##VIDEO ID:cb1H3NMtp5s## thank you for your patience we're up to item six the superintendent report okay okay so this evening I'm happy to report to every everyone that we're in the midst of the week of respect within our our schools activities have been planned in every single School in the district supporting our District's uh climate and culture goal and that goal to remind everyone for climate and culture was to develop support and cultivate the whole child and the diverse nature of our district by further enhancing a cohesive and supportive learning environment and and the the subsection of that was to Foster an environment that is safe and welcoming for all students and I ask everyone here if you have students in school anyone watching uh please check your student School messaging and website for activities that are planned for the current week there are a lot of activities uh you know as far as joining together whether it's wearing certain items what have you but the the whole idea is is to bring the schools together um and realize that we're all working towards the same goal and we're all part of the same community and and secondly we have a couple of events planned for the upcoming weeks you have an invitation the Board of Ed has an invitation um to one of them and and it's going to be the basalone uh field reopening and rededication it's going to happen on October 5th at 5 I'm sorry October 25th at 5:00 p.m invitations have been distributed to the Board of Education we're also going to extend invitations to town council members of both municipalities mayors local representatives and then the general School Community can attend um after this brief ceremony that should only take about 20 minutes or so uh our our team takes on Philipsburg for the last last home game of the season so hopefully everything's cleaned up ready to go so we can really get a picture of how awesome the place looks um prior to that last game and the monument itself that that we received from the disabled veterans it's been erected um currently what they're doing is refurbishing the plaques that are part of the monument and that'll be ready by this date as well so so it's a tribute to to uh you know a local hero from Ramon burrow and from our general community and and it's also a A showpiece or centerpiece for this district and our community as well so I I'm excited for that and then second we're we're going to have a groundbreaking ceremony for the middle school edition we're looking at Tuesday October 29th so that's the date of our next board meeting 6 o'clock P p.m. at the middle school so uh you know Laura Crest if you'd like to join us there if you want the shovel hard hat we'll get one for you and and uh we can do that all right so any thank you that's it it's a brief report and I'll hand it over to board board President we are up to number seven uh the president's report and uh as Mr Walker is not able to be here today it is my honor and pleasure to welcome our new student Boe Representatives uh Giana Kari Sunny Chen and Isabelle [Applause] Lou oh y you went over here is Mr Moran in the room oh he is I don't see him behind the podium Mi Mr Moran would you like to to grab uh you know well let me ask the entire board do we want to wait until after the meeting or would we like to go downstairs and take a quick photo now in front of the the board and then come up uh do it later oh okay I'm sorry I'll ask if you have a student report and then we can do it comes on first I should say welcome now you're on the hot I'm sorry we don't even know each other yet hello board members and everyone listening my name is Isabelle Lou I'm a senior at Bridgewater Ron and I'm really excited to be here um the school has really given me a good chance to develop who I am and so being on this board will be a really great way to me ensure that the under classman also the same opportunities and I will let Sunny introduce herself hi everyone my name is sunny I'm also a senior at Bridgewater riton high school I'm really excited to be here and definitely um really excited to like share the opinions of the students and hear what um everyone has to say and um now I'm gonna give it to Giana um hi I'm Giana and I'm also a senior at Bridgewater ridan and I'm just really looking forward to being here and um being a part and being involved of all of the positive changes that are going on in our community and just being able to advocate for um every single part of the student body thank you did you want to do photo now don't we dooce e e e e e e e so the student reps have prepared a few comments am I correct okay the floor is yours we ready okay so obviously we've been back to school for a month now so just some updates the the kids are adjusting pretty well to their courses what they have this school year and something we would we did want to talk about is um the kids needing to switch their courses especially after the drop change period has um changed and ended especially with our right now we only have an extended um drop down level and that has caused some issues with kids who are in courses that um the selection is outdated for them and they don't feel like they can succeed and so we discussed something that might be a good solution for this is during the Spring we host Town Hall style meetings and q&as with upper classmen who have taken especially electives that are more Niche and these harder classes so they can really hear and talk to kids specifically who have taken the classes that they want to do and we discussed having them be a little more informal so that kids are really um getting their own concerns heard like what is the course load like and what is the rigor of the class how much time do they need to devote to it and so that was just an idea that we had another big change as you guys know this year was