generally speaking we would use the njsa guidelines to ensure the eligibility of that student got it so so we can make we can bring this back to community relations and then bring it back for first reading correct yep okay great thank you um I would say your thoughts on that would share with Stacy or Emily or Emily Emily sorry yeah Emily I forgot Emily's the chair excuse me you were chair last year so share that with Emily so if you have your feelings either way so it can be discussed in committee figures though yep thanks okay moving on um item number three we reviewed um the website which which is fabulous as well as the app um we reviewed some of the areas that we wanted to make sure we were working and questions on which included email Communications the calendar and referendum updates um item number four was Transportation Communications um and noted that it has been it has been much better um in a great school year thus far um item number five is the bass Leon field reopening uh first game September 2 7th grand opening will be October 11th versus Hillsboro um the committee expressed excitement and we're very happy to be part of the reopening I have a question on that so you had mentioned it was October 24th now is it actually the 25th which is the pH we changed it Philipsburg game I'm sorry yes the Phillipsburg game I apologize for that date and it did get changed because we had a construction meeting today and the 24th would be a better bed right right then the 10th sounds good 25th I'm sorry progress is being made but not not not fast not at the pace we we' like to do you know as as a part of that the basalone monument that that you talked about will that be ready by then is that going to be a separate separate ceremony or that will be incorporated into the be all part of it all part of it okay um thanks okay item number six the board will have a groundbreaking ceremony for the middle school which we spoke about earlier and item number seven athletic awards honor stud we're going to be we're going to be honoring students um from different games or different sports during winter break uh we want to recognize teams as they win special titles and over winter break we will have an award ceremony for the teams that won the state titles this best spring because there are a number of students on those teams who were seniors who are now away at college so we're going to be hoping that they're coming back over winter break so that's why we're waiting till then to do it um we had one walk-in items uh one walk-in item um a board member asked how we could find the health opt out form um it's very easy you go to the website in the search box you type it in it comes right up um the meeting adjourned at 6:28 and the committee has agreed to meet every other month so the next meeting will be in November with the exact date to be determined thank you so much thank you I ask real quick are those forms also available from like directly from the schools I would imagine the up that forms on the if it's there on the website got it you do a search opt out form it comes up on the website so thank you Stacy Mr singer Finance facilities and transportation the finance facilities and transportation ition committee met on September 16th 2024 at 5:30 p.m. in attendance was myself miss suuna Mr Walker Mr stars and Mr Beer up first was the business agenda review the business administrator reviewed the draft business action items for tonight's meeting with special attention to the final payment to Lamar Roofing a new copier vendor and an award for online event ticketing platform the recommendation of the committee was the consensus was to approve the action item any questions next up was a projects update Mr Stars reviewed a projects update handout with the numerous projects underway and nearing completion possible change orders were discussed the uh project handout is uh uploaded to the committee drive I'll just go over a couple of them real quick because uh for the Public's uh information um the window replacements have already started and the JFK windows were completed uh in September so that's group great secure vestibules uh are substantially complete at all schools right Peter with uh the punchless items to be done by the end of this month yeah uh there's a lot more if anyone has any questions on uh any specific project update uh please let me know uh one other one that I wanted to uh point out is that the sewer line flow meters uh the projects are complete at both the high school and the middle school um there's a change order is that on tonight's agenda Peter um and we talked about uh the break even of the cost of that and it's going to be basically a year uh so well worth the investment that we've put into it uh so just want to point that out any questions on projects next the other matters uh Committee Member brought up a concern about littering on school grounds there was no recommendation at this time our next meetings are October 14th and November 4th and we adjourned at 6:21 pm thank you Steve any other questions on that any delegate or liaison reports oh Personnel Stacy sorry personel committee moving right along I know it's me again sorry um uh so Personnel committee met on September 17th at 5:00 pm virtually in attendance was myself Mr Pepe Miss Lee Mr Walker Mr fonder and Mr beers um item number one was an update on Recruitment and Retention Mr fonder did a great job of discussing and explaining to us the challenges related to Recruitment and Retention in New Jersey Public Schools um Bridge raran has faced a number of challenges but continues to leverage our strengths to creatively solve problems that arise uh the recommendation is the committee supported the district's Recruitment and Retention efforts and we thank Mr fonder um any questions on that great uh number two was the draft of the Personnel addendum which is in front of you this evening we discussed the personel addendum items the recommendation was that the committee supports the action items I'm going to skip item number three because I know there's questions so we can save that one for last um number four is policy review we were still looking at the Thousand series 1310 1320 1350 1400 and 1510 the committee discussed and the identified policies in the series no changes are recommended at this time number five we also had the exciting news of the full day kindergarten pilot which brought me so much joy as well as the rest of the committee so thank you Mr beers Mr fonder for giving us a complete update as we've already said in several of the other committees this is going to be a pilot for 2025 2026 at our Title One schools Adamsville and JFK um the recommendation was of course supporting the full day kindergarten pilot program okay going back uh policy revisions there are several in front of you and ones that we had discussed um the first one was 0141 board member number and term revised does anybody have any questions on that okay 01 64.6 was the remote public board meetings during a declared emergency which is abolished any questions on that why is it abolished Mr fonder has a a very good explanation but also you'll see why this one's uh informed by a state law that has no longer a state law and so when the state law requiring this uh was put in place stme created a policy for it and so because the state law is no longer in effect this policy should no longer be on the the books and so that's why Strauss s May sent out an alert saying to abolish it and if we have an emergency situation we can probably what would happen is if the state put out a made a new law then Strauss ese would make a new policy that would whatever was in there but it would unlikely be exactly the same and so it wouldn't be a good idea to keep a policy on the books that references a law that no longer exists but we don't need one in like a hurricane sanding kind of situation right you don't need a policy to just have a meeting right correct and I think this policy was revised multiple times right yes during there's been additions and subtractions like for the past two three years I think yeah okay the next two were both policy and regulations um 3160 and 4160 which are revised regarding physical examination any questions on that one okay the next one was policy 0171 which is duties of board President and Vice President revised okay and we have two notes here to make sure everybody's on the same page so 0141 01 64.6 the policy and regulation 3160 and 4160 are recommended with revisions noted by a Strauss Esme policy alert okay 0171 and 0164 are recommended with revisions discussed in the meeting that eliminate sentences that are not part of the model policy and which do not serve to add Clarity to the respective policy and I'm going to say does anybody have any questions on this I have comments but I'm going to wait till it's part of the agenda okay okay so since that is going to be held I will tell you that we adjourned at 6: PM our next meeting will be held on October 22nd 2024 thank you so much thank you Stacy now any delicate or leaz on reports I could start just briefly with the Bureau of ran uh this Sunday was the basalone parade which is really the biggest a day in in our town it was terrific weather terrific turnout and a really great parade we thank the Bridgewater ran uh High School Marching Band for being there along with the robotics team uh with their robots in in tow they got out a lot of Buzz and there were some other schools there as well uh Somerville High School macada um added along with a number of other bands from military or organizations and young Cadets serving in different um capacities so that was really wonderful uh it was a wonderful day and thank you to everyone on the parade committee who made that happen um at the after the parade there was a a brief poignant ceremony at the Statue of Sergeant basalone um where uh reads were laid and a few addresses were given uh we heard from the Grand Marshall Mr Ray Manzo was a bronze star winner from Vietnam um working in m in Munitions and specifically as an engineer trying to um basically take out traps and deactivate landmines that were uh that were in place and uh in one instance when he won the when he was awarded the bronze star was just incredible um literally taking um his his colleagues his comrades on his back and running across the road to getting them the safety and then he went on to found the Rolling Thunder which is a large motorcycle biker or or organization largely of veterans largely of bikers but not exclusive to that that advocates for uh PS and uh people who are and uh service members who are missing an action and they've held a number of large rallies and charitable organizations around the um around the state so thank you to him for serving as Grand Marshall and thank you to everyone who made the parade uh a great event in ridan after missing last year for rain Mike any other delegate or Le on reports I'm sorry I'll report so was there from Mash who also spoke very poignantly um obviously she's had a one of the only two uh Mash cast members to be there for the entire run uh so she was uh she spoke and L a wreath and was a part of the parade and spoke very V very poignantly about what it means to be a veteran and the debt that we all them so thank you to her and so many people who were out there they also have a ship named after John basson actually the the um the military servicemen on the ship attended which was great to see wife yes they they they Lay Laid re as well his family was there um and lay V one from the from the mayor on behalf of the people of ridan so very nice nice Service uh two star general um sorry let's get his name real quick Omar Randle from the Marine Corps uh spoke and one of the things he talked about was how this kind of parade really epitomizes what's great about small town America and just Americans in in general and uh I did speak to a couple of cadets Marine Cadets who made the point that Sergeant basalone is someone who Marines learn about across the board not just in New Jersey but if you're a marine you've spent a great deal of time studying and learning about basalone so it's a great uh honor for our community to be able to claim him thank you Mike any Lucy yes I want to report that uh uh the past two weekends all September the 14th uh there was that uh uh Mo Festival celebration greatest at the Great Water Mall great to see that bridgew R students were here uh were there to present U cultural presentation and participating volunteer activities and it's great to see our students participate actively in the community activities thank you thank you anybody else one one okay good thank you Mike yeah I think it's a topic for new business um it is a topic for business but I would like to add to that that um I just don't think that there's enough time between now and the delegates assembly to really push forward anything related to that so so maybe it's an on topic too AJ yeah so with um the no leash I think that was Strauss SM wording and it may have to do with ADA compliance issue I don't think it's I know it wasn't our addition or subtraction I think it's start as a wording for ADA compliance that's what I remember and Le compliance with the federal law yeah to most of those things are done that way yeah anybody else okay open the public actions only individuals and their 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 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 of this meeting will be posted on the district's website seeing none um we move to the item number 11 approval of minutes approval of minutes September is there motion for approval of minutes for September 10 regular session and September 10 2024 closed session so moved is there any discussion see none Mr Starks can you call the r Please Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr pepy yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Miss lockran Mr Walker yes motion passes approval of action items Personnel Personnel 251 is there a motion sorry 258 thank you Steve is there a motion second is there any discussion seeing none Mr Stars can call the RO Please Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Muna yes M lockran Mr Walker yes motion carries curriculum 25-17 through 25-22 is there a motion so we moved is there a second second I'm gonna I think we may need to invoke the doctrine of necessity on curriculum 25-17 for the njsba convention for us because it's approving our travel there right so you just have to explain what is so and what that means is in cases where there could be a potential conflict um and where the majority of the board to pass a resolution would be in Conflict we invoked What's called the state law called the doctrine for necessity where we it's we understand what we're doing we're doing this because we need a majority to do it and we can't do it without invoking the doctorine necessity so it's just uh the understanding because we we're going for our train this is our yearly training and workshop so in those areas because we have to approve it we don't want to be in violation on ethics so that's the reason why so everyone understands it's called the doctrine necessity it comes in about only once a year when we go to workshops so it's the only time we do it I just have a comment on 25 curriculum 2522 this looks like um the tcj courses that are dual enrollment there are AP courses so you're kind of getting the best of all worlds here because it's an AP level course you get to take the exam so even if you don't go to tcj or a school that accepts their transfer credits you can still take the AP and test out of that course so this seems like wonderful idea it was it was a great opportunity I think the administration worked worked with and have been trying really hard to get down through the university so thank you to that I'm also just going to note that on 2517 I think I have to recuse myself and not abstain because I'm on the list accuse abstains it's almost the same thing isn't it when when she came and and did our instruction told us the difference between between the two and I was paying attention that day so I would not vote how's that I have a question regarding 2522 with tcj do you have to pay the $500 to take that AP class or can you still just take it as an AP class without the credit it's a good question you can take it without the credit it's an option can you take it without taking I guess you could always choose not to take the AP test correct it it if you're enrolled in an AP class I I believe it's in the first week of November that the fees are due if you want to take the examination and also um it it's an option you can take the Dual credit portion or or not and regarding both of those fees is there any um used for the free and reduce if you want to get for the college credit as well correct or just for the AP part of oh I know for the the AP there is the college credit I I'm sure there is something I I can't I can't uh pull it up right now because you pay them directly correct and you pay the you pay uh College boards directly for AP too yeah yeah and if you actually but there's a waiver for college boards that we're we're able to take the list of any kids who are on free reduced and and it's it's waved they've got a pretty seamless process for doing that any other questions see none Mr Stars can you call the O Please Mr josi yes Mr singer I'm going to recuse myself on curriculum 2517 yes and everything else Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries business 25-31 through business 25-38 do I have a motion we moved second is there any discussion question a couple questions on the approval of the competitive contract award for E ticketing um that we approve this RFP in in July I I just wanted to clarify when it comes to at least athletic event events I know this this start soon um will we still be accepting cash from people who are looking to come to the couple of events I think it's just football games and maybe basketball will there still be someone with a cash box to take someone's two bucks or three bucks or whatever it is I would assume that there would but as we know the world is moving towards remote ticketing and things I mean when we look at area high schools I think with this same the same platform just off the top of my head I know Hillsboro uh Brook um watch Young Hills if you look at the away games generally speaking a lot of parents go ahead and they purchase their tickets ahead of time on the ticketing app um but but yes we our aim is to accommodate people and get them in versus pushing them away that's great i' hate to see someone who sees an article that M Morad rates or somebody says I'll go to that game but they don't have a smartphone or don't have forgot their password or there're people without smartphones % there are some not many just or or or or more often people who have smartphones and are not necessarily able to utilize them to do what they want yeah I I think when we look at this though what I could tell you is we have highly competent people at the high school MH who know how to implement this uh our