the change with the online PE and our option two policies um obviously when it was first discussed and announced last year in the spring didn't go over too well with the other kids and um I know many of my peers felt a little disgruntled with the opinion but personally obviously I did have my own opinions on it but once um one of our guidance counselers had come to the English classrooms to talk about how this is actually an issue of equity and helping our kids um level the playing field in the fact that being able to pay for your online PE a lot of money at be at that to boost your GPA so significantly is a major disadvantage to those who cannot afford it and I think once we understood the rationale behind that it was easy for me at least to see why a change like that needed to happen and definitely going forward um we just hope that we can help bridge that communication gap and tell people more of the rationale of why we are and you all are making the decisions that you make okay so um another uh two things that we um like kind of discussed and noticed was so as seniors um we definitely have the opportunity to go out during lunch um open campus as it's called and I know I definitely have taken advantage of that and enjoyed it a lot and I did notice that um with like the new parking lot and everything which um Gian is going to talk about a little more um there wasn't as much traffic in the lot and there was like people kind of directing it to really um mitigate that which I thought was um very good change um however one thing that I did notice was that well so we have like open campus stickers on all of our school IDs um so like the patrols outside um the school have an easier time identifying like the seniors and like knowing which students can go out for lunch and which students have to like stay in the school and I think it's definitely a big improvement from last year because um the principle had told us that the students had to show their schedules to prove that they're seniors um which is definitely more tedious and ultimately resulted in like more LAX regulation however we did think that like adding the stickers to maybe the front of the IDS would um our pictures on it would be um an even like better Improvement because it prevents like students from using other students IDs to leave during lunch because the sticker on the back so you only need to show the back of the ID um the next thing I did notice because obviously um as we're all seniors all three of us are seniors um we have like college applications and all that going on and the school's new um College adviser Miss Kaiser um has really made a very good improvement in our school she created like a Google classroom and also an Instagram to inform us about like like information I know today she posted that like Virginia Tech is at the college fair tomorrow and I actually saw that through Instagram so I thought that was a really unique touch that she brought this year um and there also have been like college visits that have been been very informative with like actual admissions officers from various colleges coming um and mostly hosting like a Q&A style session throughout the entire um little period um was very helpful um however an one thing that we did notice was that the some of the guidance counselors U all the guidance counselor host like senior seminars to help us like learn more about the college application process because it is our first time doing it um but we did think that we could consider streamlining the information shared during these seminars because there's so many different guidance counselors um to make sure that every student like knows every single piece of information that they would need um for college applications so um like Sunny said um I just wanted to discuss the parking lot because as we know it was just recently paved and repainted and um this has proven very very helpful and has been a really nice Improvement because previously the lines on the parking spaces were really dark and really faded and so you would have to count like spaces in just to find your parking spot and especially with newer drivers it was just causing a lot of slower traffic a lot of buildup a lot of issues with people parking in the wrong spot and so this new pave and this new repaint has really just helped um make the parking lot easier to navigate and especially with the open campus thing it's become less crowded um and I think they also added more spaces so even more seniors can get a spot and so that's just been really helpful and additionally with the open campus thing um there's just been a lot of teachers conducting traffic like around the grounds which has really been helpful and it's limited um just like the chance of car crashes or just unnecessary crowdedness and um another wanted to discuss was the cell phone policy because um it's become a lot stricter recently in like the last couple years and I definitely think that it's made students more productive and it's been a good thing and that um especially especially in the freshman sophomore classes because personally I'm in multiple AP classes and with Juniors and seniors you don't really need to regul regulate them as much um and like for example in my AP ol class nobody is even really thinking about going on their phone because they're focused on doing well in the class but I'm also in um a marketing class which is primarily freshman sophomores and the teacher is constantly having to remind kids to put their cell phone away and so um the enforcement of the cell phone caddies specifically has just varied between classes based on um like class maturity and level but I think overall it's been a good thing and then lastly um about homecoming um overall I got sick so I personally didn't go but I've heard from a lot of my friends that they enjoyed it