Athletics director principal assistant principls uh uh music directors Etc they they know what they need to do per event and I wouldn't be able to give you specifics that say okay for the spring musical what are we doing exactly right um but they intend to utilize this to to the maximum capacity because it does offer a lot of advantages for sure and I'm that full confidence that every that no one's going to be working to turn anybody away a parent or grandparent no or someone coming in for that I just want to make sure that like if someone has a kid who plays softball there's no issue with driving up to the fields and parking and walking watching the game suddenly if it's football or basketball and you have a whole process to go through that some people may not be able do but I do have confidence that we'll handle it appropriately so thanks for that clarification one more question about that and I know I had emailed you about the senior citizens if they have free tickets do they still need to like do something online or I just don't want anyone to be afraid to go nervous and those are the on poti with no smartes yes great and and just to clarify SE senior citizens are already admitted free to at at least sporting events I know last year it was the play if they lived in Bridgewater and ridan 65 and over 65 and over policy 9160 I just want to note that the fft committee did have a l the discussion about the tiing software and um what it comes down to is providing the administration the tools that they need to accomplish what they're hoping to accomplish which is making you know sporting events and and Theater events easy for everyone to attend uh and this really just gives them that tool whether or not we want to charge is a different question altogether and that's something that the that the board can take a look at later on but under policy right now that's a decision that's also administrative so that's all I have to say first I I support um this initiative I'm is there a an electronic fee associated with the payment and I assume that that covers the cost of the software sorry it wasn't yes that's correct sorry any other questions i' i' like to thank we have numerous gifts this time uh from Su suan and Jim pel pelier I think is that for the art supplies um the Bradley ens PTO um um from Daniel pacon and CCO newpin some classroom wish list items and also chair organizer and heads phone from the bridge the bridge borderer Middle School let thank for for those gifts if there's no more questions Mr Stars can you call the RO Please Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries special services 25-9 through 25-11 is there a motion second is there any discussion seeing none I will be abstaining Steve in my case okay if that's okay on on 5-10 it's appropriate because it doesn't directly benefit you yes Mr Stars the word please Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes on 2509 and 2511 abstaining on 25-10 motion carries other 25- seven is there a motion is there a second any discussion would have to be enclosed so is there any need to discuss seeing none Mr Stars can call the RO Please Mr Joi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion carries policy 253 through 25 25-5 is there a motion is there a second second discussion yeah yeah I was uh picking up from like earlier discussion after the committee uh report um so I had a comment about um not the service animal I misread that no wonder I can't find in my notes had a question about curriculum content um I see that a lot of that was removed from our current policy I wonder like what triggered this change policy number Lucy uh 2200 2200 curriculum content hold on a sec I just closed out all the time 22 hang on now I can't find it looking at if you take a look at the Strauss Esme alert majority of that will give some of the information on that too I believe this these items are covered in other places there's some discussion of that at the if you want to move on to the next question until I find this okay well next one is the comment yeah that's about you know students Suicide Prevention I'm happy that our school district is trying to take measures um to prevent student suicide I think this is such an important initiative um I think uh the the training that's that's uh spelled out in this policy is going to help with with this cause um I read through the policy it looks like um uh there's a a language about reporting it is liability free so I want people member of the community everyone to know that if there is a suspicion of u a suicide attempt to try to refer to this policy and act on it there's like one student lost to suicide is one too many so we're taking it seriously thank you for this policy update I I did find the uh you AJ the U yeah I I believe 2200 yeah they removed some of the mandates Lucy that were listed on here yeah essentially that policy listed certain areas of State curriculum that could change at any moment yeah um so instead of referencing there then worrying about being non-compliant um they're just addressed in the state standard so there's not anything that we have to follow the state standards no matter what just that policy doesn't risk falling in and out of compliance based on what ST and um Mr Pepe knows a lot about that because he's a a teacher I think a lot of the M mandates on there were removed from the policy but if you see like on page one right there's a reference to the New Jersey state learning standard um if we were copying that New Jersey learning standard over uh in our old policy might as well continue to do that because I feel like this is a place where our school district our admin ERS staff teachers parents everyone can come to our school polic to see what they our curriculum uh I feel like happiness here has its benefit even if we update it when the state learning standard updates because that actually doesn't update I mean updates every five years right right now like on the clock so if we update our policy every five years we will keep up so I have a desire to want to keep that language in I've got to say I think we're missing the whole theme of this policy because what it clearly says in paragraph three the curriculum will be reviewed by the superintendent and shall as a minimum include the curricular mandates of njsa 18a njac education and all the New Jersey student learning standards and the courses required by policy 5460 High School graduation and and uh NJ 6A 8-5 for high school graduation so what it's doing is as Mike had said it's summarizing that the curriculum in our district our policy is it's aligned to the state standards that's what it's saying but what Strauss s May did and and what's come from the state is all of these things at the bottom are redundant covered in other policies and and are part of of uh part of the C the New Jersey state curricular mandates but what it does Ensure is every time that you have a curriculum change or or standards update that you don't have to change this policy course some new law that imposes and a lot of times it's it's something that's benign it's it's a standards change in the third and fourth grade ELA standard right there are things like that that happen all the time so it appears that what what the the goal of this policy or or what the changes are are for is uh to just ensure that every time a state standard changes that you don't have to review the policy and uh I I I will say to the to the other point you made Lucy is we we have it clearly marked on our website as far as where you can find our curriculum it's right there open to the public um we're far more transparent than just about any school district I know of so I don't think people are going to be looking up this policy to find what our curriculum is because we're governed really by the same statute than any other District in the state of New Jersey that's why thank you well this policy really sets our curriculum right so the curriculum we do publish online technically comes from this policy definition so I um it could be a summary of it I think the language that was in there uh spells out what our curriculum is and then you we have expandable I me curriculum on the Ruby town I mean our curriculum comes from the state of New Jersey though comes from the State Board of Education so I don't think we get to make our own curricul like the state learning standards are set by the State Board of Education and are passed down to school districts that need to create curriculum to implement them so the curriculum doesn't come down but the standards come down from the state the standards is set by state Yes actually come back to I mean you made a comment about who stats curriculum now I was looking this policy if you look at the third paragraph uh I I I can read this language out cu I don't know if everyone's on the same page but the requirements and I'm pulling that up um are by policy 5460 so if you go on there hang on the requirement is on 5460 okay so I have to go over to 5460 and it'll spell it out yeah that's that course is required that I mean the curriculum per se um by this policy before you know this revision or proposed revision for tonight on the third paragraph it says the curriculum will be reviewed by the superintendent and approved annually by the board that's the first sentence of that third paragraph now in this revision The Proposal was to remove the language approved annually by the board I'm actually wanting to understand that what what drove this this policy to be reviewed is this a St ese alert yeah there was an alert I could send it out to everyone if they're curious if I'm able to Mike it's actually in the file oh it is in the file this is this information is in the the academic committee and it was the recommendation of the academic committee to approve this correct right and again this is if you have any further questions you know send it to Miss Jones and I'm pretty sure she will be able to U because this is first reading too yeah this is a first reading so if you have further questions and know send it over her way and uh I'm sure she will give you a very clear answer on that sure um because she's not obviously here and I'm not an expert in that it's it's pretty straightforward I mean we can debate this all night but it's pretty straightforward that it it's that our curriculum is based on state law and and the requirements set forth by the New Jersey Department of Education I I we seem to be going round and round and and I don't quite understand what the point of it is so the next step my just crashed it comes down to one question really the old the current policy says that the board approved the curriculum annually that's on the third paragraph first line and then the revision proposed tonight remove that language I think that to me is the most most important uh change in this policy that we're voting on tonight now the board does approve any curriculum changes Lucy not changes no what what I'm saying is is is every okay how do I say anytime there's a curriculum revision it comes in front of the board the board votes on it however what the policy is saying is that if you have curriculum that's based on state standards that you're correct it's not the role of the board to vote on that every year because it's already in place the end of paragraph one the board shall annually approve a list of Ral programs and courses that comprise the districts curriculum and shall approve any subsequent changes so it's duplicative language in that regard I also saw that and I was also concerned by that but that but that last sentence is duplicative of that third that that sentence in the third third part so on on on the reorg meeting there's usually a action item to approve the curriculum that I don't think would change based on this any more discussion I have a question on 52 uh 5200 great okay uh on page nine of 15 um yeah 9 of 15 of that talks about the and I will send this to Karen I didn't yet I'm sorry uh determining uh credit to be awarded for makeup work and when class participation is a factor a teacher may consider a student's absence in determining a final grade except for observance of regular holiday or absence for student suspension but when we're talking about giving excused absences for other reasons why would it not also be something that this teacher consider in that in that regard like why wouldn't it be Exempted from that consideration so if you're ex if you're absent for civics day shouldn't that also be within this paragraph for the same reason that those other reasons are and I'll send this to Karen if we want to but there is no academic so are we talking about grading yeah the teacher may consider a students absence in determining a final grade accept absences for the observance of a religious holiday or abs for student suspension from school will not adversely affect the student's grade I think um the state only considers those to be excusable absences so a school district can can excuse other absences as being justified but I think that this is defined by state law that you those specific absence types have to be Exempted from kind of a general attendance uh requirement or or policy that if it's for uh an absence that's on the religious absence list or is for suspension from school those are different than um you being absent from school because you're sick and bringing in a doctor's note so it's a consideration for attendance purposes versus consideration for grading purposes correct yeah it's more related to the state's uh requirements for grading sorry for attendance okay thank you 5200 uh section F paragraph 2 page n just comment on one thing because it came up before in the Strauss Esme guidance related to the five days that you had mentioned requirement to notify I think that's a I think that's an element of state law where the new state law says that you can be excused as long as you give a five-day absence I think that's where that comes from not that say we couldn't necessarily make it shorter I I'm not sure about that but that's where where that comes from I have a comment about um point 14 on the uh curriculum content uh 202 2200 um I'll read that language out it's currently in there um programs that encourage the active involvement of representatives from the community based this industry labor and higher education in the development of educational program aligned with the standards I think that is language um that probably had helped our district to develop and build our curriculum that benefit our students that they exceeded the uh standard I'm not certain uh we actually wanted to get rid that language that gives us the many choices in in the in the courses and helped us to excel excel in our um offerings for our students um I want us to consider whether we want to keep that language in there I think that's in the standards isn't it in fact if you take a look at njac one second and and again if if you look at the um if you look at the Strauss Esme summary for each one of these policies it it clearly says policy 2200 policy guide 2200 has been revised to remove a list referencing numerous New Jersey student learning standards the list did not include all the standards and since since njsls standards are continually changing it is appropriate to remove reference to specific njsls standards from policy guide 2200 removal of the list avoids policy guide 2200 becoming non-compliant if any of the stand listed standards were to change or if additional standards were added it's it's pretty clear so I I think we're overthinking this yeah so njac 6A is Incorporated in this policy and that specifically has that language of District Board of EDS shall encourage the active involvement of representatives from the community Etc it's already in the standards that we're incorporating so so what the old policy is they incorporate everything that's in the standard and the the the administrative code is what rules over the standard so I feel the policy is adequate the way it is is there any more discussion I have questions on other policy sure shoot 25 policy 255 specifically policy 0164 board R the only change to this one is that the uh superintendent does not have to consult with the board president in under 0164 yeah the um 0164 and 0171 uh weren't part of a Strauss smme uh policy alert they were part of a Mike Pepe policy alert well one about President the vice president the uh so the the uh I'm just getting around mik I know you you're not sending out policy alerts but Mike was uh attended Personnel meeting in the spring and he noted that in these two policies there was conflicting language about what would happen in the absence of the president and the vice president of the board and so we took a close look at these policies and in looking at them and examining them we wanted to rectify that problem which is the change to 0171 but in looking at 0164 it was noticed that because we compared it to the stra sesme model policy and there's an extra sentence that's in there that um doesn't clarify and might cause confusion about the progression of the board agenda from the superintendent to the board of education to the meeting and so that's where the uh the the proposed change game to eliminate that sentence that was added not by stme but at some point by the Bridgewood aaran Board of Education and was deemed to be unnecessary and possibly unclear okay I I disagree I don't find it unclear I think it puts uh an onus on the superintendent where policy 0171 puts the onus on the president to discuss the agenda so they both have an obligation under those two different policies and I think that kind of works in concert together um so that's my thought on 164 and now moving to 171 I don't understand so what happens then if we don't have a president or vice president at a meeting that's in 0164 the presiding officer and so there the the issue was that the language in 0171 doesn't say it the same way and it's different than in 0164 and presiding officer uh if I'm going to like the middle of it if neither person is present any member shall be designated by a plurality of those present to preside the act of any person so designated shall be legal and binding so that's the Strauss ese language and that gives the most flexibility 0171 had additional language that suggest something different and in a senior that a pole if it's a tie or and in a situation and in an unusual situation where there wasn't a president and a vice president president we'd want it to be clear like which which is the guiding policy okay thank you get it it feels any better it only happened I think once in my 22 years only has to happen once to be very confusing yes I had one more question about the policy regarding uh suicide reporting um is there anything and it may not be part of this but for students is there an opportunity for students to report if they hear or see something but is there where they can an honestly do something AB absolutely we have all kinds of uh avenues for them to do it and and you're asking me this question now specifically what it is but yes there there are plenty of communication