and especially they were happy that it was only Juniors and seniors um and they just felt that it was a nice thing to have and I feel like it brought our senior class together and like during senior Sunrise people were talking about it and it was just really enjoyable experience and especially because in the beginning of the year everybody's stressed out with college apps and they're stressed out with their classes it was just a nice weekend night to like relax and yeah I think that's all we have for tonight right thank you that's quite a bit thank you thank you I just want to make a quick comment first of all you were all were excellent so it's it's that you set the standards high for yourself now for the rest of the year so um I just wanted to mention quickly on first of all the drop- down idea of having a Q&A with with the upper classman like you know giving people like real information about how they experience the classes I think is an excellent idea I'm the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction by the way Miss Jones so I love that idea um and then I do just want to mention about the online PE so I love what your counselors explained to you about the equity piece because that's definitely a big part of it and it's true but the other part of it and so this is just information that you have and you can pass on is that we're actually we have like requirements through the state so you have to do 150 minutes of health and PE every year and fourth um every year of the four years in high school but the other thing is we have to meet certain standards so actually what was happening was the online resource that was being use the Eder what is not aligned to New Jersey standards so I actually asked for it and I kept asking them questions because sometimes we uncover something and then as we start to look at it we realize it's actually not compliant so Equity big piece of it but also just that we're required to do things in a certain way and follow standards and so you know we have to ensure that we're providing that to students so that's just more information for you when you're when you're explaining to other people okay yeah well thank you again and uh I think it was mentioned to you that you're more than welcome to leave you don't have to stay here we all know you have to like get homework done and stuff um and I hope you guys have a good night thank you uh I just wanted to add to the president's report that the Boe candidate night is on Monday October 14th at 6 PM it will be on cable vision 15 and recorded on the brtv YouTube news site uh we are up to um number8 committee reports and we'll start with the academic committee uh since Mr Joshy is not here and there was no meeting I will just note that the next meeting is on October 24th and we're up to community relations with Miss kry yes um our next meeting is to be determined it'll be in November we just haven't set the date yet and we're up to finance facilities and transportation Mr singer our next meeting is Monday October 14th and we are up to Personnel uh Miss Freelander our next meeting is November 19th are there any liaison or delegate reports all right so we are up to number what are we up to number nine open to the public for Action items only individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following action items to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website just to clarify that's on action items only action items only seeing none I think someone wanted to speak right okay an action item action item or non action item I have I have something that I I can Forint up about a minutes oh discussion discussion yes thank you sorry um there there's a line item that uh for the just for the sake of accuracy I think there's a vote that I did last time uh about the policy 2200 I voted no to it um I think the minutes didn't reflect that in policy 253 253 yes 2503 um policy 2200 I didn't know to that just for accuracy of the record a motion to amend yes I move to amend that you can do a voice just in favor all in favor I I any opposed any opposed passes we are up to item number 11 now we're voting on The you're getting I'll a roll call vote as amended right yes as amended uh roll call Mr Stars Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri obain Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr singer yes Miss lockran yes we are up to number 11 the approval of action items uh Personnel 2509 and 2510 do I have a motion so moved second any discussion seeing none Mr s Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kist yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Huna yes Mr singer abstaining on personel 2510 yes on 25 L Mr Walker I'm Sorry Miss lockin yes uh we are up to curriculum 2523 to 2526 do I have a motion so moved any discussion seeing none Mr Stars Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kry yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr singer yes Miss lockran yes we are up to business 2539 to 2546 do I have a motion so moved any discussion seeing none Mr Stars Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kry yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Huna yes Mr singer just want to thank the adenville school PTO for Their donation and yes M lockran yes we are up to special services uh 2512 do I have a motion second any discussion seeing none Mr Stars Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kry yes Miss Freelander yes m SAA yes Mr singer yes Miss lockran yes we are up to other 258 to 2510 do I have a motion so moved second uh any discussion seeing none Mr Stars Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Huna yes Mr s ER yes M lockran yes we are up to policy 256 to 2508 do you have a motion second uh any discussion I want to make a comment um about uh the same policy 222nd 2200 uh curriculum content um for the same reason that I objected the last time uh I think we had a good document and should have stayed that same reason that will V on know today thank you do you mind if I respond yes please yeah because I want to just be able to explain actually what the change is so the curricul our actual curriculum is in Rubicon Atlas and that's our curriculum what this document actually says and I'll explain the change too is the the policy change right is um basically what the board's required to do it's to adopt curriculum that reflects the New Jersey state standards and mandates or laws and that's what that the policy says so what the policy changed was they actually took the list out of it and just referred to the statute and the reason they did that is because this way going forward anytime there's a change you don't have to go back and revise the policy like it's going to be captured in it because it'll be captured in the mandates that are changed in the standards and the best example I can actually give from the way the current policy read to what the change is is that when we when they first changed standards and and they kind we had the Common Core State Standards for a while and they were you know across multiple States had adopted them and then at some point like New Jersey no longer had the Common Core State Standards and we have the New Jersey state um they're the New Jersey student learning standard so now we have njls um what happened was like this policy never changed the language so they were still referring to Common Core which didn't even exist and so the problem with not adopting it when Strauss ese gives it to I mean it's not going to change what we do either way right and I understood what you were saying I think last time where you wanted to make sure people understood what what is included in curriculum the best place to do that honestly is to go into the curriculum because you can search anything but if we don't make this change what happens then is anytime the state makes a change to a mandate to a law to a statute to um one of the standards changes the name of the standard ards we have to revise this policy every time so they're really just doing this to ensure that we're always compliant because if they make a change and then we don't revise the policy to reflect that change then we're no longer compliant so that's it's just really a compliance policy H you know that's what it is and what would have to happen then is every time there was a change we would have to remember to bring it back to committee and make that change in order to ensure that we're compliant for and that's the kind of thing like when they come for qac and they give us those points they they check that they make sure that our policies are reflective of these things that's all that this is meant to be just so you understand yes thank you for this clarification y um I think uh we have modified our policies um all the time throughout like all our board meetings um I understand where the starting point is um I think um having discussion going on for any changes from the state standard is going to help this board to to be informed to be on top of the changes and approve a policy or the curriculum content that's up to the standard that's why I feel like having it in the policy helps in that way but I understand what your perspective is right now thank you and just one more thing just so you're aware of this we it's not that the standards aren't changing right now so the standards have all changed and it's been years that the the policy has not changed to say that we're now using njsls and they're still calling them Common Core so we would have to change that regardless because it's just not correct but I hear what you're I hear exactly what you're saying I understand your point Y any other questions just a just a quick comment on uh policy 0141 board member ter uh number in term uh I'm going to be voting yes because it is state law so our policy should reflect state law but the law my concern is what happens if there's a vacancy in a board over the summer uh the way it works now is if you want to run for election you have to have your petitions in to the county clerk by the I think the fourth Monday in July and the law is that if there's a vacancy that happens before the third Monday in July then there has to be a special election I'm all for democracy and giving the people a choice but that creates potentially I mean it would be a crazy situation potentially a 7-Day window in the middle of the summer if there were a vacancy where people would have to in theory get petitions in uh and one know that there's a vacancy at all know that that there's going to be an election get circulate and get petitions into the clerk um and that's very unlikely to happen so almost every case I would think that would turn if it was that seven eight n day window you would have essentially a writing campaign at the same time the board is looking to make an appointment for the rest of that year um and they would go through its own process so there' be a new board member who would be seated for a couple months get on committees get acclimated and at the same time potentially having to be run be running a fairly crazy uh writing campaign um so I I would love to see that term be longer obviously I'm not in the state legislature so I don't get to decide that but going forward I know it's it's a very um I I know it's minutia I know it's very na gritty but um I know that does happen over the summer where people move or or can't serve anymore so maybe going forward I would love to I would love for that to change um so I might bring that up at some point for potential resolution but not tonight so I just wanted to mention that also might be appropriate for delegates assembly you read yeah that that that's