systems it doesn't it doesn't need to be a part of this policy just this is only regarding instructors or yes Miss Lee excuse me lcy can you turn on your mic I'm sorry to interrupt you should I repeat the whole thing now all right so in 0164 conduct of board meetings um they the the the revision that's presented to our board today removed uh the um superintendent and uh the the consult with the board president for uh board meeting agenda however in 0171 at the second line of the duty of the board president is actually to consult for the board agenda itself um I felt like uh what we have been doing is probably the norm it they appeared in both places um so I'm not certain that this change of removing that uh the consultation with the board President should be there um as Pro proposed in the change tonight for 0164 I feel like this is the a similar question to what Mr singer um asked um Mr fonder just explained that what Dr founder explained was what happens if the President and Vice President are not present at a meeting what Lucy is talking about is something I also raised which is the the two different duties to consult on agenda process wise the board president does not make the agenda the superintendent the administration do and so operationally I I will get a heads up on it on Thursday a copy of the agenda and if I have any comments on it or questions I will refer back to the superintendent um it's it's mainly how it it works do I does the superint need to always go to the board president about the agenda I don't know but um operationally I mean I really don't I don't set the agenda committee chairmans work with the administration at the agenda then the administration sets the agenda with the superintendent and I'm fairly certain what the statute says about setting the agenda I didn't check on that but I think you're right I think you're right the the administr um superintendent sets the agenda yeah I don't think the president has any say in it operationally B here's the agenda any questions on that's what I get you know where did that line come from before don't know the one saying that you have to consult with the book president like was that former Board of Education leadership yeah um in Comm just so everybody knows we did ask that question as well and it was noted that that particular line that you're referencing referencing Lucy was put in by a former Board of Education it wasn't like a set standard and I think the reason being is that now we know that and we I guess we should double check the policy that Mr beers does not have to consult with Mr Walker about the agenda he sets the agenda he gives it that his only job is to give it to Mr Walker for review I um look at a few other District I think they do what we do uh at least the few board people that I talk to and uh it looks like uh 0164 and 0171 currently agrees with each other it's like a Clos Loop that's you know if we do 0164 tonight differently remove that language it's actually in contradict with 0171 because that's part of defined for of president's responsibility let's take a step back can we get the model policy on this one do you mind next committee meeting and talk about it again it's a first reading let's take that step back and look at the model policy there's also just a question is there a difference between the agenda itself and the action items because the action items come from the superintendent but if there were a question of if the board wanted to have a public comment earlier or if the public we wanted to move where the Pledge of Allegiance was um is that something the board president could have that that seems different fundamentally than the right consultation is we take advice but again the the board agenda is set by the superintendent and the business administrator board so the hold the agenda not just the action items thanks for that clarification so because this is first reading we'll bring it back to Personnel um I've already made a note that on 0171 it's line item to um that would be in dispute with 0164 so we will we take a look at that at our next meeting so should we refer it back to committee then okay any more discussion see Mr Stars can you call the role Mr josi yes Mr singer yes on policy 25 03 and four no on policy 255 Miss Lee Mr pepy yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes to all except 0164 and 0171 no one knows no one miss lockran yes to all except for 0171 and 0164 no Mr Walker yes to all yes motion carries thank you open to the public individuals groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for 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 meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be post on the district's website like to speak you want me to fill this out to great so good evening everyone I need step back for one moment just take us I again so it was a 44 vote on the three policies so those 171 so that did not pass that way be go back refer back to committee for another round of first reading all the other ones pass just one thank you good to go okay hi everyone welcome back to a new school year okay just please please sign in and you can state your name he said I could sign in after okay thank you great uh my name is Matthew Bergman um I was here several times last year to talk about the anti-Semitism in our schools today I'm here to just wish you a better year than last year um over the last year anti-Semitism in the whole country has risen over 300% um as per the ADL and as per the FBI hate crimes um anti-semitic hate crimes have risen over 60% these are thriving and growing still in our town and in our schools actions needed action like amending um the Hib policy language to include types of hate like anti-Semitism race-based hate um specific to different religions so that we can appropriately inform the authorities of the numbers happening in our town uh until it's allowed to be named specifically we can't help to grow as a community and we can't have accurate reporting as I said this year needs to be different you need to act don't ignore the numbers and lump them together with other types of bullying we as minority parents deserve to have our voice heard and action taken in our town this way our school year set up for success rather than a repeat or Worse more bullying of our board by those who see judaic symbols as hate you must amend the language in the Hib policy like I put forth at the end of last school year when I came and spoke and I pointed out many different uh language-based and level of intelligence-based and assumptions in the Hib policy and again I'm help happy to help give my notes from last year and and be uh solution based have a Good Year and thank you everybody thank you for good evening to the board my name is Aisha Williams and I'm a resident of District 13 in Bridgewater Township I provided public comments to the board in May and June of last school year regarding the need for increased education and programming in our school district in the areas of student inclusion and belonging I need this evident to parents in our school district through the range of experiences we've shared to school administrators as shown by the communications issued from felx schools in the district of parents and through recognition of this opportunity of the board itself through the public dialogue in our June 24th meeting reflecting on my personal experiences and engagement with the board I returned tonight with the sole motivation to help our board deliver on the opportunities that we say we all see to support our students and to that end I have two ask for the board tonight and is always an offer of my support my first and consistent ask is that the board take definitive action to increase education and programming in our school district in the areas of student inclusion and belonging but with a bit of a Twist tonight in recent months I've learned of the character building education that the district put in place nearly 3 years ago to help educate and set student expectations in the areas of student belonging and inclusion and it's perfect timing that that was shared this evening with the hip report I've also learned and heard tonight that there is clear opportunity for the board to apply this program more broadly deeply and frequently if this is the available in immediate programming that the board can emphasize this focus in our district my ask tonight is that the board prioritize efforts to ensure that this character building programming is embedded consistently across the district is applied across the intermediate M middle and high schools and is utilized on a frequent basis quarterly at minimum across all schools and that the board prioritized these efforts now and i' heard it mentioned with the hi report the schools have a choice how they want to apply this the ask is as I said that it be applied consistently my second ask is that the board action an opportunity for your own personal development as identified by a board member here in the June 24th meeting following my and other parent remarks at that meeting a board member commented that this board had not undergone any inclusion any inclusion or belonging training as a unit and that you all would benefit from doing so in a prior meeting a school board member also suggested that I reach the New Jersey Department of Education to understand resources and programs available to support students belonging for school districts so reflecting on both comments I obtained a list of four recommended Educational Consultants and services that deliver this