what I was thinking um in in in the spring perhaps I will do that in resolution form potentially thank you any other discussion then I will make a motion I mean I will ask for a motion sorry I'm getting there I think the motion's I think think it's been moved oh then roll Miss Lee there's a number uh no to 2506 for policy 2200 yes to everything else just know specifically on 200 right yes Michael Mr Pepe yes Miss kist stre yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Asuna yes Mr singer yes Miss lockran yes we are up to item number 12 open to the public individual du Andor 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 5 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 oh hey Doan I'm Richard Myers uh number of you on the board here know me as dick Myers 281 Old York Road Bridgewater uh I'm here tonight and I've emailed a few years on the board superintendent and the athletic director I know the ceremony for dedication of the field the new uh bleachers and all that's coming up on the 25th I wanted to do this sooner but getting everything ready for our Hall of Fame ceremony last Saturday night where we inducted uh 22 individuals and three teams uh because we're so far behind the eight ball with the history of four schools um but one of the gentleman that got inducted into the Hall of Fame this time around as a contributor I'd like to see this man have his name put on the Press Box at the football field I don't think it's a hard reach here I know um Stacy was kind enough to send me the board policy on this when we induct people into the Hall of Fame it's it's been a shame that we're doing a number of them possumus every year okay and I saw the one thing that said you wouldn't do a living person you have to wait until they're deceased I think in this case that would be a disservice to the person and this person has given 42 years of their time to the student athletes of the football and basketball programs starting with East West and now the Panthers my kids who played football uh here at Bridgewater have said every time they heard their name announced by this man it sent a chill through them because he has that voice and he did it with a lousy PA system now we just put in a brand new PA system his voice even sounds louder and better um talk about a community leader the man was involved in the Special Olympics program for years that was run here in Bridgewater now the state handles it somewhere else he was also a leader on the committee to bring the first turf field to Bridgewater that a ton of student athletes not only football lacrosse soccer um uh football Pop Warner football programs and other programs have utilize that field and now it'll be turned over next year to its third uh Turf but he was part of that committee to do the original uh he went through the citizens Police Academy so he's involved with the local police department to help our our youth um and he's a graduate of 1979 Bridge order West I can't see a reason for the board turning us down other than we're saying he needs to be deceased before we could do such a thing I again I think that would be a disservice I think this would be a great time to do this I don't think it would be a heavy lift for the board to just discuss it amongst themselves get it approved and on the 25th we could have a sign done it's on again I've already have people that could do that for us um if there's certain guidelines we have to stay within that sign that's not a problem getting that done either and the Hall of Fame committee would pay for that sign so that's that's an ask I'm doing here tonight um I'll refrain from putting the gentleman's name out in public right now although based upon everything I just read everybody will know who it is um just to kind of make if it did happen make it a little bit of a surprise for him um that's my presentation I hope you take it under consideration and again this is somebody welld deserving never ever in the 42 years of doing public address and other events MC and our first four years of our Hall of Fame has he ever had a hiccup never been brought in and uh you know disciplined or anything like that so the man is has an impeccable record uh of doing the public address for the student and also um you know community service and he's also um giv kids the uh you know a role where they've gone on to do public address I know for me one of the things I did as a kid in uh school I used to do our pop own and stuff like that I ended up part of my scholarship to go to school for uh baseball down in Florida was public address so I had to do all the football games soccer games and basketball games so it led me to being able to get up and do public speaking and other things and I think that's something that again the students can learn from and admire and when I hear that voice come over those speakers it's impressive thank you anybody else want to comment from the public hi everyone my name is bernardette Anderson I am the Adamsville PTO treasurer as well as a parent volunteer and um a parent of three kids in the district um a 10th grader eighth grader and a fourth grader um with regards to business 2546 and 2539 um associated with the Adamsville playground expansion um on behalf of Dr C Ley the PTO and the Adamsville families we just wanted to say we appreciate you accepting our gift as well as contributing towards um the expansion of the playground at Adamsville um it's set to begin the next year um or I guess next summer um as part of the the renovations uh throughout the district but um you know I don't I my old my youngest child is a fourth grader we're not going to you know benefit from it but I know that um the playground expansion is is good for the whole community so I just wanted to say we appreciate it thank you thank you it's very kind of you to to come here and and say