form of training to school boards and districts across the state of New Jersey the recommendation includes doctors of education CEOs of Educational Service organizations Educational Consultants and certified change practitioners and international Educators all who can support you to prioritize this training if you have not already agreed a method and a date to do so I enjoyed um back to school night this week and I was struck by the range of cultures ethnicities faces and energy in our district and I speak as a family where we have lived in multiple countries and operated in multiple language languages with this richness Among Us it is critical that this board lead from the front to prioritize this development for yourselves as much as we all agree we need to do so for our children and I think especially with a board that is not fully representative of our student population so I will email these recommendations to you superintendent beers to Board of Education president Barry Walker and also to assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Karen Jones immediately following this meeting finally as always I hope that you take away from my every interaction with this board that I motivated to support the students of our school district and I want all students to feel a sense of belonging of student safety and they have the opportunity to thrive as their own diverse Sal hate speech harassment intimidation and bullying have no place in our district and it's not good enough that we give ourselves a near perfect score for administrating them when they happen those results show that there are over 70 instances and petition Le students who have experienced something terrible in our district and that's never going to be good enough so I offer my time and support for this board with ideas with content with references and through bringing parents together as you see tonight to help us make this happen for our students thank you thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Jessica Edelstein and I'm here tonight on behalf of my husband who couldn't attend tonight he asked me to share his gratitude with you all especially to superintendent beers for the opportunity to join the committee task Force addressing anti-Semitism racism and all forms of hate last November when my husband was asked by superintendent beers to be part of this task force we were excited and hopeful for the positive change it could bring to our community we had expected the task force to begin its important work last school year and while we understand the complexities involved in organizing such an effort we are still eagerly awaiting its launch we sincerely hope that this school year will be the time when the task for course can finally come together and begin the necessary work to create a safer more inclusive environment for everyone in our schools we are ready and committed to be to supporting this initiative in any way we can thank you again for the opportunity and we look forward to hearing more about the progress and how we can move forward together thank you all right good evening um my name is Cynthia Paul I live on Country Club Road um thank you to the Board of Education Administration superintendent beers and teachers and additional staff members for being here tonight uh my husband and I moved to Bridgewater almost 15 years ago we moved here as we knew we wanted to live in a diverse Community since moving here we have embraced the community as much as they have embraced us we feel safe and each and my children have created a diverse group of friends of many ethnic cultural and religious backgrounds they have learned so much from their friends and for that we are grateful F to be living here it has come to my attention over the past year especially from my older child who's in the middle school that there have been words gestures and symbols that Express anti-semitic and racist rhetoric last year alone there was a significant incre increase of reported anti-semitic hate crimes to the FBI I know that our community that our children I know through members of our community that our children have experienced this rhetoric I spoke with administrators at the middle school and super prend beers last year to address this and and I appreciate their commitment to combat and address this problem however there is more work that needs to be done we need we need to call out specifically what hate is if something is anti-Semitic we need to call it anti-semitic if something is racist xenophobic or homophobic that needs to be called out as well using those words the rhetoric has to be the rhetoric has no place in our community iate understand a schools can only do so much and we as parents have to address these words at home my ask for this year is that this rhetoric is called out and parents are made aware that it is occurring so it can be addressed at home as well as in the schools we cannot hide behind blanketed terms thank you for listening to me and best wishes for a positive and peaceful school year thank you anyone else thank you everyone for coming out this evening I'm going to close public comment I just have a few comments so I want to thank everyone this evening for their comments and and I'm grateful that people took the time to come to this meeting and and and uh share their thoughts with us personally and as a district we continue to fight for the needs of all members of our school Community specifically I do and I know this board holds the motto of the district one and all sacred and we look to uphold these principles for all of our stakeholders especially our children our goal remains to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment that serves every single one of our students and families but I want everyone to know here tonight that we're all on the same team we're all on the same team and we share the same goals now obviously things are not perfect all right and and I'm going to share with everyone there's no place that is and in our community of approximately 8,000 students there are incidents that occur throughout the year that require our immediate attention as administrators and as a school community and and with that I understand that reasonable people can have differing opin opinions on how to handle these issues but what I do have to reiterate is that we're dealing with children all right so when we talk about law enforcement and things like this we are working with children that's one so one thing that I I do have to disagree with a little bit is the notion that we're not pursuing programs and doing things as a district I have and members of my team have had multiple community Communications with community members uh from all across the district to discuss matters similar to those that were brought to our attention this evening we've utilized this feedback to help shape our programming in the district and as a district I'm I'm proud of our progress and we want to continue to work to live to live up to the standard of one and all so if you would allow me I I'd like to just quickly go through some of the things where we have taken feedback from the community not just at board meetings but through emails discussions Etc and and what we've done one is that we've revised the code of conduct uh as well as Hib training so if you'll notice within each school we have Revised Code of Conduct K to2 and we've delineated consequences specific to Expressions remarks or acts of a racial religious ethnic gender sexual or otherwise biased nature that's clear in the code of conduct what those consequences are for an action such as that administ Administration received additional summer training specific to Hib and the code of conduct the entire administrative team also received additional training over the last two years we've started two years ago and we received more o over the summer in culturally responsive instruction all right we use a a uh and and this is through Miss Jones who is not here this evening in the curriculum Department we've had a relationship with Susan Matos kru through her organization of up the bar who has helped us to to move towards these goals that we all have of a culturally responsive school training was initiated in 2022 23 school year and we continue La over the spring and summer of this year all teachers have received an initial overview of culturally responsive instruction either at faculty meetings with District staff or during in service days with our consultant and targeted groups of teachers are going to receive more intensive ongoing training this year we've conducted an equity audit throughout the district gifted and talented ESL services and we continually review District district data specific to our subgroups to address opportunity gaps this process has led to new programs Pathways and courses at all levels we've implemented character education programs all right in k k through 4 we have monthly counselor Le Set uh lessons in character education that are skills based and align with the castle competencies so for wondering what the castle competencies are these standards are are widespread and they're widely accepted uh for character education and we attempt to teach children self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision making I don't think anyone's going to disagree with that we've added a new resource for grades K through six uh to ensure consistent Foundation across our primary schools in five through six a new resource is used quarterly with with counselor L lessons in grades seven and eight councelor created and led lessons are delivered quarterly this this school year we will pilot and recommend a resource for next year I believe that there there are folks within the school Community who have been invited to participate in that we've also created a freshman transition program utilizing a new resource counselors and health teachers will deliver multiple lessons during Health classes and character education is integrated through the health curriculum in in our daily interactions with students and that's the part that we can't forget there there is no educator in this District who doesn't share these values right and and that's what we're all working towards with multiple assemblies um for instance at the high school next week on October 1st uh brhs is going to host an anti-bullying assembly called bias Prejudice and stereotypes how do they affect us from the middlex county department of corrections and youth services all right our middle school last year in the spring brought in Mikey Fallon um who's an incredibly talented person who can talk to kids about these types of issues and his program was you don't know me until you know me last year we also conducted a climate survey all right and and we've set our goals based on that feedback we have curriculum and resource resources that are aligned to State Standards textbook adoptions and then finally our district goals are reflective of all these practices of inclusion belonging and teaching kids the the proper way to act amongst each other there's no one who's going to disagree with anything that was said tonight I certainly don't and and I just want to finish by saying we are all on the same team we are all striving for the for the same the same uh towards the same purpose and I can assure you that that we have been proactive since my arrival here in Bridgewater and this ad administrative team has been proactive we share these goals we're not going to back down from our efforts we're not done nothing's foolproof and and again we can disagree with the strategies or or the folks we've brought in or the materials we've utilized but but to say we haven't been working towards the same goal it is not true um and lastly we are fighting for for the same thing we all want the same things I come to you not just as your superintendent but I'm a father of four also and and I'll be honest I read these HIV reports I'm personally taken aback by some of the actions that I see from our students I am and and it's not something that I would ever teach my kids or tolerate as as a fellow human being and we all share that humanity and part of what we need to do as a whole and what part of these programs are is to help us develop that connective tissue that somehow we've lost a little bit as a society and to celebrate each other's Humanity to celebrate our good will but uh I'll close by saying nothing is foolproof going to say there is not a program in the world that can promise that out of 8,000 kids nothing's going to happen next year that will be offensive or or in any other categories that were described but it's upon us to react in the proper way to make sure it doesn't happen again to make sure kids are safe at school and support all the folks involved to make sure that the bully doesn't continue to bully and that the victim can recover from from what happened and and we're working towards those goals again I appreciate the comments tonight um I I hope you take this as my Goodwill which has been present since I've gotten here um so take it for what it is and and I I will say we're going to continue to work towards those common goals that we all seem to share thank you so much no we Clos public comment I'm I'm sorry you're more than welcome to email us but I I so I've got this is not a back excuse me excuse me excuse me this is not a back and forth I understand you have comments and like talk to us you more to reach out to him directly in calls or emails but a board meeting it's a public comment it's not a back and forth well it's it's up to the it's up yeah excuse me I said this is not a back and forth I don't mean to raise my voice I'm G to control the meeting the tone I understand I asked once I asked twice this is the third time okay I take the toone down this is not a back and forth the third time I said this all right I I would like you know I understand your feelings and everything I completely understand that but I we need to have an orderly meeting and that's how we govern no okay so you got to relax all right excuse me excuse me this is not a I've said to us this not back and forth can I get the room cleared am I allowed to clear the room my uh look and finally yeah my excuse me no this is on a back and forth you can no this is not a time I'm sorry no I'm not how you treat it's also R not a back and forth is there any other old old business to discuss so I'd like to discuss the um we have a retreat next Tuesday so we have a retreat on Tuesday so we have a retreat on Tuesday it'll be here at 6 motion excuse me can I make a motion sure to reopen the public comment any second is there a second is is there a second okay seeing none seeing none old business so there's going to be Retreat on Tuesday is everyone available to attend I think I've gotten confirmations from everyone it will start at six o'clock Patty Reese will be coming to facilitate it it'll be approximately two hours so you're it's going to be the board and the superintendent um that's alltimate any other old business yeah I just want to go into uh what Lucy was talking about with regard to g&t enrollment I have the numbers here if you're interested in them the uh percentage increase the percentage of grade two was 16% grade three was 18% and grade four was 20% the grade two and three represent a 12% increase over the last two years and there's a 19% increase overall in g&t for grades 2 to four it's in the academic folder you be more than welcome to email Jones about that we don't have those names tonight Miss Jones would know that any other old business is there any new business I have new business um so it was brought up about the delegates committee um ongoing for several years or several Quarters at least of um my being on the board I have brought up Hib policy and have asked multiple times how do we change policy if it's mandated by the state what what role does the board have board members have to actually affect harassment intimidation and bullying policy and the opportunity to bring it up from a legislative perspective has sort of been discussed over time but because the deadline is coming up so quickly I felt that I could introduce this topic to the board and that we could discuss it for the next delegates committee which I believe Mike was in Spring delegate assembly they're usually in May I don't know if the official dat's been announced but that seems pretty uh locked in um with a deadline I think sometime in March to have a resolution before them I have to excuse you my heart's racing because uh yes um first I I I want to say that to the public harassment intimidation and bullying policy is very confusing um and I'm I'm just going to say my opinion on it is that it's not really about the issues of harassment intimidation and bullying it's a policy to report discriminatory and bias behavior and I I think because um it's it's labeled that way it's often confused and that as a board I think it's important that we discuss what we are capable of doing from a legislative perspective um what I will say on the on the topic um is that the climate of our culture is a collective um we're all responsible for it uh it it's not just happening in the schools it's happening everywhere and and I think that we have our own personal responsibility and our responsibility as a community to address it um I'm sorry I'm not more clear on my my comments thank you so to that end for the May delegations are you going like how do you want to proceed at this point uh it's hard to think on the spot at the moment okay um but I think I I what I will do is I I will reach out to Mike to uh board president Walker and and Mr beers since at least we have that window to to to find if this goes to committee or if this or do we rein initiate the legislative committee um and I will I will get back to you I just suggest that we uh take a look at prior delegate assembly um records because I'm certain that they talked about H law I don't know what they've covered before um but you know it might be worth going in and taking a look at that uh you and I discussed earlier I agree that this is more of a discrimination and bias law than it is a bullying as it's colloquially thought of and wholeheartedly agree on that um you know years ago I wanted to take a look at this and it just it was beyond my per you know ability at that time so I think it's uh something to take a look at I appreciate that and I and I I feel exactly the same way and and as I spoke to you earlier um you know this is at a higher level you know it may have to be taken up with the legure um and maybe the first first step is to go to the delegate assembly um and make suggestions and it may take some time but we have time to craft something because this is going to be a you know bigger deal than just a district U issue right because this is going to take uh a big lift on a lot of people's parts to do that does njsba have someone that assists in drafting these things you can um I actually discussed this on Friday night so there are multiple ways for advocacy in this case both through the delegate assembly through the board and as individuals