that to the whole board we appreciate that hi everybody my name is Laura Crest I'm the president of the Bridgewater R and Education Association and I hope everybody's doing well um so um it's really good to see like it's great to actually see that student uh board members because this is the first time that I actually haven't either had or known one of them in the last several years and it's kind of fun to watch them like grow up and be real adults and not eighth graders anymore you know how that is right so um so it's just really nice um so I'm going to try to be brief uh I did this the beginning of the uh September I want to congratulate all the Board of Ed candidates the incumbents uh you know newcomers alike I hope that you know um everyone has had time to respond to our the uh questionnaire the Brea questionnaire we sent out it's due back October 18th and I just want to reiterate that we're not supporting any one candidate um but we send the results out to all the Brea members and other NJ member njaa members who live in the Bridgewater area or Bridgewater riton isn't the seats not up this year so I just want to kind of give a friendly reminder because when you're a person that's been around and know people or have the opportunity to meet and talk to people the way I've had um they may or may you know they repeat things they tell stories they say they know things you know and I want to remind everybody that's running or on the board or involved with the election process to be careful about what um you say to others um to or about others because I am sure some of the things that I've heard about this um the election are really not what uh uh people have intended to say what people mean to say and um I just want to throw out there as a reminder that um the Board of Ed is a nonpartisan position to serve our students in our community and like you've all done such a nice job I want to throw that in as well um but we'd like to keep it that way because it's not a position of partisanship that we should have particular there shouldn't be a particular goal or agenda in mind um the only agenda should really be setting policy to ensure that our schools function at the highest level possible as educational establishments and ensuring the facilities and Equipment are safe and functional for all the students and adults who use them and so as a side note I have to compliment all of everybody as well the administration and all of the people that who truly supported the referendum because honestly when our students and staff were starting to enter the buildings and classrooms every day it's starting to appear as though the powers that be because you know nobody really knows all of you I'm the one that like you see my face I see your face but people are like oh the board right and it doesn't matter the iteration of people on the board it's changed quite quite drastically in the last you know 20 years I've been involved but um so I want to just say you know I give you guys I give you all credit and it's starting to appear like it really looks like a place you want to work or a place you want to go to school and um and I also want to add to that that the last two plus years have honestly been the calest time overall since I've worked here and I'm not saying that we all agree on everything that is totally not the case but we do um but we don't have the pettiness in the district that was a word that came to me when I was writing this today I'm like that's what it was it was pettiness in the district that which we were plagued with in the past and that's gone and I think we need to keep rolling in that direction um and so back to my original train of thought just so we're all like you know clear on this the board in conjunction with the staff are here to set an example for our children and I think in many many ways we do let's just all be uh you know given the state of our world we should be setting the example of how to disagree with dignity as adults and um you know I just want everybody to be aware like as a teacher uh I take it seriously my role in the public you know you have to watch what you say to people behave and I think you all know that and I don't think anyone's intentionally done anything crazy I'm just throwing it out there because people like to share things with me and I don't really know why but anyway they're my150 glasses it's okay so just in closing you know I really am I'm not I don't want didn't want anybody take this as I was accusing anyone of anything but I really just want us to all keep an open mind here and understand that when people hear us or we say things you know they don't necessarily take them the way we might intend them and um I don't know thanks for listening to me and see at the middle school with my golden shovel any other comments seeing none I going to close public session and we're up to number 13 old business any discussion seeing none we're up to number 14 new business just real quick want to thank uh Mr beers and the administration Miss close for putting together this invitation and uh more importantly putting together this the ceremony at um baz alone field I'm looking forward to it any other comments seeing none we're up to number 15 oh weit oh I'm sorry they gave me this at the last minute uh we we're going to enter into closed session whereas discussion by the board is required on matters that are exceptions to the requirement that a public body hold its meetings in public and whereas the topics for discussion are Personnel whereas it is also expected that the details of the discussion may be made public as soon as the issues may be acted upon publicly be it resolved that the board enters into closed session at this time second all in favor I any oppose we are in closed session thank you have a good night there will be no action taken after