you I mean advocacy starts with you too you're more than welcome to reach out to your representatives the Hib is a law so it was written by legislators for educators and it it's flawed in design and it's been said that there have been numerous task forces I I sent to Jen when she talked about this over the years they have brought new things to it the last task force was in De came report came out in December and we all received notification in January from in Schoolboard notes so reaching out to your Congressman you know when you're sitting there I mean we have numerous them steinhardt Peterson Deo and even federally Tom Kaine you know we have those opportunities individually you can do that you know it starts each one of you can call and yeah this was a this is a a state law that was put in place so we are it's a it's an area that you know the the law was done for the right reasons they wanted to affect change and and help to stop the Bing which encompasses a lot of things so we can do it as a board and send the legislators to the governor not just going through Del assembly so it could start right now if you want to draft this resolution the board could Peter's done it before we've done it a couple times haven't we Peter numerous times so it can be done individually as well as to a delegate assembly so there's no reason to wait I always have the you know so waiting may not be a good idea if you want to do it now execute I think it was a good idea I agree the hi law is is a it's been a it was a like good good idea but sometimes the execution has been flawed and that's the hard part it is but HIV and all these things are are part of code of conduct so remember that these are whether it is deemed HIV or not HIV is part of code of conduct which we have a pretty sting stringent area and laid out as Bob said and we address it even deep more into the bias intimidation areas for that code of conduct so so something to think about doesn't need to wait it can be done now or later write it up bring It Forward talk to other board members talk to other boards you get multiple board is doing it too you don't have to wait for delegate assembly twice a year so we can Advocate more than welcome I mean Jen you could draft a letter to be circulated I can C at all the presidents and say can you send this to your to your legislators all our legislators are listed on the website pretty easy to get access to something you know them personally so start let started let's get going on yes when is the last date for the delegate assembly to get something in uh October uh October the 4th so would have to be this meeting or a special meeting before that just because the delegate assembly I mean honestly some of the resolutions that came before delag assembly were rather not as meaningful as this in the past but also I think we all you might want to look at um Jonathan pushman who you re you would reach out to as what is in the in the delegate assembly policy book and that's what a resolution does it just sets the polic that those legislative group at njsba advoc advocate for I couldn't I was looking before to see if they had anything on this they don't seem to have a search feature so I'm still going through a few different policies I didn't see one on hi of some time yeah that's a good point place but there are many Avenues in which to do this yeah but this is an issue that has come up before at least in some of their policy um proposals and some of the reports I don't know if it's been before the delegate assembly specifically in this form but yeah now definitely worth looking definitely a good resource to look at tell me is one Avenue but it's one of many Avenues we have in front of us so those type areas so please think about that also and you can more than welcome do it personally I know one one legislator who's had a at some situations with it and I was surprised he didn't do anything about it when I talked to him so advocacy is important like like we've had here T night I'm sorry for my Outburst but I need to really control the meetings I apologize but the meetings are here for we need to have civil meetings and I can't in the back and forth but that's how we have that back and forth of our legislators the same way I appreciate it you know if I were to go to the Senate assembly and yell at the floor I would be exported out too in those areas so we need to have those areas and start in those ways so that's our one way to start I uh I also wanted to elaborate on what Mr Walker was saying in that uh as board members uh we typically don't respond to public comment however if we have comment we typically bring it up in either old business or new business which we're in new business right now in addition to that I wanted to also say that I am proud to be from a diverse Community um my street not and I live on on a culdesac with seven houses not one house is of the same ethnic background not one um so this issue is important to me personally um but also I wanted to add to Mr Beer's comments about the programs in the district um one of one of the opportunities that being on the board has afforded me is to be able to see firsthand some of the programs that have have been happening in some of the schools and they're really impressive um it's not not everybody gets to have that kind of insight and it's very there's so many things going on it's really difficult to communicate it especially in the moment um I've I've I've seen elementary schools with flags of every different country and celebrating every nationality that you can possibly think of I've seen um like teachers put together um presentations of themselves acting like kids on social media navigating complex social issues around how they interact with each other um on social media and and the bullying kind of behavior that can take place there so I I just I just I just want to say that I support these efforts I support these efforts of these educators of the Educators and I support the efforts of the ad Administration to continue to Phil sorry to facilitate these programs thank you so what are the next steps the resolution are you thinking forward you could do something on Tuesday night what do you guys want to do do you want to form a small community to do it um consensus was that there wouldn't be a lot of time for this delegate assembly I know that's a a special meeting I'm not sure if we could take action at that meeting the way it was noticed on a resolution uh to the njsba and I don't I haven't I guess I received one form of form of resolution so I guess any board member could put one in front of the board could put put one in front of the board at any time so someone had something for the future I'd definitely be able to consider it and I'd be happy to help you draft it um it we at least to get it to say what you want it to say and then we could have a discussion you know one of the ideas is that when we have the convention next month and there are a lot of discussions and lots of people there um Jen and if you you know I I can help you you know Chase down somebody and we can you know have their year um in preparation for next year um if we're going to do this thanks for bringing that up you know if we're going to do this we have to do it in such it's a way that it's it's well thought out and the first time we present it it's accepted people understand it um and it's a great opportunity it's a month away and it is it is a very complex issue that I think requires that opportunity to seek input from experience from others experience yeah and within a week I I I think it would be brushed and you know and next month gives us a great opportunity thank you and who knows maybe there'll be something in December that's similar to this that's in front of the assembly that we could take a look at and because there usually seems to be at least one HIV related resolution that comes in front of us or the assembly my personal opinion you although I like the delegate assembly those who I mean I don't know who has attended here or not I don't know if the resolutions is going to get the effect you want at the delegate assembly I mean you do it but I think you get more effect from a so listening to other boards there's a meeting on the 11th or 10th M Steve good conversation to have there at your tables in sharing you a lot of people there there's lots of other ways to do it and I think you need to motivate a larger group than the assembly in a way because the El is a limited amount in the time frame I think you get more effective you started a Grassroots effort to say okay reach out to other boards both in this County other counties and across the state we're all public servants and talk to them so I do understand why the assembly is working to trying to Advocate through the through our this agency but I think you might start even with a community letter writing you know what I mean indidual here can say that you know people can work in numbers that's why they're here this evening they want to show us how they feel and they came to tell us so there are lots of VO to do it thanks and I I want to thank you U Mr Walker for sending me the New Jersey anti-bullying task force uh annual report because in it um it's it is a very long long document but in it there's supporting evidence that uh through committee there has been Outreach to boards to to sorry to discuss this topic and and uh I'll send that out to the rest of the board thank thank you any other new business see n I'll entertain a motion Mo so there a second all those in favor I wej thank you for